Catchy title but what does it mean?
"An institutionalised transnational process of participatory and multilevel problem solving, in which particular problems (and the means of addressing them) are framed in an open-ended way."
Did you know we are in the middle of such a global experiment?
Feeding the ever-increasing population, currently around seven and a half billion. One global FACT is already clear: plenty of food for lots more people is a primary reason why half the worlds population are alive today! How is that so? Synthetic nitrogen; born over 100 years ago a primary reason.
Nitrogen is a building block of all proteins and other molecules necessary for life, including DNA and it’s a critical nutrient for all plants and animals. Without a cheap and ready supply life survives but does not flourish.
If you look at a graph of global population, you will see it shoot upwards just as Haber-Bosch fertilisers (Ammonium Nitrate) start being widely applied. Haber-Bosch was not the only reason for the spike in food yields, new varieties of wheat and rice also played their part.
Still, if we farmed with the best techniques available in Fritz Haber's time, that is we embrace some of the key elements of “sustainable farming” the earth would support about four billion people; any thoughts on what happens to the other three and a half billion?