New Alchemy was a magical place of youthful idealism, geodesic domes, greenhouses and algae-brimmed fish tanks whose waste fertilized ragged vegetable gardens and hydroponic lettuce patches. Next came an organization named Ocean Arks International, which sent a floating greenhouse to the tropics to show local people how to grow food based on New Alchemy's ideas.

A current ambition of Todd's is the creation of "ecological malls" where communities can produce food, generate energy and recycle wastes in a biologically propelled loop. "I want to graft small farms and recycling and maybe have a rain-forest exhibit and a butterfly park," he explains to students at the University of Vermont, where he teaches ecological design while serving a growing roster of clients. A course requirement is that students help Todd harness his dreams into reality.

Todd notes a "shift" in the willingness of business to use the environment sustainably. "Eco-pioneers are finding that the mainstream is willing to listen." M&M/Mars, the candymaker, has installed four of Todd's living machines. Other clients include a micro-brewery and a pet food manufacturer. When he's not busy fashioning his machines, he consults on the design of a 600-acre eco-resort on Viegues, an island off Puerto Rico. The place will produce its own food, recycle waste, harvest medicinal plants from a 50-acre garden, and offer a fleet of solar-powered craft to tourists. Then there's the Todd-designed "eco-industrial park" in Burlington, Vermont, largely financed by the federal Environmental Protection Agency. The park's small farmers will produce food year round in a 1 1/2 acre greenhouse warmed by waste heat from the city's wood-fired electrical generating plant. Finally, Todd's working on a bio-shelter in Taos, New Mexico where fresh food will be produced year-round, an effort that will save the energy wasted by what he calls "the silliness of importing asparagus from New Zealand during our winters."

The ecological relationships, water-flow design and engineering technicalities for the theoretical operation of such projects have been worked out. What is less well-known is how to put all the parts together so they work interdependently and over the long haul. "I started as a scientist," says Todd. "Now I feel I am becoming an artist assembling scientific ideas like a painter assembles colors on a canvas." When a scientist uses science as an artistic medium, its seems logical that a new art form might result.