Clipmarks | urbanlife's 'farm' clips

Father of India's Green Revolution Prepares for Evergreen Revolution

Mon, 12 May 2008 19:59:20 GMT

clipped by: urbanlife
clipper's remarks: “In every crisis is an opportunity” Swaminathan is once again agitating for revolution -- this time a perpetual one.

In the early ‘60s, India grew 12 million tons of wheat every year. Starvation was rampant and the country imported much of its food. Swaminathan, an agricultural geneticist, developed new strains of high-yield wheat for his country and the programs that led to an India that exports food. Today, India grows some 70 million tons of wheat and has become the world's second-largest wheat producer.

He says that today India has reached a plateau in production and productivity because a problem of under investment in rural infrastructure.

His M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture & Rural Development follows a pro-nature, pro-poor and pro-women orientation to a job-led economic growth strategy in rural areas through harnessing science and technology for environmentally sustainable and socially equitable development.

Clip Source: cache.daylife.com

Clip Source: www.hinduonnet.com

Clip Source: www.iaapindia.org

Clip Source: www.worldfoodprize.org

Dr. Monkombu Sambasivan Swaminathan received the first World Food Prize in 1987 for spearheading the introduction of high-yielding wheat and rice varieties to India’s farmers.

Clip Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Forty years after he helped rescue the world from growing famine and a deepening gloom over the future of food supplies

The 82-year-old scientist,

says the current food crisis offers the world a chance to put farmers on the right road to unending growth.

"I'm very happy now, because in every crisis is an opportunity,"

In the twenty-first century's "Evergreen Revolution", as he calls it, conservation farming and green technology will bring about sustainable change that could allow India to become an even bigger supplier of food to the world.

welcome news for the millions of impoverished people and food-importing nations who are struggling to cope with the surge in basic crop prices over the last year

The Green Revolution created a sense of euphoria that we have solved our production problem.

Clip Source: www.worldfoodprize.org

Tags: famine, food crisis, india, evergreen revolution, wheat, farm, green, sustainable

Urban Gardener Thinks Higher: A Rooftop Garden for Room to Grow

Tue, 06 May 2008 14:53:35 GMT

clipped by: urbanlife
clipper's remarks: Why should you consider a rooftop garden?

* Increase access to private outdoor green space within the urban environment
* Support urban food production
* Promote individual, community, and cultural diversity
* Improve air quality and reduce CO2 missions
* Delay stormwater runoff
* Increase habitat for birds
* Insulate buildings
* Increase the value of buildings for owners and tenants alike
* Create job opportunities in the field of research, design, construction, Iandscaping, gardening, health, and food production

Clip Source: www.thegrowspot.com

Clip Source: usahomeandgarden.com

Clip Source: adaptivereuse.net

Clip Source: www.greenroofs.com

Clip Source: www.iht.com

Clip Source: www.marigreen.cz

Clip Source: www.margueritegardens.com

Clip Source: environmentkrishna.blogspot.com

Tags: roof, green, environment, heat island, farm, community garden

Spain's New Record: Wind Power Supplied 40% of Energy Consumed

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 18:15:59 GMT

clipped by: urbanlife
clipper's remarks: Wind Power Is an Economic Winner in Spain: Spain is the world's second-biggest producer of wind energy.

Spanish companies, both turbine manufacturers and wind-farm operators, are among the leaders in the global wind-power market. Among these are Gamesa Eólica (world's second largest turbine manufacturer), Iberdrola (world's largest wind-farm owner and operator) and Acciona Energía (world's largest wind-farm builder and developer).

The industry currently enjoys a 30 percent annual growth.

Clip Source: www.technologyreview.com

Clip Source: www.metaefficient.com

Wind power is breaking new records in Spain, accounting for just over 40 percent of all electricity consumed during a brief period

As heavy winds lashed Spain on Saturday evening wind parks generated 9,862 megawatts of power which translated to 40.8 percent of total consumption

In July the government approved legislation that will allow offshore wind parks to be set up along the nation’s vast coastline in an effort to boost the use of renewable energy sources

offshore wind parks can take advantage of stronger, steadier coastal breezes

Spain, which along with Germany and Denmark, is among the three biggest producers of wind power in the 27-nation European Union, is aiming to triple the amount of energy it derives from renewable sources by 2020

Clip Source: www.technologyreview.com

Tags: wind power, alternative energy, spain, economy, green jobs

Winning Design: Urban Farm Above & Music Festival Below

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 13:42:53 GMT

clipped by: urbanlife
clipper's remarks: Winning Green Design: The movement from industrialization to post-industrialization, from global to local, from the free market to the farmer’s market, and from sand to hay. To be built for Summer 2008 PS1 Festival Series.

Work Architecture’s winning proposal calls for a series of cardboard tubes, each no more than a yard tall, being assembled next to each other to form a large platform. Some of those columns will be filled with a series of fruit-growing plants, everything from mint to peas, while some will remain completely open, from top to bottom, to allow some light to shine through.

PS1 was founded in 1971 as The Institute for Art and Urban Resources Inc., to the transformation of abandoned and underutilized buildings in New York City into exhibition, performance, and studio spaces for artists.

Clip Source: www.inhabitat.com

For the past seven years, the PS1 gallery has invited a number of young emerging architects to participate in this competition to design a temporary structure for their summer music festival.

Work Architecture, this year’s winner

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

proposal by Dan Wood and Amale Andraos, the husband-and-wife duo

the urban farm concept — including an abundance of fresh produce and a genuine harvesting plan

To organize the space they chose the heavy cardboard tubes

Each tube will play its own role. Some will contain plantings on dirt shelves equipped with liner bags to prevent leakage

There is a phone-charging column, a children’s grotto of columns with swings, an herb-growing column with circulating fans dispersing scents like basil or lavender,

one that plays farm sounds when you sit down, another in which you can look upward, see stars and hear crickets

Clip Source: www.inhabitat.com

reinvent the idea of a temporary space

how that leisure space could work for us, reinventing it for the city

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

combining it with a real farmer’s market

Tags: ps1 music festival, queens, art meets green design, architecture, farm

In a Slumping Housing Market, Pets Also Lose

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 21:22:46 GMT

clipped by: urbanlife
clipper's remarks: People releasing pets to fend for themselves, or simply leaving them to fate in abandoned dwellings. Notorious cases: over 60 cats that had been abandoned in a foreclosed Cincinnati house; 3 dogs and 20 birds left in a house in Lorain, Ohio; 24 horses on a farm in Bixby, Okla.; and the bodies of 21 Great Danes in a foreclosed house in Pennsylvania.

Clip Source: www.thedailygreen.com

As the nation's housing market continues to slump, amid record high foreclosures

more beloved family pets are starting to slip through the cracks in the American Dream

We're seeing quite a few animals being surrendered due to economic reasons, including foreclosure

an increase in the number of abandoned animals

people are giving up their pets after they are forced to move to a place where animals are forbidden, or when they end up crowding in with family or friends

some folks just can't afford Fido or Fluffy's chow or vet bills anymore

In the third quarter of 2007, the number of homes in some stage of foreclosure in the U.S. more than doubled from year-earlier levels -- one for every 196 homes

Clip Source: foreclosurecats.mine.nu

Clip Source: www.thedailygreen.com

a website, ForeclosureCats.org, to help

Artists around the country created portraits of the rescues, called the Foreclosure Cats Project, and an eBay auction of the resulting work was set up to raise funds for their care

what will happen to many of the country's millions of pets

Tags: homeless, pets, housing, dog, cat, foreclosed

7 Eco-Resolutions for 2008: I Will Try To Live Green

Fri, 11 Jan 2008 14:16:27 GMT

clipped by: urbanlife
clipper's remarks: Do you really need berries from Chile?

Don't collect stuff you will never use. If you trash those once-new goodies when you’re no longer interested in them, they will live in a landfill for years and years.

Cut the power to your electronics by plugging them in to a power strip and flipping the switch to off when you’re not watching or listening.

Public transportation use saves 1.4 billion gallons of gasoline each year, and can reduce household expenses by $6,200.

Plastic bags are made from petroleum and only about 1 percent of the estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion Annie Bell plastic bags consumed worldwide are recycled each year. Most end up in landfills (wherethey take perhaps 1000 years to decompose) or in the sea.

By purchasing recycled paper products you’re preventing trees from being chopped down, and paper waste from ending up in landfills. In addition, less energy and water is required to produce a recycled paper product.

Clip Source: www.thedailygreen.com

1. I will relinquish my title of Most Likely to Acquire Useless Crap I Don’t Wear or Need.

It’s time to clean out, and stop the crap collecting.

2. I will avenge my phantom load.

The term refers to the energy wasted by electronics and power chargers when they are plugged in but not in use.

3. I will be smarter than bottled water companies and drink for free what they are trying to sell me.

buy an eco-chic reusable stainless steel bottle, and refill it throughout the day — for free

4. If I can remember to TiVo “Dancing with the Stars,” I can remember to bring my own bags to the grocery store.

5. I will switch to recycled paper products at home (but not if they make me chafe).

6. I will consider whether my meal came from the farm or the factory.

Think of how many miles your food has traveled

how many chemicals are used, and how much pollution and waste have been generated in the production of your foodstuffs

7. I will take a day off from road rage and take mass transit or car-pool one day a week.

Tags: eco-resolution, live better, 2008, new year, environment, global

Disaster Gives Birth to Greenest Town in America

Mon, 31 Dec 2007 19:01:30 GMT

clipped by: urbanlife
clipper's remarks: To leverage environmentalism to rebuild and sustain itself in the wake of near total destruction, it just may unwittingly be writing a modern survival guide for rural America.

Currently, the town has completed town houses for working class families that are LEED gold certified. Gold certification means these places will be almost twice as efficient as they used to be.

A lot of what's happening in Greensburg is some of the first in the country.

Clip Source: www.npr.org

Greensburg, a tiny town on the vast, flat prairie of western Kansas

In May, a tornado obliterated nearly every house, tree and business.

city leaders quickly saw opportunity in the disaster

revive Greensburg and sustain it for generations to come by making it the greenest town in America

not just rebuild it the way it was but maybe rebuild it a little bit better than it was

the effort to make the city more energy efficient just days after the tornado hit.

Greensburg Greentown, a nonprofit group leading the push for environmental sustainability in Greensburg.

The Discovery Channel is filming a show here, called Greensburg Eco-town, and green architects are working overtime.

all new city buildings should meet the very highest environmental standard — LEED platinum

turbines on the wind farm would be plenty to power Greensburg

An energy company has announced plans to build a biodiesel plant in Greensburg

Google is considering building a wind-powered data center here

Tags: kansas, green, greensburg, leed, rural, sustain

Poor to Poor: Migration Within the Developing World

Thu, 27 Dec 2007 18:17:43 GMT

clipped by: urbanlife
clipper's remarks: A Global Trek to Poor Nations, From Poorer Ones.

The World Bank also estimates that 82 million migrants have moved “south to north,” or from poor countries to rich ones.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

a global trend: migrants who move to poor countries from even poorer ones

They typically start poorer than migrants to rich countries, earn less money and are more likely to travel illegally, which raises the odds of abuse

There are 74 million “south to south” migrants, according to the World Bank, which uses the term to describe anyone moving from one developing country to another, regardless of geography.

Nicaraguans build Costa Rican buildings

Paraguayans pick Argentine crops

Nepalis dig Indian mines

Indonesians clean Malaysian homes

Farm hands from Burkina Faso tend the fields in Ivory Coast

Some save for more expensive journeys north, while others find the move from one poor land to another all they will ever afford

they send home $18 billion to $55 billion a year

These are very, very poor people sending money to even poorer people

With rich countries tightening their borders, migration within the developing world is likely to grow

Tags: migration, developing world, global, migrants

12 Environmental Victories in 2007

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 16:15:08 GMT

clipped by: urbanlife
clipper's remarks: The Environmental Defense Fund uses science, economics and law to create innovative, equitable and cost-effective solutions to society's most urgent environmental problems.

Clip Source: www.environmentaldefense.org

American bald eagle

removed from the threatened and endangered species list

Morro Bay in California

Better permits, better markets for fishermen

Cleaning up school buses

These retrofits reduce the amount of particulate (soot) pollution from buses by 20-30%

Hawaii, New Jersey and Florida - joined California to enact tough statewide global warming pollution limits.

launched our Western Lake Erie Basin project

Gulf catch program a success for all

the unintentional killing of fish – has dropped 80%

Healthier hog farms in NC

helped pass the Swine Farm Environmental Performance Standards Act

U.S. Supreme Court decision

decreeing that the EPA cannot sidestep its authority to regulate global warming pollution.

launched the

U.S. Climate Action Partnership

dedicated to Congressional passage of a national cap on greenhouse gas emissions

First interstate marine park created from NC to FL

Texas has become the first state to legally protect natural river flows

40 endangered species safe in Puerto Rico

Tags: environment, endangered species, 2007, science, global warming

Reforming Europe's Farms

Wed, 21 Nov 2007 17:02:26 GMT

clipped by: urbanlife
clipper's remarks: European Union's Common Agricultural Policy

Clip Source: www.time.com

Cheap foreign food can change appetites, and attitudes.

The European Commission

proposed reforms to the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy

to better address modern challenges like climate change, the boom in biofuels, water management and protecting biodiversity

the CAP's most egregious element: the generous flow of aid to the largest farms and the wealthiest landowners.

Along with British royalty, beneficiaries include multinational food companies such as Nestle, Cadbury, Kraft; drug companies such as GlaxoSmithKline, and brewers like Heineken and Grolsch.

Commission officials say farm aid is not just about hand-outs for food production, but about preserving Europe's rural heritage.

E.U. governments and the European Parliament will decide on any reforms in the second half of 2008

officials have already signaled their resistance to the plans, arguing that larger farms are more efficient and ought not be penalized

Tags: europe, farm, food, reform, agriculture

Underfunded Farm Bill Programs?

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 15:49:13 GMT

clipped by: urbanlife

Clip Source: www.oxfamamerica.org

the Farm Bill was designed to give American farmers a safety net when the market bottomed out

Today's Farm Bill gives out large government payments—they're called "commodity subsidies"—to producers of a small number of crops. Most American farmers get little or nothing.

it also hurts farmers in developing countries

By encouraging the overproduction of crops such as cotton and rice, commodity subsidies create a glut that drives down world prices, undermining the livelihoods of millions of small farmers around the world

other Farm Bill programs

remain underfunded

Rural development programs that provide electricity and broadband Internet to farming communities

Nutrition programs that pay for food stamps and school lunches for poor families

Conservation programs that help farmers reduce soil erosion, improve water quality and supply, and protect wildlife habitats

Programs to fund the research and development of renewable sources of energy, which could lead to greater energy independence

Tags: farm bill, farmers, overproduction, rural