Researchers at Michigan-Michigan State game are going to collect urine at The Piss Off

College football fans in the Wolverine State have an added reason to drink a few extra cold ones on Saturday before Michigan and Michigan State renew their rivalry at The Big House. Researchers from the two schools will be on site to collect urine from tailgaters outside Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor at an event that is being dubbed “The Piss Off.” The event is being coordinated by Michigan’s Nutrient-Energy-Water (N-E-W) Cycles Group, and fans will be able to donate their urine in two yurts that will represent their respective football loyalties. The yurts will be set up at the Ann Arbor Golf Club, and volunteers will be on hand to direct fans to the school’s yurt they’d like to donate to. Researchers are collecting urine to turn it into nutrient-rich fertilizer for horticultural crops in a process called “peecycling.” “There are two reasons for the event,” MSU Associate Professor of Sociology Stephen Gasteyer said in a press release.“One is to actually collect the urine which can be used to produce the fertilizer but the other is to educate people that what comes out of our bodies naturally provides nutrients that can help things grow.“The way we currently treat urine involves a lot of energy and resources and we end up disposing of those nutrients when the entire process could be much more beneficial to the whole world.”The fertilizer will be used on horticultural crops at Michigan and Michigan State, including plants at Michigan’s Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum and Michigan State’s W.K.
Kellogg Biological Station.Michigan’s release about the event noted that “The Piss Off” is the first stadium-scale pilot in the United States. Saturday’s game will kick off at 7:30 p.m.as Michigan comes off a 28-21 win over Rutgers last weekend. Michigan State has not won a game since it defeated Eastern Michigan on Sept.
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