vertical farming
i saw this story about how to tackle the food problems that likely will arise with increasing urban populations. the website here also provides some interesting info.
from the website:
"By the year 2050, nearly 80% of the earth's population will reside in urban centers. Applying the most conservative estimates to current demographic trends, the human population will increase by about 3 billion people during the interim. An estimated 109 hectares of new land (about 20% more land than is represented by the country of Brazil) will be needed to grow enough food to feed them, if traditional farming practices continue as they are practiced today. At present, throughout the world, over 80% of the land that is suitable for raising crops is in use (sources: FAO and NASA). Historically, some 15% of that has been laid waste by poor management practices. What can be done to avoid this impending disaster?"
2 comments:
thomas malthus dealt with some of these same questions in the early 19th c. wikipedia entry
he concluded that, at some point, our level of food production (which typically increases linearly over time) will not be able to meet the demands of our growing world population (which grows exponentially).
Unfortunately this "vertical farming" is totally bogus. They don't even address the massive amount of solar radiation that would be needed to cultivate these crops (how would they get it?) or the energy required to move things up and down the vertical farm. I talked to my dad, a soil scientist (and of course total greenie) and he said that this crap sounds really good on the surface, and they are surely getting a ton of grant money for it, but there are all kinds of fallacies in the logic. It's always good to think outside the proverbial box, but these guys are trying to pull one over on us. I am surprised the BBC let it slide.
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