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Book Reviews
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A Safe and Sustainable World:
The Promise of Ecological Design
by Nancy Jack Todd
(Island Press, 2005, $28.95)
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James Lovelock rang in the New Year with a bang. In a January 16 article in the London Independent, the scientist who conceived of today’s widely accepted Gaia Hypothesis argued that, due to global warming, life on earth may already be condemned. Regardless of what we do (if we do anything), it could be a moot point [see the review of his latest book, Revenge of Gaia]. After reading such cheery news, I promptly cracked Nancy Jack Todd’s A Safe and Sustainable World, a book based on her 35 years of helping create what Buckminster Fuller once described as “The hope of the world.”
Calling themselves the New Alchemy Institute, in 1970, Todd, her husband John and a handful of friends founded a group “forged in the form of a question,” wondering if it were possible to provide for basic human needs within ecological limits while simultaneously regenerating the planet. Today, the inquiry seems — at least, within “progressive” circles — almost a cliché. Yet even with scores of modern non-profits devoted to similar missions, the New Alchemists’ experiments in sustainable living were not only cutting edge three decades ago, but remain so today.
Based in Cape Cod, Todd writes that by 1976 their work had shown that “sustainable, ecologically sound analogues to the industrial paradigm were feasible and doable.” From bioshelter domes to integrated pest management, windmill designs to planting for local food systems (years before “local” was the oft-enthused goal), they toyed with alternative systems with a meticulous rigor and got outrageously affirming results. They were aided by a steady stream of research grants — several in the group were PhD scientists — and their professional experiments proved a stunning complement to their spirit of grassroots, technological innovation.
One of the early trials that would inform many of their later projects involved aquaculture. Their intent was to discover a reliable, inexpensive protein source; having traveled in Southeast Asia and Haiti, they were galvanized by the need for accessible nutrition. In their first summer they dug nine ponds and began farming tilapia. They quickly came up with the solar-algae tank, a virtual ecosystem in a jar, a hugely productive technique to store solar energy, grow thriving plants, and create an optimal environment for fish, all for quite cheap.
The tanks also filtered nutrients. A sequence of solar ponds simulates a marsh; if there are enough properly-engineered tanks, dirty water pours in and eventually, after specially selected plants and hungry fish have had their fill, clean water flows from the last tank. In the 1990s, after New Alchemy had run its course, the Todds took their tanks to highly polluted waters all over the world, from Tyson Foods’ poultry processing plant to a densely populated, southern Chinese city lacking a sewage system. In one installation to remediate a particularly nasty sludge lagoon, the “Eco-Machine” removed 99 percent of the ammonia and phosphorus. After four months, 13 of the 14 carcinogenic compounds were completely gone, and the remaining toluene was 99.9 percent out. As of Nancy Todd’s writing, there were over 30 of these closed-loop wastewater treatment installations.
There’s a good chance James Lovelock’s assessment is on target. Todd’s book — really more of a memoir — is a clearly written, beautiful testimony to the promise of development in the truest sense of the word. Reading A Safe and Sustainable World, one reviews a game plan for sustainable living, and is left to wonder why these technologies, now over 30 years old, aren’t as standard as laptops and cell phones in today’s world. Would there be talk of “too late” if this practical vision had been replicated en masse then? More importantly, could it be now?
Katie Renz is a regular contributor to HopeDance. Go to the home page of this website, type her name into the site search box, and you will locate a number of her articles. She can be reached at k8ylizzie@hotmail.com.
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