[pct-l] human waste

[charliethorpe@att.net (Charlie Thorpe)]

on 10/4/01 5:48 PM, David Patterson at wr_ddp@hotmail.com wrote:

> For more detailed information regarding human waste (feces and urine) I
> highly recommend the Humanure Handbook, by Joseph Jenkins...
> 
> Stop and think about what's in your water.

Hello David -

Thanks for the heads-up on the "Humanure Handbook".

I haven't had a chance to use the good on-line site to read all of it yet,
but I am completely blown away by the fantastic bibliography he put
together!

I work with a camp on the Tennessee River in north Alabama.  We test our
ground water and the river water frequently.  Unfortunately, I know what is
in our water <VBF>.

The LNT educational program is only aimed at trying to minimize the damages
done by recreational visits to the outdoors.  It doesn't take a rocket
scientist to see that the problems with waste disposal can be generalized to
our ENTIRE eco-surroundings - whether backcountry, frontcountry, suburbs, or
city.

And it ain't just human waste.   I have an open lagoon with over a million
gallons of liquid hog waste sitting above my camp directly in our watershed.

I do my LNT educational efforts as part of the dues I pay for having such
fantastic access to great trails and gazillions of acres of incredably
beautiful and interesting public (my!) lands.  The city sewage and the hog
factories fall more under my general responsibilities that I share with all
citizens of the USA.

LNT is actually just a very small part of the overall effort to maintain our
surroundings in a sane manner.  LNT deals only with impacts caused by
outdoor recreationists and is still a VERY complex topic that is almost
constantly misunderstood and underestimated by many who merely take a casual
look at it.  

The complexity of ALL the larger issues involved with ALL impacts to Bucky's
spaceship earth caused by ALL of us humans is enough to boggle the mind.  I
haven't met anybody yet who has the whole answer.  If enough of us carve out
a piece of the problem and try hard to find/implement a solution, maybe we
can combine our efforts enough do some good in the long run.  I admire you
and Jenkins for being willing to tackle a particularly tough part of the
problem.

Trace No Leaves -

- Charlie