Seawater Greenhouse

5.4 Seawater Greenhouse

For a more sustainable way of agriculture I like the approach of Seawater Greenhouse. A moist microclimate is created inside greenhouses in the desert through the use of an adapted pad and fan technology. Electric fans powered by solar power blow saltwater through pads of corrugated card. The salt and some of the water stays on the outside of the pad, while the moist damp on the other side contains freshwater. The salty water on the outside is called brine. Most of this water can be used to cool the greenhouses and everything that can’t be used for cooling anymore is filtered further down into the water, salt, and other minerals. One of these minerals is lithium, which is very important for the battery industry.

In Jordan Seawater Greenhouse is working together with the Sahara Forest Project (SFP)63 Their aim is not only to grow more food in the desert. The Sahara Forest Project also wants to use residual water vapor to create an oasis effect that extends past the greenhouse and make a lasting change in the landscape. Although this is a great initiative, it doesn’t mean that you can just start seawater greenhouses on each desert shore. Just as with community tourism it is very important to work closely together with the local communities. For example, to avoid too much competition with traditional local farmers the greenhouse owners aren’t selling all their vegetables on the local markets yet. To still be profitable they currently sell part of their fresh vegetable to the Italian Cruise Line AIDA.

Lifecycle of tourism

Sustainability Blog Lifecycle of tourism 8.11 The lifecycle of tourism Already in 1980 Prof. Richard W. Butler wrote about a possible negative tourism cycle. In his own words he wrote:Visitors will come to an area in small numbers initially, restricted by lack of access, facilities, and local knowledge. As facilities are Read more

Spiritual tourism

Sustainability Blog Spiritual tourism 8.7 Spiritual tourism and the abuse of cultural traditions In a busy world were more people feel stressed, ancient, and exotic ways to ‘cure’ this stress are growing quickly in popularity. One of these exotic ways is participation in spiritual ceremonies with special plant extracts. The two Read more

Eco Lodges

Sustainability Blog Eco Lodges 8.6 The impact of Eco Lodges Let’s have a closer look at the Eco Lodges. From all tourist facilities, these lodges should have the least impact on the environment. Eco Lodges belong to some of the best-known products in Ecotourism. Their intention is good, but there are Read more

CO2 Responsability

Sustainability Blog CO2 Responsability 7.5 The responsibility for carbon footprints To what extent should Western consumers take responsibility for the things they buy and do? If, say, a UK consumer purchases a TV manufactured in China, which nation should take responsibility for the emissions incurred during its manufacture? This dilemma illustrates Read more

Carbon offset

Sustainability Blog Carbon offset 15.2 Natural carbon sequestration and offsets Although it is difficult to calculate exact numbers, several studies prove that earth is still absorbing more CO2 from the air then it produces naturally. This absorbing, also called CO2 sequestration, or carbon offset happens through many natural life systems including: Read more

Poverty and environment

Sustainability Blog Poverty and environment 9. The relation between poverty and our environment There are interesting relationships between wealth and environmental impact. Wealthy people are generally the biggest consumers and leave the biggest carbon footprint. However the poor are often bigger polluters in terms of dumping rubbish, illegal mining, poaching, and Read more

Renewables

Sustainability Blog Renewables 5.5 Renewables What about clean energy from renewables? Solar power on earth is likely not going to be sustainable enough. Maybe in the future we can harvest solar power from space but for the moment giant wind farms can be a solution. In his book Heat from 2006, Read more

Sustainable livestock

Sustainability Blog Sustainable livestock 5.3 Sustainable livestock farming According to research from Savory, it will even be counterproductive to eliminate all livestock farming. It will be better to use managed grazing methods to restore grasslands and decrease atmospheric CO2 levels. Restoring grasslands stores CO2 from the air into plant material. Grazing Read more

Change our diet

Sustainability Blog Change our diet 5.1 Change our diet Agriculture contributes to about 16% of the total greenhouse gas emission. Depending on which study to believe, if we would all go completely vegan we might save about 23% to 70% of greenhouse gas emission from our current food supply. This is Read more

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