Nature's Clean up Crew

Pests?

So, since we're thinking 'Au-natural' here, what about pest control and the chemicals that are involved in controlling poisonous, dangerous or ugh Animals!!?!

The usual suspects people try to keep from their homes are:

Ants

Spiders

Flying insects of all kinds but especially Mosquitoes

Roaches

Rats

Mice

Squirrels

Possums

Skunks

Bears

Big Cats

Big Dogs / Wolves

Foxes

Snakes

Lizards

Birds - have you seen the mess a flock of pigeons can make!!?

Bats

Feel free to comment if you want to throw others into the mix but lets start with these and see how to control, or more importantly, incorporate into this human landscape.

Animals and insects can be beautiful, dangerous and truly wild, even in close proximity to large populations of humans. Disease can run unchecked through populations of rats & rodents that could then be passed to humans. Looking back as recently as the 1800's, We have been taught to fear 'uncontrolled' populations of animals in close vicinity to humanity. Events like the Black Plague teach much about how to much Au-Natural can truly suck.

Lets add another factor... animals can be useful when controlled.

It's just been recently that humans have figured out how to *exclude* everything from our "inside" spaces; typically using harsh chemical substances. How do we do that with the Gaiaship? I mean come on! With a name like Gaiaship we have to take at least some 'Earth' with us inside. The whole point of this is true sustainability in a compact form. Sustainability for the human biosphere includes a huge number of lesser species, whether we like it or not.

Chemical substances cannot be allowed to concentrate to hazardous levels in the>95% Recycling that's going on here. We capture rainwater for use on site, grey water from tubs and sinks is being used to irrigate the landscaping. So, if we can't use chemicals, what are more organic methods? Ah, useful Critters! Natures pre-built 'nano-machines'.

Ants are scavengers - natures true small waste disposal system. They can be painful and problematic, example 1: fire-ants in Texas, or they can be rather innocuous like black sugar ants. These tiny critters are usually seen as little trails of moving dots to spilled foods. Ants can also be contained, and displayed to good effect. Truly natures ultimate, pint sized clean up crew. Think dead mouse: rot or be consumed by ants? Which is going to take less time? Which will smell better? Not the rotting corpse covered in flies...

So, we keep the ants and perhaps even; dare I suggest it - pick the kind we want and foster them to the exclusion of other species?  Competition for 'picking up' after humans tasks will happen; we just try and pick winners.  Fill the niche.

Spiders - the hunters & killers of the micro world.  Pest and pest control in their own right - if the mosquitoes (something we have to control) go crazy and breed out of control... the spiders fight back with methods of their own. But again; we have to fill the niche - picking a relatively benign spider (I'm not making the call on which... I'll leave that to the Biology professionals) to foster.  For a truly bizarre mental picture... think about air intakes into the base / utility areas screened for pests first by a horde of non-poisonous spiders; then of course by more conventional means like screens; sterilization etc.  But first crack at the inbound pests are our very own pet spiders.  

FYI - I'm getting shivers down my back just posting about this... I suffer from mild arachnophobia.  

Mosquitoes!!  Ah the most loathsome of flying insects simply because it feasts on our very flesh and there is little that can be done about it... Or is there.  Screens on windows and doors of course.  Control of any and all standing water; no stagnant pools.  Water is captured; re-used and controlled on campus.  And most importantly... predators:  Birds & Bats in the air; fish and frogs in the water.  

Roaches - I got nothing here.  My house is clean of them; but I know others that can't seem to keep them at bay.  Perhaps an ant that would dine on them?

Lets turn next to the little rodents.  Control of these little buggers is the purview of another level of critter.  We're intruding on macro territory here because some of these things... rabbit & squirrel for instance are welcomed in human territory for the most part.  But, mice and rats are more likely to live indoors; where the people do and this is a real health issue.  So; controlling these guys in our ecosystem:  Snakes & Lizards.  Yup I said invite non-poisonous reptiles into our utility spaces; foster them by giving them monitored dens and clear access to the spaces between the walls.  Natures own; highly efficient, self propelled & motivated snake-bot.  

Now I'm not saying that we should simply let these sometimes dangerous critters run completely wild.  Rather I'd use them for pest control; house them under lights and show them off to people in an educational center.  I'd also tag them with RFID's and track their movement throughout the facility using strategically placed scanners.  Poisionous ones would be captured & released well away from the facility. 

Now for the flying rodents.  Austin Texas has had a thing for bats.  It's very proud of it's very own; downtown colony of the largest gathering of Mexican Freetail bats in the world.  There are statues and educational field trips; a even mediocre hockey team (iceskating in Texas!?!)  In the Gaiaship we play host to our own (tagged & tracked) population of these night-flying bug eaters. 

The biggest issue I have with bats is their waste!!!  OMG that stuff stinks and the insects that thrive in it are freaky cool; but highly undesired in close proximity to healthy minded humans.  

So I propose a design consideration in particular favor of the bats: they have roosts designed for them overhead of the psudo-swamp.  Already covered for capturing methane releases from the final steps of facility waste water; the bats guano is captured by the flowing waste water; processed automatically and it's bio-mass is harvested in the methane & syngas energy systems. 

Slightly up the scale we get to nuisance critters for the Texas area Skunks; Possums and the 'little-bears of human trash-bins' raccoons.  Again; using the MO of capture; tag and release; we would attempt to keep these populations under control using snakes... and another step up the food-chain: predatory birds.

Ah; the Majesty of a hawk stooping- there's almost nothing that compares with watching a hunting bird drop from the sky, flaring at the last second to snatch it's prey at top speed.  We would encourage the sport of hawking on the campus of a Gaiaship.  Owls too have a place in our scheme.  Holes and nests for them are factored into the design of park spaces & on the primary walls of the facility.  

Song-birds too are especially encouraged.  As a natural and very pleasant addition to the trees we would focus some design effort specifically to enable their residence.  For instance planting specific attractive plants (like fruti & nut bearing) and putting up protected nests.  

Next step up the food-chain: our very own pets.  Cats and Dogs can fill their own niche as well.  Preying on snakes; birds, large bugs, mice and rats alike they were early domesticates for a reason.  However; they too can and do get out of line... and at this point we're beginning to get into possible human harm levels.  Dogs & cats would need to be domesticated and human controlled.  Dogs are more likely to be strictly controlled in the facility by human owners.  One thing we don't want is an uncontrolled pack roaming the hallways.  Cats on the other hand are prime for the line of defence the human population will need from all the other critters.  Encouraging and fostering a dense colony of 'strays' (Again tagged, fostered & monitored) would be a great method to keep the less desirables at bay.  

Another step up and we're looking at the really big animals including bears and big cats.  These are excluded from our plan because they compete directly with humans and can cause serious harm to humans if not strictly controlled.  We'll have to resort to the time honored method of human hunting to control these, though the point shouldn't have to be made that tranking and releasing is the usual 'hunt'.  

All in all; we build a true ecosystem.  Carefully selecting compatable & complementary species at each level to fill each ecological niche... no poisons required.