What is the Blue Revolution?

[Music] about a hundred years ago a number of technologies came about that would revolutionize our world everything from automobiles to plastics to electronics to satellites all this sweet sweet technology worked together to improve the lives of billions of people around the world and brought about what we'd call the modern age which i'll be honest having experienced it firsthand i can say is pretty great we all got to live in a time when distances could be covered quickly disposable products could be made cheaply and best of all we got to watch videos like this one on a personal computer which as i speak is receiving information from outer space there's no denying it that's awesome but this also isn't the full story something we don't talk about nearly as much as these flashy new machines but was nevertheless an equal part in shaping the world we know today is how technology impacted agriculture prior to the dawn of the 20th century most of the world's food was produced by small local farmers growing only what the native soil and climate would permit usually with the purpose of only feeding themselves and their families not only was this how most people got their food this was how most people lived their lives that is until a multitude of recently developed practices and techniques such as complex irrigation systems the industrial manufacturing of chemical fertilizers and widespread commercial pesticide use propelled food production much further than ever before and in doing so generating for the first time in human history worldwide food surpluses what was actually grown changed too with diverse regional heirloom crops being swapped out for the same perfectly engineered high-yield species leading many farms to turn to single crop monocultures pushing productivity up in exchange for an increased burden on the farmland soon these advanced farming practices made their way from where they were pioneered in places like the united states and europe into the developing nations of the world jump starting an even greater wave of global urbanization and bringing the percentage of people employed by agriculture from 44 in 1991 all the way down to 26 and falling in current times this increase in productivity despite a substantial decrease in total people working in agriculture granted more people access to secure sources of food than ever before and as a result ushered in a new era of stability and prosperity around the world for all the positive change that has come about because of these advances we call this the green revolution and while in a lot of ways this did the world a lot of good there are no perfect solutions to a problem as complex as feeding 7.8 billion people mass irrigation means that now 70 of our fresh water goes to agriculture making places like california vulnerable to water insecurity despite there being more than enough water to go around all in the name of sustaining the state's agricultural economy the process of manufacturing nitrogen for fertilizers is fossil fuel intensive to say the least and extracting phosphorus the other important ingredient in fertilizers relies on a limited and rapidly replenishing supply pesticides well they don't just kill pests but rather anything that comes into contact with them and through leaking into their surroundings have decimated what natural environments there are left surrounding farmlands and now approximately 25 of all greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture on top of that land is limited for starters only 29 of the earth's surface is land and of that 10 percent is under glaciers or ice and 19 is utterly barren desert or tundra leaving only 71 of the land on earth as habitable of this 50 or half of all the habitable land on earth is dedicated to agriculture with the remainder split 37 into forests eleven percent for shrub or grasslands one percent are fresh water areas like lakes and all of our cities and urban environments fit into just over one percent as well to make matters even worse of this agricultural land 77 percent of it is dedicated to the raising of livestock while only 23 is used to grow actual crops if that doesn't strike you as a gross misuse of land let me put it this way if we look at where our calories come from meat products only supply us with 18 of our daily calories on average of course while plants provide us with 82 percent of what we eat even if we look at where we get our protein from still less than half only 37 of our protein comes from meat while plants still do the heavy lifting here supplying us with 63 percent what this shows us is that growing livestock is an incredibly inefficient use of land and altogether this makes traditional land-based agriculture the main culprit in the global degradation of natural environments on top of all of this the human population is still growing and will continue to grow until 2100 by the earliest by then the earth could host a population of over 11 billion and as more people climb into the global middle class the demand for protein products is only going to expand at this rate global agriculture is going to need to increase production by up to 70 percent over the next century if the supply is to meet demand what all this means is that in order to meet the growing needs of people around the world without further degrading our environment we're going to need another big advancement in agriculture one that's more efficient that's more ecologically friendly and most important that's actually possible so while some put their faith in genetically modified organisms others in insect agriculture and they're really naive investing in vertical farms none of these solutions tackle the real issue at hand both land and fresh water are limited but there is one place left on earth where not only is there essentially endless space for crops to grow but also comes complete with an unlimited supply of water i am of course talking about the ocean which if used properly could not only once again reconfigure how our food is produced but alter the very way human civilization operates a change that would one day be called the blue revolution okay i know what you're thinking how exactly does water-based agriculture or aquaculture work oh that's not what you're thinking well then too bad i'm already talking about it the history of aquaculture stretches all the way back to 1000 bce to zhao dynasty china here rice farmers began introducing carp into their flooded rice paddies the carp would eat any algae running amok and excrete well yeah poop which once the rice patties were drained would act as a fertilizer this sort of polyculture meant that these ingenious chinese farmers could grow both livestock and crops on the same plot of land without degrading it or sacrificing fertility fast forward a couple thousand years and china continues to lead the way in aquaculture only now the techniques have advanced far beyond flooded rice paddies and carp first aquaculture has expanded into four distinct realms land-based fresh water coastal and most recently deep ocean the pattern to see here is that with each successive step farming operations have moved further and further away from human dwellings the reason for this is simple when done in such concentrated environments aquaculture can produce waste products hazardous to both the natural environment and humans alike so not only do these practices lead to habitat degradation by taking up space where other native aquatic species prefer to live and produce waste which can leak into surrounding waters and cause local eutrophication but on the whole they appear no better at supporting a sustainable relationship between man and nature than your more traditional farming practices but the further we move away from these operations the more these negative impacts are mitigated this leads me to the true core of the blue revolution deep ocean agriculture also known as mariculture or in essence let's take our farms and push them somewhere else a year or two ago i used this map in my oceans art deserts video what's shown is the average net primary productivity or in other words where foundational microscopic organisms like phytoplankton are concentrated within the ocean the dark purple two blue areas represent near zero levels of bioproductivity well the lighter you get all the way to red shows where phytoplankton grow in abundance this map reveals two important facts about the ocean first since phytoplankton floating in the ocean water are directly dependent on obtaining nutrients from their surroundings this map by extension shows us where nutrients are present and are not present in the ocean second since primary producers constitute the foundation of every ecosystem on earth just look at a food pyramid for crying out loud we can take this to mean that where we find greater levels of production that's consequently where we'll find greater ecosystem complexity and diversity and where primary productivity is low there are very few species and very little life in general together what this shows us is that due to the way nutrients are distributed throughout the ocean most aquatic life is concentrated near land while the vast majority of the ocean remains a virtually lifeless and unproductive space oceans are deserts with practically no natural environments affected by cultivating these empty spaces all of a sudden the open ocean becomes the best possible option for agriculture there's over 300 million square kilometers of unclaimed space with absolutely no problems with water access and most importantly being thousands of miles away from the nearest major marine ecosystems poses minimal threat of environmental degradation on these grounds not only could americulture feed seven or eight or 11 billion of us it could feed tens or even hundreds of billions of us all the while helping to ease the burden off land-based farms what we're capable of growing has also changed in the 3000 years since the innovation of aquaculture staying within the realm of fish what started with carp has now expanded into many other species like salmon tilapia and tuna all of which require about the same setup large singular nets which can hold hundreds of thousands of fish beyond this however crustaceans like shrimp or crayfish have also been domesticated though these do a lot better herded into shallow pins on account of the fact that they don't swim but rather dwell on the sea floor then we have mollusks which were definitely the easiest thing we ever domesticated with 100 sedentary lifestyles and eating habits that entirely rely on filter feeding animals like oysters or mussels can be hung in multi-tiered nets containing several hundred individuals while occupying very little surface area making them the perfect livestock the only thing that could be easier to grow than mollusks is the fourth and final major aquacultural crop plants now while the ocean might be jammed packed with all sorts of plant life the scope of aquaculture so far can be split into two groups seaweeds and kelps fortunately we don't need to learn the difference between them now besides maybe the fact that seaweeds typically grow as a thin blanket over surfaces which means they are best grown strung on horizontal ropes whereas kelps well they're sort of like underwater trees anchoring themselves at their base and using their buoyance pneumatocysts to keep their bodies afloat what this translates to in terms of farming is that while you may need to space your kelp out a bit wider they make much more use out of the whole water column altogether we can see that aquaculture already provides a wide variety of potential crops but what really gives the advantage to ocean farming is the inherent efficiency of marine life whereas terrestrial livestock and crops need to be supplied with water life in the ocean has evolved to receive water directly from the environment already eliminating one tremendous demand imposed on farmers beyond this because life in the ocean means a life where your body is constantly held and supported by all-encompassing water pressures sea creatures don't need to invest as much energy into building strong internal bones and muscles to hold them up ocean water also regulates temperatures meaning sea life hasn't needed to develop mechanisms to combat extreme heat or cold such as building sweat glands or storing fat this greater simplicity in the way marine life operates means that more of the food eaten by fish and other aquatic life can go towards what we humans actually want more of meat if we look at the food conversion ratios of common farm animals we'll find that it takes chickens 2 kilograms of feed to produce 1 kilogram of meat pegs require 4 kilograms to build a single kilogram of meat and cows must take in eight kilograms to produce just one kilogram of beef your average tropical shrimp however has an fcr of only 1.8 fish such as salmon are even better at 1.2 making them a more efficient use of feed than any other major livestock and roughly on par with crickets another developing agricultural product if you want to know more about it wow i even have a video for that this isn't even to mention the true champions of efficiency mollusks being filter feeders these shellfish can build up protein on their own just by taking in the microscopic phytoplankton and other organic matter suspended in ocean water making their food conversion ratio effectively zero to one meaning not only is there no threat of pollution from shellfish agriculture but mollusks can literally be grown in near sources of pollution as a means of cleaning water and fighting against eutrophication the third major advantage of aquaculture is actually an economic factor because of the lacks environmental regulations that will go on to define the 20th and early 21st centuries fishing practices have taken full advantage of wild fish stocks so much so in fact that 60 percent of the world's fisheries are already being harvested at their maximum sustainable capacity with an additional 33 percent of fisheries being overfished this leaves just seven percent of the world's fisheries not entirely exploited not only does this all have seriously negative environmental effects but from a business perspective this leaves little to no room for growth within the seafood market that's why wild capture fish production has basically stagnated since the 90s there's literally not enough fish in the sea to fuel any larger of a fishing industry aquaculture on the other hand is capable of growth so as the earth's population continues to climb and demand on all sources of food are bound to increase as well it makes sense that aquaculture has in recent times become a booming market on track to surpass the productive capacity of wild capture any day now what we're seeing now is akin to what people first began seeing thousands of years ago just like how primitive hunter-gatherer tribes started to transition to agriculture for a more reliable source of food humanity has just now taken these same lessons to the ocean trading off fishing or what's essentially fish hunting for the more advanced practice of fish farming this stability is part of the reason why in terms of market value aquaculture ventures have already far exceeded wild capture because at the end of the day what's being offered is a far more sustainable option with greater levels of control and less reliance on uncertain nature okay okay okay i know what you're thinking now well if aquaculture and specifically mariculture is so great why isn't it already here what are we waiting for and this is a good question because like i said at the start of the video there's no such thing as a perfect solution so while we've seen that deep ocean farming mitigates most of the issues associated with aquaculture it also comes with challenges of its own for instance how do you maintain and operate something as work intensive as a fish farm while it sits thousands of miles out to sea the obvious answer until recently has been that you simply couldn't this is why nearly all current aquaculture either exists on land or almost directly next to shore giving people fast access to their farms as is necessary for all agricultural operations but as countries like the united states china norway the philippines and more continue to invest in better systems of automation deep sea mariculture is taking its first steps towards becoming a reality the norwegian company salmar was the first to launch a deep sea operation in the form of ocean farm one just three years ago in 2017 capable of managing 1.5 million fish this single enterprise serves as a proof of concept showing the world that mariculture is not only possible but highly productive it's no surprise then that china followed with their own farm deep blue number one in 2019 and is now looking to expand further into the yellow sea while a number of ventures have been proposed off the shores of the united states i don't think it'll shock anyone to hear that there's a number of legal issues standing in the way of mariculture development here and this touches on what i believe to be the biggest hurdle that mariculture must overcome which isn't economic or technological but rather the simple fact that aquaculture is hardly ever included in discussions about sustainable futures when we talk about strategies to combat climate change and quell the ever-expanding impact humans are having on this planet we typically only mention energy solutions renewable energy solar wind heck even nuclear will get a mentioned before aquaculture or material solutions like recycling or biodegradable or even compostable products but like i said at the beginning of this video agriculture accounts for 25 or a whole quarter of our greenhouse emissions meaning that at least a quarter of our solutions to this crisis must involve rethinking how and where we grow our food if we truly want to improve our industrial system at every opportunity then offshore agriculture has to be included in the conversation so that governments recognize that they need to make it easy for people to invest in developing strategies like this at the end of the day whether or not the blue revolution happens is up to us we know how to do it we know that we should do it and we know that we can do it all that's left is for us to want to do it hi everyone thanks for watching to be honest i wasn't sure if i wanted to take on this subject at first but a quick search on youtube showed me that well at least at the time of making this there wasn't a single other big educational video on this topic to be found and it was then that i knew i had to make this video bringing this information to more people is truly something that i think could benefit the world and so before i plug my patreon i just want to say that after watching this if you now have the desire to enter the world of aquaculture and potentially start operations of your own you should read this report released by nature which gives a huge overview of the growing field it's where i got most of the information for this video and it contains so much more that i didn't have time to include a link for it will be in the description if you're interested along with some other resources okay lastly i could not make videos like this without the support of my great and many patrons if you want to help support the channel there should be a link on screen if not that's fine but let me tell you there's also a link on screen for you to subscribe just you know so i can keep you up to date with any other good revolutions that you should be a part of thanks

Channel: Atlas Pro

Views: 583,667

Keywords: education, geography, science, atlaspro, aquaculture, mariculture, ocean, agriculture, farm, water, deep, farming, industry, climate, environment, fish, fishing, green, revolution, aquaponics, china, salmon

Id: tBVXenVpfVM

Length: 18min 44sec (1124 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 21 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/ijxy]

Why do we need to increase food production by 70%? We are 7.6 billion now, he saud we would peak at 11 billion in 2100, that is a 44% increase over 80 years, which is an annual growth of 0.46% per year (CAGR). Thinking we will not meet that demand is malthusian at best.

[u/ijxy]

Very little information from the web travel by satellite. Most are wired, fiber and the like: https://i.imgur.com/A70Itrd.png

[u/ijxy]

Did he say you could use molluscs to clean up eutrophication? Just to be clear, when it comes to humans, eutrophication is poop. Molluscs are notorious for spreading human viruses because of this. We should not rely on molluscs to clean up eutrophication, if the source is human waste.

[u/ijxy]

Some issues, but good video!

[u/Dryanni]

Pair this idea with seasteading and you have real life version of Waterworld(1995).

[u/Bilbrath]

I guess we'll just all have to get used to eating a lot more kelp-based food then

[u/thinkpaduser2000]

hopefully this catches on in other countries too. This seems like a sustainable way to bring food to our growing population