MegaStrip

The Ecostrip is essentially an elongated version of the pod version of the Ecosphere with the same cross-section as the pod version such that it can be positioned on slopes to compliment the pods dropped by air or by a customised vehicle in order to staunch the flow of ground rain water from washing away the pods whilst also encapsulating tree / grass seeds to revegetate the degraded / arid land.

In particular, I see the Ecostrip having an important role in several specifc applications such as the revegetation of steep but barren hillsides to prevent soil erosion and therefore mudslides, siltation of mini-dams, built with food aid and used by villagers in undeveloped regions of the world who rely on them for fresh water, and for third world small scale farming in flat fields where flooding of the fields causes salt deposits due to evaporation, which in turn, reduces the yield of the crop season considerably.

Similarly, applied on hillside terraces where the Ecostrips are contoured on them to allow for several havests per year, would be of major importance to both the workload of village women and to the development of local markets between villages and towns.

Another application is the use on large scale industrial farms where the technology comes into its own as a fresh water conservation tool by substantially reducing the uptake of aquifer fresh water for irrigation purposes. In so doing, the advantages to the Farmer are several: much reduced costs, reduced labour, very little chemical pollution runoff into the soil and streams, much reduced salt deposits into the soil and ease and speed of planting, envisaged as being layered into the troughs of the furrowed land.

By complimenting the Ecostrips with hydroponic tubing, measured amounts of fresh water can be applied to the Ecostrips once a week or as determined by the R&D project to realise the advantages mentioned above.