Eric Maundu recently spoke in my Urban Gardening class at the University of California at Berkeley. The class is concerned with growing food in an urban environment, which often has obstacles such as low space availability, poor soil quality, and little sunlight. His aquaponics system was a fantastic example of using technology to move past those problems.
I was very impressed with Eric’s presentation. Rather than focus on his aquaponics system, Eric discussed general methods of using technology to solve problems. He presented the idea that nature’s systems are the most efficient and sustainable, and that good technological solutions are those that try to mimic the natural world. His aquaponics growing system was one example. He began with a system that was composed of only a fish tank, and explained that as a closed system the fish’s waste would build up and without having the right kinds of bacteria to break it down, the fish wouldn’t live very long. Next, he expanded the system to include the hydroponic grow bed, and explained that by cycling water from the fish tank through the bed, bacteria in the grow media and on the plants’ roots would process the fish waste. The plants themselves would use the waste the bacteria create as nutrients. This ultimately resulted in a system that takes fish food as an input, and returns food for humans in the form of plants and fish as outputs. He also gave an anecdote in which his understanding of the life cycle of a fly allowed him to create a food source while he was visiting his home country, Kenya. He drilled holes in the bottom of a bucket and filled it with decomposing matter. Flies swarmed to lay their eggs in the bucket. When the maggots hatched, they would fall out of the holes, to be eaten by chickens. He was able to feed chickens and reduce the fly population of the surrounding area. I think Eric’s approach should be more widely used today; it is a fantastic way to make use of the technology we have available, in simple ways, to create sustenance and comfort for our population.
I was not the only student that enjoyed Eric’s talk. During our last class of the semester each student reflected on their experience in the class, often expressing which speakers they enjoyed the most. He was mentioned more than any other speaker.
As a food production enthusiast, I find Eric’s work very intriguing because of potential to create sustenance. As an Electrical Engineering and Computer Science major, I like his approach to solving problems, and the way he uses computers and technology to make his solutions simpler and more effective. I believe I could learn a lot from him, and would love to be involved in his work.