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More than one million people live in poverty in this world, and many of those are malnourished.  Meanwhile, the population of the world keeps increasing.  Simply cutting down forests to make more farmland is not the solution to feed the world = as deforestation leads to increasing climate change and more and more species going extinct.  It looks like we have exceeded the capacity of this planet.

But is that really true?  What if I told you we could feed 10 billion people, maybe more?  This is completely plausible, as long as we understand the boundaries of our planet, which affect how we fertilize, grow, transport, and even eat food.

Today’s guest is Professor Dieter Gerten.  Dieter is a geographer and a hydrologist and the Head of the Working Group “Terrestrial Safe Operating Space” at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.  He is also a professor for Global Change Climatology and Hydrology at the Humboldt University of Berlin.  Dieter talks about how if we understand our planet’s boundaries, it’s possible to feed the world so no one has to go to bed hungry again.

Check out the bonus material for patrons of the podcast and learn how you can help feed the world at patreon.com/sparkdialog!

Some of the background music you heard were clips from Ianiscus by Javolenus, Guitalele’s Happy Place by Stefan Kartenberg, The Stars Look Different by spinningmerkaba, Two Pianos by Stefan Kartenberg, Jazzy Sax, Guitar, and Organ at the club by Admiral Bob, I Have Often Told You Stories by Ivan Chew (all licensed under CC by 3.0.).