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.

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!

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?

The Great Green Wall starts to grow

After historic climate change talks people are encouraged good things, actionable steps, will actually be taken by governments around the world. One such vital initiative is the Great Green Wall.

Ten countries are offering more degraded and deforested land and France has offered over 5 billion dollars to help its former colonies with environmentally friendly projects, including the Wall. That's a huge deal! The project has languished due to lack of investment and under the threat of extremism. Experts worry if real economic opportunities aren't created, in addition to the Wall, the trees will end up being used by those living near it.

-Speaking of desertification in Africa, there's a new greenhouse which just hit the market which uses could be a boon for dry lands. Work is being done in the USA as well, California in particular, in an attempt to solve a problem which knows no bounds. The City of Los Angeles has partnered with private industry and several non-profits to craft design solutions and a digital tool which helps cities in dry climates become self-sufficient in terms of water while delivering additional benefits, including improving performance in energy, the environment, and public health. The initiative is called the Drylands Resilience Initiative.

-Outside Atlanta a partnership with Georgia Tech university is developing the highway of the future. Some features? Use the right-of-way along the roadside to farm biofuel plants like sunflowers, corn and canola, combining sound barriers with solar panels, incorporating hog manure as a binding agent in lieu of asphalt, and creating living billboards made of plant material.

Vertical farming in Japan

You may remember my pronouncement a while back how I wouldn't comment on concepts because they are simply artwork until someone puts numbers behind how to make it reality.
Covering Toronto's Gardiner Expressway with a green roof to resemble New York's Highline, was one of those fanciful ideas which got people talking, but seemed far from realistic. And it still is. Especially when you consider the first part of the equation, fixing the Gardiner has gone from $500 million to $950 million in four years.
Now a top bureaucrat is agreeing with some people who think the Gardiner should be torn down. If nothing else, I think we can all agree the Gardiner will never be topped with a green roof.

-Next door the City of Mississauga will add a storm water discharge fee to the bills of building owners to help rebuild their infrastructure.

-Back to Toronto, for a second, how cool would it be if they had a provision, like they do in Seoul, that if you get rebates, public funds to subsidize your green roof or wall, that it must be publicly accessible? Seoul has spent over $57 million in public funds greening their city and has a really big project up their sleeves, look out for their Seoul Skygarden in 2017. It's supposed to be like...wait for it...the Highline!

-In terms of ideas, here are a couple I really like. A team of Chicago entrepreneurs are hoping to lease rooftops to grow veggies. Let's see if they are able to do it, because no one has done it successfully yet. Of greater promise, I think, is leasing parking lot space for these pop-up farms. Maybe even stacking them a several stories high to maximize the space.

-In Japan this semi-conductor company has entered the vertical farming race and found a niche market for their lettuces, growing low potassium lettuces for those with kidney problems. That's a smaller version of their system up above.

-I'll round out with the best news of the week. France now has a ban on supermarket food waste. All surplus food must be donated to charities or used for animal feed!

Green roofs (or solar panels) for all new (commercial) buildings in France

The biggest news of the last few days has been France's new law mandating a green roof or solar panels on all new commercial buildings!

French language permaculture video

Regarde ce que j'ai trouvé!

World Cup green roofs - Group E

Group E is actually one of the harder to distinguish. Switzerland is small but mighty, Ecuador a fortress, Honduras surprising unless you're in the know and France...always hiding something until the critical moment.

Switzerland

Ecuador

France

Honduras

More on EuropaCity and Post-Oil City

Last week I profiled a story about an entire city being covered in green roofs. The development seems to be more cultural and commercial development outside of Paris, as opposed to an actual "new" city, but here's an artist's rendering of what it may look like:

-In Toronto this week the Evergreen Brickworks, an amazing repurposed environmental center, opens the Post-Oil City, an exhibition, film, and talk concerning shrinking footprints.
Presented will be innovative projects from Africa, America and Asia that address a number of questions, for instance "How will the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy affect the process of urban planning and the city?"

-Simon Fraser University's Burnaby campus will get British Columbia's first modular, community gardening/student education space. Featured are easily removable sheds, rain barrels, composting units and 60 planting beds all atop shipping pallets.

-Interested in more moveable gardens? Check out the Nomad Gardens.

-New York City is accepting new applications for community gardens.

Green roof to extend over entire European city

Lots of little stories, that fit neither here nor there. But I can't forget to mention...

-A great aquaponics news item from the last week. I've talked a bit about aquaponics being used in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. More programs are underway, including this one which boasts an aquaponics co-op.

-ICLEI and RUAF have teamed up to improve food and nutrition security of urban populations through training and technical assistance.

-City planners in Sudbury are entertaining the idea of asking residents to grow more of their food, while government officials in the Montreal suburb of Côte-St-Luc are easily the most excited elected officials I have ever seen. Talk about support!

-An entire city is slated to receive green roofs! EuropaCity is an entirely new city to be constructed on 200 acres of land in a suburb of Paris.

-For those outside Chicago who can't see the tranformation of the Plant this article helps keep us up to date.

Green roofs, a symbol of bad or good architecture + breathless in France over urban ag

A ton happening on the urban agriculture front around the world:

-Urban ag enthusiasts in Vermont have another week to voice their opinion on the recommendations made by Burlington's Urban Agriculture Task Force. A stone’s throw away, Somerville Massachusetts is encouraging its residents to grow by planting an urban garden at its city hall. 

-In France, they are just beginning to investigate this thing called “urban agriculture” and the author of this article seems amazed by it all. It made me chuckle at first, but when I step back for a moment and think about it, it is pretty amazing. Maybe 10 years ago the nutty neighbors were the ones growing vegetables, these days its less and less likely that your neighbors would label you so and in places where urban gardens were slashed and burned, they are now less often targeted.  

-How a week can change things! Green roofs on this New York City building go from being possibly good to very bad when community groups take a look at some renderings. 

-Last month the National Resources Defense Council released a paper detailing how California could reduce its energy expenditure with green and white roofs. Sorry for not posting that sooner, it has been waiting in the queue! 

Controversy, controversy and more local food controversy

Not sure if the food sovereignty movement has taken a more political turn and if this article is a harbinger of things to come or if this is an isolated article, but check out how local food and politics mix in this article about a small, Maine town. From the top, an objective observer might wonder what "EPA overreach" has to do with local food. The author never says, exactly, but we are just supposed to take it for granted.

-The new trade association USFRA (which includes Dupont and Monsanto) has been formed to host some "food dialogues" in DC and to battle the "misconceptions" of movies like Food Inc. and the "Pollan-ization" of the US.

-Moving on, how much did it hurt me to read this article in the NY Times about people being forced to choose less environmentally friendly products because of the bad economy?

-Enough with the bad, on to the good! Here are a couple of new permaculture websites (new to me, at least) in Norwegian and French.

-Year 15 (can you believe it???) of Barking Frog Permaculture's online certificate course kicks off in January. Taught by Dan and Cynthia Hemenway and Robert Waldrop, get in early! And there are scholarships available for those in need.

In Honor of the World Cup...

...I feel it's my duty to spread the word about this incredible green roof soccer field. So that makes TWO that we've profiled this year. Do I see a connection? The first was in Slovenia, the second France. Does that mean you need to build a green roofed soccer field to have a shot at World Cup glory?

-In Vancouver, a few urban food security projectssplit $100,000 to do a slew of cool things, including expanding composting programs.

-You never know when a mayor makes an announcement for his/her city to be the "biggest _______" (<----insert cool/trendy initiative here), but it looks like Indianapolis is giving this infill urban gardening thing a try. Baltimore too, has changed it's zoning codes for only the third time in city history, to create space for urban farms to grow.

-Lastly, via City Farmer, I stumbled upon this fantastic dissertation by entitled: Urban Agriculture as Revolution. Grab your favorite beverage, it's a good but long (over 200 pages) read.