well, however uncomfortable this might make you feel, you must read on...
the average person passes around 1 - 1.5 litres of urine every day. this material is typically flushed down the toilet (using roughly 5 - 11 litres of drinking-quality water per flush). we are fast running out of clean fresh water, our oceans are dying in places due to nutrification, partly from sewage outfalls and our croplands are fertilised with oil-based fertilisers...
it has been found that the urine produced by one person over a year is enough to fertilise 300 - 400m² of cropland - urine is very rich in nitrogen (required for leafy growth) and is also rich in potassium and phosphorous (both also required for healthy plant growth).
it is also important to note that urine may contain pathogens which can cause disease, but only if the person urinating is infected with those pathogens. The World Health Organisation has this to say regarding urine and pathogens:
"It can be concluded that pathogens that may be transmitted through urine are rarely
sufficiently common to constitute a significant public health problem and are thus not
considered to constitute a health risk related to the reuse of human urine in temperate climates"
(source: http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/wastewater/urineguidelines.pdf ).
if you are suffering from an illness, it is therefore probably better not to fertilise plants you may come into contact with - choose a tree instead!
it is also true that urine from most modern humans contains residues of pharmaceutical chemicals ('the pill' for example...) but it has also been found that the most effective way to immobilise these residues is to be treated by microorganisms in soil...
in my experience, brassicas (cabbages, broccoli, kale etc.) adore copious quantities of urine. i try and visit my favourites regularly when the weather is clement - it is not unlike fattening a pig with food scraps until it is slaughter time (except that i don't have to kill a pig) - i get to pass my unwanted 'wastes' on to the plants which will, in time, be nourishing me back.
when it is cold and rainy, or i just can't be bothered going outside, i use an agee jar (1 litre capacity) to collect the liquid gold (literally, ha ha!) until i can take it outside. this is so easy, and living somewhere like invercargill, it makes sense to not have to walk all the way down to the other end of the house in the freezing night just to wee.
it's a nice reconnection with the biological processes which we rely on but have lost touch with. if your flatmates/ family are uncomfortable about it, be clandestine.
boycott the toilet! piss for victory!
4 comments:
Punster detector - activated :oP
I remember putting this idea into practice in Invercargill. More often than not, however, I think the alcohol content of my urine would have been sufficient to anesthetize oxen at fifty paces.
My moderate lifestyle now allows for a gentler & kinder waste product. I ought to put it to some use!
Ooooeeee weeesy on there! It's great stuff to fire up your compost heap also - just stand and deliver! I use it to keep my cabbage tree tops clear of viral/fungal stuff - quite a challenge to get it up there, but worth the effort. Powdery mildew on apple trees too. Watering the corners of your property to keep away dogs...doesn't work, but it's great entertainment for your neighbours. What's your next post going to be nickbionic? Poooeee!
Good idea, to keep it under the radar of disapproving co-habitants try an old lava lamp -entertaing!
Great Scott Mr Bionic - they're likening you to Mahatma Gandhi now! Where will it end? Did Jesus have a garden and did he?!!!
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