Malthus, a Meal a Day

Malthus, a Meal a Day is an interesting idea by Conceptual Devices. It shows us how we can learn to stop worrying about the food and love the (population) bomb.

Malthus is an in-home aquaponics unit designed for the next generation kitchen or living room. It grows one meal a day: a portion of fish and a side salad. Aquaponics farming is a technique that combines the cultivation of fish with the growing of vegetables. The fish provides rich fertilizer for the plants and in return, the plants clean the water from the tank. The fish and the plants co-exist in a symbiotic relationship.

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7 Comments leave a comment below

  1. What a beautiful idea.

  2. “the fish and the plants co-exist in a symbolic relationship”…until we kill and eat them…

  3. @McE : bwa, ha, ha, ha… they’ll still have a symbiotic relationship in our tummies.

  4. A ideia é fantástica, apenas acho que depende muito do tipo de hortaliças que seria semeada, para que se possa colher uma a cada dia.
    O rabanete, por exemplo, leva trinta dias para a colheita. A alface em torno de 60 dias. A não ser que os nutrientes sejam mais facilmente absorvidos e acelerem o crescimento das plantas.
    Outro detalhe que convém lembrar é quanto à iluminação. As plantas precisam de luz para a fotossíntese, de preferência a solar.
    Porém, a água do aquário recebendo os raios solares provocará o surgimento acelerado de limo, o que irá requerer produtos para combatê-lo, que poderão ser absorvidos pelas plantas.
    Mesmo assim, o aquário poderia ser protegido do excesso de luz, resolvendo assim tal problema.
    Uma outra ideia seria a de plantar flores em alguns compartimentos. Acho que ficaria muito bonito.
    Congratulations! It’s a wonderful idea. Thanks!

  5. Hi Tina.
    I also saw this concept in “Future of Hope,” a 2010 documentary about the Icelandic economy.

  6. That’s a nice idea, but one should keep in mind that the system is self-supporting only until you start harvesting it. After that point, you will be withdrawing elements (mainly phosphorus, magnesium and iron) which cannot be renewed.

    So if you want to harvest it, you will have to add fertilizer at some point…

  7. … as in : too bad those fish don’t grow their own food. So we’ll have to grind some perfectly fine tuna with rediculous colours to make them flakes, quite some, a lot actually … but a clever use of surface