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We did it!

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Wish Us Luck

This is our second try at submitting our Pepsi refresh Project application, and we're on pins and needles trying to get through the jam. If we make, we'll let you know. And we'll add a little link to our blog so you can vote for our project (if you haven't already!)

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Aqua-Wha?

During my last year at school I had the privilege of taking a class titled Prices, Property, and the Problem of the Commons: An analysis of water resources and fisheries economics. Throughout the course we covered topics ranging from the Three Gorges Dam in China to certain lobster harvesting methods in practice in Maine. It was a fantastic course that taught me a lot, but if I had to sum everything up in one sentence it breaks down to the fact that our oceans are severely strained and we drastically need to change the way we think about fishing if demand for seafood continues on its current path.

Don't get me wrong. I love a good Maine lobster every summer. And fish and chips? Yes please. But just as we need to give consideration to the ways we acquire our fruits and veggies, the same applies to that oh so delicate, behind-the-scenes process of how our seafood gets to our plate at home, the restaurant, or wherever.

To get an idea of the impact commercial fishing has had on our oceans, check out this cool video featuring Professor Martin Schreibman of Brooklyn College. His work on urban aquaculture, or the cultivated farming of fish in urban dwellings, is impressive. And the more one learns about the practice, the more apparent it becomes that this is one direction we need to go. Humans have been farming fish for years and years. But the recent advancements in fishing technology, along with our spurred demand from growing populations, has taken a drastic hit on our fishing waters. As noted in the video, 75% of the world's fish species is either fully exploited or depleted, which means serious change will need to come for how we get this food.



Fortunately, options do exist. One such method is aquaponics, which combines the hydroponic growing of fruits and veggies with aquaculture, as explained in Professor Schreibman's video. Essentially, waste from the fish is used as nutrients for the plants, which then return this filtered water back to the fish tanks, resulting in closed loop, organically fertilized water recycling system that requires only a fraction of the inputs needed in typical field agriculture.

At the moment, a San Francisco company called Cityscape Farms is hoping to have one such aquaponic greenhouse installed on a vacant rooftop in the city's southeastern region where the use of solar energy to power the systems can be maximized. With plans to supply its fruits, veggies, and fish to local restaurants and nearby distributors, while also holding farmers markets of its own, this enterprising company has caught some noted attention. One figure who sees the company reaching potential success is Dr. Dickson Despommier, Professor of Public Health in Environmental Health Sciences at Columbia University who is credited with developing the concept of vertical farming. Where does Cityscape Farm's potential success lie? Mainly in the fact that the growth cycles of the plants in these systems greatly outpaces those found in traditional agriculture.

As explained in this article over at GOOD, plants grown in traditional settings expend much energy growing roots downward to search for water and nutrients. Under these hydroponic systems where nutrients from the fish waste are constantly accessible, however, the plants can have shallower root systems and instead use more of this energy on actual vegetative growth. This ultimately results in a system that, according to Cityscape, will allow for the annual production of over 100 tons of food in a 20,000 sq. ft. area.

Considering this breaks down to a yield of 10 lbs of food per sq ft, one can only be impressed by the level for potential success. Production numbers like these, coupled with the fact that the greenhouses are planned to be run almost entirely off the grid, makes it tough to find much that's fishy about a process like this.

Capitolizing on Rooftops

Could rooftop farming be Washington D.C.'s future? A new school lunch bill introduced by D.C. Council woman Mary Cheh would encourage district schools to purchase organic produce grown on farms with "sustainable practices." Eventually, according to the bill, schools would partner with local farms in a "farm-to-school" program so that students could learn first hand about growing sustainable food.

The proposal also recommends that D.C. schools develop their own schoolyard gardens. But what if schools killed two birds with one stone by building a rooftop garden on each school? That way the "farm-to-school" program could be right upstairs from the classroom--an accessible and convenient way for kids to learn about how sustainable food can be grown.

With large, flat and unused roofs, schools are ideal candidates for rooftop farms. School cafeterias ship in frozen and freeze dried food from around the country, feeding children unhealthy food grown on industrial farms. Instead of packing into a bus to take a field trip to a farm, students could walk upstairs to the school roof and take part in the growing process. The best way to affect the future of food is to begin with kids.

Vancouver Abuzz with Rooftop Farming

Who said rooftop farming was limited solely to the cultivation of fruits and vegetables? Vancouver surely didn't. As part of its stride to be the greenest city in the world Vancouver is moving ahead with the demonstration of two beehives on the roof of its City Hall. More than 60,000 bees already call the city's Convention Center home, which boasts four beehives on its 2.4 hectare green roof. Numerous other hives have also been established for some time at the University of British Columbia, Science World, and VanDusen Botanical Garden. This most recent introduction, however, comes as part of the city's plan to increase local food production by way of an increase in urban gardens. And of course, no pollinators are more prominent in Canada than the honeybee.

The same can be said for numerous other regions across the world. More than 84% of crop species in Europe, for instance, depend directly on insect pollinators. Unfortunately, bee colonies have been disappearing at alarming rates all across the world the past few years, a phenomenon now termed the Colony Collapse Disorder. Seeing that one-third of the human diet is made up of plants that require pollination from honeybees, this disorder has quickly grabbed the attention of the scientific community across the world. Many attribute the devastation to the use of systemic pesticides, which spread throughout all parts of a plant and consequently get transported back to a honeybee's hive via its pollen. For more on this crisis check out the most recent article in this past week's NY Times article.

Whichever the cause, one thing is certain. Bees raised in urban settings have found much more success than their countryside counterparts over the past few years, mainly due to the absence of pesticides and consistent rotation of flowers and plants within the city. In Paris, bee hives have been sprouting up all over the city's rooftops, gardens, balconies, and parks in an effort to preserve the precious pollinator, with more than 300 registered hives now in the city. The Opéra Garnier is home to more than 140,000 bees alone. Additionally, these city dwellers could produce up to five times the output of those limited to single crops in rural areas, while also losing less than 5% of their colonies on a year over year basis compared to the 50% colony losses experienced in the countryside.

With a requirement for hives to be at least 25 meters from hospitals and schools and with a two meter screen if not established on a high roof, it appears that the cities have found an appropriate balance for incorporating these busy workers into city life. There's no question that highly effective urban farming techniques like these are here to stay. It's simply a matter of how we view them and embrace them for the best. In the words of Andrea Reimer, a member of Vancouver's Green Action Team who is allergic to bee stings herself, "Now we know if we don't have pollinators, we don't have tomatoes or cherry blossoms."

Paris photo by Franco Zecchin

Slicing and Dicing

Over here at RS we rooftoppers have been working on perfecting our salsa recipe, slicing and dicing up a storm to make sure we deliver the best product on the market. Too many salsas out there are thin and watery, almost like a tomato sauce. We want to be sure that our sauce holds its own, striking the perfect balance between spice and flavor, texture and consistancy. Most importantly, every single one of our ingredients need to be grown hydroponically. Tomatoes, garlic, jalapenos, onions, and cilantro can all be grown in our hydroponic roof garden.

Check out these photos of our fireroasted garlic and chili peppers, fresh ingredients, and finished product. We're well on our way to putting the final touches on our delicious sky high salsa. Now all we need is the funding for our rooftop greenhouses. Stay tuned for ways in which you can help support Rooftop Salsa!

San Fran's Urban Plan

Earlier this week Mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco broke ground for a new urban garden at the Department of Public Works steam powerhouse used to heat the city's Civic Center. This move is a result of Mayor Newsom's plan, rolled out last July, to transform the way San Francisco utilizes its unused spaces and ultimately connect its residents and neighborhoods with healthier eating and living habits.

As part of the initiative, all city departments conducted audits of unused real estate around the city that could be converted into gardens. These included windowsills, empty lots, median strips, and our favorite, rooftops. The city may also see the use of some favored concepts and designs promoted at the urban agriculture innovation competition it held last fall. Such implementations would include Mobile Markets, or carts stocked with produce from these gardens that can be taken to school pick-up zones and other destinations, as well as Chicken Cribs, which have been termed "the quick and easy, self-assembly urban chicken coop."

These innovations, coupled with the programs rolled out by the library for teaching teens how to cultivate these gardens, and those of numerous city health departments for hosting cooking classes at local farmer's markets and teaching people how to plant fruit trees will certainly bring the city in the direction desired by Mayor Newsom. It will be great to see how some of these innovations take hold as the years go on, but at the least they should be an example for all municipalities to follow. Every city has unused rooftops. Every city has barren lots. These vacant pieces of real estate are ready and waiting, it's simply up to us to tell our leaders how we want them used. And here at Rooftop we think one of the best ways is through the development of productive, urban gardens that will involve and teach all residents, young and old, how to both eat and live healthy.

To read the full article recently published in the San Francisco Chronicle click here.
Photo by Scott Chernis, Slow Food Nation