Musings on garbage
Just musing...
I saw some photos of children living in squaller.
3rd world countries, open sewers trash everywhere.
The trash seemed to be old plastics and such that washed up on the edges of the ditches. I assume any organic gunk was scavenged by critters or rotted away.
The article was "OMG water!!" People in these areas have been using these open sewer / rivers forever. Yes it is the main source of disease. But the reason why they do it is because they don't have the resources for any better.
It got be thinking about tech and poverty.
One lap top per child. Admirable. Boot strap in a infrastructure, communication, education. Give people access to information that they can use to improve there lives. And they will.
Lots of interesting stores coming out of Africa. Really clever improvised tech using available materials to do clever things. A network of communication and education will only help. Need to know how to make a wind power generator out of a old car..e-mail the guy who did it in /his/ village.
*ponders*
I like the low tech approaches. Simple solutions to improve the quality of life.
There is a company that patents things for this, then gives away the info for free. Like how to convert a hand crank wheat mill into a wheat huller as well. (Saving a lot of time)
I think the ideal is better basic tech. Electricity generation, water treatment, garbage. Then food production, industry, medicine. Population control and education in place or populations will grow until they are just as bad again.
I think the new trash incinerator / generator is a key tech.
Burn up garbage into it's base atoms, getting rid of even toxic waste (things like lead and mercury are still a problem though) and generating a surpluses of power in the bargain.
(New York is looking at one, Florida is building one. It is the trash tech of the future.)
Suddenly I don't think those little villages would have trash strewn waterways. They would not have any trash at all.. not when any trash = fuel.
Figure out a way to incorporate it into a water purification system... and you have a winner!
It reminds me of a comic set in the future where everyone had access to a replicator like tech. The poor neighborhoods were spotless. Because people would sweep up everything to use as raw materials. Only the rich could afford large mater banks to draw from. Litter was a luxury.
I suspect that is where we are headed.
Imagine a reversal, where we "mine" old landfills instead of filling them.
If the system could be made small enough to be housed in a cargo container. Or possibly multiple containers. You could drop them anywhere.
Add modules for water purification, or desalinization.
I am sure a clever person could devise a way to process the waste slag as well. I know the waste gas can be processed into usefully materials.
It is a plausible possibility. I hope some version of it comes to pass.
I saw some photos of children living in squaller.
3rd world countries, open sewers trash everywhere.
The trash seemed to be old plastics and such that washed up on the edges of the ditches. I assume any organic gunk was scavenged by critters or rotted away.
The article was "OMG water!!" People in these areas have been using these open sewer / rivers forever. Yes it is the main source of disease. But the reason why they do it is because they don't have the resources for any better.
It got be thinking about tech and poverty.
One lap top per child. Admirable. Boot strap in a infrastructure, communication, education. Give people access to information that they can use to improve there lives. And they will.
Lots of interesting stores coming out of Africa. Really clever improvised tech using available materials to do clever things. A network of communication and education will only help. Need to know how to make a wind power generator out of a old car..e-mail the guy who did it in /his/ village.
*ponders*
I like the low tech approaches. Simple solutions to improve the quality of life.
There is a company that patents things for this, then gives away the info for free. Like how to convert a hand crank wheat mill into a wheat huller as well. (Saving a lot of time)
I think the ideal is better basic tech. Electricity generation, water treatment, garbage. Then food production, industry, medicine. Population control and education in place or populations will grow until they are just as bad again.
I think the new trash incinerator / generator is a key tech.
Burn up garbage into it's base atoms, getting rid of even toxic waste (things like lead and mercury are still a problem though) and generating a surpluses of power in the bargain.
(New York is looking at one, Florida is building one. It is the trash tech of the future.)
Suddenly I don't think those little villages would have trash strewn waterways. They would not have any trash at all.. not when any trash = fuel.
Figure out a way to incorporate it into a water purification system... and you have a winner!
It reminds me of a comic set in the future where everyone had access to a replicator like tech. The poor neighborhoods were spotless. Because people would sweep up everything to use as raw materials. Only the rich could afford large mater banks to draw from. Litter was a luxury.
I suspect that is where we are headed.
Imagine a reversal, where we "mine" old landfills instead of filling them.
If the system could be made small enough to be housed in a cargo container. Or possibly multiple containers. You could drop them anywhere.
Add modules for water purification, or desalinization.
I am sure a clever person could devise a way to process the waste slag as well. I know the waste gas can be processed into usefully materials.
It is a plausible possibility. I hope some version of it comes to pass.