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Imagine you are a part
of a crew of astronauts

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traveling to Mars or some distant planet.

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The travel time could take a year

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or even longer.

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The space on board and the resources

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would be limited.

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So you and the crew would have
to figure out how to produce food

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with minimal inputs.

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What if you could bring with you
just a few packets of seeds,

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and grow crops in a matter of hours?

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And what if those crops
would then make more seeds,

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enabling you to feed the entire crew

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with just those few packets of seeds
for the duration of the trip?

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Well, the scientists at NASA actually
figured out a way to do this.

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What they came up with
was actually quite interesting.

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It involved microorganisms,

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which are single-celled organisms.

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And they also used hydrogen from water.

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The types of microbes that they used
were called hydrogenotrophs,

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and with these hydrogenotrophs,
you can create a virtuous carbon cycle

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that would sustain life
onboard a spacecraft.

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Astronauts would breathe out
carbon dioxide,

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that carbon dioxide would then
be captured by the microbes

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and converted into a nutritious,
carbon-rich crop.

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The astronauts would then eat
that carbon-rich crop

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and exhale the carbon out
in the form of carbon dioxide,

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which would then be captured
by the microbes,

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to create a nutritious crop,

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which then would be exhaled
in the form of carbon dioxide

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by the astronauts.

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So in this way, a closed-loop
carbon cycle is created.

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So why is this important?

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We need carbon to survive as humans,

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and we get our carbon from food.

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On a long space journey,

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you simply wouldn't be able to pick up
any carbon along the way,

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so you'd have to figure out
how to recycle it on board.

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This is a clever solution, right?

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But the thing is, that research
didn't really go anywhere.

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We haven't yet gone to Mars.
We haven't yet gone to another planet.

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And this was actually done
in the '60s and '70s.

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So a colleague of mine,
Dr. John Reed, and I,

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were interested, actually,
in carbon recycling here on Earth.

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We wanted to come up
with technical solutions

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to address climate change.

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And we discovered this research

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by reading some papers published
in the '60s -- 1967 and later --

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articles about this work.

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And we thought it was a really good idea.

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So we said, well, Earth
is actually like a spaceship.

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We have limited space
and limited resources,

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and on Earth, we really do
need to figure out

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how to recycle our carbon better.

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So we had the idea,

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can we take some of these
NASA-type ideas and apply them

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to our carbon problem here on Earth?

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Could we cultivate
these NASA-type microbes

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in order to make
valuable products here on Earth?

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We started a company to do it.

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And in that company, we discovered
that these hydrogenotrophs --

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which I'll actually call
nature's supercharged carbon recyclers --

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we found that they are a powerful
class of microbes

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that had been largely overlooked
and understudied,

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and that they could make
some really valuable products.

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So we began cultivating these products,
these microbes, in our lab.

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We found that we can make
essential amino acids from carbon dioxide

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using these microbes.

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And we even made a protein-rich meal

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that has an amino acid profile
similar to what you might find

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in some animal proteins.

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We began cultivating them even further,

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and we found that we can make oil.

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Oils are used to manufacture
many products.

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We made an oil that was similar
to a citrus oil,

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which can be used for flavoring
and for fragrances,

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but it also can be used
as a biodegradable cleaner

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or even as a jet fuel.

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And we made an oil
that's similar to palm oil.

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Palm oil is used to manufacture

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a wide range of consumer
and industrial goods.

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We began working with manufacturers
to scale up this technology,

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and we're currently working with them

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to bring some of these products to market.

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We believe this type of technology
can indeed help us

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profitably recycle carbon dioxide
into valuable products --

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something that's beneficial
for the planet

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but also beneficial for business.

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That's what we're doing today.

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But tomorrow, this type of technology
and using these types of microbes

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actually could help us
do something even greater

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if we take it to the next level.

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We believe that this type of technology

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can actually help us address
an issue with agriculture

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and allow us to create
a type of agriculture that's sustainable,

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that will allow us to scale
to meet the demands of tomorrow.

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And why might we need
a sustainable agriculture?

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Well, actually, it is estimated

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that the population will reach
about 10 billion by 2050,

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and we're projecting that we will need
to increase food production

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by 70 percent.

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In addition, we will need many more
resources and raw materials

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to make consumer goods
and industrial goods.

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So how will we scale to meet that demand?

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Well, modern agriculture simply cannot
sustainably scale to meet that demand.

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There are a number of reasons why.

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One of them is that modern agriculture
is one of the largest emitters

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of greenhouse gases.

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In fact, it emits more greenhouse gases

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than our cars, our trucks, our planes

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and our trains combined.

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Another reason is that modern ag
simply takes up a whole lot of land.

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We have cleared 19.4 million square miles
for crops and livestock.

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What does that look like?

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Well, that's roughly the size
of South America and Africa combined.

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Let me give you a specific example.

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In Indonesia, an amount
of virgin rainforest was cleared

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totaling the size
of approximately Ireland,

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between 2000 and 2012.

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Just think of all
of the species, the diversity,

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that was removed in the process,

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whether plant life, insects
or animal life.

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And a natural carbon sink
was also removed.

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So let me make this real for you.

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This clearing happened primarily
to make room for palm plantations.

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And as I mentioned before,

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palm oil is used
to manufacture many products.

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In fact, it is estimated
that over 50 percent of consumer products

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are manufactured using palm oil.

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And that includes things
like ice cream, cookies ...

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It includes cooking oils.

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It also includes detergents,
lotions, soaps.

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You and I both
probably have numerous items

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in our kitchens and our bathrooms

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that were manufactured using palm oil.

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So you and I are direct beneficiaries
of removed rainforests.

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Modern ag has some problems,

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and we need solutions
if we want to scale sustainably.

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I believe that microbes
can be a part of the answer --

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specifically, these supercharged
carbon recyclers.

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These supercharged carbon recyclers,

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like plants, serve as
the natural recyclers

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in their ecosystems where they thrive.

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And they thrive in exotic places on Earth,

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like hydrothermal vents and hot springs.

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In those ecosystems,
they take carbon and recycle it

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into the nutrients needed
for those ecosystems.

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And they're rich in nutrients,

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such as oils and proteins,
minerals and carbohydrates.

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And actually, microbes are already
an integral part of our everyday lives.

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If you enjoy a glass of pinot noir
on a Friday night,

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after a long, hard work week,

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then you are enjoying
a product of microbes.

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If you enjoy a beer
from your local microbrewery --

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a product of microbes.

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Or bread, or cheese, or yogurt.

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These are all products of microbes.

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But the beauty and power associated
with these supercharged carbon recyclers

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lies in the fact that they can
actually produce in a matter of hours

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versus months.

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That means we can make crops

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much faster than we're making them today.

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They grow in the dark,

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so they can grow in any season

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and in any geography and any location.

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They can grow in containers
that require minimal space.

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And we can get to a type
of vertical agriculture.

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Instead of our traditional
horizontal agriculture

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that requires so much land,

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we can scale vertically,

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and as a result
produce much more product per area.

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If we implement this type of approach
and use these carbon recyclers,

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then we wouldn't have to remove
any more rainforests

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to make the food and the goods
that we consume.

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Because, at a large scale,

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you can actually make 10,000 times
more output per land area

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than you could -- for instance,
if you used soybeans --

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if you planted soybeans
on that same area of land

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over a period of a year.

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Ten thousand times
over a period of a year.

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So this is what I mean
by a new type of agriculture.

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And this is what I mean
by developing a system

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that allows us to sustainably scale
to meet the demands of 10 billion.

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And what would be the products
of this new type of agriculture?

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Well, we've already made a protein meal,

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so you can imagine something
similar to a soybean meal,

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or even cornmeal, or wheat flour.

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We've already made oils,

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so you can imagine something
similar to coconut oil

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or olive oil or soybean oil.

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So this type of crop can
actually produce the nutrients

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that would give us pasta and bread,

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cakes, nutritional items of many sorts.

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Furthermore, since oil is used
to manufacture multiple other goods,

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industrial products and consumer products,

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you can imagine being able to make
detergents, soaps, lotions, etc.,

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using these types of crops.

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Not only are we running out of space,

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but if we continue to operate
under the status quo

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with modern agriculture,

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we run the risk of robbing our progeny
of a beautiful planet.

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But it doesn't have to be this way.

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We can imagine a future of abundance.

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Let us create systems that keep
planet Earth, our spaceship,

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not only from not crashing,

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but let us also develop systems
and ways of living

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that will be beneficial
to the lives of ourselves

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and the 10 billion that will
be on this planet by 2050.

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Thank you very much.

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(Applause)