Hi Lily-Ann,

Re: “This video of kids throwing. So fun.”

“Great initiative! But who follows up on the results?” No we don’t test. Other entities are testing around the island unrelated to this event.

“Are there already positive results or is it a drop in the ocean that changes nothing?“

Yes, It does change something.

How often should this initiative be repeated to have a very big effect on the quality of the water? I’d ask EMRO or Shig Matsukawa who would then ask the scientists. For this location I would guess we could throw for many years with high flow, polluted, deep water.

 https://youtu.be/Fs-5djH04E0?si=PWHqU6HDLP53gZeA

This video is from Figment Project 2011. Our fist Mudball throws! A little league team stopped to pitch a few on the way to a game.

These 1000 balls many people came by and tossed them all in. That was 2011, we didn’t change much but we feel good about starting. We didn’t changing the harbor as far as I know or at any rate that calls for  a testing team. The mud balls are doing what they do which is helpful & not detrimental. Most of what humans do is detrimental. Bokashi Mud Balls are not harmful. When the food/waste runs out the microbes go dormant. 

The MoS Collective did not test the water before and after.  This throw is part of a creative offering at a participatory arts festival. It’s educational and intend to contrast the piles of military cannon balls around Fort Williams. These microbes are food based dominant. They are in yogurt, beer, soil. Yum yum. (We eat soil on our veggies.)

EM-1 mudballs are a used method of waterway remediation that is accessible & fun to do with others. Why not have fun and help with restoring water. We’d need a lot more for NY harbor. What activities make the water better? 

 The MoS Collective seeks lifestyle activities that also as a by product create the beneficial succession of air, water, soil n selves. Since there are not many we create them too.

A MoSCollective pparticipant is Shig Matsukawa who teaches, advises and collaborates over the yrs. He worked at EMRO for twenty yrs. Shig is based in the East Village at a garden on Ave B & 12th St. His web site is recyclefoodwaste.org.

Look through Emrojapan.com. Water treatment. Mudballs, Bokashi Balls are made and thrown around the world to restore waterways with great success. Many larger projects are conducted carefully with scientists who measure and follow the results. There is much to read through.

MoSCollective is a permaculture minded community group.  Two of our participants are scientists.  Like you, I ask questions. From what I have learned the mud balls kickstart the system. They add oxygen, vitamins minerals amino acids antioxidants and eat waste.

The mud balls are only part of a larger protocol. The pollution problems must be addressed. Often when people get behind a mud ball project the result is a desire to find the polluters and steward the waterway.

There microbes are a starting point. For on going results it’s important to include phytoremediation and mollusk installations — or whatever if it’s right for the waterway. In NYC we have the Billion Oyster Project which is part of Harbor School — next to where we threw these mud balls.

The mud balls are made to sink to the bottom and work on eating the waste, breakdown toxins. My question is what exactly are the broken down chemicals binding to? The complete activity is explained on the EMROjapan web site.  

I‘m told by expert biologists, microbes are slow to work. But at least they are working.  One Oyster, on rocks, in their clusters or in a hanging oyster cage, can filter ~50-70 gallons of water per day. Plants also filter water. Plants and mollusk take time to establish too. The mud balls can help clear the rocks and sediment of muck to make places for oysters & mussels to establish.  

EM-1 microbial inoculate is originally a natural alternative to chemical fertilizers and pesticides.  In waterway mitigation the microbial inoculant can be used up stream of polluted rivers to help remediate on land, on farms before it gets into the rivers.  On farms these microbes, which can be found and made on site, are used as fertilizer, natural pesticide, in animal husbandry and in septic systems.  Think farming agriculture, aquaculture, fishing boats, cargo ships, marinas as a cleaner & antioxidant. How about polluting factories, garbage land fill, brown fields, street cleaning,  buildings, campuses. As Mr Lancaster, former distributor, former president of Teraganix, recommends Individuals in apartments to use it to clean the bathroom, kitchen, then down the drain it goes.  The grey and black water is a little less grey or black & less greasy. The stormwater overflow into the river will be less detrimental. 

If you want help start making beneficial mud balls we can help. Maybe you want to start with a test. Dr Higa, founder & president of EMRO, stated when too many mud balls are thrown in waterways the microbes go dormant because there’s no food left. He states, throw as many as you want.

How many would be too many for the NYC harbor?  Shig calculated a 100k for the Gowanus in Brooklyn, 30k for the Dutch Kill in Queens. Very doable. Cost is less than a penny a piece (not included crates, space, labor. ) 

The general calculation is one mud ball per square meter of sediment. Take into consideration depth, temperature, flow and more.  If no water flowing in to a small pond maybe only a few mud balls are needed. Collaborate with a school or scientist or work with local river organizations.

Search : Type in “Bokashi balls” too. There are different names and in different languages.   

Look for projects in Tokyo Bay, Panang Bay, river in Hawaii (school kids). Penang Bay “One million apologies to Mother Earth” campaign. In 3 years of treatments Penang had emergency use water. (2009) I read they are going up the tributaries. How is it today?

A German company makes a granola with EM-1. There are toothpastes, drinks, soaps, ceramics (Teraganix.com), a hotel in Okinawa was built with these microbes through out (emrojapan.com).

Contact MoS Collective in NYC if you want help making your mud balls.  Over 14 years many people that have been taught.  Now they are doing their own mud balls makings.

It’s not expensive. It’s fun to do.

Mud balls and Bokashi food recycling are part of what I call a Lifestyle of Bioremediation & Symbiosis, LoBS: #LivingLoBS.

For MoS Collective, these effective microbes meet our standard: they are of beneficial succession to air, water, soil and selves, opposed to detrimental and deadly. Huge difference!  Think about most products under the kitchen sink, in the garage or broom closet. I’ve seen a new post on FB with people holding up signs “laundry detergent should not cause cancer”.  Yes I think we can do better. Probiotics have gone viral in the supplement form. Things are changing, toxic lifestyles will be a thing of the past. Maybe the beneficial microbes need an ad agency. EMRO does not use marketing. Its progress is all through “word of mouth”. Dr Higa has even expressed interest in giving away the recipe. 

That’s said, please do the research. It’s fascinating. Everything I’ve learned I’ve looked up, spoken to scientists, still I’m asking questions like you. 

MoS Collective brings people together in the town squares, gardens, public piazzas, to “offer what they want to do in the world they want to see”…. “One caveat: what one chooses should be of beneficial succession to air, water, soil and selves.”

Founder, instigator, catalyst, advocate, societal bio artist,

dee dee maucher