A fellow eco-minded citizen in my Facebook circles tagged me re. this story (“Making 3,000 bricks a day from invasive seaweed”; link at bottom of post) so I thought I’d post it here. This story rings a bell, think I saw it awhile back.
My take is …
1) Invasive seaweed??? I’m skeptical that invasive seaweed exists. Could be it’s there healing the ecosystem and/or feeding marine wildlife. I am curious and I’m going to check that out.
(BTW for various reasons I tend to look askance at the concept of “invasive” in general. Various posts are being made about this (= unpacking our concept of “invasive”) in eco groups, generating lots of good chewy discussion.)
In any case,
2) I don’t think making bricks from seaweed is a good use of energy, or of seaweed. Seems like a waste of the nutrients of seaweed, even supposing the seaweed is invasive. If the seaweed is truly invasive and causing problems, I would scoop it up and use it as farm or garden fertilizer. Someone could probably even make a local micro business of it. Either by hand-cart or motorized vehicle.
3) With all the conventional bricks & other building materials out there that are being sent into landfill after demolitions etc., seems best for people & planet that we reuse those, capturing the energy that’s already embodied in them. This is in keeping with the permaculture design principle of catching, storing, and using energy.
Sharing here in case someone among the many knowledgeable people in this community might know offhand; also good topic for discussion.
Insider Science: Making 3,000 bricks a day from invasive seaweed (Facebook Reels video)