In Nepal 150 households get urban agriculture training

On Monday London hosted a one-day event on green and solar roofs. I didn't see a lot on social media about the event, maybe more will come out in the next few days.

-In Nepal the Kathmandu government is offering rooftop training for 150 households. The most curious part of the announcement "pickaxes" will be provided to each household involved in the training. Pickaxes? The goal must be to make some pretty big gardens!

-They are really churning out the green roof research in the Mediterranean. The latest paper on Science Direct states there may be a marked difference in plant stress felt by some plants and water retention when soil levels are reduced as little as 3 cm, with 10 cm being better than 13.
Stateside research findings indicate that "older women living in counties where an insect infection killed off a large number of trees were more likely to suffer a heart attack, stroke, or fatal coronary heart disease." So the take home lesson is somehow, if we take care of trees, we can help ourselves.

Art with moldy food

What can you do with moldy food? How about art?

The USA's food waste reduction plan

Upon completion in 2017 this is how the Memorial Children’s Hospital should look. Lush walls will make this a landmark building in the southwestern Michigan/northern Indiana area.

 -You had the pizza farm...farmers cutting out the middle people and serving their produce on their farm. An innovative chef will try his own spin on this. Of course other culinary experts have had small plots of land or the odd planter to supplement their offerings, but an entire urban farm? This is a first and seems to be a different spin on the totally controlled culinary experience.

-The biggest news last week was the American government joining forces with several organizations to outline and launch a (food) waste reduction strategy. And concerted effort to reduce the 133 billion pounds (!) of lost food is a very, very good thing.

-Farmers are turning to very precise methods to keep an eye on their produce and farms. One program can tell them the exact point on a field where a planter has missed a seed! A huge question remains...who does this data belong to? The farmer or the software company?

-The UK's underground farm is humming alone, 18 hour days of sunlight means plants can be harvested between in 28 days, sometimes in as few as 6.

Chives are amazing

Here's a little something I just had to share from the vault. Look at these chives growing IN this bag.

And another plant has decided to break out of it's prison and is doing quite well...at Home Depot

International Permaculture Convergence - 2015

If you missed out on the opening of the International Permaculture Convergence in London last week, here's a live stream (10 hours) of action!

Climate change dominoes & the lowline

Over the years, loyal readers, you'll notice the blog has changed a bit. I used to just focus on individual projects, mine and others. But these days there's a lot to talk about on the macro scale. And I prefer that, to be truthful, it's nice to discuss things which effect us all.

Case in point how climate change is changing living infrastructure. I think this may become a regular feature of mine.

Some experts have asserted that drought conditions, brought about by climate change, are partially responsible for increased movement of people in affected regions, as people both seek resources peacefully and violently. Even in peaceful parts of the world, climate change is effecting housing development. Which means, it could increase the amount of vegetation...if a developer decide that it isn't worth their time to erect structures there the plants remain. There are so many questions which arise from this. If one cannot build further away from cities for people to commute, does that mean there will be less vacant lots, maybe even parks, with in city limits? Will less green in the urban environment mean more stressed out people, as strong correlations have been drawn between the amount of plants around human beings and their level of stress?
Will this mean more creative uses for underground space...like the Lowline?

We live in very interesting times!

Aquaponic and rooftop farming news from Egypt

This operation has been operational for a couple of years, but they rarely release updates. What they have accomplished in a few years is very impressive!
There was another article about Egyptian living infrastructure this week, the missive takes a look at the rooftop garden operations.

-Here's a very long and well-written article from Business Insider about America’s largest crop, the American lawn. The thirsty crop drinks Nine billion gallons of water A DAY and covers more than 3 times the amount of area corn does!
Several of those interviewed believe it will be harder to get people to quit watering their lawns because the lawn is a symbol of the American dream. Subconsciously, letting your lawn die may be akin to giving up on the American dream, conspicuous consumption, social contract and multi-billion dollar industry, combined. Look for lobbying groups to fight restrictions as they pop up around the USA and beyond. It has already begun...

-A recent study suggests there are 3 trillion trees worldwide! That’s incredible! On the bad side, that’s half of what was there a few hundred years ago and 10 billion per year are currently lost.

-In a very, very curious story, the Vancouver Aquarium has decided to start raising fish...for sale at local stores! Wow!

-In other aquaponics news we learned something amazing, by accident. It appears the US is creating a Hydroponic and Aquaponic Task Force. The press release states "aquaculture, aquaponics and hydroponics being the fastest growing sector in agriculture"!

Events in October

We've hit September folks and those events which seemed like the distant future are right around the corner.

On October 15 forty-five cities will sign an urban food policy pact. That's World Food Day, by the way. Milan is leading the way, hopefully this leads to coordination of urban food policies around the world.

Also, I must mention the World Green Infrastructure Network's 2 day symposium bookends World Food Day, it runs from October 14-16. This year, Nagaya, Japan welcomes the green infrastructure world.

The World's Biggest Green Roof - coming soon...

I try to stay away from commenting on projects still in the development phase, but if a developer is willing to make the largest green roof in the world, at a price tag of at least $300 million, I think it’s worth paying attention.
The idea apparently sprouted from a community consultation. In the future, maybe they could even have their green roof design by children, as is being done in Stockholm with the help of Mine Craft!

-The Great Green Wall is about 10% done, 330 miles out of 4,750 is a great start. However if the UN estimates are true, that by 2025 two thirds of Africa's arable land will be covered by desert, we had better get a move on to plant the other 90 plus percent.

-Speaking of changes, Americans’ lawns gobble up more land than Texas, that’s three times larger “than any irrigated crop in the U.S.A.”  How will that change in the coming decades?

-Here’s what Toronto could have done if the City council had decided to tear down part of their Gardiner Expressway. Welcome to Providence!

Permaculture Trio -- Forest Gardening and Edible Landscapes

An oldie, but a very instructive goody. Permaculture - forest gardening, edible landscapes and urban permaculture