What is Aquaponics? (Sustainable Food Production)

Aquaponics is the symbiotic cultivation of plants and aquatic animals in a recirculating environment.

Aquatic animal effluent (for example fish waste) accumulates in water as a by-product of keeping them in a closed system or tank (for example a recirculating aquaculture system). The effluent-rich water becomes high in plant nutrients but this is correspondingly toxic to the aquatic animal.

Plants are grown in a way (for example a hydroponic system) that enables them to utilize the nutrient-rich water. The plants take up the nutrients, reducing or eliminating the water’s toxicity for the aquatic animal.

The water, now clean, is returned to the aquatic animal environment and the cycle continues. Aquaponic systems do not discharge or exchange water. The systems rely on the relationship between the aquatic animals and the plants to maintain the environment. Water is only added to replace water loss from absorption by the plants, evaporation into the air, or the removal of biomass from the system.

Aquaponic systems vary in size from small indoor units to large commercial units. They can use fresh or salt water depending on the type of aquatic animal and vegetation.

( is an integrated aquaculture (growing fish) and hydroponic (growing soilless plants) system that mutually benefits both environments.  Aquaponics uses no chemicals, requires one tenth or 10% of the water needed for field plant production and only a fraction of the water that is used for fish culture (Aquaculture).

The waste from fish tanks is treated with natural bacteria that converts the waste, largely ammonia, first to nitrite and then to nitrate. The fish waste absorbed by plants is pumped to a bio-filter system as a nutrient solution for the growing plants (Grow Bed). The only external input to the system is food for the fish. Both systems complement each other as a single unit, not as separate units.

Once the system is initialized the water stays Ph balanced and remains crystal clear. The water is recycled with a small amount of water added weekly to compensate for what is lost by evaporation and transpiration by the vegetables. Aquaponics is the future of home gardening and commercial fresh food production.

Greenhouse growers and farmers are taking note of Aquaponics for several reasons:

* Hydroponic growers view fish-manured irrigation water as a source of organic fertilizer that enables plants to grow well.

* Fish farmers view hydroponics as a bio-filtration method to facilitate intensive re-circulating aquaculture.

* Greenhouse growers view Aquaponics as a way to introduce organic hydroponic produce into the marketplace, since the only fertility input is fish feed and all of the nutrients pass through a biological process.

* Food-producing greenhouses – yielding two products from one production unit – are naturally appealing for niche marketing and green labeling.

* Aquaponics can enable the production of fresh vegetables and fish protein in arid regions and on water-limited farms, since it is a “water re-use” system.

* Aquaponics is a working model of sustainable food production wherein plant and animal agriculture are integrated and recycling of nutrients and water filtration are linked.

* In addition to commercial application, Aquaponics has become a popular training aid on integrated bio-systems with vocational agriculture programs and high school biology classes.

The technology associated with Aquaponics is complex. It requires the ability to simultaneously manage the production and marketing of two different agricultural products. Until the 1980s, most attempts at integrated hydroponics and aquaculture had limited success. However, innovations since the 1980s have transformed Aquaponics technology into a viable system of food production. Modern Aquaponic systems can be highly successful, but they require intensive management and they have special considerations.

Nutrients in Aquaculture Effluent: Greenhouse growers normally control the delivery of precise quantities of mineral elements to hydroponic plants. However, in Aquaponics, nutrients are delivered via Aquacultural effluent. Fish effluent contains sufficient levels of ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, phosphorus, potassium, and other secondary and micronutrients to produce hydroponic plants. Naturally, some plant species are better adapted to this system than others. The technical literature on Aquaponics provides greater detail on hydroponic nutrient delivery; especially see papers cited in the Bibliography by James Rakocy, PhD.

Plants Adapted to Aquaponics: The selection of plant species adapted to hydroponic culture in Aquaponic greenhouses are related to stocking density of fish tanks and subsequent nutrient concentration of Aquacultural effluent. Lettuce, herbs, and specialty greens (spinach, chives, basil, and watercress) have low to medium nutritional requirements and are well adapted to Aquaponic systems. Plants yielding fruit (tomatoes, bell peppers, and cucumbers) have a higher nutritional demand and perform better in a heavily stocked, well established Aquaponic system. Greenhouse varieties of tomatoes are better adapted to low light, high humidity conditions in greenhouses than field varieties.

Fish Species: Several warm-water and cold-water fish species are adapted to re-circulating aquaculture systems, including tilapia, trout, perch, Arctic char, and bass. However, most commercial Aquaponic systems in North America are based on tilapia. Tilapia is a warm-water species that grows well in a re-circulating tank culture. Furthermore, tilapia is tolerant of fluctuating water conditions such as pH, temperature, oxygen, and dissolved solids. Tilapia produces a white-fleshed meat suitable to local and wholesale markets. The literature on tilapia contains extensive technical documentation and cultural procedures. Barramundi and Murray cod fish species are raised in re-circulating Aquaponic systems in Australia.

Water Quality Characteristics: Fish raised in re-circulating tank culture require good water quality conditions. Water quality testing kits from Aquacultural supply companies are fundamental. Critical water quality parameters include dissolved oxygen, carbon dioxide, ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, pH, chlorine, and other characteristics. The stocking density of fish, growth rate of fish, feeding rate and volume, and related environmental fluctuations can elicit rapid changes in water quality; constant and vigilant water quality monitoring is essential.

Biofiltration and Suspended Solids: Aquaculture effluent contains nutrients, dissolved solids, and waste byproducts. Some Aquaponics systems are designed with intermediate filters and cartridges to collect suspended solids in fish effluent, and to facilitate conversion of ammonia and other waste products to forms more available to plants prior to delivery to hydroponic vegetable beds. Other systems deliver fish effluent directly to gravel-cultured hydroponic vegetable beds. The gravel functions as a “fluidized bed bioreactor,” removing dissolved solids and providing habitat for nitrifying bacteria involved in nutrient conversions.

Component Ratio: Matching the volume of fish tank water to volume of hydroponic media is known as component ratio. Early Aquaponics systems were based on a ratio of 1:1, but 1:2 is now common and tank: bed ratios as high as 1:4 are employed. The variation in range depends on type of hydroponic system (gravel vs. raft), fish species, fish density, feeding rate, plant species, etc. Further, when shallow bed systems only three inches in depth are employed for the production of specialty greens such as lettuce and basil, the square footage of grow space will increase four times. Depending on the system design, the component ratio can favor greater outputs of either hydroponic produce or fish protein. A “node” is a configuration that links one fish tank to a certain number of hydroponic beds. Thus, one greenhouse may contain a multiple number of fish tanks and associated growing beds, each arranged in a separate node.)

ref: Wiki, Socal Aquaponics

Proposed aquaponics facility at Lorain, Ohio.

I’m planning a big holiday shindig, and I was going to put out my usual enormous cheese-and-cracker spread. This year I’ve been wondering: What’s the environmental impact of cheese?

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

A year ago we wrote about Gary Chang’s Domestic Transformer, an incredible 344 square foot apartment that could change into any of 24 different designs. We showed pictures and plans, but more than any house I have seen, this one needs a movie. Planet Green visited it for the World’s Greenest Homes, and it is truly four minutes of wow. Get a bigger version on Planet Green.

The following list includes all mammals which occur in Myanmar and are rated as Critically Endangered (CR), Endangered (EN) or Vulnerable (VU) in the 2004 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals.

• Critically Endangered:
  • Anthony’s Pipistrelle (Bat) (Pipistrellus anthonyi). (Endemic to Myanmar.)
  • Javan Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros sondaicus).
  • Joffre’s Pipistrelle (Bat) (Pipistrellus joffrei). (Endemic to Myanmar.)
  • Sumatran Rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis).
• Endangered:
  • Asian Elephant (Elephas maximus).
  • Banteng (Bos javanicus).
  • Blue Whale (Balaenoptera musculus).
  • Capped Leaf Monkey (Trachypithecus pileatus).
  • Fin Whale (Balaenoptera physalus).
  • Hoolock Gibbon (Bunipithecus hoolock). (Previously Hylobates hoolock.)
  • Particolored Flying Squirrel (Hylopetes alboniger).
  • Red Panda (Lesser Panda) (Ailurus fulgens).
  • Tiger (Panthera tigris).
• Vulnerable:
  • Anderson’s Squirrel (Callosciurus quinquestriatus).
  • Asiatic Black Bear (Ursus thibetanus).
  • Asiatic Golden Cat (Catopuma temminckii).
  • Assamese Macaque (Macaca assamensis).
  • Back-striped Weasel (Mustela strigidorsa).
  • Clouded Leopard (Neofelis nebulosa).
  • Dhole (Cuon alpinus).
  • Dugong (Dugong dugon).
  • Eld’s Deer (Cervus eldi).
  • Eurasian Otter (Lutra lutra).
  • Fishing Cat (Prionailurus viverrinus).
  • Flat-headed Cat (Prionailurus planiceps).
  • Gaur (Bos frontalis).
  • Irrawaddy Squirrel (Callosciurus pygerythrus).
  • Long-tailed Goral (Naemorhedus caudatus).
  • Mainland Serow (Capricornis sumatraensis).
  • Malayan Porcupine (Hystrix brachyura).
  • Malayan Tapir (Tapirus indicus).
  • Marbled Cat (Pardofelis marmorata).
  • Northern Pigtail Macaque (Macaca leonina).
  • Red Climbing Mouse (Vernaya fulva).
  • Red Goral (Naemorhedus baileyi).
  • Sikkim Rat (Rattus sikkimensis).
  • Smooth-coated Otter (Lutra perspicillata).
  • Sperm Whale (Physeter catodon).
  • Stumptail Macaque (Macaca arctoides).
  • Takin (Budorcas taxicolor).
• Other:
  • Fea’s Muntjac (Muntiacus feae). (Rated Endangered in the 1994 Red List; rated Data Deficient in the 1996 and 2000 Red Lists.)
  • Leaf Muntjac (Muntiacus putaoensis). (First identified in 1997 by Western scientists.)

၁၂ ႏွစ္ၾကာ အခ်ိန္ယူခဲ့ေသာ Avatar Animation  ရုပ္ရွင္ကားကို ဒါရိုက္တာ James Cameron ကရိုက္ကူးခဲ့ျပီး ဒီဇင္ဘာ ၂၀၀၉ ၌စတင္ရံုတင္ျပသခဲ့သည္။ ၄င္းဇာတ္ကား၌ အရည္အေသြးမ်ားစြာပါ၀င္ေနၿပီး သဘာ၀ပတ္၀န္းက်င္ဆိုင္ရာ အယူအဆႏွင့္ သင္ခန္းစာ မ်ားစြာပါ၀င္ေၾကာင္းေတြ႕ရမည္။ လူသားတို႕၏ အဆံုးစြန္ေသာ ပန္းတိုင္ႏွင့္ တန္ဖိုး၊  လူသားသည္ စၾကာ၀ဠာ၏ အလယ္ဗဟို္လ္လား ။ တျခားေသာမ်ိဳးစိတ္မ်ား၏ အခန္းက႑သည္ စသည္ၿဖင္႔ စဥ္းစားစရာမ်ားစြာေတြ႕ရမည္ ျဖစ္သည္။ ဤရုပ္ရွင္ကား၌ Cameron ၏ သဘာ၀ပတ္၀န္းက်င္ဆိုင္ရာ ခ်စ္ျမတ္ႏိုးစိတ္ႏွင့္ ခံစားခ်က္ ကုိရိုးသားပြင့္လင္းစြာ ေတြ႕ရၿပီး ၄င္းတို႕လင္မယားစံုတြဲသည္ ေနေရာင္ျခည္စြမ္းအင္ သံုး အိမ္တစ္အိမ္၌ ေနခဲ့ကာ ထိုဇာတ္ကားကို ဖန္တီးခဲ့ျခင္းျဖစ္သည္။ ထို႕ေၾကာင့္ ဤရုပ္ရွင္ကားမွာေန၍ ရခဲ့ေသာ သင္ခန္းစာေလးခ်က္ ကို ေအာက္၌ ေဖာ္ျပလိုက္ရပါေတာ့သည္။

၁။  ရာသီဥတု ေျပာင္းလဲမႈဆိုင္ရာ ျပႆနာ တစ္ခုတည္းမဟုတ္

အမ်ားအားျဖင့္ ထိုရုပ္ရွင္ကားကိုPandora ဟုေခၚေသာ ျဂိဳလ္တစ္ခုေပၚတြင္ ဇာတ္၀င္ခန္းအမ်ားဆံုး ဖန္တီးတည္ေဆာက္ထားသည္။ ဇာတ္လမ္းအရ ကမာၻေျမ၏  စြမ္းအင္္မလံုေလာက္မႈျပႆနာေၾကာင့္ ထိုျဂိဳလ္ေပၚ၌ စြမ္းအင္ဆိုင္ရာ သတၱဳတူးေဖာ္မႈ လုပ္ရန္ အဖြဲ႕တစ္ဖြဲ႔အား ေစလႊတ္ခံရပါသည္။ Cameron ယံုၾကည့္သည္မွာ ကမာၻၾကီးပူေႏြးလာမႈအႏၱရာယ္သည္ သဘာ၀ပတ္၀န္းက်င္ဆိုင္ရာတာ၀န္ယူမႈ ေျမာက္ျမားစြာရွိေနျခင္းပင္ျဖစ္ပါသည္။ သူ႕အဆိုအရ သိပၸံပညာသည္ စက္မႈလူ႕အဖြဲ႕အစည္း ျပႆနာမ်ားစြာကို မေျဖရွင္းႏိုင္ပဲ လူသားမ်ားသည္မိမိေလ့လာသိရွိႏို္င္ေသာ မိ်ဳးစိတ္အေရအတြက္ထက္ ပို၍ မ်ိဳးစိတ္မ်ားကို လွ်င္ျမန္စြာ ဖ်က္ဆီးေနျခင္းႏွင့္ မိမိတို႕နားလည္ေသာ အစားသံသရာ Food Chain လည္ပံုထက္ ပို၍ ၄င္းတို႕ကို ဖ်က္ဆီးေနျခင္းပင္ဟု ဆိုသည္ ။ အမွန္တကယ္ဆိုပါက Capenhagen ၌ျပဳလုပ္ေသာ ကမာၻ့ေခါင္းေဆာင္မ်ား၏ ရာသီဥတုေျပာင္းလဲ မႈဆိုင္ရာ ျပႆနာတစ္ခု တည္းမဟုတ္ဘဲ အျခားေသာျပႆနာမ်ား ရွိေနပါသည္ဟု ဆိုသည္။

၂။ မိခင္သဘာ၀ကို ရိုေသခ်စ္ျမတ္ႏိုးပါ။

ထိုဇာတ္ကား၌ Pandora သည္ အျပာေရာင္ျဂိဳလ္သားမ်ား၏ အိမ္ျဖစ္ျပီး ၄င္းတို႕၏ သဘာ၀ပတ္၀န္းက်င္ဆိုင္ရာ ဆက္ႏြယ္ပတ္သက္မႈသည္ မိခင္ႏွင့္သားသမီးကဲ့သို႕ ၾကီးမားေသာ ေမတာၱကို ေတြ႕ရမည္ ျဖစ္ပါသည္။ ၄င္း၏ ဆန္႕က်င္ဘက္အားျဖင့္ လူသားမ်ား ( အေမရိကန္မ်ား ) သည္ ကမာၻေျမ၏ စြမ္းအင္ျပႆနာမ်ားကို ေျဖရွင္းႏိုင္ရန္ အတြက္ ထိုျဂိဳလ္မွ သယံဇာတအရင္းအျမစ္မ်ားအား အျမတ္ထုတ္ရန္ေရာက္လာျခင္းျဖစ္သည္။ အျပာေရာင္ျဂိဳလ္သားမ်ား ( Na’vi )ႏွင့္ အေမရိကန္တို႕သည္ သဘာ၀အေပၚ ျပဳမူဆက္ဆံပံုတို႕မွာ မ်ားစြာျခားနာေနသည္ကိုေတြ႕ရျပီး ( Na’vi ) မ်ားသည္ သူေကာင္းမ်ား အျဖစ္ ၄င္းတို႕၏ သဘာ၀ပတ္၀န္းက်င္အေပၚထားေသာ အယူအဆႏွင့္ ရိုေသခ်စ္ျမတ္ႏိုးမႈကို ၾကီးမားေသာ အခန္းက႑မွ ပါ၀င္ျပသထားသည္။

၃။  ဤေျမကမာၻကို ေလးစားပါ။

သဘာသပတ္၀န္းက်င္ကို  Na’vi  ျဂိဳလ္သားမ်ားေလးစားသကဲ့သို႕ ကမာၻေျမကို ကၽြန္ေတာ္တို႕ ေလးစားသင့္ပါသည္။ ထို႕ေၾကာင့္ ကမာၻေျမ၏ သယံဇာတသံုးစြဲမႈပမာဏ ထိန္းခ်ဳပ္စီမံေရးသည္ မ်ားစြာလိုအပ္ေနပါေသးသည္ ဟုအထက္ပါသင္ခန္းစာ မ်ားမွ သတိေပးေနပါသည္။

၄။ သဘ၀ပတ္၀န္းက်င္ဆိုင္ရာ ျပႆနာမ်ားသည္( အမ်ား) ကၽြန္ေတာ္တို႕ထင္သကဲ့သို႕ မရိုးရွင္းပါ။

အမ်ားအားျဖင့္ ရုပ္ရွင္မ်ားထဲ၌ လူေကာင္းႏွင့္လူဆိုးအား ခြဲျခားသိရန္မွာ အလြန္လြယ္ကူေသာ္လည္း တကယ့္အျဖစ္မွန္ ၀န္းက်င္ဆိုင္ရာ ေဆြးေႏြးပြဲမ်ား ၌ အေျဖရရန္မွာ လံုး၀ မလြယ္ကူပါ။ ဥပမာ ကမာၻ့ႏိုင္ငံမ်ားသို႕ ျဖန္႕ျဖဴးေနေသာ ေလာင္စာဆီကုမၸဏီၾကီးမ်ားသည္ပင္ အျမဲတန္းလူဆိုးၾကီးမ်ား ျဖစ္မေနပါ ။ အေၾကာင္းအေနျဖင့္ ထိုကုမၸဏီၾကီးမ်ားသည္ တစ္ေန႕လွ်င္သန္းရွစ္ဆယ္ေသာ ေလာင္စာဆီေပပါမ်ား ထုတ္လုပ္ေနရျခင္းမွာ လူအမ်ားစုအေနျဖင့္ ထိုဆီမ်ားကို မလိုအပ္ပဲ အသံုးျပဳေနျခင္းေၾကာင့္ ျဖစ္ပါသည္။ အျခားေသာ ႏိုင္ငံမ်ားမွာ ထုတ္ကုန္ပစၥည္း မ်ားကို မွာယူသံုးစြဲျခင္းမွအစ ေလာင္စာဆီသံုးကိုယ္ပိုင္ကားမ်ား ေမာင္းႏွင္ျခင္းအဆံုး ျပႆနာ၏ အရင္းခံ အျဖစ္ ပါ၀င္ေနပါသည္။ထို႕ေၾကာင့္ သဘာ၀ပတ္၀န္းက်င္ဆိုင္ရာ ျပႆနာမ်ားသည္ ကမာၻ၌ အရႈပ္ေထြးဆံုးေသာ ျပႆနာမ်ား ျဖစ္သည္ကို Copenhagen ညီလာခံ၏  ရလဒ္မ်ားကို ၾကည့္ျခင္းအားျဖင့္ သိရွိ ႏိုင္ပါလိမ့္မည္။

• Directed by James Cameron
• Produced by James Cameron, Jon Landau
• Written by James Cameron
• Starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana
  Stephen Lang
  Michelle Rodriguez
  Giovanni Ribisi
  Joel David Moore
  C. C. H. Pounder
  Wes Studi
  Laz Alonso
  Sigourney Weaver
• Music by James Horner
• Cinematography Mauro Fiore
• Editing by James Cameron, John Refoua, Stephen E. Rivkin
• Studio Lightstorm Entertainment, Dune Entertainment, Ingenious Film Partners
• Distributed by 20th Century Fox
• Release date December 10, 2009 (2009-12-10)
  Running time 162 minutes
• Country United States
• Language English
• Budget $237,000,000
• Gross revenue $1,335,040,297

Ref-Treehugger,wiki

Upcycling is the opposite of downcycling, which is the other half of the recycling process. Downcycling involves converting materials and products into new materials of lesser quality. Most recycling involves converting or extracting useful materials from a product and creating a different product or material.For example, during the recycling process of plastics other than those used to create bottles, many different types of plastics are mixed together, resulting in a hybrid. This hybrid, marked by the chasing arrows symbol and the number 7, is used in the manufacturing of bottles and in plastic lumber applications. Recycling, downcycling, and upcycling are considered to be a “less bad” environmental approach.

In developing countries, where new raw materials are often expensive, upcycling is commonly practiced, largely due to impoverished conditions.

Upcycling has seen an increase in use due to its current marketability and the lowered cost of reused materials.

(ref: Wiki)