All about Agritopia!

Over the past two years I've seen a few studies about the effects of horticultural therapy, however there's been a definite uptick in articles over the last six months. In the Journal of Nursing Care, a rigorous study was just published expounding on the effects of ht "on the well-being and hope of women" in Korea.

-It's clear aquaponics and urban agriculture are gaining in popularity throughout the Caribbean and a few Pacific islands. Why not Hawaii as well? I had no idea over 80% of it's food is imported!

-In D.C. the Children's National Medical Center is raising money to make a rooftop healing garden. They are about 1/3 the way there, only $3.8 million dollars to go!

-Vancouver is leading the way with recently adopted community guidelines which includes soil testing for contaminants, forbidding GMO seeds and requirements for accessibility.

-A politician from Philadelphia has proposed to double their green roof tax credit, with a cap of $100,000 per applicant!

-Fascinating article from Nextcity which details how trees can make people happy and vice-versa.

-Agritopia. This is planning!!!! A new development in Phoenix featuring 450 residential lots and space for agricultural development, in addition to 74 independent and assisted living apartments and 48 memory care apartment homes. One teeny, tiny question. How sustainable is agriculture in the desert? I know, I know...I have to be "that guy!"

In a study published this quarter in Journal of Nursing Care, Min and colleagues describe a beneficial impact of HT on hope and well-being in women participating in a 12-week HT program compared with a control group of women who did not participate in HT. This study is notable for its inclusion of a control group, standardized methods of measuring emotional health, and sound statistical methods. - See more at: http://ahta.org/news/beneficial-impact-ht-emotional-health-demonstrated#sthash.mypSTjfu.dpuf

An Indianapolis hospital gets a rooftop farm

Hmm..it seems like just yesterday we were talking about how hard it is to find long term employment in the urban agriculture field. Actually, it was two days ago.  The International Labour Office of the United Nations has a handy guide for getting and keeping a job in the urban agriculture field, globally, and the Resource Centre of Urban Agriculture and Food (RUAF) provides further advice.

-An MIT researcher has his second installment in the exploration of how different kinds of urban agriculture can affect communities. Here's the first, if you want to start from the beginning.

-And the big news of the week is the new (almost $800 million dollars new!) Indianapolis hospital releasing details of its full scale rooftop farm which will provide its cafeteria and occupants with plenty to eat.

-Almost nearly as exciting is the Biophilic Cities project launch. Devoted to "understanding how cities can become more biophilic", the efforts of 13 cities is currently profiled.