Back in the 1960s, Lisa Douglas, the Manhattan socialite played by Eva Gabor in the television sitcom “Green Acres,” had to give up her “penthouse view” to indulge her husband’s desire for “farm livin’.”
causes
fantastic plastic [infographic]
In today’s consumer world, plastic is everywhere—from plentiful stores of bottled water to disposable plasticware to the containers that hold our store-bought food. It seems like you can’t go out shopping without running into a good deal of plastic. And while this material is strong, reliable, and undoubtedly useful, we also may have way too much that isn’t being reused.
Recycling plastic uses much less energy than creating new plastic and it conserves our valuable resources. Despite this, only about a third of our plastic products are actually recycled. Among younger generations, the problem of our over-consumption of plastic has been prevalent for as long as some can remember, and yet little has changed or progressed in alleviating the problem.
Statistically, people in the Millennial generation (today’s high school and college students, as well as young adults) are much less likely to properly recycle plastic and other materials than those in older generations. If you’re of student or Millennial age, take a look at the following infographic—the reality is that younger generations need to start getting serious about recycling, or the future will be robbed of some very valuable resources.
[source: OnlineEducation.net]
december 19th, 2012 | posted by megan | causes
brooklyn-made furniture built from sandy’s scraps
François Chambard used storm-ravaged refuse from around Red Hook to create a collection of lamps whose proceeds will benefit Sandy relief efforts.
Hurricane Sandy destroyed hundreds of homes, offices, and schools. It also hit the creative community hard, damaging dozens of artists’ studios and tons of work along the waterfront in Red Hook and Greenpoint. Now, creatives are leading a charge to turn their talents towards the relief efforts.
Reclaim NYC invites local artists and designers to create furniture using material reclaimed from storm cleanup sites, then auctions off the work to benefit Sandy relief efforts. “We hope our fallen trees and storm-damaged building materials can be reborn as objects that represent the city’s recovery,” write the group’s founders. On December 19, Reclaim NYC will host its first auction, with work made by 24 artists and designers.
When the group was founded just after the storm, one of the first people it contacted was François Chambard, the Greenpoint furniture designer behind UM Project. “Nothing bad happened in my studio,” says Chambard, despite being located a few blocks away from Newtown Creek, a superfund cleanup site that flooded badly during Sandy. “We just lost our phone connection for a few weeks. We were so lucky compared to other people.” His friends at Token, a furniture design studio in Red Hook, were not. Their studio was completely destroyed. “I remember thinking, I have to do something. I have no money to donate,” he laughs, “but I do have time to work at night or on the weekend.”
After Reclaim NYC solicited Chambard for work, he found his inspiration while helping clean up Token’s drowned office in Red Hook, which was clogged with industrial refuse. “Reclamation isn’t my specialty the way it is for some designers” he says. “I work with industrial materials. I knew I wasn’t going to walk away with reclaimed wood.” Instead, he collected electrical junction boxes, rusty steel sheets, and a ruined garbage can and got to work.
It took him roughly three weeks to build six pieces, working when he had free time and soliciting donations for detail materials from around the city. A Queens wood turner made the wooden parts, while a nearby paint shop donated lacquer. A New Jersey distributor supplied Corian for the base of one lamp, while a Brooklyn shop donated felt for linings. “I think it says a lot about the New York design community,” Chambard adds.
Some might balk at the notion of owning a lamp made from debris Sandy left behind. But as New Jersey residents working to reuse the Atlantic City boardwalk have found, storm survivors can be passionate about preserving evidence of the destruction. The Reclaim NYC project is following a similar instinct, turning objects destroyed by the storm into ad hoc memorials. “It sounds like a cliché, but there’s a real sense of optimism in the design community here,” Chambard adds. “We all come to the table, we each have different voices, but it’s somehow very cohesive. It’s what I love about the city.”
The Après Collection will be on the auction block on December 19, alongside work from Dror Benshetrit and Lindsey Adelman. RSVP here.
[via: Fast Co.Design]
december 16th, 2012 | posted by megan | causes, daily inspiration
blanketing boise
via Greenbelt Magazine, by Elisabeth Sharp McKetta
Hundreds of local homeless Boise residents receive warmth from the idea of one thoughtful woman and her rallying company and community.
Anyone who has ever had or been a child understands the significance of blankets. My toddler daughter says a longer, more tender goodbye to her blanket than she says to her father or to me.
Three years ago, Laura Herrick, an account director with Foerstel Design, worked with her company to create the Boise Blanket Drive after recognizing the transformative power of blankets to help the homeless.
Foerstel Design is located near 16th and Main Street, near the hub of Boise’s homeless care facilities. One autumn night in 2009, Herrick and a colleague were working late. When they left the office they were struck both by the sight of so many homeless people overflowing from the shelters and also by the thought that for most of the year in Boise, these people are out in the cold. Herrick knew that Boise has a generous number of food and coat drives, and it occurred to her that these people could probably use blankets.
“A good blanket can keep a family warm all night,” Herrick says. Both she and her colleague had unused blankets at home, and so they brought some back the next day.
The response was overwhelming. The homeless shelter invited Herrick to their annual memorial service, always held the day before Thanksgiving.
“It was such a touching ceremony,” Herrick says. “It is an outdoor vigil with candles and a bonfire. The shelter provides a big dinner for the homeless that night. The ceremony honors the homeless who have died during the year, telling personal stories about the value of those people’s lives.”
The ceremony includes an assortment of religious rituals, in hope of speaking to as many people of different faiths as possible. A local bagpipe player volunteers the music. And this year, for the third year in a row, the ceremony will include the gift of blankets.
Now every year Foerstel Design creates posters for the Blanket Drive, places them around town, and offers their office as a receiving place for donated blankets. The Blanket Drive has had a generous turnout of givers in its first two years, which goes to demonstrate one of the many wonderful things about Boise: if you give people here an avenue for helping others, they will use it. And many people have extra, unused blankets in their houses.
To participate, bring a clean blanket in good condition to Foerstel Design (located at 249 S 16th St, Boise, ID 83702) during the two weeks before Thanksgiving. Blankets do not have to be new.
Baby blankets are welcome, too. Roughly one-sixth of the homeless population is made up of children, from babies to pre-teens. One year someone brought a stack of Disney blankets, and the homeless children were over-the-moon excited.
There are a thousand worthy ways to donate to the community: you can give time, give blood, give money, give toys, give clothes. In giving blankets, the people at Foerstel Design have found a way to give that helps the homeless keep warm in more ways than one.
“A coat is functional,” Herrick says, “but a blanket is personal.”
let’s not forget to be thankful for the earth
Thanksgiving is just a week away and many of us will be surrounded by friends and family enjoying an amazing home cooked meal of turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy. With delicious food on our minds, we often forget how the Thanksgiving holiday affects the environment. Of the 248 million turkeys raised each year, over two-thirds (that’s 82.67 million turkeys) are consumed each Thanksgiving.. For many Americans, turkey is a must-have during the holiday feast, even with it, there are ways to have a healthier, more sustainable “Turkey Day”.
buy local
As a measure to reduce carbon emission, it’s best to purchase your turkey from a local, organic source which helps keep agriculture thriving in your area. Check AllOrganicLinks.com for a comprehensive database for all things organic. Organic turkeys ensure that no pollution will enter the air or water as a result of harmful pesticides and hormones, thus making them taste better ultimately better for you. Additionally, when buying produce make sure to buy local and organic and in-season vegetables. This will reduce the carbon emissions of your Thanksgiving. If you’re unsure of which vegetables are in season, click here.
limit travel
Many Americans hit the road to visit family and friends; this is one of the hidden greenhouse gas creators during the Thanksgiving holiday. When possible, make sure to carpool to your dining destination, or invite your neighbors into your home, keeping everyone close and strengthening the community while reducing the ecological impacts of the holiday. According to GreenLivingEco.com, if every family reduced their Thanksgiving gas usage by one gallon, we would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by one million tons each year.
reduce waste
Like many people, the meal is the favorite part about the holiday. However, Americans waste about 25% of food each year on Thanksgiving. To reduce this, plan your meals appropriately. A rule of thumb is to have a main course, four sides, and a dessert - assume each person will have about one pound of turkey and approximately one-fourth of a pound of each side. If you still end up making too much, remind your guests to bring food storage containers and send them home with a ‘doggie bag’ or donate them to local homeless shelters. Composting the remaining scraps is another sustainable alternative.
decorations
While a big feast can generate holiday bliss, festive decorations can also contribute. When decorating, keep in mind sustainable, homemade ways to give your home the Thanksgiving vibe. Use items from your yard - gather pine cones, twigs, and leaves to create a centerpiece. Pair candles with walnuts to create a modern tablescape.
be thankful
With cheer in the air around the holiday seasons, it’s always important to thank your family and friends for an amazing year, but we should also appreciate the earth for supplying us with an amazing place to live, beauty to view, and food to eat. Do your part to have a sustainable, healthy Thanksgiving to make sure there are more beautiful holidays for generations to come.
[source: US Census]
movember
I’ve noticed a huge trend in the mustache in recent years. Whether it’s just a fad or simply becoming more socially accepted, there’s definitely been a surge in the ’stache. Not only have I seen more men sporting the fuzz below the nose, brands are using it in logos and marketing efforts; companies are even producing mustached mugs, shirts, home goods, jewelry, well…everything now.
mugs
salt + pepper shaker
earrings
Beyond the retail and design trends, there are mustaches with meaning. “Movember” is a yearly event during the month of November which involves the growing of mustaches to raise awareness of prostate cancer and other male-related health issues. Since 2004, the Movember Foundation has been holding charity events across the globe with the goal of “changing the face of men’s health”.
By encouraging men (”Mo Bros”) to get involved, Movember aims to increase early cancer detection, diagnosis and effective treatments, and ultimately reduce the number of preventable deaths. Besides getting an annual check-up, the Movember Foundation encourages men to be aware of any family history of cancer, and to adopt a more healthy lifestyle.
The Movember Foundation was established in Melbourne, Australia in 2004 and has since grown to hold events in 12 countries; 2007 was the first year the United States was incorporated. November 1 kicks off the month-long event with a clean shave. To participate, follow the rules below, follow them on their social media sites and and help them in their mission to promote early cancer screenings and an overall healthy lifestyle. Happy growing!
The rules of conduct from the Movember site are:
- Once registered at movember.com each mo bro must begin the 1st of Movember with a clean shaven face.
- For the entire month of November each mo bro must grow and groom a moustache.
- There is to be no joining of the mo to [one's] sideburns. (That’s considered a beard.)
- There is to be no joining of the handlebars to [one's] chin. (That’s considered a goatee.)
- Each mo bro must conduct himself like a true country gentleman.
[sources: Wikipedia, Movember US, Coty Gonzalez]
november 1st, 2012 | posted by megan | causes, daily inspiration
the health benefits and drawbacks of coffee
One of the reasons we love Care2 so much is their consistency in producing informative, balanced content that focuses just as much on the benefits as it does the drawbacks. That being said, we were very interested to learn about the health benefits and drawbacks of something that millions of us enjoy and at times depend on to get us through our day.
Coffee is the cattle prod of beverages. The very aroma is enough to coax most people out of bed in the morning, and millions of Americans rely on java’s jolt to ramp up their energy and propel them through the workday. Collectively, we drink an astounding 350 million cups of coffee a day in this country.
Coffee presents a conundrum for the body, however.
On one hand, the brew brims with free-radical-fighting antioxidants, which helps explain its protective, anti-inflammatory effect against everything from type 2 diabetes to heart disease. Caffeine itself, which is a nervous-system stimulant, leads to sharper focus and enhanced concentration, and it can brighten a bad mood.
“For some individuals, caffeine is something of a miracle drug,” says Daniel Evatt, PhD, a researcher in the department of psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. “These individuals report several benefits with minimal negative effects. However, other caffeine users can develop a bad relationship with it, consisting of unpleasant withdrawal symptoms and other problems, such as sleep difficulties and anxiety.”
That’s the catch. Coffee came by the nickname “jitter juice” honestly. Ingest too much caffeine and a pleasant buzz can nosedive into restlessness, nervousness, insomnia and even muscle twitching. The effect is so reliable, says Laura Juliano, PhD, a caffeine researcher at American University in Washington, D.C., that researchers who study anxiety use caffeinated coffee to incite feelings of anxiousness in study participants.
But not everyone responds the same. A small cup of coffee leaves some people feeling twitchy while others can down a pot without batting an eye. Body weight, age, gender and even genetics may factor in to how the body metabolizes caffeine, says Evatt. Which is why coffee’s vice-and-virtue story is comparable with red wine and chocolate — satisfying substances that are healthy and that attract enthusiasts, but require sensible consumption.
Here’s what the experts say about squeezing the health benefits from the bean without getting burned:
Antioxidant Elixir
Coffee is the single greatest source of antioxidants in the American diet. Ounce-for-ounce, other foods, such as blueberries, pecans and even cinnamon, pack more antioxidants than coffee, but they aren’t nearly as popular.
On average, coffee drinkers down 3.4 cups a day, gleaning 40 percent of their daily antioxidants from the brew. (In comparison, fruits and vegetables account for just 23 percent.) The number is high partly because people drink so much coffee, but it’s also because the beverage is brimming with polyphenols, a type of antioxidant found in many vegetables and berries.
Polyphenols confer some serious health benefits. In particular, they destroy free radicals, which are rogue molecules that create inflammation. Unchecked inflammation underlies many chronic illnesses, such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
The more antioxidants in the diet, the less inflammation in the body, says John Hibbs, ND, a senior clinician at Bastyr University in Kenmore, Wash. “A cell that can control intracellular inflammatory processes is going to survive better under the duress of daily living.” (For people who prefer “unleaded” java, the good news is that decaf coffee has just as many antioxidants as the “leaded” version.)
Deter Diabetes
New data reveals that one of coffee’s unexpected benefits may be helping to prevent type 2 diabetes, a disease predicted to affect one in three Americans by 2050, according to estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Rob van Dam, PhD, a nutritionist at the Harvard School of Public Health, led one of the largest research projects to date — a meta-analysis of nine cohort studies with nearly 200,000 participants — and found that subjects who drank six or more cups of coffee a day lowered their risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 35 percent. Granted, that’s a lot of coffee, potentially enough to trigger negative side effects in some. But those who drank between four and six cups daily still had a 28 percent risk reduction, and other studies have shown a significant benefit with just one cup a day. “The important point is that when all the evidence is weighed, the benefit isn’t restricted to those who drink the most,” van Dam says.
It’s worth noting that caffeine is not the magic ingredient here, since decaf drinkers enjoy the same diabetes-thwarting benefit. At this point, the mechanism of that benefit isn’t clear. Some think a substance in coffee called chlorogenic acid slows the release of glucose into the bloodstream. Others hypothesize that it’s the beverage’s antioxidants that help regulate the body’s sensitivity to insulin. “It’s all a bit speculative at this point,” says van Dam.
Keep in mind, too, that studies showing health benefits for type 2 diabetes and beyond are based on coffee that’s black or with only a little milk or sugar — a far cry from the frothy, milky, super-sweet concoctions sold in many cafés today. “People may not realize that having a beverage like that could lead to weight gain,” says van Dam, “which could in turn increase the risk of type 2 diabetes, and that’s a major concern.”
Rustproof Your Heart
Like wine, coffee confers heart benefits. When researchers looked at more than 27,000 women in the Iowa Women’s Health Study, they found that coffee drinkers (one to three cups a day) lowered their risk of heart disease by 24 percent compared with their non-coffee-drinking peers. Women who drank four to five cups a day were 33 percent less likely to die from any inflammatory disease.
Again, the beneficial ingredient is most likely the antioxidants. The foundation of heart disease is inflammation of the blood vessels, which is instigated and propagated by free radicals. And nothing combats free radicals better than antioxidants.
“Coffee delivers a whole host of antioxidants that essentially prevent you from rusting from the inside out,” says James O’Keefe, MD, a cardiologist at Saint Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City, Mo.
For people with high cholesterol, however, there is a caveat. Coffee contains two oily substances — cafestol and kahweol — that can raise blood levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL, the “bad” cholesterol). The oils are released when beans are brewed, and they easily pass through the metal filters used in French press and stovetop espresso pots. Paper filters, on the other hand, which are used in drip coffee machines, trap the substances before they hit the cup, virtually eliminating any risk of an uptick in cholesterol.
Buffer Your Brain
The caffeine in coffee could also safeguard your noggin. Consider coffee’s impact on depression — a scourge that affects millions of Americans. Data from the Nurses’ Health Study shows that rates of depression lower in lockstep with the amount of coffee consumed. Compared with those who drank no more than one cup of coffee a week, women who drank four or more daily cups experienced depression 20 percent less often.
Since drinkers of decaf suffered from the blues just as often as people who didn’t drink coffee at all, scientists suspect caffeine is the blues buster.
Exactly how the substance fights depression is not well understood, but it is known that when it enters the brain, caffeine changes levels of chemical messengers such as serotonin and dopamine, which are linked to feelings of joy and enthusiasm, says Michel Lucas, PhD, RD, a research fellow at Harvard School of Public Health. “Caffeine increases your energy levels and feelings of wellness, two things that can have an impact on depression.”
Studies also show a 30 percent reduced risk of developing Parkinson’s disease among coffee drinkers, for similar reasons. That’s because Parkinson’s is caused by the loss of brain cells that make dopamine, a chemical instrumental in movement and fine motor control.
Caffeine Overload
Regardless of the benefits, of course, you can drink too much of a good thing. Caffeine, like nicotine and amphetamines, can be highly addictive. Regularly drinking 100 milligrams (the amount in 6 ounces of drip coffee) is enough to create a physical dependence. “It acts on the motivational brain mechanisms that make you want to use more, regardless of how it makes you feel,” says Evatt.
If you’ve ever overindulged in caffeine, you know that it can make you feel pretty crummy. That’s because excess caffeine goads the adrenal glands into releasing stress hormones, like adrenaline and cortisol, that can put the brain and body into a panic-like state.
That’s not just unpleasant, it’s unhealthy. “The more caffeine you have onboard, the more often you trigger the body’s emergency response system,” says Jacob Teitelbaum, MD, a board-certified internist and author of Beat Sugar Addiction Now! (Fairwinds Press, 2010). “And, if I keep setting off the siren every 10 minutes, I’m going to burn out.”
Caffeine’s artificial energy boost can also distance people from their natural energy rhythms, says Elson Haas, MD, founder and director of the Preventive Medical Center Marin in San Rafael, Calif., and coauthor of The Detox Diet, Third Edition (Ten Speed Press, 2012). Caffeine’s false-energy effect can encourage people to overdo, and dissuade them from taking recovery breaks when they should. “Pretty soon you’re both wired and tired,” he says.
Over time, the adrenal glands may not make enough cortisol to maintain a baseline of energy, a condition referred to as adrenal fatigue. “You are pushing on an organ that doesn’t have the reserves to respond to the stimulant anymore,” Haas says. (For more on adrenal fatigue, see ELmag.com/adrenal2011.)
Decaf seems like an obvious way to deal with jitters, but the safety of the standard decaffeination process worries some health-conscious consumers. To strip the caffeine from the bean, most coffee companies use chemical solvents, such as methylene chloride or ethyl acetate. The solvents are rinsed away at the end of the process, but if you are concerned about chemical residue, look for companies selling coffee decaffeinated via the Swiss Water Process, which uses water instead of chemicals. (For more on decaf, see “Pass the Decaf,” below.)
The best way to avoid long-term complications is to experiment with how you can enjoy caffeine without overdoing it. People metabolize caffeine differently, notes Hibbs. “Constitutionally, we are all different,” he says, “and certain people are more susceptible to the negative effects than others.”
So, if you’re not a fan of the brew, don’t feel compelled to join the coffee club. Although their exact compounds vary, green and black teas also have high levels of antioxidants.
If you really enjoy your java, though, don’t fret. In tandem with healthy sources of energy, such as nutritious food, regular exercise and restful sleep, you can enjoy that caffeine boost.
“Feed your body, use your body, rest your body and do things you love” is Teitelbaum’s mantra. “And, if you need a little boost,” he adds, “a cup of coffee is perfectly reasonable.”
One Hot Energy Drink
In athletes, caffeine is one of the few legal drugs scientifically proven to boost performance. It mobilizes fat stores, freeing up energy for hard-working muscles. It also draws more calcium into muscles, thereby strengthening their contraction. And it triggers the brain to release endorphins, which raises a person’s pain threshold. If you’re worried about dehydration, don’t be. The notion that caffeine causes the body to lose precious water stores has been widely refuted by studies showing caffeine has no negative impact on hydration.
Coffee Bean Primer
Coffee drinkers used to have one decision to make: regular or decaf. But the rise in gourmet and specialty coffees demands that we all become coffee connoisseurs. When faced with a choice of beans, here are a few basics to keep in mind:
- Bean: The two most commonly used coffee-plant varieties are arabica and robusta. Arabica beans are considered by many to be more flavorful; hence they are more expensive and often used in gourmet coffees. The less expensive robusta beans are used primarily to make instant coffee and have roughly twice the caffeine as arabica.
- Roast: Darker roasts, like French, contain less caffeine than lighter roasts because some of the caffeine burns off during the roasting process. Roasting also degrades the polyphenol antioxidants. So, if you are looking for a bigger kick, choose a lighter roast.
- Grind: Generally, the finer the grind, the more caffeine you will extract. Whether you want a fine or coarse grind, though, depends on how long the water will be in contact with the beans. If it’s just a few seconds, like espresso, a finer grind maximizes contact between water and the surface area of the beans. If it’s a few minutes, like a French press, a coarser grind ensures a smooth, mellow cup. Espresso packs less caffeine per serving than drip coffee, but espresso will give you a quicker buzz if you drink it in one or two gulps, like many do.
- Aroma: Coffee’s aroma is both distinctive and alluring. In one study, just the smell of coffee was enough to increase people’s typing speed. Roasted coffee beans contain roughly 800 aromatic compounds. As with wine, coffee’s aromatic compounds — and, therefore, its flavor — are heavily influenced by geography. Elevation, moisture and temperature are just three examples of what makes coffee grown in Central America taste different from coffee grown in East Africa.
Pass the Decaf
Not everyone can tolerate caffeine. The jolt to the central nervous system can exacerbate stress, anxiety and insomnia. Caffeine also amps up the stomach’s production of gastric juices, so coffee can cause heartburn or worsen symptoms of irritable bowel disease. Babies lack an enzyme needed to metabolize caffeine, so lactating women are advised to nix the habit.
Some research even links caffeine to an increased risk of miscarriage, so pregnant women are also advised to take a pass. The good news is that decaf coffee contains most of the same health properties as regular. The bad news is that it’s not completely caffeine-free. In the United States, 97 percent of the caffeine must be eliminated for coffee beans to be labeled decaffeinated. Drink enough decaf, and you’ll still get a little buzz. If you do choose decaf, be sure to opt for one that has been decaffeinated without chemical solvents.
One Cup at a Time
Health benefits notwithstanding, it’s important to remember that coffee can be addictive. Most coffee drinkers ingest an average of 300 to 400 mg. of caffeine a day. “For many people, the daily use of caffeine is fueled by a desire to avoid withdrawal,” says Laura Juliano, PhD, a caffeine expert at American University in Washington, D.C. “Once you are dependent on it, you may be in pretty bad shape without it.”
The most common complaint of caffeine withdrawal is headaches. Inside the brain, caffeine plugs into receptors meant for the neurotransmitter adenosine. When adenosine is unfettered, the body relaxes, as widening blood vessels up the flow of oxygen to cells. When caffeine elbows adenosine out of the way, blood vessels constrict and you feel wired. Worse, once you are addicted, if you deprive your brain of caffeine, the blood vessels in your head will dilate and the rush of blood to the brain causes a pounding headache. The misery can last anywhere from 24 hours to nine days.
Other signs of caffeine withdrawal include fatigue, irritability, trouble concentrating and flulike symptoms. To lower the likelihood and severity of withdrawal symptoms, cut back gradually by curbing your intake 10 to 25 percent every few days.
october 10th, 2012 | posted by tom | causes
how consumers choose healthful foods
(Full size image here)
find farms in new york city by looking up
Mr. Flanner, the president and head farmer of the Brooklyn Grange farming operation, picked greens last week for a restaurant in Brooklyn.
Today, she could have had both. New York City is suddenly a farming kind of town. Almost a decade after the last family farm within the city’s boundaries closed, basil and bok choy are growing in Brooklyn, and tomatoes, leeks and cucumbers in Queens. Commercial agriculture is bound for the South Bronx, where the city recently solicited proposals for what would be the largest rooftop farm in the United States, and possibly the world.
Fed by the interest in locally grown produce, the new farm operations in New York are selling greens and other vegetables by the boxful to organically inclined residents, and by the bushel to supermarket chains like Whole Foods. The main difference between this century and previous ones is location: whether soil-based or hydroponic, in which vegetables are grown in water rather than soil, the new farms are spreading on rooftops, perhaps the last slice of untapped real estate in the city.
“In terms of rooftop commercial agriculture, New York is definitely a leader at this moment,” said Joe Nasr, co-author of “Carrot City: Creating Places for Urban Agriculture” and a researcher at the Centre for Studies in Food Security at Ryerson University in Toronto. “I expect it will continue to expand, and much more rapidly, in the near future.”
For city officials, the rise of commercial agriculture has ancillary benefits, as well. Rooftop farms have the potential to capture millions of gallons of storm water and divert it from the sewer system, which can overflow when it rains. And harvesting produce in the boroughs means fewer trucks on local roadways and lower greenhouse gas emissions, a goal of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s administration.
Community gardeners and educators have tended plots and grown food for years. But they have only recently been joined by for-profit companies intent on getting back to the urban land.
Gotham Greens began harvesting from its hydroponic greenhouse on a rooftop in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn last year; it plans to open three more next year in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx. The existing operation, with 20 employees, grows bok choy, basil and oak leaf lettuce, and sells to retailers like Whole Foods and FreshDirect.
Brooklyn Grange, another farming operation, incorporated with the intention of finding a site in Brooklyn. But two years ago, a one-acre rooftop became available instead in Long Island City, Queens. The partners, led by Ben Flanner, the president and head farmer, spread out 1.2 million pounds of soil and started planting. This spring, Brooklyn Grange finally made good on its name, starting a second farm on a 65,000-square-foot roof at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, where more than 100 rows feature pattypan squash, scallions and beefsteak tomatoes.
Mr. Flanner pointed out two benefits to an agricultural aerie — plentiful sun and an absence of pests. “There are a number of parallels with regular agriculture,” he said. “What we don’t have are deer or foxes or rodents.”
One challenge: wind, which can whip between buildings and topple delicate seedlings. “We have to be clever to come up with solutions to reduce the amount of wind on the plants,” he said. “We do a lot of staking and trellising.”
Plans are in the works for even larger operations. In March, BrightFarms, which develops greenhouses near supermarkets to shorten the food-supply chain, announced it would create a sprawling hydroponic greenhouse on a roof in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, that is expected to yield a million pounds of produce a year. The chief executive, Paul Lightfoot, said the greenhouse would occupy up to 100,000 square feet, making it the nation’s largest such operation when it opens next year. (Recently, the company reached an agreement with the A&P supermarket chain to sell the Brooklyn produce.)
And last month, the city’s Economic Development Corporation issued a request for proposals for a 200,000-square-foot rooftop farm on a city-owned building on Food Center Drive in Hunts Point, the food-distribution hub in the Bronx. “We’re testing the marketplace,” said Seth W. Pinsky, the corporation’s president. “It was a logical place for a rooftop farm. If we’re successful at Food Center Drive, our hope would be to replicate this elsewhere.”
While there may be a veritable prairie of empty rooftops in the city, not all are suitable for growing crops, Mr. Nasr, of Ryerson University, said. Roofs must be strong enough to accommodate the weight of either soil or a greenhouse, and if they are not, strengthening them can be costly. Access is also a challenge, with some buildings lacking stairs or an elevator to the roof. Not all roofs enjoy full sun, with shadows cast by adjacent buildings. And neighbors wary of increased traffic and noise can be prickly.
“But in New York City,” Mr. Nasr said, “even if you eliminate roofs for all those reasons, you are still left with a large number that could be considered.”
The City Planning Department recently revamped the zoning regulations to encourage green development, including rooftop farms, and the City Council approved the changes. The new rules, called Zone Green, exempt greenhouses on nonresidential buildings from certain height and floor-area limits. Such structures cannot, however, exceed 25 feet in height and must be set back six feet from the edge of the roof.
Amanda M. Burden, the planning commissioner, credited the changes with “creating more places for urban agriculture to take root in a dense, built-up environment.”
Whether the relaxation of the zoning rules will unleash a flood of new proposals remains to be seen. None, so far, are planned for Park Avenue.
(via New York Times)
eat your fruits and vegetables!
The health benefits of a diet rich in fruits and vegetables outweigh the risks of pesticide exposure. The EWG’s Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides™ can be used to reduce your exposures as much as possible, but eating conventionally-grown produce is far better than not eating fruits and vegetables at all.
The Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce™ will help you determine which fruits and vegetables have the most pesticide residues and are the most important to buy organic. You can lower your pesticide intake substantially by avoiding the 12 most contaminated fruits and vegetables and eating the least contaminated produce.
This year the EWG guide has expanded the Dirty Dozen™ with a Plus category to highlight two crops — green beans and leafy greens, meaning, kale and collard greens - that did not meet traditional Dirty Dozen ™ criteria but were commonly contaminated with highly toxic organophosphate insecticides. These insecticides are toxic to the nervous system and have been largely removed from agriculture over the past decade. But they are not banned and still show up on some food crops.
Commodity crop corn used for animal feed and biofuels is almost all produced with genetically modified (GMO) seeds, as is some sweet corn sold for human consumption. Since GMO sweet corn is not labeled as such in US stores, EWG advises those who have concerns about GMOs to buy organic sweet corn.
