Industrial technology is not necessarily anti-Nature. It is just that our design is incomplete.
A complete design:
Collect the emissions from coal-burning powerstations, scrub them and pipe to large-scale clear plastic sheeting covered greenhouses. The high CO2 level inside causes plants to grow at an increased rate, and CO2 is converted to plant matter. Sell the tomatoes, and plow the stems into the soil. This increases the soil’s carbon content, as well as improving fertility and texture. Applied on a large enough scale, atmospheric CO2 becomes soil carbon.
While you are at it, the technology of sewage is also incomplete: electrolytically remove the heavy metal contamination, then pump inland and expose to air (oxygen) in tree plantations. Nature already provides the cascade of microorganisms necessary to convert this resource to fertiliser.
Both the above processes are economic. Both can generate profits. Both would reduce atmospheric CO2 and attract carbon credits. Why aren’t we doing it? Because like our economic system, our industrial system was not designed, it just happened.
Entries (RSS)