7 Reasons Why Aquaponics Will Change the World
Why Aquaponics Today: Edition 1
Welcome to the first installment of our new series “Why Aquaponics Today?” We hope with this series to get across why we are so EXCITED about aquaponics and why today is the perfect time to get started on an aquaponic journey. In this installment, you will learn about seven important trends that I believe aquaponics addresses.
To start us off, here are seven important trends that are currently developing worldwide:
Climate Change and Sluggish Policy
Increasing Desire for Food Security
Unhealthy Attitudes towards Waste and Over-Consumption
Higher Standards of Living, Worldwide
Inefficient Agricultural Methodology
Overconsumption of natural resources
I believe that the hard questions posed by these frightful trends are addressed by a single simple solution, aquaponics. Today, you will learn how this simple technology poses such promise!
Luckily for you, what you’ll read below is a synthesis of dozens of articles from a variety of sources, I have already synthesized them all for you. My hope is to drastically reduce the time it takes to wrap your head around these different trends and how aquaponics will address each of them in turn.
Moreover, you will learn specific moves and tactics to move forward towards our goals regarding these trends. Experience has provided us many useful ‘best practices’ that I want to share with you and the world, in the hope that one day aquaponics will be a household term.
Let us now briefly review each trend, the problems they pose, our proposed solution and the benefits of that solution. In the coming editions of, “Why Aquaponics Today,” we will look at each one of these trends in depth.
Politicians are dragging their feet on addressing Climate Change. As recently as January 16th, 2014, the New York Times reported that, “Nations have so dragged their feet in battling climate change that the situation has grown critical and the risk of severe economic disruption is rising.”
Climate change does not wait for the whims of political discourse. The problems posed by changing climate must be addressed sooner, rather than later if the solutions are to be effective. Whatever their reasons for delay, action must be taken now.
In order to counterbalance the lagging of political discourse, we must address it from the local level and enact change from the home outwards.
Aquaponics is scalable to any size, from the dorm room, to household, to community shared gardens to large scale farms. In fact, our first ever system grew herbs and tomatoes from within our cramped Boston apartment!
Anyone can operate an aquaponics garden. There is no weeding or hoeing or other strenuous labor.
Food insecurity, not knowing what is in our food, is a growing concern. Taint in the global food supply is being uncovered more and more each year. Meanwhile local farms are decreasing and the median age of farmers is over 57 years old! All this attributes to increasing food insecurity. Just as Smokey the Bear taught us, only you can prevent forest fires. Likewise, “Only you can provide your own food security.” We must take action for ourselves.
Food security is increasingly difficult to find in the store. Fresh, non-processed food is marketed as premium/luxury and thus is sometimes outside of most peoples budgets. Also, there is a growing phenomena of areas where fresh, non-processed food is simply unavailable, known as food deserts.
Aquaponics is the easiest and most sustainable method of food production for anyone, anywhere. It can be implemented in urban food deserts and real deserts.
You will never have to use any chemicals whatsoever. Fertilization is naturally produced by the fish and water treatment is provided by the plant roots. Your produce is completely natural and absolutely taint free.
Aquaponics scalability allows it to work in cramped urban environments just as well as it works in a wide open space.
Increasing population means two things
We will have more waste to deal with
A mindset with a focus on resource efficiency is required to address this problem.
Aquaponics provides the maximum food production value in the smallest amount of space.
Fish and Plants are grown simultaneously on the same plot, doubling production efficiency
Planting density can be up to 4x-8x conventional plots.
generally unhealthy attitude towards waste
As we said above increasing population means we will have more waste to deal with. This is a daunting prospect, given that there is a plastic island the size of texas floating in the Pacific Ocean.
A mindset with a focus on resource efficiency is required to address this problem.
According to the leading popular text on the subject, aquaponics uses up to 90% less water and power consumption over conventional methods of farming.
With such a drastic reduction in resource consumption, aquaponics poses a major untapped source of resource efficiency. Once more homes, communities, and institutions could harvest their produce from local aquaponic gardens, then we will be about FOOD FEET instead of food miles.
As populations grow, a higher standard of living is increasing in demand.
As population grows, the current method of maintaining our living styles is unsustainable. Take for example the rise of sushi, which is causing major overharvesting.
Provide the highest quality of fresh fruits, vegetables and fish using natural aquaponics technology.
Enjoy food the way it was meant to be tasted, full of living taste, lush aroma and vibrant color.
The incredible nutrient value is an added bonus to the best tasting produce you’ll ever find.
Aquaponics has supported many of the most prosperous and powerful civilizations of all time.
Current agricultural methods are energy inefficient. Demand for more food caused certain methods of agriculture to come into common use, not out of practicality but out of necessity. Fertilizer, pesticides and other chemicals made out of petroleum seemed to make sense when there was an abundance of oil. Now, new options must be entertained.</span>
Conventional modern agriculture uses 10 calories of energy for every 1 calorie of food produced, on average. This is clearly unsustainable.
Aquaponics is the most energy efficient method of agriculture currently known.
As above, aquaponically grown produce grows twice as fast and can be four to eight times as densely planted. In fact, aquaponics has been shown to be up to 10 TIMES more productive in the same amount of space as conventional agriculture.
Fish are also raised in the same space.
When you use aquaponics just right, all you need is one water pump, one air pump. A water heater is optional depending on local climate and fish species.
This is in contrast with the thousands of gallons of oil that go into the chemicals, as well as the massive machinery necessary to sow, harvest, and all other important aspects of massive conventional farms.
Meanwhile, aquaponics is so accessible that it is being used by hospitals in their patient’s occupational therapy classes.
verconsumption of Natural Materials
Overconsumption is a natural extension of our societies waste addiction. This, coupled with explosive population and a higher standard of living has resulted in a massive reduction of arable land, extensive deforestation, depletion of vital fish reserves and tainting of the ocean with mercury and other chemicals.
Aquaponics is the least consumptive method of agriculture because it is based on natural technology. Nothing is wasted.
Fish food can be grown on site, eliminating the need for any sort of fertilizer sources.
Since so little energy is required, solar panels provide ample power to make an aquaponic garden totally sustainable.
Let me end here by saying thank you for your time and your attention here. We are grateful for every reader. Our greatest hope is to provide you with enough inspiration and instruction to get started on your own aquaponic adventure.
I wrote ‘Why Aquaponics Today?’ in order to spread awareness about the bountiful opportunities provided by aquaponics. Over the course of the series we will address each of these trends in depth, in order to really explore how this ancient technology can change the world for the better.
Join us next week as we take an in depth look at our first trend.
Join us in the comments section and tell us if you have any desire for or experience in aquaponics or some similar field!
Start your exploration today!
Looking forward to our future together!
