09-23-2014, 08:25 AM
Regarding the equally pressing problem of potable water, it's worth noting that given cheap, clean energy it becomes a non-problem. Various ways of removing the salts from seawater are available, but most of them require energy and a lot of it. The energy can even be free; for one approach (admittedly only suitable in areas with a lot of sunshine near a seacoast) see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seawater_greenhouse