Environmental Visionaries: The Diaper Farmer
Willem van Cotthem's super-soil harnesses the power of Pampers to turn dirt into lush gardens When asked to imagine the Earth in 2040, many scientists describe a grim scenario, a landscape so bare and dry, it's almost uninhabitable. But that's not what Willem van Cotthem sees. "It will be a green world," says van Cotthem, a Belgian scientist turned social entrepreneur. "Tropical fruit can grow wherever it's warm." You still need water, but not much. A brief splash of rain every once in a while is enough. And voilà-from sandy soil, lush gardens grow. The secret is hydrogels, powerfully absorbent polymers that can suck up hundreds of times their weight in water. Hydrogels have many applications today, from food processing to mopping up oil spills, but they are most familiar as the magic ingredient in disposable diapers. The difference with agricultural hydrogels is that they don't just trap moisture; they let it go...