Ambitious aquaponics operations

There seems to be some political momentum for putting an aquaponics operation in an empty, east end Toronto convenience store. I hope that they have an owner/operator in mind, it's wonderful a politician is so enthusiastic about creating a food hub!
It makes me think of those fellows who headed to the suburbs just a few months ago, if they only knew this store front would be available, maybe they would've chosen it?

-New York City doesn't have an commercial aquaponics operation yet...or didn't until earlier this year. With the price of real estate there, perhaps the suburbs would make more sense than setting up in Brooklyn.

-One more aquaponics story. Here's a team of folks trying to make "the largest aquaponics farm in the US" via strictly crowdfunding. That means they need millions of dollars. Ambitious! I hate to be that guy, but if I'm going to give $251 dollars to a venture, I would probably want more than a coffee mug.

-I had no idea that Calgary's first living roof was in 1875. Someone (maybe you, faithful reader) should do an inventory of all the green roofs (and walls!) in North America's major cities.

-Foraging in Singapore! This is definitely a first for me.

-Coca-cola has converted its concentrated beverage drums and donated dozens to community gardens in Toronto. This is a great upcycling idea!

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.

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.

Green roofs and Devens, Mass.

As someone involved in living architecture and green roofs in particular for some time now, it is great that more and more cities are recognizing the value of having a green roof professional as part of the design team. Joining Calgary and DC Devens, Massachusetts now requires an accredited green roof professional (ahhm, you know how to contact me) on the job.

-Pee Wee the red wriggler is back. If your kids loved the previous books on composting, this is bound to be a treat as well.

-If you're in Roanoke, Virginia and have an opinion about the proposed
urban farm scheduled to be built where Countryside Golf Course used to be, you...umm...missed a chance to talk about it on Thursday, September 22. If you still want to share your thoughts, it looks like you can talk to the Planning Administrator.

-For all of the entrepreneurs out there, this list of the biggest food deserts means while citizens do not have equal access to fresh fruit and vegetables and there are folks waiting for your business!

-This article makes me so, so, nervous for a few reasons:
1) Folks are growing vegetables in tyres American translation: tires).
2) The numerous citations of Wikipedia as their main source of information.
But I wish them all the best and hope those tire planters are lined!!!

-To round out this my most eclectic blog post yet, we get a peak inside why Japan is embracing urban agriculture.