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.