Today I am attending the Environmental Science Symposium at the University of Guelph with a friend. The theme is Food this year. The best talk was probably on the role of space exploration on terrestrial agriculture, but my second favourite theme has been that of urban agriculture, green roofs, and roof-top gardens.
I mentioned at the one talk the temporary community garden that appeared in Vancouver while I lived there in 2008. I think it was the result of an abandoned development plan, thanks to the recession, but I'm not sure. It was quite neat seeing it appear. There were a couple other ones around the downtown, and a friend and I used to covertly use the composters from one.
I mentioned at the one talk the temporary community garden that appeared in Vancouver while I lived there in 2008. I think it was the result of an abandoned development plan, thanks to the recession, but I'm not sure. It was quite neat seeing it appear. There were a couple other ones around the downtown, and a friend and I used to covertly use the composters from one.
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| The community garden at Burrard and Davie in downtown Vancouver, near where I lived for a while. Via Google Maps |
I'm mesmerised by the integration of nature and urbania. Apparently the new city hall in Guelph has a green roof, and so does the Science Complex at the University. I spoke to a lady today about it and will try to arrange to go up there and see it. I'm excited.
One problem with a lot of cool, green approaches like this are maintenance and effort required. There are lots of things to invest my time in. I have to be very picky about where I allocate my time now, and I'm not sure I'd have the time to manage something like this. I do like growing things. I have a stable of five fine plants, and a neat rotation system to indicate when I watered what. I'm going to expand to a tomato plant. I still hope to have a small food garden at some point. But I still need to outsource food production, as there are other things I want to specialise in. It might be nice to some day have an almost self-sufficient home. I do plan on moving around a lot, but I still like the idea of a small house outside of the city with lots of growth and some water, that can generate its own power. My house will also be neatly kitted with the coolest of sensors and ubiquitous computing technology. Mwahaha!
One problem with a lot of cool, green approaches like this are maintenance and effort required. There are lots of things to invest my time in. I have to be very picky about where I allocate my time now, and I'm not sure I'd have the time to manage something like this. I do like growing things. I have a stable of five fine plants, and a neat rotation system to indicate when I watered what. I'm going to expand to a tomato plant. I still hope to have a small food garden at some point. But I still need to outsource food production, as there are other things I want to specialise in. It might be nice to some day have an almost self-sufficient home. I do plan on moving around a lot, but I still like the idea of a small house outside of the city with lots of growth and some water, that can generate its own power. My house will also be neatly kitted with the coolest of sensors and ubiquitous computing technology. Mwahaha!
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