[Applause]
so you just went grocery shopping and
you bought everything you needed for a
nice dinner for four people but you go
back home and there’s actually six of
you so take the car and you go back to
the grocery store only to find that it’s
empty you move to the next grocery store
and then the supermarket and then the
department stores but all the shelves
are empty now this is a simple metaphor
of what may happen to us in just thirty
three years from now we know that
presently in the world more than 1
billion people suffer from starvation
the world the land area of the world is
approximately 13,000 million acres and
just thirty seven point six percent of
that is agricultural area it’s mainly
dedicated to pastures and growing food
for cattle and biofuel just a small
portion is Agri is arable area now since
1950s some 2 billion actors of this area
have been determined degraded which mean
that it falls out of the possibility of
growing food pollution desertification
urban encroachment all these account for
further reducing our availability of
land so more people less land higher
demand for food where are we potentially
headed well I read once that by 2050
given the growth in population predicted
the same level of starvation and the
present ways of agriculture we will need
to find an area the size of Brazil to
feed the world this might be an
exaggerated statement but nonetheless
left me speechless
now agriculture is both a basic need of
man
but also a very dangerous activity for
our environment in fact our culture is
one of the biggest culprit of global
warming
it emits more greenhouse gases than our
trucks cars planes combined farming is
one of the thirstiest users of our
precious water supplies and agriculture
is the culprit of the loss of
biodiversity in the world in this
centuries that have passed what would
you think if I were to tell you that
farms in the US alone have been
producing two Sun two hundred sixty two
percent more food than they were
producing in the 1950s and what if I
were to tell you that these sames farms
are expected to produce 60 percent more
to meet the further increasing global
demand how does that make you feel it
makes me feel scared I mean just by
traveling and you can see how deeply we
have ravaged our earth I can’t imagine
how much more we can devastation we can
bring upon us when faced with food
scarcely so on a planet that is more
than 71% water why not turn to the
oceans because water is salty because
plants can’t live in it well it does
make sense honestly but follow me here
in this in this exercise I myself am a
surfer not a very good one evidently but
have a deep connection my family is
always have a deep connection with the
ocean it’s a passion that has been
passed on to me from my dad
I have scuba dive since I was 9 years
old
so it is only natural that my dad a
chemical engineer with a passion in
growing
and undoubtably a few loose screws would
want it to try an experiment growing
plants in the water why would we do that
first we need to understand what the
plants need and it’s basically four
factors
plants need temperature stability it’s
not surprising that agriculture was born
in those areas of the world where
temperature excursions between day and
night and during the season is not at
that extreme so plants don’t like low
temperatures that don’t like to high
temperatures plants all also need water
and that is not a groundbreaking
discovery we know that plants need
sunlight to perform the transformation
of co2 into o2 and vice versa in what is
commonly known as the night and day
cycle and last but certainly not least
plants need safety they need to be
protected from parasites critters and
awesome animals and also harsh weather
conditions now these four elements
though simple and straightforward are
not that easy to find in the world and
especially they’re not easy to be
scalable upon reliable upon in fact
human beings have so deeply shaped the
landscape of our planets to face the
needing increasing yield and stability
of our food so we think that these four
simple elements can be found actually
under water and how is that possible
well we said that plants need water
water comes from evaporation evaporation
happens all the time it’s not only when
we boil water the surface of the ocean
is made of molecules of water that
slowly but surely move into the above
air volume and by doing that they lose
their content in salt and minerals
so if we have a surface of water even if
it’s under the sea level we will have
evaporation we will have fresh water for
the plans we need pen temperature
stability we said before well water has
much higher heat capacity than air
in fact air warms up and cools down so
much faster than water temperate cities
are usually close to big bodies of water
and third we need safety well there is
no natural foe that can reach the plants
under water simply not there so based on
these three simple intuitions we
embarked on a journey that of course
started with some spectacular failures
but through perseverance stubbornness we
successfully grew plants under water and
how did we do that how did we harness
these elements that are under water
well we engineered these transparent
domes filled with air and anchored to
the seafloor and we call them biospheres
inside these biospheres we designed a
system of hydroponic culture I don’t
know if you’re familiar with it but
hydroponics main focus is to get rid of
the soil which makes sense we learned
before that soil is actually a very
scarce resource in the world inside
these bio field biospheres we also have
a tech box this stack box has Wi-Fi
connection and a bunch of sensors that
we can use to remotely check the
conditions in the biosphere
it also equipped with remotely activated
pumps lights and fans in case we need to
interact with the environment just like
a normal greenhouse the initial start to
the biosphere is given by just a normal
scuba tank that is opened underneath
this biosphere so we open it air comes
out water that is in is driven out
that’s how we create an air volume
inside the biospheres underwater fairly
simple the atmosphere inside these
biospheres is not different from what
you’re reading now the only difference
is the pressure is increased given to
the depths that we decided to install
our biosphere so putting the things back
together we don’t need soil because
we’re I do panic temperature is given by
the surrounding body of water protection
is given by the fact that we’re
underwater and we have natural
evaporation which provides us of the
fresh water that we need to make its
circle into the hydroponic system and
how do we power all of this we started
years ago with landline electricity but
for a sustainable for a sustainable
project it doesn’t really make sense so
we installed a windmill and solar panels
and I’m very proud to say now that
almost all the energy that we use in the
most garden is green what is the purpose
of this project Nemo’s garden there are
multiple we’ve been discovering more and
more along the way but there’s one which
is the highest purpose of the mall I
believe and is the reason why I’m here
talking to you today we believe that we
can give an option to us to every one of
us to feed those extra guests without
having to move to Mars we deeply and
firmly believe that in a planet that is
71% oceans it is only natural that the
future of sustainability will be in the
oceans we should work with what we have
here be imaginative creative I see I
imagine I see thousands of these pods
these biospheres that contribute to
create food in those countries that lack
arable land that have extreme
temperatures that don’t have the
infrastructure that don’t have fresh
water I see these biospheres connect
two other exciting projects such as
artificial reefs and coral restoration
and biofuel algae farms clam farm mussel
farms I see Nemo’s garden being
connected to agriculture
I’m sorry aqua cultures where the
biological waste of fish farms is used
as a nutrient for the plants and plants
in the biosphere are used as a nutrient
for the fish just imagine how many
places in the world that could benefit
from Nemo’s garden from Baja skiers
everywhere we could put them in lakes we
could put them in lagoons along the
shorelines without having to burn down
forests to create arable land without
having to use precious fresh water for
irrigation without having to destroy the
land to create the irrigation ways and
without having to pollute by using
pesticide to guarantee a safe yield so I
think that we have to go back to where
it all started doesn’t make sense to go
back where life started life started in
the first place in the oceans in the
water and there is a statement that I
have read on national Geographics that I
think really pinpoints the moment we are
faced this is a pivotal moment we are
faced with unprecedented challenges in
food scarcity and the protection of the
global environment we know what we have
to do but we need to figure out how to
do it and I think that Nemo’s garden may
be an answer to that thank you
[Applause]
so you just went grocery shopping and
you bought everything you needed for a
nice dinner for four people but you go
back home and there’s actually six of
you so take the car and you go back to
the grocery store only to find that it’s
empty you move to the next grocery store
and then the supermarket and then the
department stores but all the shelves
are empty now this is a simple metaphor
of what may happen to us in just thirty
three years from now we know that
presently in the world more than 1
billion people suffer from starvation
the world the land area of the world is
approximately 13,000 million acres and
just thirty seven point six percent of
that is agricultural area it’s mainly
dedicated to pastures and growing food
for cattle and biofuel just a small
portion is Agri is arable area now since
1950s some 2 billion actors of this area
have been determined degraded which mean
that it falls out of the possibility of
growing food pollution desertification
urban encroachment all these account for
further reducing our availability of
land so more people less land higher
demand for food where are we potentially
headed well I read once that by 2050
given the growth in population predicted
the same level of starvation and the
present ways of agriculture we will need
to find an area the size of Brazil to
feed the world this might be an
exaggerated statement but nonetheless
left me speechless
now agriculture is both a basic need of
man
but also a very dangerous activity for
our environment in fact our culture is
one of the biggest culprit of global
warming
it emits more greenhouse gases than our
trucks cars planes combined farming is
one of the thirstiest users of our
precious water supplies and agriculture
is the culprit of the loss of
biodiversity in the world in this
centuries that have passed what would
you think if I were to tell you that
farms in the US alone have been
producing two Sun two hundred sixty two
percent more food than they were
producing in the 1950s and what if I
were to tell you that these sames farms
are expected to produce 60 percent more
to meet the further increasing global
demand how does that make you feel it
makes me feel scared I mean just by
traveling and you can see how deeply we
have ravaged our earth I can’t imagine
how much more we can devastation we can
bring upon us when faced with food
scarcely so on a planet that is more
than 71% water why not turn to the
oceans because water is salty because
plants can’t live in it well it does
make sense honestly but follow me here
in this in this exercise I myself am a
surfer not a very good one evidently but
have a deep connection my family is
always have a deep connection with the
ocean it’s a passion that has been
passed on to me from my dad
I have scuba dive since I was 9 years
old
so it is only natural that my dad a
chemical engineer with a passion in
growing
and undoubtably a few loose screws would
want it to try an experiment growing
plants in the water why would we do that
first we need to understand what the
plants need and it’s basically four
factors
plants need temperature stability it’s
not surprising that agriculture was born
in those areas of the world where
temperature excursions between day and
night and during the season is not at
that extreme so plants don’t like low
temperatures that don’t like to high
temperatures plants all also need water
and that is not a groundbreaking
discovery we know that plants need
sunlight to perform the transformation
of co2 into o2 and vice versa in what is
commonly known as the night and day
cycle and last but certainly not least
plants need safety they need to be
protected from parasites critters and
awesome animals and also harsh weather
conditions now these four elements
though simple and straightforward are
not that easy to find in the world and
especially they’re not easy to be
scalable upon reliable upon in fact
human beings have so deeply shaped the
landscape of our planets to face the
needing increasing yield and stability
of our food so we think that these four
simple elements can be found actually
under water and how is that possible
well we said that plants need water
water comes from evaporation evaporation
happens all the time it’s not only when
we boil water the surface of the ocean
is made of molecules of water that
slowly but surely move into the above
air volume and by doing that they lose
their content in salt and minerals
so if we have a surface of water even if
it’s under the sea level we will have
evaporation we will have fresh water for
the plans we need pen temperature
stability we said before well water has
much higher heat capacity than air
in fact air warms up and cools down so
much faster than water temperate cities
are usually close to big bodies of water
and third we need safety well there is
no natural foe that can reach the plants
under water simply not there so based on
these three simple intuitions we
embarked on a journey that of course
started with some spectacular failures
but through perseverance stubbornness we
successfully grew plants under water and
how did we do that how did we harness
these elements that are under water
well we engineered these transparent
domes filled with air and anchored to
the seafloor and we call them biospheres
inside these biospheres we designed a
system of hydroponic culture I don’t
know if you’re familiar with it but
hydroponics main focus is to get rid of
the soil which makes sense we learned
before that soil is actually a very
scarce resource in the world inside
these bio field biospheres we also have
a tech box this stack box has Wi-Fi
connection and a bunch of sensors that
we can use to remotely check the
conditions in the biosphere
it also equipped with remotely activated
pumps lights and fans in case we need to
interact with the environment just like
a normal greenhouse the initial start to
the biosphere is given by just a normal
scuba tank that is opened underneath
this biosphere so we open it air comes
out water that is in is driven out
that’s how we create an air volume
inside the biospheres underwater fairly
simple the atmosphere inside these
biospheres is not different from what
you’re reading now the only difference
is the pressure is increased given to
the depths that we decided to install
our biosphere so putting the things back
together we don’t need soil because
we’re I do panic temperature is given by
the surrounding body of water protection
is given by the fact that we’re
underwater and we have natural
evaporation which provides us of the
fresh water that we need to make its
circle into the hydroponic system and
how do we power all of this we started
years ago with landline electricity but
for a sustainable for a sustainable
project it doesn’t really make sense so
we installed a windmill and solar panels
and I’m very proud to say now that
almost all the energy that we use in the
most garden is green what is the purpose
of this project Nemo’s garden there are
multiple we’ve been discovering more and
more along the way but there’s one which
is the highest purpose of the mall I
believe and is the reason why I’m here
talking to you today we believe that we
can give an option to us to every one of
us to feed those extra guests without
having to move to Mars we deeply and
firmly believe that in a planet that is
71% oceans it is only natural that the
future of sustainability will be in the
oceans we should work with what we have
here be imaginative creative I see I
imagine I see thousands of these pods
these biospheres that contribute to
create food in those countries that lack
arable land that have extreme
temperatures that don’t have the
infrastructure that don’t have fresh
water I see these biospheres connect
two other exciting projects such as
artificial reefs and coral restoration
and biofuel algae farms clam farm mussel
farms I see Nemo’s garden being
connected to agriculture
I’m sorry aqua cultures where the
biological waste of fish farms is used
as a nutrient for the plants and plants
in the biosphere are used as a nutrient
for the fish just imagine how many
places in the world that could benefit
from Nemo’s garden from Baja skiers
everywhere we could put them in lakes we
could put them in lagoons along the
shorelines without having to burn down
forests to create arable land without
having to use precious fresh water for
irrigation without having to destroy the
land to create the irrigation ways and
without having to pollute by using
pesticide to guarantee a safe yield so I
think that we have to go back to where
it all started doesn’t make sense to go
back where life started life started in
the first place in the oceans in the
water and there is a statement that I
have read on national Geographics that I
think really pinpoints the moment we are
faced this is a pivotal moment we are
faced with unprecedented challenges in
food scarcity and the protection of the
global environment we know what we have
to do but we need to figure out how to
do it and I think that Nemo’s garden may
be an answer to that thank you
[Applause]
Please follow and like us: