WEBVTT - Orange Peels Can Revive Landscapes

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff from how Stuff Works. Hey, brain stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>it's Christian Seger. Imagine if some of Earth's most barren

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<v Speaker 1>waste lands could be transformed into dense, productive forests by

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<v Speaker 1>the most unlikely of helpers, discarded fruit peels. It sounds

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<v Speaker 1>like wishful thinking, but that's exactly what happened. In the

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<v Speaker 1>nineteen nineties. During a promising ecological experiment, orange juice manufacturer

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<v Speaker 1>del Oro plunked twelve thousand metric tons it's around thirteen thousand,

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<v Speaker 1>two hundred twenty eight tons of orange peels on top

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<v Speaker 1>of bleak Costa Rican pasture land, eventually transforming it into

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<v Speaker 1>a lush, fertile forest. But it's a success story that

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<v Speaker 1>almost wasn't told. Del Oro donated a seven acre or

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<v Speaker 1>three hacked or plot on the edge of the Wanna

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<v Speaker 1>Caste conservation area after being approached by University of Pennsylvania

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<v Speaker 1>researchers Daniel Jansen and Winnie Hall Walks, who wondered how

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<v Speaker 1>the companies discarded orange peels could benefit the soil. In

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<v Speaker 1>nineteen ninety eight, the company deposited one thousand truckloads of

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<v Speaker 1>orange skins onto the degraded land as part of the agreement,

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<v Speaker 1>but rival orange squeezer Tico Fruit, sued del Oro a

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<v Speaker 1>year into the contract, claiming the company was defiling a

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<v Speaker 1>national park. Costa Rica's Supreme Court agreed, and after only

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<v Speaker 1>two years, the experiment came to a halt. That could

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<v Speaker 1>have been the end of the story were it not

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<v Speaker 1>for Timothy Truer, a curious ecologist at Princeton University in

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<v Speaker 1>Truer and a team of researchers traveled to Costa Rica

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<v Speaker 1>for unrelated research and decided to look up the orange

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<v Speaker 1>peel plot. The site's sign was so covered with vines

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<v Speaker 1>and the land so densely filled with trees that it

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<v Speaker 1>took the team years and dozens of site visits to

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<v Speaker 1>discover it. The team sampled and studied the soil at

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<v Speaker 1>the site and compared it to samples that were taken

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<v Speaker 1>in the year two thousand. It also noted tree diameter

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<v Speaker 1>and species from the orange peel site and that of

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<v Speaker 1>a nearby pasture that wasn't treated with peels. The researchers

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<v Speaker 1>found that the treated area had richer soil, more tree biomass,

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<v Speaker 1>and a broader variety of tree species, including a fig

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<v Speaker 1>tree with a circumference equivalent to three armspans. The precise

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<v Speaker 1>reasons for this one hundred and seventies six percent increase

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<v Speaker 1>and above ground biomass are still being investigated, but the

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<v Speaker 1>researchers contend dumping massive amounts of nutrient rich organic waste

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<v Speaker 1>had a nearly immediate effect on the land's fertility, changing

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<v Speaker 1>its lifeless soil into a thick, rich, loamy mixture. The

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<v Speaker 1>researchers proposed it's also probable that the orange peels suppressed

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<v Speaker 1>growth of an invasive grass that was keeping the forest

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<v Speaker 1>from flourishing. Not only is the rediscovery of the experiment

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<v Speaker 1>a boon for barren landscapes and agricultural waste, but it

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<v Speaker 1>also could have a major impact on Earth. If more

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<v Speaker 1>companies institute similar environmentally friendly solutions to waste, the resulting

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<v Speaker 1>richly vegetated land could help isolate harmful carbon dioxide in

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<v Speaker 1>the air and improve Earth's polluted atmosphere. So consider this

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<v Speaker 1>an estimated of all fresh produce in the United States,

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<v Speaker 1>or roughly sixty six million tons or sixty million metric

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<v Speaker 1>tons of produce is thrown away annually, making it the

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<v Speaker 1>single largest ingredient in American landfills. Today's episode was written

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<v Speaker 1>by Laurie Ill. The produced by Dylan Fagan, and for

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<v Speaker 1>more on this and other topics, please visit us at

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<v Speaker 1>how stuff works dot com.