It’s no secret that human activities can be detrimental to planetary health and biodiversity; agriculture, manufacturing, and the simple acts of daily life use up natural resources, burn fossil fuels, and pollute water systems. Now, researchers study how algae, a diverse group of ancient unicellular organisms, might provide new approaches for sustainable living.

          A circular diagram with different types of algae in the center and four different labels in a ring around the circle, which read: food production, crop improvement, water treatment, and other products. In the outer ring, there are images of oil droplets, meat, an ammonia molecule, a chloroplast, a water tower, a plant being fertilized, a cosmetics bottle, and a pair of flip flops.
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1) Food production

Algae could provide proteins for alternative meat and lipids for cooking oils and omega-3 fatty acids.


2) Crop improvement

Special abilities possessed by certain algae species, like nitrogen fixation and enhanced photosynthesis efficiency, could be engineered into staple crop plants.


3) Water treatment

Algae could reduce nutrient pollution in wastewater at the same time as recovering minerals like phosphorus, which could be reused as a component of fertilizer.


4) Other products

Algae could produce more sustainable versions of organic compounds, such as squalene, that are currently harvested from the marine environment, or make ingredients for biodegradable plastics. 


Read the  full story.

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