Daily Thoughts 12/24/2011

Daily Thoughts 12/24/2011

I have been steadily reading The End of Growth.  Another idea is that we are running out of resources and because of this there can be no economic growth.  The depletion of oil, mineral wealth, forests, and fisheries has caused a permanent downturn in the economy. 

There is a missing element to this which is not being discussed.  I wanted to take a break and just amuse myself a bit with the idea that there will be massive land reclamation projects in the near future.  It will be a different type of growth with a different economic and political philosophy.  I do not think growth will end.  It will change.

Reclamation Economics

There will be a point in the near future where it will become viable to reclaim large areas of land for food production, biofuel production, and as a return to natural habitats.

There is another step in green economics which I have not seen explored very well.  The economics of large scale land reclamation, pollution abatement, and using urban farming to reclaim abandoned buildings.  This is just an idea.

There is an idea called ecological engineering which is focused on reclaiming land and water.  Eventually this will be a growth industry.  Using things like Seawater Greenhouses http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/sep/02/alternativeenergy.solarpower
there will be large land reclamation projects.  There are other systems like living machines which are used for water treatment http://www.livingmachines.com/about/    Eventually there will be many more systems like this. 

As land becomes more valuable, industrial lands will increasingly be reclaimed.  Polluted areas will be remediated with cheaper forms of phytoremediation.  http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20111009/SUB01/310099965/investors-have-faith-in-mustard-seed-farming-for-biofuel-brownfield-cleanup  Investors have faith in Mustard Seed Farming for Biofuel Brownfield Cleanup.

Landfills will be gasified and reprocessed for their content.  Less will be wasted.  Maybe in the near future we will see large scale reclamation projects to turn desert back into farmland. 

Another thing which is happening is that urban farming is growing.  It often takes over and reclaims abandoned buildings.  This is another area where cities will slowly be reclaimed. The Rise of Urban Aquaponics Farm Fresh In Wisconsin.
http://singularityhub.com/2010/06/17/the-rise-of-urban-aquaponics-farm-fresh-fish-in-wisconsin-video/





The next city budget hearing is on December 29, 2011.  Hopefully, the library will do well.
http://cmvny.com/2011/12/23/notice-of-public-hearing-for-the-2012-budget/