Jim Laurie has used natural biological processes to turn some of the most toxic and polluted effluent around – both sewage and industrial waste – into clean, clear water. Presented at the Restoring Water Cycles to Reverse Global Warming conference October 16th-18th, 2015 at Tufts University. www.bio4climate.org

1. Restoring Water Cycles
to Reverse Global Warming
See bio4climate.org
Tufts University
Medford, Massachusetts, USA
October 16-18, 2015

2. Biodiversity for a Livable Climate
Loss of Biodiversity: Consequences
Freshwater: Reduced Availabili
Quality
Food: Reduced Availability &
Quality
Disease Processes in Many
Species (including Humans)
Loss of Climate Stability - Globa
Warming
Jim Laurie
jimlaurie7@gmail.com

3. “When you understand the power of self-organization, you
begin to understand why biologists worship biodiversity even
more than economists worship technology.”
“Hierarchical Systems evolve from the bottom up.
The purpose of the upper layers of the hierarchy
is to serve the purposes of the lower layers.”
from Thinking in Systems
by Donella Meadows
Places to Intervene in a System
12. Numbers - “Mostly, the numbers are not worth the sweat put into them”
(I’ll skip a few.)
4. Self-Organizing Systems (John Todd & Eco-Machines)
3. Goals (What do you want? - Allan Savory & HM)
2. Paradigms (Lynn Margulis - Microbial Symbiosis)
1. Transforming Paradigms (questioning your own beliefs and paradigms)

4. Lynn Margulis - 5 Kingdoms >>> Gaia
4

5. Lynn Margulis - Symbiosis is a key to evolution.

7. New Alchemy Institute
1969 to 1990
John Todd, Nancy Jack Todd, Bill McLarney
Bucky liked this dome.
• g
h
g
7

8. Inside the Pillow Dome ~ 1980’s
8

13. Lab Results
In Out
Ammonia, ppm 20.51 1.07
(NH3)
Chloroform, ppb 14.4 0.3
(CHCl3)
BPA, ppb 513 7
(hormone disruptor)

16. Where are the
Microbes?
What is
brittleness?
What do
you want?

18. Elizabeth, Hayden, Jamila, Annie, Lynus
Restoration Ecology Home-Pod
also AP Environmental Science

20. 90% of the Work will be
done by other species.
How do we give Voice to them?
How do we learn from them?
• Think like a Fish.. or like a Nitrobacter.. or Fungi.
• What does the Fish need?
• How does the Fish interact with other species?
• How can the “Symbiosis Team” work together to
improve the process?
• Can Humans be a part of the Symbiosis Team?

26. Jerrie Tipton - 1989

29. Carol Evans
BLM Biologist
near Elko, Nevada
~ 10 inch annual rain
Jon Griggs
Maggie Creek Ranch
If you can rehydrate
Nevada, you can
do it anywhere!