A Plan B to save the world | Alberto D'Andrea | TEDx Rosario

Alberto introduces us to a dark outlook on the impact of humans on nature. He tell us about the inexistence of a Plan A to prepare us for the problems to come. However, he explains that there is a Plan B, and his passion and desire to carry it out are contagious.

A few years ago, I started worrying
about the environmental predicament,

and the current chaos
in the world economy.

So, I started to analyze
some specific figures.

In 1950, the population
of the world was 2.5 billion.

Today, in 2013, we are 7 billion.

We increased by 4.5 billion
in only 63 years.

This means that people
need space, more food,

more energy and they contaminate.

And of those 7 billion people
in the world,

there's 1 billion that has nothing to eat
unless someone gives them something,

and 24,000 children
starve to death every day.

Also, there are 1 billion vehicles
in the world

that consume 93 million barrels
of oil per day.

Let's see if we understand this,

we're transforming something that's buried
and doesn't cause any problems

into carbon dioxide, at a speed
of 93 million barrels of oil per day.

And when I continued looking
at these arguments,

I noticed many environmental contracts
are signed, which is how it should be.

But in reality they are not obeyed.

I noticed too that a lot of economists see
how their suggested solutions fail daily.

It doesn't work.

The world is adrift.

Economy and the world's environment
are adrift.

That's why I've come to tell you
that for a world

that doesn't have a Plan A,
I've brought you a Plan B.

(Applause)

We still don't know if plan B works!

(Laughter)

I've brought you a plan B.

'B' for bioeconomy, 'B' for biotechnology,
and 'B' for transgenic biofactory.

Allow me to talk a little about bioeconomy
people don't always know what it is.

Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen, a Romanian
who worked at the University of Chicago,

defined bioeconomy.

He sent two terrible warnings
to the classic economy in 1966 and in 1973

saying the world was heading for disaster.

We could all create an economic theory
but how do we know it's a good one?

Because if we apply it and it's not true,
the world will break down.

And what Roegen asks
is why wouldn't the economy

follow the laws of nature?

Because if the economy did follow
the laws of nature, it wouldn't ever fail.

He says that for the economists,

everything is a circular process
of production and consumption.

He says, "It's a lie".

This isn't a cycle of production
and consumption for Nature.

It is a one-way expenditure
of energy and natural resources

that's not going to renew itself
at the same speed it's consumed.

So, what happened to poor Roegen?

They kicked him out
of every academic economic circle.

He became an outcast in his profession
and was considered an eccentric ecologist.

He said in 1995 when he was dying,

"Life won't be viable on Earth
if some sort of science or technology

will come along and be able
to lower health costs, produce more food,

more energy and protect the environment".

And he added, "This technology has to be
a Promethean technology."

Why did he call it
a "Promethean technology"?

Because Prometheus was a Greek titan
who stole the fire from the gods

so that the people would have energy.

Thank God we have our Promethean
technology today, which is biotechnology.

Modern biotechnology started
in 1973 with genetic engineering.

It deals with the four specific areas
where Roegen detected the problem.

Biotechnology does
a great deal for health.

I could tell you that today there are
39 cancer vaccines being tested on humans,

that we have cellular therapies,
genetic therapies

that we have RNA interference,

a way of blocking the messenger
so that the gene isn't expressed.

Lot's of things.

But I want to tell you that the costs
of all devices

that sequence genomes
have decreased considerably.

And the era of mass sequencing has begun
today, in 2013.

All of us will have our genomes sequenced
in 5 to 10 years from now

and we'll be looking for solutions
using a molecular genetic medicine.

That's really important
because molecular genetic medicine

is going to save us a lot of money
on the terminally ill

that weren't diagnosed in time.

It will save a lot of money,
a lot of intensive care expenses,

chemotherapy, monoclonal antibodies.

And we can use all the money that we save
with this molecular genetic medicine,

in a the second area,
that of improving the quality of food.

We all know that biotechnology
creates genetically-modified food,

but it can do a lot more.

Biotechnology can make
meat in bioreactors.

I grab a loin cell, free from any diseases
and I put it in the reactor.

I start growing a cell culture,
loin after loin after loin,

I press them together
and I have a loin hamburger.

I'm talking about ARS 30 per kilo,
field-free, cattle-free meat,

for all those people in the world
who can't have access to meat.

We also can do biotechnology
with micro-algae.

What is micro-algae biotechnology?

There is a micro-algae called Spirulina

that contains more than 70% of proteins,
calcium, phosphorus and vitamin B12.

Its proteins are of a higher quality
than soy's.

Feed a child with 3 grams per day,
and he won't suffer malnutrition.

You'll see organizations in Africa
that have made 4x4 tanks with it

so that the children can grow
24 grams of Spirulina a day.

It can be done!
It can be done.

About energy, you heard about biodiesel,
bioethanol, butanol fuel, biogas.

But I don't want to talk about this.

The main issue is to stop taking out
what is buried

and transforming it into carbon dioxide.

We need to include
in the fuel production chain

in the photosynthesis cycle
those one billion vehicles.

That's the big challenge!

I'll tell you how it's done in a minute.

If we move on to the environment,
there are two fundamental things.

The first one is to produce
with zero waste.

Today everything has a value, paper,
cardboard, wood is valuable.

Fermentable carbohydrates;
if I have a modified bacteria,

I can make a lactic and polylactic acid,
a degradable and recyclable polymer.

I can turn nitrogenous material
into fertilizer and I can recycle water.

I don't throw things away,
we need zero waste production

and ecological manufacturing.

We need to produce ecologically.

I want you to see what I call
an ecological enterprise.

You see here a chimney
and a cellular biofactory.

This is what we have to internalize:

going from that chemical factory

that consumes fossil fuel
and pollutes through its chimney

to a photosynthetic cellular factory

that eats out the carbon dioxide catalyzed
by enzymes, and produces just the same.

And how will it produce the same?

Because biotechnology has 65 million
known genes in genetic engineering.

That is the challenge.

This may surprise you.
This is biopetroleum.

How is biopetroleum made?

I take micro-algae, put them in the tanks
or in the tubes that you see there,

grow them, take them out, filter them,

pass them through a pyrolysis furnace,
and out comes petroleum.

A fuel that allows us to get
naphtha jet fuel and biodiesel.

But there are more advanced biofactories
too, for example by modifying micro-algae

like Cyanobacteria, where I add two genes
in such a way the cellulose turns

into glucose and the glucose
turns into ethanol.

This way, I have micro-algae
that will continuously grow

and will constantly produce fuel.

It can be done. It can be done,
but go back to our dear circle.

Look, the world goes over to a bioeconomy.

Why does it go over to a bioeconomy?
Because economists want it to?

No, it's not that.

It goes because natural resources
say so, because this won't be fixed

by a burst of confidence.

We need biotechnology to produce
the resources that the bioeconomy demands.

And we have the productive engine, that's
nothing less than a transgenic biofactory.

It uses solar energy, carbon dioxide
and is catalyzed by enzymes.

This is the outlook for Plan B.

Now, when I talk about this Plan B
to my students

and I've been a university professor
for 30 years,

when I talk about Plan B to my students
I feel that nobody understands me at all.

And then I started to realize

it's not that they don't understand me,
they do at a cognitive level.

But, for them to fully accept it,
it requires an emotional response,

it has to reach the heart.

And with that pinch of youthful audacity
that I still have,

I wrote you a poem to touch your hearts,
and I'm going to share it with you all.

Prepare your hearts, please.

It's called "Don't study biotechnology."

(Laughter)

"If you're not passionate
about nature, about living things,

don't study biotechnology.

If you're not worried about
improving people's health

don't study biotechnology.

If you're not interested
in reducing world hunger,

don't study biotechnology.

If you don't like to generate
renewable natural resources,

don't study biotechnology.

If you're not attracted
to sustainable production,

don't study biotechnology.

If you aren't eager to be
ahead of your generation,

don't study biotechnology.

If you're not committed to life,
don't study biotechnology".

(Applause)

Save your applause
for the ending, please.

I want to tell you
that I'm counting on all of you,

now you all know Plan B,
and even "The Simpsons,"

so you can help me to convince
decision-makers and economists

that a new balance is possible to improve
life on Earth, now more than ever.

Thank you.

(Applause)