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Judi Lynn

(160,219 posts)
Sat Sep 16, 2017, 08:02 PM Sep 2017

How Food Waste Turned A Barren Landscape In Costa Rica Into A Lush Forest


September 16th, 2017 by Guest Contributor

Originally published on Nexus Media.
By Marlene Cimons

Orange isn’t just the new black. It’s also the new green. Twenty years ago, an orange juice producer dumped thousands of tons of orange peels and pulp onto a barren section of a Costa Rican national park, which has since transformed into a lush, vine-laden woodland. The shift is a dramatic illustration of how agricultural waste can regenerate a forest and sequester vast sums of carbon — for free.

Even more remarkable, it was an accident.

“I was totally floored,” said Timothy Treuer, a Princeton University researcher and lead author of a new study published in the journal Restoration Ecologyabout the rejuvenated forest. “The area that received the orange peels was divided from the [area that did not receive the peels] by a single track dirt road, but the two areas looked like completely different ecosystems.”

On one side was a pasture “with a few scattered scraggly trees,” he said. On the other, “was an overgrown jungle, so lush it required a machete to move through. Once I was done picking my jaw up off the ground, I realized that I was looking at something truly special. It blew my mind.”

More:
https://cleantechnica.com/2017/09/16/food-waste-turned-barren-landscape-costa-rica-lush-forest/
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How Food Waste Turned A Barren Landscape In Costa Rica Into A Lush Forest (Original Post) Judi Lynn Sep 2017 OP
I saw this article on Facebook, and thought it was so fascinating! CaliforniaPeggy Sep 2017 #1

CaliforniaPeggy

(149,308 posts)
1. I saw this article on Facebook, and thought it was so fascinating!
Sat Sep 16, 2017, 08:12 PM
Sep 2017

Thanks for posting it here.

The article I read talked about a pretty large sign that had been put up by the researchers, so that the forest could be found years later.

They could not find it until someone tracked exactly where it had been put. And then they had success. They dug out the sign so all could see what had been accomplished. It was amazing!

We need more stories like this.

K&R

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