General

Closed Carbon Loop: One of the Solutions to Sustainable Agriculture

In the future, we will need more resources and raw materials. We will also need more food to feed to our growing population. Researchers estimate that our population will reach at least 10 billion by the year 2050. They also estimate that we will need to increase our food production by at least 70 percent to feed the growing population.

Where will we get more resources, raw materials, and food? Cost-cutting measures and more efficient manufacturing practices won’t be able to catch up. They are only quick solutions that only deliver partial results. The real solution is to make our agriculture sustainable.

That’s why more and more scientists devote their time in studying agriculture. They are also studying, with farmers participating, other subject areas that might help the agricultural field. They all have a goal of harvesting more with the use of least amount of resources possible, making agriculture self-sufficient and sustainable for present and future generations.

What is a closed carbon loop?

One promising solution is the use of closed carbon loops. Basically, these are loops where carbon is continuously used without it going out of the system. This results to reduced carbon output to the whole environment. Almost nothing goes to waste and the system becomes self-sufficient.

Closed carbon loops will be very useful in agriculture. How? The whole process will lead to agricultural sustainability. Nutrients are continuously recycled. The plants grow and they will provide us food. After we eat, we will produce waste. Instead of the waste going to local sewerage systems and bodies of water, that waste can be reused as the crops’ source of nutrients.

Keep in mind that the goal here is to become as self-sufficient as possible. The output of one becomes the input of another. That is the key to sustainable agriculture and food production.


Lisa Dyson @ TEDTalks

Why we should learn from NASA

Many people think that NASA is only about studying outer space. The truth is they go beyond that. Their discoveries can be applied to fields outside of astronomy, such as agriculture. Why? Because whenever they send people to outer space, they also have to think about food. They also need to think about carrying the least amount of weight as possible.

To accomplish those two goals, they have to think about sustainability. As much as possible, each resource should be reused by the crew. Every drop of water and ounce of air is important and all parts should be essential. The needs of the crew should be produced right on the spot when they need it instead of carrying it all around during the space launch. This way, they carry less weight while meeting their everyday needs.

One solution they came up with is the use of a closed carbon loop, it was actually figured out in the 1960s and 1970s. Specifically, they use microorganisms to create a closed carbon loop. Here’s how it works. Astronauts breathe out the carbon dioxide. A certain type of microbe captures that carbon dioxide. Next is those microbes convert that into a carbon-rich crop. As a result, the carbon dioxide from the astronauts actually becomes a source of food with the help of microbes. They serve as carbon recyclers.

The whole process could have been very helpful in long space journeys. But the research didn’t go far in space travel applications. But the general idea has a huge potential in growing food here on Earth. Imagine a farm or a community where the carbon is continuously recycled. There’s much less waste and expenses. The practice also actually leads to further growth and sustainability. The soil becomes more fertile and we increase our yield as a result.

That’s why scientists are continuously exploring more solutions that continuously reuse our existing resources. This can drastically change how we produce food and grow crops. Aside from those, we also help the environment. We reduce the emission of greenhouse gases. We also use much less resources from the outside because our farms become self-sufficient.

Closed carbon loops go beyond the modern agriculture. If we want to achieve sustainability and self-sufficiency, we need loops and cycles that continuously reuse our resources. A closed carbon loop is truly a viable solution in using fewer resources and achieving sustainability.

Why we should go beyond the modern agriculture

Modern agriculture is responsible for the vast majority of food production. We were able to produce more food in a much more efficient way. We were also able to get more out of an acre of land than decades before. We also got easy access to irrigation and fertilizers.

However, both farmers and consumers are now seeing the effects of modern agricultural practices. We became reliant on introducing more chemicals from outside sources. The wastes, which are never to be used again, go outside the farm.

Aside from that, we require more and more lands to feed the growing population. During the last decade, we have destroyed millions of square miles of forests for agricultural purposes. We need more fertile lands so we have more space where we can plant.

That’s why we should start applying sustainable practices. We can use the latest scientific findings to achieve agricultural sustainability. We actually don’t have to look very far to find solutions. We can just look at how nature works. Notice that everything has a purpose. The output of one becomes the input of another. If we can apply that to our own farms whether big or small, we can actually increase our yield and use fewer resources.

I wonder if we should let them know – This is the definition of Permaculture.

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