VOA标准英语2012--Aquaponics Could Signal Future of Food

（单词翻译）

Aquaponics Could Signal Future of Food

Imagine growing vegetables and fish in the same space. That’s the idea behind aquaponics, a marriage of fish farming and soil-less plant cultivation¹ in a single, sustainable closed system.
Supporters believe aquaponics can play a key role in alleviating² food insecurity, addressing the problems of climate change, ground water pollution and overfishing.
Recirculating wetlands system
Aquaponics is really as old as nature itself.
“Aquaponics is really a recirculating wetlands system, so it’s happening right on the banks of our lakes," says Sylvia Bernstein.
Bernstein was a hydroponic gardener for years - growing plants without soil using a water-soluble chemical fertilizer - before discovering she could use the waste water from fish to grow organic vegetables and fruits.
“Honestly, I was very skeptical³ and just couldn’t believe that something as simple as fish waste could become a complete fertilizer," she recalls. "So I had to actually see a system that was in a friend’s basement. But when I did, it changed my life.”
That was three years ago. Bernstein built her first aquaponics system with her 15-year-old son on a concrete pad outside her home in Boulder⁴, Colorado. In her greenhouse today, she mainly raises tilapia and trout⁵ - feeding them once a day.
There are no weeds in her aquaponics garden, and she doesn’t have to worry about watering. The plants are growing in containers at a table height for easy access.
“I, just this morning, pulled four radishes and some lettuce⁶ for lunch," Bernstein says. "In my greenhouse right now, I grow all sorts of herbs, tomatoes, peppers.”
Bernstein started her own business, The Aquaponics Source, with an online store, her own YouTube channel and a blog. She teaches aquaponics at the Denver Botanic Gardens and recently published a book about how to set up an aquaponic garden at home.
According to Berstein, a growing number of people in the U.S. and around the world are doing it, and enjoying the results: a year-round supply of healthful, safe and delicious food.
Earth-friendly food production
The Internet is helping⁷ many aquaponic gardeners get connected and learn from one another.
“Aquaponics is a perfect thing to invest one’s mind and heart and elbow grease into," says James Godsil, co-founder of Sweet Water Organics, a commercial aquaponics farm in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
In 2010, Godsil helped set up a foundation to promote the approach.
“The Sweet Water Foundation was dedicated⁸ to democratizing and globalizing the information and the methodologies required to advance this very Earth-friendly food production system, which, by the way, only uses about 10 percent of the water normal farming does, and uses no pesticides⁹. It’s all natural.”
According to Godsil, those advantages have been a powerful incentive¹⁰ for people from all walks of life who are considering a career in aquaponics.
“The Sweet Water Foundation probably has had 500 supporters, including school students, and a community of retired¹¹ engineers, professionals, social enterprisers, teachers and artists," Godsil says. "There are so many young elders who are retiring and looking for another career for the next 20 years.”
Beyond borders
Through collaboration¹² and joint¹³ projects, Godsil is carrying the inspiration beyond U.S. borders.
“I was asked to go to Venezuela this March," he says. "And I’m working with people who have a project in Ecuador, I'm working with people in the Congo, in Uganda and Tanzania.”
A private group called the Society for Appropriate Rural Technology for Sustainability, is partnering with Sweet Water Foundation on an initiative in India.
“We’ve formed this Indo-American Aquaponics Initiative, and we aim to make aquaponics one of the fastest growing economic activities in India within a decade," says Subra Mukherjee, secretary of the group, based in Kolkata, India.
Advocates say, with fuel and fertilizer prices climbing and irrigation water supplies dwindling¹⁴, aquaponics offers a sustainable alternative that can help feed the world’s growing population.