Resourcing Resources
First we eat, then we do everything else.
—M. F. K. Fisher
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), in the next five decades, we’ll need to produce 50 to 70 percent more food. And a lot of it is going to come from where it’s needed most—the cities. Well before 2050, farms will be urbanized because that’s where the consumers are and they want fresh food as close to “farm to fork” as they can get.[1]
Of all the necessities of a city, the two most important (besides clean air) are food and water. Water can be collected by several means: through a municipal water system; by collecting rainwater; from above and below ground streams; from aquifers, dams, or wells, and by filtering water through a toilet-to-tap system that recycles water, and through desalinization of salt water.
It seems that a conflict between using land for agriculture versus for buildings would ease if the food production achieved via traditional agriculture would be shared by inner-city “agrihoods.” There will always be traditional farms, but many are far away from urban areas, which makes it necessary for petropowered vehicles to distribute that produce. And when the “farms” are mega-agribiz companies, it’s probable that many use chemicals that are not enviro-friendly to living things.
Traditionally a quarter-acre per resident for farming is needed for a city of just one million; that’s 250,000 acres, or 390 square miles, of farmland.[2] One thing that could change this estimate is meat. Animals consume a great deal of food to produce protein, and the number varies by the animal. Assuming we stick mostly with chicken and pork, the need for land might be around 500 square miles for that city. In the case of beef, the conversion rate is really out of whack, based on what cattle eat and drink and the amount of land needed to herd them. It takes 1.5 to 2 acres to feed a cow-and-calf pair for twelve months. It takes 2,500 gallons of water, 12 pounds of grain, 35 pounds of topsoil, and the energy equivalent of one gallon of gasoline to produce one pound of feedlot beef.[3]
In fact, protein from animals is not only expensive but is also one the largest polluters in the nation. One future technology that aims to change this equation is cultured “plant” or “cheat” meat. Other provisions that will find their way onto our plates are alternate edibles made from algae, printed foods (edible ingredients processed from various vegetable bases that are extruded through a nozzle and into shapes), insects, and other exotics that will fill our larders and our bellies.[4]
It is estimated that each calorie of consumed food uses ten calories of petroproduct for cultivating, packaging, and shipping.[5] But there are alternative ways to tap into future farming: there’s the family of hydroponics and “vertical farming” on “green roofs” or wall areas of skyscrapers or other high-rise towers. Then there are “brownfields” and abandoned buildings that can serve as outdoor and indoor urban farms and distribution locales.[6]
Tapping into the oceans is going to be critical for food supplies and for our health, but far better husbandry is needed, as the seas are becoming more polluted, overfished, underappreciated, and put at risk. One of the best ways for the continued sustainable use of the open waters is to expand sea and underwater farming—but sustainably.
A by-product of urban cultivation is health benefits for bees, because there will be less need in agriculture for toxic chemicals, one cause of colony collapse that is devastating the bees that pollinate 80 percent of our crops.[7]
Another possible by-product of urban cultivation is the elimination of urban food deserts. Found mostly in poorer neighborhoods, food deserts are where there are few places to buy fresh fruits and veggies and other healthy groceries and where fast food, convenience marts, and liquor stores abound.[8] For starters, education about food choices and what is shoddy for the body should become fundamental in food deserts.
New products, some made of graphene (or graph hair) make it possible to easily and cheaply make dirty water drinkable in a single pass. Microscopic nanochannels allow water molecules to pass but are too small for pollutants comprised of larger molecules to get by. The filter is easy to use and relatively inexpensive as the material’s primary component is renewable soybean oil.[9]
Heightened concern about the impact of future droughts, pollution, and the cost of both is prompting many building designers, owners, and managers to consider ways to further reduce water consumption in the future by using better water-conserving materials. Strategies include improved fixtures, installing rainwater and gray water recovery systems, planting native vegetation in place of lawns or ornamentals, and other innovative approaches to reducing onsite water use and collection.[10]
In any given year from 1982 to 2015, somewhere between nine million and forty-five million Americans got their drinking water from a source that was in violation of the Safe Drinking Water Act, according to a new study. Most at risk: people who live in rural, low-income areas.[11]
Americans gotta have their beef; we’re second in the world for broiling, boiling, barbequing, and burgers. However, the way conventional meat is produced today challenges resources, the environment, and animal welfare. Global greenhouse gas emissions from the livestock sector increased by 51 percent between 1961 and 2010, spurred by a 54 percent increase in methane and nitrous oxide emissions from livestock manure. Moreover, approximately one gigaton of carbon dioxide equivalent in animal-based foods is expended globally every year.[12] Meat production alone uses about one-third of our planet’s freshwater and land.[13]
An alternative may be what is called “cheat meat,” “mimetic meat,” or “shmeat.” Some companies have improved the quality, reduced costs, and potentially reduced greenhouse gas emissions with a new livestock-free process that uses fewer resources to grow pseudo-meats—reducing people’s amounts of animal fats ingested and hearts attacked. Some shmeats are plant-based; others are grown from cultured meat cells.
The meat-creation process goes something like this: myosatellite cells, or muscle stem cells, are taken from a cow and put in containers along with fetal calf serum, which is a combo of fetal calf blood and fibrin (a fibrous, nonglobular protein) containing a large number of factors essential for cell growth.
The cells are placed onto gels in a plastic dish, and the calf serum nutrients trigger the cells to split into muscle cells. Those cells eventually merge into muscle and fibers called myotubes and start synthesizing protein. The end product is a tissue strip, described by the New York Times as “something like a short pink rice noodle.”[14] It doesn’t sound too appetizing and, according to those who tried a burger made from tissue strips when they were first produced, it wasn’t.
University researchers are working on something called cellular agriculture, the process of using a cell culture to make food products like meat, eggs, fish, and milk instead of using an animal-based process.[15] Our appetites are anticipating the results.
It wasn’t long ago that the first test-tube meat could only be had for the billionaire burger price of $325,000 per pound. It took a while, but now it’s far more reasonable at about 10 bucks a pound, and hopefully it will be less than half that by 2020.[16]
It’s been five years since the first lab-grown hamburger came into existence, but what no one has been able to do is replicate the texture and structure of specific cuts. The key would be to find a nutrient combination that would encourage the extracted animal cells to grow into a tissue structure comparable to that found in an actual cow. In other words, where’s the steak? However, an Israeli company announced that, in a lab, it used cells extracted from a living cow and cooked what looks like a regular beefsteak.[17]
It takes two to three weeks to grow and costs about fifty dollars—but remember the cost of the initial hamburger. One researcher remarked, “The smell was great when we cooked it, exactly the same characteristic flavor of a conventional meat, but a bit chewy.”[18]
Among the hurdles still left to overcome is figuring out how to produce test-tube meat at scale. Then there’s the biggest hurdle of all: changing people’s minds about pseudomeat. But faux burgers are only a part of the animal-product alternatives that several techno-meat companies are working on.[19]
Researchers are trying to isolate the exact ingredient that gives beef its flavor. It’s something called heme (an iron-rich molecule that’s abundant in muscle), which just so happens to make up a lot of a burger’s meat. Another big challenge was fat, which perks up the taste buds and makes that great sizzle sound. The researchers settled on fattiness from coconut oil and a little beet juice for that bloody residue[20]—a combo of the mouthwatering sniff and stuff that caresses the nose and oozes down the hands.
On average Americans eat about double the amount of protein they need, two-thirds of which come from animal sources.[21] The standard American diet emphasizes a high intake of meat, dairy, fat, sugar, and salt as well as refined, processed junk foods. And we all know what that leads to: diabetes, arthritis, stroke, obesity, and heart disease. So we’re not exactly eating for success here.[22] It might be for the best in astronaut health that livestock aren’t going to be shot into space.
The dairy aisle is changing: nondairy milk sales are growing and cow’s milk sales have declined. Milk is really important only for the healthy development of children and, as long as they have the proper nutritional and fat balance, different kinds of milk are fine.[23]
“Mock milk” is produced by the yeast inserted with cow DNA (specifically the DNA that directs its protein-producing properties). The yeast becomes a new microorganism with the ability to produce the same casein and whey proteins (like a cow) when fed the right nutrients. The yeast is genetically modified to contain the genetic makeup of a cow so that it has the ability to produce the same proteins. With the specific DNA that directs protein growth, the yeast follows the same process cows do to produce milk proteins when fed certain nutrients.[24] Supposedly the product tastes just like regular milk and, in terms of protein composition and in theory, it’s almost exactly the same as what comes out of cows—except for the moo.[25]
Milk has been derived from an assortment of plants—almonds, soybeans, rice, cashews, peanuts, coconut, oats, hemp, flax, and peas—that are cooked and then ground and sieved to remove the grainy stuff. It depends on each person’s taste buds, but nondairy milks and mock milk are healthier than milk fat.[26]
A Finnish research team has taken a step toward the future of food by developing a method for producing victuals from electricity. The entire process requires only electricity, water, carbon dioxide, and microbes—sounds yummy. The synthetic food was created as part of the Food from Electricity project that exposes microbes to electrolysis in a bioreactor (a closed system that supports the growth of cells in a culture medium). The process produces a powder that consists of more than 50 percent protein, 25 percent carbohydrates, and the rest water—the texture can also be changed by altering the microbes used in production.
The problem is that, at present, a bioreactor the size of a coffee cup takes around two weeks to produce one gram of the protein. It will be a while before getting up to speed to feed the masses. In the future, it could be used as a means of feeding starving people, and decreasing global emissions, fertilizer, herbicides, and the fuel to deliver them.[27]
One solution for farming food is called agri-tecture or vegi-tecture and is based on inner-city farms that grow produce upward and inward. Vertical agrihoods essentially involve planting in stacks instead of on a horizontal field. This method saves space and eliminates the need to acquire huge parcels of land to grow crops. It can also be done inside warehouses and in other indoor as well as outdoor spaces lying fallow in cities.[28]
As far as energy goes, a thirty-story vertical farm needs 26 million kWh of electricity but can regenerate more than 56 million kWh through solar energy, windmills, and a biogas digester that turns food refuse into energy as well as into compost that enriches soil.[29]
The best method for growing, especially in cities, would entail the methods of hydroponics, aeroponics, and aquaponics, which are called soilless plant propagation. All operations are generally confined to the indoors, where environmental factors of water, temperature, humidity, light, and insects can all be closely controlled. It uses no soil, requires 90 to 98 percent less water, produces far better year-round yields, and uses no commercial-farming chemicals.[30] Today’s largest vertical farm is located in Michigan on about eight acres and is home to seventeen million plants.[31]
In hydroponics, nutrients are fed to plants via water in sluice boxes exposed to light. It uses as much as ten times less water than traditional field crop-watering methods because water in a hydroponic system is captured and reused rather than allowed to run off and drain to the environment. Hydroponic plants grow 25 to 30 percent faster than traditionally grown plants because the perfect blend of nutrients is delivered directly to the root system. The plant does not need to expend energy on an extensive root system to find the food it needs, so all of its energy goes into upward leaf growth.[32] Plants can be placed closer together, which reduces the space needed to grow the same amount of crop.[33] The single most compelling reason for gardeners to switch to soilless gardening is its ability to significantly increase crop yield, from two to five times.[34]
A significant amount of fresh produce could be planted and grown in cities (or in confined space and/or on other planets)—with potentially lower costs. For example, an indoor farm in San Francisco can produce 2 million pounds of lettuce each year within a space that’s no bigger than an acre.[35] Hydroponics is also a popular system for small-scale home gardens; systems come in kits and are very easy to put together.
In aeroponics seeds are “planted” in pieces of foam stuffed into tiny pots, which are exposed to light on one end and nutrient mist on the other. The foam also holds the stem and root mass in place as the plants grow. Eliminating soil frees plants and roots, allowing extra oxygen to penetrate and resulting in faster growth. In addition, aeroponic systems are extremely water-efficient.[36]
Aquaponics is a symbiotic integrated system that combines cultivating plants in a nutrient aquarium-like environment with aquatic animals such as snails, fish, crayfish or prawns, and ducks that feed on algae and leafy crops. Fish and fowl waste is turned into compost that acts as food for the plants that filter the water for the fish. So the end result is produce, marine food, and even eggs and meat from waterfowl. All of the leftovers, including dropped food and other waste, become potential plant nutrients in the water.[37]
It has been suggested that a thirty-story vertical farm could feed fifty thousand people, providing two thousand calories for every person each day.[38] (One piece of advice about calories: the factoid about people needing two thousand calories a day is just a guesstimate. Depending on gender, work, body style, age, and genetics, caloric need can vary greatly.[39]) Consequently it will be beneficial for buildings in the future to have space reserved for crops.
Sunlight-reflecting and collecting devices, such as artificial light shelves, light pipes, and fiber optics, can deliver natural light deep underground or to inner-city high-rises to provide energy for both photosynthesis and energy.[40]
“We’re going to have to change the fact that pigs in America eat more fish than sharks, and domestic cats eat more fish than all the seals in the North Atlantic Ocean,” says Paul Watson, of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.[41]
With the world’s populations bulging, the oceans and their bounty of fish are on the hook for growing global hunger. One answer is aquaculture, otherwise known as fish farming, which has been on the rise over the past few decades to meet the soaring demand for seafood.[42]
Unhappily, the most common type of aquaculture is mariculture, or the cultivation of marine organisms in the ocean or within an enclosed section of water modeled on land-based factory livestock farms.[43] Some of these operations are infamous for their low-quality, tasteless, subpar fish pumped full of antibiotics, polluting local waterways, and fouling the gene pool of other wild fish stock. According to a New York Times editorial cited in Atlantic, aquaculture “has repeated too many of the mistakes of industrial farming—including the shrinking of genetic diversity, a disregard for conservation, and the global spread of intensive farming methods before their consequences are completely understood.”[44]
Providing fish with a continuous supply of clean water and healthy food while reducing the spread of pathogens, contaminants, and toxins allows fish to grow faster, more efficiently, and with far less disease.[45]
Flatfish and shellfish have been farmed for years, and seaweed was a staple food for early American settlers.[46] And by the way, seaweed farms have the capacity to grow massive amounts of nutrient-rich food while using photosynthesis to pull enormous amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Some varieties are capable of absorbing five times more carbon dioxide than land-based plants, and they also filter out nitrogen (three hundred times more potent in trapping heat than is carbon dioxide in greenhouse gases). And seaweed is one of the fastest growing plants in the world.[47]
About 50 percent of seaweed’s weight is oil, which can be used to make sustainable and clean biodiesel for cars, trucks, and airplanes. The Department of Energy estimates that seaweed biofuel can yield up to thirty times more energy per acre than land crops, such as soybeans, and produce 70 to 80 percent fewer greenhouse gases than natural gas does.[48]
Too many biofuels are produced from food crops such as corn and sugar, which drives up global prices in a world where a billion people are already hungry. Because they require no fresh water, no deforestation, and no fertilizer — all significant downsides to land-based farming — these ocean farms promise to be more sustainable than even the most environmentally sensitive traditional farms. Algae has the potential to produce ten thousand gallons of biofuel per acre.
Scientists at the University of Indiana recently figured out how to turn seaweed into biodiesel four times faster than other biofuels, and researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have discovered a way to use alginate extracted from kelp to ramp up the storage power of lithium-ion batteries by a factor of ten.[49]
Professor Ronald Osinga at Wageningen University, in the Netherlands, has calculated that a network of “sea-vegetable” farms measuring 180,000 square kilometers—roughly the size of Washington State—could provide enough protein for the entire world.[50]
And there are other upsides to seaweed: it’s rich in vitamins, minerals, and omega-3 oils, and requires no fresh water. It doesn’t cause deforestation, use fertilizer, or create greenhouse gases—significantly unlike land-based farming.[51] If done right, a new generation of green aquaculture is poised to figure among the most sustainable forms of farming on the planet.
Through “oyster-tecture,” one oyster can filter thirty to fifty gallons of water a day, reducing total nitrogen in the seas by up to 20 percent, and a three-acre oyster farm filters out the equivalent of nitrogen produced by thirty-five people.[52] Floating gardens and oyster reefs help protect coastal communities from hurricanes, sea level rise, and storm surges.[53]
Another agricultural alternative that experts are developing is growing plants in pods on the seabed for future food security. An Italian company uses a version of hydroponics while creating freshwater through desalination. As water evaporates, drops condense on the roof of the pod and then drip back down as freshwater to feed herbs and vegetables.[54]
Submersion of plants in seawater pods offers a stable temperature while avoiding exposure to extreme weather conditions on land, pests or insects, disease spores, or foul seepage. And tests carried out by the Ocean Reef Group (ORG) suggest that crops underwater grow faster than their land-based counterparts.[55]
It will take a few years to see if this method is economically feasible and to be careful of some of the vast wild spaces on Earth—the oceans. As we develop our ocean farms for future populations, we will have to be mindful of protecting the wild seas lest they become another exhausted and further polluted resource.
The blue-green, thick, jellylike stuff you see in fish tanks, seas, lakes, rivers, ponds, and on and under rocks is not what you would see on your plate. Proponents of the edible algae that is known as spirulina claim it could help provide a sustainable source of protein; is packed with antioxidants, minerals, vitamins, and other nutrients; and is a form of homeopathic medicine, although it can cause a gas attack.[56]
Spirulina is finding use as a food supplement—like in smoothies—and as an alternative to “cheat meat.” It grows within a week, whereas it takes six months to grow a kilogram of beef.[57] And ounce per ounce it contains more protein than beef.[58] It is eaten fresh, dried, or cooked like spinach and has virtually no taste, so you can mix it with anything—kind of like sea tofu. An added bonus is that it also feeds on carbon dioxide.
Algae also show great promise in the area of biofuel. Some ten million acres, about 1 percent of the total amount of worldwide acreage for grazing and farming, would be sufficient to grow enough algae to convert into what would equate to the total amount of diesel fuel in use in the country today.[59]
Singapore, one of the most densely populated countries with little farmland, has created a futuristic “floating vertical farm.” The whole system has a footprint of only about sixty square feet, or the size of an average bathroom. A total of 120 farming towers have been erected in Kranji, fourteen miles from Singapore’s central business district, with plans for three hundred more, which would allow the farm to produce two tons of vegetables per day. The system will use floats in local harbors that will provide year-round crops. Its loop shape will enable the vertical structure to receive more sunlight without having significant shadows. The farms will contain a number of sensors that can monitor the crops, sending information on their status to the people or smart systems in charge of tending them.[60]
You’ve definitely heard of veggie burgers and tofu dogs, but you may not have heard of fake fish. A Wall Street Journal article looked at the rise of imitation tuna, crab, shrimp, and even sham smoked salmon. The surprise conclusion: it’s rather tasty. Cutting-edge food science is being used to manipulate ingestible material ranging from tomatoes to pea protein to catch the elusive textures and flavors of fish.[61]
A lot of concerned people call it “Frankenfood” and, generally, genetically engineered anything has caused a firestorm of protest. A survey by the Pew Research Center shows that nine out of ten scientists from the American Association for the Advancement of Science say that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are “generally safe” to eat. At the same time, almost half of all US adults think, Nope, we won’t eat them.[62]
We have been genetically modifying our foods in one way or another for thousands of years. Farmers, seed companies, and botanists have improved the genes of plants by saving the best seeds and splicing plants to improve their growing and yielding capacity. For instance, the skimpy kernels of corn of a hundred years ago have morphed into the big ears of juicy corn on the cob today.
We can alter the DNA of seeds and manipulate genes, which result in plants that reject toxic herbicides as well as insects, use less water, and are becoming more robust. Some GMOs are specially made to be packed with extra vitamins, minerals, and other health benefits. Some biotech companies are doing experiments to make meat better for us, such as boosting the number of omega-3 fatty acids in it while decreasing animal fats to aid in preventing heart disease and stroke and attempting to protect against cancer and other medical conditions.
A group of scientists from the National Academies of Science did an extensive review of research on the safety of crops from GMOs over the past ten years.[63] They found no significant harm directly tied to genetic engineering. Another study claimed that GMO corn varieties have increased crop yields worldwide from 5.6 to 24.5 percent when compared to non-GMO varieties. They also found that GMO corn crops had significantly fewer (up to 36.5 percent less, depending on the species) mycotoxins, toxic chemical by-products of crops, which are linked to illnesses.[64]
The American Medical Association thinks genetically modified foods are fine. Part of an official statement notes that in almost twenty years, no clear impacts on human health have been reported or confirmed in professional journals.[65] The World Health Organization agrees. WHO, along with the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, maintains a set of science-based standards, guidelines, and practices called the Codex Alimentarius to promote good, safe food for everyone.[66]
The Food and Drug Administration takes a slightly different approach to genetically engineered animal products. It has issued guidance to help developers meet the standards of the Codex Alimentarius and US Food Safety regulations.[67] The Center for Veterinary Medicine makes sure that any given animal food is safe to eat.[68]
Although there is not sufficient research to confirm that GMOs are a contributing factor to disease, doctors’ groups, such as the American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM), tell us to hold off on making them part of our diets. One claim is that “several animal studies indicate serious health risks associated with genetically modified food, including infertility, immune problems, accelerated aging, faulty insulin regulation, and changes in major organs and the gastrointestinal system.”[69]
The American Public Health Association and American Nurses Association are among many medical groups that condemn the use of bovine growth hormone, because the milk from treated cows has more of the hormone IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor) that has supposedly been linked to cancer).[70] Others fear the contamination of the gene pools of plants. At the same time, there are those who believe that discontinuing the availability of GMOs may be depriving deprived people of the future, putting them face-to-face with famine and malnutrition.
On the other hand, between 1996 and 2008, US farmers sprayed at least 383 million pounds of herbicide on produce, that is, non-GMOs. One of the most overused is Monsanto’s Roundup, which has been reported to result in “superweeds” that are resistant to the herbicide. Recently, courts have held that it should be considered a carcinogen.
Recent studies and court verdicts have shown that consumers and workers across the United States have been put at great risk of developing non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) due to exposure to glyphosate, a human carcinogen used in Monsanto’s Roundup weed killer products.[71] And several court cases have agreed, resulting in massive legal compensations.[72]
Another contribution of genetic modification is edible cotton. For the first time, the cotton napkins on your table will be a form of food. The US Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service lifted its regulations on genetically modified cotton, meaning anyone can now grow its seeds as an edible.
In addition to producing fiber for food and fabrics, cotton also generates 1.6 pounds of seeds for every pound of cotton. This could even eventually pave the way for cotton seeds to be sold at your favorite supermarket, as these seeds contain a ton of protein. Unfortunately, they also contain a ton of gossypol, a chemical compound that protects the plant from pests and diseases but is also toxic to people. But scientists have found a way to genetically modify the plant to turn off the gene that produces the toxin. The seeds, which taste like chickpeas, could ensure that about 575 million people worldwide could meet their daily protein requirements.[73]
There’s a great scene in the sci-fi pic The Fifth Element when the female protagonist pops a pill on a plate and puts it into a microwave-looking machine and out pops a fully roasted chicken. And that may be possible in the future.
Food 3D printing is the latest trend in a new industry that enables foods like chocolate, pasta, pizza—and just about anything else—to be “printed” in your home on a machine. Food 3D printers are modified with special pressurized tanks to extrude raw material in the form of liquid or paste that can reproduce and customize foods in shape, texture, taste, and form.[74]
This process can be healthy and good for you and the environment because it converts alternative ingredients, such as proteins from algae, beet leaves, or insects, into tasty products. Food printers can make both savory and sweet foods; users can choose from a library of shapes or create their own to print. Up to five food capsules can be loaded into the printer at one time, and you can make a pizza (one capsule) in five minutes.[75]
Whether you think that it’s rad sci-fi or the ultimate laziness, just pressing a button to print your lasagna is pretty far out. And these capsules will probably be free of preservatives, with a shelf life limited to five days. Currently, these devices only print food that must be cooked as usual. But future models will also produce ready-to-eat.[76]
They have a touch screen that connects to a recipe site, but users can control the device remotely using a smartphone. So you can prepare food while on your way home or watching TV.[77] The food printers will vary in size, depending on configuration, and one that is the size of a medium microwave will start at about $1,000.[78]
But there are always naysayers. In the ’70s, people were a bit fearful of microwaves and thought their food could be poisoned with radiation or something. The same goes for the food printer. This is real food, with real, fresh ingredients, but it’s just prepared using a new technology. And according to the manufacturers, “everybody that tested it liked the food.”[79]
Because of the growing need for quick and cheap sources of protein in the future, many people (and their pets) may have to redirect part of their diets to the world of insects, the largest part of the animal kingdom. And before you say, “Ick,” consider that the eating habits of nearly one-third of the human population includes insects as part of the daily diet.[80] They provide protein and omega-3 fatty acids that are more than comparable to the amounts found in meat and fish.[81]
Insect farming is a very inexpensive, efficient, and sustainable way to produce food. Most insects can be raised using waste from slaughterhouses, grain mills, food processing plants, and restaurants. It takes 20 pounds of grain and 2,500 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef, 10 pounds of feed and 576 gallons of water to produce one pound of pork, 5 pounds of feed and 468 gallons of water to produce one pound of chicken, and 3.73 pounds of feed for catfish to reach market size at 1.5 pounds.[82] We need to find alternatives soon; already all seventeen of the world’s major fishing areas have reached or exceeded their natural limits.[83]
Crickets, on the other hand, require only one-half pound of food to produce one pound of body weight. Also, 80 percent of a cricket’s body is edible, compared to only 55 percent of the bodies of chickens and pigs, and to 40 percent for cattle.[84]
Thirty percent of the world’s land mass is presently used to graze or raise food for livestock. Insect farming requires far less area and can be completed in small buildings with controlled environments. Insects emit far fewer greenhouse gases and ammonia than livestock, making insect farms much more environmentally friendly.[85] Worldwide there are an estimated 2,100 species of insects that are considered edible.[86] This allows for production in urban industrial sites and is also especially attractive for those living in the tight confines of alien spaces, like colonies on other planets.
Zoonotic diseases (ones that normally exist in animals, but can infect humans) have caused widespread epidemics in many parts of the world. The potential for zoonotics is unlikely with insect farming. First of all, insects are more distantly related to humans than mammals are, and they are cold-blooded, which makes the adaptation of zoonotics from insects difficult. Diseases can be transferred by insects. But, for the most part, when it happens, it can be eradicated with far less trouble.[87]
Cricket casserole or chocolate-covered ants, anyone?
Jeff Mulhollem, “Double Food Production by 2050? Not So Fast,” Futurity, February 27, 2017, https://www.futurity.org/food-production-2050-1368582-2.
“Appendix A: How Much Land Is Required for a One-Million-Person City?” Replace Capitalism, http://replacecapitalism.com/appendix-a-how-much-land-is-required-for-a-one-million-person-city.
Glen E. Friedman, “Why Vegan?” Burning Flags Press, http://burningflags.com/news/why-vegan.
“Meat’s Large Water Footprint: Why Raising Livestock and Poultry for Meat Is So Resource-Intensive,” Foodbank, https://foodtank.com/news/2013/12/why-meat-eats-resources.
Melissa C. Lott, “10 Calories In, 1 Calorie Out: The Energy We Spend on Food,” Scientific American, August 11, 2011, https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/plugged-in/10-calories-in-1-calorie-out-the-energy-we-spend-on-food.
US Environmental Protection Agency, “Resources about Brownfields and Urban Agriculture,” EPA, https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/resources-about-brownfields-and-urban-agriculture.
Jerry Hayes, “Loss of Honey Bee Populations a Threat to U.S. Agriculture,” Southeast Farm Press, March 14, 2007, https://www.southeastfarmpress.com/loss-honey-bee-populations-threat-us-agriculture.
“USDA Defines Food Deserts,” Nutrition Digest 38, no. 2, http://americannutritionassociation.org/newsletter/usda-defines-food-deserts.
Patrick Caughill, “A Film Made of Graphene Makes Filtering Dirty Water Easier Than Ever,” Futurism, February 22, 2018, https://futurism.com/film-graphene-filtering-dirty-water-easier-ever.
Jeff Dondero, The Energy Wise Home (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2017).
Katie Langin, “Millions of Americans Drink Potentially Unsafe Tap Water: How Does Your County Stack Up?” Science, February 12, 2018, https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/02/millions-americans-drink-potentially-unsafe-tap-water-how-does-your-county-stack.
“Animal Agriculture’s Impact on Climate Change,” Climate Nexus, https://climatenexus.org/climate-issues/food/animal-agricultures-impact-on-climate-change.
Joe Loria, “Animal Agriculture Wastes One-Third of Drinkable Water (and 8 Other Facts for World Water Day),” Mercy for Animals, March 21, 2018, https://mercyforanimals.org/animal-agriculture-wastes-one-third-of-drinkable.
Henry Fountain, “Building a $325,000 Burger,” New York Times, May 12, 2013, https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/14/science/engineering-the-325000-in-vitro-burger.html; P. K. Thornton, “Livestock Production: Recent Trends, Future Prospects,” Philosophical Transactions B 365, no. 1554 (September 27, 2010), https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2935116; Mark Tran, “Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Livestock Can Be Cut by 30%, Says FAO,” The Guardian, September 26, 2013, https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2013/sep/26/greenhouse-gas-emissions-livestock.
Monica Saavoss, “How Might Cellular Agriculture Impact the Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry Industries?” Choices, 2019, http://www.choicesmagazine.org/choices-magazine/submitted-articles/how-might-cellular-agriculture-impact-the-livestock-dairy-and-poultry-industries.
Fountain, “Building a $325,000 Burger.”
Kristin Houser, “For the First Time, a Startup Grew a Steak in a Lab,” Futurism, December 13, 2018, https://futurism.com/THE-BYTE/LAB-GROWN-STEAK-ALEPH-FARMS.
Jenny Splitter, “How Do They Make Meat-Like Burgers from Plants?” Curiosity, May 11, 2018, https://curiosity.com/topics/how-do-they-make-meat-like-burgers-from-plants-curiosity.
Houser, “For the First Time, a Startup Grew a Steak in a Lab.”
Splitter, “How Do They Make Meat-Like Burgers from Plants?”
Stefan M. Pasiakos et al., “Sources and Amounts of Animal, Dairy, and Plant Protein Intake of US Adults in 2007–2010,” Nutrients 7, no. 8 (August 2015): 7058–69, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4555161.
Leo Galland, “The Standard American Diet (SAD),” Leo Galland MD (blog), http://drgalland.com/the-standard-american-diet-sad.
K. C. Wright, “The Coup in the Dairy Aisle,” Today’s Dietitian 20, no. 9 (September 2018), https://www.todaysdietitian.com/newarchives/0918p28.shtml.
Isabella Grandic, “How to Make Dairy without Cows,” Medium, November 3, 2018, https://medium.com/@igrandic03/how-to-make-dairy-without-cows-5bf25bc24dd.
Beth Kowitt, “Future of Milk? Genetically Engineered Yeast Could Replace Cows,” Genetic Literacy Project, March 21, 2017, https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2017/03/21/future-milk-genetically-engineered-yeast-replace-cows.
Samantha Cassetty, “Plant-Based Milk vs. Cow’s Milk: What’s the Difference?” NBC News, updated August 16, 2018, https://www.nbcnews.com/better/health/plant-based-milk-vs-cow-s-milk-what-s-difference-ncna845271.
Tom Ward, “A Team of Scientists Just Made Food from Electricity—and It Could Be the Solution to World Hunger,” Futurism, July 26, 2017, https://futurism.com/a-team-of-scientists-just-made-food-from-electricity-and-it-could-be-the-solution-to-world-hunger.
“Vertical Farming: Indoor Agriculture,” Basic Knowledge 101, http://www.basicknowledge101.com/subjects/verticalfarming.html.
Victor Mendez Perez, “Study of the Sustainability Issues of Food Production Using Vertical Farm Methods in an Urban Environment within the State of Indiana” (master’s thesis, Purdue University, 2014), https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/dissertations/AAI1565090.
Paul Marks, “Vertical Farms Sprouting All over the World,” New Scientist, January 15, 2014, https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22129524-100-vertical-farms-sprouting-all-over-the-world.
Ronald Holden, “It’s Called Vertical Farming, and It Could Be the Future of Agriculture,” Forbes, November 4, 2017, https://www.forbes.com/sites/ronaldholden/2017/11/04/its-called-vertical-farming-and-it-could-be-the-future-of-agriculture.
“Hydroponic Questions,” Bolton Farms, http://boltonhydroponics.com/FAQ.php.
“Hydroponic Systems—A Way to Save Water,” Energy in Water, https://www.energyinwater.eu/hydroponic-systems-a-way-to-save-water.
“Hydroponics Yield,” Uponics, https://uponics.com/hydroponics-yield.
Dom Galeon, “Your Produce Might Soon Grow in a Warehouse Down the Block,” Futurism, September 7, 2017, https://futurism.com/your-produce-might-soon-grow-in-a-warehouse-down-the-block.
Brian Barth, “How Does Aeroponics Work?” Modern Farmer, July 26, 2018, https://modernfarmer.com/2018/07/HOW-DOES-AEROPONICS-WORK.
“What Is Aquaponics?” Aquaponic Source, https://www.theaquaponicsource.com/what-is-aquaponics.
Tim Heath and Yiming Shao, “Vertical Farms Offer a Bright Future for Hungry Cities,” The Conversation, July 21, 2014, http://theconversation.com/vertical-farms-offer-a-bright-future-for-hungry-cities-26934.
Tamara Duker Freuman, “Who Actually Needs a 2,000-Calorie Diet?” U.S. News, June 14, 2016, https://health.usnews.com/health-news/blogs/eat-run/articles/2016-06-14/who-actually-needs-a-2-000-calorie-diet.
X. Qin et al., “Design of Solar Optical Fiber Lighting System for Enhanced Lighting in Highway Tunnel Threshold Zone: A Case Study of Huashuyan Tunnel in China,” International Journal of Photoenergy 2015, http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/471364.
Captain Paul Watson , “V,” Sea Shepherd, https://seashepherd.org/2014/05/06/v.
Jean-Michel Cousteau with Jaclyn Mandoske, “The Future of Sustainable Fish Farming,” Ocean Futures Society (blog), March 17, 2014, http://www.oceanfutures.org/news/blog/future-sustainable-fish-farming.
“Mariculture (History of Aquaculture/Lecture 1),” Quizlet, https://quizlet.com/152705306/mariculture-history-of-aquaculturelecture-1-flash-cards.
Brendan Smith, “The Coming Green Wave: Ocean Farming to Fight Climate Change,” The Atlantic, November 23, 2011, https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/11/the-coming-green-wave-ocean-farming-to-fight-climate-change/248750.
J. P. S. Cabral, “Water Microbiology: Bacterial Pathogens and Water,” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 7, no. 10 (October 2017): 3657–703, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2996186.
Smith, “The Coming Green Wave.”
L. A. Helfrich and George Libey, “Fish Farming in Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (RAS),” Texas A&M, September 2013, http://fisheries.tamu.edu/files/2013/09/Fish-Farming-in-Recirculating-Aquaculture-Systems-RAS.pdf.
Brendan Smith, “Can Ocean Farms Actually Be More Sustainable Than Even the Most Environmentally Sensitive Traditional Farms?” AlterNet, November 30, 2011, https://www.alternet.org/2011/11/can_ocean_farms_actually_be_more_sustainable_than_even_the_most_environmentally_sensitive_traditional_farms.
“Seaweed Aquaculture: An Answer to Sustainable Food and Fuel?” ThinkProgress, December 1, 2011, https://thinkprogress.org/seaweed-aquaculture-an-answer-to-sustainable-food-and-fuel-f60643f701dc.
Smith, “The Coming Green Wave.”
Adrian Oaks, “Spirulina & Chlorella,” Fish Oil Facts, January 15, 2016, http://www.fishoilfacts.net/spirulina-chlorella.
Smith, “The Coming Green Wave.”
Hawken, Drawdown.
Rich McEachran, “Under the Sea: The Underwater Farms Growing Basil, Strawberries and Lettuce,” The Guardian, August 13, 2015, https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/aug/13/food-growing-underwater-sea-pods-nemos-garden-italy.
McEachran, “Under the Sea.”
K. Moorhead and B. Capelli with G. Cysewski, Spirulina: Nature’s Superfood (Kailua-Kona, HI: Cyanotech, 1993), https://www.terapiaclark.es/Docs/spirulina_book.pdf.
Lauren Cox, “Spirulina: Nutrition Facts & Health Benefits,” Live Science, February 6, 2018, https://www.livescience.com/48853-spirulina-supplement-facts.html.
Rebecca Rupp, “Make Way for Algae on Your Dinner Plate,” National Geographic, September 4, 2015, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/people-and-culture/food/the-plate/2015/09/04/make-way-for-algae-on-your-dinner-plate.
Hawken, Drawdown; Wikipedia, s.v. “Algae Fuel,” last modified July 20, 2019, 9:13, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algae_fuel.
Jolene Creighton, “Floating Vertical Farms: Feeding Earth’s Growing Population,” Futurism, September 10, 2014, https://futurism.com/floating-vertical-farms-feeding-earths-growing-population.
Cathy Seigner cites the Wall Street Journal in “Startups Are Using Tomatoes, Eggplant and Carrots to Improve Fake Fish,” Food Dive, October 18, 2018, https://www.fooddive.com/news/startups-are-using-tomatoes-eggplant-and-carrots-to-improve-fake-fish/539853.
Pew Research Center, Public and Scientists’ Views on Science and Society (Pew Research Center, January 29, 2015), https://www.pewinternet.org/2015/01/29/public-and-scientists-views-on-science-and-society.
Kate Siegel and Suzanne Verity, “What You Need to Know about GMOs,” WebMD, April 8, 2016, https://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/truth-about-gmos#1.
Paul McDivitt, “Does GMO Corn Increase Crop Yields? 21 Years of Data Confirm It Does,” Genetic Literacy Project, February 19, 2018, https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2018/02/19/gmo-corns-yield-human-health-benefits-vindicated-21-years-studies.
“Reports of the Council on Science and Public Health,” AMA, 2012, https://www.ama-assn.org/sites/ama-assn.org/files/corp/media-browser/public/hod/a12-csaph-reports_0.pdf.
World Health Organization, “Frequently Asked Questions on Genetically Modified Foods,” WHO, May 2014, https://www.who.int/foodsafety/areas_work/food-technology/faq-genetically-modified-food/en.
Siegel and Verity, “What You Need to Know about GMOs.”
US Food and Drug Administration, “Center for Veterinary Medicine,” FDA, last modified August 29, 2018, https://www.fda.gov/about-fda/office-foods-and-veterinary-medicine/center-veterinary-medicine.
Julie Taylor, “10 Ways to Keep Your Diet GMO-Free,” CNN. March 31, 2014, https://www.cnn.com/2014/03/25/health/upwave-gmo-free-diet/index.html.
American Public Health Association, “Opposition to the Use of Hormone Growth Promoters in Beef and Dairy Cattle Production,” APHA, November 10, 2009, https://www.apha.org/policies-and-advocacy/public-health-policy-statements/policy-database/2014/07/09/13/42/opposition-to-the-use-of-hormone-growth-promoters-in-beef-and-dairy-cattle-production.
“Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma from Roundup,” My Cancer Lawsuit, https://www.mycancerlawsuit.com/non-hodgkins-lymphoma.
Jef Feeley, Joel Rosenblatt, and Tim Loh, “Bayer Wants to Settle Roundup Cancer Claims for $8 Billion, Sources Say,” Los Angeles Times, August 9, 2019, https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2019-08-09/bayer-wants-to-settle-roundup-cancer-claims-for-8-billion-sources-say.
Kristin Houser, “US Farmers Can Now Grow Edible Cotton,” Futurism, October 18, 2018, https://futurism.com/the-byte/edible-cottonseeds-us-regulations.
Wikipedia, s.v. “Applications of 3D Printing,” last modified July 24, 2019, 6:24, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Applications_of_3D_printing.
“How 3D Food Printing Technology Changing the Way We Eat,” Zazengo (blog), December 1, 2018, https://www.zazengo.com/3d-food-printing-technology.
John Straw, “Why 3D Printed Food Is the Future,” Disruption, November 24, 2015, https://disruptionhub.com/disrupted-food-why-3d-printed-food-is-the-future-of-food.
Jacopo Prisco, “‘Foodini’ Machine Lets You Print Edible Burgers, Pizza, Chocolate,” CNN, updated December 31, 2014, https://www.cnn.com/2014/11/06/tech/innovation/foodini-machine-print-food/index.html.
Prisco, “‘Foodini’ Machine Lets You Print Edible Burgers, Pizza, Chocolate.”
Laurie Segall, “This 3D Printer Makes Edible Food,” CNN Money, January 24, 2011, https://money.cnn.com/2011/01/24/technology/3D_food_printer/index.htm.
Ken Tudor, “The Case for Insect Protein in Foods,” Daily Vet (blog), PetMD, January 23, 2014, https://www.petmd.com/blogs/thedailyvet/ken-tudor/2014/january/insects-pet-food-protein-future-31265.
Joseph Bennington-Castro, “How Crickets Could Help Save the Planet,” NBC News, February 16, 2017, https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/environment/how-eating-crickets-could-help-save-planet-n721416.
Kai Kupferschmidt, “Why Insects Could Be the Ideal Animal Feed,” Science, October 14, 2015, https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2015/10/feature-why-insects-could-be-ideal-animal-feed.
Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, Atlantic Mackerel, Squid, and Butterfish Fisheries Fisheries Management Plan (FMP), Amendment No. 5, Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) US Atlantic Coast: Environmental Impact Statement (1995), https://books.google.com/books?id=3j43AQAAMAAJ.
“Why You Should Eat Insects: Cricket vs. Beef,” Näakbar (blog), https://naakbar.com/blogs/articles/why-you-should-eat-insect-cricket-versus-beef.
Ken Tudor, “ Insect Protein: Is It a Viable Alternative for Pet and Livestock Food?” Natural Products Insider, March 3, 2015, https://www.naturalproductsinsider.com/ingredients/insect-protein-it-viable-alternative-pet-and-livestock-food.
“Will We All Be Eating Insects in 50 Years?” IFLScience! https://www.iflscience.com/environment/will-we-all-be-eating-insects-50-years.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Zoonotic Diseases,” CDC, https://www.cdc.gov/onehealth/basics/zoonotic-diseases.html.