Go Blue! Seafood Sustainability

Seven billion city dwellers implementing “Hyper-Recycling” by the year 2050 may actually improve the health of our world’s freshwater and marine ecosystems

As the World’s Population grows to 10 billion by 2050, 70% or more will be living in cities.  This unprecedented clustering of the majority of Earth’s population could serve as a platform for creating a world economy and culture based on “Hyper-Recycling” in which all the natural resources that are used to make appliances, food, clothing, transportation, housing,  and provide us with energy are recycled. 

This “Hyper-Recycling” era will become much more feasible in 2050 due to the world’s population being concentrated in cities where economies of scale can successfully achieve efficient recycling schemes for the vast majority of the required natural resource inputs.

If, by 2050, the world does indeed embrace the new paradigm of “Hyper-Recycling”, many improvements may be seen in the water quality of our freshwater and marine environments that are so critical for the sustainable future of our seafood industry.  Here is a list of improvements to water quality that we may see in 2050 due to cities implementing “Hyper-Recycling”.

·         Industrial and municipal sewer effluents will be greatly decreased or eliminated and kept out of freshwater and marine ecosystems

·         Plastics and other solid wastes will be kept from entering our waterways and marine environments

·         Pollution from energy use will be reduced due to using more recycled energy schemes

·         Agricultural runoffs that reach the oceans  will be reduced by large cities actively recapturing valuable nitrogen and phosphorous fertilizers from the river systems they boarder

There is certainly room for optimism as we look forward to a brave new world with seven billion people concentrated in cities by the year 2050.  As these future city dwellers hopefully adopt this game-changing paradigm of “Hyper-Recycling”, we just may see a new era where the long list of human caused negative impacts to our precious freshwater and marine ecosystems cease to exist.

However, do not wait until 2050 for this to happen.  Start your own personalized version of “Hyper-Recycling” Today.

You can make a difference!

Sincerely, David Glaubke,

Director of Sustainability Initiatives