Over the past several decades we have begun decoding and deciphering the inner workings of nature. We are discovering in its teachings the principles of ecological design upon which we will be able to change the way we live. With nature’s operating instructions, we can evolve a technological and social framework that can heal the earth and support all beings, including humans, in a symbiotic harmony. By learning from the workings of the natural world—the ecological knowledge that transcends human intelligence—we can cultivate a new generation of stewards of the earth.

My work seeks to link a variety of designed natural ecological subsystems to create, with the help of hundreds or thousands of species of organisms, a new kind of meta-intelligence, living technology systems that allow us to do things that were once impossible. These systems can be used to generate fuels and grow food, to transform waste into clean and usable products, to regulate climate in buildings and even to restore degraded environments. It involves bringing together different ecologies and then directing them with human intelligence so that marvelous things can begin to happen.

One example is a greenhouse-like structure we built on the banks of Lake Champlain in Burlington, Vermont. The structure contained a magnificent garden where several hundred species of plants and many other life forms flourished. This garden was actually a sewage treatment plant that used ecological strategies to transform raw sewage from the city of South Burlington into pure water in just over two days. The facility consisted of many big, deep tanks in which hundreds of species of organisms and plants interacted with the waste to transform it. We wanted to demonstrate that we could create an optimal, year-round treatment system that was powered by sunlight.

Diverse plants performed different functions. Some plants helped grow and feed bacteria, others broke down carcinogens and other hazardous chemicals, and some sequestered metals. It’s this symphonic action, rather than the magic bullet of a simple solution, that allowed the rapid transformation of sewage into pure water.

Part of an ecological designer’s journey is to look for allies in nature, to search the natural history trail to find those creatures that can be of maximum use for specific functions. We used tiny snails, for example, to help keep these systems clean. Tanks full of various fish species ate dead and dying bacteria to prevent the generation of sludge. To an ecological designer, sludge is a symptom of incomplete design.

Our pilot project on Lake Champlain treated 80,000 gallons of sewage a day. It also marked the beginning of a new economic paradigm that converts waste and sewage into wealth. For example, the young koi we purchased for less than a dollar a fish to help clean the water in the tanks grew in eight or nine months to be worth nearly ten dollars each. The plants we used to help purify the water were divided and sold a year later as houseplants that purify the air. This first eco machine demonstrated the viability of a new economy made possible by building viable economic elements into the restoration process.

In 2002, we started a canal restoration project in Fuzhou, a city of 6 million people in southern China. Approximately 80 percent of the city’s untreated sewage flows directly into its many canals, creating a health risk for inhabitants and threatening the livelihood of fishing communities downstream. The Baima canal was one of the worst in the city: 750,000 gallons of reeking raw sewage flowed into it every day.

We collaborated with Ocean Arks International to design a 500-meter linear restorer to clean the canal using a floating aeration system and 12,000 aquatic plants composed of 20 native species. We also built a walkway down the center of the restorer to create a recreation area for residents.

The completed restorer successfully reduced odors and eliminated floating solids while drastically improving the aesthetics of the neighborhood and mitigating the negative impact on aquatic ecosystems downstream. The water clarity in the canal improved from less than six inches to several feet, while meeting several secondary effluent standards. Ultimately, the restorer system met the city’s goal for affordable wastewater treatment in the canal. We have since created a global network of people doing this work called The Water Stewards’ Network.

Perhaps the most important aspect of our work involves building new economies by connecting entities that are normally separate. A standard industrial park is a cluster of businesses that have little or nothing in common. But in Burlington, Vermont, we have laid the groundwork for the country’s first agricultural eco-industrial park.

In the heart of Burlington is an area called the Intervale, which has become an incubator for many urban farmers. We wanted to integrate these growers into a larger economic/agricultural/industrial ecosystem. A wood-fired power plant is the heart of the eco-park. Its byproduct, heat, ends up in cooling towers, and we can capture this energy, normally wasted, and use it to power other enterprises, such as greenhouses that can be heated to produce year-round crops.

A concept I’m very interested in is transforming waste into valuable materials and products . At the Intervale, we blended brewery waste with manure from an organic poultry operation and inoculated it with mushroom spores. As the mycelial mat grew, it transformed this waste into highly nutritious animal feed. At the same time, we also produced crops of gourmet mushrooms.

After we harvested several crops of mushrooms, we used the substrate to grow earthworms, another valuable resource. The earthworms, in turn, transformed the substrate into rich soil for growing greens in the winter to supply the community with local produce while local farmers are not growing crops. In the spring, the material is bagged and sold as rich worm-composted soil, and the cycle repeats itself.

In the Intervale, we have assembled the pieces of an agricultural eco-park that not only is cost effective in an urban environment, but also serves as a hands-on educational facility that is inspiring new generations of eco-designers. The scope is really limitless. I believe that we have enough knowledge at hand now to shrink the human footprint on this planet by 90 percent.

John Todd, Ph.D., is a visionary ecological designer and biologist who designs simulated ecosystems that purify sewage and wastewater. His award-winning systems have been built in eight countries. He is president of Ocean Arks International, research professor and distinguished lecturer at The University of Vermont, co-founder of the New Alchemy Institute and senior partner, John Todd Research Design, Inc. He also is co-author of several books, including From Eco-Cities to Living Machines: Principles of Ecological Design.