Obituary for a Whale
Like the name "Pivot," my family's many splendid memories of camping trips pivot back to Assateague Island. The pulsing sound of the sea and the cacophonous squealing of seagulls at the camping ground used to wake me up. Peeking through the tent window, wild horses or deer were right before my eyes when I awoke. In the seashore where we used to enjoy taking pictures with wild horses, the steely waves were smashing the lifeless Pivot.
The news reported no obvious reasons for the death, adding that 146 humpback whales have died from being stranded nationwide since January 2016. Somehow my memory flashed back to when I read about flushed urine resulting in killing aquatic animals. Even after part of the nitrogen in urine is removed during an energy-intensive denitrification process, the remaining nitrogen often makes its way to natural waterways. The excess nitrogen in water causes increased algae and aquatic plant growth. As these plants decompose, it depletes the oxygen supply, killing aquatic animals and destroying ecosystem cycles. Each year, about 1.5 million metric tons of nitrogen pollution flows through the Mississippi River. The pollution creates a dead zone, about the size of New Jersey, in the Gulf of Mexico.
In my childhood, my grandma, a devout Buddhist, used to say, “Whatever wastes you throw away in this life you’ll have to consume in the afterworld!” Since staying home all day, every day because of COVID-19, I’ve been aware of how wasteful my family is and struggling to minimize waste. Every flush of a toilet I press pokes my conscience. Every flush is at least 1.6 gallons of water used. It reminds me that the daily average weight of human feces is 14 to 17 ounces per person, equivalent to about a loaf of bread.
Even if I eat like a bird, I will leave 13 tons of feces in my lifetime, which is as much as two heavy adult male elephants. In Korea, before flush toilets, human wastes were collected in a dry toilet and used as a natural fertilizer for farming. Outside of the living space, a traditional Korean house had a toilet room, made with a large container buried underground and a hole on top. “Empty your toilet tank!” I still remember a loud voice from an alley in my childhood. A man carrying two large buckets attached to a bar on his shoulder used to come around to collect those excrements.
Koreans, particularly in Jeju island, a natural world heritage site below the Korean peninsula, used to raise pigs with human wastes. These black-haired pigs, housed in sites built below the outside toilet called ‘Tongsibyeonso’, are famous for their uniquely dainty flavor, more chewy and juicy than others. The Jeju Black pigs being a historical specialty, there is a “Black Pork Street'' with lots of restaurants and a pig statue.
When my family visited Jeju in 2010, we went to a restaurant to taste the Black Pork. While the meat was grilled over charcoal and saturated by the smoke with the garlic at the sides, my six-year-old younger daughter was hesitating to eat as she declared to be a vegetarian. I nudged her by putting a little piece of its belly part that looked like a thick version of bacon strip, with five layers of fat and meat. She tasted a small bite just to test its fame, and said with a big grin, “I’ll be a vegetarian after this meal.”
In the old Korea, human wastes were also considered having some healing power. Dr. Sang-gon Lee, an oriental medical expert, studied the lives of kings in the Joseon dynasty, noticing parallels between modern lifestyle (eating well and being sedentary) and those of Joseon kings. In his research, he noted, “They used the urine of children, especially under the age of seven, and human feces for medicine. Chosun’s 11th king, Jungjong (1506-1544), was treated eight times with ‘Pagwan-tang’, juice made of boiled feces.”
In ancient Rome, India and China, urine was also used for cleaning. Ancient Romans even brightened their teeth with urine. Yang Guifei, the most renowned beauty in Chinese history, bathed using children’s urine - the secret of her beauty. In the 16th century, the British used urine to develop brighter colors when dying fabric. In the 21st century, finally, the western medical experts agree feces can be the best medicine for some cases. Fecal transplants, which have been used to treat antibiotic-resistant infections, such as Clostridium difficile, have proved to improve symptoms of autism.
According to studies conducted in Sweden, an adult’s urine contains enough nutrients to fertilize 50-100% of the crops needed to feed one adult. Nitrogen produced from urea in urine is essential for the growth of trees and plants, so urea is the largest component of modern commercial fertilizers. Interestingly, scientists even tested whether it is safe to use urine as fertilizer without laboratory treatment. They chose cucumbers because cucumbers are easily contaminated with bacterial infections and mostly eaten raw. Cucumbers showed increases in both size and number, after being fed urine, with no difference in bacterial contaminants from their control counterparts, and were equally tasty.
Being conscious of wasteful and hazardous urban life, I’ve been searching for a way to minimize the contamination and use the human waste. And I discovered the Biogas Septic System, which produces biogas and liquid fertilizer by processing sewage water and all biodegradable wastes. Getting free alternative energy and clean fertilizer while processing wastes without harming the environment - Isn't this like killing three birds with one stone? Excited, I vigorously researched how to adopt this.
The Biogas Septic System seemed in place in Europe. And a home biogas company, founded in Israel, came up with a product, the Bio-toilet, specially designed for a household to connect the toilet to this system. I could find many Chinese companies on Alibaba selling biogas septic systems and related products, such as biogas light bulbs, stoves, water heaters, solar chargers, and so on.
When I saw the advertisement with ‘We Ship to USA’ on homebiogas.com, I contacted them in excitement. After exchanging many emails filled with questions I had, I eventually gave up at their answer to my last question: Can human or dog wastes be used for activation? I raised this question after reading an instruction in their website’s FAQ: ‘Add 100 liters of animal manure from herbivores, fresh (wet and up to 2 days old) & clean as possible from straw/ stones/ earth.’ Their answer was concise and clear: “No, only a herbivore manure.”
In my urban life, I only see pets, such as dogs and cats living with their owners. Occasionally, I see deers or foxes wandering my neighborhood and birds flying in the sky. Where on the earth can I get that much of herbivorous feces?! Even if I find them, how can I bring 100 liters, equivalent to 100 kilogram, which is much heavier than my husband?
Henceforth, I looked for a composting toilet. Even if it is on a small scale and requires some labor, it would be better than doing nothing. I found so many composting toilets on the market and their prices vary widely. The inexpensive ones are just a simple storage, like a little advanced plastic piss pot without separating urine and feces. This segregation is critical as urine, diluted in water, can be used as liquid fertilizer right away while feces takes six months to be converted to potting soil.
Those that segregate urine from feces seemed to be ridiculously expensive. What if it doesn’t work after I invest over a thousand dollars in a toilet? I wish I had the skill to build this on my own to try it out. Tamed in a city, I had every excuse not to switch my lifestyle.
The picture of Pivot’s death ultimately prompted me to do something. Swimming in the sea of the Internet, I found an affordable composting toilet with a proper design. After ordering a toilet, I also ordered coco coir, the outer husk of coconut required for composting, and biodegradable trash bags for storing excrement. I also read articles about composting toilet tips and solutions that overcome problems, such as odor.
I’ve been having flashbacks of Pivot’s image. Pivot might have been one of those whales I used to watch in excitement with my kids on the shores of Assateague Island. How exuberantly they jumped and swooped in the dazzling vast ocean!
The winter rain fell all night long. Was it to mourn for Pivot who died at such a young age and many other aquatic lives dying early?
(February 2021)
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