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:

GILA word of the week: Zfarming

A couple of tasty tidbits for the week. A nice collective term, courtesy of the Germans, for vertical farming, rooftop farming and indoor farming: Zfarming. Here's a paper about perception and acceptance about the phenomenon.

What do you get when you mix tasteful architecture, aquaponics and leisure. Have a look:

World Cup green roofs - Group G

Group G provides Germany, a.k.a. the complete package, breathtaking Portugal, deceptive Ghana and the USA is...? That's my fault. I chose one from Guam because when have I ever posted a green roof from Guam?

Germany

Portugal

Ghana

USA

What's a tree worth?

Green roof enthusiasts, here's an annual conference I wasn't aware of that I would recommend checking out...next year. It's called the  International Conference on Building Envelope Systems and Technologies. This year it's in Aachen, Germany and unfortunately there's only two days left.

For those willing (and able) to trade time (if you help with a few things around the farm) for education you can get free accommodations, meals and a permaculture design certificate in Africa. Where in Africa? I have no clue. Contact them and find out!

-The next trend in urban agriculture could be mobile fresh markets. Here's a handy-dandy financial snapshot of the markets already up and running across North America.

-What is a tree worth? A few organizations have tried to put a price tag on them over the years. In a world where almost everything needs to be (it seems) justified economically, this is an interesting attempt by TD Bank to give us an idea. $700? That seems a little low.

EU goes all in for aquaponics

Wasted food + great design + vermiculture = some innovative furniture design from two graduate students at Ohio State.



© Amy Youngs

-Yes, I would say today is the day aquaponics went from being perhaps the next big thing to a global phenomenon. The EU is funding a 4 year, 18 partner (across 8 countries), 6 million Euro (9 million USD) large-scale demonstration project – each at about 500m² – in Spain, Belgium, Germany, and China.

This dwarfs another aquaponic/hydroponic projects I was going to profile in England and Costa Rica. You should still read about it, both are pushing the envelope, especially in England where some savvy folks are using abandoned air raid shelters.

Europe's Green Infrastructure conference starts May 13

This year's International Green Roof Association (IGRA) will be held in Hamburg, Germany from May 13-15 2013.

Most living architecture professionals have their hands full right now planning and installing. Our first green roof of the year is coming up soon, in preparation for that I was checking out North American native stonecrops and stumbled across a great website. I am doing my best to find an updated website, so far, no dice. But the International Crassulaceae Network would be tremendous find for anyone in the industry. Check out this list of native North and South American sedum species plants; I have never seen anything like this!  

Green energy and green walls - with algae

 

I profiled a bio-adaptive building late last year. At the time, it was just a fantastic concept with pretty pictures. Fast forward three months and the building is going up!

-If you're in Philadelphia, hopefully in the next few months you'll be able to use a new app called "GrowShare". The app lets you search for vacant lots which could be used for urban gardens or farms and share growing resources as well. 

Plants help make us more creative?

A few things to write about, so here we go...

First up are always the videos. This one profiles two entrepreneurs who have taken their demonstration aquaponics set-up to a local Bushwick, Bronx market.

of the embryos and endosperm in seeds sharing the same mother and father with the growth and behavior of embryos and endosperm that had genetically different parents.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2013-02-altruistic.html#jCp

of the embryos and endosperm in seeds sharing the same mother and father with the growth and behavior of embryos and endosperm that had genetically different parents.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2013-02-altruistic.html#jCp

The researchers looked at corn, in which each fertilized seed contained two "siblings"—an embryo and a corresponding bit of tissue known as endosperm that feeds the embryo as the seed grows, said CU-Boulder Professor Pamela Diggle. They compared the growth and behavior of the embryos and endosperm in seeds sharing the same mother and father with the growth and behavior of embryos and endosperm that had genetically different parents. "The results indicated embryos with the same mother and father as the endosperm in their seed weighed significantly more than embryos with the same mother but a different father," said Diggle, a faculty member in CU-Boulder's ecology and evolutionary biology department. "We found that endosperm that does not share the same father as the embryo does not hand over as much food—it appears to be acting less cooperatively." A paper on the subject was published during the week of Jan. 21 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Co-authors on the study included Chi-Chih Wu, a CU-Boulder doctoral student in the ecology and evolutionary biology department and Professor William "Ned" Friedman, a professor at Harvard University who helped conduct research on the project while a faculty member at CU-Boulder.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2013-02-altruistic.html#jCp

-And here's a rare treat, an aquaponics setup in Hawai'i which is solar powered!

 

-The first urban agriculture technical program in Oregon, at Clackamas Community College, has kicked off its first semester.

-I was excited to see a few news outlets report that plants can hep enhance creative performance. I went to the source for further insight. Turns out what researchers in Germany did do is assert that the color "green" can help us become more creative, not necessarily plants. So a green crayon on top of your computer which you stared at for hours on end would do the trick. And since most plants are green, I guess they would too. But this is more of a story about green, than plants.

Permaculture in Germany and New York's bold post Sandy green infrastructure plans

There's a ton to catch up on from the last two weeks. Good stories with no central theme. Well, two central themes, green infrastructure and living architecture!

-The LEED system appears to be under attack from a few folks with big money. I don't usually write much about LEED, but the "dark money" behind its attack begs the question what would happen for any other technical organization, especially an environmental one, which gains the trust of the market?

-Permaculture continues to spread across the world, here's a video of a permaculture community in Germany!

-True composting efforts and even businesses are growing in Washington DC and around the US! Great news for us all!

-New York is making bold moves to combat global warming by authorizing initiatives like having the state by back land ruined by Hurricane Sandy and leaving it as green space to buffer against more flooding. Besides the cost ($400 million), this requires a centuries old departure from how New Yorkers look at coastal land and will further cement New York's status as a leader in green infrastructure and urban forests, although there is always room to improve.
In Chicago they are rethinking the work of an architectural giant to make buildings and the city more vibrant and sustainable.

-Tool libraries have been the rage since 1979 and I've been a fan since 2009. Toronto is getting its first in a few short weeks. I will definitely donate a few things and sign up as well!

Germany urban agriculture and GILA word of the week: Klein Gartens

Over the past few months I have spied an increase in articles referencing "Klein Gardens".
Like this one: "In Germany, the Klein Garten movement, translated as “little garden,” planted the seeds of urban farming. There are now about 1 million such gardens across the country."
Or this one. Both times it seems Klein Gartens are mentioned with another country in Asia.

Well, with a little help from Wikipedia I found out Klein Gartens are the European equivalent to allotment gardens and have been around for a long time. So maybe North Americans have much to learn from the Germans about not just green roofs.

GILA (green infrastructure, living architecture) word of the week: bioadaptive façade

-Still stuck in the "looks good on paper phase", bioadaptive façade, building surfaces that could, say, produce heat harvested from the photosynthesis process of micro-algae, sound like a great idea.
The first building of its kind is scheduled to open in Germany next year.

-A new website debuted recently called The Growing Map. It's aim is to make a more interactive, comprehensive visual map of living architecture projects around the world. Of course they need your submissions and support to make it work.

-A couple of weeks ago I was at the School for Social Entrepreneurs - Ontario to chat about verticiel Inc. and its past, present and future.  There are a few folks working hard on living architecture initiatives, don't think I can publicize their ventures yet, but when the time is right I will definitely give them some space.

-Projects which analyze Urban Ecology, such as the ULTRA-Ex (Urban Long-Term Research Areas: Exploratory), are more important than ever as cities "launch efforts to slash carbon emissions, reduce water use and improve habitats". How will urban agriculture projects and programs affect the urban landscape as whole? One particular project in Cleveland is investigating the effects of building urban farms on unoccupied lots. Preliminary research has shown that the gardens develop ants and pest-killing microbes over time, meaning the gardens can start out and remain organic.

-Last one for today is a draft recommended for public review by the ASPE (American Rainwater Catchment Systems Association and American Society of Plumbing Engineers) Main Design Standards Committee. The goal is to develop a standard to assist stakeholders (builders, developers, engineers, designers, plumbers) in safely implementing a rainwater catchment system.
After having a look, you can have your say!

The great bee caper

-What do you get when bee hives worth about $100,000 are stolen? Tons of bad bee puns. I wonder if the hives were collectively owned if the crime would be viewed in a different light?

-On a few sites I have seen this Oregon man receiving a jail sentence framed as a permaculture issue, personally it seems a clear cut water-rights issue. When you are constructing dams 10 feet high on your property, your municipality will probably step in. 

-Forgot to mention that the European Permaculture Convergence is now underway. If you are in Germany you still have two days to attend the biggest permaculture conference in Europe. Hopefully there are some urban farming go getters there ready to collaborate, Germany has been waaaaay ahead of the green roof curve, but is definitely behind the urban agriculture one.

-Lastly, a US based researcher pursuing a Ph.D. in permaculture wants to compile a list of all the permaculture inspired farming operations in the continental US.  Add yours to the list!

Your GILA (green infrastructure, urban agriculture) word of the week :Urban Agripuncture

Thanks Huff Post for adding this one to our dictionary!

-I didn’t see many inspiring permaculture stories in the back half of May, but there were a couple great ones last week.  El Paso is going to have their very own urban food forest. At 10,000 square feet in a town where it rarely drops below freezing, this provides the opportunity for a few families to feast all year long. 

-In Portland, Oregon neighbors are banding together to save an 11,000 square foot permaculture food forest. The only difference from the El Paso startup? This one is 35 years old!!! 

-Okay, can we officially call aquaponics red hot? A German company, in 2013, will be constructing a 7,000 square meter (75,350 square feet) aquaponics facility! I haven't seen one yet, but I feel somewhere there's a columnist drafting an urban agriculture column pitting aquaponics versus hydroponics. 

December tunes + Aquaponics arms race begins

Consider it "game on" in the aquaponics world.

-Getting a head start on marketing, a group in Berlin, Germany hope to have an urban agriculture factory up and running in 2013. Not a small one, either, about 80,000 square feet. Total cost? $6.7 million dollars. Not to be outdone, earlier this week a group which will be based in England will have the world's largest biomass to energy facility on 300 acres of land and the world's largest aquaponics facility. I guess that we'll see about that.

-Speaking of the UK and firsts, an English school will have the first institutional aquaponic facility.

-On to what soon may be considered "old style" urban agriculture, hearings will be heard in Montreal concerning urban agriculture starting in the spring. In total, volunteers need 15,000 and got almost twice that. Will they be allowed to raise fowl legally? How about beekeeping? Stay tuned.

And no, I didn't forget. It's just a bit late, so here ya go!

Weezer December
Edie Brickell Air Of December
Willie Nelson December Day
Tower of Power Only So Much Oil In The Ground Okay, this has nothing to do with December...but, the peak oilers should appreciate it!

How to green an economy? Lessons from Germany's road, roofs and railways

-Earlier this week I reviewed a debate from October's Ontario provincial election. The members had ideas about how to green the economy, but really, who knows what needs to be done to make it actually work? Ah ha! The Solutions Journal, says follow Germany's lead!

-Will large scale urban farming finally take flight in Detroit? And why, after almost 3 years if the law doesn't need to be changed, why can't a big farm start making some bucks? Another question is, once the farm is operational, what kind of urban farming jobs will be available? Meanwhile Toronto will decide in the spring whether to allow backyard fowl.

-In a battle royale between Small Planet Institute's Anna Lappe and Freakonomics Steve Sexton guess who reigns supreme?

-The urban agriculture word of the week is "food swapping." You heard it here, folks. Let's see if this practice picks up steam!

Urban agriculture roundup

It's been a week, so I'm giving everything I've got...

First the continental roundup:

-In California, developers can now get tax credits for including community gardens in their plans. In New York, I was glad (and surprised) to learn you are now allowed to keep bees and that there are over 100 CSA programs in the five boroughs!
Chicago has the green roof crown, it wants the urban agriculture crown as well. Upping the limit for community gardens to 25,000 square feet? Beyond progressive.
In North Carolina, there's increased interest in farming, as we all know this is a great thing.

And across the pond urban agriculture hits Germany, while in England some grocery stores are considering rooftop gardens as well.

-Who wants money for a food project? You've got 5 days left to apply.

-Two head scratchers. What does this app actually do and how can farmers win big if the purchase of local foods is still in doubt?

-Lastly, mark your calendars, the International Permaculture Conference is September 3-15. And just days ago a new book concerning the history of permaculture in Australia, it's birthplace, hit the shelves and web.