Lloyd's of London is sounding the alarm about peak oil.
Okay, so, this bumming you out, you say? We need solutions. Good, there are some...
-It looks like politicians in Newark are seriously considering the first vertical farm by Dr. Despommier. And the USDA has taken an in depth look at local food systems. And Terraform One announces the winners of an ideas competition focused on creating productive green spaces in cities.
Now, I think that I can sleep tonight!
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Calling all Canadian Environmental Innovators! - closes August 31, 2010
Searching for an Environmental Innovator ...
Know someone who is making a difference to Canada's environment?
Nominate them for the 2010 Environmental Innovation Award now!
The winner receives:
-a feature in Canadian Geographic magazine
-all-expenses paid trip to the Society's Annual Dinner in Ottawa for the medal presentation
-a unique bronze medal created by a Canadian sculptor
Submit your nomination online NOW
For more information, visit the Environmental Innovation website.
Deadline: August 31, 2010
Know someone who is making a difference to Canada's environment?
Nominate them for the 2010 Environmental Innovation Award now!
The winner receives:
-a feature in Canadian Geographic magazine
-all-expenses paid trip to the Society's Annual Dinner in Ottawa for the medal presentation
-a unique bronze medal created by a Canadian sculptor
Submit your nomination online NOW
For more information, visit the Environmental Innovation website.
Deadline: August 31, 2010
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Will Cleveland do a "full Detroit"?
Looks like we've got ourselves a good ol' fashioned arms race. Longwood Gardens now has the largest green wall in North America, who's aim for the title next?
-Take an unused mall and combine it with urban agriculture, what do you get? Gardens under glass. On their website they say "nowhere in cleveland is there a project of this nature or magnitude." I don't think there's another city IN NORTH AMERICA with anything like this. So Cleveland is leading the way with this project, will Cleveland do a "full Detroit" ? I think I just coined that phrase. Umm...maybe??? If Cleveland gets a GOP task force, like Detroit did, to champion urban agriculture then...yes. It's official, everyone is pulling for a Detroit recovery now!
But once the gardens are up and running will they be self-sufficient and sustainable???
-And for the truly cutting edge, how about using Foursquare to plot urban foraging stashes throughout your city.
-Take an unused mall and combine it with urban agriculture, what do you get? Gardens under glass. On their website they say "nowhere in cleveland is there a project of this nature or magnitude." I don't think there's another city IN NORTH AMERICA with anything like this. So Cleveland is leading the way with this project, will Cleveland do a "full Detroit" ? I think I just coined that phrase. Umm...maybe??? If Cleveland gets a GOP task force, like Detroit did, to champion urban agriculture then...yes. It's official, everyone is pulling for a Detroit recovery now!
But once the gardens are up and running will they be self-sufficient and sustainable???
-And for the truly cutting edge, how about using Foursquare to plot urban foraging stashes throughout your city.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
If ants were in charge, there would be no giant oil spill off the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.
They been farming for 50 million years, what can we learn from these ingenious creatures teach us about agriculture?
The short phrase of the week has to be agrarian urbanism. Daniel Nairn at Grist takes Andrés Duany idea of "embedding hamlets within a rural landscape", and flips it so that you put " pockets of agriculture within the urban landscape." Interesting read, as is the design.
Helping inner city Winnipeg youth through urban agriculture, FortWhyte Farmsgets teens to help with raising bees, bison and more and got an extra $30,000 from the city to do even more! The youth, between 14 and 18 years old, take part in farm operations such as raising chickens, pigs and bison, as well as beekeeping and gardening.
The short phrase of the week has to be agrarian urbanism. Daniel Nairn at Grist takes Andrés Duany idea of "embedding hamlets within a rural landscape", and flips it so that you put " pockets of agriculture within the urban landscape." Interesting read, as is the design.
Helping inner city Winnipeg youth through urban agriculture, FortWhyte Farmsgets teens to help with raising bees, bison and more and got an extra $30,000 from the city to do even more! The youth, between 14 and 18 years old, take part in farm operations such as raising chickens, pigs and bison, as well as beekeeping and gardening.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Things a' sprouting in the Midwest
This week, all of a sudden urban agriculture news came streaming in from the Midwestern States...
-In Kansas City city gardeners can now sell produce from their homes! Wow!
-In Wisconsin farmers are trying to make the switch to organic and are looking for community support. I must admit, I was totally suckered by this next headline "Will city shut off water for urban gardens?". Turns out in Milwaukee people are allowed to pay to tap into unmetered fire hydrants to water urban gardens on unused lots. Really? You can do this in Milwaukee??? Is this common elsewhere? Come 2011, that's it for this practice it seems. What now?
And one pick before I go, this green roof on the Urrezkoenea House in Spain! Nice!!!
-In Kansas City city gardeners can now sell produce from their homes! Wow!
-In Wisconsin farmers are trying to make the switch to organic and are looking for community support. I must admit, I was totally suckered by this next headline "Will city shut off water for urban gardens?". Turns out in Milwaukee people are allowed to pay to tap into unmetered fire hydrants to water urban gardens on unused lots. Really? You can do this in Milwaukee??? Is this common elsewhere? Come 2011, that's it for this practice it seems. What now?
And one pick before I go, this green roof on the Urrezkoenea House in Spain! Nice!!!
Monday, July 5, 2010
In Honor of the World Cup...
...I feel it's my duty to spread the word about this incredible green roof soccer field. So that makes TWO that we've profiled this year. Do I see a connection? The first was in Slovenia, the second France. Does that mean you need to build a green roofed soccer field to have a shot at World Cup glory?
-In Vancouver, a few urban food security projectssplit $100,000 to do a slew of cool things, including expanding composting programs.
-You never know when a mayor makes an announcement for his/her city to be the "biggest _______" (<----insert cool/trendy initiative here), but it looks like Indianapolis is giving this infill urban gardening thing a try. Baltimore too, has changed it's zoning codes for only the third time in city history, to create space for urban farms to grow.
-Lastly, via City Farmer, I stumbled upon this fantastic dissertation by entitled: Urban Agriculture as Revolution. Grab your favorite beverage, it's a good but long (over 200 pages) read.
-In Vancouver, a few urban food security projectssplit $100,000 to do a slew of cool things, including expanding composting programs.
-You never know when a mayor makes an announcement for his/her city to be the "biggest _______" (<----insert cool/trendy initiative here), but it looks like Indianapolis is giving this infill urban gardening thing a try. Baltimore too, has changed it's zoning codes for only the third time in city history, to create space for urban farms to grow.
-Lastly, via City Farmer, I stumbled upon this fantastic dissertation by entitled: Urban Agriculture as Revolution. Grab your favorite beverage, it's a good but long (over 200 pages) read.
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