ZERI: Nature's Design Principles

Modified from Kris Holstrom and Tom Riesing article

1. Whatever is waste for one species in one kingdom is food for another species in another kingdom. A corollary is that if one species is fed its own waste, it will degenerate. We see this today as mad cow disease. (And see #3 below.)

   We saw that the slash from the coffee plants was the perfect food for oyster mushrooms, and that the resulting enriched substrate provided a nutritionally balanced feed for cows and pigs. Their waste in turn fed the anaerobic bacteria in a bio-digester (producing methane) and the resulting sludge became food for algae-so all five kingdoms were needed to recycle all of the nutrients from the coffee tree slash.

2. Whatever is a toxin for a species in one kingdom is neutral or a nutrient, for at least one species belonging to another kingdom. Everything produced by nature is food for something-even toxic compounds. (But this is not necessarily so for waste produced by humans in their industrial processes.)
3. Whenever there is a virus jeopardizing a species, it is harmless for species in at least 3 other kingdoms. Passing infected material (waste) through the other kingdoms provides a way of eliminating the infection. The opposite of this is what has created diseases like mad-cow-feeding animal waste to the same species of animal.
4. The more diverse and local the systems, the more efficient and resilient their operations. When systems are more efficient and more resilient, the more diverse and the more local they are operating. The epitome of this is the thousands of seed banks once maintained by individual farmers. They stored seeds that were developed over centuries as those best suited to produce in their locality. This treasure has largely been lost-deliberately undermined by multi-national seed/bio-engineering companies. Their loss puts humanity at risk.
5. Whenever species of all five kingdoms interact, the system will integrate and separate all matter at ambient temperature and pressure. This is an incredible capability. We are very good at putting things together-aseptic or "tetra" packaging, CDs, etc., but generally don't think how the end product can be broken down for reuse or recycling.

References:

1. Zero Emissions Reasearch Initiative (ZERI).
2. Pauli, Gunter, Upsizing: The Road to Zero Emissions, More Jobs, More Income and No Pollution, Greenleaf Publishing, 1998, p. 114.
3. Pauli, Gunter A., The Blue Economy. Paradigm Publications. 2010.
4. Spinosa, Ronald C., "Fungi and Sustainability". Fungi. Volume 1:1 Spring 2008
5. Kris Holstrom and Tom Riesing. ZERI Methods and Prinicples: Design for the Five Kingdoms.
6. Cultivation of Shiitake on Coffee Waste
7. Coffee + Mushrooms Video
8. Stamets, P., Chilton, J.S. The Mushroom Cultivator: A Practical Guide to Growing Mushrooms at Home. Olympia, Washington: Agarikon Press, 1984.
9. Stamets, Paul. Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms. Ten Speed Press; 3rd edition (December 2000).
10. Stamets, Paul. Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World. Ten Speed Press (October 15, 2005).
11. Cultivation links on NAMA (North America Mycological Society) website