Climate Action
Food, Water, and Energy: The Pyramid Scheme that Sustains Us
June 2, 2025
Drawing millions of tourists annually, the Great Pyramids of Egypt stand as one of the most awe inspiring and resilient architectural designs of human history. They have stood for nearly 5000 years enduring extreme weather conditions such as drought, rainfall, and high temperatures. The magic behind the pyramid’s longevity comes from its triangular shape that evenly distributes the weight and impact of these external forces, preventing erosion and deformation.
However, if one side wall were to break, the two remaining sides would lose their stability and the structure would quickly collapse. Just as any other pyramid structure, its strength comes from its sides that provide the internal stability. In the same way, we as humans have needs for our own well-being.
On the base of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs lies a person’s first and most essential physiological needs: breathing, food, water, shelter, clothing, sleep. With these being the bedrock of survival, they are directly connected to the global food, water, and energy systems. Food, water, and energy are all intertwined, and one cannot be sustained without the other. Take, for example, how water provides the hydration and food we need to survive and energy powers the infrastructure and processes that bring us clean water and produce food. If any one of these aspects is missing, it affects the others and undermines our basic needs.
The food-water-energy nexus forms the foundation of human existence, much like the sides of a pyramid that depend on each other for structural integrity. When we have a stable flow of food, water, and energy, we can thrive, allowing us to move upwards through the hierarchy of needs, toward the higher levels of safety, love, esteem, and ultimately self-actualization. However, if one of these more base needs is compromised, it creates instability, preventing us from meeting the higher needs in Maslow’s pyramid.
Food Holds Everything Together
While the majority of the Earth’s surface is covered by water, less than 1% of that water is fresh and salt free. To make this water drinkable, it must go to a water treatment plant that utilizes energy-intensive processes like filtration, disinfection, and distribution.
On the flip side, water is used during every phase of energy production from extracting resources to cooling power plants. These systems are directly connected: Energy is required to produce water and water is used to produce energy.
Within the lakes of New Jersey lies the largest floating photovoltaic plant that mutually benefits both water and energy systems. This system places rows of solar panels directly on the surface of the Canoe Brook Reservoir which powers the nearby Canoe Brook Water Treatment Plant. Rather than outsourcing its energy needs to solar panels on land, this technology provides clean energy while reducing water evaporation, protecting water resources, and minimizing land use. Alongside that, the natural cooling effect of water prevents the solar panels from overheating and increases electricity gains up to 22%.
These technologies are a great start for conservation, but it does not protect the needs of food. Given that the agriculture sector consumes about 70% of global freshwater, much of their needs are met with naturally occurring reservoirs and aquifers. The floating photovoltaic plant doesn’t allow sufficient solar radiation to reach the microbial aquatic community which changes its natural water levels. This can have negative effects for downstream ecosystems of agricultural land that depend on these waters, and essentially harming food production in the long term. And without food, there’s no reason to preserve water and energy resources.
Without Water, the Pyramid Cannot Stand
As the human population continues to grow by the millions each year, feeding everyone nutritious meals is one of the most pressing issues of our time. When the price of energy increases, the price of fertilizers, electricity for machinery, and processing all go up too. As a result food availability and accessibility will be more restricted.
The Safi Region of Morocco has a solution that resists using fossil fuel for energy generation by integrating wind energy, with a wind-hydrogen conversion system, to enhance their agriculture production. Specifically, these wind turbines ensure reliable energy supply by utilizing the hydrogen power to store its energy for greenhouse operations like irrigation, heating, and cooling. This has led to substantial reductions in carbon emissions as a result, allowing this model to be adopted in other arid and semi-arid regions.
Although this system has been able to support food production through clean energy, it has had a direct impact on the environment. Due to the fact that hydrogen energy undergoes a process called electrolysis where water is split into hydrogen and oxygen elements using electricity, large amounts of water is used. This has increased water stress in the region and has left aquifers dry. The region’s lack of policies and regulation in protecting water usage has worsened this issue and deteriorated its water quality, directly impacting the health of its people and the environment. While food and energy can mutually benefit each other, it cannot be sustained without proper water planning as all resources depend on water availability.
While energy is conserved and dependable for food production, the maintenance of these energy sources have increased water stress in the region and have left aquifers dry. Without the proper method of water preservation and regulation, there are again losses in agriculture. Not to mention, the deteriorating water quality can have direct health impacts on people and the environment.
What Happens When Energy is Lost?
More often than not, water and food insecurity occur simultaneously. Water scarcity limits agricultural productivity whereas food scarcity can exacerbate clean water accessibility. Especially since producing and transporting food requires significant water resources, communities are only left with contaminated water sources for everyday use. This directly and indirectly impacts malnutrition of children and adults, further emphasizing the consequences of these systems being independent of each other.
But there are solutions. Here’s how— in Bangladesh farmers take existing fish ponds and plant their rice paddy fields within them. Typically, paddy is grown in flooded fields but due to the groundwater shortages in the country, many farms have dried up. This approach allows rice yields to increase by 8 to 15% with the nutrient cycling and pest control handled by the fish.
Despite such innovative methods, Bangladesh still faces extensive drought periods every year. When ponds and aquifers are dried out for irrigation, farmers must utilize electric pumps to draw water from deeper in the ground. These pumps are overworked during the heat and operating at a much higher rate, consuming more energy than usual. This goes to show that without using effective energy management strategies, climate change will drain energy resources faster.
The Triangular Nexus: Where Food, Water, and Energy Converge for Global Sustainability
Attempting to achieve food, water, and energy security independently is like trying to balance the three corners of a pyramid—it simply cannot be done without endangering the availability of the other resource. In our growing world, there is only a limited amount of these natural resources before we risk completely exploiting the Earth.
Understanding how these systems are tightly interwoven within the triangle of food, water, and energy allows for the development of better technologies, practices, and policies that address these systems together.
Utilizing the nexus, Sundrop Farms in Port Augusta, Australia which grows tomatoes, harnesses solar energy to power a desalination plant that provides clean water for their greenhouse. Despite Australia being prone to extreme climate, making agriculture difficult, they are able to produce 15% of the country’s tomatoes! They are fresh-water self-sufficient by converting seawater from nearby gulf which means they do not use locally contaminated groundwater. Their solar farm not only produces enough electricity to power their desalination plant but also utilizes any excess energy for heat and storage facilities as well.
Ensuring that food, water, and energy has a circular flow, these kinds of holistic systems efficiently utilize and optimize our finite resources. By being local and self-sufficient, they are also able to adapt to fit their own climate change challenges. With this adoption of the ‘Nexus Approach’ we can foster true sustainability and transcend our hierarchy of needs because our basic needs have been met: Food which nourishes us. Water that sustains us. And power — clean, renewable power — that is the invisible force that keeps everything powered up and working.
To initiate the Food-Water-Energy Nexus in your area, changes need to happen within our government. Instead of treating food, water, and energy as separate sections, they must be integrated and seen as interconnected components of a single system.
Encourage your local community to commit to sustainable development by signing EARTHDAY.ORG’s Renewable Energy Campaign petition as the first step toward establishing the foundation of the Food-Water-Energy Nexus. Protecting both our future and the planet starts with leaders prioritizing investments in renewable energy. In the U.S., you can also show your support for clean energy by reaching out to your state legislators.
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