Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Earth's ecosystem in a state of flux is true as each species competes for survival however it is also true that different species live in a symbiotic relationship. The state of flux can go too far one way and the "balance" so disrupted that it would hinder our ability to survive on this planet.

There are scientists working on bio engineered super algae that could help to return more of a balance to Earth's environment however there is the worry that a super algae will completely take over like a pest and then once again throw out the balance.

Aquaponics reduces food miles significantly, eliminates use of pesticides, eliminates use of fertilizer, reduces waste and perhaps more that I can't think of right now. So even though it's not a "balanced ecosystem" it would reduce our negative impact on the "balance".

Because two head bangers are better than one

Actually MacGyver, it is highly likely the food from AP will exceed the nutritional value of anything you can buy, even 'organic' food.

Scientific American says:

Another interesting datum is the isolated groups we have found that have many of their members living past 100yo. One of the very few common factors is all the remote people so far found with this ability to live so long and be healthy burn and rebury their organic wastes. Food scraps all get burned and then added back into the soil.

There are patches of ground in the Amazon jungle that are unusually fertile - jungle ground is not usually very good ground for growing things. But these patches, scattered all around and often remote from each other will grow plants faster and larger than another area right beside them.

It took a while to find out why - someone, and nobody knows who because even the natives in the area don't know, has been 'salting' the ground with organic charcoal. It is so effective in replacing all the trace elements and minerals that now, possibly thousands of years after the original people did this, the ground is still extremely fertile.

Almost none of the food we can get in shops has anywhere near the nutritional content of even 100 years back because almost nowhere in our society do we let the earth go fallow and recuperate. Instead we pump back in what we think of as the necessary constituents for a healthy plant and happily sacrifice good value nutrition for nice looking produce.

I think AP offers a chance to grow food with most if not all of the original nutritional value.