Looking out a window upon a barren desert, a dry wasteland unfolds as a carpet to
nowhere. Abandoned cities dot the horizon, as the ruins speak volumes to the once
populated extravagance of a country which lived on wealth and opportunity. The vision
just described is not one out of a Hollywood movie script, but one that is not only possible
but probable. Currently, the world population numbers over six billion, with China alone
cradling over one-sixth of the world's total population. With the world population
increasing at a rate of one hundred million a year, the numbers are expected to hit ten
billion by the end of 2040. Most scientists agree that the maximum number of people that
the earth can sustain is fifteen billion, leaving the earth in a quandary before the end of the
twenty- first century when the total world population is expected to reach a staggering
sixteen to eighteen billion. The consumption of the world's natural resources due to this
exponential growth could result in worldwide famine, a complete breakdown in the world
market, uncontrollable outbreaks of disease, and widespread crime and disorder.
Currently, the ratio of land which can be used for agricultural endeavors is
estimated to be one in nine acres. The world's produce producer is only a small sliver of a
total land mass apple pie sliced into nine equal, yet tiny slices and as the amount of soil
suitable for agriculture dwindles, the slice with which the world relies on continues to
shrink. Considering the little amount of available farmland, it should be expected that there
would be more of an effort to conserve this vital resource, but unfortunately the issue has
not yet risen to a level of global importance. The amount of fertile topsoil is becoming
more and more unusable for agriculture. Water, used for the irrigation of the world's life
giving crops, contains naturally dissolved miner...