this post was submitted on 20 Aug 2024
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Solarpunk Farming

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Farm all the things!

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[–] snooggums@midwest.social 43 points 1 month ago (4 children)

I was pretty sure dusease concerns were the primary reason for not using human waste. Was hoping the article addressed that, but it did not.

[–] mozz@mbin.grits.dev 23 points 1 month ago

Also toxic waste

For the same reason predators have higher levels of bioaccumulated toxins in their flesh, humans have much higher levels of all kinds of toxic sludge in their poop and blood and whatnot

[–] ThatWeirdGuy1001@lemmy.world 14 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

The only thing I've ever heard about it is that you'd have to wash all produce you bought and my exact response has always been "Are you people not washing your produce after purchase!?"

Edit: Also a lot of y'all seem to think we'd be throwing raw untreated human waste directly into the fields. We don't even do that with animal fertilizer. It's treated waste that removes a lot of the toxins that would cause us to get sick (again only if you're not washing your produce which you should always do regardless)

[–] MunkyNutts@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Raw waste is, of course, nasty stuff until all the dangerous bacteria have been killed off, either by heat or anaerobic digestion.

source: https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/05/07/182010827/is-it-safe-to-use-compost-made-from-treated-human-waste

[–] socsa@piefed.social 2 points 1 month ago

Right, but the entire reason to prefer herbivore waste is because it is much less likely to spread disease when handled improperly.

[–] BlackDragon 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

There's a risk if you do it wrong, of course, but that doesn't stop us from doing it right.

[–] Mr_Blott@feddit.uk 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I think we can safely assume you've never met an actual farmer 😂

[–] BlackDragon 0 points 1 month ago

Actual farmers have used human feces as fertilizer for ages