Public parks with private poppy

As you know New York's Highline was the catalyst behind big changes on the westside of Manhattan. More changes are coming down the pike with a new park. But is that a good thing? Sponsored by private money, what is private wealth's role in remaking public spaces?

-This fall was the first time MillionTreesNYC free tree giveaway featured exclusively edible fruit trees, in total 4,500 were claimed!

-Since the spring residents of a retirement facility, just outside of Chicago, have grown vegetables on their rooftop hydroponic facility for use in their kitchen and others kitchens across the city. This is the first of it's kind, I believe.

-If you'd like to peer into the life of one horticultural therapist practicing in New Jersey, check out this blog. I've linked to the latest posting in the past, she periodically updates it with interesting anecdotes.

-An Emory College student has launced a vineyard to study the American starvine, a threatened native plant which may have tremendous medicinal benefits.

-Earlier in the year I wrote about Brightfarms opening a urban farm in DC, it will be one of the biggest in the USA. Make that, it would have been. The site is so contaminated, they make walk away from the project and $700,000 already invested. A recent paper highlighted the problem in Buffalo and New York City.

2015 - International Year of Soil

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has declared 2015 to be International Year of Soil. Have a look to see how you can take an active promotion role.

-2015 may also be a big year for a couple of other organizations. Here's some great video of a trip to EnerGaia, the folks farming spirulina in Bangkok.

-Plant-e has expanded their "power plant" trials, where they generate electricity from plant roots. They hope, one day, to get enough power from 120 square meters of roof space to power an average Dutch home.

Season's Greetings - 2014

This Christmas - Donny Hathaway
Miracle - Matisyahu
How do you spell Channukkahh - The LeeVees
Patapan - King's Singers

Permaculture design presentations

Ever wonder what it's like to take a permaculture design course? Or, what you should produce at the end of it? Check out some of the presentations from a recent course in New Hampshire.

2014 Gift Guide

In previous years I've profiled great green products. This year, I want to change it up a bit.
How about a holiday season without buying anything?

Here are some websites with great ideas for reducing consumption this year!

Kickstarting vertical farming, urban agriculture ventures

Success on Kickstarter is never a given, but I was blown away by two recent examples. The first, Garden Tower, has raised thousands of dollars more than their goal. Look for these in the future!
The second I think has great legs, as an innovative company. Keep your eyes on them too.

The World's Greenest Building - The Bullit Centre

Seattle's Bullitt Center: The World's Greenest Office Building from EarthFix on Vimeo.

Ladies and gents, meet the Bullit Center, the greenest building in the world. (As of this blog post at least, you know how quickly the title changes hands!)
It's built to mimic natural processes and has basically everything you could imagine in a green building (for example, it's energy and carbon neutral and independent of municipal water and sewage systems!), hence it saving the city of Seattle $18.5 million dollars over the building's lifespan. Which is 250 years!!!

The video will blow your mind!

Australian children's hospital goes green wall crazy + "rain vortex" in Singapore airport

-Lady Cilento Children's Hopsital in South Brisbane, Australia spared no expense in designing and building their bring new children's hospital. Look at these incredible green walls and rooftop gardens!

-Have a gander at this Singapore airport, which is in the works, the picture below shows their 40 m rain vortex in the middle of the building!

-Soil research is helping us learn more about contamination at individual urban gardens and also giving us clues to look for overall. Here's an important take away: "Urban gardeners should consider Kentucky bluegrass the 'canary in the mine shaft' for foods grown in the city, especially near busy roads and transportation corridors."

-Here’s a new app which helps urban farmers know where they can go and what the rules are. Urb.ag, “hones in on the location of where someone might want to start a farm and then applies the exact codes and what is required of the new law.” This app could save a potential farmer a lot of time and hassle.

-Could San Francisco's New Bay Bridge turn into the next iconic green infrastructure project. Dare I say it...highlinesque?

-Montreal, in two years time will have something iconic of its own down at the Old Port.

-For you green roof geeks, here's an interesting study about the carbon sequesteration potential of using sewage sludge in green roofs in China.

-Most people remark how cities are becoming less and less green, some parts of New York City have become more green over the years and that’s even before their Million Trees NYC campaign. Here are the photographs to prove it.

-Among everyone's favorites, like sweet corn, potatoes and tomatoes and lesser known treats (crambe...cuphea...luffa gourds?), the USDA has now recommended aquaponics as a viable crop for diversification.

GILA words of the week: Gwerk and swap crop

Gwerk is definitely a word to remember. What is Gwerk...or Gesamtkunstwerk? With no direct translation from German to English, it's best described as "total work of art or synthesis of the arts".
It could become synonymous with Vancouver, the city where the idea was incubated and first put into practice.  A larger question seems to hang like a ripe cherry, how is living architecture integrated and expressed in a gwerk project?

Your second word of the week is “Swap Crop”. Grew too many zucchini this year? Too much mint? Start one of these up in your community, setting it up may be easier than trying to find a home for all that zucchini or letting it go to waist.

n that a condo development gives us a new word. But Vancouver House doesn't plan to be like any other condo development.
The word is gwerk, as in “Vancouver has to stop resting on its laurels; it's got to gwerk it,” says Vancouver architect Trevor Boddy, the curator of an exhibition, Gesamtkunstwerk, which chronicles the evolution of what is hoped to be the next “special moment” in Vancouver's architectural history.
Or here's another example from Boddy: “'My office needs a real gwerk,' which means a total redesign.”
Thank goodness the developers are giving us the new word because, otherwise, few of would be able to pronounce, let alone remember, gesamtkunstwerk. It's a German word, popularized by the composer Richard Wagner, that translates into something like total work of art or synthesis of the arts.
Those are the words on the side of the building next to the Granville Bridge where the exhibit is being held. And while people have seen drawings of the gleaming twisting condo tower that will rise next to it, it's what's happening under the bridge that gives the concept a totally radical reputation.
Introducing the new Beach District, a new urban village that will run under the bridge along Beach Avenue. It's going to be a collection of pie-shaped buildings that include rental apartments, offices and retail outlets. It will also be providing the nine o'clock gun a run for its time-keeping money. At nine o'clock every night, a spinning chandelier by artist Rodney Graham will twirl its way down over the street from its base underneath the bridge, dazzle the crowd and then twist back up into its perch for another day. But it won't be the only time people walking under the bridge will want to look up. Westbank, the company behind Vancouver House, is commissioning a second installation of public art on the underside of the bridge. The light boxes will display a changing exhibit of photos produced with students from Emily Carr University.
People talk about the amazing planning that's happening in Vancouver but they don't talk about the moments that are very special,” Ian Gillespie, the principal at Westbank, said at a press conference moments after spring officially arrived in Vancouver. “What we lack are a few special moments and this is what Vancouver House will represent. It will be one of the lasting things that stays in [visitors'] minds.... Can we turn the Granville Street Bridge into a moment itself?”
James Cheng is the architect who nursed the concept from the time when it was a glint in Westbank's eye seven years ago until last October, when the City of Vancouver gave it its blessing. Cheng, who worked with Arthur Erickson during the “mind-blowing” years of exciting development, has passed on the project to Bjarke Ingels whose Copenhagen- and New York-based firm, BIG, has been creating innovative and dynamic buildings around the world.
Cheng said the Vancouver we know today got its start in the 1970s when Mayor Art Phillips pulled together a team to think about what the city could be doing architecturally. The first projects centred on South False Creek, which blended the city's talent pool. Then the federal government bought into a plan to turn its lands on Granville Island into a thriving food, arts and theatre district. After Expo 86 came Concord Pacific's False Creek development, and then eyes turned to the downtown, with questions about how to turn Coal Harbour into a continuation of this waterside housing community.
But then we became a little complacent, a little too blasé about the accolades, Cheng said. We stopped creating special moments, which are like the punctuation marks of the city's evolution. (Joo Kim Tiah, the CEO of Holborn, has a jump on the desire to create Vancouver's iconic icon architectural image with his 63-storey Trump Tower and Hotel on West Georgia. Its slated to open in 2016.)
He noted there's five decades between Erickson, whose Project 56 drawing of twisting buildings straddling English Bay is part of the exhibit, and Ingels.
Ingels said first knew of Vancouver as the home of two of his favourite writers, Douglas Coupland and William Gibson. He wanted to see the city the spawned such fabulous thinkers.
Vancouver House was born out of the need to figure out how to deal with the bridge and the odd-shaped pieces of land underneath it, he said. The bridge couldn't be moved so the project had to work around it. The main condo tower starts on a 6,000 sq.ft. footprint at the base of Howe Street (where the Buster's Towing lot used to be) to honour setback requirements but once it's higher than the bridge, it starts to turn and add floor space until, at the top of its 52 storeys, its floorplate is 13,000 sq. ft.
- See more at: http://www.westender.com/news/vancouver-house-introduces-gwerk-to-the-world-1.914679#sthash.ZscqzGuP.dpuf

n that a condo development gives us a new word. But Vancouver House doesn't plan to be like any other condo development.
The word is gwerk, as in “Vancouver has to stop resting on its laurels; it's got to gwerk it,” says Vancouver architect Trevor Boddy, the curator of an exhibition, Gesamtkunstwerk, which chronicles the evolution of what is hoped to be the next “special moment” in Vancouver's architectural history.
Or here's another example from Boddy: “'My office needs a real gwerk,' which means a total redesign.”
Thank goodness the developers are giving us the new word because, otherwise, few of would be able to pronounce, let alone remember, gesamtkunstwerk. It's a German word, popularized by the composer Richard Wagner, that translates into something like total work of art or synthesis of the arts.
Those are the words on the side of the building next to the Granville Bridge where the exhibit is being held. And while people have seen drawings of the gleaming twisting condo tower that will rise next to it, it's what's happening under the bridge that gives the concept a totally radical reputation.
Introducing the new Beach District, a new urban village that will run under the bridge along Beach Avenue. It's going to be a collection of pie-shaped buildings that include rental apartments, offices and retail outlets. It will also be providing the nine o'clock gun a run for its time-keeping money. At nine o'clock every night, a spinning chandelier by artist Rodney Graham will twirl its way down over the street from its base underneath the bridge, dazzle the crowd and then twist back up into its perch for another day. But it won't be the only time people walking under the bridge will want to look up. Westbank, the company behind Vancouver House, is commissioning a second installation of public art on the underside of the bridge. The light boxes will display a changing exhibit of photos produced with students from Emily Carr University.
People talk about the amazing planning that's happening in Vancouver but they don't talk about the moments that are very special,” Ian Gillespie, the principal at Westbank, said at a press conference moments after spring officially arrived in Vancouver. “What we lack are a few special moments and this is what Vancouver House will represent. It will be one of the lasting things that stays in [visitors'] minds.... Can we turn the Granville Street Bridge into a moment itself?”
James Cheng is the architect who nursed the concept from the time when it was a glint in Westbank's eye seven years ago until last October, when the City of Vancouver gave it its blessing. Cheng, who worked with Arthur Erickson during the “mind-blowing” years of exciting development, has passed on the project to Bjarke Ingels whose Copenhagen- and New York-based firm, BIG, has been creating innovative and dynamic buildings around the world.
Cheng said the Vancouver we know today got its start in the 1970s when Mayor Art Phillips pulled together a team to think about what the city could be doing architecturally. The first projects centred on South False Creek, which blended the city's talent pool. Then the federal government bought into a plan to turn its lands on Granville Island into a thriving food, arts and theatre district. After Expo 86 came Concord Pacific's False Creek development, and then eyes turned to the downtown, with questions about how to turn Coal Harbour into a continuation of this waterside housing community.
But then we became a little complacent, a little too blasé about the accolades, Cheng said. We stopped creating special moments, which are like the punctuation marks of the city's evolution. (Joo Kim Tiah, the CEO of Holborn, has a jump on the desire to create Vancouver's iconic icon architectural image with his 63-storey Trump Tower and Hotel on West Georgia. Its slated to open in 2016.)
He noted there's five decades between Erickson, whose Project 56 drawing of twisting buildings straddling English Bay is part of the exhibit, and Ingels.
Ingels said first knew of Vancouver as the home of two of his favourite writers, Douglas Coupland and William Gibson. He wanted to see the city the spawned such fabulous thinkers.
Vancouver House was born out of the need to figure out how to deal with the bridge and the odd-shaped pieces of land underneath it, he said. The bridge couldn't be moved so the project had to work around it. The main condo tower starts on a 6,000 sq.ft. footprint at the base of Howe Street (where the Buster's Towing lot used to be) to honour setback requirements but once it's higher than the bridge, it starts to turn and add floor space until, at the top of its 52 storeys, its floorplate is 13,000 sq. ft.
- See more at: http://www.westender.com/news/vancouver-house-introduces-gwerk-to-the-world-1.914679#sthash.ZscqzGuP.dpuf

n that a condo development gives us a new word. But Vancouver House doesn't plan to be like any other condo development.
The word is gwerk, as in “Vancouver has to stop resting on its laurels; it's got to gwerk it,” says Vancouver architect Trevor Boddy, the curator of an exhibition, Gesamtkunstwerk, which chronicles the evolution of what is hoped to be the next “special moment” in Vancouver's architectural history.
Or here's another example from Boddy: “'My office needs a real gwerk,' which means a total redesign.”
Thank goodness the developers are giving us the new word because, otherwise, few of would be able to pronounce, let alone remember, gesamtkunstwerk. It's a German word, popularized by the composer Richard Wagner, that translates into something like total work of art or synthesis of the arts.
Those are the words on the side of the building next to the Granville Bridge where the exhibit is being held. And while people have seen drawings of the gleaming twisting condo tower that will rise next to it, it's what's happening under the bridge that gives the concept a totally radical reputation.
Introducing the new Beach District, a new urban village that will run under the bridge along Beach Avenue. It's going to be a collection of pie-shaped buildings that include rental apartments, offices and retail outlets. It will also be providing the nine o'clock gun a run for its time-keeping money. At nine o'clock every night, a spinning chandelier by artist Rodney Graham will twirl its way down over the street from its base underneath the bridge, dazzle the crowd and then twist back up into its perch for another day. But it won't be the only time people walking under the bridge will want to look up. Westbank, the company behind Vancouver House, is commissioning a second installation of public art on the underside of the bridge. The light boxes will display a changing exhibit of photos produced with students from Emily Carr University.
People talk about the amazing planning that's happening in Vancouver but they don't talk about the moments that are very special,” Ian Gillespie, the principal at Westbank, said at a press conference moments after spring officially arrived in Vancouver. “What we lack are a few special moments and this is what Vancouver House will represent. It will be one of the lasting things that stays in [visitors'] minds.... Can we turn the Granville Street Bridge into a moment itself?”
James Cheng is the architect who nursed the concept from the time when it was a glint in Westbank's eye seven years ago until last October, when the City of Vancouver gave it its blessing. Cheng, who worked with Arthur Erickson during the “mind-blowing” years of exciting development, has passed on the project to Bjarke Ingels whose Copenhagen- and New York-based firm, BIG, has been creating innovative and dynamic buildings around the world.
Cheng said the Vancouver we know today got its start in the 1970s when Mayor Art Phillips pulled together a team to think about what the city could be doing architecturally. The first projects centred on South False Creek, which blended the city's talent pool. Then the federal government bought into a plan to turn its lands on Granville Island into a thriving food, arts and theatre district. After Expo 86 came Concord Pacific's False Creek development, and then eyes turned to the downtown, with questions about how to turn Coal Harbour into a continuation of this waterside housing community.
But then we became a little complacent, a little too blasé about the accolades, Cheng said. We stopped creating special moments, which are like the punctuation marks of the city's evolution. (Joo Kim Tiah, the CEO of Holborn, has a jump on the desire to create Vancouver's iconic icon architectural image with his 63-storey Trump Tower and Hotel on West Georgia. Its slated to open in 2016.)
He noted there's five decades between Erickson, whose Project 56 drawing of twisting buildings straddling English Bay is part of the exhibit, and Ingels.
Ingels said first knew of Vancouver as the home of two of his favourite writers, Douglas Coupland and William Gibson. He wanted to see the city the spawned such fabulous thinkers.
Vancouver House was born out of the need to figure out how to deal with the bridge and the odd-shaped pieces of land underneath it, he said. The bridge couldn't be moved so the project had to work around it. The main condo tower starts on a 6,000 sq.ft. footprint at the base of Howe Street (where the Buster's Towing lot used to be) to honour setback requirements but once it's higher than the bridge, it starts to turn and add floor space until, at the top of its 52 storeys, its floorplate is 13,000 sq. ft.
- See more at: http://www.westender.com/news/vancouver-house-introduces-gwerk-to-the-world-1.914679#sthash.ZscqzGuP.dpuf

Bakery, laundromat and greenhouse

The Iberoamericana University in the Dominican Republic hosted a green roof symposium a couple of weeks ago. The school administers the program for the country, their stated goal "to preserve the structures of buildings and conserve native and migratory species."With so many benefits to green roofs, I love how different people, companies and municipalities embrace the technology for different reasons.

-In Europe, a Swiss company says it has just opened the continent's largest urban farming project. And they are no shy about touting that, look at that sign!!!

-How's this for an eclectic list of services, bakery, laundromat and greenhouse. These folks in British Columbia pull it off.

-The Design Trust for Public Space has released their toolkit, which they describe as “part how-to guide and part reference for urban farming”. Ohh...tasty


-In India a demo aquaponics project is trying to grow sea bass. You know what I thought of first, frickin' sea bass, of course!

Huertos Urbanos: Buenas Prácticas Sociales, Ambientales y Territoriales, IV Edición.

Huertos Urbanos! Comienzo del curso 24 de noviembre de 2014!!

Which vegetable grows from 1 kg to 16,000 kg in 4 weeks?

Two schools are getting a green makeover.
In Vietnam, have a look at this green-roofed kindergarten!

-And in Williamsburg, P.S. 84 is getting a hydroponic rooftop greenhouse.

-Lastly, check out this Israeli firm and their high-tech system which produces Khai-nam. Seems the food tastes pretty good and grows, according to their youtube video, from 1 kg to 16,000 kg in 4 weeks!! Can this be real???

GILA words of the week: gated agriculture and cemetery farming

-Romania has it's first horticultural therapy program, but if doctors William Brid and Matilda van den Bosch had their way, horticultural therapy would be part of the publicly funded national health service!

-Everyone wants a Highline, an iconic green roof with seemingly unlimited appeal. But not everyone can have one. Read the comments at the bottom of this article, there are some undiscovered stand-up comedians waiting to be signed!

-Baltimore has a few interesting GILA ideas on the go. The first is called "Green Tracks". There are several component to he project, but the one I'll mention here is using the area along the Amtrak corridor for community gardens. I hope they keep an eye on possible existing contamination and contamination over time.
The second is allocating some of the 14,000 vacant lots in the city for flower production. Nice work Baltimore!

-We all know urban agriculture is huge. How big? Researchers have found all the farms together cover an area the size of Europe. And those 456 million hectares (1.12 billion acres), 15% is in the city proper. Urban agriculture will be crucial, especially in Africa. with half of the continents inhabitants living in cities by 2030. In Kenya a company wants to be a pioneer in providing the produce. The idea? Gate some land and lease it to prospective farmers.

Which gets me to wondering. With development pressures could we see more urban agriculture in marginal or previously taboo lands? In the Philippines a new urban agriculture garden has opened in a cemetery. It seems the cemetery has rich, unused pland within its gates. in the future, could we one day see food production happening anywhere soil is available?

Concevoir un jardin en permaculture partie!

Jouir!

3d printed gardens!

For the life of me I couldn't figure out how this would work according to their description, thankfully there's a GIF which helps it make sense!

New protocols for indoor biophilic design

Interior designers are developing new protocols to address design strategies for incorporating green walls and other biophilia into their practices. The American Society of Interior Designers (ASID), led by Randy Fiser, has committed to the protocols through the 2014 Clinton Global Initiative (CGI). Let's see what they come up with!

-An urban farming initiative in Calgary is building an earthship greenhouse to provide year-round produce.

-The company who provided living walls for the 2012 London Olympics is going "into administration". For those in North America who may not be familiar with the process, it's the step before bankruptcy. But it's not bankrupt yet, let's see if they can restructure and pull it out.

Occupy the Farm...the movie

I'm sure everyone remembers reading about the battle between the University of California and neighborhood farmers. Here's a trailer for the documentary of what happened and how...

Amazing green complex planned for Cairo

Slated to begin construction in 2015, if this development ends up being half as good as it looks, it will be top 10 in the living architecture world for the green options (indigenous plants, green roofs, green walls, urban agriculture, solar panels and more!) it provides.

12th Cities Alive Green Roof & Wall Conference is one week away!

There's still time to get down (or over, if you're in the neighborhood) to this year's Cities Alive Green Roof and Wall Conference in Nashville. The festivities kick off November 12.

You've heard of the Bitcoin, now meet the Beetcoin

A new way to invest in local agriculture!

-San Francisco legislator, David Chiu, is proposing a green roof bylaw for all-new buildings in San Francisco.

-Every once in a while the Ecologist puts together one nice long blog with all sorts of interesting links. Here's one which has a ton of great articles about vertical farming, including a couple of ventures in Japan.

The ultimate municipal food policy database

Writing sound policy for growing food just got much easier. The Growing Food Connections Policy database "provides examples of local public policies that have been adopted to address a range of food systems issues, from rural and urban food production to food aggregation and distribution infrastructure.

Spread this far and wide!

Rooftop beer

Last week I wrote a bit about Congressman Tim Ryan's love for urban agriculture. Silly me, I didn't even realize he had a new book out.

-In LA a rooftop garden has drawn a lot of publicity, especially once they launched their very own beer grown with hops from their rooftop..

-To assist with their rehabilitation, a jail in Denver is opening an aquaponics facility.

-In the same week, both Pittsburgh and Oakland have announced that they are both working hard to open up vacant land for urban agriculture.

Michigan State University offers free online urban agriculture course

Michigan State University has announced a new, free, online urban agriculture course which is part of their Food Knowledge Cloud. The course runs from November 3 to December 19.

Aquaponics courses in Colorado + Buffalo's Urban Agriculture Turnaround

At the end of this year and in 2015, aquaponics enthusiasts have the opportunity to learn from the best in Colorado. Advanced aquaponics and aquaponics immersion courses I'm sure will be well-attended, up next in December is the aquaponics and medical marijuana course.

-Toronto has a municipal election coming up in about two weeks. It looks like two of the major candidates strongly support more funding for urban agriculture! Not to be outdone, prominent American politicians are throwing their support behind urban ag as well, Congressman Tim Ryan is probably the biggest proponent so far.

-How did Buffalo, a resource-strapped city, go from a laggard to an urban agriculture mecca in just 10 years? A University of Buffalo researcher outlines their path to success:

-Engaging in “ordinary, incremental, persistent practices”
;
-Building a diverse but unified coalition
;
-Balancing incremental and systemic change;

-Nurturing communitywide capacity
;

-Responding nimbly to windows of opportunity
;
-Getting support from local government
;
-Connecting food to the popular issues of the day
.

Check out the whole article in the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development

Engaging in “ordinary, incremental, persistent practices”
Changes in local laws followed years of on-the-ground action by MAP, which grew food, sold it to low-income residents, and raised fish on an urban aquaponics farm.

Building a diverse but unified coalition
MAP’s “Rust Belt radicals” had limited policy reach on their own, so they partnered with the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, government officials, farmers and others to get messages out. All had a shared vision for improving Buffalo’s food system.

Balancing incremental and systemic change
MAP built urban farms (incremental change), while also pushing lawmakers to amend land use laws (systemic change).

Nurturing communitywide capacity
MAP trained hundreds of youth to produce, distribute and sell food, and worked with partners to send policymakers to food-related workshops. This created a large body of experts with the know-how to move Buffalo’s food policies forward.

Responding nimbly to windows of opportunity
MAP and its allies jumped at the chance to advise planners writing the city’s new Green Code. Such windows of opportunity may open rarely; activists must take advantage when they do.

Getting support from local government
Continual engagement with city planners and councilmembers resulted in an awareness of problems surrounding food, which in turn led to proposals for new laws.

Connecting food to the popular issues of the day
Economic revitalization is a priority for post-industrial cities across the Rust Belt. Recognizing this, MAP lobbied policymakers on the idea that food — and good food policy — could be vehicles for economic development.

- See more at: http://www.buffalo.edu/news/releases/2014/10/018.html#sthash.J8mbpbD5.dpuf

Engaging in “ordinary, incremental, persistent practices”
Changes in local laws followed years of on-the-ground action by MAP, which grew food, sold it to low-income residents, and raised fish on an urban aquaponics farm.

Building a diverse but unified coalition
MAP’s “Rust Belt radicals” had limited policy reach on their own, so they partnered with the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, government officials, farmers and others to get messages out. All had a shared vision for improving Buffalo’s food system.

Balancing incremental and systemic change
MAP built urban farms (incremental change), while also pushing lawmakers to amend land use laws (systemic change).

Nurturing communitywide capacity
MAP trained hundreds of youth to produce, distribute and sell food, and worked with partners to send policymakers to food-related workshops. This created a large body of experts with the know-how to move Buffalo’s food policies forward.

Responding nimbly to windows of opportunity
MAP and its allies jumped at the chance to advise planners writing the city’s new Green Code. Such windows of opportunity may open rarely; activists must take advantage when they do.

Getting support from local government
Continual engagement with city planners and councilmembers resulted in an awareness of problems surrounding food, which in turn led to proposals for new laws.

Connecting food to the popular issues of the day
Economic revitalization is a priority for post-industrial cities across the Rust Belt. Recognizing this, MAP lobbied policymakers on the idea that food — and good food policy — could be vehicles for economic development.

- See more at: http://www.buffalo.edu/news/releases/2014/10/018.html#sthash.J8mbpbD5.dpuf

Wisconsin wants more green roofs

-Last week plans for a potential urban farm in Battle Creek, Michigan, organized by several (eight, to be exact) churches, were potentially scuttled when neighbors complained that there would be too much traffic and a reduction in property values.
They were hoping the land would produce as much as 220,000 lbs of fruit and vegetables. The timing of this unfortunate disagreement is impeccable as Earth Island reports how cities across the US are struggling with how to amend its’ current laws and the disparate concerns of residents.

-Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources wanted Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District's to install 5 million gallons of rain collecting capacity by the end of 2017. Last year, alone, the City did 4 million! So the DNR may raise it’s bar. Here’s your stat for the day, digging more deep tunnels to store wastewater “would cost between two and six times more per gallon of capacity than the various types of green infrastructure” and "This is our lowest-cost approach."
The ultimate goal? 740 million gallons' worth of storage capacity by 2035. The district estimates it will distribute $1.3 billion over the next 20 years in grants to its green infrastructure partners.

-One city council candidate in Ottawa is suggesting adopting a green roof policy. It could have happened earlier, but the delay comes from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing. A change has to be made at the provincial level to allow Ottawa to change its’ own laws.  The article references Toronto’s green roof bylaw which has been fantastic. Being one of the first has its advantages. It also has its' disadvantages, as now people seem to realize that the bylaw's emphasis on 90% coverage within 2 years does not help the urban agriculture movement at all. As you know most food we eat are annuals. How (and when) will this be changed? Good question.

-Istanbul has rolled out it’s own green roof bus. It’s called the “Botobüs,” a combination of “botanic” and “bus”.

Urban farming and music, the next trend?

In the past couple of weeks I've seen two articles about the music industry's link to urban farming.

There's Taja Sevelle, who founded a non-profit back in 2005 called Urban Farming, which is responsible for over 62,000 community gardens across the US.




And let's not forget a newcomer to the scene, Kimbra Lee Johnson best known for the Gotye song below, who recorded her latest album at an urban farm in Los Angeles.

Pushing boundaries with new green roof plants

So last year I tried a few new species on green roofs and in my backyard.  After some research I thought a few could do quite well in lower Canada, upper USA. Here's what I found:

Rhodiola rosea

Did quite well on a rooftop and I am definitely incorporating this into future green roofs!

Rosularia sedoides

This was a backyard experiment, I wondered how it would with just moderate sun (3-4 hours).
It didn't make it to the spring.

Sempervivium arachnoideum "rubrum"

In full sun this could be quite lovely as an accent plant, I thought it had no chance of coming back this year but it did...in full-sun.

Erysimum pulchellum

Veronica liwanensis

The two above had a rough time from the very beginning with little water, despite ample (at least 5 hours) of sun. I'll keep both of these for sunny, ground level gardens.

2 Green roof (and wall!) events, one near and one far

For the one in Toronto. The Conservation Council of Ontario is hosting a Green Energy Doors Open event tomorrow from 1-3 pm. If you've never had a tour of the amazing Robertson Building here's your chance to see their green wall and green roof.

And just a little reminder that the World Green Infrastructure Congress kicks off next Tuesday, October 7!

Rooftop spirulina entrepreneurs have expanded production!

The last time we checked in with this company, they were just getting started. Now, they have begun exporting to Europe and will have multiple sites in Thailand very soon. Are we witnessing a new success story in the making???

Earlier in the year we saw one aquaponics producer theorize that growing medical marijuana may be where their business is heading. Another aquaponics advocate, who has gone out of business and now operates the New York outfit as an educational center, is thinking the same thing.  Synergistic thoughts or the latest trend?

Concevoir un jardin en permaculture

Four Community Food jobs available in Toronto

Toronto's FoodShare has 4 jobs available, 2 Community Food Animators and 2 Student Nutrition Community Development Animators.

Urban foraging...in your grocery store

Those mushrooms you picked up for dinner tonight, might not be exactly what you thought and might be a revelation to science: a brand new species!

The next city to get a food forest is...Charlestown!!!

Green infrastructure professionals should note, according to Portland urban planning experts, that if you want a successful park, well-attended and appreciated, your planning should cater to women.

-Alterrus systems is gone, but their loss is Affinor Growers gain. Although they've focused on marijuana production until now, they see this as a great opportunity and gateway into the vertical growing sector.

-Caribbean countries are not just interested in starting aquaponics projects, they're interested hosting conferences too!

-Speaking of aquaponics, 2014 has unleashed a number of Kickstarter campaigns for home systems, some beautiful, some functional. Some both. Backed by industry leaders The Aquaponic Source, Oh-Uchi-Saien and Grants for Plants, this new system will get a lot of buzz and hsould be worth the money.

-Charlestown, West Virginia, is the next city to get an urban orchard/food forest. Who would've thought that???!!!

Turn Candlestick Park into a giant aquaponics farm

I know, I know that I made a pledge not to talk about wild renderings. But I couldn't help it this time.
This one is wild, but with a little tweaking perhaps doable?

A couple of weeks ago I saw this urban farming design to retrofit Candlestick Park. (Paul McCartney's concert in mid-August was the last scheduled event.) What will happen with it now?

Who knows what the price tag would be for something like this. Astronomical, I am sure. But something should be done with it soon, did you see how the Silverdome looks after 10 years of disuse?

 

In 1975 the Silverdome cost $55.7 million to build, which is roughly $245 million in today's dollars, according to Deadspin. In 2009, it was purchased at an auction for $583,000.
Such a shame.

Something should be done, and fast. I think the second picture is key. It's going to be expensive to retrofit and the urban farming is a great idea, but what about if we could make it half as expensive? By that, I mean make the stadium a huge aquaponics operation. The floor is a fish farm and then the water can be pumped up into the stands (where the plants grow) and trickle its way back down.

Sound crazy? Not when you consider shopping malls have spontaneously become fish ponds already! Here's one in Thailand where someone introduced a small population of Koi and Catfish.

What do you think?

Singapore - the green leaders keep pioneering

Singapore is definitely a green infrastructure and living architecture leader. And they proved it once again with the announcement of $41 million dollars (USD) in funding for tropics oriented green research (into technologies like green roofs) and incentives for green retrofits.  The Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations even dropped by recently to have a look at what they are doing.

-A Calgary urban agriculture farmer wants to create the world's biggest farm. Which made me think, the biggest is a tremendous achievement, what would be even better is the world's most PRODUCTIVE urban agriculture operation. Case in point, Calgary was just hit with a September snow storm. Just being big isn't great if you can't produce food. 

-Trinidad and Tobago has another aquaponics project in the works.

-Why do people reject urban agriculture operations in their neighbourhoods? A report from Johns Hopkins investigates and proponents to take note.

-If you're in the field no doubt you've had to address the questions or assertions as to why urban agriculture can't work. This article summarizes all of them, with plenty of snark and condescension (why not ask legal marijuana growers how much light they require, instead of illegal ones?) to make it go down easier.

verticiel releases resource guide on starting your own green roof and wall business

After years in the living architecture business, and helping a bunch of people along the way, I thought it was time. Time to compile some of the resources I discovered and used over the years to help someone new to the field get their business up and running so they can join in making this planet better than we found it.

Let me know what you think!

Open source indoor farming courtesy of MIT

When starting out I know urban farmers often think about raising flowers. Some how that idea usually falls off the table. Well in New Orleans someone is actually doing it in vacant lots.

 -The urban agriculture movement seems to be dominated by women, does anyone out there have additional theories as to why this is so? The New York Times does ask an important question,
"if urban ag work comes to be seen as women’s work, what will that mean for the movement’s farming model, mission and pay?"
And is the model even viable? Recent articles, like this one, assert they may lead to sustainable jobs only if the ship is a very tight one.

-Looks like there's another professor interested in food at MIT. Unlike the rest of the indoor farming industry he's making all of his findings public. Kudos!

Three upcoming green roof conferences

In Atlanta, Georgia in a couple of weeks, Green Roofs For Healthy Cities is holding a regional symposium. It's nice to have more local gatherings staged throughout the year, the GRHC conferences always seem to be held at the worst possible times for me.
Sydney, Australia has its World Green Infrastructure Congress October 7-10. Hosted by Green Roofs Australia, the scope includes urban greening, green roofs and living facades.

In Qingdao, China in mid-October look out for the Qingdao International Ecocity and Green Roof Conference. Put together by the International Rooftop Landscaping Association, conferences in China tend to be a big affair.

Hope you can take one of them in!

A verticiel green roof - 5 years later

It's the end of year 5 of tracking this rooftop. To check out how it has changed over the years, check out last years' look back.

Here's a recent photo:

Some notes from this year...
 
-Did you know after a large chive flower goes to seed, it has about 300 seeds? And a dandelion...about the same amount! How do I know? I actually counted a few on a rooftop!!!
-Moss mats can make an effective weed blocker.
-These festuca grasses can be tricky. One of them I thought was dead. Low and behold, it came back this year and even produced seeds!
-The Sedum spurium "dragon's blood" (from the left of the stone path) and Sedum spurium "tricolor" (on the far right) are slowly overtaking the Sedum angelina (in the middle). Notice how the yellow patches are decreasing each year. They are drooping on top of the angelina, sprouting new plants and growing on top of it. It's difficult to see but the sedum angelina is invading new territory by growing low to the ground and filling in space underneath its' neighbors.
-I need to look up this phenomenon where tree seedlings change colors to blend into their surroundings. I've noticed the maple seedlings will become more red or green based on what the sedum species are doing next to them...regardless of the season.
-You can see the chives are amazing. Slowly, but surely they are popping up in places where they weren't years ago.
-The sedum mat in some places is 2 inches thick.

Monsoon rooftop gardens + app to help Californians save water

-I definitely want to see more articles like this! Here's how to set up a succesful roof garden for monsoon veggies like sheem and borboti!

-Both Montreal and Charlottetown (P.E.I.) are turning to green roofs, Montreal is looking to streamline their approval process and Charlottetown is investigating green roof legislation. 
 
-A few weeks ago I wondered whether a place like Syria should be using more temporary agricultural systems  than rooftop farming, it just didn't seem feasible to dodge bullets while tending to rooftop gardens. It seems aquaponics systems are now being used in Gaza.

-I'm not sure if vertical farming can work, but my takeaway from this article is that the business is as much about operations (in particular, software) as it is about offerings.

fighting in Gaza has forced farmers and herders to abandon their lands and has paralysed fishing activities, bringing local food production to a halt and severely affecting livelihoods, the United Nation’s FAO warned last week.
Recovery in the agriculture sector, once hostilities cease, will require significant external assistance over the long term. And this is where we see opportunities for alternative agriculture systems for smallholder farmers and families. Aquaponics and hydroponics can be done on rooftops, and it is especially meaningful in areas where water is severely limited.
The FAO estimates that the recent fighting has resulted in substantial direct damage to Gaza’s 17,000 hectares of croplands as well as much of its agricultural infrastructure, including greenhouses, irrigation systems, animal farms, fodder stocks and fishing boats.
According to the latest update Gaza has lost half of its population of poultry birds (broilers and layers) either due to direct hits on their shelters or lack of water, feed or care resulting from access restrictions.
Around 64,000 head of small ruminants are in need of animal feed and water in order to avoid further animal deaths and the additional erosion of herders’ productive assets.
Meanwhile losses by Gaza’s fishing sector so far are estimated at 234.6 tonnes over the period 9 July – 10 August –equivalent to 9.3 percent of local fishers’ yearly catch.
“Up to now, ongoing military operations have prevented detailed assessments of damages to agriculture from being completed,” said Ciro Fiorillo, head of FAO’s office in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The Gaza Strip imports most of what it eats — however locally produced food represents an important source of nutritious and affordable food, and some 28,600 people in Gaza rely on farming (19,000 people), livestock raising (6,000) and fishing (3,600) for their livelihoods.
“Under the most recent ceasefire many farmers and herders are now able to access their lands, however resumption of food production faces serious obstacles given the damages sustained and shortages of water, electricity, inputs and financial resources, as well as ongoing uncertainty regarding the possible resumption of military activities”, said Fiorillo.

- See more at: http://www.greenprophet.com/2014/08/why-gaza-needs-hydroponics-and-aquaponics-for-food-security/#sthash.IciZDFYI.dpuf

-How can food transform healthcare for both the patient and provider? Will Allen will speak at the Transform symposium to let us know.

-What some thought was impossible has come to pass, Canadian Pacific has torn up some community garden plots over 15 years old. Naturally Vancouverites are not happy.

-Chicago's urban fruit orchard featured rare and unusual apples has gone quickly from concept to reality and is now a go.

-Climate Central has published a study which states 57 of the 60 largest cities in the U.S. have significantly higher temperatures than adjacent rural areas. In some cases those discrepancies had reached a difference in daytime highs by 27 degrees Fahrenheit. Yikes! Denver is going to need more green roofs and green infrastructure...soon! Florida has done something quite interesting, they've purchased some land to close the gap in their greenway and trail system so now it looks like you can travel from west coast to east. What do you think, Denver? A good idea?

-Despite a three year drought, one of the worst in 500 years (what!!!), Californians still aren't saving water. Hopefully an app, will raise awareness...even a little!

GILA word of the week: Heirloom aquaponics

It's been difficult for people and organizations to make money with aquaponics, like any urban agriculture endeavor. Case in point, an innovative aquaponics project in the UK was recently scuttled because they wanted (or needed?) to build a wood chipping and log drying plant as well.

But I think the key may be the same for microfarmers, whether they are urban or rural: high end products. If you could charge a premium for special kinds of shrimp or indigenous veggies (like  "slow-bolt" cilantro, Yoeme basil) profitability may be possible.

If you'd like to give the shrimp a try yourself, here's a primer below:

Why Gaza needs hydroponics and aquaponics for food security

Posted on August 17, 2014 by Karin Kloosterman in Lifestyle with 0 Comments

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The fighting in Gaza has forced farmers and herders to abandon their lands and has paralysed fishing activities, bringing local food production to a halt and severely affecting livelihoods, the United Nation’s FAO warned last week.
Recovery in the agriculture sector, once hostilities cease, will require significant external assistance over the long term. And this is where we see opportunities for alternative agriculture systems for smallholder farmers and families. Aquaponics and hydroponics can be done on rooftops, and it is especially meaningful in areas where water is severely limited.
The FAO estimates that the recent fighting has resulted in substantial direct damage to Gaza’s 17,000 hectares of croplands as well as much of its agricultural infrastructure, including greenhouses, irrigation systems, animal farms, fodder stocks and fishing boats.
According to the latest update Gaza has lost half of its population of poultry birds (broilers and layers) either due to direct hits on their shelters or lack of water, feed or care resulting from access restrictions.
Around 64,000 head of small ruminants are in need of animal feed and water in order to avoid further animal deaths and the additional erosion of herders’ productive assets.
Meanwhile losses by Gaza’s fishing sector so far are estimated at 234.6 tonnes over the period 9 July – 10 August –equivalent to 9.3 percent of local fishers’ yearly catch.
“Up to now, ongoing military operations have prevented detailed assessments of damages to agriculture from being completed,” said Ciro Fiorillo, head of FAO’s office in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The Gaza Strip imports most of what it eats — however locally produced food represents an important source of nutritious and affordable food, and some 28,600 people in Gaza rely on farming (19,000 people), livestock raising (6,000) and fishing (3,600) for their livelihoods.
“Under the most recent ceasefire many farmers and herders are now able to access their lands, however resumption of food production faces serious obstacles given the damages sustained and shortages of water, electricity, inputs and financial resources, as well as ongoing uncertainty regarding the possible resumption of military activities”, said Fiorillo.
Volatile food prices

- See more at: http://www.greenprophet.com/2014/08/why-gaza-needs-hydroponics-and-aquaponics-for-food-security/#sthash.AxVZJuRZ.dpuf

The fighting in Gaza has forced farmers and herders to abandon their lands and has paralysed fishing activities, bringing local food production to a halt and severely affecting livelihoods, the United Nation’s FAO warned last week.
Recovery in the agriculture sector, once hostilities cease, will require significant external assistance over the long term. And this is where we see opportunities for alternative agriculture systems for smallholder farmers and families. Aquaponics and hydroponics can be done on rooftops, and it is especially meaningful in areas where water is severely limited.
The FAO estimates that the recent fighting has resulted in substantial direct damage to Gaza’s 17,000 hectares of croplands as well as much of its agricultural infrastructure, including greenhouses, irrigation systems, animal farms, fodder stocks and fishing boats.
According to the latest update Gaza has lost half of its population of poultry birds (broilers and layers) either due to direct hits on their shelters or lack of water, feed or care resulting from access restrictions.
Around 64,000 head of small ruminants are in need of animal feed and water in order to avoid further animal deaths and the additional erosion of herders’ productive assets.
Meanwhile losses by Gaza’s fishing sector so far are estimated at 234.6 tonnes over the period 9 July – 10 August –equivalent to 9.3 percent of local fishers’ yearly catch.
“Up to now, ongoing military operations have prevented detailed assessments of damages to agriculture from being completed,” said Ciro Fiorillo, head of FAO’s office in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The Gaza Strip imports most of what it eats — however locally produced food represents an important source of nutritious and affordable food, and some 28,600 people in Gaza rely on farming (19,000 people), livestock raising (6,000) and fishing (3,600) for their livelihoods.
“Under the most recent ceasefire many farmers and herders are now able to access their lands, however resumption of food production faces serious obstacles given the damages sustained and shortages of water, electricity, inputs and financial resources, as well as ongoing uncertainty regarding the possible resumption of military activities”, said Fiorillo.
- See more at: http://www.greenprophet.com/2014/08/why-gaza-needs-hydroponics-and-aquaponics-for-food-security/#sthash.AxVZJuRZ.dpuf

The Wizard of Oz - The first green roof on film?

Today marks the 75th anniversary of the Wizard of Oz. 75 years!!! Do you remember the scene, soon after the intrepid travelers meet the tin man, that the wicked witch tries to turn the scarecrow into a bonfire? (If you've got the movie there, fast forward to the 46:20 mark). I've watched a lot of old movies and as far as I can tell, this may be the first green roof on film!

Perhaps I should start a series of green roofs in popular culture?

The green infrastructure conference, Grey to Green, starts August 25

The Grey to Green conference is taking place August 25-26 in Toronto. It gets bigger and better every year, if you're nearby you should definitely attend. If you can't keynote presentations and certain technical sessions are being webcast.

Which seeds will sprout on a green roof...without care?

There's still much for us to learn about green roofs.  One question to answer is which plants will grow in a primarily inorganic medium without help. Here's what I tried on a rooftop recently...

Sugar beets, broccoli, white tomatoes, yellow tomatoes, green peas, okra (clemson spineless), okra (burgundy), dinosaur kale, green pumpkin, white pumpkin, banana melon, cucumber, nasturtium.

These seeds were a bit old, mind you, at least four years. Any idea which ones grew?

Two winners, white pumpkin and dinosaur kale! I wonder how each would do with a little TLC!
That's an experiment for next year.

Some Californian cities want to scrap the lawn

National Public Radio says almost half of the country's fruits, vegetables and nuts come from California, a state facing one of its worst droughts in recorded history. Lawns have become luxuries and now incentives and businesses are popping up to do away with them.

Sydney's green infrastructure plan

-Sydney, Australia has been working with some green roof guiding principles and standards for a couple of years. They've released a formalized plan to green new development and private land, streets, add parks and expand their urban forest. Still no rebate or cash incentives, unfortunately.

-A Montreal borough is trying to streamline their evaluation process so that green roofs can go up on buildings in less than 6 months.

-The EPA has given one of its highest honors, the Presidential Innovation Award for Environmental Education, to one of the first teachers to incorporate a food producing green roof garden into his curriculum.

- Two years ago came the first warnings about possibly contaminated soil in Boston urban gardens...and perhaps elsewhere. Here's a comprehensive article about the presence and danger of the number one contaminant, lead.

-There's still a lot of research which needs to be done in aquaponics. Hopefully with the explosion in enthusiasts will come some new and cheap ways to solve common problems. Here's an innovative one, use old refrigerators in your outdoor aquaponics system. Speaking of which, did you know the vertical farming industry now has its own trade group?

Trend alert? Rooftop vegetable gardens on residential condos

I'll let you be the judge. Two articles in the last month have touted the additions of rooftop gardens, sometimes edible, sometimes not, to pricey developments in Miami, London, Singapore and beyond.

Panasonic enters the vertical farm race + green infrastructure's many faces

Singapore may be the global leader in vertical farming companies.  With precious little land available for farming, they've had to look up or continue importing their food. Panasonic has jumped into the fray, hoping to add "agriculture to their potential growth portfolio." Could this be the start of something big in the industry?

-A county government in Kenya has recruited a private company to set-up aquaponics projects in five cities to increase jobs for youth and food production.

-Solutions for Change has earned itself even more cash, $1 million dollars, to expand aquaponics program to provide 1.6 million servings of greens. These folks know how to raise cash!!!

-Talk about comprehensive, take a look at this article (on all of the links!!!) about the strategies, tools and role parks (especially those in and near Los Angeles) can play in combating climate change.

-Utne magazine proposes that another form of green infrastructure, trails, are the new town square and farms have the potential to be agritourism destinations.  

-Tacoma's food forest is 6 months old. Here's an update on how it is coming along. I love how the adults are keenly focused on the trees, the baby is staring right into the camera.