Hydroponics / Aquaponics
Though it often strikes people as counter-intuitive, growing plants in water rather than soil through hydroponic or aquaponic technologies can be close to 10x more water-efficient than growing the same plants in soil (because you have a closed system and lose very little water to evaporation compared to traditional in-soil growing). A well-designed, "closed" system generates significantly better annual yields, you can grow vertically (growing plants one atop another like a series of bunk beds), and just basically get a lot more produce from the same area/acreage. The ability for individuals or small scale growers to employ this technology in a back yard, a spare room, or even a spare closet, substantially increases local supply of food needs and creates protection against food scarcity if/when the climate changes decimate traditional food sources. I would suggest more resources go into both encouraging commercial foods suppliers to convert to hydroponic/aquaponic methods, and also educating the masses on how they might employ this for themselves. Note, aquaponics is a form of hydroponics that adds in a fish tank that generates nutrients for plants with the added benefit that you are also growing fish which could be edible such as tilapia or decorative such as goldfish. While I agree that the more people who convert to vegetarian or vegan diets, the better for sustainability, I realistically concede in the short run that that is a hard sell for many people, but we might be able to sell them on eating a lot more locally aquaponically-raised tilapia (e.g., fish tacos over beef tacos, fish & chips over a burger & fries, etc.).
Ken Myers (not verified)
August 13, 2014 - 1:34pm
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