From: Yemane Natnael (yemane_natnael@yahoo.com)
Date: Fri Oct 03 2008 - 09:49:51 EDT
Sowing the seas
"The results are spectacular, with seawater-tolerant plants (including
the biofuel crop salicornia) providing a new home for wildlife as well
as creating food, jobs and prosperity for previously poverty-stricken
areas. In Eritrea, Africa, the Seawater Foundation has created the
world's first integrated sea farm for shrimp, fish and halophytes
covering over 1000 hectares."
By Matthew Knight
For CNN
Oct 2, 2008
LONDON, England (CNN) -- Atmospheric physicist Carl
Hodges founded the Seawater Foundation in 1977 in an attempt to
alleviate some of the world's most complex ecological problems. Hodges'
unique approach draws seawater inland, irrigating otherwise barren
coastal desert regions and turning them green.
The results are spectacular, with seawater-tolerant plants
(including the biofuel crop salicornia) providing a new home for
wildlife as well as creating food, jobs and prosperity for previously
poverty-stricken areas. In Eritrea, Africa, the Seawater Foundation has
created the world's first integrated sea farm for shrimp, fish and
halophytes covering over 1000 hectares.
Principal Voices spoke to Hodges on the site of his latest project on the Mexico coast. CNN: Give us a sense of the Seawater Foundation's mission.
Carl Hodges:
Well, 30 years ago, we began to use seawater for agriculture and to
create wealth and jobs. And I thought there were additional things that
maybe business wouldn't necessarily include. So we thought we needed a
partnership between a very socially orientated organization and a
classical business -- they both needed to move towards one another a
little bit. And that we would have a partnership that would actually
address the kind of global problems that you see here [in Mexico].
CNN: Can you explain how you go about making man-made rivers?
CH: Well, you cut a channel. Except you cut it as a river.
For example, in Brownsville, Texas, they have a sea channel that's a
port. It comes inland 33 kilometers and ships come in. We made that
with big dredging machines. You cut a channel, but you call it a river,
because it doesn't go on to a dead end. Instead the water goes in, and
it arrogates things. When you stand at the mouth of it, you feel
exactly like you would at the mouth of a river. Except you look down
and the water is going in and not coming back. It goes in to produce
animals, shrimp and fish, and then with their excrement involved, it
arrogates trees that turn into forests. The forests have meadows of
crop that provide food and fuel. And beauty. I think that's an
important value.
CNN: How can the sea save us from climate change?
CH:
Well, the sea presents a problem because the sea levels are coming up.
But it's also an opportunity. By bringing that rising sea water onto
the land we can arrogate agriculture.
A new form of agriculture.
Greenery will take carbon out of the air -- we have to take some out --
because we're putting too much in. And it will produce a biofuel that
doesn't put any carbon in.
The problem sort of pushes us to a
solution. We've either got to build sea walls, or we've got to move
tens of millions of people away from the edge of the sea. But instead
of that -- instead of cost -- we invest money in these new production
systems, creating jobs, creating wealth, and taking big steps in
solving global warming.
CNN: At the heart of your vision for the agriculture is a plant called salicornia. Tell us about that.
CH:
It's an amazing plant. When we first started looking for plants, we
looked at over 700 in some detail, and we listed them. And the only
reason we had salicornia was that it was pretty.
A young lady
was counting the seed, and she wiped her fingernails on a paper towel
and she noticed that the towel looked oily. And she was right. It has
about 30-40% very high quality vegetable oil. And so we said: 'My God,
it's an oil seed crop'. It's like soy bean.
And so out of the 700 we picked 20, then we picked three, and one of the three was salicornia. And now it's the star.
Salicornia produces a high quality vegetable oil on sea water. On land
it's not competitive for food production. It produces at a rate that is
probably one of the most economical biofuels on the planet. We
suggested it as a bio fuel in 1982. And in 1993 we actually ran a
vehicle on salicornia oil and wrote a paper where I said it will be bio
fuel of the future.
CNN: What do you envisage will happen with these seawater projects in the future?
CH:
I see sea water rivers around the world. Right now we're looking at 34
countries where we could have 50 rivers of the scale we've been looking
at in Mexico and bigger. And they would come inland and they would
arrogate a quantity of desert coast in an ecologically sound fashion.
It would be on a scale that takes so much water inland that it would
stop sea level rises in about ten years.
The world would
continue to build more of these over the next 40, 50, 60 years. Not
only would we catch up with stopping sea level rise, we would also be
making a significant contribution to taking enough carbon out of the
air. With efficient systems, transportation and power plants, we'd stop
global warming.
CNN: What did you learn from the sea farm venture you set up in Eritrea in 1999?
CH:
In my 50 years of science, my four and a half years in Eritrea were the
most rewarding. I loved every minute of it. The thing I learned that
was most strong was what people really need is purpose and hope...and
the sea. People -- I mean women and children -- would come to work at
night, singing, carrying rocks on their head -- at their initiative --
to finish a pond, so that they and I would be pleased that it was done.
I used to go to work in the morning and just damn near cry. I loved the
people, I loved the project, and the world will look back upon that one
day as one of the really significant projects.
CNN: What is your view on how the governments of the world's richest nations are tackling the issue of climate change?
CH:
Well, I'm embarrassed by the U.S. administration for the last eight
years. I don't think they're bad people. I just think that they wish it
were different. They weren't prepared to address it. I think there's
leadership in these issues in Europe. And I think that there is hope in
both Presidential candidates, Democratic and Republican.
CNN: This is a big vision. Just how realistic is your solution?
CH:
I think 100%. I think there's a lot of very good people. Scientists,
businessmen, people working night and day here that are convinced that
it will happen. And we have lots of experience. This is not an
overnight idea because the seas are coming up. We started sea water
agriculture. We started trying to de-salt the oceans in the 60s with
solar systems,, and realized that we'd be much better off to make the
deserts green. We'd be much better off trying to get plants that are
already out there in the estuaries of the world, and domesticate them,
get products out of them and grow what are called halophytes - plants
that tolerate and enjoy sea water. And that's what we've done.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/10/01/carl.hodges.q.a/
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