Dear Reader,

Thank you in advance for taking your time to read this paper. This revision is a complete

overhaul from the last. Last draft my paper was solely focused on the improvements that

aquaponics systems could make to the farming industry. I then separately talked about how the

books we read this year (Slaughterhouse Five, Lathe of Heaven, The Time Machine, etc.) spoke

about food shortages which the aquaponics system could help fix. In this draft, I explore why

people even write about global concerns in science fiction. This then lead me down the path of

how science fiction pushes advancements in science.

Thanks again,

Jenna Holland
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Jenna Miller Holland

Dr. Holt

English 12 Science Philosophy

19 April 2018

Exploring Efforts to Mitigate Future Food Shortages Through Aquaponics Technology

Global warming and food insecurity is a frequent topic of discussion in science fiction

books. It is interesting that writers of Science fiction books have chose to include this topic. Any

type of writer could discuss it, but it is most prevalent in science fiction writing. There are a few

ideas as to why these topics are most effectively introduced through Science Fiction. A lot of

warnings about food insecurity and global warming are also published in scientific papers, but

those don't really reach a large audience. They are mostly read by people who are in the field or

people writing other scholarly articles. Additionally, most scholarly articles have a pretty steep

learning curve and require being "in the loop" to understand the language and terminology being

used. Science Fiction is read by the masses. Sci Fi books reach thousands of readers on a

personal level and are relatively easy to read. This means that the warnings reach more people

and are more easily understood.

Science Fiction writing allows writers to imagine a world in which far off concerns are

present. Typically, people prioritize their concerns by due date. This means that even large

concerns that are far off typically fall behind compared to small tasks that are imminent. When

reading a book in which the concerns are now the future seems more imminent. You get

immersed in a fictional world and it outcomes and then can realize that the same might happen to

the real world. This makes the concerns personal.

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Additionally, Science Fiction books are thought to be grounded in science. Yes, things

like Haber's sleep analyzer aren't real but they are plausible and they are described in detail in the

book. If food insecurity or global warming was addresses in say a fantasy or romance book, it

might be glanced over. These books are usually a fun thought experiment that don't need to be

tied down by the rules of science. So, when a plausible scenario is brought up in the context of a

fun story that is not required to be grounded in science it seems out of place. If Twilight began

discussing global warming, it would be perceived as a joke and seem out of place. People don't

typically read those to have a hard look at life.

Through English 12, we have read many Science Fiction books that underline the

importance of food and food security. In Slaughterhouse Five, the value of food is displayed as a

sort of currency. It acts as a social divider and a class indicator.

They were among the wealthiest people in Europe, in terms of food. A clerical error

early in the war, when food was still getting through to prisoners, had caused the Red

Cross to ship them five hundred parcels every month instead of fifty. The Englishmen

had hoarded these so cunningly that now, as the war was ending, they had three tons of

sugar, one ton of coffee, eleven hundred pounds of chocolate, seven hundred pounds of

tobacco, seventeen hundred pounds of tea, two tons of flour, one ton of canned beef,

twelve hundred pounds of canned butter, sixteen hundred pounds of canned cheese, eight

hundred pounds of powdered milk, and two tons of orange marmalade (Vonnegut, 94).

Food is scarce which means when the enemy has more of it they are at a huge advantage. Food

has the power to sway global conflicts. Additionally, this book is based on a true story. World

War Two was a real thing that people had to live through and Dresden was really bombed. This
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means that even despite the fact that the book includes plunger shaped aliens there is a bit of

realisticness to it which makes the warkings more likely to be listened to.

In Lathe of Heaven, the full effects of food shortages can be seen through the small

vignettes of worlds that George Orr dreams up. Problems were as little as food having to be

rationed and species going extinct: "I miss the races, it's a shame the way the lower species get

crowded out by our food problems." to as big as economic collapse.

Nobody but some of the European countries got rationing and pollution control and birth

control going early enough, in the seventies, and so when we finally did try to control

food distribution it was too late, there wasn't enough, and the Mafia ran the black market,

everybody had to buy on the black market to get anything to eat, and a lot of people didn't

get anything. They rewrote the Constitution in 1984, the way you remember, but things

were so bad by then that it was a lot worse, it didn't even pretend to be a democracy

anymore, it was a sort of police state, but it didn't work, it fell apart right away. When I

was fifteen the schools closed. There wasn't any Plague, but there were epidemics, one

after another, dysentery and hepatitis and then bubonic. But mostly people starved. (Le

Guin)

In this circumstance, food caused the backbone of our society to collapse, and for the military to

take over. This book is relatively grounded in reason ex. The pages of explanation for the

augmentor. This then leads to more trust in the validity of circumstances being presented. It

make people question if a dying off of horses could really happen. This quote is subtle and isn't

overly forceful in its agenda. This lets people ponder its implications by themselves. This

autonomy makes people more likely to buy into the idea. If you come to a conclusion yourself it

is more rewarding then just having one be shoved onto you. This then leads to the second quote
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which takes the exact opposite approach. It portrays the unraveling of society in a very forceful

image. This description demands change. It is not casually thrown in, it a large chunk of text that

demands attention.

In H. G. Wells' The Time Machine, we even learn that hunger has pushed people to

become cannibalistic.

Clearly, at some time in the Long-Ago of human decay the Morlocks’ food had run short.

Possibly they had lived on rats and such-like vermin. Even now man is far less

discriminating and The Time Machine 101 of 148 exclusive in his food than he was—far

less than any monkey. His prejudice against human flesh is no deep seated instinct

(Wells).

It is clear that there is a direct correlation between the structural wellbeing of our society and

food security. One cannot exist without the other. This book is an especially good

communication to the public because it is intended to be realistic. The Time Machine spends

ample time explaining exactly how time travel works and the functionality of the time machine.

This gives the book a sense of realism, so when problems are brought up they are suppose to

actually happen in the future. It leads people to believe that at some point in the future, people

really could eat other people. While these books do catastrophize the event, large disturbance is

to be expected with food instability.

One way that people have begun to address food insecurity is advanced farming

technology. They are trying to make farming take up less space, produce more, and use less

resources. One system that has come out of the push is an Aquaponics system. An aquaponics

system is a system for growing both fish and plants at the same time. It is composed of two parts

a bottom tank and top grow bed. The bottom tank is a fish tank that holds the fish that are being
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grown. Typically the fish chosen are edible, can withstand a high variability in temperature, and

are cheap. Some of the water from the fish tank is then pumped up to the grow bed, where

bacteria converts the ammonia in the fish waste to nitrates and nitrites. These nitrates and nitrites

are limiting factors for plant growth which means that they are required. The plants also filter the

water, so when it is returned down to the fish tank the water is clean and oxygenated for the fish.

In traditional farming, plants are planted in nutrient rich soil and watered routinely.

However, it is near impossible to predict exactly how much water a plant will utilize. This means

that a lot of the water is lost to either evaporation, transpiration, percolation, or overland flow.

There are some attempts to mitigate the amount of water lost to evaporation such as the tree

TPEE, but ultimately the wasted water just goes back into the water table and then into

waterways. This waste of fresh water is a problem due to the fact that the earth is running out of

fresh water. While the earth is seventy percent water, only two point five percent of that is fresh

water. This unnecessary waste just speeds up the process. Additionally, water is expensive and if

a farmer has to pay for more water, they can not afford things like more crops or more

environmentally friendly vehicles.

The unused water either flows straight to rivers and streams through overland flow, or

indirectly through percolation and then groundwater flow. This is a problem because farmers

usually use multiple pesticides and nutrient booster on their plants in order to increase crop

yields. These chemicals then contaminate the water and get caught up in the run off. The runoff

then goes into our river and streams and pollutes the water. This increase in nutrients in rivers

and streams then can cause eutrophication. Eutrophication is when there is an overgrowth of

algae and other plant life due to too much nutrients in the water. This then causes there to be no
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oxygen in the water because the algae and plant life uses it all. A lack of oxygen in the water

kills all of the animal life in that body, such as fish, crawfish, and tadpoles.

Another con of traditional farming techniques is the land degradation that is caused by it.

When plants grow, they require nutrients. Typically, they will absorb this nutrients from the

ground that they are planted in. However, after many growing seasons the land begins to lose its

nutrients due to it all being used up by the plants. This means that the crops grown on the land

begin to decline in production rates until the land is left to heal itself. This land degradation is

also coupled with the land drying out which causes erosion through rain and wind. Wind erosion

can cause the dirt to be carried away a distance upwards of one thousand miles. Erosion due to

water can carry the soil unto unwanted location and mess up river banks and water flows.

Aquaponics is superior to traditional farming in many ways and helps to alleviate some of

these problems. In terms of water, Aquaponics is a closed loop system. This means that water is

introduced into the system and then is recirculated. This significantly reduces water waste and all

of the negative effects of overwatering such as erosion, water pollution, and land degradation.

Additionally, little to no nutrients need to be introduced due to the fact that bacteria in the grow

bed can break down the Ammonia in the fish waste into nutrients for the plants. This alleviates

water pollution and can help to lessen the occurrence of eutrophic waters. Lastly, Aquaponics

utilizes vertical space. This means that they take up relatively little space and are stackable. This

is idea for urban areas where land is too expensive for traditional farming. This means that

aquaponics system could be a direct contributor to food stability. It requires less land, water, and

nutrients than traditional farming. Additionally, it avoids major issues caused by traditional

farming such as erosion, land degradation, eutrophication, water pollution, and water waste.

Additionally, an aquaponics systems is growing to edible crops at once: fish/ crayfish and plants.
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(2009)
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Artifact

For my artifact I made the aquaponics system. I have already finished the system so there is no

need for a completion timeline.