Review - The Vertical Farm

The Vertical Farm, Dr. Dickson Despommier, 2009, ISBN 9780312611392

The current method of human agriculture is in bad shape, and is in future unsustainable. This book provides an alternative.

Agriculture as we know it has worked for many thousands of years, but the system is breaking down. If there is allying a portion as The Chronicle of Farm Life in the 20th Century, it is " The Grapes of Flare-up " by John Steinbeck. Three things that had a huge impact on agriculture were the internal phlogiston mechanism, and the discoveries of oil and dynamite. When irrigating fields, runoff is created that is full of chenicals and fertilizers convenient to those fields. During floods, runoff gets steady worse, because that chemical - filled water gets into the rivers, which empty into the ocean, creating aquatic " drag zones. " In less developed countries, there is little or no attempt to filter or treat the water, and since fecal matter ( human and animal ) is frequently used as fertilizer, that just spreads lots of intestinal parasites. In many places, a 55 - gallon drum of clean water is now more valuable than oil.

Greenhouse gases are turning the world ' s oceans more acidic; the time will come when calcium carbonate, a central component of coral and mollusk shells, cannot form. Various bugs and plant diseases can also do immense damage to a wide area of crops. As agriculture becomes more commercialized, and farm sizes grow, food safety becomes a huge concern. Corporations want to cut costs wherever they can ( like food inspection ), and consumers have made it clear that food safety is at the top of the list.

Imagine stacking several high - tech greenhouses on top of each other. Hydroponic gardening, which uses one - third the water of regular agriculture, is well known. Aeroponic gardening, where the roots are misted at the right times, uses one - third the water of hydroponics. The water can be treated and recycled so that it can be used over and over. No artificial chemicals would be needed. Such a vertical farm can be built in the city, vastly increasing the availability of fruits and vegetable for inner - city residents. The outer walls would be a type of clear, hard plastic, which is lighter than glass, to let in every available bit of sunlight. The corresponding amount of farmland would be allowed to turn back into whatever it was, usually hardwood forest, before it became farmland.

Of course, theory is easy, while turning the theory into reality is much harder. This a fascinating book, even though it is light on the reality of what a vertical farm would look like. If it does nothing more than get people thinking about other methods of agriculture, this is a gem of a book.

Review - eaarth Making A Life On A Tough New Planet

Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet, Bill McKibben, ISWBN 9780805090567

Mortals has irreparably contrary the Earths climate and weather conditions. This book gives the details, and tells how to stick to on this new world.

The Earth that kinsmen knew, and grew up on, is gone. A new planet needs a new prenomen; forasmuch as Eaarth. It is a whistle stop of poles where the ice caps are exceedingly bad off, or gone. It is a distance where the oceans are becoming more acid, because of excess carbon absorbed into the water, not to mention the toxic chemicals and other pollutants being dumped into it. It is a place of more extreme weather patterns.

The average person might not care if an entire glacier completely melts away, like the Chacaltaya Glacier in Bolivia. Those living downstream, dependent on that glacier for their water supply, will certainly care. Since 1980, the tropics have expanded worldwide by 2 degrees north and south. Over 8 million more square miles of land are now tropical, with dry subtropics pushing ahead of them. The chances of Lake Mead, which is behind Hoover Dam, running dry in the next 10 years, have reached 50 percent. The residents of an oceanside town in North Carolina are spending up to $30, 000 each to place large sandbags in front of their homes to keep the ocean at bay.

The times when America, or the world, can simply grow its way out of its financial problems are gone forever. Building enough nuclear power plants to get rid of even a tenth of the climate change problem will cost at least $8 trillion. According to one estimate, America needs to spend over $200 billion a year for decades, just on infrastructure, to avoid the kind of gridlock that will collapse the economy. A small village in Alaska is being evacuated, because of rising sea levels, at a cost of $400, 000 per person. There is not enough money on Earth to evacuate everyone threatened by rising sea levels.

What to do? Some people are taking another look at small - scale agriculture, getting away from a dependence on artificial chemicals and fertilizer. Eliminate the middlemen, like advertising and transport, and put more money in the farmers pocket. Along with local agriculture, consider local power generation.

This is a really eye - opening book. The first half is pretty bleak, showing just how bad things have gotten. But, there is plenty of hope in the second half of the book. It is very much recommended.

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