A forgotten Space Age technology could change how we grow food

Imagine you are a part

of a crew of astronauts

traveling to Mars or some distant planet.

The travel time could take a year,

or even longer.

The space on board and the resources

would be limited.

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

with minimal inputs.

What if you could bring with you

just a few packets of seeds,

and grow crops in a matter of hours,

and what if those crops would then
make more seeds,

enabling you to feed the entire crew

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

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

What they came up with
was actually quite interesting,

and it involved microorganisms,

which are single-celled organisms.

And they also used hydrogen from water.

The types of microbes that they used
were called hydrogenotropes,

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

that would sustain life
on board a spacecraft.

Astronauts would breathe out
carbon dioxide.

That carbon dioxide would then
be captured by the microbes

and converted into a nutritious,
carbon-rich crop.

The astronauts would then eat
that carbon-rich crop,

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

which would then be captured
by the microbes

to create a nutritious crop,

which then would be exhaled
in the form of carbon dioxide

by the astronauts.

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

So why is this important?

We need carbon to survive as humans,

and we get our carbon from food.

On a long space journey,

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

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

This is a clever solution, right?

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

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

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

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

we were interested actually
in carbon recycling here on Earth.

We wanted to come up
with technical solutions

to address climate change.

And we discovered this research

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

about this work,

and we thought it was a really good idea.

And so we said, well,
Earth is actually like a spaceship.

We have limited space

and limited resources,

and on Earth we really do need
to figure out how to recycle

our carbon better.

So we had the idea,

can we take some of these NASA-type ideas

and apply them to our carbon problem

here on Earth?

Could we cultivate
these NASA-type microbes

in order to make valuable products
here on Earth.

And we started a company to do it,

and in that company,

we actually discovered that these
hydrogenotropes,

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

we found that they are
a powerful class of microbes

that had been largely overlooked
and understudied,

and that they could make
some really valuable products.

And so we began cultivating
these products, these microbes in our lab.

We found that we can make
essential amino acids

from carbon dioxide using these microbes,

and we even made a protein-rich meal

that has an amino acid profile

that's similar to what you might find
in some animal proteins.

And we began cultivating
them even further,

and we found that we can make oil.

And oils are used to manufacture
many products.

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

which can be used for flavoring
and for fragrances,

but it also can be used
as a biodegradable cleaner

or even as a jet fuel.

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

And palm oil is used to manufacture
a wide range of consumer

and industrial goods.

So we began working with manufacturers

to scale up this technology,

and we are currently working with them
to bring some of these products to market.

We believe that this type of technology
can indeed help us

profitably recycle carbon dioxide
into valuable products,

something that's beneficial for the planet

but also beneficial for business.

But that's what we're doing today,

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

actually could help us
do something even greater,

if we take it to the next level.

So we believe that this type of technology

can actually help us address
an issue with agriculture,

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

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

And why might we need
a sustainable agriculture?

Well actually, it is estimated
that the population will reach

about 10 billion by 2050,

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

by 70 percent.

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

to make consumer goods
and industrial goods.

So how will we scale to meet that demand?

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

and there are a number of reasons why,

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

of greenhouse gases.

In fact, it emits more greenhouse gases

than our cars, our trucks, our planes,

and our trains combined.

Another reason is that modern ag

simply takes up a whole lot of land.

We have cleared 19.4 million square miles

for crops and for livestock.

What does that look like?

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

And let me give you a specific example.

In Indonesia, an amount
of virgin rainforest

was cleared totaling the size
of approximately Ireland

between 2000 and 2012.

Just think of all of the species,

the diversity, that was removed
in the process,

whether plant life, insects,
or animal life.

And a natural carbon sink
was also removed.

And so let me make this real for you.

This clearing happened primarily
to make room for palm plantations.

And as I mentioned before,

palm oil is used

to manufacture many products.

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

are manufactured using palm oil.

And that includes things like ice cream,

cookies.

It includes cooking oils.

It also includes detergents,
lotions, soaps.

So you and I both

probably have numerous items

in our kitchens and our bathrooms

that were manufactured using palm oil.

So you and I are direct beneficiaries
of removed rainforest.

So modern ag has some problems,

and we need solutions
if we want to scale sustainably.

So I believe that microbes
can be a part of the answer,

and specifically these super-charged
carbon recyclers.

These super-charged carbon recyclers,

like plants, serve as
the natural recyclers

in their ecosystems where they thrive,

and they thrive in exotic places on Earth

like hydrothermal vents and hot springs.

And in those ecosystems,
they take carbon and they recycle it

into the nutrients needed
for those ecosystems.

And they're rich in nutrients,

such as oils and proteins, minerals

and carbohydrates.

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

So if you enjoy a glass of pinot noir

on a Friday night
after a long, hard work week,

then you are enjoying
a product of microbes.

If you enjoy a beer
from your local microbrewery,

a product of microbes.

Or bread, or cheese, or yogurt.

These are all products of microbes.

But the beauty and the power
associated with these super-charged

carbon recyclers

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

versus months,

so that means we can make crops

much faster than we're making them today.

They grow in the dark,

so they can grow in any season

and in any geography and any location.

And they can grow in containers
that require minimal space.

And we can get to a type
of vertical agriculture,

instead of our traditional
horizontal agriculture

that requires so much land.

We can scale vertically,

and as a result produce much more product

per area.

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

then we wouldn't have to remove
any more rainforests

to make the food and the goods
that we consume.

Because, at a large scale,

you can actually make

10,000 time more output per land area

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

if you planted soybeans
on that same are of land

over a period of a year.

Ten thousand times
over a period of a year.

So this is what I mean

by a new type of agriculture,

and this is what I mean

by developing a system

that allows us to sustainably scale

to meet the demands of 10 billion.

And what would be the products

of this new type of agriculture?

Well, we've already made a protein meal,

so you can imagine something
similar to a soybean meal,

or even cornmeal, or wheat flour.

We've already made oils,

so you can imagine something similar to
coconut oil or olive oil or soybean oil.

So this type of crop

can actually produce the nutrients

that would give us pasta and bread,

cakes, nutritional items of many sorts.

And furthermore, since oil

is actually used to manufacture
multiple other goods,

industrial products,
and consumer products,

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

using these types of crops.

So not only are we running out space,

but if we continue to operate
under the status quo

with modern agriculture,

we run the risk of robbing our progeny

of a beautiful planet.

But it doesn't have to be this way.

We can imagine a future of abundance.

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

not only from not crashing,

but let us also develop systems
and ways of living

that will be beneficial
to the lives of ourselves

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

Thank you very much.

(Applause)