Dereliction Of Foodies

Posted on October 15, 2011 by quest

As urban farming becomes a valid source of obtaining fresh foods with local sources addressing energy and conservation concerns, will the direction we work towards be thwarted by local government or lack of necessary resources to continue our efforts?

The short answer to a long question is there are no guarantees. I have watched one community garden after another closed for a variety of reasons. All who partake should be aware of legalities http://www.theselc.org/food-and-livelihoods-project/ and poised to take action as the South Central Farmers in Los Angeles have. Although they didn’t prevail in the legal sense a commitment to continue sent them in many directions. Some facilitated by the mayor whose campaign led the farmers to believe he would be able to help them. During times like this when good food is unaffordable to many and we realize that subsidized means substandard products it is important to continue efforts and sometimes battles for the right to clean water and fresh foods. http://gefoodlabels.org/ By Susan Rigali

Susan Rigali is Owner/Executive Chef of Savor Solar. She has invested a significant amount of her career to education and research in the areas of food safety and the slow food movement. She has been a part of many organic urban gardening projects in L.A., which aim to transform socio-economic barriers that keep families from accessing healthy food and practicing eco-friendly lifestyles. For the majority of her career, Susan has worked in connection with the unique world of film and television production. Her accomplishments range from large scale events to intimate dining affairs.

Oregon proposes approval of wave energy project

New Urban Farming Laws In The Big Apple

Posted on August 18, 2011 by quest

While the latest poll numbers show popular support for Mayor Mike Bloomberg cooling off, the Mayor took action today on one the hottest issues in New York City – local food. Earlier today at City Hall, Bloomberg signed a package of laws that will help increase the amount of fresh, local food available in the city. This package of legislation is a key component of City Council Speaker Christine Quinn‘s highly praised “FoodWorks” plan, which is designed to significantly overhaul our regional food system. One bill requires the city to collect and publish “metrics” on how food is produced, processed, distributed, and consumed in the region. These metrics include everything from counting the number of restaurants in the city, to tracking the number of vendors at greenmarkets, to recording how much food is transported by truck or by rail. Having this baseline information can help officials make better decisions about how we get our food and how to improve its impact on public health and the environment.
Another bill calls for the creation of procurement guidelines to encourage city agencies to buy food grown or processed in New York State. (Without a change of state procurement law, which the City Council is also calling for in an official Resolution, NYC is currently hindered in encouraging the purchase of food from farmers in neighboring states.) Two other bills in the package promote urban agriculture and rooftop farming. By helping urban farming to flourish, New York may someday serve as a model for the benefits of truly sustainable, local agriculture.

I had the opportunity to testify on these food bills this past Spring, and now that they’ve passed, the sentiment is the same: New York has enormous potential to become a national leader in providing sustainable, local food, and these bills are a good first step in reforming our food system. At the same time, as we testified, ultimately the city will need to put in place concrete purchasing targets for buying regional food and define what constitutes “sustainable” food (just because it is local doesn’t necessarily mean it is healthy or better for the environment). Mark Izeman-Natural Resources Defense Council

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Urban Farming Seeing Green

Posted on June 4, 2011 by quest

Seeing Green: The Value of Urban Agriculture is a year-long research project that will measure the stormwater management potential of two urban farms; Brooklyn Grange (a rooftop farm) & Added Value (raised beds) in NYC. Our aim is to create a model for future research that can be replicated anywhere, to help validate and support urban farms. We think policies should be based on scientific study and we want our work to encourage the adoption of supportive incentives and non-restrictive regulations for urban farming.

This is important because farms give us a lot more than just produce- they increase food security, decrease food miles traveled, offer healthy and nutritious produce, create green jobs, improve air and water quality, combat Urban Heat Island effect, create habitat for critters, beautify neighborhoods and many more (feel free to message us we LOVE to talk about this). This is where you come in- we need your support to do this research- we need to raise $12,000 for the rest of our equipment.

The thing is, we know farms are good but we don’t know exactly how good. There are a lot of skeptics out there that need some convincing. And there is nothing better for combating a nay-sayer than hard data- all decisions in cities are based on numbers. But how can our research effect

WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY

Verizon’s Sustainability Initiatives Help Protect California’s Environment

Betting on the vertical farm

Posted on November 16, 2010 by quest

Going green is taking on new meaning as technological innovations and rethinking are providing solutions to age old problems like food and water shortage. The urban farming movement is attracting lots of interest not just because it can reduce transportation and it’s related environmental cost; but also it provides an opportunity for people to be empowered and creative in harvesting food they’ve planted themselves.
Just recently City Slicker Farms an Oakland California based community organization has been awarded a 4 million dollar grant to purchase a 1.4 acre parcel of land at 28th and Peralta streets in West Oakland, and construct a new urban farm park! In early 2010, City Slicker Farms conducted a community based planning process with residents of all ages and came up with an exciting farm park design. But with most things one solution will not work everywhere: particularity where land may be limited or non existent.

In his book the “Vertical Farm” former Columbia Professor Dickson Despommier says Verticle Farms may very well provide a solution to over population and increasing food demands. But if the idea and scale of a vertical farming structure seems just too impractical. It’s not for Converted Organics Inc. which announced today that it has closed on the acquisition of 95% of the membership interests in TerraSphere Systems, a rapidly growing pioneer in the vertical farming market.

“The acquisition of TerraSphere expands Converted Organics the Company portfolio of sustainable, environmentally-friendly green assets and is a continuation of our strategy to grow our business through accretive acquisitions,” said Edward Gildea, President and CEO of Converted Organics. Land based urban, roof based and skycraper vertical farms have the potential to transform agriculture as we know it; and solve much of the world’s pressing problems at the same time.

TERRA SPHERE – Nick Brusatore

LISTEN IN: GREEN WEBINARS

Cali Vineyard & NY College to build Urban Farm

Posted on November 11, 2010 by quest

The green economy is bringing together some interesting partnerships. From California’s Russian River DeLoach Vineyards joins up with Brooklyn’s Kingsborough Community College to start an Urban Farm on the 71-acre campus in Manhattan Beach, located at the southern tip of Brooklyn, New York. Wine & Spirits magazine named DeLoach Vineyards a Top 100 Winery for the tenth time in the winery’s history in 2009. DeLoach has grown its small-lot vineyard designate wine program, converted to organic and biodynamic farming practices, and implemented traditional Burgundian winemaking techniques such as open-top wood fermentors, native yeast fermentations, and hand punch-downs. Kingsborough serves a widely diverse student population and ranks among the top community colleges in the country in associate’s degrees awarded to minority students. DeLoach Vineyards announced

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Urban Farming in Hungry City LA

Posted on October 24, 2010 by quest

As more and more attention is being paid to the slow food movement, home food gardens, urban farming and yes vertical farms; here comes: Why is LA a Hungry City? The meeting is sponsored by the Los Angeles chapter of the American Institute of Architects. The interest in urban agriculture in a city such as Los Angeles is interesting particularly given its unique assets with respect to sunshine and it’s transportation problems. In part the meeting will deal with what laws and policies interface with the possibility for growing food in Los Angeles and what are the constraints of moving food, distributing food, and accessing food?

Like other major metropolitan areas Los Angeles is already stressing from population, water, transportation and energy issues: So an increased awareness of the relationship between food and health issues along with the proliferation of fast food venues have added to the urgency for solutions.

On hand for the Thursday, October 28 7pm meeting are Micheal Pinto, Shelley Marks, and Nicola Twilley; each discussing various perspectives on food production in the city of Angels. For example, Shelley Marks who has been a life-long community activist and volunteer, working on local and global issues pulled together a small group of like-minded friends and neighbors and formed Urban Farming Advocates (UFA) in 2009. The purpose of the group is to change laws in Los Angeles that restricted urban farming in residential zones. UFA created the Food & Flowers Freedom Act and worked with Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti to get these zoning changes adopted. The meeting will be held at AIA Los Angeles 3780 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 800 Los Angeles. For more information co RSVP to WILL WRIGHT at will@aialosangeles.org.