Global warming is already causing droughts, storms and heavy rains. One of the most important industries on the planet, and in turn one of the most polluting, is the production of meat for human consumption.

According to the Humboldt Institute, cattle ranching in Colombia presents two problems: It has high environmental impact and low production levels. However, it also represents more than 3.6% of total national GDP.

Physicist Lisa Dyson and materials scientist John Reed discovered that 386 tons of meat is consumed annually, and that by 2050 it is expected that there will be 10 billion people on the planet.

Additionally, they found a NASA study from 1967 on how to produce food for astronauts based on few raw materials. The plan was to combine microbes with carbon dioxide to make proteins.

They make edible meat with carbon dioxide

As of 2019, Dyson and Creek decided to create Air Protein, which produces meat from carbon dioxide gas emissions, the same excessive amounts of greenhouse gases that cause global warming.

A process similar to that used to make yogurt is used to make the meat. Hydrogen trophic microbes are grown in tanks that are then fed with carbon dioxide, oxygen, minerals, water and nitrogen. With the resulting dough, a protein-rich flour can be produced which can then be made into different textures to resemble chicken, beef or fish.

According to the company’s reports, this type of food production does not require the vast amount of land that livestock needs, as tubes are used to collect carbon dioxide from the air. It requires 1.5 million less space to process and also reduces the water used for meat production by about 15,000 times less.

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