This article is about the new idea using earthworms to process hazardous material containing high concentrations of heavy metal for the bioremediation of landfills. The new method was created by researchers in South America. Researchers reliezed that worms have been encouraged to process garden waste and soil for generations. They took this idea and realized the Eisenia fetida could be a useful tool in the processing of solid wastes. Scientists performed tests using compost produced by worms as a successful absorbent substrate for remediation of waste. The test was successfull. Earthworms now can be a great bioremediation alternative to complex and costly industrial cleanup methods.
I believe this method is great. We all know that accumulation of solid wastes in landfills causes lots of contamination. Earthworms offer a inexpensive and effective alternate. We are creating more and more hazardous material everyday and soon we won't be able to get rid of it all without harming our environment. Earthworms can save our environment by processing the toxic waste. This article reminded me of when i would play with the worms in my garden when i was little. I never knew what their job as worms were. Earthworms now have a new job. After doing the activity in class on where our trash goes. Landfills are very crowded and these worms could help.
Do you think many countries will start using these worms?
Could these worms really make a big difference in the amount of waste in landfills?
Could our environment be saved by these worms?
I think this is a great idea! As long as it doesn't harm the worms I think it would be a really good idea to help us get rid of some of the hazardous waste. The effectiveness of this would be really good, and it would solve a lot of problems for us with the growing amount of waste we're producing and the fact that space is running out because we can't do anything else with the trash.
ReplyDeleteFor some reason these worms reminded me of leachate and how that is a harmful material in the landfills. I think this would really help process some of the toxic waste and lessen our worries about the hazardous material in our landfills.
I think that countries will start using these worms because it is a quick easy fix to the hazardous waste problem. It will help them out, and it isn't really hard to do. Earthworms are everywhere and aquiring them would not be too hard. I think that as long as the worms are safe then the world will aknowledge their importance and what they can do for society.
It's interesting how these small, simple creatures are able to replace treatment processes that usually require a big investment of time and money. I think that using biological methods in place of artificial solutions holds much promise not only in waste processing but in other areas like medicine and transportation. Wile watching the Discovery Channel, I was surprised to find out that maggots (fly larvae) are used in hospitals to remove dead flesh from wounds. As we learned in class, biomass is a popular form of alternative energy which comes in many forms such as cow manure and crop waste. Why invent a costly, inefficient solution to a problem when mother nature already provided the perfect organism for the job?
ReplyDeleteI believe that incorporating biological methods into our society will provide a huge boost to our technological progress. If we can perfect GMOs and also master using naturally occurring creatures for our purposes, we'll have ourselves some self-healing, self-replicating biological "machines" that need only to eat food rather than being powered by electricity. While I don't think that worms alone could save our environment, I do think that among the billions of life-forms on this planet we will no doubt be able to recruit a few more to help us in our efforts.
I think that these worms will really be a help to us. Perhaps we can study them and find out what they do to break these things down. Perhaps them we can create some sort of "synthetic worm juice" to apply to these wastes without having to depend on living organisms to do this job. However, I like this idea a lot and I think that earth worms can prove to be very useful for our current concerns. I don't think that these worms alone are enough to save our environment on account of the multitudes of other problems we are faced with now.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is great that we have discovered this. It will be really helpful to lowering the amount of waste that is taken to a landfill each year. This could really raise the amount of time a landfill will last and maybe even help us get rid of some non biodegratable items like plastics.
ReplyDeleteThis reminded me of cockroaches and how they can eat anything and live in almost any condition. It made me think that if insects that grow to become like the cockroach could help us get rid of our waste problem and help our environment stay clean and unpolluted.
I do think that other countries will start to use these. When landfills start to get full and no one wants to take the trash, we are going to need an alternative and this could be just what we need.
I think that this a great idea! It would really reduce the amount of waste that goes to landfills and incerators. If it does not harm the worms, it could be great. With landfills filling up, this could help everyone.
ReplyDeleteThis reminded me of cockroaches. Cockroaches can live in any condition and can eat anything including trash. If we can train these worms to be like this, it could be really easy to get rid of the trash piling up.
I do think that other countries will start using these worms. America is not the only country that is having troubl finding where to put their trash and if this really works, everyone will want in on this idea.