The key concept in the following video is that cities can become food producers instead of just food consumers…via vertical farming. But what is vertical farming? Is it the kind of inner city, urban farming that happened in Havana [Cuba]? Or is it ‘just’ hydroponics farming? Or is it something more?
The examples of vertical farming begin at about 11 minutes into this 13 minute video. Well worth the investment in time.
My thanks to A.C. Stark for introducing me to both the video and the concept of vertical farming. A.C. Stark’s site is full of interesting posts that range from politics to climate change.
cheers
Meeks
Meeka's Mind 
April 12th, 2016 at 1:45 am
Thank you for sharing this, AC. I’ve been seeing this idea become more and more popular–which gives me great hope for our future. I just hope that if/when farm land is then given back to nature that there is a mechanism in place to keep it that way in perpetuity. My jaded outlook makes me immediately envision salivating developers who can’t wait to hoover up the now-available farmland…
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April 12th, 2016 at 2:05 pm
Sadly our track record isn’t great. I suspect ex-farmland will only be given back to nature if no businessman can find a profitable use for it. 😦
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April 11th, 2016 at 10:39 pm
You might be interested in this, Meeks. I heard this man speak and my hubby has read his book. It speaks to these issues. http://www.friesenpress.com/bookstore/title/119734000015108799/Paul-Hanley-Eleven
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April 12th, 2016 at 2:10 pm
I can’t buy Eleven just yet but I will. It sounds as if it is a pragmatic blueprint for the future. Thanks for the tip, Yvonne.
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April 12th, 2016 at 10:05 pm
Mt pleasure.
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April 11th, 2016 at 7:15 pm
I just hope that one day politicians in general will actually realize that it’s these things in various departments (and slowly changing the way people think) is what really works instead of “We need to do something big! Here’s a legislation.”
Like NASA going to Mars. Not only do they take less money than everyone else from taxes (2 cents i think to the dollar), the problems they have to solve in order to go there in a viable and sustanable way will solve a bucket load of problems here.
It’s so hard to do that, that the first problem to be solved would be countries actually working with each other for a change. Medicine, they won’t have access to the same healing magic, so anything that they bring with them will have to be awesome. Better Vertical farming! Heck, cordless drills were invented by NASA and not patented so now everyone has one.
@Andrea. No beef? NO BEEF?! We … are not friends anymore.
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April 12th, 2016 at 2:03 pm
You are so right George, about the value of science at least. Re beef….I’m not so sure. :p Those cows fart like you would not believe!
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April 13th, 2016 at 2:50 am
Weee could harvest their farts for power? Burning them. Like those youtube videos.
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April 13th, 2016 at 5:16 pm
lmao – yes but then how would you make them free-range?
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April 11th, 2016 at 5:20 pm
Bet you are not surprised to know that I like this concept! We would still need grazing land (unlikely that the world will turn vegetarian 😉) and I wonder what his thoughts are about cereal crops. Must check out the site you mentioned.
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April 11th, 2016 at 6:42 pm
As an unrepentant carnivore, I agree about the need for grazing land, but perhaps we need to move away from things such as beef and lamb. Alpacas are far kinder to the land [toes not hooves], plus they browse rather than graze so I believe they do less overall damage. Plus there’s kangaroo and crocodile. Not wild about kangaroo but croc is just like chicken. 😀
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April 13th, 2016 at 10:21 am
Are alpacas good to eat? Not that I am suggesting you eat yours!!! I like the idea of them being kinder to the land, and wool from their fleece is wonderful to knit.
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April 13th, 2016 at 5:18 pm
I’ll be honest, I could never eat alpaca meat now that I’ve got some of my own, but I’ve read that it’s quite tasty. If beef went off the menu, though, I think I might stick to croc. 🙂
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April 11th, 2016 at 11:21 am
There’s more and more of this coming up in urban areas. I hope the trend gets bigger—with everything from tomato plants and herbs in boxes on terrace to mini farms and orchards.
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April 11th, 2016 at 11:26 am
Yes! Melbourne is basically one huge suburban sprawl so there’s no excuse for people not to grow at least something, but the wasteland of the inner city could definitely do with some vertical farming.
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