Here, a small oil seep spreading across water. The coloured rings are due to thinning of the seep as it spreads. Note the small green plant growing at bottom. Most likely it is symbiotic with an endophyte that confers oil tolerance.
What does GreenSTEM do when bioremediating a spill?
The site is analyzed to plan an optimal remediation strategy. Chemicals can migrate through subsoil, so mapping older sites is essential. GreenSTEM microbes are native, non GMO, and biosafe. If needed we add one or more bio-compatible treatments from allied remediation companies. These combinations are synergistic.
None of our treatments is toxic. They are compatible with organic and vegan products, as well as with growing plants on sites we have remediated.
As well as using existing strains, we isolate and develop new microbe strains to decontaminate new types of chemical. This is ‘Research for Hire’, which is unique to GreenSTEM.
To test our progress in a remediation project, we use nationally accredited, commercial, third party analytical labs to document our results.
What kinds of microbe do we use?
We use many types, including members of all the major groups: Bacteria, Archaea, Fungi, Algae, and Protista. Notably, GreenSTEM microbes are biosafe, both for us to grow and use them, and for our customers after application.
We grow our strains in controlled laboratory conditions before we use them to treat contaminated sites.
Our microbes are rare in nature because they are not competitive against other strains. We have developed proprietary methods to isolate and identify the strains we need. In part, this is why contaminated sites do not remediate spontaneously, even if fertilized.
Why do we use microbes?
Many microbes live in ‘extreme’ environments such as rock, ocean depths, clouds, ice, and volcanic vents. Microbes are abundant (as many as a trillion per gram of soil) and there are millions of species. Our screening methods are designed to select and enrich rare microbe strains for our specific needs.
Many contaminants are produced by chemical synthesis (these also called xenobiotics, not found in nature) so degradation enzyme pathways for them are rare. Xenobiotics include pesticides and plastics. Microbe strains that degrade xenobiotics are rare in part because the chemical structures of xenobiotics are unlike compounds produced by organisms.
Our microbes grow quickly under controlled conditions, so we can prepare the numbers we need. We have optimized application methods so we can deploy them wherever needed.
Why is bioremediation important?
The collateral effects of human populations are substantial, and cumulative over time. Generally, collateral effects increase as technology becomes more sophisticated. In the past 10,000 years (early crop farming) our technology has led to population growth and longevity, but also to increasing dependence on non-renewable fuel resources.
Worldwide, current annual human energy use exceeds solar input by ~25%. The ‘extra’ comes from burning ‘fossil fuels’ that were produced by plants and algae that lived many millions of years ago. Each step of extracting, refining, transporting, storing, and using fuels inevitably leads to spills and leaks. Their effects are cumulative and poisonous.
Our current technology is powerful, but depends on non-renewable energy
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Food -> gathering… growing and herding…breeding…synthesizing
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Energy -> sun and wind…wood…coal…petrochemicals…nuclear…photovoltaic
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Resources -> renewable…mining and extraction…synthetic
Because of our technological ingenuity
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The estimated world population has increased from 5,600,000 in 1600 to 7,500,000,000 in 2018
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Looming and possibly irreversible global climate change
-> more extreme weather, less biodiversity, higher stress societies
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Many countries already have lower food-security and water-security.