Healthy Garden, Healthy Life

During the evolution of this blog, we've discussed multiple benefits to green roofs and urban agriculture.  There are public health benefits in reducing noise pollution in community buildings, reducing heating and cooling costs, and reducing water runoff that brings pollutants to public supply.  We've also discussed civic engagement and community involvement, turning projects into real projects that bring people together to save their corner of the world.

There are personal benefits that come from physical and emotional health, and that's what the subject of today's posting will be.

With obesity on the rise and causing a slew of secondary health risks, gardeninig for exercise is a great way for people of any age to start a new routine or expand on their regular health regime.  Since gardening involves a variety of levels of exertion, making gardening a family routine spreads the work out so that everyone who is able to do something can contribute.

As reported by CNN, studies in the Netherlands in which people completed a stressful task then had the option to read indoors or garden for 30 minutes, the gardeners reported feeling happier than the readers, and also had reduced cortisol levels, a chemical in the body that is thought to contribute to weight gain.

Healthy gardening also leads to healthy practices.  As advocated by the CDC, safe gardening includes dressing the part and knowing your limits, particularly on hot days.

Starting a garden creates a foundation for a healthy life.  Explore the following links (and find some for yourself, it's awesome!) for more information on rooftop garden projects that are offering healthy lifestyles and community involvement:

LA CAN working with Hunger Action Los Angeles and the California Hunger Action Coalition

Ontario's South Riverdale Community Health Center (SRCHC)

Mott Haven Academy of Brooklyn, New York's rooftop garden initiative

Urban Gardening and a Sense of Civic Pride

I don't know if you've heard about these guys... but they're doing some amazing things that originated in one of the worst crime areas in Kansas City, the Lykins Neighborhood.  P.S., if you're ever nearby that particular area, stop by Arthur Bryant's BBQ; this original location put KC on the MAP for slow-cooked deliciousness.

The initiative of The Urban Farming Guys is simple: bring families together, learn about sustainability, rebuild a broken neighborhood.  Interesting concepts, particularly if you consider the goals of feminism that encompass a strong desire to engage communities in civic mindedness wherein people of all sexes, genders, cultures and lifestyles can unite for a common goal that spreads way beyond a monthly meeting or a shared wifi connection.

Urban agriculture can be defined as "agriculture occurring within and surrounding the boundaries of cities throughout the world and includes crop and livestock production, fisheries and forestry, as well as the ecological service they provide (Sumner 55)."  Across the globe, millions are catching on to the urban agriculture lifestyle and are using it for both practical and community issues.

The best way to know about food transparency is to know more about where you food comes from.  What better way to learn than by getting your own hands dirty in the process?

In Community Shared Agriculture (CSA), people in a local community can pay into a "subscription" fee to a farmer in exchange for a share of the farmer's yield.  Some urban areas take that idea a step farther: someone who knows someone who knows hot to grow vegetables teams up with people with some money.  The one with the know-how gets the process started, and the financial backers also participate along the way, gaining valuable knowledge to branch out in growing even bigger plots in following years.  The best arrangement with a CSA is that everyone chips in and everyone profits with their own share of food that has been fostered and nurtured by their own hands.

"Subscribers" in a CSA may receive weekly shares similar to the above photo.  This idea works across the board: farmers have a reliable market in which to sell their products, and local members receive garden-to-table food from a local source.  For those who participate on the farms, there is an added social benefit and education (Sumner 56).

In early 2011, the Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council and the Skid Row Housing Trust launched a collaboration to bring rooftop gardens to the Charles Cobb Apartments, a building developed to offer shelter to the chronically homeless suffering substance abuse.

By the following October, the verdict was in: the garden was a hit, and offered a sense of community to an otherwise ostracized group.

Whether you're honing your skills or learning a new trade, urban community gardening or getting involved in community shared agriculture are environmentally sustainable ways to meet new people and find social acceptance.  Many of these programs exist because of the relationship they build in the community, while also fostering civic practices, building community and discovering a relationship with local food (Sumner 60).

Unlinked Source:
Sumner, Jennifer; Mair, Heather and Erin Nelson.   "Putting the culture back into
     agriculture: civic engagement, community and the celebration of local food."
     International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability 8, 1-2 (2010): 54-61.  ProQuest.
     Accessed April 4, 2014.   

The Case for Farmer's Markets and Cruelty-Free Meat

If you live in a state where agriculture dominates the landscapes, you know there's a lot of local farmers out there making a living by growing healthy foods.  So, why are we visiting grocery stores for products that have been shipped around the country and have lost a great portion of their nutritional value (and often end up on recall for contamination)?  According to the National Resources Defense Council, the average American meal from the grocery store can include products that have traveled from at least five countries outside of the United States.  Think of what's being used to keep that food looking appealing.

Of course, factory farming for our meat has led to some dastardly practices (all endorsed by the FDA) including the use and abuse of antibiotics that are increasing the numbers of drug-resistant bacteria we unknowingly come into contact with on a daily basis.

How can we know for sure how our food is produced and where it comes from?  Why not buy it directly from the person who cared for it since day one?

Local, sustainable food is the wave of the future, and it's putting profits directly into the hands of the people who truly care about what they're putting on your table and theirs.  With farmer's receiving a paltry portion of each dollar you spend in the grocery store, factory farms are consolidating and economizing on waste and pollution through a subsidy program that continues to pay out for profit loss, ignoring the bigger issues factory farms are leaking into the environment through water contamination, leaching nutrients from soils and elevated health risks.

I'll warn you now, this video can be seen by many to include graphic content.  But if you're ready to take the blindfold off, let's take a look at a typical day at Smithfield for breeding sows:

It's a similar plight for chickens, turkeys, cows and other animals who spend most of their lives in confinement.  They are pumped full of growth hormones and many never see the sun.

Know where your meat comes from.  If you're buying at the store, ask.  If the vendor doesn't know, don't buy.

Remember those Smithfield pigs?  What if this was their life?  Which would you prefer to buy?

Find your local farmer's markets and learn about taking back control of your ethics through conscientious consumption.  Your body will thank you, and so will the local farmers you support.  You may even find a handful of urban agriculturalists to trade tips and tricks with!  If you live in Kansas, find more information on farmer's markets here.  Wichita is home to several farmers markets in multiple locations, including Old Town, Haysville and Derby.  A comprehensive list of local markets is available here.

Green Roofs and Stormwater Retention

We have briefly discussed stormwater runoff and it's negative affects to the urban environment, but it's harmful qualities to the environment in general cannot be ignored.  As exemplified in the above video, stormwater runoff in cities is also collecting motor oil and other noxious chemicals and depositing them straight into our oceans, wreaking havoc on the global ecosystem.

Urban planning that employs green roof technology is becoming popular as a means of mitigating storm flow in urban areas (Buccola 83).  Moss, as we have seen from an earlier post, traps a considerably high amount of rain in its body and uses it for later nourishment.  Plants in general depend on a good shower to stay healthy, and will hold as much as they possibly can in their root systems.  What is left over flows from the ground to the nearest sewer drain and from there, it can end up in rivers, lakes and oceans, along with whatever it swept into it's stream on the way to the drain.

As this brochure from the City of Wichita, Kansas, demonstrates, any materials picked up by storm water runoff are in turn discharged (untreated) into larger water bodies that are then used for residential drinking water, among other things.  When polluted water enters the environment, it not only affects humans, but aquatic life as well.

The Natural Defenses Resource Council estimates that 10 TRILLION GALLONS of untreated stormwater is introduced into the environment each year.  Green roof technology and urban rooftop gardens are saving a large percentage of that water from reaching our taps.

The most simple way in which an urban gardener can reduce the harmful effects of stormwater runoff (and save on their monthly water bill!) is to use a piece of technology that has been around for centuries: the rain barrel.  According to the EPA, up to 40% of a person's summer water use is for lawn maintenance and gardening, but a rain barrel can spare you using up to 1300 gallons of water in the summer months.  Imagine reducing your water bill each year with this simple tool.

Always check with your local city guidelines to make sure (if you install multiple systems) you're not collecting too much water that would in turn be fed back into the city systems.  And always remember to mosquito proof your barrels to avoid a pest infestation in hot weather.

Green roofs are a more expensive way to combat stormwater runoff, but as we've already discussed, they contribute to additional environmental benefits and aid urban dwellers in procuring healthy vegetables and fruits for their families.

One of the major benefits in stormwater retention in green roofs is the filtration of root systems of water that can be highly acidic as it falls from the sky.  Studies indicate that green roofs can raise ph levels from acidic (ph levels between 4 and 6) to a ph level range of 6 to 8, ideal for aquatic animals who cannot tolerate a ph range below 5.7 (Buccola 84).  Simply put, green roofs and rooftop gardens make our water a little cleaner, and a little safer for our aquatic friends (and dinners).

Unlinked Source:
Buccola, Norman and Graig Spolek.  "A Pilot-Scale Evaluation of Greenroof Runoff
     Retention, Detention, and Quality."  Water, Air, and Soil Polution 26 (2011): 83-92.
     Springer via ProQuest.  Accessed April 7, 2014.    

Celebrating Earth Day

Today, April 22, 2014, is Earth Day.  I thought I would take a slightly different spin on this blog and show you what's going on in the world today to keep it green and keep it habitable for all of us.

The Earth is a precious commodity to us, and it should be the focal point of our everyday lives.  While it's important to have a job, make friends, go to school, learn things, read good books, enjoy fine wine and everything else that makes life worth living, we can't continue to ignore the planet that sustains us.

From everyday citizens to the President of the United States, Earth Day holds special meaning as a way of alerting us to the concerns we face in a planet that continues to be over-run by urbanization and celebrates the small steps we have taken to improve our planet and restore the globe to a sustainable biosphere for us and future generations.  Whether those improvements come from solar panel fields in Kansas or urban agriculture in Massachusetts, people are taking action and realizing that we only get one shot at this, and we might as well make it count.

Whether we're young kids or grown up kids, we can all take tiny steps and make small changes that make a world of difference.

As a species we tend to pride ourselves on our abilities to largely act in judicious ways.  Yet we collectively fail to see the damage we are doing to ourselves via the damage we are doing to our environment.  Some may call it progress.  I think it's more like torture.

This Earth Day, and every day until the next Earth Day, and every day after that, make an effort to make change.  It starts small and it grows from there.  We have the power to take back our urban concrete journal, and make it a more glorious place to live.  The best choice starts with recognizing this is where we live, and that it's our responsibility to make it a place we're proud to call home, and proud to introduce to future generations.

The Importance of Moss

Here's a fun word I stumbled across in this week's research: poikilohydric.  Essentially, something exhibits poikilohydric properties if it doesn't have it's own root system to keep it hydrated and must rely on outside sources for water.  Cacti are poikilohydric.  Mosses are poikilohydric, too, an interesting similarity when we think of the environments in which they typically grow: one in a desert environment, and one in the shade.  This similarity is important when you think about survival of both species.  Cactus plants are able to thrive on little water, and mosses can also live in a dessicated state without damage to their life cycles, making them more efficient in droughts than vascular plants with a root system (Anderson 320-321).

Now, because mosses aren't able to get their own water from a root system, they are dead handy at retaining large amounts of water.  Studies show that in rainfall of about an inch, mosses will retain up to 16% of the water in their capillaries (Anderson 321) to store for later use.  This heartiness ensures that after rainfall, moss has the ability to reproduce in staggering quantities.

 
This moss-covered filed can be found in Iceland.

Why are talking about moss in this blog?  I think it's more important to ask why we haven't talked about moss yet.  Let's look at some of the characteristics of moss that make it an awesome concept in green roofs and rooftop gardens:

• Water Retention Rockstar
• Lightweight and Handy
• Able to Survive (even thrive) for Long Periods Without Water (making them more efficient than grass)

We've discussed that it's important to always have a roof analyzed for its load-bearing qualities, particularly if you're planning to dump a water barrier, dirt, sedum, and plants on top of it.  Is moss a viable alternative to the heavy layers common in many manufactured green roofs?

In 2008, a study was conducted at the Oregon State University, Corvallis, campus that aimed to find out.  The authors of the study, Malcolm Anderson, John Lambrinos, and Erin Schroll note that there is little to no data existing to quantitatively compare moss to vascular plants in their functional performance on green roofs (Anderson 321).  Their findings are interesting, but they caution that further studies over a wider variety of moss would be essential to form a fully organized compendium of the benefits.  

Three moss candidates were chosen for the study based on the likelihood of their ability to thrive on roof tops based on a survey from the University's bryology class: Dicranoweisia cirrata, Racomitrium canescens, and Antitrichia californica (Anderson 322).  The study's chart of the three mosses chosen is pictured below:

The moss was collected from local areas, cleaned of any foreign material and readied to transplant to a green roof medium called Pro-Grow Extensive mix originating from Sherwood, Oregon (Anderson 323).  Moss transplant is easy, given their lack of root systems.

After the specimens had sat for two weeks in a greenhouse, a layer of each moss was put onto three separate green roof mediums, while a fourth was kept in it's original state.  It was now time for the experiments to begin.

The first scenario experimented with stormwater runoff.  For a brief explanation of stormwater runoff and issues, see here; we will re-visit this concept in future posts.  For today, let me say that with a freak rain shower this afternoon, the alley that feeds into the parking lot at my day job became a river; this is one of the negative associations of stormwater runoff, particularly in the urban concrete jungle.

To test the mosses, researchers simulated rain from a recent observed storm in Portland, Oregon onto an established green roof.  The rain was added to each moss and the natural medium swatch in five minute intervals over a 30-minute period, with runoff volume recorded every five minutes following each deluge before the next started.  After the mats were thoroughly saturated, plugs from each were taken.  The measurement of water retention to the total original weight of the moss was established by weighing and drying the moss in intervals until it reached equilibrium with it's greenhouse measurements.  The medium was handled in the same fashion (Anderson 323).

The results showed the natural medium at a 32.6% retention.  A. californica was only slightly higher (33.8%) and D. cirrata took an intermediate retention level at 37.3%.  R. canescens had the highest level of retention at 45.3% (Anderson 326).  Imagine how handy it would have been to have that variety on my employer's roof this afternoon; I might not have had to kick off my open-toed shoes and fjord the alleyriver to clock back in!

  Following the lab trials, two separate outside roofs were planted edge to edge with R. canescens, the top performer.  It's stormwater performance would be compared to a set of established green roofs that were either planted with vascular plants, or containing only medium, or containing only a liner.  Runoff was then measured during a natural rainfall and two simulated rain events conducted between November 2008 and February 2009, the active growing season for the moss.  Simulated trials were held December 1, 2008 when the material was dry and again December 17 when the moss was still in a saturated state.  The moss was exposed to natural rain January 6th and 7th, 2009 (Anderson 324).

The results showed that the moss roofs held their own and surpassed both the vascular plant roofs and natural medium roofs in their water retention abilities.  In every trial (see specific data in table below) the moss outperformed the factory medium and the vascular green roofs (Anderson 327).  Bless the liner's heart, it does look like it tried, don't forget to give it a round of applause!

So, what does all this mean for green roofs and rooftop gardens?  Moss is a lightweight medium that reduces total load capacity on roofs.  It is able to survive and reproduce with little to no water and it creates a natural barrier to water runoff following storms.  The Oregon tests indicate that a much thinner layer of moss in comparison to the natural medium can hold comparable amounts of water (Anderson 329).  Moss transplants easier than root system plants and after establishing itself in the environment, moss can go long periods in a psuedo-dormant state of dessication without dying or killing plants around it.

There are many more moss species to study in-depth before a 100% guarantee that they are more effective than sedum in green roofs can be established, and with any living substance, there are a great many variables to consider.  Among these is the knowledge that many forest mosses that are used to growing on already living trees may perform poorly in urban conditions.  It is interesting to note that the Oregon study mentions bryophytes (a fancy name for mosses and other non-vascular grow-y things) can be cultured with success on perlite substrate, a major ingredient in green roof medium (Anderson 332).  

Extensive research will need to be conducted to prove moss as a viable light-weight medium for green roofs.  Until that research has been more extensively conducted, I'll leave you with a last image, from the Asheville, North Carolina Arboretum, this breathtaking moss roof was installed in June of 2012 by Mountain Moss Installations:

Unlinked Source: 
Anderson, Malcolm; John Lambrinos and Erin Schroll.  "The potential value of mosses for
     stormwater management in urban environments."  Urban Ecosystems 13 (2010):
     319-332.   Springer via ProQuest.  Accessed April 18, 2014.

The Sweet and Sour of Green Roof Urban Agriculture

We have discussed in previous posts the urban heat island effect, and how green roofs are working to reduce the effects of rising temperatures in concrete jungles.  It goes without saying, however, that green roof technology is not 100% worry-free, or that it doesn't come with a laundry list of obstacles.  Today, we will discuss some of those concerns and how they can be reduced or avoided for beneficial outcomes for everyone.

Most green roofs are made with engineered materials over native soil and are not made for growing vegetables, but merely as a leafy green that reduces heating and cooling costs in buildings (Wittinghill 319).  As such, there is concern about whether rooftop gardens can sustain constant yearly replanting of fruit and vegetables.  A simple solution to these fears is rooftop container gardening, wherein plants are grown in cubes and pots laid out in strategic patterns that allow gardeners to easily plant, feed, and water them.

Job S. Ebenezer, President of Westerville, Ohio's program Technology for the Poor, offers up the following ideas in coordination with pots for creating a rooftop garden in spaces where a green roof might not be a practical solution:

• Plastic Wading Pools
• Used Tires
• Feed Sacks
• Bricks Laid Out to Build Planters
• Wooden Boxes

Here, Job lays out the basics of starting urban using cost effective materials that can in turn yield sustainable crops for all involved in the work and care of the resulting garden.

The cost of installing a pre-fabricated green roof seems among the top concern for many proponents.  Green roofs average the same maintenance cost of their conventional counterpart, but can cost about $32 more per square meter (Whittinghill 317).  As such, it's important to understand the start-up costs versus the amount that can be saved in utility bills for heating and cooling.  There's a ton of math and other number-stuff that goes into this and I'm afraid I'm drastically stupid at match.  But these guys aren't, and I've borrowed their power-point to do the explaining for me.  On average, people who install green roofs can look for a range of 2-39% energy savings in shaded areas, and up to an 87% energy savings cost during the summer when the amount of heat transferred directly into a building from sunlight is absorbed instead by the green roof seedum (Whittinghill 315).  

With a typical downtown area comprised of up to 85% of commercial businesses having flat roofs (Whittinghill 318) it would seem like a no-brainer that urban areas should all be jumping on the green roof bus (powered with smart options like electricity, of course).  There are, however, certain factors to take into consideration.  A typical engineered green roof is comprised of multiple layers:

Did you like the part where they said to NOT stand on a freshly installed roof and then showed the guy STANDING ON THE FRESHLY INSTALLED ROOF to water it?  I chuckled.  

It's obvious that even a recently constructed roof should always be analyzed to make sure that, if it wasn't appropriated for this use to begin with, it can sustain the extra load it will have placed on it to ensure a costly collapse doesn't happen, as seen in this picture below of the Aquascape Design headquarters in Charleston, South Carolina:

Urban agriculture, in general, can have unforeseen consequences, particularly when growers take up in vacant lots where a home once sat.  Primary to this are metal contaminants in soil leftover from a variety of industrial sources (Whttinghill 318).  While fruits are less likely to absorb heavy metals, leafy vegetables with deep roots are a concern.  As the metals are non-biodegradable they can have adverse health affects including cognitive disruption, nervous, cardiovascular, kidney bone and liver diseases, along with cancer (Whittinghill 319).

Rooftop gardening and green roofs have the potential to negate these consequences, largely because the soil used in green roofs is chemically engineered and does not contain local contaminants, and because container gardening involves using potting soil as a medium (Whittinghill 319).  Because the mediums used are not from the ground outside the building, they are less likely to produce foods that would already be contaminated from urban industrial waste.    

While there are certainly concerns to think of in any "new" technology, it's pretty standard knowledge that gardeners have been gardening for a loooong time.  As such, they welcome the challenges with the benefits.  Because of their enduring love for gardening itself, food production can become a sustainable reality.  Mentioned in previous posts, but enforced here again so we don't forget, other benefits include reduced air and noise pollution, storm water retention, increased biodiversity and energy savings (Whittinghill 315).  

Unlinked Source:

Whittinghill, Leigh J. and D. Bradley Rowe.  "The Role of Green Roof Technology in Urban
     Agriculture."  Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems 27.3 (2011): 314-322.
     ProQuest.  Accessed April 5, 2014.    

 

Tossing Around the "F" Word in the Garden (...or is it the "EF" Word...?)

You have a plot.  You have some seeds.  You have your water, your gloves, your gardening tools.  All that's left is... a FEMINIST??!?  Damn skippy!

And I know what you're thinking.  I know it.  "Those man-haters ain't got any time to garden!"

The Internet agrees with you.  Google the following phrases:

• "feminists who garden"
• "gardening and feminism"

You got a lot of fluff and anger, didn't you?

USE YOUR WORDS!  Apparently you can't equate an everyday "feminist" with gardening and have a pleasant experience.  But you can, apparently, equate "ECOfeminists" with gardening and get a whole new set of variables.

Google it.  I'll wait.  If you don't find it, give this link a try.

What the heck is a ecofeminism?

According to this paper written by Leila R. Brammer, ecofeminism was coined by (Francoise) d'Eaubonne in 1974.  A feminist, d'Eaubonne conceived of ecofeminism as "a joining of environmental feminist, and women's spirituality concerns."  Ecofeminism finds the relationship between the degradation of the earth and the degradation of women in general.  As the familiar phrase is "Mother Earth," it can be thought that ecofeminists fight for the same equality for the planet that feminists fight for among the sexes.

Ecology (the study of the earth and how we all interact with/on it) is something we all should care about.  After all, with NASA in a constant state of defunding, it's not likely we'll have another planet to live on any time soon.

That means we need to start looking at what we're doing to the world today.  Ecofeminists strive to find a union in people and the earth.  They want us to get out and get dirty.  Grow things.  Share experiences.  If this isn't a familiar concept to you by now, read some other posts in this blog you're already reading.

We only have one planet.  We can muck it up, as we've already done:

Or we can strive for something better, something cleaner, something more akin to the world as it should be: full of sustainability that brings each generation cleaner air, reduced noise pollution and healthier living:

Suddenly, "feminist" and "ecofeminist" and any other variation of the word isn't looking so dirty, is it?

Green Roof Gardening and Food Security

There's a lot of talk in the news about food security.  The World Health Organization (WHO) defines food security as existing "when all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy body and active life."

Sadly, food scarcity is more familiar in our world today.  Even with enough food on the planet to feed every person, 1 in 8 people worldwide suffer from malnutrition, according to The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.  

Urban poverty is a leading cause of hunger in North America.  A 2011 study published by the Journal of Urban Health finds that many low-income families living in subsidized or market-value housing will sacrifice food security to pay rent; food often becomes an after-thought after other bills are met that provide shelter and lights.  The research aimed to discover if people who received housing "breaks" were less likely to feel the effects of hunger and food security.  Focused in Canada, researchers employed what is known as The Household Food Security Survey Model that quantified data from a 12-month period to determine the food security ratios of 473 families after paying their monthly rent and projecting fluctuating utlity costs.

Here's what they found: a staggering 65.5% of the population surveyed had experienced food insecurity at least once in the year they were studied.  The variance between those living in subsidized and those living in market housing was negligible when averaged.  Families living in market housing were only about 6% less likely to experience food insecurity.  The study also discovered the number of people living in homes that were in a state of disrepair and in need of maintenance.  Even though the people living in the homes were renters, if a repair was eminent, food insecurity loomed.  While specific reasons for this were not given, it's a stereotypical image of slumlords that comes to mind when considering why the families living in such homes would rather sacrifice their nutrition and keep a roof over their heads than call a landlord to report corrosive plumbing and be threatened with eviction or increased rent to cover damages.

Families who hit financial snags are far more likely to borrow money to pay bills than they are to borrow money to eat.  Many then get stuck in a cycle of paying back a loan and find themselves without funds for proper nutrition at the end of each month.

Urban agriculture may be a solution.  A group of families can pool together small amounts of money from each for start-up costs for gardening.  Fresh produce is a healthier alternative to sugary processed food that is often the best option for low-income families forced to shop by price tag over nutritional value.  Grocery stores are over-run with foods that are manufactured cheaply using a wide variety of chemicals and preservatives to make them last from the factory to the sales floor.

In a paper entitled "Health Benefits of Urban Agriculture" members of the Community Food Security Coalition's North American Initiative on Urban Agriculture discuss the health benefits associated with becoming more knowledgeable about how food is grown and how the activity gives members of urban areas the ability to interact with their neighbors, create green space for environmental benefits and provide food for themselves.  The paper cites numerous areas where gardens can be made, including rooftops.  A 32-ft square area of gardening can provide the yearly vegetable intake needed for a family if it is built in prime gardening season and well cared for.

Research cited in the article indicates that when people are more intimate with food by producing it themselves, their overall intake of processed and fatty foods decline, while intake of fresh fruits and vegetables exceeds the daily minimum recommended servings.  This is most significant when taking into consideration the special dietary needs of children and senior citizens that are most likely to be affected by the adverse reactions to chemicals in processed food.

According to the paper, for every $1 spent on planting food, the yield is $6 worth of edible vegetation.  Over a 5 year period, 1900 garden plots on 30 community lots in Newark, New Jersey, yielded almost $4 million in viable produce that went directly into the communities bellies.

Picking food directly from your yard or roof also means that you are consuming all of the nutrients the food has to offer, instead of food that has lost anywhere from 30-50% of it's nutritional value from being plucked from the root and transported across the country for commercial markets.  The freshness of the food increases its overall nutritional density and makes every calorie count at 100% value, thereby decreasing the amount of food that needs to be eaten to achieve maximum nutrients.

We've all heard the phrase "buy local" and we understand it, but we're often left without a range of options.  Urban agriculture puts food in easily accessible locations for families, particularly when they join the movement and learn to grow for themselves.  Excess crops bring neighbors together for trade and monetary benefits.  It also leads to friendships and community when neighbors help each other garden and preserve fresh food for cold-weather consumption.  Food security becomes less about what can be purchased cheaply and more about community growth and efforts, wherein people look out for each other as everyone benefits when everyone participates.

Besides the nutritional value and food security gardening offers, there are other health benefits.  Gardening is something that can be done at any age and encourages people to get outside and exercise.  Research shows that gardening boosts ones self-esteem, self-reliance and personal satisfaction.  Mental health benefits from community interaction are also well-documented, according to the above referenced paper's findings.  People are social creatures, and in urban habitats where people often have too much to do in too little time, slowing down for a moment to greet a neighbor or help them work a row raises awareness that you're not alone in your concrete landscape, lowering depression and increasing social skills and self-esteem.

There are environmental benefits to gardening that most urban gardeners do not think of when they first start to garden.  Their concern is food for themselves and their loved ones, but in creating green space, they are also unknown eco-warriors and stewards of their environment and the generations to come.  

The Urban Heat Island Effect and How Green Rooftops Can Help

It's awfully hot in the summer, and the last few years have seen a rise in a number of adverse side effects to the heat: soaring utility bills, and the increased risk of heatstroke among small children and the elderly.

Many American cities are feeling the effects of what the Environmental Protection Agency describes as the "urban heat island" effect.  In developing cities, lands are cleared to make way for progress in cityscapes, and often the environment suffers in the concrete jungle.  When vegetation is wiped out, the buildings and streets and sidewalks that take their place have no way to regulate their temperature.  On hot days the temperature of roofs and sidewalks can reach dangerous temperatures ranging 50-90 degrees warmer than the air outside according to the EPA.

This is the kind of weather you hear people say is "warm enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk" and it's becoming more the norm than the exception.  The National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) projects that we will be looking to average summer temperatures anywhere from 4-11 degrees warmer in the United States by the end of the century in their report "Killer Summer Heat."  The study documents research of excessive heat event days in 40 of the largest US cities and divides the results into two separate projects.  In project one with a timetable of 1975 and 1995, there was an average of 233 excessive heat event (EHE) days in the historical records of the studied cities.  EHE days are classified by the combination of temperature and other weather phenomena that leads to heat-related deaths.  By 2099 it is conservatively estimated that those cities will experience the combined total of 1,918 EHE days, an eightfold increase.
then projects the increase of excessive heat event days for future decades.

The second part of the project estimates how many more deaths will occur on EHE days, and the numbers are not pretty.  Between 1975 and 2004, 1,332 deaths were linked to EHE days.  By 2099, the number will raise to just over 150,000 yearly deaths from heat in the United States.

These are staggering numbers, and we have to look at our socio-economic structure to really understand why these numbers are often left out from the nightly news.

If you can't afford to pay for the rising costs of cooling your home in extreme heat, you might be faced with loss of electricity.  The CDC offers the following (paltry) tips for dealing with high temperatures if you are in a low income bracket:

• If you have air conditioning, use it to keep your home cool (Really?)
• If you can't afford to use your air conditioning:
  Contact your local health department or locate an air-conditioned shelter in your area.
  You can also contact LIHEAP for help
• Drink more water than usual and don't wait until you're thirsty to drink.
• Check on a friend or neighbor, and have someone do the same for you.
• Seek medical care immediately if you or someone you know have heat-related illness symptoms. 

Now, all of that seems pretty common-sense, but it really sounds like they're saying if you can't afford to keep cool, hope more water helps, and get a buddy system in case one of you dies from the heat, you'll at least be found quickly.

Last summer, the air conditioning went out in the house I was renting.  Temperatures soared and I received a $300 electric bill for a single month's energy consumption when the outside cooling unit needed to be replaced.  Fast forward almost a year later and I'm still paying that bill off over a payment plan.  I'm one of the lucky ones; I could afford to negotiate the bill.  There are thousands who are not as fortunate, and they need a lifeline.  Death shouldn't be the only option when it gets hot outside, but as reported in Scientific American, if you're poor, good luck.  

According to the U.S. Green Building Council, low-income households spend almost 20% of their income on utility bills in average conditions, compared to 4.5% middle-class households typically spend under the same conditions.  

As urban sprawl and the heat effect become more problematic, solutions are emerging in greenroof technology.  

The above picture is of Chicago's City Hall and the green roof technology.  Construction started in 2000 and was completed in 2001.  The initial expense of the garden was $2.5 million dollars.  The building now saves over $5,000 a year in energy costs.  

Startup expenses can be staggering to some, but the CDC cites a study from the University of Michigan comparing conventional roofs to green roofs, and what they have found is green roofs initially cost more, but will almost earn back their original costs in energy savings over their expected life.  A conventional roof offers shelter from the elements, but still requires insulation and other installation commodities that offer no incentives for utility bills or environmental benefits.  Cities that utilizing green roofing in their architectural design for low-income housing also experience the benefits of green roof tax incentives that help recoup a great portion of the initial cost while still providing affordable housing (and reduced utility bills) to clients.  

Therapeutic Landscapes

"The active physical use of gardens needs greater study as design professionals seek to create gardens for different patient populations.. Landscape architects and architects in particular need a greater understanding of healthcare and the hospital environment to be able to design for specific patient populations (Davis 15)."

Brad E. Davis, Assistant Professor at the College of Environment and Design at the University of Georgia, Athens, conducted research on a rooftop garden built in 1995 at the Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center in downtown Knoxville, Tennessee.  Designed to provide patients with a convenient (and scenic) outdoor option for physical therapy or gathering with friends, the purpose of Davis' study on the specific rooftop garden was to discover what patients and hospital staff found beneficial in the garden, and what improvements they would make.

Gardening as therapy is not a new concept.  Therapeutic Landscapes are making a comeback in the healing arts, but have a rich history spanning back over 3,000 years, particularly in Persia and the Orient, many of which are still thriving today.

Knoxville's rooftop garden was one of the first to be implemented for hospital therapy in the United States as a way of imitating different terrain for patients in the physical therapy program.  The budget for the gardens is approximately $8,500.00 per year, and the budget is dictated by the lead therapist for the hospital (Davis 23).  This budget includes hiring a landscape architect who can come up with creative ways of maintaining the garden, particularly as the use of pesticides and insecticides is forbidden under hospital regulations.  

Davis' study found some downsides besides the pesticide issue.  There is not the additional finances needed to develop a greenhouse for the rooftop that would keep the garden lush year-round (Davis 23).  While patients were observed to have interest in the garden, it was not diverse enough to keep their attention, and the group setting of benches and other sitting areas in the garden didn't appear to be conducive to private conversation (Davis 25).

A survey of 25 participants in the nursing and therapy staff found interesting results.  The therapy staff had largely positive views of the garden and frequently visited it with their patients.  Nurses had a less positive view of the garden and were "too busy" to spend any time there.   Less than 25% of the staff interviewed used the garden for their own personal use (breaks, lunches) but all touted the therapeutic benefits the garden had with their patients, including activities like basketball, putting on the golf green, Easter egg huts, barbecues and concerts that allowed their patients to have normalcy in their hospital stay or have breakthrough moments re-learning an activity (Davis 27).

Patients were also surveyed to gauge their personal feelings toward the garden.  The average length of stay for the patients chosen for the study was 3.5 weeks.  Only one patient of the 13 participants said they had read about the garden in a hospital brochure; the rest had been told about the garden by staff.  All participants gave the garden high rankings in the following areas:

• an option different from indoors
• to have as a view while inside
• to use in good weather and when feeling well
• to use with family and friends
• to have some private time
• for physical therapy
• to be outside and relax and to feel the sun and wind

Patients used the garden not only for therapy, but just as a way to get outside during their stay, citing the benefits of maintaining a sense of self, well-being and positive outlook (Davis 29).

Original plans had the garden on the main level of the hospital, but it was later moved to the fourth floor of the therapy wing to keep the space contained and accessible to patients without outside influence (Davis 33). A main feature of the garden, the gazebo, offers shelter on bright days and allows patients a view of the entire garden.

Keeping plants healthy has been a constant issue for the garden; observations in 2001 revealed that most of the trees planted in the garden were beginning to die away.  Constant shifting of plants is necessary to maintain a living space in the garden (Davis 35).

While there are positives and negatives at Tennessee's rooftop garden, it is far from decline and has been used as a way to expand ideas for other garden designs that focus on Fort Sanders' strengths while trying to phase out its weaknesses.

This layout for Chicago's Schwab Rehabilitation Hospital, designed by Douglas Hills Associates, Inc., offers a space for patients to relax and rehabilitate while staying safe.  

Other hospitals implementing rooftop gardens for therapeutic use include San Diego's Sharp Memorial, the Betty Cameron Women's & Children's Hospital in Wilmington, North Carolina and The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.  

We will re-visit the concept of rooftop gardens in hospital as the relate to specific therapeutic causes other than physical therapy in later posts.  We've only just begun to explore the rehabilitation benefits patients experience when they are reconnected with nature during their convalescence.  

Unlinked Source:

Davis, Brad E.  "Rooftop Hospitap Gardens for Physical Therapy: A Post-Occupancy
     Evaluation."  Herd Journal 4.2 (2011): 14-43.  ProQuest.  Accessed March 21, 2014.

Getting Started With Gardening in Your Community

Gardening has been done for all of our written history.  Whether gardening makes you think of little old ladies in hats and gloves or children picking a spring bouquet on a sunny day or a basket of vegetables brought into work by a co-worker, the basics of gardening are simple: get a spot, get some healthy dirt, something to stick in it, and something to keep the area watered.  

There are tons of magazines, books and websites that are devoted to getting started with gardening in the space that you have.  Apartment dwellers have great options, and so do people living in duplexes or other small spaces that include a balcony or patio.  Home gardens with larger yards can be split between a larger production of fruits and vegetables, flowers, or both.

Of course it must be remembered that some people do not have the natural green thumb or the time devote to gardening, particularly in cities where the work day can often stretch into the night.  With many cities, the "food desert" is becoming an issue, particularly when fast food is readily available and when city-dwellers are packing more and more things into their work day, the issue of nutrition and gardening are often not given a high priority.    

Fear not, urban dwellers!  There is an answer, and it lies in community gardening.  Community gardening is just that: a community coming together to garden an area that benefits all.  How well do you know your neighbors, particularly if you've just moved to a new area?  Working a piece of land together helps you grow closer and learn to look out for each other; after all, keep in mind that you are all now providing for each other.  Your sustenance depends on not just yourself, but those around you.

Kansas is home to many community gardens, a list of which can be found here.  

This is a somewhat short post compared to the past, but the importance of this blog is to encourage you to branch out with the information provided in the above links and start thinking about how you can make a difference in your community, and where you can find resources to help you do that.  Why?  Because:

    

Urban Agriculture and Land Use Planning

Look around your city as you're driving to work.  How many farms do you see?  How many vacant lots lying fallow do you pass?  How many fruit trees are thriving on your block?  The answer, in the order to the asking, is most likely "Little or none, tons, and little to none."

Why don't we see more urban agriculture happening?  People have gathered for millenia, and history has admitted that the "hunter gatherer" ideology should be described as more of a "foraging" community in pre-history as we know it's easier to daily gather nuts and grains, but especially in the case of larger kills, not necessary to hunt daily.  This is part of the reason why settling down and beginning to farm was successful: it was easier to travel for meat and grow food in a stable environment.

Yet as we've gotten better at living in cities, we seem to have forgotten that without air, water, and a food supply, our days are numbered.  Homes have plumbing and oxygen is readily available to us thanks to that good ol' photosynthesis thing that produces our oxygen molecules.

Cities that are growing are in a constant state of development, yet land use planning for urban agriculture is rarely addressed.  In 2000, Kameshwari Pothukucki, Ph.D., and Jerome L. Kaufman conducted a study wherein they addressed the lack of inclusion for urban agriculture sites in city planning.

What they found was not a lack of interest in including urban agriculture, but a lack of knowledge for how to implement it into successful city planning.  The report broke down their findings into seven main causes for leaving gardening out of the design:

1. Food production was considered a social issue, not a planning issue.  Many developers thought the idea was good, but not in their wheelhouse.
2. Many developers and planners left food to rural communities and did not consider them "urban issues."
3. City planning is outside the private sector, where many feel food production resides.   
4. Food system planning subsidies are not as well known as city planning subsidies.
5. Planners don't think food production is an issue; they see supermarkets and think there is not a problem to be solved.
6. Most planners have connections within their own system, but do not have readily available resources to reach out to those in food production.
7. Lack of knowledge about food production and food scarcity issues many urban dwellers face.

With the help of organizations like the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), people are being empowered in local areas to develop and grow their own communities.  How does it work?  

As you can see, by empowering locals through research, advancements are being made by people for their own areas, and these ideas spread out to others in similar situations and create partnerships for lifelong change.

Integrating food planning into urban development is a fairly new concept, but is growing in popularity.

In 2008, a group of researchers (citation at end) who embarked on researching urban agriculture planning in the city of Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, British Columbia.  As the first US city to adopt a policy to reduce carbon emissions, Portland created an Office of Sustainable Development in 2000, which later grew to include food sustainability in it's list of priorities (Mendes 438).  When the city passed a resolution to take inventory of city-managed lands for potential urban agriculture (but didn't provide any funding for the project), Portland Commissioner Dan Saltzman recruited students from Portland State University to complete the project, and "The Diggable City" concept was born (Mendes 439).

The Special Office for the Environment was created in Vancouver in 1990, and by April 2002 the city had a vision for sustainability in the city that also included the creation of the Sustainability Sponsor Group made of city employees (Mendes 443).  Even without food sustainability mandates, Vancouver has held to the policy to provide funding for urban agriculture until a Food Action Plan was officially established in 2003.  

In developing Urban Agriculture land planning, the city also turned towards university students at the University of British Columbia, modeling its inventory after the Portland report (Mendes 443).  

Upon conclusion of both initial research projects, the cities were both primed to move into implementation.   The Diggable City is now in Phase III and still making recommendations to perfect it's pilot projects.  Vancouver has moved forward with its goals of urban agriculture by adding recommendations and how-tos to the city's website.  

With a little savvy, a little planning, and a little consideration to both the mental and ENVIRONmental aspects urban agriculture gives to a city, future planning projects across the nation that incorporate the ideals of a greener city will include the know-how and layout necessary to create future possibilities of reclaiming farming in even the most chic and sophisticated city layouts.

Unlinked Source:

Mendes, Wendy, Kevin Balmer, Terra Kaethler, and Amanda Rhoads. "Using Land Inventories
     to Plan for Urban Agriculture." Journal of the American Planning Association. 74.4
     (2008): 435-449. ProQuest.  Accessed March 13, 2014.  

Why Urban Agriculture?

What can green roofs do for us, you might ask?  How is it accomplished?  Great questions!  Let's watch a short video:

But what does gardening in general even have to do with the urban landscape?  Another excellent question, answered by video:

AND one more question: WHY SHOULD WE CARE??!?  One answer: Food Transparency.  It's important.  Where did that head of lettuce come from?  How was it grown?  What pesticides were used?  Why are those chicken breasts on such a wicked sale than the ones next to them, what's been done to them?  Why is this tomato healthy looking while this one already smells like moldy bread?  These are important things to ask!  I know, I said only one more question and then I rained a volley down.  But that's because this is IMPORTANT!  We should know about these things.  We don't let a child stick a penny down their throats and THEN ask if it was a smart decision.  Something in us knows that penny shouldn't be anywhere NEAR a kid.  Why are we so knowledgeable about the dangers of that penny, but not the dangers that could be in our egg yolks?

Reclaiming our food is important, and urban cities using urban agriculture are leading the way in that reclamation process.  Families are eating healthier at a fraction of the cost in cities that encourage sustainable and ethical food production.

The environment is something we are all TOLD we should care about, but particularly urban areas there is a distancing between direct nature to human contact, and that blunts the importance of the message that we are only as healthy as the environment that sustains us.  Urban youth growing up in smog-infested cities have no idea about clean air.  They don't know what a rooster acts like in real life.  They understand that it costs a few quarters to feed a goat in a zoo, if they're brave enough to get close enough to it's mouth.  Cornell University student Alexey Kudryavtsev explored the phenomenon of finding "place" for urban students in environmental stewardship as part of his dissertation in attaining a Ph.D. in Philosophy.  His essay explores how urban students are capable of understanding their environmental impact and how they can change the norm and promote sustainability when they are exposed to the education behind environmentalism.  They also understand the need to bring nature back to the cities and use it as a way of creating positive local ecosystems that in turn create jobs and promote economic and food security for themselves and their peers.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if adults were as enthusiastic about their ability to change the environment in which they live in positive ways?  Oh, wait.  One last video of the day: they ARE and they're waiting for YOU!