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What is 'Grassroots' Soil Remediation
This document provides an overview of natural soil remediation methods that ordinary people can do themselves, including composting, phytoremediation, and mycoremediation. It explains that composting uses microbes to break down contaminants, phytoremediation uses plants, and mycoremediation uses fungi. Specific techniques are described, such as using oyster mushrooms to break down petroleum or turkey tail mushrooms to treat other toxins. Beginner plants and mushrooms are recommended. The document promotes using these natural methods to both remediate soil and improve its overall health and biodiversity.
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What is 'Grassroots' Soil Remediation
- 1. A resource forgrassroots soil remediation products, education, and community Remove toxins from the soil in small residential lots using passive, non-invasive, soil-building natural processes
- 2. What is: Grassroots SoilRemediation?
- 3. What is SoilRemediation?
- 4. Remedying Soil Taking Bad/UnhealthyThings Out of Soil
- 5.
- 6.
- 7. And Almost Everythingon This List (if there’s too much of it)
- 8. How Do TheseUnhealthy Things Get in Soil?
- 9. Houses, factories, manufacturing,construction, fecal matter, transportation, rain events, lawn treatments, paint, cleaning, etc.
- 10. How are thesethings removed? How does remediation work?
- 11.
- 12. Dig it allup and replace it with clean soil
- 13. Let it breatheitself out
- 14. Wash it andthrow out the bad stuff
- 15. Set it onFire!
- 16. None of theseare something someone can do on their own Plus other issues like being prohibitively expensive, looking ugly, being loud and disruptive, and destroying all life in the soil and all the wildlife habitats on the site
- 17. Which methods canan everyday person do?
- 18.
- 19. Grassroots Soil Remediationis remediation that is safe and plausible for an ordinary* person to do. *ordinary, in this case, meaning people without specific soil science and remediation education and training that do not have the funds/access/support of remediation companies. People without soil remediation day jobs.
- 20. All Natural SoilRemediation Plus it develops the soil, is much prettier, improves the soil so that it can hold water better and capture carbon, improves and creates habitat for local wildlife and bees, and reduces erosion. It’s typically much cheaper. The trade off is that it’s slower. It runs at nature’s speed.
- 21.
- 22. *Bioremediation has 2meanings, depending on who you ask: - Using special microbes (usually bred in a lab) to eat specific toxins (microbial remediation) or - Using all-natural remediation processes / using nature to fix nature One of these the is accessible to the layperson, one of these isn’t. I’m mostly just going to say ‘Compost’, because compost is the layperson’s way to breed helpful microbes that eat toxins.
- 23.
- 24. What are thesenatural grassroot methods? How can we use them?
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- 26. COMPOST! Bioremediation / MicrobialRemediation COMPOST! VERMICULTURE! MICROBES! BENEFICIAL BACTERIA! First up -
- 27. Microbial Remediation “Microbial Remediationuses microorganism to either degrade organic contaminants or to bind heavy metals into more inert and less biological available forms. “Microorganisms break down contaminants by using them as a food source or metabolizing them with a food source.” -Leila Darwish
- 28. “If you aredoing any restoration project, healthy soil is the foundation.” - Marika Smith, Victoria Compost Education Center
- 29. Compost decayed organic material(as of leaves and grass) used to improve soil especially for growing crops. - Merriam - Webster Dictionary
- 30. Compost Compost Tea Vermiculture Microbes Mycorrhizal fungi Healthybacteria Worms Aeration pH balance dilution Methods & Benefits
- 31. Healthy Compost Nitrogen (green)+ Carbon (brown) + Moisture + Oxygen Top Dressing
- 32. Get composting instructionsat: https://www.boston.gov/departments/public-works/composting-boston
- 33. Make your own compost ortake part in community composting
- 34.
- 35. Phytotechnology “Phytotechnology is theuse of vegetation to remediation, contain, or prevent contaminants in soils, sediments and groundwater, and/or nutrients, porosity and organic matter. It is also a set of planning, engineering and design tools and cultural practices that can assist landscape architects, site designers, engineers and environmental planners in working on current and future individual sites, the urban fabric and regional landscape.” - Kirkwood and Kennen Second up -
- 36. Types of Phytotechnologies Phytodegradation- plant destroys it Rhizodegradation - microbes in soil destroy it Phytovolatilization - plant releases it as a gas Phytometabolism - plant uses it for growth, incorporates it into biomass Phytoextraction - plant extracts and stores it, must be harvest and removed for treatment Phytohydraulics - plant pulls up water, contaminants may come with it Phytostabilization - plant holds it in place Phytoaccumulation - plant collects contaminants from air and stores it Rhizofiltration - roots and soil filter water Phytobuffering - proactive plant choice prevents future contamination
- 37. Limited contaminants/soil conditions Relativelyshallow Removing plants/risk exposure to humans Maintenance and monitoring costs Time/plant growth time Natural systems/climate is variable and unpredictable Availability of plant stock Legality and lack of understanding Opportunities and Constraints Plant-based: natural, passive, solar-powered Diverse toxins on diverse types of sites Leaves soil intact, even improved Less expensive when applied correctly High public acceptance Integrated into other vegetation and design Pollution prevention Indicator species
- 38. Lower Maintenance PhytoremediationTechniques Phytodegradation - plant destroys it Rhizodegradation - microbes in soil destroy it Phytovolatilization - plant releases it as a gas Phytometabolism - plant uses it for growth, incorporates it into biomass Phytoextraction - plant extracts and stores it, must be harvest and removed for treatment Phytohydraulics - plant pulls up water, contaminants may come with it Phytostabilization - plant holds it in place Phytoaccumulation - plant collects contaminants from air and stores it Rhizofiltration - roots and soil filter water
- 39. *The list excludedtechniques that involve planting species that accumulate metal and then having to extract the toxin plants and safely dispose of them The remaining techniques involve the plant doing all the work with no extraction necessary
- 40. Phytoremediation is betterat treating: In descending order: Nutrients: nitrogen, phosphorus Chlorinated Solvents Pesticides Petroleum Salts Explosives Metals Radionuclides POPs
- 41. Beginner Remediation Plants Petroleum:Herbaceous ryegrass, Alfalfa + poplars Lolium perenne, Medicago sativa, Panicum virgatum Chlorinated Solvents: Soybeans, Goldenrod + poplars Glycine max, Solidago spp. Pesticides: Mustard, Irises, Clover + wetlands and poplars Brassica campestris, Iris spp., Trifolium spp. Persistent Organic Pollutants: Ox-Eye Daisy, Queen Anne’s Lace, Alfalfa Chrysanthemum leucanthemum, Daucus carota, Medicago sativa
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- 44. Toxic Soil Busters Worchester,MA Example of a group doing this for themselves… Fighting lead contamination
- 45.
- 46. Mycoremediation “...the use offungi, specifically mushrooms, for creating simple yet effective biomass capable of breaking down environmental and industrial pollutants.” “Research has proven the efficacy of using fungi to degrade contamination such as PCBs, aromatic hydrocarbons, and oil spills.” - Tradd Cotter Third up -
- 47. It’s the partof the mushroom underground (the mycelium) that’s doing all the work breaking down toxins. Not the fruiting body. Mycelium, the best part
- 48. Beginner Remediation Mushrooms Oysters:King Oyster, Pearl Oyster Phoenix Oyster Pleurotus eryngii, Pleurotus ostreatus, Pleurotus pulmonarius Turkey Tail Trametes versicolor
- 49. Oyster Mushrooms onstraw Turkey Tails on wood
- 50. Buy it readyto grow in a bag Or a block of myceliated sawdust
- 51. Or start itin a liquid culture Then bulk it up with grain
- 52. Amazon Mycorenewal Project Example of agroup doing this for themselves... Fighting oil spills in the rainforest
- 53. “Earth Repair” byLeila Darwish good source book for compost
- 54. ‘Phyto: Principles andresources for site remediation and landscape design’ by Kate Kennen and Niall Kirkwood It’s THE book on Phytoremediation.
- 55. Resource: ‘Organic Mushroom Farmingand Mycoremediation’ by Tradd Cotter
- 56. Resource: ‘Radical Mycology’ byPeter McCoy
- 57. Everything by PaulStamets
- 58. Paul Stamets createdthe ‘MycoBoom’ to clean up oil spills with mycelium
- 59.
- 60. All 3 methodsyou can do in your backyard
- 61. Make it more BeautifulAND Healthy
- 62. THANK YOU! If you’dlike to learn more, please visit our website! www.equiterraco.com