GUANO | Skarlett Balta Sicneros

FACT:
Scientific studies have shown urine is a safe and very effective fertilizer. Urine boasts a nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium, plus more modest amounts of the trace elements plants need to thrive. The nutrients in pee are highly available to plants.

Urine is usually sterile, and the chances of disease transmission from it on the household level are very, very small. And any slight odor dissipates almost immediately once it’s applied to the soil.

On the other hand, nitrogen pollution is a pressing problem for ecosystem health and the climate. Large shares of nitrogen applied to farms as synthetic fertilizer or manure wash into rivers — causing algal blooms and killing off marine life — and contribute to greenhouse gas emissions.

ACT:
Guano is a potty to be used in kindergarten’s playgrounds, it collects children pee to then get dissolved with water and used, by the kids, to fertilize the green areas around.

To pee is considered to be a private act that takes place in a predetermined environment, however for children is just something natural that comes when it does regardless of the place, time or people around.

Guano is a device that allows them to pee in nature and for nature. It trains children to go to the bathroom in a peculiar way, by making it a game, using a liquid that comes out of their bodies and would otherwise be flushed away with another5 liters of water. This way future generations learn how taking care of nature can be fun.

IMPACT:
Replacing synthetic fertilizers with urine would help to reduce nitrogen pollution, besides future generations are taught to care for natureand use eco friendlyalternatives instead of artificial products full of chemicalsthat damage our planet and our own health.

Skarlett Balto Sicneros, 3.sem WS 2020/21