Please respond to the following prompt via the comment section by Sunday at 8pm.
BLOG EXERCISE 1
Post 1: Share a link to a relevant project or article you found during your research.
Post 2: Write a 2-3 paragraph response to the in-class reading 'The Vertical Farm' by Dickson Despommier. Be polemical!
The Green Building Information Gateway: http://www.gbig.org/
ReplyDeleteHere you can explore buildings, systems, strategies, etc. that have been employed to lower a buildings impact on the environment.
"How Green is it is now an analytical question..." And here's the Sidwell Friends School!
Deletehttp://www.gbig.org/buildings/3825%20Wisconsin%20Ave%20NW,%20Washington,%20DC%2020016,%20USA
But it appears to be just about how many awards have been won, though it does show walkability and access to public transportation!
Also, look at what the predominant strategies are.... no food?!
http://www.gbig.org/credits
Despommier, in his 2010 essay titled “Reducing the Impact of Agriculture on Ecosystem Functions and Services”, posits that traditional farming possesses inherent environmental risks and requires a level of land use that is unsustainable as the human population continues to increase. He proposes that vertical farming, agriculture which occurs in urban areas in high rise buildings, represents an alternative to traditional farming that addresses this concern. What follows is a brief evaluation of his polemic and its supporting evidence.
ReplyDeleteDespommier’s big idea, the concept of finding alternatives for traditional farming particularly in urban settings, is a good one, but the supporting evidence for his polemic as documented in this essay is weak. Most of his supporting evidence is unsubstantiated claims, non-sequiturs, and caveats. Space in this short evaluation prohibits a lengthy accounting of each of these. So, only a few are highlighted.
Despommier enumerates nineteen “advantages” that would “most likely be realized.” Number 5 states that “Vertical farming would allow farmland to be returned to the natural landscape, thus restoring ecosystem functions.” This statement overlooks the required governmental intervention to prevent these lands from being developed once no longer occupied by farming. An argument can be made that relocating farming may actually negatively impact these areas as they may be redeveloped for an ever expanding population. Number 15 states that “vertical farming may be useful for integrating into refugee camps. This unsubstantiated claim overlooks or, at least underestimates, the infrastructure required to erect vertical farms.
In his definition of vertical farms, Despommier make a claim that raising chickens and ducks in a vertical farm may have avoided the “current epidemic of avian influenza. By contrast, many consider corporate farms that raise these animals indoors, albeit in a horizontal environment, are much more likely to spread disease that free range strategies.
Finally, Despommier, himself, offers this caveat. “High-rise food-producing buildings will only succeed if the function by…recycling everything organic…” This caveat makes no accounting of or statements about the existence of such technologies or cost-benefit of their usage. Furthermore, we can reasonably apply this same statement to traditional farming. If we could only recycle everything organic in horizontal farms, we’d be in a much better place as well.
Reading Response | The Vertical Farm: Reducing the Impact of Agriculture on Ecosystem Functions & Services
ReplyDeleteOverall I think that the comments shared during our first class in regards to this reading were a bit harsh. The most basic idea that the author is trying to portray is that of the Vertical Farm. He states that our current path of agricultural development will prove to be unsustainable and he proposes that we alter our approach to a more efficient, productive, and most importantly, environmentally sustainable method.
The author’s claims about the sustainability of our current agricultural methods are valid and should generate immediate concern. Our current method propagates disease and genetic mutation, two things that will prove to be extremely detrimental to our species. Our increasing demand for prime agricultural farmland will surely bring to light the extreme scarcity of such resources in relation to a human population of over seven billion people. Our first priority should be to reduce consumption of these resources, charging us to remove energy consuming products that rely on agricultural production from our economy. This includes but is not limited to vehicles that rely on bioethanol based fuels as well as starch based plastics and packaging. Our second step towards a sustainable agricultural future is to promote the production of produce at an individual level. This would require proper education about farming, as well as an adaptation of building design to accommodate residential DIY agricultural production. After we have exhausted these efforts, then I believe that the idea of the Vertical Farm should be implemented.
I do believe that we can design buildings that would house ultra-efficient, sustainable, closed-cycle farming solutions. Claims that these buildings will solve all of our problems however, is a bit fictitious. Our current record of building production would suggest that we are incapable of producing healthy sustainable buildings as sources of shelter, let alone for efficient production of agricultural products. However, I think that if we can get past the economical and societal hurdles that cripple most sustainable solutions, then we may have a future in vertical farming as well as sustainable design as a whole.
Our second step towards a sustainable agricultural future is to promote the production of produce at an individual level. This would require proper education about farming, as well as an adaptation of building design to accommodate residential DIY agricultural production.
Deletethere's the beginning of a polemic!
Living wall manufacturer. This is one of the technologies I'm considering for my thesis project.
ReplyDeletehttp://greenovergrey.com/index.php
What do you think about the living paintings installed in the airport. I like the notion that "every project matters" from the TED talk Mary posted... but when does it get so eccentric that it hurts the cause? How do different cultures and demographics react to this?
DeleteWhat is the best quality of Green Over Grey's brand... or its particular products?
This article is about a recent vertical farm that is put up in Singapore
ReplyDeletehttp://edition.cnn.com/2012/12/09/business/eco-singapore-vertical-farm/index.html
Here is an article of Academy of Sciences
http://greensource.construction.com/projects/2009/03_California-Academy-of-Sciences.asp
Reading Response - The Vertical Farm: Reducing the Impact of Agriculture on Ecosystem Functions & Services
ReplyDeleteAs much as I like the idea of vertical farming, it seems the idea is far-fetched for now. The author definitely pointed out that some potential benefits associated with vertical farming. However, I have doubts about its sustainability and its viability to develop in a commercial scale. Since our primary concerns are energy crisis and environmental sustainability, I would like to respond to “The Vertical Farm Essay” in response to these problems.
The author mentioned the idea of reusing old skyscrapers for the vertical farming may seem sustainable; however, he neglected the fact that growing plants and raising animals in high rise green house will likely to use more energy consumption as it need to be in a thermal controlled environment. Also, additional superstructure is needed to support all the weight of plants and animals. This means it probably takes more natural resources from earth such as aluminum, iron and steel to construct these structures compared to traditional farming. Unless new technology is invented to support all vertical construction in a sustainable way or reduce energy consumption, I did not see how vertical farming can succeed not just economically but also in term of its sustainability which might be using more natural resources than other farming techniques.
The author also agrees that these projects need government supported incentive to develop. At times like economic recession, this idea may not be in favor; however, in the near future when gasoline is mostly exhausted out of the earth, people may be started considering for vertical farming idea and by that time, it will be too late to explore and test. Therefore, I agree with the author that vertical farming needed to be tested to valid its sustainability without suffering limited energy sources so that we can get some real answers whether it is a viable solution or not.
Reading Response 1, The Vertical Farm: Reducing the Impact of Agriculture on Ecosystem Function and Services
ReplyDeleteAfter re-reading the article and thinking more about our in-class discussion my opinion of the article began to change. Although I do question some of the statements made such as “3. All VF foods will be grown organically employing chemically defined diets specific to each plant and animal species; no herbicides, pesticides, or fertilizers and 4. VF eliminates agricultural runoff.” To me these statements are a little too broad and the article lacks the support showing how these goals will be achieved. The call for action that the article does provide is very important. We do need to think about farming and consumption very differently in order to move forward in a sustainable way.
One of the links below is a Ted talk discussing food deserts and the importance of public data and information. Many of the goals discussed in the Ted talk are directly aligned with the goals discussed in the article. The speaker makes a good point that “every project matters”, the more ideas, the more discussions the more solutions. Watching the Ted talk allowed me to see the problems of food distribution on a smaller scale and how a vertical farm could benefit a specific city.
Ted Talk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEWriN6kh3c
New York Times Article, Environmental Cost of Shipping Groceries Around the World
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/26/business/worldbusiness/26food.html?_r=0
Food Price Watch, November 2012
http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EXTPOVERTY/Resources/336991-1311966520397/Food-Price-Watch-November-2012.htm
Found this interesting article.
ReplyDeletehttp://inhabitat.com/living-green-wall-buffers-filters-construction-zones/symbiotic-green-wall-3/
Reading Response to "The Vertical Farm."
ReplyDeleteThe author’s main concern is that in 10,000 years our earth will be over populated and there will be no horizontal terrain to farm on left, forcing us to vertical farming. He brings out a point about health issues that we currently have, like: fecal contamination that can be minimize by vertical farming. But I am worried that there will side affects to this method of vertical farming.
Vertical farming will not be energy efficient due to constant lighting, on which all of the plans will depend on. Some crops will have to be under 24 hour light to prevent plants from dying. I think the idea is interesting, but in reality it needs more research that can provide detailed information about the crops produce. The author talks about eliminating tractors, plows, and shipping to save energy, and incorporating solar panels and wind turbines to produce energy for vertical farming. But for the most part vertical farming in this essay is a vision not a reality. There will not be enough solar panels and wind turbines to generate energy for a high rise structure, because solar panels also need a horizontal terrain to capture sun set energy and will generate less energy in the winter.
I believe we are getting ahead of our time and try to come up with solution that we do not have a problem as of now. In 10,000 years we will have a better technology to battle with the problem of vertical farming. I think we will be definitely thinking about vertical farming and redesigning it in the feature, but I may say it will be more beneficial when different specialists will come into one project.
As I said in class, I think the biggest threat to progress is over-reaching, or searching for a silver bullet. I think people have a tendency towards this in everyday life: People argue all the time that solar panels, or wind, or whatever, don’t create enough energy to get off the grid, so why bother. It sounds pretty good to me to remove my tv and water heater from my electric bill. And, maybe this year we cut 15%, next year 25% … and so on. Not to mention what I think is a moral and human obligation.
ReplyDeleteThis applies to this article on both sides. It seems human nature is to lean towards searching for ways to discredit ideas. The immediate response from the right after Newtown was that the gun was legally purchased, so there’s nothing to gain from banning assault weapons. Civilization is facing a number of environmental crises. And although Despommier may have over-reached some, the point remains valid. What will likely prove ineffective is attempting to tackle every environmental problem in one fell swoop. Let’s start small, get people on board --- then expand.
As for researching Harmonia 57, I have so far learned that I have an extremely naïve and limited understanding of what living architecture actually is.
ReplyDeleteThis link: http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/14/tech/innovation/living-buildings-carbon/index.html talks about biologically programming buildings to help us reverse climate change. I must say that this stuff is truly fascinating. And to think, I was jealous of the celebrity status of architects in the days of Stanford White. There’s a long way to go.
I don't know if you all have seen this company yet, but I think it's quite inspiring and well branded. I am not so interested in the scale that Despommier is espousing... look at what you can do to change your lifestyle now if you want to.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.windowfarms.com/
Thank you for your comments everyone! I think we're all trending towards the opinion that only a multitude of diverse solutions will help us to meet present and future environmental challenges. Katusha, I hope you begin to think of yourself as potentially becoming one of the specialists that will invent this future technology!
ReplyDeletejust added a 'top authors' widget to the sidebar and a 'recent comments' widget. We'll see if they work!
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