How do people handle food in the World of Progress?

With the sheer number of people living on Mort, I can't believe that they use the same food sources we do. You'd have planets that are just cattle farms for the McBurger bars! You'd also have to start using crop rotation on a continent wide scale.

I've always thought that food is supplied by a Karma subsidiary, who vat-grow large mutated animals to feed the population. Something a long the lines of a simple creature whose external organs are kept outside of the main body for easy processing of the meat. These creatures would have to be relatively cheap to make, and not require much in the way of resources to make them full size. Perhaps they live off flux, or get their energy from the sun. Maybe there could be some kind of simulated cellulose material that has been created as well, sort of a synth-grass.

Anyway, I would see them as a futuristic Soya-like substance, that you can add flavourings to for different meals but on its own is a bit bland. This substance could be dehydrated and shipped to Mort, where is it re-hydrated (Well Mort does have an excess of water;-) and given to all the people who live on state handouts.

Then again they could live on recycled food...

The main problem I have with the food chain is one of efficiency. I vaguely remember from old science classes that only 1% of the Suns energy that arrives at Earth is actually absorbed by plants. Animals then eat the plants and gain about 10% of that energy. Humans then eat the animals and again only get about 10% of the energy. This means that there is a lot of inefficiency in the amount of energy provided by the Sun, and the amount of energy that people actually get from their food.

There are definite ways that the efficiency could be improved; have everyone eating more high energy plants (or peanuts!). I just guessed that a natural progression for the future would be trying to adapt normal creatures so that they could absorb more energy when they consume food. I guess you would have to have lots of Resource Worlds that have high solar-energy absorption plants and animals that could convert the plants energy for their use more efficiently. One way of doing this would be to create vat grown plants and animals that are more efficient and that can also reproduce. Then let them loose on a world, leave them alone for a while and start reaping the benefits. So although the origins of the species are vat-grown, they don't necessarily stay that way.

What about water?

I still have very brackish water as you go through the levels, but I reckon there has to be a large amount of (barely) drinking water supplied to people. People can survive without food for some time, but you need potable water. My two main collection points for water are the sewers and the apartment blocks. Most of my apartment blocks recycle the water that lands on them. The systems are quite ineffective, make a lot of noise, produce strange odours and leak a lot, but they do produce water that is clean enough for showers. The building recycles all grey water (water that is _relatively_ clean, like bath water and washing-up water) and after a quick UV treatment uses this as well.

Sewer water is transferred where possible to treatment plants which are mostly amongst the industrial parts of DownTown. These work in similar ways to the apartment blocks, but in a much larger scale. They use advanced bio-engineered bugs to break down most toxins, and to clump together anything too toxic. Harmless liquids are separated and UV treated, before being sent back to residential areas in Mort. Anything that is too toxic is sent into the great oceans, where the large atmospheric plants will deal with them (eventually).

Everything works fine most of the time, (inefficient and creating pollution) but every now and then machinery breaks down, or apartment blocks are cut off, or DarkNight targets a treatment plant (hope there isn't too much methane there...)

The reason that I use UV treatment is that it only really requires electricity and doesn't produce side effects. Of course it does mean you need lots of large energy sources.