2. Folke Günther Holon Ecosystem Consultant www.holon.se/folke/ folke@holon.se Creating nutrient cycles The why’s and how’s Folke Günther Holon Ecosystem Consultant

3. Folke Günther Holon Ecosystem Consultant www.holon.se/folke/ folke@holon.se The history of the living organisms conquering land Nutrients in food Nutrients in urine Elementary nutrients 1.The situation in the primordial sea, 400 millon years ago CREATCEAN SEA

4. Folke Günther Holon Ecosystem Consultant www.holon.se/folke/ folke@holon.se What happened when the living organisms conquered land ? Nutrients in food Nutrients in urine 2 The situation after the first organisms had conquered land

5. Folke Günther Holon Ecosystem Consultant www.holon.se/folke/ folke@holon.se After just a few tousand years:

6. Folke Günther Holon Ecosystem Consultant www.holon.se/folke/ folke@holon.se Where are the green fields my ancestors were bragging about?

7. Folke Günther Holon Ecosystem Consultant www.holon.se/folke/ folke@holon.se Interlude: What are ’nutrients’ ? ’Nutrients’ are the essential elements needed to construct a body These elements need to be attainable in right proportions E.g.: You need four times more tires than steering wheels to build a car

8. Folke Günther Holon Ecosystem Consultant www.holon.se/folke/ folke@holon.se Without gaseous phases — must be transported as solids or liquids More common in the Earth crust than in the body The constituents of an animal (or vegetable) body: H O C N S P Na K Ca …64 P HOCNS Na K Ca …64 With gaseous phases — can be transported by the air Nutrients – phosphorus is the most important nutrient ! P 10 times more common in the body than in the Earth crust

9. Folke Günther Holon Ecosystem Consultant www.holon.se/folke/ folke@holon.se Nutrients are essential for life -- but phosphorus is the most crucial

10. Folke Günther Holon Ecosystem Consultant www.holon.se/folke/ folke@holon.se We need a method to use the phosphorus molecules several times, without losses, so we can retain phosphorus on land! !

11. Folke Günther Holon Ecosystem Consultant www.holon.se/folke/ folke@holon.se If we could transfer the phosphorus seamless from organism to organism without losses to sea, we might solve it !

12. Folke Günther Holon Ecosystem Consultant www.holon.se/folke/ folke@holon.se PO 4 DNA Urine Consumption Recycling Reconstruction The regenerative cycle, basic for living systems -- ecosystem level: A seamless transport of phosphorus from organism to organism!

13. Folke Günther Holon Ecosystem Consultant www.holon.se/folke/ folke@holon.se Petrified newspaper found in the Cretaceous – Devon geosynclinal

14. Folke Günther Holon Ecosystem Consultant www.holon.se/folke/ folke@holon.se PO 4 DNA Urin e Consumption Recycling Reconstruction The regenerative cycle High exergy Low exergy

15. Folke Günther Holon Ecosystem Consultant www.holon.se/folke/ folke@holon.se Ecosystem maturation A v a i l a b l e s o l a r e x e r g y Immature system Low diversity Annual plants Competition Parasitism Nutrient leakage Export Fast change Water export by drainage Mature system High diversity Perennial plants Co-operation Mutualism Nutrient circulation On-site consumption Slow change Water export by evaporation Maturation

16. Folke Günther Holon Ecosystem Consultant www.holon.se/folke/ folke@holon.se Present times

17. Folke Günther Holon Ecosystem Consultant www.holon.se/folke/ folke@holon.se Phosphorus and nitrogen were collected by plants In preindustrial times, the farmland nutrients came from the meadows Meadows PO 4 N A certain amount of meadows was therfore needed to maintain the farmland Manure Feed Food Farmland PO 4 Phosphorus was extracted from the soil by the meadow plants The manure was placed on the farmland, to feed the demanding food crops

18. Folke Günther Holon Ecosystem Consultant www.holon.se/folke/ folke@holon.se During industrialisation, people moved into cities

19. Folke Günther Holon Ecosystem Consultant www.holon.se/folke/ folke@holon.se PO 4 N The nutrients that went away to the cities never came back Manure Feed Food Other nutrients were collected by the meadow plants In the cities, they also needed food, food from the farms The food contained nutrients The export led to an impoverishment of the agricultural land Food PO 4

20. Folke Günther Holon Ecosystem Consultant www.holon.se/folke/ folke@holon.se PO 4 Foo d The impoverished land produced insufficient harvests This triggered emigration The industrialisation process might have been halted by the loss of nutrients in farmland

21. Folke Günther Holon Ecosystem Consultant www.holon.se/folke/ folke@holon.se PO 4 Food PO 4 Food The situation was solved by the invention of artificial fertilizers By that, the nutrients from the meadows became unnecessary Even more food could be produced

22. Folke Günther Holon Ecosystem Consultant www.holon.se/folke/ folke@holon.se PO 4 Food PO 4 Pollu- tion PO 4 Pollu- tion PO 4 Pollu- tion PO 4 Pollu- tion PO 4 Pollu- tion But in the cities, the situation was becoming problematic

23. Folke Günther Holon Ecosystem Consultant www.holon.se/folke/ folke@holon.se PO 4 Food PO 4 Pollu- tion PO 4 Pollu- tion PO 4 Pollu- tion PO 4 Pollu- tion PO 4 Pollu- tion But the invention of the piping system eased the problems

24. Folke Günther Holon Ecosystem Consultant www.holon.se/folke/ folke@holon.se PO 4 Pollu- tion PO 4 Pollu- tion PO 4 Pollu- tion PO 4 Pollu- tion PO 4 Pollu- tion However, at the end of the pipe, new problems were encountered Plancton algae multiplied gladly from the new phosphorus

25. Folke Günther Holon Ecosystem Consultant www.holon.se/folke/ folke@holon.se Linear flows HEAP A linear flow from sources to sea PO 4 Energy demanding and unsustainable PO 4 Feed PO 4 Food PO 4 Food Urin e

26. Folke Günther Holon Ecosystem Consultant www.holon.se/folke/ folke@holon.se Remember ? Nutrients in food Nutrients in urine

27. Folke Günther Holon Ecosystem Consultant www.holon.se/folke/ folke@holon.se P Nutrients – phosphorus is the most important nutrient Will energy price affect phosphorus availability?

28. Folke Günther Holon Ecosystem Consultant www.holon.se/folke/ folke@holon.se Extraction horizons of phosphorus At higher energy price: ?? years 100 – 150 years At current energy price:

29. Folke Günther Holon Ecosystem Consultant www.holon.se/folke/ folke@holon.se Is the regenerative cycle possible at societal level? We face the same problem as the first terrestrial organisms But the solution is more urgent

30. Folke Günther Holon Ecosystem Consultant www.holon.se/folke/ folke@holon.se If we could transfer the phosphorus seamless from organism to organism without losses to sea, we might solve it !

31. Folke Günther Holon Ecosystem Consultant www.holon.se/folke/ folke@holon.se PO 4 Urin e DNA Micro- organisms Agriculture Consumers Consumption Recycling Reconstruction As long as the sun shines, the regenerative cycle on societal level could go on like this:

32. Folke Günther Holon Ecosystem Consultant www.holon.se/folke/ folke@holon.se In a more practical way, the regenerative cycle can be implemented by the cooperation between a balanced agriculture and a group of people

33. Folke Günther Holon Ecosystem Consultant www.holon.se/folke/ folke@holon.se Balanced agriculture: Animals are fed with plants growing from their manure ─ about 80% circulation of nutrients PO 4 Feed Urin e One hectare:

34. Folke Günther Holon Ecosystem Consultant www.holon.se/folke/ folke@holon.se.. but 3-4 kg of the phosphorus (20%) is exported as food The 3-4 kg amounts to the P content of the excrements from 5 persons PO 4 Feed Urin e Foo d Urin e = 0,2 ha/pers One hectare:

35. Folke Günther Holon Ecosystem Consultant www.holon.se/folke/ folke@holon.se.. these nutrients must be returned to close the cycle With source- separating toilets, these nutrients can be recycled PO 4 Feed Urin e Foo d Urin e PO 4 = 0,2 ha/pers One hectare:

36. Folke Günther Holon Ecosystem Consultant www.holon.se/folke/ folke@holon.se Or, in an even more practical description, think of a few hundred people living in association with a farm

37. Folke Günther Holon Ecosystem Consultant www.holon.se/folke/ folke@holon.se The eco-unit, a small population maintained by a balanced agriculture Balanced agriculture Providing most of the human food and all of the animal fodder Area: 50 ha for 200 inhabitants High diversity Perennial plants Co-operation Nutrient circulation On-site consumption Nutrient reclaim Landscape diversity Predator habitat Lee – planting Biomass production Open ditches Nutrients from the settlement is recycled to agricultural land Balanced agriculture, aimed at the support of the local population Small population, about 200, supported by the agriculture

38. Folke Günther Holon Ecosystem Consultant www.holon.se/folke/ folke@holon.se The eco-unit Biological greywater treatment plant (wetpark) Clean water is returned to the households High diversity Perennial plants Co-operation Mutualism Nutrient circulation On-site consumption Water export by evaporation Feed PO 4 Food PO 4

39. Folke Günther Holon Ecosystem Consultant www.holon.se/folke/ folke@holon.se The ’ruralisation’ scenario: A city is successively integrated with its hinterland 023451 Year:

40. Folke Günther Holon Ecosystem Consultant www.holon.se/folke/ folke@holon.se The ’ruralisation’ scenario: A city is successively integrated with its hinterland 689101171213141516 Year:

41. Folke Günther Holon Ecosystem Consultant www.holon.se/folke/ folke@holon.se The ’ruralisation’ scenario: A city is successively integrated with its hinterland 17192021221823242526272829303132333435 Year:

42. Folke Günther Holon Ecosystem Consultant www.holon.se/folke/ folke@holon.se The ’ruralisation’ scenario: A city is successively integrated with its hinterland 363839404137424344454647484950 Year: High diversity Perennial plants Co-operation Mutualism Nutrient circulation On-site consumption Water export by evaporation

43. Folke Günther Holon Ecosystem Consultant www.holon.se/folke/ folke@holon.se 0 kr 15 000 kr 30 000 kr 60 000 kr Economic effects of local food production Annual consumer cost for food (four person family) 60.000 SEK (about € 6.500) Payment to producer, less than 25% Trade, distribution and processing about 75% of the total price Producer cost (fuel, interests etc.) 80% of producer payment Producer salary, about 3.000 SEK (5% of consumer cost) Total energy investment: about 40.000 kWh / 4 pers Energy delivered: about 4.000 kWh/ 4 p.

44. Folke Günther Holon Ecosystem Consultant www.holon.se/folke/ folke@holon.se Assume a group of consumers subscribe for food from a local farmer They will drive the industry out of the market by paying the double industrial price (half of the consumer price)

45. Folke Günther Holon Ecosystem Consultant www.holon.se/folke/ folke@holon.se 0 15 000 30 000 45 000 60 000 Expenses Salary Distribution and trade TraditionalsystemTraditionalsystem But: Because of the increased food diversity produced, the farmers expenses will increase, here assumed to +50%..but the remaining is the salary, which will increase from 3.000 to 12.000, 400% The consumer cost for the food will decrease with 50% 13.000 18.000 60.000 30.000 12.000 3.000

46. Folke Günther Holon Ecosystem Consultant www.holon.se/folke/ folke@holon.se Let’s hope that the consumers will use their saved money to invest in the agriculture… Cheaper food Saved money A win-win-win relation Increased salary Nutrient circulation

47. Folke Günther Holon Ecosystem Consultant www.holon.se/folke/ folke@holon.se Thank you! For more information, go to my homepage holon.se