Re: Gardening for Oxygen

**"Douglas Kent" n*@mindspring.com**

OK, here's a quick example of gardening for oxygen:

Let's say you had a houseplant for 2 years (Ficus b.) and then decided
replace it. But before composting it, you weighed it. When completely dry
the small tree weighed 10 pounds. This means that 9 pounds of the plant was
carbon dioxide harvested from the atmosphere, .5 pounds was hydrogen
(waiting to hook up with oxygen to become water again), and the remaining .5
pounds were trace elements, minerals pulled from the soil. Your 10 pound
tree also represents 7.3 pounds of oxygen in the atmosphere (the product of
photosynthesis and tissue accumulation).

Now, and according to current greenwaste laws, you compost the entire tree.
In 1 year the tree will be completely decomposed, meaning that all the
carbon dioxide harvested will be released back to the atmosphere and all the
oxygen will be pulled back down (to become water once again). Your tree has
neither had a net oxygen gain or carbon dioxide loss to the atmosphere.

However, to keep your tree living (in its non-native environment), you have
had to give it energy consuming resources, such as water, fertilizers and
pesticides. The consumption of these resources released carbon dioxide and
in two years time you contributed 40 pounds. This 40 pounds then becomes the
net effect of your small houseplant.

When this model is applied to larger, urban settings the numbers get
astonishing. For example, a typical baseball field (in So. Cal) contributes
over 4,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.

Gardening for oxygen is not a anti-composting message -- it is a "maximize
photosynthesis and minimize respiration" message. No other garden related
product can reduce costs as effectively as compost. But like anything, its
application hits a point of diminishing return. My work simply identifies
these points; it is a strict, quantitative model of analysis.

Everyone of the facts stated above are referenced in my book.

I looking forward to hearing from you,

Doug Kent

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