Mark Nelson, PhD, takes us on a global expedition to learn how we are wasting the world's dwindling supplies of fresh water by flushing away a very valuable resource, our own human wastes! A founding director of the Institute of Ecotechnics, Dr Nelson has worked for several decades in closed ecological system research. As one of eight brave souls enclosed in the pioneering Biosphere 2 experiment, he realized how essential the proper re-use of human waste is to the health of the planet. This led to what Dr Nelson calls a life-long love affair with constructed wetlands, where he discovered an important solution to some of our trickiest global dilemmas: Wastewater Gardens.
Nelson was one of the eight-person crew in the 2 year closure experiment in Biosphere 2, 1991-93. He is Chairman of the Institute of Ecotechnics, and one of its founding directors and Associate Editor of Advances in Space Research journal. Head of Wastewater Gardens International and a vice-chair of the closed ecological system section of COSPAR (the Intl. Committee of Space), he resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
