John Todd (Canadian biologist)
He addresses problems of food production and wastewater processing by using ecosystems technologies that incorporate plants, animals and bacteria.
He combines alternative technologies for renewable energy, organic farming, aquaculture, hydroponics and architecture[2] to create "living machines"[3][4][5] or "eco-machines".
[11] A research professor emeritus and distinguished lecturer at the University of Vermont,[12] Todd has published books on ecological design, as well as over 200 scientific papers, popular articles and essays.
[14][15] His early professional interest in the behavioral ecology of fish was the basis of his work as an assistant professor of ethology at San Diego State University[14] (1968–1970).
[19] In 1969 the Todds and William O. McLarney co-founded the New Alchemy Institute in Cape Cod, Massachusetts[15] to "engage in scientific research in the public interest on ecologically and behaviourally planned agriculture systems and rural land based communities.
[20]: 157 Its members proposed to apply principles and design strategies from the biological sciences to technology in ways that would be economically and environmentally sustainable.
"[15] One of the approaches they developed was the concept of bioshelters, "greenhouse-like architectural structures containing ecosystems for various purposes: food for humans, waste purification systems, etc.
"[23] Wendell Berry wrote admiringly: "The bioshelter idea, then, proposes to make a household on the pattern of an ecosystem, adapted to the local landscape and climate, using local materials... Its governing principle is symbiosis: the food production system heats the house; the fish tanks raise fish, heat the greenhouse, provide irrigation water and fertilizer for the plants.
[25][26]: 78–79 The original idea behind Ocean Arks was to build wind-powered vessels capable of carrying ecological materials and support technologies, for use in countries throughout the developing world.
[26] The term "Living Machines" was filed for registration as a wordmark in 1991, and was registered to Ocean Arks International in 1993 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
[26] Ecological Engineering Associates, Inc. (EEA) was founded in Marion, Massachusetts in 1988 as a commercial venture to more effectively promote the work of Ocean Arks International.
[26] Patents for processes relating to solar aquatics were filed under the inventor names of John Todd and Barry Silverstein in 1988 and 1991, and granted to EEA.
[26]: 85 Some of the personnel involved in Living Technologies, including president Michael Shaw, had connections to OAI and to a prior company called Advanced Greenhouse Systems (AGS) which had been established in 1989 by William Rapp, also in Burlington Vermont.
[16] Todd and his colleagues were some of the first people to actually create miniature ecosystems, largely self-perpetuating, which applied ecological principles to address human needs.
[38][39] Todd emphasized the importance of establishing an ecosystem with a large number of diverse species and then allowing it to "settle" to a stable state, a process that could take weeks, months, or even years.
[40] "The most interesting thing I have learned is the ability of living systems—given enough biological diversity—to self-organize, self-design, self-repair, self-replicate, and solve multiple problems for people.
These systems are ecologically engineered technologies developed to restore, conserve, or remediate polluted water, by replicating and accelerating the natural purification processes of streams, ponds and marshes.
In practical application, a living machine is a self-contained treatment system designed to treat a specific waste stream using the principles of ecological engineering.
It does this by creating diverse communities of bacteria and other microorganisms, algae, plants, trees, snails, fish and other living creatures in a series of tanks.
[22] A series of solar ponds, each with its own ecosystem, processes wastewater and uses recaptured materials to farm fish and to grow vegetables and fruits.
Exposed mechanical and plumbing runs, a rock-filled heat sink, and early solar collector panels proudly lined the building, while the dining room overlooked the greenhouse interior through a generous clerestory.
The Ark was supervised for two more years by Ken MacKay, a biologist hired by the provincial government's Institute of Man and Resources (IMR), and then closed in 1981.
[48] In 2016, it was commemorated in the exhibit Living lightly on the earth: building an Ark for Prince Edward Island, 1974-76 at the Confederation Centre of the Arts in Charlottetown, P.E.I.
[48][52] In 1988, the town of Harwich, Massachusetts hosted a four-month pilot of one of Todd's lagoon systems, involving 21 solar aquatic ponds and a constructed marsh.
The site in Chittenden County, near South Burlington, Vermont, was owned by the Massachusetts Institute for Excellence in Marine and Polymer Sciences, who received the grant.
While the Living Machines's primary function was to treat wastewater, it was also intended to be a model of sustainability and ecological design for the teaching of Oberlin students.
Limitations in available space and placement of features obstructed wetland flow, a brick wall with no functional purpose shaded some of the tanks, and some of the plants were in areas that had to be traversed by maintainers.
The Eco-machine's 4,500-square-foot greenhouse and constructed wetland was designed to recycle about 5 million gallons of wastewater per year through the activity of plants, bacteria, algae, snails, and fungi.
In addition to treating all of the wastewater from the Aiken Center, the system provides opportunities for ongoing ecological design research at the school.
Todd put forward a program for the reclamation of more than one million acres of damaged land, through soil remediation, forestry, and the development of renewable energy.
