Showing posts with label gila. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gila. Show all posts
Monday, March 7, 2016
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.
Monday, February 22, 2016
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.
Thursday, December 10, 2015
GILA word of the week: Food Swamp
I have a bunch of things to mention which have slipped under the radar recently, for instance your GILA word of the week: Food Swamp. We've all heard the term food desert, well a food swamp has lots of food available and most of it is unhealthy.
-It's important that everyone is aware of the benefits of green infrastructure, especially green roofs. In Victoria, Australia, a local university, the city council and state government are trying to put a dollar figure on greening utilizing their own research and the country's Economic Framework for Green Infrastructure. Similarly, Mauritius is attempting to quantify how much green roofs would mean to them.
-The Dutch have taken urban agricultural to new heights, by creating a floating dairy platform making it one of the first urban aquatic agricultural operations.
-Speaking of pioneers, urban agricultural guru Will Allen may be in a jam of a different kind as an investor has sued him (and his partner) over the disputed mismanagement of their investment.
-Last week it was announced India is slated to get it's first horticultural therapy garden in 2016. While a new program is opening in India, sadly a popular one is being shut down in the UK.
-Let's end on a positive note, shall we? How about focusing on Detroit's intention to plant tens of thousands of trees on 1/2 square miles of vacant city space. Note, this is only a demonstration. There are over 20 miles of vacant land in the city...right now! Other lots will be filled eventually, whether it's with wildflowers or urban farms.
-It's important that everyone is aware of the benefits of green infrastructure, especially green roofs. In Victoria, Australia, a local university, the city council and state government are trying to put a dollar figure on greening utilizing their own research and the country's Economic Framework for Green Infrastructure. Similarly, Mauritius is attempting to quantify how much green roofs would mean to them.
-The Dutch have taken urban agricultural to new heights, by creating a floating dairy platform making it one of the first urban aquatic agricultural operations.
-Follow a Kenyan family on the front line of climate change in the first episode of Al Jazeera's "The Climate Diaries".
-Speaking of pioneers, urban agricultural guru Will Allen may be in a jam of a different kind as an investor has sued him (and his partner) over the disputed mismanagement of their investment.
-Last week it was announced India is slated to get it's first horticultural therapy garden in 2016. While a new program is opening in India, sadly a popular one is being shut down in the UK.
-Let's end on a positive note, shall we? How about focusing on Detroit's intention to plant tens of thousands of trees on 1/2 square miles of vacant city space. Note, this is only a demonstration. There are over 20 miles of vacant land in the city...right now! Other lots will be filled eventually, whether it's with wildflowers or urban farms.
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
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:
What do you get when you mix tasteful architecture, aquaponics and leisure. Have a look:
Thursday, November 5, 2015
Good news for urban fruit lovers
With concerns over lead levels in community gardens, a few researchers wondered if fruit from historical farms, urban parkland, and residential properties would be similarly afflicted. A least in the Greater Boston Area, they are not. In fact, the fruit appears to have higher calcium and "...on average, urban fruit contains a wider range of micronutrients than its commercial counterparts."
So eat that street peach!
So eat that street peach!
Tuesday, August 18, 2015
World Water Week - Starts August 24
-Just around the corner is World Water Week. Of course with droughts in California and elsewhere water security and scarcity, is now top of mind.
The UN FAO released a report examining the importance of water to global food security, it's definitely worth your time.
-Look at the bones for what will be a very interesting "green canopy", part roof, part wall in Texas.
Toronto's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health has a wonderful new horticultural therapy program.
-Egypt has launched a green rooftop fund, the first roofs covered were the Education and Scientific Ministries. This is the second big piece of news from Egypt in the last year.
-Pittsburgh is supporting green roofs too, they are offering $250,000 to 17 projects for their green commitment.
-Here's a tremendous resource if you'd like to get create an educational food landscape at your school!
-So many South Koreans are leaving the cities to farm in the country there is a name for them: guinong. NPR delivers the audio goods once again.
-How do you record ever tree in a city? New York has recruited volunteers and they have mapped nearly 100,000 trees in 3 months!
-Okay, it's not the World's first farm to table community, as the article would suggest, but these Californians have dreamed big and deserve applause.
Monday, July 13, 2015
GILA words of the week: Pizza farm + mobile green wall filter
Before getting to the word of the week, here's the new title holder for the largest green wall.
A Taiwan based company built this nearly 2,600 square meter green wall, it beats the previous biggest in Singapore by more than 300 square meters.
An even bigger development may be the invention of a mobile green wall filter. Keep an eye on this company!
-On to the pizza farm! In Minnesota and Wisconsin agritourism is taking off and some farmers have cut out the middle man. Why not grow (or source locally) all of ingredients for a pizza, bake it and serve it up on a farm? You can't get much fresher!
Friday, July 3, 2015
GILA word of the week: Bee highway
The FAO has definitely been busy. This week it announced that Cape Verde has it's first FAO urban agriculture program. Earlier in the month the FAO released a collection of findings from scientists and economists who have taken stock of climate change impacts on food and agriculture at global and regional levels. The document investigates, among other things, how climate change will impact crop production in Africa and grain production in Russia and neighboring Ukraine and Kazakhstan.
-I hope these entrepreneurs can do it, however it will be an uphill climb. By 2017 a Brooklyn duo hopes to produce the first rooftop wine from rooftop vineyard.
Monday, June 22, 2015
Latin America & Africa pave the way for 21st century urban agriculture
Although many of us have been involved in urban agriculture for some time, once upon a time everyone was new to it. Remembering that, it’s awesome to stumble upon an article which summarizes so many of the key issues and big projects for newbies. Here is a great one.
-We all know how much surplus and less than perfect food goes to waste. An ex-President of Trader Joe’s has decide to do something about it by opening a second hand grocery store, so to speak. Do we ever need this!!!! It’s a non-profit to boot!
-Here’s your next Highlinesaque project. It’s called the “Lowline” and features, maybe, growing vegetables in a park underground. Three years ago they garnered over $150,000 on Kickstarter, and they are hoping to finish negotiations with New York City by 2017 for a 2018 launch.
-Wednesday was the World Day to Combat Desertification. It’s a good start for sure, but we need to think about this and act on it every day.
-Preliminary findings from a green roof project based at the University of Toronto indicate a few things, including that indigenous plants may attract more native pollinators. Speaking of findings another study which shows just 40 seconds of viewing a green roof can improve your attention span.
-In the next 85 years, how can we make greener cities capable of producing food to achieve zero hunger? The FAO has an exhaustive report about what is currently being done in countries around the world.
-We all know how much surplus and less than perfect food goes to waste. An ex-President of Trader Joe’s has decide to do something about it by opening a second hand grocery store, so to speak. Do we ever need this!!!! It’s a non-profit to boot!
-Here’s your next Highlinesaque project. It’s called the “Lowline” and features, maybe, growing vegetables in a park underground. Three years ago they garnered over $150,000 on Kickstarter, and they are hoping to finish negotiations with New York City by 2017 for a 2018 launch.
-Wednesday was the World Day to Combat Desertification. It’s a good start for sure, but we need to think about this and act on it every day.
-Preliminary findings from a green roof project based at the University of Toronto indicate a few things, including that indigenous plants may attract more native pollinators. Speaking of findings another study which shows just 40 seconds of viewing a green roof can improve your attention span.
-In the next 85 years, how can we make greener cities capable of producing food to achieve zero hunger? The FAO has an exhaustive report about what is currently being done in countries around the world.
Monday, May 11, 2015
GILA word of the week: Green roof + cool roof = cool-green roof!
Talk about smart. This social entrepreneur grows plants on vacant lots in the USA, which are harvested as dyes for garments, which are in turn woven by women in India.
-This is the first article about horticultural therapy, that I've read, detailing how it helps young people!
-Farmscape Gardens is the very definition of "under the radar". They maintain 400 gardens in California, but very few people outside the state (according to my unscientific poll!) have heard of them.
-According to a new research paper by a team of Australians, just 40 seconds looking at nature can sharpen the mind. Last week seemed to be the time to drop hard core research, because a literature review revealed that despite almost 12,000 relevant studies there needs to be more emphasis focused on finding a direct relationship between food security, nutrition and urban agriculture.
And last, but not least, what would happen if you combined the features of a green roof and cool roof? You get the cool green roof and a total game changer.
-This is the first article about horticultural therapy, that I've read, detailing how it helps young people!
-Farmscape Gardens is the very definition of "under the radar". They maintain 400 gardens in California, but very few people outside the state (according to my unscientific poll!) have heard of them.
-According to a new research paper by a team of Australians, just 40 seconds looking at nature can sharpen the mind. Last week seemed to be the time to drop hard core research, because a literature review revealed that despite almost 12,000 relevant studies there needs to be more emphasis focused on finding a direct relationship between food security, nutrition and urban agriculture.
And last, but not least, what would happen if you combined the features of a green roof and cool roof? You get the cool green roof and a total game changer.
Thursday, March 19, 2015
GILA word of the week: Agrihood & NJ gets the world's largest vertical farm
It's Horticultural Therapy Week and there's no regular proponent for HT greater than the state of NJ. You have, Mycentraljersey.com, which constantly churns out articles include 10 ways you can celebrate the week. And let's not forget the New Jersey Senate officially recognizing the week.
-Speaking of NJ, the picture above is of a $30 million dollar vertical farm which should be ready to roll by the end of the year. With backers like Goldman Sachs and Prudential, this AeroFarms venture has the potential to be very, very big.
-Agrihood, it's what you get when you mix the best place for a subdivision and a farm...a mutually symbiotic relationship demonstrated in northern Virginia on 2,000 acres of land.
-This article both excites and saddens me. A Philadelphian is excited about schoolyards becoming the "next set of great public spaces". And I am all for multi-use facilities, but, we should look at deeper causes as to why Philly schoolyards are "...in deplorable condition, with pockmarked pavement, aging play equipment and few amenities". The schoolyards shouldn't need to be viewed as "curb appeal" for the surrounding homes, the schools should be good enough (and it's facilities) to encourage parents to move and send their kids there.
-Here's a way for airports to use their undeveloped spaces, put a few beehives in. Question, has anyone studied how loud noises affect bees?
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
GILA word of the week: Edible Riparian Buffer
I haven't encountered this phrase before: Edible Riparian Buffer. It's a kind of green infrastructure,
meant to combat climate change and boost community resilience. If you're going to put a vegetated buffer around a river, why not focus on having edible plants? Kudos Iowa City!
This edible riparian buffer may not be everyone's cup of tea and that's why it's important to have, argues this landscape architect, small, incremental actions which result in an immediate, local effect.
-Forceful words from the UK Green Building Council (UK-GBC), calling on developers 'to stop downplaying green infrastructure as "a fluffy optional extra".
-A massive luxury Cairo green infrastructure project, complete with green roofs, green walls and gardens now has over half a billion dollars in investment! Construction is expected to be completed in 2018. Talk about over the top, it has limo services as well.
-A government minister praised the Nigerian section of the green wall being built to combat desertification. Not a few hours later planting was stopped due to insurgent forces. I had never thought about the role insurgents could play in environmental degradation and climate change.
-And lastly for today, he's a nifty five acre farm in Australia, which includes an outdoor aquaponics system as part of it's permaculture orientation.
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Ice cream trucks, so why not carrots?
The Permaculture Activist, the 30 year old permaculture journal, has a new Kickstarter campaign to raise their online profile. If you are moved to contribute, check out their page.
-New York's Department of Environmental Protection announced their 2015 green infrastructure winners, over $3 million dollars will be disbursed. What do the winners have in common? Very ambitious (and big) projects, which will be atop everything from parking garages to auto-body shops turned halal slaughterhouses.
-“It’s kind of strange - we’ll let ice cream trucks roll down the street and sell all kinds of sugary things, but you can’t sell a carrot.” This kind of quote, one would guess, would be attributed to a local, urban agriculture activist. But this is actually Dallas' sustainability coordinator talking and you can bet the Big D is up for some changes.
Hmmm...but what if you combined those two...carrot ice cream? Would everyone be happy???
-Patented in Lebanon and debuted in Cairo, have a gander at this very artistic green wall, inside Cairo’s Galleria mall. That's two big GILA projects for Cairo, in the last 3 months!
Thursday, December 4, 2014
GILA words of the week: Gwerk and swap crop
Gwerk is definitely a word to remember. What is Gwerk...or Gesamtkunstwerk? With no direct translation from German to English, it's best described as "total work of art or synthesis of the arts".
It could become synonymous with Vancouver, the city where the idea was incubated and first put into practice. A larger question seems to hang like a ripe cherry, how is living architecture integrated and expressed in a gwerk project?
Your second word of the week is “Swap Crop”. Grew too many zucchini this year? Too much mint? Start one of these up in your community, setting it up may be easier than trying to find a home for all that zucchini or letting it go to waist.
It could become synonymous with Vancouver, the city where the idea was incubated and first put into practice. A larger question seems to hang like a ripe cherry, how is living architecture integrated and expressed in a gwerk project?
Your second word of the week is “Swap Crop”. Grew too many zucchini this year? Too much mint? Start one of these up in your community, setting it up may be easier than trying to find a home for all that zucchini or letting it go to waist.
n that a condo development gives us a new word. But Vancouver House doesn't plan to be like any other condo development.
The word is gwerk, as in “Vancouver has to stop resting on its laurels; it's got to gwerk it,” says Vancouver architect Trevor Boddy, the curator of an exhibition, Gesamtkunstwerk, which chronicles the evolution of what is hoped to be the next “special moment” in Vancouver's architectural history.
Or here's another example from Boddy: “'My office needs a real gwerk,' which means a total redesign.”
Thank goodness the developers are giving us the new word because, otherwise, few of would be able to pronounce, let alone remember, gesamtkunstwerk. It's a German word, popularized by the composer Richard Wagner, that translates into something like total work of art or synthesis of the arts.
Those are the words on the side of the building next to the Granville Bridge where the exhibit is being held. And while people have seen drawings of the gleaming twisting condo tower that will rise next to it, it's what's happening under the bridge that gives the concept a totally radical reputation.
Introducing the new Beach District, a new urban village that will run under the bridge along Beach Avenue. It's going to be a collection of pie-shaped buildings that include rental apartments, offices and retail outlets. It will also be providing the nine o'clock gun a run for its time-keeping money. At nine o'clock every night, a spinning chandelier by artist Rodney Graham will twirl its way down over the street from its base underneath the bridge, dazzle the crowd and then twist back up into its perch for another day. But it won't be the only time people walking under the bridge will want to look up. Westbank, the company behind Vancouver House, is commissioning a second installation of public art on the underside of the bridge. The light boxes will display a changing exhibit of photos produced with students from Emily Carr University.
People talk about the amazing planning that's happening in Vancouver but they don't talk about the moments that are very special,” Ian Gillespie, the principal at Westbank, said at a press conference moments after spring officially arrived in Vancouver. “What we lack are a few special moments and this is what Vancouver House will represent. It will be one of the lasting things that stays in [visitors'] minds.... Can we turn the Granville Street Bridge into a moment itself?”
James Cheng is the architect who nursed the concept from the time when it was a glint in Westbank's eye seven years ago until last October, when the City of Vancouver gave it its blessing. Cheng, who worked with Arthur Erickson during the “mind-blowing” years of exciting development, has passed on the project to Bjarke Ingels whose Copenhagen- and New York-based firm, BIG, has been creating innovative and dynamic buildings around the world.
Cheng said the Vancouver we know today got its start in the 1970s when Mayor Art Phillips pulled together a team to think about what the city could be doing architecturally. The first projects centred on South False Creek, which blended the city's talent pool. Then the federal government bought into a plan to turn its lands on Granville Island into a thriving food, arts and theatre district. After Expo 86 came Concord Pacific's False Creek development, and then eyes turned to the downtown, with questions about how to turn Coal Harbour into a continuation of this waterside housing community.
But then we became a little complacent, a little too blasé about the accolades, Cheng said. We stopped creating special moments, which are like the punctuation marks of the city's evolution. (Joo Kim Tiah, the CEO of Holborn, has a jump on the desire to create Vancouver's iconic icon architectural image with his 63-storey Trump Tower and Hotel on West Georgia. Its slated to open in 2016.)
He noted there's five decades between Erickson, whose Project 56 drawing of twisting buildings straddling English Bay is part of the exhibit, and Ingels.
Ingels said first knew of Vancouver as the home of two of his favourite writers, Douglas Coupland and William Gibson. He wanted to see the city the spawned such fabulous thinkers.
Vancouver House was born out of the need to figure out how to deal with the bridge and the odd-shaped pieces of land underneath it, he said. The bridge couldn't be moved so the project had to work around it. The main condo tower starts on a 6,000 sq.ft. footprint at the base of Howe Street (where the Buster's Towing lot used to be) to honour setback requirements but once it's higher than the bridge, it starts to turn and add floor space until, at the top of its 52 storeys, its floorplate is 13,000 sq. ft.
- See more at: http://www.westender.com/news/vancouver-house-introduces-gwerk-to-the-world-1.914679#sthash.ZscqzGuP.dpuf
The word is gwerk, as in “Vancouver has to stop resting on its laurels; it's got to gwerk it,” says Vancouver architect Trevor Boddy, the curator of an exhibition, Gesamtkunstwerk, which chronicles the evolution of what is hoped to be the next “special moment” in Vancouver's architectural history.
Or here's another example from Boddy: “'My office needs a real gwerk,' which means a total redesign.”
Thank goodness the developers are giving us the new word because, otherwise, few of would be able to pronounce, let alone remember, gesamtkunstwerk. It's a German word, popularized by the composer Richard Wagner, that translates into something like total work of art or synthesis of the arts.
Those are the words on the side of the building next to the Granville Bridge where the exhibit is being held. And while people have seen drawings of the gleaming twisting condo tower that will rise next to it, it's what's happening under the bridge that gives the concept a totally radical reputation.
Introducing the new Beach District, a new urban village that will run under the bridge along Beach Avenue. It's going to be a collection of pie-shaped buildings that include rental apartments, offices and retail outlets. It will also be providing the nine o'clock gun a run for its time-keeping money. At nine o'clock every night, a spinning chandelier by artist Rodney Graham will twirl its way down over the street from its base underneath the bridge, dazzle the crowd and then twist back up into its perch for another day. But it won't be the only time people walking under the bridge will want to look up. Westbank, the company behind Vancouver House, is commissioning a second installation of public art on the underside of the bridge. The light boxes will display a changing exhibit of photos produced with students from Emily Carr University.
People talk about the amazing planning that's happening in Vancouver but they don't talk about the moments that are very special,” Ian Gillespie, the principal at Westbank, said at a press conference moments after spring officially arrived in Vancouver. “What we lack are a few special moments and this is what Vancouver House will represent. It will be one of the lasting things that stays in [visitors'] minds.... Can we turn the Granville Street Bridge into a moment itself?”
James Cheng is the architect who nursed the concept from the time when it was a glint in Westbank's eye seven years ago until last October, when the City of Vancouver gave it its blessing. Cheng, who worked with Arthur Erickson during the “mind-blowing” years of exciting development, has passed on the project to Bjarke Ingels whose Copenhagen- and New York-based firm, BIG, has been creating innovative and dynamic buildings around the world.
Cheng said the Vancouver we know today got its start in the 1970s when Mayor Art Phillips pulled together a team to think about what the city could be doing architecturally. The first projects centred on South False Creek, which blended the city's talent pool. Then the federal government bought into a plan to turn its lands on Granville Island into a thriving food, arts and theatre district. After Expo 86 came Concord Pacific's False Creek development, and then eyes turned to the downtown, with questions about how to turn Coal Harbour into a continuation of this waterside housing community.
But then we became a little complacent, a little too blasé about the accolades, Cheng said. We stopped creating special moments, which are like the punctuation marks of the city's evolution. (Joo Kim Tiah, the CEO of Holborn, has a jump on the desire to create Vancouver's iconic icon architectural image with his 63-storey Trump Tower and Hotel on West Georgia. Its slated to open in 2016.)
He noted there's five decades between Erickson, whose Project 56 drawing of twisting buildings straddling English Bay is part of the exhibit, and Ingels.
Ingels said first knew of Vancouver as the home of two of his favourite writers, Douglas Coupland and William Gibson. He wanted to see the city the spawned such fabulous thinkers.
Vancouver House was born out of the need to figure out how to deal with the bridge and the odd-shaped pieces of land underneath it, he said. The bridge couldn't be moved so the project had to work around it. The main condo tower starts on a 6,000 sq.ft. footprint at the base of Howe Street (where the Buster's Towing lot used to be) to honour setback requirements but once it's higher than the bridge, it starts to turn and add floor space until, at the top of its 52 storeys, its floorplate is 13,000 sq. ft.
- See more at: http://www.westender.com/news/vancouver-house-introduces-gwerk-to-the-world-1.914679#sthash.ZscqzGuP.dpuf
n that a condo development gives us a new word. But Vancouver House doesn't plan to be like any other condo development.
The word is gwerk, as in “Vancouver has to stop resting on its laurels; it's got to gwerk it,” says Vancouver architect Trevor Boddy, the curator of an exhibition, Gesamtkunstwerk, which chronicles the evolution of what is hoped to be the next “special moment” in Vancouver's architectural history.
Or here's another example from Boddy: “'My office needs a real gwerk,' which means a total redesign.”
Thank goodness the developers are giving us the new word because, otherwise, few of would be able to pronounce, let alone remember, gesamtkunstwerk. It's a German word, popularized by the composer Richard Wagner, that translates into something like total work of art or synthesis of the arts.
Those are the words on the side of the building next to the Granville Bridge where the exhibit is being held. And while people have seen drawings of the gleaming twisting condo tower that will rise next to it, it's what's happening under the bridge that gives the concept a totally radical reputation.
Introducing the new Beach District, a new urban village that will run under the bridge along Beach Avenue. It's going to be a collection of pie-shaped buildings that include rental apartments, offices and retail outlets. It will also be providing the nine o'clock gun a run for its time-keeping money. At nine o'clock every night, a spinning chandelier by artist Rodney Graham will twirl its way down over the street from its base underneath the bridge, dazzle the crowd and then twist back up into its perch for another day. But it won't be the only time people walking under the bridge will want to look up. Westbank, the company behind Vancouver House, is commissioning a second installation of public art on the underside of the bridge. The light boxes will display a changing exhibit of photos produced with students from Emily Carr University.
People talk about the amazing planning that's happening in Vancouver but they don't talk about the moments that are very special,” Ian Gillespie, the principal at Westbank, said at a press conference moments after spring officially arrived in Vancouver. “What we lack are a few special moments and this is what Vancouver House will represent. It will be one of the lasting things that stays in [visitors'] minds.... Can we turn the Granville Street Bridge into a moment itself?”
James Cheng is the architect who nursed the concept from the time when it was a glint in Westbank's eye seven years ago until last October, when the City of Vancouver gave it its blessing. Cheng, who worked with Arthur Erickson during the “mind-blowing” years of exciting development, has passed on the project to Bjarke Ingels whose Copenhagen- and New York-based firm, BIG, has been creating innovative and dynamic buildings around the world.
Cheng said the Vancouver we know today got its start in the 1970s when Mayor Art Phillips pulled together a team to think about what the city could be doing architecturally. The first projects centred on South False Creek, which blended the city's talent pool. Then the federal government bought into a plan to turn its lands on Granville Island into a thriving food, arts and theatre district. After Expo 86 came Concord Pacific's False Creek development, and then eyes turned to the downtown, with questions about how to turn Coal Harbour into a continuation of this waterside housing community.
But then we became a little complacent, a little too blasé about the accolades, Cheng said. We stopped creating special moments, which are like the punctuation marks of the city's evolution. (Joo Kim Tiah, the CEO of Holborn, has a jump on the desire to create Vancouver's iconic icon architectural image with his 63-storey Trump Tower and Hotel on West Georgia. Its slated to open in 2016.)
He noted there's five decades between Erickson, whose Project 56 drawing of twisting buildings straddling English Bay is part of the exhibit, and Ingels.
Ingels said first knew of Vancouver as the home of two of his favourite writers, Douglas Coupland and William Gibson. He wanted to see the city the spawned such fabulous thinkers.
Vancouver House was born out of the need to figure out how to deal with the bridge and the odd-shaped pieces of land underneath it, he said. The bridge couldn't be moved so the project had to work around it. The main condo tower starts on a 6,000 sq.ft. footprint at the base of Howe Street (where the Buster's Towing lot used to be) to honour setback requirements but once it's higher than the bridge, it starts to turn and add floor space until, at the top of its 52 storeys, its floorplate is 13,000 sq. ft.
- See more at: http://www.westender.com/news/vancouver-house-introduces-gwerk-to-the-world-1.914679#sthash.ZscqzGuP.dpuf
The word is gwerk, as in “Vancouver has to stop resting on its laurels; it's got to gwerk it,” says Vancouver architect Trevor Boddy, the curator of an exhibition, Gesamtkunstwerk, which chronicles the evolution of what is hoped to be the next “special moment” in Vancouver's architectural history.
Or here's another example from Boddy: “'My office needs a real gwerk,' which means a total redesign.”
Thank goodness the developers are giving us the new word because, otherwise, few of would be able to pronounce, let alone remember, gesamtkunstwerk. It's a German word, popularized by the composer Richard Wagner, that translates into something like total work of art or synthesis of the arts.
Those are the words on the side of the building next to the Granville Bridge where the exhibit is being held. And while people have seen drawings of the gleaming twisting condo tower that will rise next to it, it's what's happening under the bridge that gives the concept a totally radical reputation.
Introducing the new Beach District, a new urban village that will run under the bridge along Beach Avenue. It's going to be a collection of pie-shaped buildings that include rental apartments, offices and retail outlets. It will also be providing the nine o'clock gun a run for its time-keeping money. At nine o'clock every night, a spinning chandelier by artist Rodney Graham will twirl its way down over the street from its base underneath the bridge, dazzle the crowd and then twist back up into its perch for another day. But it won't be the only time people walking under the bridge will want to look up. Westbank, the company behind Vancouver House, is commissioning a second installation of public art on the underside of the bridge. The light boxes will display a changing exhibit of photos produced with students from Emily Carr University.
People talk about the amazing planning that's happening in Vancouver but they don't talk about the moments that are very special,” Ian Gillespie, the principal at Westbank, said at a press conference moments after spring officially arrived in Vancouver. “What we lack are a few special moments and this is what Vancouver House will represent. It will be one of the lasting things that stays in [visitors'] minds.... Can we turn the Granville Street Bridge into a moment itself?”
James Cheng is the architect who nursed the concept from the time when it was a glint in Westbank's eye seven years ago until last October, when the City of Vancouver gave it its blessing. Cheng, who worked with Arthur Erickson during the “mind-blowing” years of exciting development, has passed on the project to Bjarke Ingels whose Copenhagen- and New York-based firm, BIG, has been creating innovative and dynamic buildings around the world.
Cheng said the Vancouver we know today got its start in the 1970s when Mayor Art Phillips pulled together a team to think about what the city could be doing architecturally. The first projects centred on South False Creek, which blended the city's talent pool. Then the federal government bought into a plan to turn its lands on Granville Island into a thriving food, arts and theatre district. After Expo 86 came Concord Pacific's False Creek development, and then eyes turned to the downtown, with questions about how to turn Coal Harbour into a continuation of this waterside housing community.
But then we became a little complacent, a little too blasé about the accolades, Cheng said. We stopped creating special moments, which are like the punctuation marks of the city's evolution. (Joo Kim Tiah, the CEO of Holborn, has a jump on the desire to create Vancouver's iconic icon architectural image with his 63-storey Trump Tower and Hotel on West Georgia. Its slated to open in 2016.)
He noted there's five decades between Erickson, whose Project 56 drawing of twisting buildings straddling English Bay is part of the exhibit, and Ingels.
Ingels said first knew of Vancouver as the home of two of his favourite writers, Douglas Coupland and William Gibson. He wanted to see the city the spawned such fabulous thinkers.
Vancouver House was born out of the need to figure out how to deal with the bridge and the odd-shaped pieces of land underneath it, he said. The bridge couldn't be moved so the project had to work around it. The main condo tower starts on a 6,000 sq.ft. footprint at the base of Howe Street (where the Buster's Towing lot used to be) to honour setback requirements but once it's higher than the bridge, it starts to turn and add floor space until, at the top of its 52 storeys, its floorplate is 13,000 sq. ft.
- See more at: http://www.westender.com/news/vancouver-house-introduces-gwerk-to-the-world-1.914679#sthash.ZscqzGuP.dpuf
n that a condo development gives us a new word. But Vancouver House doesn't plan to be like any other condo development.
The word is gwerk, as in “Vancouver has to stop resting on its laurels; it's got to gwerk it,” says Vancouver architect Trevor Boddy, the curator of an exhibition, Gesamtkunstwerk, which chronicles the evolution of what is hoped to be the next “special moment” in Vancouver's architectural history.
Or here's another example from Boddy: “'My office needs a real gwerk,' which means a total redesign.”
Thank goodness the developers are giving us the new word because, otherwise, few of would be able to pronounce, let alone remember, gesamtkunstwerk. It's a German word, popularized by the composer Richard Wagner, that translates into something like total work of art or synthesis of the arts.
Those are the words on the side of the building next to the Granville Bridge where the exhibit is being held. And while people have seen drawings of the gleaming twisting condo tower that will rise next to it, it's what's happening under the bridge that gives the concept a totally radical reputation.
Introducing the new Beach District, a new urban village that will run under the bridge along Beach Avenue. It's going to be a collection of pie-shaped buildings that include rental apartments, offices and retail outlets. It will also be providing the nine o'clock gun a run for its time-keeping money. At nine o'clock every night, a spinning chandelier by artist Rodney Graham will twirl its way down over the street from its base underneath the bridge, dazzle the crowd and then twist back up into its perch for another day. But it won't be the only time people walking under the bridge will want to look up. Westbank, the company behind Vancouver House, is commissioning a second installation of public art on the underside of the bridge. The light boxes will display a changing exhibit of photos produced with students from Emily Carr University.
People talk about the amazing planning that's happening in Vancouver but they don't talk about the moments that are very special,” Ian Gillespie, the principal at Westbank, said at a press conference moments after spring officially arrived in Vancouver. “What we lack are a few special moments and this is what Vancouver House will represent. It will be one of the lasting things that stays in [visitors'] minds.... Can we turn the Granville Street Bridge into a moment itself?”
James Cheng is the architect who nursed the concept from the time when it was a glint in Westbank's eye seven years ago until last October, when the City of Vancouver gave it its blessing. Cheng, who worked with Arthur Erickson during the “mind-blowing” years of exciting development, has passed on the project to Bjarke Ingels whose Copenhagen- and New York-based firm, BIG, has been creating innovative and dynamic buildings around the world.
Cheng said the Vancouver we know today got its start in the 1970s when Mayor Art Phillips pulled together a team to think about what the city could be doing architecturally. The first projects centred on South False Creek, which blended the city's talent pool. Then the federal government bought into a plan to turn its lands on Granville Island into a thriving food, arts and theatre district. After Expo 86 came Concord Pacific's False Creek development, and then eyes turned to the downtown, with questions about how to turn Coal Harbour into a continuation of this waterside housing community.
But then we became a little complacent, a little too blasé about the accolades, Cheng said. We stopped creating special moments, which are like the punctuation marks of the city's evolution. (Joo Kim Tiah, the CEO of Holborn, has a jump on the desire to create Vancouver's iconic icon architectural image with his 63-storey Trump Tower and Hotel on West Georgia. Its slated to open in 2016.)
He noted there's five decades between Erickson, whose Project 56 drawing of twisting buildings straddling English Bay is part of the exhibit, and Ingels.
Ingels said first knew of Vancouver as the home of two of his favourite writers, Douglas Coupland and William Gibson. He wanted to see the city the spawned such fabulous thinkers.
Vancouver House was born out of the need to figure out how to deal with the bridge and the odd-shaped pieces of land underneath it, he said. The bridge couldn't be moved so the project had to work around it. The main condo tower starts on a 6,000 sq.ft. footprint at the base of Howe Street (where the Buster's Towing lot used to be) to honour setback requirements but once it's higher than the bridge, it starts to turn and add floor space until, at the top of its 52 storeys, its floorplate is 13,000 sq. ft.
- See more at: http://www.westender.com/news/vancouver-house-introduces-gwerk-to-the-world-1.914679#sthash.ZscqzGuP.dpuf
The word is gwerk, as in “Vancouver has to stop resting on its laurels; it's got to gwerk it,” says Vancouver architect Trevor Boddy, the curator of an exhibition, Gesamtkunstwerk, which chronicles the evolution of what is hoped to be the next “special moment” in Vancouver's architectural history.
Or here's another example from Boddy: “'My office needs a real gwerk,' which means a total redesign.”
Thank goodness the developers are giving us the new word because, otherwise, few of would be able to pronounce, let alone remember, gesamtkunstwerk. It's a German word, popularized by the composer Richard Wagner, that translates into something like total work of art or synthesis of the arts.
Those are the words on the side of the building next to the Granville Bridge where the exhibit is being held. And while people have seen drawings of the gleaming twisting condo tower that will rise next to it, it's what's happening under the bridge that gives the concept a totally radical reputation.
Introducing the new Beach District, a new urban village that will run under the bridge along Beach Avenue. It's going to be a collection of pie-shaped buildings that include rental apartments, offices and retail outlets. It will also be providing the nine o'clock gun a run for its time-keeping money. At nine o'clock every night, a spinning chandelier by artist Rodney Graham will twirl its way down over the street from its base underneath the bridge, dazzle the crowd and then twist back up into its perch for another day. But it won't be the only time people walking under the bridge will want to look up. Westbank, the company behind Vancouver House, is commissioning a second installation of public art on the underside of the bridge. The light boxes will display a changing exhibit of photos produced with students from Emily Carr University.
People talk about the amazing planning that's happening in Vancouver but they don't talk about the moments that are very special,” Ian Gillespie, the principal at Westbank, said at a press conference moments after spring officially arrived in Vancouver. “What we lack are a few special moments and this is what Vancouver House will represent. It will be one of the lasting things that stays in [visitors'] minds.... Can we turn the Granville Street Bridge into a moment itself?”
James Cheng is the architect who nursed the concept from the time when it was a glint in Westbank's eye seven years ago until last October, when the City of Vancouver gave it its blessing. Cheng, who worked with Arthur Erickson during the “mind-blowing” years of exciting development, has passed on the project to Bjarke Ingels whose Copenhagen- and New York-based firm, BIG, has been creating innovative and dynamic buildings around the world.
Cheng said the Vancouver we know today got its start in the 1970s when Mayor Art Phillips pulled together a team to think about what the city could be doing architecturally. The first projects centred on South False Creek, which blended the city's talent pool. Then the federal government bought into a plan to turn its lands on Granville Island into a thriving food, arts and theatre district. After Expo 86 came Concord Pacific's False Creek development, and then eyes turned to the downtown, with questions about how to turn Coal Harbour into a continuation of this waterside housing community.
But then we became a little complacent, a little too blasé about the accolades, Cheng said. We stopped creating special moments, which are like the punctuation marks of the city's evolution. (Joo Kim Tiah, the CEO of Holborn, has a jump on the desire to create Vancouver's iconic icon architectural image with his 63-storey Trump Tower and Hotel on West Georgia. Its slated to open in 2016.)
He noted there's five decades between Erickson, whose Project 56 drawing of twisting buildings straddling English Bay is part of the exhibit, and Ingels.
Ingels said first knew of Vancouver as the home of two of his favourite writers, Douglas Coupland and William Gibson. He wanted to see the city the spawned such fabulous thinkers.
Vancouver House was born out of the need to figure out how to deal with the bridge and the odd-shaped pieces of land underneath it, he said. The bridge couldn't be moved so the project had to work around it. The main condo tower starts on a 6,000 sq.ft. footprint at the base of Howe Street (where the Buster's Towing lot used to be) to honour setback requirements but once it's higher than the bridge, it starts to turn and add floor space until, at the top of its 52 storeys, its floorplate is 13,000 sq. ft.
- See more at: http://www.westender.com/news/vancouver-house-introduces-gwerk-to-the-world-1.914679#sthash.ZscqzGuP.dpuf
Thursday, November 20, 2014
GILA words of the week: gated agriculture and cemetery farming
-Romania has it's first horticultural therapy program, but if doctors William Brid and Matilda van den Bosch had their way, horticultural therapy would be part of the publicly funded national health service!
-Everyone wants a Highline, an iconic green roof with seemingly unlimited appeal. But not everyone can have one. Read the comments at the bottom of this article, there are some undiscovered stand-up comedians waiting to be signed!
-Baltimore has a few interesting GILA ideas on the go. The first is called "Green Tracks". There are several component to he project, but the one I'll mention here is using the area along the Amtrak corridor for community gardens. I hope they keep an eye on possible existing contamination and contamination over time.
The second is allocating some of the 14,000 vacant lots in the city for flower production. Nice work Baltimore!
-We all know urban agriculture is huge. How big? Researchers have found all the farms together cover an area the size of Europe. And those 456 million hectares (1.12 billion acres), 15% is in the city proper. Urban agriculture will be crucial, especially in Africa. with half of the continents inhabitants living in cities by 2030. In Kenya a company wants to be a pioneer in providing the produce. The idea? Gate some land and lease it to prospective farmers.
Which gets me to wondering. With development pressures could we see more urban agriculture in marginal or previously taboo lands? In the Philippines a new urban agriculture garden has opened in a cemetery. It seems the cemetery has rich, unused pland within its gates. in the future, could we one day see food production happening anywhere soil is available?
-Everyone wants a Highline, an iconic green roof with seemingly unlimited appeal. But not everyone can have one. Read the comments at the bottom of this article, there are some undiscovered stand-up comedians waiting to be signed!
-Baltimore has a few interesting GILA ideas on the go. The first is called "Green Tracks". There are several component to he project, but the one I'll mention here is using the area along the Amtrak corridor for community gardens. I hope they keep an eye on possible existing contamination and contamination over time.
The second is allocating some of the 14,000 vacant lots in the city for flower production. Nice work Baltimore!
-We all know urban agriculture is huge. How big? Researchers have found all the farms together cover an area the size of Europe. And those 456 million hectares (1.12 billion acres), 15% is in the city proper. Urban agriculture will be crucial, especially in Africa. with half of the continents inhabitants living in cities by 2030. In Kenya a company wants to be a pioneer in providing the produce. The idea? Gate some land and lease it to prospective farmers.
Which gets me to wondering. With development pressures could we see more urban agriculture in marginal or previously taboo lands? In the Philippines a new urban agriculture garden has opened in a cemetery. It seems the cemetery has rich, unused pland within its gates. in the future, could we one day see food production happening anywhere soil is available?
Monday, September 22, 2014
The next city to get a food forest is...Charlestown!!!
Green infrastructure professionals should note, according to Portland urban planning experts, that if you want a successful park, well-attended and appreciated, your planning should cater to women.
-Alterrus systems is gone, but their loss is Affinor Growers gain. Although they've focused on marijuana production until now, they see this as a great opportunity and gateway into the vertical growing sector.
-Caribbean countries are not just interested in starting aquaponics projects, they're interested hosting conferences too!
-Speaking of aquaponics, 2014 has unleashed a number of Kickstarter campaigns for home systems, some beautiful, some functional. Some both. Backed by industry leaders The Aquaponic Source, Oh-Uchi-Saien and Grants for Plants, this new system will get a lot of buzz and hsould be worth the money.
-Charlestown, West Virginia, is the next city to get an urban orchard/food forest. Who would've thought that???!!!
-Alterrus systems is gone, but their loss is Affinor Growers gain. Although they've focused on marijuana production until now, they see this as a great opportunity and gateway into the vertical growing sector.
-Caribbean countries are not just interested in starting aquaponics projects, they're interested hosting conferences too!
-Speaking of aquaponics, 2014 has unleashed a number of Kickstarter campaigns for home systems, some beautiful, some functional. Some both. Backed by industry leaders The Aquaponic Source, Oh-Uchi-Saien and Grants for Plants, this new system will get a lot of buzz and hsould be worth the money.
-Charlestown, West Virginia, is the next city to get an urban orchard/food forest. Who would've thought that???!!!
Thursday, September 11, 2014
verticiel releases resource guide on starting your own green roof and wall business
After years in the living architecture business, and helping a bunch of people along the way, I thought it was time. Time to compile some of the resources I discovered and used over the years to help someone new to the field get their business up and running so they can join in making this planet better than we found it.
Let me know what you think!
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
GILA word of the week: Heirloom aquaponics
It's been difficult for people and organizations to make money with aquaponics, like any urban agriculture endeavor. Case in point, an innovative aquaponics project in the UK was recently scuttled because they wanted (or needed?) to build a wood
chipping and log drying plant as well.
But I think the key may be the same for microfarmers, whether they are urban or rural: high end products. If you could charge a premium for special kinds of shrimp or indigenous veggies (like "slow-bolt" cilantro, Yoeme basil) profitability may be possible.
If you'd like to give the shrimp a try yourself, here's a primer below:
The fighting in Gaza has forced farmers and herders to abandon their lands and has paralysed fishing activities, bringing local food production to a halt and severely affecting livelihoods, the United Nation’s FAO warned last week.
Recovery in the agriculture sector, once hostilities cease, will require significant external assistance over the long term. And this is where we see opportunities for alternative agriculture systems for smallholder farmers and families. Aquaponics and hydroponics can be done on rooftops, and it is especially meaningful in areas where water is severely limited.
The FAO estimates that the recent fighting has resulted in substantial direct damage to Gaza’s 17,000 hectares of croplands as well as much of its agricultural infrastructure, including greenhouses, irrigation systems, animal farms, fodder stocks and fishing boats.
According to the latest update Gaza has lost half of its population of poultry birds (broilers and layers) either due to direct hits on their shelters or lack of water, feed or care resulting from access restrictions.
Around 64,000 head of small ruminants are in need of animal feed and water in order to avoid further animal deaths and the additional erosion of herders’ productive assets.
Meanwhile losses by Gaza’s fishing sector so far are estimated at 234.6 tonnes over the period 9 July – 10 August –equivalent to 9.3 percent of local fishers’ yearly catch.
“Up to now, ongoing military operations have prevented detailed assessments of damages to agriculture from being completed,” said Ciro Fiorillo, head of FAO’s office in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The Gaza Strip imports most of what it eats — however locally produced food represents an important source of nutritious and affordable food, and some 28,600 people in Gaza rely on farming (19,000 people), livestock raising (6,000) and fishing (3,600) for their livelihoods.
“Under the most recent ceasefire many farmers and herders are now able to access their lands, however resumption of food production faces serious obstacles given the damages sustained and shortages of water, electricity, inputs and financial resources, as well as ongoing uncertainty regarding the possible resumption of military activities”, said Fiorillo.
Volatile food prices
- See more at:
http://www.greenprophet.com/2014/08/why-gaza-needs-hydroponics-and-aquaponics-for-food-security/#sthash.AxVZJuRZ.dpuf
The fighting in Gaza has forced farmers and herders to abandon their lands and has paralysed fishing activities, bringing local food production to a halt and severely affecting livelihoods, the United Nation’s FAO warned last week.
Recovery in the agriculture sector, once hostilities cease, will require significant external assistance over the long term. And this is where we see opportunities for alternative agriculture systems for smallholder farmers and families. Aquaponics and hydroponics can be done on rooftops, and it is especially meaningful in areas where water is severely limited.
The FAO estimates that the recent fighting has resulted in substantial direct damage to Gaza’s 17,000 hectares of croplands as well as much of its agricultural infrastructure, including greenhouses, irrigation systems, animal farms, fodder stocks and fishing boats.
According to the latest update Gaza has lost half of its population of poultry birds (broilers and layers) either due to direct hits on their shelters or lack of water, feed or care resulting from access restrictions.
Around 64,000 head of small ruminants are in need of animal feed and water in order to avoid further animal deaths and the additional erosion of herders’ productive assets.
Meanwhile losses by Gaza’s fishing sector so far are estimated at 234.6 tonnes over the period 9 July – 10 August –equivalent to 9.3 percent of local fishers’ yearly catch.
“Up to now, ongoing military operations have prevented detailed assessments of damages to agriculture from being completed,” said Ciro Fiorillo, head of FAO’s office in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The Gaza Strip imports most of what it eats — however locally produced food represents an important source of nutritious and affordable food, and some 28,600 people in Gaza rely on farming (19,000 people), livestock raising (6,000) and fishing (3,600) for their livelihoods.
“Under the most recent ceasefire many farmers and herders are now able to access their lands, however resumption of food production faces serious obstacles given the damages sustained and shortages of water, electricity, inputs and financial resources, as well as ongoing uncertainty regarding the possible resumption of military activities”, said Fiorillo.
- See more at: http://www.greenprophet.com/2014/08/why-gaza-needs-hydroponics-and-aquaponics-for-food-security/#sthash.AxVZJuRZ.dpuf
But I think the key may be the same for microfarmers, whether they are urban or rural: high end products. If you could charge a premium for special kinds of shrimp or indigenous veggies (like "slow-bolt" cilantro, Yoeme basil) profitability may be possible.
If you'd like to give the shrimp a try yourself, here's a primer below:
Why Gaza needs hydroponics and aquaponics for food security
The fighting in Gaza has forced farmers and herders to abandon their lands and has paralysed fishing activities, bringing local food production to a halt and severely affecting livelihoods, the United Nation’s FAO warned last week.
Recovery in the agriculture sector, once hostilities cease, will require significant external assistance over the long term. And this is where we see opportunities for alternative agriculture systems for smallholder farmers and families. Aquaponics and hydroponics can be done on rooftops, and it is especially meaningful in areas where water is severely limited.
The FAO estimates that the recent fighting has resulted in substantial direct damage to Gaza’s 17,000 hectares of croplands as well as much of its agricultural infrastructure, including greenhouses, irrigation systems, animal farms, fodder stocks and fishing boats.
According to the latest update Gaza has lost half of its population of poultry birds (broilers and layers) either due to direct hits on their shelters or lack of water, feed or care resulting from access restrictions.
Around 64,000 head of small ruminants are in need of animal feed and water in order to avoid further animal deaths and the additional erosion of herders’ productive assets.
Meanwhile losses by Gaza’s fishing sector so far are estimated at 234.6 tonnes over the period 9 July – 10 August –equivalent to 9.3 percent of local fishers’ yearly catch.
“Up to now, ongoing military operations have prevented detailed assessments of damages to agriculture from being completed,” said Ciro Fiorillo, head of FAO’s office in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The Gaza Strip imports most of what it eats — however locally produced food represents an important source of nutritious and affordable food, and some 28,600 people in Gaza rely on farming (19,000 people), livestock raising (6,000) and fishing (3,600) for their livelihoods.
“Under the most recent ceasefire many farmers and herders are now able to access their lands, however resumption of food production faces serious obstacles given the damages sustained and shortages of water, electricity, inputs and financial resources, as well as ongoing uncertainty regarding the possible resumption of military activities”, said Fiorillo.
Volatile food prices
The fighting in Gaza has forced farmers and herders to abandon their lands and has paralysed fishing activities, bringing local food production to a halt and severely affecting livelihoods, the United Nation’s FAO warned last week.
Recovery in the agriculture sector, once hostilities cease, will require significant external assistance over the long term. And this is where we see opportunities for alternative agriculture systems for smallholder farmers and families. Aquaponics and hydroponics can be done on rooftops, and it is especially meaningful in areas where water is severely limited.
The FAO estimates that the recent fighting has resulted in substantial direct damage to Gaza’s 17,000 hectares of croplands as well as much of its agricultural infrastructure, including greenhouses, irrigation systems, animal farms, fodder stocks and fishing boats.
According to the latest update Gaza has lost half of its population of poultry birds (broilers and layers) either due to direct hits on their shelters or lack of water, feed or care resulting from access restrictions.
Around 64,000 head of small ruminants are in need of animal feed and water in order to avoid further animal deaths and the additional erosion of herders’ productive assets.
Meanwhile losses by Gaza’s fishing sector so far are estimated at 234.6 tonnes over the period 9 July – 10 August –equivalent to 9.3 percent of local fishers’ yearly catch.
“Up to now, ongoing military operations have prevented detailed assessments of damages to agriculture from being completed,” said Ciro Fiorillo, head of FAO’s office in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The Gaza Strip imports most of what it eats — however locally produced food represents an important source of nutritious and affordable food, and some 28,600 people in Gaza rely on farming (19,000 people), livestock raising (6,000) and fishing (3,600) for their livelihoods.
“Under the most recent ceasefire many farmers and herders are now able to access their lands, however resumption of food production faces serious obstacles given the damages sustained and shortages of water, electricity, inputs and financial resources, as well as ongoing uncertainty regarding the possible resumption of military activities”, said Fiorillo.
- See more at: http://www.greenprophet.com/2014/08/why-gaza-needs-hydroponics-and-aquaponics-for-food-security/#sthash.AxVZJuRZ.dpuf
Wednesday, August 6, 2014
Yale gets big bucks for living wall research + Mid-Atlantic symposium starts tomorrow
-The Mid-Atlantic Green Roof symposium starts tomorrow. Year two of the get together brings experts and enthusiasts from the area and beyond.
-At Yale researchers have been given almost $300,000 to develop a "new class" of living wall technologies capable of rejecting waste heat as an alternative to cooling towers. Keep an eye on this one!
-At Yale researchers have been given almost $300,000 to develop a "new class" of living wall technologies capable of rejecting waste heat as an alternative to cooling towers. Keep an eye on this one!
Friday, August 1, 2014
GILA words of the week: Emotional farming, Just green enough and environmental gentrification
A few officials in India are calling their new horticultural therapy initiative "emotional farming". A clever term which could stick elsewhere.
Soon after the massively successful first part of the High Line opened there were a few folks who stated, quite accurately, that there were some drawbacks to its popularity. People love the High Line, they want their business and homes near it and so land prices go up and gentrification displaced long term residents. There's a new paper out which advocates greening neighborhoods, but "just enough" to benefit the community, but not enough to displace them. And they point to one example in New York were this has already happened. This is a delicate balancing act indeed!
Soon after the massively successful first part of the High Line opened there were a few folks who stated, quite accurately, that there were some drawbacks to its popularity. People love the High Line, they want their business and homes near it and so land prices go up and gentrification displaced long term residents. There's a new paper out which advocates greening neighborhoods, but "just enough" to benefit the community, but not enough to displace them. And they point to one example in New York were this has already happened. This is a delicate balancing act indeed!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)