Elias Hakalehto, PhD, Adj. Prof.
Microbiologist, Biotechnologist
CEO, Finnoflag Oy
Vice President, International Society of Environmental Indicators
Fellow Member, International Society for Development and Sustainability (ISDS) (Japan)
Published 5th of November, 2021
When the human race believed that increasing energy production during industrialization could liberate us from excessive work and all other stress, that was the greatest misbelief of all times. Such claims of mistaken Mankind could get corroborated by the realms of microbiology and quantum physics.
The lust of societies and economies for cheap energy "to ease the burden of manual or other work" did hasten the striving for energy efficiency. This paradoxically increased the need for new significance as the goals mushroomed, which accelerated the strain towards the ecosystems during the current Anthropocene.
This endeavour has been a losing game. We wanted to prevent the disappearance of our energy-rich and optimized progress; we torched away the molecular order of fossil or biomaterials, causing the accumulation of Carbon gases and acids into the atmosphere. Thus we sealed our fate in shovelling our planet into unsatisfied demands of effectivity. This paradoxical outcome has pushed us to the brink of destruction.
But we could find other ways. This is a lesson to be learnt from the microbes and their methods to assure circumvention in the ecosystems. It was better understood by the Pacific island villagers who collected their living from the natural riches available. - And it was envisioned also by French writer Jules Verne in e.g. his books "Mysterious Island" (1874, original publication in French: "L'Île mystérieuse") and "Around the World in Eighty Days" (1872, original publication in French: "Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours").
Quotations by Jules Verne of the "Mysterious Island" (1874):
"...I believe that water will one day to be employed as fuel, that hydrogen and oxygen which constitute it, used singly or together, will furnish an inexhaustible source of heat and light of an intensity of which coal is not capable."
"Some day the coalrooms of steamers and the tenders of locomotives will, instead of coal, be stored with these condensed gases, which will burn in the furnaces with enormous calorific power..."
"...there will be no want of either light or heat as long as the productions of the vegetable, mineral or animal kingdoms do not fail us. I believe, then, that when the deposits of coal are exhausted, we shall heat and warm ourselves with water. Water will be the coal of the future."
And the microbes will be the miniaturized power stations.
The carefree living of our islanders then continued as long as the nearby volcano would erupt abruptly or other natural catastrophe occurred. The annihilation occurred as the organic materials' chemically organized carbohydrates were practically demolished into the ravaging flames. This would largely destroy the vegetation and the sophisticated soil microbiota that had been elaborated through careful cultivation. Yes, it is said that the fire "renews the vegetation", at least in the old Finnish coniferous forests. But do not forget that the price is rapidly accelerating entropy. - To remake the balance, the micro-organisms need to reconquer the space in soil and biosphere. If it is not possible, the ecosystem will never recover as it was!
The author has learnt from Professor Yaron Ziv of the Ben Gurion University that desert soil and deserted soil are two completely different things. The latter constitutes piled side stones and other side materials of mining action beside the site. Thus, the outlook of the area could be quite like the surrounding natural desert on the surface. However, according to e.g. Finnoflag Oy's laboratory studies, the soil is very different from the unspoilt desert.
In the natural desert soil, the soil microbiota could be as diverse as in the rain forest. Whereas in the industrial mining areas, sand, gravel and side stones stay behind. There the soil is colonized by only a few microbes, resembling the dysbiotic human gut. This soil crisis is a food crisis, and this is a health crisis, too. To read more about the Negev excursions, please read chapter 22 of the book "Microbiological Environmental Hygiene" (ed. E.E.Hakalehto) by Nova Science Publisher Inc. N.Y.
So, on their tropical islands, the villagers were usually not burning away the organic substances in vain, which would have increased the entropy. Instead, they let the water bind into organic materials by the assimilation of micro-organisms leading to the production of Hydrogen gas which would remove the excess reducing power without breaking the order or balance of soil, or in the human body or elsewhere. Anaerobic bacteria produce biohydrogen.
After the destruction caused by human combustion activities, mining sites, construction, soil salting irrigation causing famine, ferocious natural catastrophes such as floods, volcanoes, wind or wildfires, to remake the Natural balance, the microbiomes have to get revitalized, restructured and rebalanced. This is true in the broader global sense, as well as locally. It is also true in the oceans after chemical pollution, oil leaks or others, and in the atmosphere, where human activities increase the climate gases with their effects and the global dissemination of the microbes. The latter could lead to epidemics of plant, animal or human disease. But it will also make it possible to get the potential beneficial microbes, the "panbiotics", to distribute.
The various nearly apocalyptic conditions could be found in deserted areas, whether abandoned urban areas, intoxicated industrial districts, polluted waterways, desert-like areas of discarded stones around mines or civil engineering projects, or war remains. These manufactured junkyards are destroyed microbiologically. And their new flourishment warrants microbial action and expertise. Otherwise, just some spore-forming bacteria or fossil viruses could phantomize the forsaken land and environment.
In our body system and its digestion, this kind of "unilaterization" occurs during dysbiotic developments. It results from the "malicious balance" or "vicious circle" of the human microbiome or its joint metabolism with its host. And most of all, this undesired development is a consequent result of emitting or directing carbonaceous biomass, substances, gases or molecules into wrong places. But where does the Hydrogen part of the organics go in this great misplacement? Hydrogen is the most distributed element of the universe. If there were reducing, anoxic conditions on Earth, the Hydrogen could escape into space. But atmospherically, it is reacting with Oxygen into water. - If the gaseous Hydrogen is burned and thus oxidized by our industries, it will form water which returns to the surface, into the ecosystems, the organic materials or organisms, and the circulation. Thus, we could be revitalizing the planet, Nature, human environment. Therefore, it principally is fatal to incinerate organic matter or carbohydrates.
In principle, it is wise to avoid catastrophic or quasi-dimensional evasion of the substances and their energies out of proportion. In other words, this is also a matter of the cosmic consistency in the Earth's geological formations, soil structures and the biosphere. Correspondingly, solar energy converts into chemical energy via photosynthesis. And this should preclude the recycling of organic hydrocarbons, Carbon and Hydrogen, but preferably by different routes at most. And when plants bind the Carbon, this liberates Oxygen, which will eventually bind the Hydrogen. Then the Hydrogen balance of the Tellus will remain correct. But if this is not the case, the imbalance will lead to a distorted redox equation and excessive evasion of Carbon, leading to the desertification or disastrous development to be deciphered. This chemical entity is highly integrated with the microbial ecosystems, as they produce Hydrogen and other gases. So, we could find the solutions microbiologically. And safeguard the microbiological balances.
Quite much in our hands? Or could it be in our hands?