Rooftop farming taking root

[jpak]

http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/news/business/story.html?id=3b78ac84-1cce-4e2b-b830-31d9ccde6cf4

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- New York is better known for tall buildings and crowded streets than farms, but a group of environmentalists say rooftops could be used to grow enough vegetables to feed the entire city and reduce dependence on far-away farms.

New York Sun Works has opened an environmentally friendly Science Barge to prove its point. Moored on the Hudson River, it grows and harvests lettuce, cucumbers and tomatoes in a greenhouse using rain and energy from solar panels and wind turbines and biofuels.

The nonprofit group says that if similar outfits, with hydroponic systems using water and no soil, were installed on the city's 5,665 hectares of unshaded rooftop, it could feed as many as 20 million people.

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[kestrel91316]

1. I note with some irony that this is being reported in a CANADIAN publication

and not an American one.

US papers and mags are too full of the latest on Paris Hilton to fit this sort of thing in.

Sometimes I think we humans are so stupid on the whole, we deserve our fate.

[Buzz Clik]

2. I'm waiting for the first radish grown on top of the Chrysler Building.

I'd be willing to pay premium price for that salad.

[bigmonkey]

4. In Chicago, the roof of City Hall is a green roof.

They keep bees up there, too. Mayor Daley gives out jars of City Hall honey to visiting dignitaries, and they auction it off for charity. They label it "Rooftop Honey." Whatever else one might say about Daley, he is committed to environmental innovations.

http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/local_story_353171903.html


(edit for spelling)

[Buzz Clik]

5. Indeed. Thumbs up there.

A dear friend of mine moved to Chicago about 5 years ago. She was walking home from her office (she lived downtown) and found a beautiful little patch of flowers. She was admiring the splash of color and marveling that the flowers were generally unprotected -- a small decorative barrier about ankle high. One of Chicago's finest was passing by, and she asked the cop how it was that these flowers would survive in the middle of such a busy city with no vandalism. "Nobody would mess with the mayor's flowers" was his only reply. She was thrilled to think that might actually be so.

[bigmonkey]

7. I don't know how to take that story.

My impression is that we just like "the Mayor's flowers" here in Chicago. The city puts them everywhere, and they really are left alone. My guess is that "Nobody would mess with the mayor's flowers" probably simply means that people like them, and so leave them alone, but it could also mean that the Mayor (the police) will get anybody who messes with them! The police are somewhat out of control here, so the policeman's remark could mean either one. In the neighborhoods folks often plant the area between the sidewalk and the curb, and those plantings mainly survive too. Water fees were, until recently, per house, not per unit water, and they may still be. We have that big reservoir right next door, you know.

Having grown up in the 60's and 70's myself, I'm always surprised at the lack of vandalism in general - it was bad back then, maybe because of the polarization of society here in the U.S.

[Buzz Clik]

8. The cop's tone was not one of a threat.

He was conveying a general pleasure in the effort and recognition that just about everybody felt the same way.

[bigmonkey]

9. Good!

I'm glad that was the tone.

[Mabus]

3. A little creative thinking can go a long way

to solving a lot of our problems.

[IndyOp]

6. Rooftop gardening & architecture so amazing that you don't see the buildings...

William McDonough: The wisdom of designing Cradle to Cradle
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/104

:applause:

[silverweb]

10. LOVE that video!!

I sent it to everyone I know and am trying to figure out what it would cost to effectively use my (rented) roof.

:applause:

[IndyOp]

12. Glad to hear you liked it! Lots more at the TED directory...

http://www.ted.com/talks

:hi:

[silverweb]

13. Oh, I know.

Believe me, I explored the TED website and bookmarked it. Instead of TV time, I have TED time. :D

:hi:

[hootinholler]

15. That is the best 20 minutes I've ever spent.

From an engineering perspective, it's a big thought breakthrough if we can instill it in our young engineers.

-Hoot

[silverweb]

11. Love it!

Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful!

:bounce:

[Morgana LaFey]

14. How fabulous

For all the bad stuff going on in this country (and the world), there's an undercurrent of really good, very clever, pro-active, sustainable, life-affirming things going on too. Does my heart good.

[BornagainDUer]

16. Absolutely amazing. Who woulda thunk it? K&R. Combining wind

rubines, solar panels and farming. WOW!