WEBVTT

00:00:08.260 --> 00:00:11.180
Janice Kelsey: Hi, I'm Janice.
Jody Spangler: And I'm Jody.

00:00:11.180 --> 00:00:13.480
"Raising baby dragons to save the world."

00:00:13.990 --> 00:00:16.920
JK: Saving the world seems
like a pretty big task,

00:00:16.920 --> 00:00:19.000
for ordinary people like you and me.

00:00:19.000 --> 00:00:20.941
JS: Not for a dragon.

00:00:20.941 --> 00:00:23.320
JK: Just for this time together,

00:00:23.320 --> 00:00:27.600
we want you to imagine
a world where dragons live,

00:00:27.600 --> 00:00:30.790
where all children play on green grass,

00:00:30.790 --> 00:00:33.800
where women have access
to clean cooking fuel,

00:00:33.800 --> 00:00:35.080
right in their own homes,

00:00:35.600 --> 00:00:38.330
where families can light
and heat their homes

00:00:38.330 --> 00:00:40.310
at absolutely no cost.

00:00:40.310 --> 00:00:42.842
JS: Imagine, all this is true!

00:00:43.680 --> 00:00:47.870
JK: Allow us to introduce you
to how together we can make this happen.

00:00:49.320 --> 00:00:51.920
We're moms, we're educators

00:00:51.920 --> 00:00:57.270
and recently, we and several other women
have been dubbed "the women of biogas".

00:00:57.275 --> 00:00:58.735
(Laughter)

00:00:58.735 --> 00:01:02.320
We have become part of a growing
global community on Facebook,

00:01:02.320 --> 00:01:06.920
called "Solar CITIES Biogas
Innoventors & Practitioners",

00:01:06.920 --> 00:01:09.320
founded by dr. Thomas H Culhane.

00:01:10.120 --> 00:01:14.536
Over 6,000 members
are learning and sharing

00:01:15.680 --> 00:01:18.760
a technology that we believe
is an overlooked technology,

00:01:18.760 --> 00:01:23.280
called small-scale biogas,
or home-scale biogas.

00:01:23.280 --> 00:01:27.200
This ancient technology is well-known
in countries like India and China.

00:01:27.403 --> 00:01:29.900
JS: Still, many people
have never even heard of it.

00:01:30.920 --> 00:01:33.880
JK: We're going to introduce you
to your own baby dragon today;

00:01:33.880 --> 00:01:35.080
but before we do,

00:01:35.080 --> 00:01:37.520
you'll need to understand
the meaning of two words,

00:01:38.240 --> 00:01:40.816
biodigestion and biogas.

00:01:42.040 --> 00:01:44.680
Most people are familiar with composting.

00:01:44.680 --> 00:01:45.713
In composting,

00:01:45.713 --> 00:01:48.720
we pile up our leaves
and our grass clippings and garden waste

00:01:48.720 --> 00:01:49.880
into one big pile.

00:01:50.600 --> 00:01:53.880
Then we turn it from time to time,
to mix air into the pile.

00:01:54.640 --> 00:01:56.280
It heats up and it breaks down

00:01:56.280 --> 00:01:59.040
because of something
called aerobic bacteria.

00:01:59.800 --> 00:02:01.520
That's bacteria that likes air.

00:02:02.120 --> 00:02:03.160
After a few months,

00:02:03.160 --> 00:02:05.853
we have well-aged compost
that we can put on our garden.

00:02:07.200 --> 00:02:12.920
In biodigestion we take our manure,
our food waste and our garden waste

00:02:12.920 --> 00:02:15.298
and we put it into a closed container.

00:02:15.880 --> 00:02:20.040
The bacteria inside of this container
digest the material,

00:02:20.040 --> 00:02:21.720
then we fill up the tank with water

00:02:21.720 --> 00:02:25.880
to remove all the air,
because this bacteria does not like air.

00:02:26.920 --> 00:02:30.920
This bacteria breaks up the contents
of the container within 24 hours.

00:02:32.360 --> 00:02:34.200
In a day, rather than months.

00:02:34.880 --> 00:02:39.040
The bacteria inside of you,
me and any animal is anaerobic,

00:02:39.040 --> 00:02:40.720
which leads us to the word biogas.

00:02:42.073 --> 00:02:44.960
The meaning of the word biogas
is much easier to understand.

00:02:45.920 --> 00:02:50.800
The dictionary says that biogas
is a gaseous fuel, especially methane,

00:02:51.640 --> 00:02:55.280
produced by the fermentation
of organic matter.

00:02:57.040 --> 00:02:59.910
In the relatively
new field of permaculture,

00:03:00.770 --> 00:03:02.640
the biogas is considered

00:03:02.640 --> 00:03:06.040
one of the "appropriate technologies"
in permaculture design.

00:03:07.320 --> 00:03:11.400
Now, to bring biogas
down to a very basic level,

00:03:12.080 --> 00:03:14.360
I'm going to illustrate by using a word

00:03:14.360 --> 00:03:18.240
that you don't typically hear
in such a prestigious venue as this.

00:03:19.390 --> 00:03:21.030
Are you ready?

00:03:21.395 --> 00:03:22.460
Fart.

00:03:22.460 --> 00:03:23.760
(Laughter)

00:03:23.760 --> 00:03:25.670
You knew it was coming.

00:03:26.560 --> 00:03:31.080
How many of you men,
maybe even some of you ladies,

00:03:31.110 --> 00:03:34.000
lit or knew someone
who lit a fart on fire

00:03:34.000 --> 00:03:36.520
because they didn't believe
it would really work?

00:03:36.520 --> 00:03:37.840
And it did!

00:03:38.520 --> 00:03:43.240
Well, that is an example of biogas
on a very small scale.

00:03:43.660 --> 00:03:47.040
Your body is a small-scale biodigester.

00:03:47.560 --> 00:03:48.680
You eat food;

00:03:48.680 --> 00:03:51.480
the bacteria in your gut digest that food;

00:03:51.480 --> 00:03:54.960
it creates gas; and you pass biogas.

00:03:55.469 --> 00:03:56.851
Pretty simple, right?

00:03:57.520 --> 00:04:01.000
Well, our baby dragon
is much more delicate.

00:04:01.760 --> 00:04:04.160
This is the biogas stove in my kitchen.

00:04:05.000 --> 00:04:08.600
My baby dragon helps me
to cook my breakfast on biogas,

00:04:08.600 --> 00:04:11.080
every morning, with a clean blue flame.

00:04:12.320 --> 00:04:16.600
Can you believe that you can cook meals
on poop and food waste?

00:04:16.600 --> 00:04:18.200
(Laughter)

00:04:18.200 --> 00:04:21.440
Well we're going to show you how,
beginning with conception.

00:04:22.240 --> 00:04:25.840
Jodi's going to help us put together
the basic body parts.

00:04:27.360 --> 00:04:31.440
What we have here
is an intermediate bulk container.

00:04:32.000 --> 00:04:35.600
Now, these containers are used
to ship liquids all around the world.

00:04:37.000 --> 00:04:41.240
But once they're done with that,
they become industrial trash.

00:04:41.240 --> 00:04:43.520
So we can recycle this trash

00:04:43.520 --> 00:04:46.200
and turn it into a source
of sustainable energy.

00:04:46.960 --> 00:04:48.880
We first cut a hole in one corner,

00:04:48.880 --> 00:04:51.092
and then we cut a hole
in the opposite corner.

00:04:51.880 --> 00:04:54.920
Now what Jodi's holding up
are called uniseals.

00:04:54.920 --> 00:04:58.760
They're basically rubber gaskets
that create a tight seal with no leaks.

00:04:58.760 --> 00:05:02.080
We would normally glue these in,
but we're not going to do that today.

00:05:05.070 --> 00:05:08.440
Your baby dragon is going to need
three basic sections:

00:05:08.440 --> 00:05:10.840
she is going to need
a mouth and a throat;

00:05:10.840 --> 00:05:14.080
she's going to need an outlet
that we'll talk more about later;

00:05:14.080 --> 00:05:18.360
and then she is also going to spit fire
when she's old enough.

00:05:18.360 --> 00:05:20.160
She's going to spit biogas,

00:05:20.160 --> 00:05:22.480
so she's going to need
an outlet for that too.

00:05:23.240 --> 00:05:26.000
The gas outlet is basically

00:05:26.000 --> 00:05:29.150
a combination of pipes
and plumbing fixtures

00:05:29.150 --> 00:05:30.260
that get glued together

00:05:30.260 --> 00:05:32.640
and then fastened
to the lid of the container.

00:05:33.720 --> 00:05:35.560
Let's take a look inside.

00:05:35.560 --> 00:05:38.400
Your little embryo of a dragon

00:05:38.400 --> 00:05:42.800
has a thin layer of stone
in the bottom of its belly

00:05:42.800 --> 00:05:47.786
to create more surface area
for the bacteria to live on.

00:05:49.920 --> 00:05:51.640
Next, your baby dragon

00:05:51.640 --> 00:05:54.600
is going to need
some good healthy gut bacteria

00:05:54.600 --> 00:05:58.200
so we're going to add
a nice thick layer of fresh manure.

00:05:59.210 --> 00:06:01.920
You can use cow, horse, chicken.

00:06:01.920 --> 00:06:06.560
Tou can even use dog or human manure
or any combination of those.

00:06:06.560 --> 00:06:11.200
If you don't have any animals of your own
offer to help clean out somebody's barn.

00:06:11.200 --> 00:06:14.750
JS: They will think you're crazy,
but they'll appreciate it in the end.

00:06:15.360 --> 00:06:18.418
JK: Finally, we add water.

00:06:19.749 --> 00:06:21.700
Fill the tank with water.

00:06:22.080 --> 00:06:25.960
Now, we allow this to incubate
for two to three weeks.

00:06:26.960 --> 00:06:30.600
Once the bacteria
has digested what's in the manure

00:06:30.600 --> 00:06:34.040
it's going to get hungry,
and it's going to look for food.

00:06:34.040 --> 00:06:35.880
And it's going to hatch!

00:06:36.480 --> 00:06:38.817
JS: Congratulations!

00:06:38.838 --> 00:06:40.328
(Laughter)

00:06:40.360 --> 00:06:44.280
JK: You are now the proud parent
of a baby dragon,

00:06:44.280 --> 00:06:48.880
or what we call
a solar cities IBC biodigester.

00:06:50.390 --> 00:06:54.320
Seriously, this is how easy
and simple the technology is.

00:06:54.320 --> 00:06:59.602
But this is a living biological creature
that needs to be cared for.

00:06:59.840 --> 00:07:05.120
Caring for a home-scale biodigester
is just like raising a baby dragon.

00:07:05.960 --> 00:07:09.640
The first thing we need to learn
about any baby is how to feed her.

00:07:09.640 --> 00:07:14.480
She has a mouth but she can't chew:
she's just a baby with no teeth.

00:07:15.320 --> 00:07:17.120
We use an InSinkErator

00:07:17.120 --> 00:07:20.560
to grind our food waste
with equal amounts of water

00:07:20.560 --> 00:07:21.950
to create baby food.

00:07:22.640 --> 00:07:25.160
You can also use
a hand grinder or a blender.

00:07:25.160 --> 00:07:26.400
It works just as well.

00:07:26.400 --> 00:07:30.080
To feed this baby dragon
we simply pour the food into her mouth.

00:07:30.600 --> 00:07:34.840
It'll go all the way down to the bottom
where this pipe is cut at an angle.

00:07:35.268 --> 00:07:36.470
There you go.

00:07:37.840 --> 00:07:42.520
Once inside the belly of the baby dragon,
the food will begin to digest.

00:07:42.520 --> 00:07:45.680
A heavier food at the bottom
is going to digest more quickly

00:07:45.680 --> 00:07:48.440
because it's closest
to the greatest number of bacteria.

00:07:49.480 --> 00:07:51.920
Oils and food that float to the top,

00:07:51.920 --> 00:07:54.242
they're going to digest
a little more slowly.

00:07:54.242 --> 00:07:57.960
In the middle of the tank
is our digested material.

00:07:58.186 --> 00:08:03.000
Now we all know, raising a baby
is all about bodily functions.

00:08:03.000 --> 00:08:06.440
So keep in mind,
her belly is full of water

00:08:06.440 --> 00:08:09.160
and what goes in must come out.

00:08:09.160 --> 00:08:12.096
Yes, your baby dragon pees.

00:08:12.308 --> 00:08:13.899
(Laughter)

00:08:14.160 --> 00:08:17.960
The liquid will be pulled up
through the hole in that smaller pipe.

00:08:17.960 --> 00:08:21.040
I guess you can call this section
your baby dragon's bladder.

00:08:22.120 --> 00:08:24.189
JS: This is liquid gold.

00:08:25.400 --> 00:08:29.360
JK: That is our very concentrated
and perfect fertilizer.

00:08:29.868 --> 00:08:34.360
We can use it on our garden,
we can water our lawn with it,

00:08:34.360 --> 00:08:36.461
we even share it
with our gardening friends.

00:08:36.461 --> 00:08:39.239
And unlike composting,

00:08:39.239 --> 00:08:43.440
our baby dragon is a closed system
at the perfect temperature,

00:08:43.440 --> 00:08:47.400
so this fertilizer has lost
none of its nutrient value.

00:08:47.400 --> 00:08:49.880
And it shows, obviously it shows.

00:08:50.294 --> 00:08:54.000
Because my garden has never been
as productive or as green.

00:08:56.079 --> 00:08:57.600
Small-scale,

00:08:57.600 --> 00:09:01.960
but there are many places
that can benefit from small-scale biogas.

00:09:02.960 --> 00:09:05.920
Our team has chosen three
to highlight for you today:

00:09:06.520 --> 00:09:08.880
right here in our own backyard
of Pennsylvania;

00:09:09.912 --> 00:09:11.200
a school in Kenya;

00:09:11.200 --> 00:09:13.027
and a refugee camp in the Middle East.

00:09:13.680 --> 00:09:17.320
We truly believe that together
we can change the world.

00:09:19.240 --> 00:09:24.400
Imagine giving women
the ability to feed their families

00:09:24.400 --> 00:09:28.520
with clean, free cooking fuel
made from manure and food waste.

00:09:29.190 --> 00:09:30.200
This is Susan.

00:09:30.200 --> 00:09:32.440
She lives in the Amish countryside,

00:09:32.440 --> 00:09:35.640
in a community that rarely uses
electricity tied to the grid.

00:09:36.520 --> 00:09:39.360
She has a huge garden,
and plenty of garden waste.

00:09:40.040 --> 00:09:43.800
She can use that fuel
to cook and to heat a part of her home,

00:09:43.800 --> 00:09:46.493
and she can put the fertilizer
right back on her garden.

00:09:47.440 --> 00:09:50.640
We can empower women like Susan
here and around the world

00:09:50.640 --> 00:09:52.310
to do this in their own backyards.

00:09:52.556 --> 00:09:53.890
JS: Imagine that.

00:09:55.880 --> 00:09:57.440
JK: This can also be used

00:09:57.440 --> 00:09:59.640
in struggling communities
around the world.

00:10:00.640 --> 00:10:03.760
This is a picture of
"Rescue Team Kenya - Community School".

00:10:05.360 --> 00:10:09.440
It is located within
an overcrowded labyrinth of tin shacks,

00:10:09.440 --> 00:10:10.940
in a hot climate,

00:10:10.940 --> 00:10:13.480
with no running water and no real toilets.

00:10:14.000 --> 00:10:17.320
The man in the orange shirt
is Robert Ongera Ombeka.

00:10:18.080 --> 00:10:22.320
He lived in the slums, he's self educated,
he got himself out of the slum

00:10:22.320 --> 00:10:25.120
and now he goes back
every day to change lives.

00:10:26.200 --> 00:10:30.040
Together we managed to support Robert
in setting up this little school

00:10:30.040 --> 00:10:31.880
with room enough for 15 students.

00:10:32.889 --> 00:10:36.320
Sixty-five children showed up
the first day he opened the door.

00:10:37.760 --> 00:10:41.280
There is a powerful desire
for education in Kenya,

00:10:41.280 --> 00:10:43.950
even among the most vulnerable:

00:10:43.950 --> 00:10:48.150
the impoverished, the orphaned,
the hungry and even the sick.

00:10:49.880 --> 00:10:51.480
We are all about education.

00:10:52.440 --> 00:10:56.240
We care about empowering individuals
to rise above their situation.

00:10:56.800 --> 00:11:00.960
But it begins we clean water,
food and sanitation.

00:11:01.880 --> 00:11:03.000
Together as a community

00:11:03.000 --> 00:11:06.560
we managed to bring clean water,
food and school supplies

00:11:06.560 --> 00:11:08.099
to this little makeshift school.

00:11:09.160 --> 00:11:12.400
Imagine these children
learning how to grow food

00:11:12.400 --> 00:11:14.880
with the fertilizer they helped to make.

00:11:16.680 --> 00:11:20.360
Imagine smoke-free cooking
in Kenya and around the world.

00:11:21.200 --> 00:11:24.400
Millions of people,
mostly women and children,

00:11:24.960 --> 00:11:27.720
would no longer die
from carbon-related illnesses,

00:11:27.720 --> 00:11:29.020
every year.

00:11:29.680 --> 00:11:34.420
JS: With no need for firewood,
imagine an end to deforestation!

00:11:34.758 --> 00:11:36.800
JK: The village of Chittoor,
India, did it.

00:11:37.400 --> 00:11:41.520
They call it the smoke-free village:
every family uses a biodigester.

00:11:44.170 --> 00:11:49.200
Imagine: free biogas,
no need for firewood, and there's more.

00:11:50.720 --> 00:11:53.600
Imagine connecting
bio digesters to toilets.

00:11:54.520 --> 00:11:56.120
That would not only provide them

00:11:56.120 --> 00:11:59.320
with better sanitation,
clean cooking fuel and fertilizer,

00:11:59.320 --> 00:12:01.080
but would also give them dignity.

00:12:01.840 --> 00:12:03.920
This is not a toilet that you see here.

00:12:03.920 --> 00:12:07.400
This is just the safest place
for this young lady to relieve herself

00:12:07.400 --> 00:12:08.410
in Mukuru Slum.

00:12:10.640 --> 00:12:13.080
Our third idea relates to refugee camps.

00:12:14.600 --> 00:12:17.840
Our first experience
with refugees was in 2005,

00:12:17.840 --> 00:12:22.160
when I became the advisor
to a 15 year old boy from Baghdad, Iraq

00:12:22.160 --> 00:12:23.891
who came here as a youth ambassador.

00:12:24.560 --> 00:12:28.680
We've all seen photos of the refugee camps
growing around the world.

00:12:29.360 --> 00:12:31.920
This crisis has become so severe

00:12:31.920 --> 00:12:35.160
that the number of people living
in this refugee camp alone

00:12:35.840 --> 00:12:38.640
makes it equal to the second
largest city in Jordan.

00:12:40.205 --> 00:12:41.599
They have nowhere to go.

00:12:43.080 --> 00:12:46.120
This refugee camp has evolved into a city.

00:12:47.640 --> 00:12:50.360
This is our crisis, it's happening now.

00:12:50.360 --> 00:12:51.880
This is in the news today.

00:12:54.360 --> 00:12:57.720
Mass migration,
for various reasons, is real.

00:12:58.720 --> 00:13:01.320
Camps like this are not
going away anytime soon.

00:13:02.440 --> 00:13:06.880
Imagine clean, accessible cooking fuel
for every family in this refugee camp.

00:13:08.200 --> 00:13:11.600
Imagine how simple
a process sanitation becomes,

00:13:11.600 --> 00:13:14.760
when dealing with human waste
and food waste right on-site.

00:13:16.320 --> 00:13:18.320
Small-scale biogas is scalable:

00:13:18.320 --> 00:13:20.840
we can scale it up
and we can scale it down.

00:13:20.840 --> 00:13:23.160
Is it for a small family like Susan's,

00:13:23.160 --> 00:13:25.560
or is it for a school,
like Rescue Team Kenya,

00:13:26.240 --> 00:13:27.880
or is it for a community

00:13:27.880 --> 00:13:32.500
like the ever-growing number
of refugee camps in the world today?

00:13:34.140 --> 00:13:36.810
Imagine an end to fracking.

00:13:36.810 --> 00:13:38.490
This is natural gas.

00:13:43.560 --> 00:13:48.000
Imagine no concerns about pipelines
running for your neighborhood,

00:13:49.080 --> 00:13:50.680
because we create our own energy.

00:13:50.680 --> 00:13:53.290
We keep our waste, it has value.

00:13:53.960 --> 00:13:57.020
We turn it into energy, and we benefit.

00:13:58.960 --> 00:14:01.160
Imagine freedom from fossil fuels:

00:14:02.200 --> 00:14:04.640
countries like India and Sweden

00:14:04.640 --> 00:14:07.550
are running buses
and trash trucks on biogas.

00:14:07.859 --> 00:14:09.320
We can too.

00:14:09.320 --> 00:14:10.760
The possibilities are endless.

00:14:13.640 --> 00:14:19.160
The rapid spread of this technology
could have a profound, global impact.

00:14:20.200 --> 00:14:21.397
What can you do?

00:14:21.960 --> 00:14:25.680
Go online and learn more
about solar cities and biodigestion.

00:14:27.280 --> 00:14:30.360
Join the biogas movement,
and do this at home.

00:14:31.600 --> 00:14:33.920
Share this with your
local community leaders,

00:14:34.680 --> 00:14:37.160
and encourage
your department of agriculture

00:14:37.160 --> 00:14:40.720
to take a closer look
at small-scale biodigestion.

00:14:43.040 --> 00:14:45.720
Through education,
innovation and outreach,

00:14:46.880 --> 00:14:49.280
through the help
of our heroic baby dragons

00:14:49.905 --> 00:14:51.476
and a whole lot of love,

00:14:51.840 --> 00:14:55.480
we can fix our eyes
on a simple overlooked solution

00:14:55.480 --> 00:14:56.988
to what we now call waste.

00:14:57.960 --> 00:15:00.596
With biogas, there is no waste.

00:15:01.920 --> 00:15:05.400
We need you to help spread
this gospel of God biogas.

00:15:07.016 --> 00:15:09.050
JS: This is the sign language for love.

00:15:09.050 --> 00:15:11.088
It's also the sign we're using for biogas.

00:15:11.088 --> 00:15:13.437
Inlet, outlet and gas.

00:15:14.130 --> 00:15:15.828
Imagine.

00:15:16.270 --> 00:15:18.398
(Applause)