onwards & upwards - farming in the sky

The BBC series that had me glued to the TV for the last three weeks - Future of Food - concluded last night. Hopping from the UK to Cuba, Kenya, Mexico & India, the show presented some disturbing, somewhat eye-opening (cause we know it's happening, just maybe not to the extent revealed) & downright urgent subject matter for all inhabitants of planet earth. The fast track to mass starvation and complete & utter devastation of our natural resources that our global society is speeding along is something that needs to be addressed immediately & with significantly greater gravity by governments, aid agencies, agriculture & big business the world over.

Amidst all the scary stuff, however, the series introduced me to vertical farming. Check out this pioneering professor at Columbia University. Mr. Dickson D. Despommier is definitely someone I'd like to invite to dinner (and not just because his name is fantastic). Sometimes, ideas like this come along that seem so simple & sensible that you just KNOW the powers that be will likely vilify him & write him off as a nut. But ever since discovering the elevated gorgeousness of the High Line in Manhattan, I've had a real thing for nature being encouraged to prosper in unlikely (yet completely practical) urban spaces. What a smart concept! When we ran out of space for housing, modern society began to build up. Now we've stripped mother earth of all her viable agricultural lands. What to do? Why, build up, of course!

My dream: someday all major cities will be reaping the rewards (both agriculturally, culturally, financially & visually) of these skypscrapers-turned-farms.

*Looks at cement patch. Remembers these little jobbies. And scratches chin as all manner of crazy schemes start sprouting in her brain garden. Hmmmm*