Aeroponics Can Be a Real Game-Changer

The investment opportunities we endorse on 2GreenEnergy are all “socially responsible” in the sense that each of them holds the promise to make the world a better place. But there is something about the business concept embodied in the aeroponics project I’ve been talking up recently that I believe is unique. This is an innovation in agriculture that has the potential to deal effectively with the shortages of water and food, while providing meaningful work for large numbers of unskilled people.

For a moment, think of the level of innovation that merits Superbowl ads: new razors with four super-smooth blades, or colas that will bring you true joy, or beer that will make you more attractive to hip, young, and sexy people. Sorry to be so out-of-touch, but it’s hard for me to muster too much enthusiasm for stuff like this.

I like to explain innovation in terms of “from-to.” And, even though I’ve made fun of some of these worthless consumer products, there truly have been some great “from-to” stories over the past decade or two. For instance, I might summarize the Internet as follows:

From: a world in which information was printed onto paper, hard for the vast majority of people to access, and selectively published at the whim of a small number of the world’s elite….

To: a world in which almost all information is available free and instantly, in which anyone with access to one of the world’s billion-plus computers can read – and publish — whatever he wants.

Likewise, I would summarize aeroponics as follows:

From: Food with poor and ever-decreasing nutritional content, grown in mineral-depleted soils, propped up by a dizzying array of toxic chemicals, delivered by agribusinesses with a wanton disregard for the health of their customers ….

To: Robust, highly nutritious food, grown easily and inexpensively by the people who need and want it.

It’s pretty significant stuff. I’ll happily learn to live without three extra useless blades in my razor, in exchange for the privilege of bringing high-quality food to the world’s people.