Inhabit - A Permaculture Perspective now on youtube

About a year ago this fantastic permaculture primer was released. It got rave reviews...set aside a little time, it's worth it!

Biophilic Design: The Architecture of Life screening in New York, Aug. 4

Take out your calendars, all of those in the New York tri-state area, August 4, Sustainable Long Island is having a film screening of the one hour documentary Biophilic Design: The Architecture of Life. If you're in the area, check it out. Screenings are rare events and it's a fundraiser too!

A rare orchid sprouts on a green roof

The biggest news of the last couple of weeks has to be the ReGen development in Almere, outside Amsterdam. The five pillars of the community are:

+Energy positive homes;
+Door-step high-yield organic food production;
+Mixed renewable energy and storage;
+Water and waste recycling;
+Empowerment of local communities.

Once completed this pilot project will be one of the most resilient and sustainable in the world.

-Here’s an update on Virginia State University’s Urban Agriculture Centre a year after receiving their $1.5 million dollar grant. Food production, both indoors (aquaponic systems) and outdoors (micro farms, orchards and vineyards), is in full swing and the aims to have classes and training for local residents as well.

-A delightful visitor has landed on a green roof in the UK. The very rare orchid, pictured above, is the only one to grow on a green roof.

-Last week Saskatoon (!) became the latest city to offer tax breaks for residents to grow food on vacant lots.

-Pittsburgh is doing something very unique, foodies are turning invasive species, like Japanese knotweed, into beer, paper, kimchi, tinctures, ice pops and honey. They figure with so much out there, why not consume it! Hopefully this becomes a trend worldwide!

-If you needed more reasons to grow your own food, here’s one: people who garden at home, eat more veggies which means they'll be healthier!

Singapore's biophilic design

Looking back through my draft box I re-discovered this fantastic film on the biophilic movement in Singapore.

Update on green roof collapse in Hong Kong

The rooftop collapse, apparently from the application of a green roof which much heavier than the roof could hold, has struck a nerve throughout Hong Kong. Anyone involved with the project, even at arms length, is looking to distance themselves and the government has taken the event very seriously.
The university is removing several other green roofs, built on tin roofs, as a precautionary measures.

America's parks, not sponsored by Starbucks

America's national parks will not be "sponsored by Starbucks", to the fear of many, but they will recognize donors and need to adapt even further due to global warming.


It's refreshing to see articles on outlets like Vox are now expanding the urban farming debate, there's been a shift from the mantra that "urban farming can feed cities" to "urban farming won't solely feed cities, but that doesn't matter".
If you need ways to figure out how to acquire land for your Urban Agriculture program your prayers have been answered.

Here's a little eye candy to wrap up your week, the United Arab Emirates' best green walls. For a review of weekly green infrastructure news from Latin America, head over to NRDC.org.

Next generation green roof systems

In London there are already over 1200 green roof projects (covering more than 500,000 square meters) and the market is exploding. New modular systems, for both green roofs and roofs incorporating green roofs and solar panels, have hit the market. Even speciality butterfly attracting plug and play plant blankets are available! All of this without major government incentives or legislation!
Also profiled in the article are next generation green roof systems, ones designed to hold large quantities of water, intensify the phytoremediation process or utilizing bioresponsive materials.
If you read one piece about green roofs this year, this may be the one.

-Can anyone guess where Canada's largest urban farm is located? If you guessed Calgary, I tip my hat to you!

-Sacramento will host the year two of the Cultivating Change Summit from June 8-11. It's the first summit for LGBTQ+ agriculturalists and allies. Register here!

-Big things are happening in Toronto. An alley behind a public library has been bought and is being converted into a community garden and a vacant plot of land in the east(ish) end will become a temporary home to a 1500 crate mobile urban garden.

Green roof collapse at Hong Kong City University

Luckily only two people were hurt. Preliminary reports indicate the weight of the green roof was 5 times the structural limit!

Build your own Moss Wall

Yes, green walls have hit the big time. Here's an article in Vogue (!) about how to build your own moss wall. 

Guelph and Kansas City get food forests

On Saturday temperatures hovering at freezing couldn't keep people away from the first round of planting for Guelph, Ontario's first food forest. It was cold, but worth it...

  
The concept is sweeping North America and it says a lot when cities with 125,000 residents dedicate 27,000 square feet and join the movement.

Congrats to Kansas City as well, a 10,000 square foot food forest is being planted there, the second in the city. One question for the permaculture enthusiasts out there. Any thoughts for how big a permaculture garden has to be in order to be labelled a food forest? Does it matter? An article from February says there are 50, perhaps 100, food forests in North America. I've only heard of about 25, quick, someone make a list!

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/living/home-garden/article76738647.html#storylink=cpy

May songs

May is here and there are so many great songs celebrating it!



  Lusty Month of May - Julie Andrews

 Autumn to May- Peter, Paul and Mary

First of May - The Bee-Gees

One Morning in May - Charlie Byrd Trio

My Girl - Otis Redding

How good is urban agriculture at slowing climate change?

A great question and this literature review, which includes 274 peer- reviewed and grey literature, has your answer.

There are lots of way to raise money for urban agriculture endeavors in your neighborhood, I like this way more than this.

First international conference on Africa's Great Green Wall

 There are still a few more days left in this week's first Great Green Wall conference. Representatives from 20 countries are meeting. As one official said this conference is about more than just greenery, land degradation, which effects as much as 65% of Africa, leads to other destabilizing forces like "climate change, illegal migration (particularly youth), declining agricultural productivity and insufficient job creation for our rural community."And of course experts speaking to Reuters point out, it leads to extremism as well.

It was hard for me to wrap my head around what's at stake, until I read this quote from the UN: "Some 60 million Africans could be forced to leave their homes within five years as their land turns to desert, while two thirds of the continent’s arable land could be lost by 2025 due to growing desertification".

Singapore's supertrees

Last week Philadelphia's city council introduced resolutions calling for the expansion of urban and vertical farming. What that means is still unclear, does anyone know what happens next in this process?

The grand opening of Europe's largest urban farm, capable of churning out 45 tons of vegetables and 19 tons of fish, May 20. The founding company is expanding to the US, they hope to open 10 sites in the New York Tri-State area. 2016 will be an interesting year rooftop farming!

-The USDA announced a urban agriculture toolkit for aspiring urban farmers. Wow!

-A $6.5 million dollar private-public partnership in New Mexico will create 14 permanent jobs and another 35 construction jobs to build an urban aquaponic system capable of feeding 16,000 people. And the micro-algae which grows as well will be supplied to another company to produce omega-3 nutritional supplements!

-Hamilton, Ontario's first legal marijuana production facility is capable of producing 2,700 kilograms per year.  And because it's marijuana, they have bank level security.

-This is really fantastic. Vacant lots in Germany are being turned into public gardens and I mean truly public. Anyone can, even tourists, can pick a tomato or two.

-Did you know in the UK sustainable drainage systems (like water retention ponds, green roofs, permeable paving) for all new developments is now the rule? Perhaps we should look to places like Singapore for the next wave in water usage. Faced with tremendous constraints, they have innovated unlike any other place. Two desaslination plants produce a quarter of the city's needs. And wastewater is being reused in all sorts of fantastic ways. Check out these super trees:

Permaculture refresher

Spring is upon us in the northern hemisphere, pretty much everywhere now. If you want a permaculture refresher as we head into the next planning season, have a peak at this well done video presentation.

The problem with permaculture

 I've never really seen someone elaborate like this, via a major outlet, about the problems with how permaculture is currently taught. The author has a number of valid points. His major complaints center around money and philosophy:

-Because of the base cost, permaculture design courses are usually out of the question but for a select few.
-Throw in the cost of books and even more people are unable to gain a certificate.
-Some in the industry recommend using expensive equipment and machinery, instead of low cost methods, further driving up the price of a typical project.
-Permaculture teachers view sharing their knowledge as money making tools/income generators, which runs counter to the similar, yet still very much different, agroecology movement. 
-Courses "sometimes seem like a publicity campaign for companies that market organic products". In one particular course he mentioned hundreds of plugs for popular products.

What do you think?

-A billion dollar project in Florida spent over $700,000 moving mature trees to their latest project!

-Will this ambitious wine loving, Brooklyn based duo be able to pull off the world's first rooftop vineyard? It's been a few years in the making and they are now oh so close.

Jackson, Mississippi plants a food forest

The biggest story of the past two weeks details the world's biggest aerogation project to date. When installed in 2017, this 4 square meter living wall system in London will be able to purifying 2 million liters of air every day!

-If you read nothing else, check out this story on CHIRPS (Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation With Station data). By managing food use and distribution better, we could reduce 14% of emission produced by agriculture in 2050. It blends data from weather stations and satellites, from the past three decades, to hopefully give farmers an idea of how the current growing season might look. An early warning system, so to speak.

-Add Jackson, Mississippi to the list of communities with food forests!

-Another fantastic story, this time from Indiana, about how aquaponics is helping employ those with social needs and give back to the community.

-Tucson, Arizona has been named a City of Gastronomy in the Creative Cities Network by UNESCO. It's the first American or Canadian city to get this award and joins a list of 116 cities in 54 countries. Fun fact, Tucson has had urban agriculture, in some form, for over 4,100 years!!!

-Frustrating news for urban agriculturists from Moscow, because the 150 year old Timiryazev Agricultural Academy, will be moved and the 100 hectares of land used constantly for education and experimentation at the agrarian university will now become residential buildings. Some experiments have been ongoing for over a century!

30 Nutritious indigenous crops

Last week Foodtank released what may be one of the best posts of the year so far. It lists 31 different indigenous crops which are fantastic for health and increasing food security. Have a look at the list and see if you can find some of them and incorporate them into your diet...

Africa:

1. Bambara Bean
2. Cowpea
3. Finger Millet
4. Gemsbok Cucumber
5. Lablab
6. Marama
7. Marula
8. Safou

Europe:

9. Ermelo Orange
10. Formby Asparagus
11. Målselvnepe Turnip
12. Perinaldo Artichokes

Asia

13. Bitter Melon
14. Corchorus olitorius
15. Jackfruit
16. Lemongrass
17. Mungbean
18. Pomelo
19. Rambutan
20. Taro

Australia and Oceania

21. Bunya Nut
22. Kumara
23. Lifou Island Taro
24. Lifou Island Yam
25. Perry Pear

Americas

26. Chayote
27. Coconillo
28. Sapote
29. Sweet Corn Root
30. Woodland Sunflower

The world's first vertical community garden

The Ottawa region will have their first urban agriculture summer camp opening in a few months. Run by Enviro Éduc-Action, which is based across the river in Gatineau, teens will learn gardening theory and get their hands dirty over the 15 day camp.

-The Lahore Development Authority is developing several districts near the city. And we are talking about big time development, over 285,000 acres of land.  For our those familiar with the Big Apple, that's an area the nearly the size of New York City. An environmental impact assessment estimates over 55 percent of this land, suitable for agriculture, will be lost thus increasing food insecurity in the region. Privately owned orchards in this zone could be destroyed too, in addition to a plethora of animals and plants. On the plus side, there will be increased economic activity and livelihood opportunities. To mitigate the loss of vegetation the assessment recommends developing green infrastructure along nearby railroads, river banks and roadsides. The architect for the master plan thinks the assessment harbors "serious misconceptions". How do you think the land should be developed?

-A failed living wall in London is set to be repurposed and become the world's first “vertical allotment” (aka community garden). The gardeners will use rock-climbing gear to access the plots high up in the air. A few kilometers away the City will try out one of it's first green wall filtration systems.

Seoul City Hall

If you haven't seen Seoul City Hall, a magnificent building shrouded in verdant green walls, you should...

-An interesting article posits if recent disasters and new trade deals, could be the death knell for farming in Japan. What do you think?

-How do production rates for those shipping container gardens compare to traditional horizontal farms? One company was kind enough to share some data and an interesting discussion opened up in the comment section.

Vandana Shiva speaks at the National Permaculture Convergence

Nearly 1200 practitioners came together to connect, share experiences and best practices in Hyderbad in March, including the amazing Vandana Shiva. Here's her speech...

IKEA now stocks indoor gardening kits

Ever wonder how green roofs can help with productivity and recovery? If you are a hospital administrator you'll definitely want to check out the latest from the International Green Roof Association.

-I love to do deeper dives into how green infrastructure takes off. And why. This Atlantic piece investigates Washington D.C.'s adaptation, spurred by the municipal government. Speaking of deeper dives, here's a paper on the knowledge and awareness of wastewater use for urban agriculture in Ghana's capital, Accra.

-New Orleans got a major commitment from the federal government, $144 million dollars, to add design and install a 25 acre water garden to alleviate flooding like they experienced during Hurricane Katrina.

-And the biggest news of the week, IKEA (in the UK) is now selling indoor gardening kits!

Free, online introduction to Permaculture Course

Courtesy of Oregon State University and the esteemed Andrew Millison, the course starts in early May. If you can't join the class in May, but want to study the materials on your own, here's what they'll be using:

Bhutan celebrates a Prince's birth with 108,000 trees

What a wonderful welcome!

-Next week is Horticultural Therapy week in New Jersey. I think this is the tenth annual celebration!

-I'll finish up with a video, but first a few thoughts. Visually this growing pod is stunning. And how much food each unit would produce I guess is up for debate, however I desperately hope that people don't decide to get closer to nature "by bringing their laptops inside", as the inventor suggested.

New Toronto development plans trees inside and out

Westbank Corp. has big plans for Toronto, have a gander at the trees on top and inside the building.

Old school green roof recipe

Here's an old school formula for making a green roof. I can't vouch for this as I haven't seen one done, nor watched how it performs over the years, but if you're up for an experiment on the cheap, please let me know how it works out.

-While not exactly living architecture, these new mechanical trees are supposed to replicate the real thing, while generating wind power.

-It's wonderful to see more hospitals embracing horticultural therapy and all its benefits, in Philadelphia Magee Rehab Center plans to open a $4 million dollar creative therapy center and healing gardens.

Although this is outside my normal purview, it is too cool not to pass on. Norway hopes to spend $1 billion dollars on bike infrastructure!

Pakistan grows its own great green wall

Perfect timing, huh? Last week we covered China's attempts at growing its own Great Green Wall, now Pakistan attempts to plant 100 million trees over the next five years.

The Great Green Wall gets creative

 

Africa's Great Green Wall has thankfully received more attention as of late. Branding is always helpful for selling products and programs, it's wonderful to see what these students created, like the poster above, to publicize the campaign.

-As many of you know, China is attempting their own green wall, affectionately called "the Green Wall of China", to hold back desertification. And they've done a lot, 66 billion trees planted since 1978. The problem? Fast-growing and thirsty, non-native species were planted making things worse! And they were all cuttings, meaning they are all dying at the same time. Encroaching deserts threaten 400 million people in total with poor agricultural land, water shortages and air pollution from giant sandstorms. Officials are even worried about civil unrest. If you have a chance, read the story.

-Aquaponics and marijuana are two of the hottest trends in agriculture. What happens when you combine the two? I'm predicting really big things for this Hamilton, Ontario outfit.

-Building owners in Geelong, an hour long drive south from Melbourne, Australia, have a chance to win $10,000 for their green roof. If you live there, throw your hat in the ring!

-A design competition in Italy has yielded some fantastic renderings and further interest from local cities to make a combination pre-school/urban farm.

-Two weeks ago France banned supermarket waste, this means companies must find other ways to dispose of their food. Hopefully they won't dispose of it, but it becomes another revenue stream if they sell it to supermarkets, which exist in Denmark, which only sell second hand food.

Tenure track, Urban Agriculture position

This position hasn't been well-publicized, but if you have the experience and are interested in a tenure track position in Logan, Utah, check out this job advertisement for an Assistant Professor -- Small Farms and Urban Agriculture Specialist at Utah State University.

Introducing skirret, the "it" vegetable of 2016?

Montreal had their Seedy Weekend earlier in the month and one gardener brought skirret to sell. This is how trends often start, you see a vegetable or fruit at one or two farmer's markets and then WHAM, it's everywhere. Let's see if this underappreciated plant takes off in 2016.

Politics meets horticultural therapy + underground greenhouses

Politics is top of mind for everyone in the USA and beyond as well. So it was interesting to see the Republican National Congress, Real Clear Politics and several credit unions in Ohio have joined forces to create a year-round horticultural therapy program. The Democrats are doing the same soon!

-Solutions for Change has been the leader in aquaponic education and production. They are tripling their size this year thanks to a $1,000,000 dollar grant.

-In Minneapolis an experimental sunken greenhouse has come through the winter, none the worse for wear, while still producing vegetables. This could be a turning point for those in colder climates.

-The insect farming industry has just reached the next level, as Mark Zuckerberg's sister has invested in a leading company. 

Vertical farming's biggest story of the year!

A company has leased several 100 foot silos to try their hand at true vertical farming. The company is being very cautious and rightfully so. Most of the time when you read about vertical farming, the operation is a few feet tall, at most 2 stories. If cities are ever going to be able to sustain themselves, as vertical farming pioneers, architects and urbanists have dreamed, we'll need to cover whole buildings...fill a skyscraper or two would be helpful. And this is the biggest experiment to date on the planet, by a long shot. Keep your eye on this one in the coming months and years!!!

Five important things to know:

-Five year lease starting March 1, $42,000/year, which can be extended up to 35 years.
-24,650 square feet in total available; they are starting "small" with 1 silo.
-Hydroponically and aquaponically grown vegetables could be available as early as September.
-The silos have been leased "as is" and the company is responsible for cleanup (primarily asbestos, lead paint, spent rotting grain).
-The company will invest at least $500,000.

Two more colleges offer urban agriculture degrees

A quick kick to spotlight two urban agriculture programs: Mesa Community College in Arizona has introduced a new urban agriculture degree and UMass is now offering their 60 credit urban agriculture degree online!

Bio bricks and Mushroom burial suits

I had to profile two incredible products already for sale.
The mushroom burial suit, seen above, turns dead bodies into clean compost. All the things, both good and bad, that we ingest over our lifetime, leach out when we are buried or are released into the atmosphere if we are cremated.
The suit, filled with mushroom spores, makes it possible for our final burial to be as green as our lives.

Making bricks releases up to 8% of all greenhouse gases. We obviously need to do better. Enter bio bricks, bricks grown from bacteria, which could eliminate one of our enduring and truly destructive traditions. $2.8 million dollars in first round funding will go a long way towards making this venture a future force.

France bans supermarket food waste + 10 trees make you feel 7 years younger

So much going on in the living architecture world, it’s very exciting! After a lull during late December, early January, there is now a ton to follow…

The picture above is perhaps a sign of things to come, in Holland they are floating trees as part of an art installation. But with North America’s first climate refugees confirmed, one wonders as rich countries like the USA continue to dither on the federal level to embrace concrete climate change abatement, how many municipalities, communities and individuals effected by climate change will resort to “doing the best they can”, instituting band-aid solutions for their neck of the woods, and stop pressuring the big guys altogether. Maybe changes need to happen from the bottom up?
 
We can look at the efforts of one developer proposing adjoining his buildings with green walkways to give people a chance to stroll way up high. Or look to Madrid doing way more than this, as the global city goes all-in by encouraging living architecture and green infrastructure, in the form of green roofs and mass tree planting. Hopefully this will encourage other Spanish cities, the region and beyond.

-On nature.com there was a stunning report which illuminates how important trees really are to our lives and pockets, "10 more trees in a city block, on average, improves health perception in ways comparable to an increase in annual personal income of $10,000 and moving to a neighborhood with $10,000 higher median income or being 7 years younger”. There’s much, much more in this is one you should read.

-Speaking of health, we need a lot more information on how much lead there is in the urban environment and whether it is harmful to our health or not. Case in point are numerous articles about the dangers, now there have been a couple of articles which maintain we should not be worried, there isn’t much in the soil (or wherever that researcher tested…since we don’t have nationwide data in either the US or Canada yet) and if it's present it shouldn’t be an issue as most lead is locked in the plant roots. If you're eating root vegetables, however, well, then, that's not so good...

-At the World Economic Forum’s annual summit in Davos, Switzerland a few weeks ago, goals were set to reduce food waste by 50% by 2030. France has heeded the call and is certainly ready to lead the way with their legislation which bans supermarkets from throwing away unused food…this year! Imagine that!!!

-In Istanbul, unfortunately, things may be going backwards. Some farms, including one 1,500 years old, are in danger due to encroaching development. Also in the last year a few impressive projects were announced or profiled in Egypt. Although there seemed to be a lot of promise, one author has his spin on why there won’t be a green infrastructure movement anytime soon.

-Closer to home, Auburn, New York is creating a food forest. It’s actually more of edible garden park, as it stretches along a major street. They hope to start planting this spring. 

-Lastly, I saw a man on the subway last week reading Peter Wohlleben’s “The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate — Discoveries From a Secret World,” and am anxious to crack it open. Here’s an article about what Peter has been up to most recently, discovering that trees have social networks!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Air farming - my two year old April fools joke is real

Nearly two years ago I posted what I thought was a terribly humorous April Fools joke, the advent of artisanal air. Unfortunately the commodification of air is now real. Air connoisseurs do exist, people are paying up to $160 for a single jar, but people also need just regular old clean air. Up to 4,000 people a day are dying in China from air pollution.

The Super Bowl's super green roof

The Super Bowl is today, as you probably know. The Big 50!  And Levi Stadium is pretty proud of it's start-of-the-art facility, including a massive green roof which boasts 16 indigenous plant species and a handful of others used in the restaurant on site.

Goodbye to a living wall in British Colombia

Thomson Rivers University in British Columbia have a lovely 760 square foot living wall. Well, they had one. It was installed in 2011 sadly, it seems, it's location (near the library and the humidity jeopardizing the books), maintenance cost ($20,000-$30,000/year, which breaks down to $26-$39/square foot per year!!!), and general disinterest (70% of those surveyed wanted it gone) combined to mean it's all over.

Here's the wall in better times...

Brain scans show gardening is good + GILA predictions for 2016

More evidence that gardening is good for mental health, this time brain scans show that it's true...which is a first! Horticultural therapy advocates rejoice!

Another $20 million euros has been given to the Great Green Wall programme by the European Union! Finally serious money is heading their way, this is on top of 5 billion dollars from France last month for various greening projects, including building the Green Wall.

-I know, I know, it's very late, but Foodtank.com had it's list of the most exciting stories for 2016. Here are four things I see in my crystal ball...

-The aquaponics movement will continue to develop in landlocked and import dependent countries and regions (like the Caribbean).
-We'll see the beginning of neighborhood scale urban agriculture projects, aquaponics and urban gardening designed to fill the food needs of a urban block or two, further decentralized food production. Those shipping containers? Yeah, they'll be big.
-This year will also mark the true beginning of the miniaturization of the insect growing movement, as tabletop systems, designed for a family, begin to take off.
-I also predict you'll see more green roof funding, specific in it's focus, get moved to general stormwater management funding for gardens and the replacement of lawns.

What do you think?

Be a permaculture professor!

A rare job has opened up to practice permaculture at the college level! Can you move to Colorado?

Community gardens raise property values

Wisconsin has been at the leading edge of the aquaponics movement for quite some time and their state's resume keeps getting more accomplished. The Aquaponics Innovation Center, is not even a year old, but they've received almost 3/4 of a million dollars to study aquaponic systems. 

-Ohio doesn't have the resume, Canton is hoping to change that. They have a $150 million dollar agri-business energy project design to bring 1,300, some of those in the aquaponics field.

-Over 1 million trees have been planted in New York City, more than any other city in the world. Here's how they did it.

-I haven't seen many articles of this type, but this landscape architect is wondering whether we need to start favoring xeriscapes and the "beauty of drought", or at least less water dependent creations, if landscape architecture is going to reflect the realities of a future, thirsty world.

-A fully automated growing system has just hit the market, on the low end the farm cube takes only 6 weeks to grow 200 pieces of your favorite vegetable.

-The UK has a brand new pop-up cafe, called Stroud Food Surplus Cafe, which sells "surplus food", food from restaurants that's perfectly fine, just past the expiration date.

-Two important studies came out last one. One quantifies how much land would be needed to feed Seattle, a city of about 650,000 people, 58 kilometers. Urban food crops, at the maximum, could fill 4% of the city's food needs.If you've been following the blog you know feelings towards community gardens have been changing, positively, over the last few years. Some towns/cities are still a bit reluctant. That should change with the first report indicating neighboring property values rise by as much as 9.4% points within five years of a garden's opening and the gardens can lead to increases in tax revenues of about half a million dollars per garden over 20 years.

Getting rid of pests, the permaculture way

We're already almost halfway into January and for those who are just seeing snow, the growing season starts in about 8 weeks! Amazing! So it's time to start getting ready...here's a helpful video from Australia.

Will recovering food waste get big bucks on Shark Tank?

Happy New Year everyone!

We're several days in and hopefully the resolutions are still intact! If you're able to, resolve to watch Shark Tank on Friday, Hungry Harvest will be pitching their idea for a CSA specializing in recovered (too small, not round enough, too big etc.) foods.  This is a big idea!

-Highline College in Chicago got a nice chunk of change, $80,000, to recruit residents from the area to participate in their Urban Agriculture certificate program. The 9 month certificate and 80 acre campus allows unique opportunities to get your hands dirty.

 -In Kenya the government added to their constitution Article 21, which states "Kenyans'..have the right "to be free from hunger and have adequate food of acceptable quality”. What this means in practical terms has yet to be determined.

-Speaking of practical terms, the Montreal Gazette asked a few experts how Montreal can reduce it's climate change impact. Green roofs were on the list and lots of other great ideas too, like urban gardening.