The Pond at Mezzacello
This is a quick video that one of my summer camp “menterns” took with the biotechnology team last summer. It’s really solid work and they write up on the aquatic ecology that the kids did was pretty solid too. This is just one ecology at Mezzacello, the pond at Mezzacello.
The Merging of Tech-Ology
“This ecology is pretty healthy, but there will be a nitrite issue, and there are a lot of leaves and algae on the floor and walls in there. The fish want you to clean the leaves. The leaves are a valuable source of compost for the upside down beings above the water too.”
I use technology, ecology, and biological resources at Mezzacello extensively. So much so that I coined the term, “Tech-Ology”. There is a distinct absence of “NO” and a focus on the most beneficial parts of technology tied to the very real needs of Ecology.
This video was a throw-away video made by four kids and my 12-year-old teacher and “mentern” to explore the state of the pond at Mezzacello Urban Farm in 2023. Unfortunately, the SharkBot was damaged this summer and I did not have funds to replace it. I tried using my iphone, but it always ends up being more of a hassle than it’s worth.
This video is a great example of driving the lesson home to kids in my camps though. I ask kids that they reframe their perspective. Pretend for just a moment that the air you breathe up here is toxic, and you need to breathe the molecular O2 down there.
While we are down there, What is a molecule? What does O2 have to do with H2O? Is the “atmosphere” polluted? Is there enough of the atmosphere?
Looking Deeper
Then we start looking deeper. The pond is 1.8 meters deep on purpose. Give me data on the pressure and temperature of the water at its deepest point.
Create a report that we must deliver to the fish to justify our intruding into their upside down domain. They are helpless unless we help them, feed them, provide them food, air, and a proper ecology.
Honestly, this is a relevant problem for the kids. They are also helpless and trapped in a world with almost no autonomy. This makes kids very curious and creative.
The data I got from this video was incalculably valuable. They monitored and recorded every variable necessary. What they didn’t know, they researched online.
This is the data they collected from the pond.
Here is a segment from their report:
“All conditions are good. Oxygen is balanced, Ammonia and Nitrite/Nitrate rates are within healthy tolerances, and water purity is at 92% (221PPM). There is a concern about the leaves. We think that bacteria will begin feeding on the leaves and Nitrite levels will increase. This ecology is pretty healthy, but there will be a nitrite issue, and there are a lot of leaves and algae on the floor and walls in there. The fish want you to clean the leaves. The leaves are a valuable source of compost for the upside down beings above the water too.”
What more can an urban farmer/scientist/educator ask. I asked them to be part of that world, I gave them tools and access, and they gave me their best. That is the essence of sustainability.
