Top 100 permaculture books of all-time

There's nothing better than stumbling on a treasure trove of goodies, behold, the top 100 permaculture books to date.

If you wanna be an expert, after reading these books you'll have a Ph.D!

Gaia university debuts permaculture diploma in 2012

-Starting in 2012 Gaia University will begin offering an International Diploma of Permaculture Design. In my opinion the most important parts of this development are:

*that this diploma offers an intermediate step before one attains their master permaculture teachers and:
*it offers a course (online!) which is not region specific, so anyone, anywhere can get their feet wet with permaculture.

-There was great hope in Baltimore that a bill giving tax breaks to urban farmers might make it through city council.It's not to be, unfortunately.

-In Kenya, urban farming can mean the difference between is life and death. There are a TON of startling facts in this comprehensive article, including that 95 percent of those surveyed in Kibera, Kenya reported worrying about running out of food.

Cities Alive - green roofs/green walls conference starts next week

I hope everyone in the USA had a wonderful Thanksgiving!
For those of us who've celebrated an American Thanksgiving, we know indulgence is par for the course, as is leftovers which may or may not be eaten quickly. America's first package free/zero waste grocery store, has a few good tips for what to do with the leftovers so everything goes fast!

-Next week, the big event for the living architecture community is the Cities Alive conference in Philadelphia. It's the 9th annual conference, this year focusing on restoring urban waters.
And more municipalities are waking up to the importance of living infrastructure. For instance, Durban, South Africa has launched a green roof pilot project.

-We're all aware of New York City's work in this area, last week Mark Bittman welcomed guest bloggers to talk more about initiatives in the City.

-Last up for today, those who live in Toronto and part of the food security scene know Anan Lololi and the Afri-Can FoodBasket program. Now, thanks to Canadian Geographic we all are.

Occupy LA wins...an urban farm???!

The Occupy movement is diverse, however, a general dislike of greed and corruption unites most Occupiers. As does a belief in non-violence. So it makes sense that in Los Angeles a deal may be brokered to encourage the group to disperse if...

-shelter is given some of the homeless Occupiers;
-an office building is leased to the Occupiers;
-an urban farm is built outside city hall.

HUH??????

If you want to keep bees, you might need a permit

It's that way to city hall!

Madison, Wisconsin is considering a bylaw requiring beekeepers to have permits.

-I had someone recently ask me about influences for the creation of permaculture and Hugelkultur is definitely one. I stumbled across a spring 2011 article from Permaculture Magazine and thought I should share it with everyone.

-"Food-sensitive urban planning is now a necessity" said an expert at a UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) workshop in Bangkok last week. And we'll need to utilize everything from "rooftops to railroads".

-If you know someone deserving to be on the steering committee of Food Secure Canada, November 25 is the deadline for submitting their name. You can also submit your own name...that is allowed!

Grants for school garden projects, green roofs and green walls

If you're looking to escape the cold and/or snowy regions of North America, February 17-26, 2012 head down to Guatemala for the Mesoamerican Permaculture Design Course. The bilingual course is a little cheaper than most others. Lucky for you!

-In what's probably the first of it's kind, a public/private partnership at the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point will allow students to enroll in an online aquaponics course this winter/spring. Lucky them! Maybe if you pester them, they will let you in?

-There's money, both big and small, available for living architecture projects. The TKF Foundation and others have created Open Spaces Sacred Places, designed to "increase a sense of community and contribute to a deepening of human connections". You have until December 15, 2011 to get your team and idea together.
Until December 31, 2011 those in the Canada, the US and UK can apply for the School Garden Grant Program and receive up to $2,000 to support school garden projects.

-The Girl Scouts now have a locavore badge!

Green roofs pick up steam in British Columbia

For the peak oil fans out there, last week via the wonderfully eclectic Journal of Sustainable Human Development came an address from Richard Heinberg (of the Post Carbon Institute) to the graduating class of Worchester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts. He gave an "alternative" commencement speech, some objected to having an oil company CEO be the only voice they heard before leaving the Institute.

-Port Coquitlam, in British Columbia, is one of the few cities to have a green roof bylaw. And it's great to see there isn't push back
from developers or retailers, everyone seems to be quite happy to do their part. The mayor, in particular, seems to be a big advocate and it lends credence to the belief that change starts with a few people in power at the top or a lot of people at the grassroots level.

-The web has made our world so small, I now know how urban agriculture and food security benefits those in Ethopia.

-Toledo, Ohio has it's own urban farming training center
opening in February 2012. Partnering with a local community college, it will feature greenhouses, a commercial kitchen and much more.

-15,000 signatures was no problem for Agriculture Montreal! They made the deadline in time and now Montreal's executive committee will hold public hearings on urban agriculture in Montreal. Congrats to the fifty organizations and thousands of people who worked so hard!

In Zimbabawe, urban agriculture=environmental degradation

Over the last week we have seen some really interesting urban agriculture developments in North America and Africa.

-In Roanoke, Virginia, a 12 acre urban farm was scuttled by local opposition. In Vancouver, British Columbia, the protest seems to be less about the agriculture part and more about the misappropriation of funds or at least, one party doesn't like the projects which the other party is funding.

-In Zimbabwe, urban agriculture has become even more of a political football. The Harare City Council is enforcing the pre-existing ban on urban agriculture and police have been charged with razing any gardens defying the law. The reason? The farming is causing serious environmental degradation. Another political party claims ill-will towards President Mugabe is behind the push.

I totally, totally forgot about this. The Rocky Mountain Institute think there are big opportunities for this new energy era. With a book entitled "Reinventing Fire", you know they are shooting for the moon.
In their words "it offers a blueprint for a business-led transition from a fossil fuel-based economy to one based on renewables, saving $5 trillion without requiring new federal taxes, subsidies, mandates, laws or policy innovations that call for Acts of Congress."
I can't wait to read this book!

And lastly, here's a rendering of what that massive aquaponics facility will look like:

A living wall fails...or did it?

Whenever a green or living wall fails in the UK, it always hits the newspapers, so it comes as no surprise the Guardian is all over the latest failure. What makes it even worse is that it was controversial to start and, over the course of the last month, seems to have increased in price by about $34,000 USD. Yikes! It's unclear if a few plants didn't make it or a substantial number died, either way, it's not good.

-When chatting with prospective clients interested in living walls they are always floored by the cost. Me too! The industry is still new and it will probably be a few years before the costs come down. Research on how to make them more affordable and sustainable is definitely needed, so it's great to read what is happening in Singapore.

-A recent report, summarized nicely by the Guardian, (they are really on it today, huh?), details how white roofs might actually increase temperatures all in all. U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu, we await your comments. So the moral is, we shouldn't rely on one technology (not that we have even made it that far). And we must also finds ways to make technologies inexpensive, so that everyone can participate in lowering our collective carbon footprint.

Canadian student farm movement expands + the world's largest aquaponics operation

Often known for being ahead of the green curve it appears several Canadian institutions are taking the lead in exploring our interest in urban agriculture and giving students the skills they need to continue in the field.

-Municipally (I think that's the first time I have ever used that word), big green things continue to happen in Boston, Dorchester seems to be the next part of the city slated to get an urban farm.

-Part of the beauty of aquaponics is how scalable it is. One person can raise their own food or it can be done for thousands. A particularly thoughtful youtuber put together over 2 hours of videos on do-it-yourself aquaponic systems, which, until her/his foresight, meant lots of missed sleep as you trolled around youtube looking for the good stuff.
What's this you say? I mentioned An aquaponic system that could support thousands of people? I know, many people have talked about creating such a thing and some plans are in the works in various places around the world, but it looks like a company in the United Arab Emirates is the first to achieve the feat. And it's truly a global collaboration. The lead investigator is from the Virgin Islands, fish from Holland and seeds from the U.S.A.

The details:

-Food could hit the market as soon as March 2012.
-50,000 fish are on their way to kick things off.
-At full capacity they could produce 200 tons of fish and 300,000 heads of lettuce per year.
-8000 square meters of green house space will be needed.
-And there's no website for Zayed Higher Agricultural Centre for Rehabilitation and Development, at least as far as I can see!

Talk about a stealth operation! I'll dig to see if I can find out more.

Living architecture world of the week: horticultural foodscapes

Alternatively called "wildcrafting" and horticultural foodscapes by the author, I favor the latter because it is just a touch less vague although both could be employed depending on the situation. Using any old pine needles carefully arranged on the table = wild crafting, eating those pine needles carefully arranged on the table = horticultural foodscapes.

Two questions...
-Did you know that contest to create an urban farm in Atlanta was partially funded by Walmart?. They are operating at all levels from the mainstream to grassroots.

-Also, did anyone know that the USDA gives out approximately $5 million dollars per year as part of the Farmers Market Promotion Program? AS far as I can tell, this money is open to urban agriculture operations as well.

-Lastly for today comes a tidbit from Lebanon. ANERA, the American University of Beirut and the Ein El Helweh Women’s Program Center have joined forces to improve the lives of 26 women and they hope eventually, 70,000 refugees. Using vertical plantings, rooftop rain water collection systems and other urban agriculture technologies, they hope to green a landscape dominated by cement.

November songs + how much is a tree really worth?

Last week I wondered how much more it would cost to save those big trees in Chicago's Bryant park. I don't know that for sure, but I can take a guess...

There will be lots of assumptions here, but, here's what I know:

Last year we priced a green roof job in Toronto where the building owners wanted 18-20 foot maple trees. Each root ball would probably weigh 4500 lbs. or so. (I am going to assume the cost of trees in Chicago is roughly equivalent to Toronto, a city basically the same size.) The cost to install probably 10 of those trees? Maybe $30,000 dollars. Throw in the cost of the crane to lift the trees, take them somewhere else...and this is where we would run into trouble. What would you do with those trees while all the rest of the foliage and dirt was removed, a new deck was constructed and layers of the green roof put on? How long would that project take? Months?
It would require a great deal of coordination, but I am guessing to temporarily house 10 of these trees in an alternate location, care for them and eventually put them back, one is looking at $100,000 easily.
So the next question to ask is "How much is a tree worth?" The answer hinges on who you ask. A developer might have a different answer than a parks commissioner. And I guess that's why some can justify cutting down trees and replacing them, as opposed to saving them and relocating.

-Montreal is in the news this week. At McGill University they installed a permaculture garden outside of their Post Graduate Student Society. Across the city, a supergroup comprised of orgs with health, food-security and environmental mandates needs 2,000 more signatures to put the development of urban agriculture in the lap of the city's executive committee. The Groupe de travail en agriculture urbaine started kick of their quest in August, the November 8 deadline is looming...help them get there!

-I posted the list for the October songs a little too late last month, it should really be done in the beginning of the month so that you can enjoy them all month long, no?

Morissey -November Spawned a Monster
Gorillaz -November Has Come by
Mr. November -The National