Agriburbia in Missouri

If you know foraging, you know Wildman Steve Brill. Rarely do we get background on his life, here's a little bit. And check out his old school website!

-Remember that urban farm in Vancouver which shut down and then was taken over by a company to possibly grow marijuana?  Business in Vancouver has an update on the situation

-Agriburbia hits Columbia, Missouri with the construction of a new housing development with an urban farm as it's focal point.

-If you're an urban farmer in Baltimore, rejoice, there's a new 90% property tax break for urban farmers!

-Sydney, Australia is getting an urban farm. The Daily Telegraph doesn't like that at all!

2 Green roof (and wall!) events, one near and one far

For the one in Toronto. The Conservation Council of Ontario is hosting a Green Energy Doors Open event tomorrow from 1-3 pm. If you've never had a tour of the amazing Robertson Building here's your chance to see their green wall and green roof.

And just a little reminder that the World Green Infrastructure Congress kicks off next Tuesday, October 7!

Three upcoming green roof conferences

In Atlanta, Georgia in a couple of weeks, Green Roofs For Healthy Cities is holding a regional symposium. It's nice to have more local gatherings staged throughout the year, the GRHC conferences always seem to be held at the worst possible times for me.
Sydney, Australia has its World Green Infrastructure Congress October 7-10. Hosted by Green Roofs Australia, the scope includes urban greening, green roofs and living facades.

In Qingdao, China in mid-October look out for the Qingdao International Ecocity and Green Roof Conference. Put together by the International Rooftop Landscaping Association, conferences in China tend to be a big affair.

Hope you can take one of them in!

Sydney's green infrastructure plan

-Sydney, Australia has been working with some green roof guiding principles and standards for a couple of years. They've released a formalized plan to green new development and private land, streets, add parks and expand their urban forest. Still no rebate or cash incentives, unfortunately.

-A Montreal borough is trying to streamline their evaluation process so that green roofs can go up on buildings in less than 6 months.

-The EPA has given one of its highest honors, the Presidential Innovation Award for Environmental Education, to one of the first teachers to incorporate a food producing green roof garden into his curriculum.

- Two years ago came the first warnings about possibly contaminated soil in Boston urban gardens...and perhaps elsewhere. Here's a comprehensive article about the presence and danger of the number one contaminant, lead.

-There's still a lot of research which needs to be done in aquaponics. Hopefully with the explosion in enthusiasts will come some new and cheap ways to solve common problems. Here's an innovative one, use old refrigerators in your outdoor aquaponics system. Speaking of which, did you know the vertical farming industry now has its own trade group?

New ways to quantify the benefits of green infrastructure

K-12 Minnesota teachers have released a comprehensive new guide for integrating school gardens with academic standards. At 268 page, there plenty for you to use as well.

-With land becoming more and more scarce, several folks have proposed planting community gardens under power lines. In California, there is a new push and in 2012 a Torontonian won a design award for the same idea.

-The benefits of green infrastructure are at least a dozen fold. But historically it has been difficult to quantify how much a green roof or green wall can increase rental and property values or reduce the cost associated with flooding. The NRDC thought it was about time that these issues were addressed.

-Sydney, Australia has a new draft green roof and green walls policy. I am not sure how this is different than the last one. The next step for Sydney is incentives! That would be exciting!

he draft policy and implementation plan promotes the measures as a means of improving air quality, supporting biodiversity and creating new places for relaxation in the city centre.

At the moment, there are around 96,000 square metres of green roofs and walls across Sydney and the trend continues to grow rapidly. Lord Mayor Clover Moore said the city is receiving around one new development application featuring a green roof or wall each week, and that there are more than 50 projects already approved for construction.

“Green roofs and walls are not only beautiful additions to buildings, they also improve air quality, clean stormwater and provide a natural habitat for biodiversity. We want to support this emerging industry, give local providers a boost and help city residents and businesses discover the benefits of installing green roofs and walls,” Moore said when announcing the new draft policy.

- See more at: http://sourceable.net/sydneys-new-green-roofs-walls-policy/#sthash.5vBRqvJm.dpu

Sydney rules living architecture!

Sometimes the stars aline and cool stories from one place hit the web at the same time.

The beautiful picture above is from a decommissioned ship west of Sydney. Living...and floating...architecture! How would the world look if more ships were turned into buoyant gardens... bobbing around in harbours around the world?
-Sydney’s University of Technology is introducing Sydneysiders to living walls with edible plants or as some call them, edible walls. Although that term always strikes me funnily, but maybe that’s the next frontier? Walls that produce food...and that you could eat? Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factoryesque!

-If you're in a horticultural therapy program or just studying on your own, here are some flash cards to help your preparation.


-Los Angeles has upped the ante and is now offering all property owners $2 per square foot (up from $1.50) to rip up their lawns and to plant drought tolerant plants!

-Here’s a story which I thought would’ve gain wider attention. Milwaukee is well-known for its environmental leanings, they are one of a few municipalities with a green roof rebate. So I sympathize with small landowners that bigger ones are getting special treatment...and three times the rebate.

New Jersey says "yes" to green roof incentives; Sydney says "maybe"

Some great green roof news in the last few days. We can now add New Jersey to the list of North American cities (soon to be) offering incentives for green roof installations. 

Sydney, Australia is also considering adopting various green roof and green wall incentives. Fun fact of the day, although just a city, Sydney has a population 1/2 the size of New Jersey in 1/900th of the space!

-In other green infrastructure news, Pittsburgh will be making a deep investment in their tree canopy. Hurray!!! 

-Last year I wondered what the hold up in Detroit was for the Hantz urban agriculture project. After years of waiting Hantz may finally get approval from the city, but this article describes some of the reasons for opposition to the farm. Does this seem familiar, Fort Lauderdale?