This article Powering the Planet With Solar Energy on the production of solar fuel was part of our assignment over break for my chemistry class.  I thought I’d share it with you guys as a more hopeful look at the future of our planet.  The conclusion of the article is especially thought provoking.

“We have an even grander vision. Some time in the future we will be able to put three components of our atmosphere — carbon dioxide, nitrogen and oxygen — along with sea water into solar reactors to make not only fuels, electricity and pure water, but polymers, food and almost everything else we need. We have been taking from nature since the beginning of time, consuming the oil, gas and coal given to us by thousands of millions of years of photosynthesis. This is the century in human history when we will start paying back with the capital generated through fundamental research in chemistry.”

What do you think of this idea of humans as producers as opposed to consumers? This seems to go against our natural niche in nature and as a result violates some major biological principles.  Do you think people will be open to the idea of scientific production of polymers that can be used to food? Is this idea any different than GMOs?