The Ultimate Green Dream Job
Food is the center of everything in so many ways. It’s a cultural nexus: when we celebrate, acknowledge, welcome someone or connect with others food is in the middle of it. When we talk about the greatest environmental damage, food is at the center of it. When we talk about our health and wellbeing, food is in the center of it too.
In my opinion, there is nothing more important we should be building, in terms of technology, education, information and infrastructure, than building out the Internet of Food.
If you care about the future of the planet, think about children and their education. In the next 20–30 years, those who are little now will be the ones who will be making decisions, building the economy and the future of humanity, shaping the planet.
This is why we need to think about how we can provide and transfer the knowledge we have right now to the next generations, and in my opinion, the best job of the future for any kid is to become an aquaponics designer. It is an Ultimate Green Dream Job.
The Ultimate Green Dream Job requires a notepad, a pencil, a laptop and a tape measure, plus aquaponics design knowledge. It also requires you to travel the world, meet amazing, smart, caring people and help them build beautiful aquaponics systems, that can provide nutritious food for entire communities as well as a sustainable cash flow. It requires you to keep up to date with the latest updates about sustainable technology and have a creative solution-focused mind. It requires you to be positive, curious and think big.
This is what I envisioned one day when I suddenly realised my true purpose — helping children from underprivileged communities learn about aquaponics and pass this knowledge to their peers and family members.
The global organic food market will cross $220 Billion by 2024. Water scarcity was listed as one of the largest global risks in terms of potential impact over the next decade 2019 by the World Economic Forum. The increasing world population, improving living standards, changing consumption patterns, and expansion of irrigated agriculture are the main driving forces for the rising global water crisis.
A large part of this is indirect use in water-intensive agricultural and industrial production processes of consumer goods, such as fruit, oilseed crops and cotton. Because many of these production chains have been globalized, a lot of water in developing countries is being used and polluted in order to produce goods destined for consumption in developed countries.
Globally, 70% of Freshwater is used for Agriculture. In most regions of the world, over 70% of freshwater is used for agriculture. By 2050, feeding a planet of 9 billion people will require an estimated 50% increase in agricultural production and a 15% increase in water withdrawals.
To accommodate everyone, we need to build modern, sustainable cities. For all of us to survive and prosper, we need new, intelligent urban planning that creates safe, affordable and resilient cities with green and culturally inspiring living conditions.
This is when the Ultimate Green Dream Job — Aquaponics Design comes into play. Food and water are the most important resources on the planet for all species. Aquaponics systems enable households and businesses to produce large amounts of fresh food using 90% less water, 10% less space (aquaponics systems can be vertical as well) than traditional farming, with zero pesticides and 60% faster than traditional farming.
Aquaponics design is not only about growing food in the most sustainable way, it is also about design itself. Design in its pure form is the product of a creative mind, it is the manifestation of human genius and it can take any forms and shapes and has no limitations when it comes to realization. When aquaponics is merged with design and art it turns into a living art, that constantly produces new life, inspires and boosts creativity even more.
I am happy that we at The Koya Project have a chance to ignite the development of the new generation of future Aquaponics Designers, who can unleash their creativity and build sustainable art, that helps solve the world’s biggest puzzle — continue growing food in the most effective way, preserve resources and end the world hunger, while creating something beautiful and innovative.
We are now in the process of finding projects. schools, orphanages or communities in Indonesia, where we can start setting up the systems and start aquaponics design courses on a big scale.
The Ultimate Dream Green Job, the Aquaponics Design is the way to move the humanity forward by mixing sustainability, traditional art, innovation and high technology to produce nutritious food and grow beautiful plants, in order to sustain the optimum level of the wellbeing in the communities.
Michel Hensel, co-founder of The Koya Project
Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com.
