Poop is nasty. No one really likes to think about
poop and to be fair, it’s gross and disgusting. The emotions we get when we
come across poop make sense. Poop can really be dangerous. If a human comes
into contact with feces through something like contaminated water or food, the
result be life threatening. Giardia, tapeworms, and other nasty things can all
result from coming into contact with feces. By sampling some feces and drinking
from ground water nearby, we did put ourselves at risk for some of these
problems.
There is actually more to the subject than meets
the eye. One example of this is a new medical procedure known as a fecal
microbiota transplant or an FMT for short. The process involves taking the
fecal bacteria from a healthy human and giving to another human with any number
of diseases. So far, FMT has been mostly used to treat Clostridium difficle, a bacterial infection that kills around
14,000 people a year. Your poop can
actually help someone else stay alive.
Cow manure and manure from other animals can be used
for so many things. In some areas of Africa attacks from insects can be
particularly devastating as they can carry many fatal diseases. In order to
combat these insects, some people actually burn cow dung to ward off the
insects. In just about every corner of the world, farmers use manure from a
whole host of animals to fertilize their fields. This practices returns
nutrients to the land and makes it more suitable for growing. Another use of
manure is as biofuel. Some nations such as Denmark use the animals’ waste to
power their homes. This helps to counter the large impact raising animals has
on the environment. Basically, by sampling the cow manure, I wasted it. There
are just so many uses for it and feces in general. Waste doesn’t need to be so
wasteful after all.
Manure can be combined with soil in order to increase the
amount of nutrients in the soil.
Sources:
http://www.greenfingers.uk.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Mulch-Hands.jpg
Having experienced Giardia first-hand, I can attest that it is not something that you want to contract, especially if you are not near modern medicine. I was so surprised when Mr. Kendall reached down and tasted some poop! And then again with the water in the field! That is actually potentially a very dangerous act! However, it is good to hear about the positive uses of feces around the globe. It is something that we often don't think about.
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