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Re:$100M xPrize for Carbon Removal by detritus on Tuesday July 13, 2021 @06:21PM (#27826988)
A city such as London (where I'm at) generates about 3600 tonnes of wet mass poop a day. Thanks for making me work that out... .

Given poop isn't even a main constituent ingredient in new soil, but rather forms the 'flavouring' for the development of the biological and mineral matter otherwise, I'd suggest a well-developed bio-recycling infrastructure could be quite productive.

This isn't even factoring in food or farm waste, etc.

Re:$100M xPrize for Carbon Removal by wanderingmind on Tuesday July 13, 2021 @07:31PM (#27827495)
But how do you move the wet waste from London to Mediterranean and Sahara. Also soil is one part of equation. Water is another. Poor soil results in poor vegetation that leads to poor rainfall and water sources. So soil also needs to be coupled with water increase. I think preservation is probably more feasible than rejuvenation. India for example is losing top soil at unprecedented rates that can have devastating consequences.
Re:$100M xPrize for Carbon Removal by detritus on Tuesday July 13, 2021 @07:38PM (#27827549)
Start making it in Egypt or Tripoli?

People in deserts shit too, I think.

Re:$100M xPrize for Carbon Removal by ant6n on Tuesday July 13, 2021 @08:37PM (#27828041)
Well people have been shitting in the desert for centuries, but there’s no jungle yet, so something appears to be missing.
Re:$100M xPrize for Carbon Removal by detritus on Wednesday July 14, 2021 @12:55PM (#27835266)
And people have spent millennia over-extracting plants, leading to erosion and desertification and subsequent changes of local weather patterns (precipitation, humidity, etc).

If they'd known to replenish and make broader use of their defecations and organic waste, they might well have kept their 'jungle'.

Certainly, it appears to have worked for ancient Amazonian tribes who are thought to be responsible for much of the quality land in the Amazon basin, much of which would otherwise be quite shallow and sandy with low nutrients.