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John Todd (biologist)
Encyclopedia
John Todd is a biologist
working in what is sometimes considered the general field of ecological design
, in that his ideas often involve applications that become the basis of alternative technologies
. His principal professional interests have included solving problems of food production and waste-water processing. As an author, he has presented the outcome of the work that he and colleagues have undertaken in a series of books, as well as in the requisite scientific papers.
, Ontario
, Canada
in 1939. He earned his B.Sc. (1961) in agriculture and his M.Sc. (1963) in parasitology
and tropical medicine
at McGill University
in Montreal
, Quebec, after which he did doctoral work in fisheries and oceanography
at the University of Michigan
. His early professional interest, involving the behavioral ecology
of fish, was the basis of his work as an assistant professor of ethology at San Diego State University
(1968-1970), after which he joined the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
in Woods Hole, Massachusetts
, as an assistant scientist.
Todd's wife, Nancy Jack Todd, trained as a dancer and is a skilled writer and editor. She has edited and added introductions to many of John Todd's books, and co-written the most recent. Back in the Woods Hole days, John had begun to develop his ideas about how complicated biological food chains worked, and in their conversations Nancy wondered if ecological concepts could serve people's needs. She suggested science needed "a human face."
to do both fundamental research into aspects of biology and disciplines as well as to apply biological science to technology
. Todd and colleagues have designed miniature ecosystems, largely self-perpetuating, which bring ecological principles into service of human requirements. Besides designing and prototyping food-producing systems and approaches for communities of people, this work has resulted in innovative new approaches to processing sewage
and industrial waste water. Todd's approach has involved applications of micro-organisms, fish, and plants (phytoremediation
).
In 1974 Todd returned to his native Canada to design and build "An ARK for P.E.I." at Spry Point on Prince Edward Island
, on contract to the Federal government. When completed in 1976, the ARK had become a test bed of many of the principles that became the "living machine", as well as a number of trailblazing and now established green or sustainable elements: solar orientation, solar collectors, wind energy, thermal storage, and composting toilet. Living Machine is now a registered trademark owned by Dharma Group, LC in Charlottesville, Virginia, which also owns the original patents for the system.
Todd and colleagues developed what they called "living machines
". The system they developed is an ecologically engineered technology developed to restore, conserve, or remediate sewage or other polluted water, by replicating and accelerating the natural purification processes of stream
s, pond
s and marsh
es. In practical application, a living machine is a self-contained treatment system designed to treat a specific waste stream using the principles of ecological engineering. It does this by using diverse communities of bacteria and other microorganisms, algae, plants, trees, snails, fish and other living creatures.
waste treatment
plant in Cape Cod
that yields clean water from sewage. Bacteria
consume the organic sewage and turn ammonia
into nitrate
s. The nitrates are used as food for algae and fertilizer for duckweed. Zooplankton
and snails consume the algae
. Fish eat the zooplankton. Floating plants soak up the leftovers. Bulrush
es, cattail
s, and water hyacinth
s render the toxins harmless. Trees absorb heavy metals
. The byproducts are decorative plants and minnow
s, both of which are sold. The minnows are sold as bait fish. Aquatic plants, raised in the system's open-air lagoons for sewer treatment, are used in California, Florida, and Mississippi. Todd's "living machine" system makes it possible to do all this in the colder northern climates. The town of Harwich, Massachusetts
began using Todd's system in 1990.
. He also co-founded Living Technologies Inc., an ecological design, engineering, and construction firm in Burlington, Vermont
. From 1999 he has been Research Professor & Distinguished Lecturer at the University of Vermont
.
While Todd has pursued much of his work with the developing world in mind, applications for the benefit of industrialized and affluent societies have been part and parcel.
John Todd won The Buckminster Fuller Challenge in 2008. Among other awards Dr. Todd has received, in 1994, the Daimler-Chrysler Award for Innovation in Design, in 1996, the Environmental Merit Award (from the US Environmental Protection Agency
), in 1998, the Bioneers Lifetime Achievement Award. Also in 1998, he and Nancy Jack Todd together received the Lindbergh Award in recognition of their work in technology and the environment and are Fellows of the Findhorn Foundation
. Todd was profiled in Inventing Modern America, published by the Lemelson-MIT Program for Invention and Innovation, in which the story of the development of his innovative ecological waste treatment systems is highlighted.
Biologist
A biologist is a scientist devoted to and producing results in biology through the study of life. Typically biologists study organisms and their relationship to their environment. Biologists involved in basic research attempt to discover underlying mechanisms that govern how organisms work...
working in what is sometimes considered the general field of ecological design
Ecological design
Ecological design was defined by Sim Van der Ryn and Stuart Cowan as "any form of design that minimizes environmentally destructive impacts by integrating itself with living processes." Ecological design is an integrative, ecologically responsible design discipline...
, in that his ideas often involve applications that become the basis of alternative technologies
Alternative technology
Alternative technology is a term used to refer to technologies that are more environmentally friendly than the functionally equivalent technologies dominant in current practice....
. His principal professional interests have included solving problems of food production and waste-water processing. As an author, he has presented the outcome of the work that he and colleagues have undertaken in a series of books, as well as in the requisite scientific papers.
History
Todd was born in HamiltonHamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
in 1939. He earned his B.Sc. (1961) in agriculture and his M.Sc. (1963) in parasitology
Parasitology
Parasitology is the study of parasites, their hosts, and the relationship between them. As a biological discipline, the scope of parasitology is not determined by the organism or environment in question, but by their way of life...
and tropical medicine
Tropical medicine
Tropical medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with health problems that occur uniquely, are more widespread, or prove more difficult to control in tropical and subtropical regions....
at McGill University
McGill University
Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Quebec, after which he did doctoral work in fisheries and oceanography
Oceanography
Oceanography , also called oceanology or marine science, is the branch of Earth science that studies the ocean...
at the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
. His early professional interest, involving the behavioral ecology
Behavioral ecology
Behavioral ecology, or ethoecology, is the study of the ecological and evolutionary basis for animal behavior, and the roles of behavior in enabling an animal to adapt to its environment...
of fish, was the basis of his work as an assistant professor of ethology at San Diego State University
San Diego State University
San Diego State University , founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, is the largest and oldest higher education facility in the greater San Diego area , and is part of the California State University system...
(1968-1970), after which he joined the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is a private, nonprofit research and higher education facility dedicated to the study of all aspects of marine science and engineering and to the education of marine researchers. Established in 1930, it is the largest independent oceanographic research...
in Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Woods Hole is a census-designated place in the town of Falmouth in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. It lies at the extreme southwest corner of Cape Cod, near Martha's Vineyard and the Elizabeth Islands...
, as an assistant scientist.
Todd's wife, Nancy Jack Todd, trained as a dancer and is a skilled writer and editor. She has edited and added introductions to many of John Todd's books, and co-written the most recent. Back in the Woods Hole days, John had begun to develop his ideas about how complicated biological food chains worked, and in their conversations Nancy wondered if ecological concepts could serve people's needs. She suggested science needed "a human face."
Ecological research
In 1969 the Todds co-founded the New Alchemy InstituteNew Alchemy Institute
The New Alchemy Institute was a research center that did pioneering investigation into organic agriculture, aquaculture, and bioshelter design between 1969 and 1991. It was founded by John Todd, Nancy Jack Todd, and William McLarney...
to do both fundamental research into aspects of biology and disciplines as well as to apply biological science to technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
. Todd and colleagues have designed miniature ecosystems, largely self-perpetuating, which bring ecological principles into service of human requirements. Besides designing and prototyping food-producing systems and approaches for communities of people, this work has resulted in innovative new approaches to processing sewage
Sewage
Sewage is water-carried waste, in solution or suspension, that is intended to be removed from a community. Also known as wastewater, it is more than 99% water and is characterized by volume or rate of flow, physical condition, chemical constituents and the bacteriological organisms that it contains...
and industrial waste water. Todd's approach has involved applications of micro-organisms, fish, and plants (phytoremediation
Phytoremediation
Phytoremediation Phytoremediation Phytoremediation (from the Ancient Greek , and Latin (restoring balance or remediation) describes the treatment of environmental problems (bioremediation) through the use of plants that mitigate the environmental problem without the need to excavate the...
).
In 1974 Todd returned to his native Canada to design and build "An ARK for P.E.I." at Spry Point on Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name, as well as other islands. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population...
, on contract to the Federal government. When completed in 1976, the ARK had become a test bed of many of the principles that became the "living machine", as well as a number of trailblazing and now established green or sustainable elements: solar orientation, solar collectors, wind energy, thermal storage, and composting toilet. Living Machine is now a registered trademark owned by Dharma Group, LC in Charlottesville, Virginia, which also owns the original patents for the system.
Water
Living machines
Living Machine is a trademark and brand name for a patented form of ecological wastewater treatment designed to mimic the cleansing functions of wetlands. The latest generation of the technology is based on fixed-film ecology and the ecological processes of a natural tidal wetland, one of nature’s...
". The system they developed is an ecologically engineered technology developed to restore, conserve, or remediate sewage or other polluted water, by replicating and accelerating the natural purification processes of stream
Stream
A stream is a body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as a branch, brook, beck, burn, creek, "crick", gill , kill, lick, rill, river, syke, bayou, rivulet, streamage, wash, run or...
s, pond
Pond
A pond is a body of standing water, either natural or man-made, that is usually smaller than a lake. A wide variety of man-made bodies of water are classified as ponds, including water gardens, water features and koi ponds; all designed for aesthetic ornamentation as landscape or architectural...
s and marsh
Marsh
In geography, a marsh, or morass, is a type of wetland that is subject to frequent or continuous flood. Typically the water is shallow and features grasses, rushes, reeds, typhas, sedges, other herbaceous plants, and moss....
es. In practical application, a living machine is a self-contained treatment system designed to treat a specific waste stream using the principles of ecological engineering. It does this by using diverse communities of bacteria and other microorganisms, algae, plants, trees, snails, fish and other living creatures.
Sewage
John Todd developed a greenhouseGreenhouse
A greenhouse is a building in which plants are grown. These structures range in size from small sheds to very large buildings...
waste treatment
Waste treatment
Waste treatment refers to the activities required to ensure that waste has the least practicable impact on the environment. In many countries various forms of waste treatment are required by law.-Solid waste treatment:...
plant in Cape Cod
Cape Cod
Cape Cod, often referred to locally as simply the Cape, is a cape in the easternmost portion of the state of Massachusetts, in the Northeastern United States...
that yields clean water from sewage. Bacteria
Bacteria
Bacteria are a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals...
consume the organic sewage and turn ammonia
Ammonia
Ammonia is a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula . It is a colourless gas with a characteristic pungent odour. Ammonia contributes significantly to the nutritional needs of terrestrial organisms by serving as a precursor to food and fertilizers. Ammonia, either directly or...
into nitrate
Nitrate
The nitrate ion is a polyatomic ion with the molecular formula NO and a molecular mass of 62.0049 g/mol. It is the conjugate base of nitric acid, consisting of one central nitrogen atom surrounded by three identically-bonded oxygen atoms in a trigonal planar arrangement. The nitrate ion carries a...
s. The nitrates are used as food for algae and fertilizer for duckweed. Zooplankton
Zooplankton
Zooplankton are heterotrophic plankton. Plankton are organisms drifting in oceans, seas, and bodies of fresh water. The word "zooplankton" is derived from the Greek zoon , meaning "animal", and , meaning "wanderer" or "drifter"...
and snails consume the algae
Algae
Algae are a large and diverse group of simple, typically autotrophic organisms, ranging from unicellular to multicellular forms, such as the giant kelps that grow to 65 meters in length. They are photosynthetic like plants, and "simple" because their tissues are not organized into the many...
. Fish eat the zooplankton. Floating plants soak up the leftovers. Bulrush
Schoenoplectus
Schoenoplectus is a genus of about 80 species of sedges with a cosmopolitan distribution. Note that the name bulrush is also applied to species in the unrelated genus Typha...
es, cattail
Typha
Typha is a genus of about eleven species of monocotyledonous flowering plants in the family Typhaceae. The genus has a largely Northern Hemisphere distribution, but is essentially cosmopolitan, being found in a variety of wetland habitats...
s, and water hyacinth
Water hyacinth
The seven species of water hyacinth comprise the genus Eichhornia. Water hyacinth are a free-floating perennial aquatic plant native to tropical and sub-tropical South America. With broad, thick, glossy, ovate leaves, water hyacinth may rise above the surface of the water as much as 1 meter in...
s render the toxins harmless. Trees absorb heavy metals
Heavy metals
A heavy metal is a member of a loosely-defined subset of elements that exhibit metallic properties. It mainly includes the transition metals, some metalloids, lanthanides, and actinides. Many different definitions have been proposed—some based on density, some on atomic number or atomic weight,...
. The byproducts are decorative plants and minnow
Minnow
Minnow is a general term used to refer to small freshwater and saltwater fish, especially those used as bait fish or for fishing bait. More specifically, it refers to small freshwater fish of the carp family.-True minnows:...
s, both of which are sold. The minnows are sold as bait fish. Aquatic plants, raised in the system's open-air lagoons for sewer treatment, are used in California, Florida, and Mississippi. Todd's "living machine" system makes it possible to do all this in the colder northern climates. The town of Harwich, Massachusetts
Harwich, Massachusetts
Harwich is a New England town on Cape Cod, in Barnstable County in the state of Massachusetts in the United States. Barnstable County is coextensive with Cape Cod. The town is a popular vacation spot, located near the Cape Cod National Seashore. Harwich's beaches are on "the Sound side" of Cape...
began using Todd's system in 1990.
Recognition
Todd served as the New Alchemy Institute's President until 1981. In 1980, he co-founded Ocean Arks InternationalOcean Arks International
Ocean Arks was founded in 1981 by John Todd and Nancy Jack Todd in the United States.It is a non-profit research and education organization dedicated to the creation and dissemination of the thinking and the technologies fundamental to a sustainable future...
. He also co-founded Living Technologies Inc., an ecological design, engineering, and construction firm in Burlington, Vermont
Burlington, Vermont
Burlington is the largest city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the shire town of Chittenden County. Burlington lies south of the U.S.-Canadian border and some south of Montreal....
. From 1999 he has been Research Professor & Distinguished Lecturer at the University of Vermont
University of Vermont
The University of Vermont comprises seven undergraduate schools, an honors college, a graduate college, and a college of medicine. The Honors College does not offer its own degrees; students in the Honors College concurrently enroll in one of the university's seven undergraduate colleges or...
.
While Todd has pursued much of his work with the developing world in mind, applications for the benefit of industrialized and affluent societies have been part and parcel.
John Todd won The Buckminster Fuller Challenge in 2008. Among other awards Dr. Todd has received, in 1994, the Daimler-Chrysler Award for Innovation in Design, in 1996, the Environmental Merit Award (from the US Environmental Protection Agency
United States Environmental Protection Agency
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is an agency of the federal government of the United States charged with protecting human health and the environment, by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress...
), in 1998, the Bioneers Lifetime Achievement Award. Also in 1998, he and Nancy Jack Todd together received the Lindbergh Award in recognition of their work in technology and the environment and are Fellows of the Findhorn Foundation
Findhorn Foundation
The Findhorn Foundation is a Scottish charitable trust registered in 1972, formed by the spiritual community at the Findhorn Ecovillage, one of the largest intentional communities in Britain....
. Todd was profiled in Inventing Modern America, published by the Lemelson-MIT Program for Invention and Innovation, in which the story of the development of his innovative ecological waste treatment systems is highlighted.
Books
Authored or co-authored by John Todd:- The Village as Solar Ecology (1980)
- Tomorrow is Our Permanent Address (1980)
- Reinhabiting Cities & Towns: Designing for Sustainability (1981)
- Bioshelters, Ocean Arks, City Farming: Ecology as the Basis of Design (1984)
- From Eco-cities to Living Machines (1994)
External links
- "Ocean Arks"
- DOE - Milestone Buildings of the 20th Century
- "Research Projects"
- "Living Technologies"
- CNN feature: John Todd's Eco Machines
- "Slice of Life in Business People, Vermont"
- "Treehugger interview with John Todd"
- Big Picture TV Free video clips of John Todd
- "John Todd Ecological Design, Inc."