International Permaculture Day is Sunday, May 4

International Permaculture Day is this Sunday, May 4. Check out the great events worldwide!

More island aquaponics

Aquaponics ventures have sprouted on the island paradises of American Samoa, Barbados, Trinidad and Puerto Rico. So it seems natural that Jamaica wants in. Hawaii too!

-Here's a useful little tool to get data a tree in your neighborhood. What species is it? When was it planted? How big is it? All of this is at your fingertips.

-On the Guardian.com pioneer William McDonough makes the case that the Netherlands should be our reference point for green infrastructure done right. With over $1,000,000 dollars spent
on green roofs, Mexico City might deserve 2014's municipal green roof city of the year....and it's only April.

Another really cool Food Security job!

Located in Toronto's North York, check out the Agency Development Coordinator position at North York Harvest Food Bank. Applications are due May 1.

Contest: Design an eco-friendly cabin in Quebec

Send in a design for a unique, small, environmentally friendly cabin for an eco-tourism destination in Quebec and the top 3 entrants will be given $20,000 towards materials and labor.

Get your team together and submit your design by May 15, 2014!

Don't forget to add a green roof!!!

Canadian horticultural therapy week - April 20-26

The USA had their horticultural therapy week in March, now it's Canada's turn April 20-26.

A cool job was recently brought to my attention at FoodShare Toronto. The Food Justice Senior Coordinator role looks like a tasty combination of autonomous and collaborative duties.
If you are looking for a job in the green field in Canada definitely check out Goodwork.ca. I saw a bunch of great ones there last week.

First green roof plant springs back to action!

It's got one of the coolest nicknames of any plant, Sedum Dragon's Blood, and is also a real beaut. And don't forget terribly reliable. I have a bunch of plants around at all times and Sedum spurium red form is first to spring back to life this year. No wonder why it's so loved! That Angelina is coming on pretty strong as well!

Friday quick hits

On Thursday the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations released a report updating how the policies and procedures in place across Latin America and the Caribbean have changed since their "Medellín" report in 2009. The region is now the most urbanized in the world!

-By now many people have heard of Bitcoins and perhaps the wider cryptocurrency movement. Some permaculture fans are trying to create their own crypto-green credit, called Permacredits.

Urban agriculture gets the National Inquirer treatment + $200 green wall

This is probably the first GILA article I have ever read which somehow manages to incorporate violent crime and takes a turn towards the truly sensationalistic.

-Check out this living wall in Jakarta, which reportedly costs only $200. How is that possible?

-Whenever Nevin Cohen publishes something new, we would be wise to listen. His recent paper shows that race and class based disparities, in addition to resource needs, still remain in the urban agriculture system. For any municipal official, this would be a handy tool.

-Toronto's own Foodshare shares some more information about their tremendously successful and productive School Grown initiative plus details about their Eastdale Collegiate Institute's Rooftop garden.

-I don't know if this job exists, if not, it could be a great opportunity for someone. The other day I spied this article about urban agriculture in China. No doubt, there is much more going on there than we ever hear about, simply because it is not written in English. Perhaps there is someone who can splash some cash to pay people to translate relevant articles about their subject of interest to leap the linguistic barriers.

-The world's second largest green wall was just completed in Colombia, feast your eyes:

Living architecture movies galore!

On April 14th a Toronto filmmaker will release (via youtube) a 20 minute long film about a man who "has single-handedly planted a 1400 acre forest" over the last 35 years. The preview looks incredible, a GILA sleeper hit of the year?

Here's a second film in the Kickstarter phase; it looks promising indeed!

And one more to check out, it's all about Singapore and its vertical (I can NEVER type vertical, without typing verticiel these days!!!) farming revolution.

Sarah Vaughan knows spring

In honor of her death, a few of her best songs about spring!

It Might As Well Be Spring  
Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most
Spring Will Be A Little Late This YearSome Other Spring
April in Paris

verticiel's new product offering: Artisanal air from green roof plants

Were you fooled or did it just seem too outlandish?  We'll, it doesn't come from green roof plants but others have thought of the idea too!?