New York is a city notoriously short on space, but also one whose residents are big on innovation. In the Big Apple, the latest trend is rooftop farming. Individuals and restaurants are beginning to grow some of their own food in the only space available to them – their roofs. While the practice is currently an environmental rather than a financial trend, some companies hope it can become a money-making business model, providing a cheaper alternative to store-bought produce, especially in low-income neighborhoods where fresh vegetables are expensive and scarce. Paige Kollock reports.
I am surprised at the hate generated by this video. People utilizing space for productive purposes aren't exactly villains in my book. For those who insist a building be completely sustainable, or don't bother, that is a mind set that is ignorant beyond my ability to comprehend. There is no food shortage, we have a logistics problem, and a wasteful attitude. The same people who are so violently opposed to growing food on roofs doubtless get angry when someone uses their yard for food rather than grass. Ignorance is what creates our scarcities, it would truly be an abundant world if we weren't such an ignorant species.
Shipping containers are RAIL CARS??? Get a grip whoever read this script!!!
So we pave over all of the arable land formally able to be used to grow food with concrete and steel and now we don't have enough land to grow food. Wow the human race is short sighted. Thankfully there are people out there like in this video who are trying to come up with solutions. Just look at all that unused roof top space in the closing section of the video. New York, as with other cities around the world, is just waiting for them to be put to good use.
They should make a law that says every new building over 10 stories is required to have a green house like structure on the roof. It could provide food, mini park like places for the elderly and kids, insulation and since heat rises it provides the heat during the winter, maybe find a way to use human waste like old food etc that is usually thrown away.
Hell even the air inside the building could be pumped threw the top story green house, exchanging co2 for oxygen and filtering the air.
@NoMansLandNYC shut up hippy people don't stop evolving
@Omega231984 that is already possible it is used for growing weed indoors, google hydroponics.
Sounds good for a single family but how do you provide for a 100 family or more in that limited space of a single skyscraper.
Remember always, money is an abstract concept. While we should be fiscally responsible, we should not drive all of our decisions by monetary fears alone. For a people who waste obscene amounts of money on war, gambling, tobacco, narcotics, and vaporize billions on stock markets, we need to look at longer term ways of valuing things. I believe individual responsibility for food production, no matter how small is commendable and worthy of investigation.
@NoMansLandNYC Rooftop gardens are a great idea , building skyscrapers specifically to house plants and gardens is not viable for the foreseeable future and is not feasable. Every project has economic factors.
@hablerz So what do we do with more money? Buy food? If food is the issue, than where do we buy it from?
The more food we grow, the more population expands. The more population expands the more food we need….and so on and so on. This planet (along with the rest of the universe and beyond) was never ours to make what we want with it. The whole damn thing is a giant beast and we are no less a part of it than the birds, the worm or the leaf. We stopped evolving because we want more food than we need. Forests turn to farm land, we expand and again need more farm land. Grow on your roofs people…
Great idea! Using local roof space for food!
*****
@Omega231984 No where near economically viable , a 100 story appartment block would make much more money.
I wonder why we don't try experimenting with different ambient light to try and replicate the required sun sources so that we can harvest crops inside entire skyscrapers as the need for farmlands increases, the population will eventually prevent any production growth with over crowding. Instead of looking to flatlands, we needs to look to the sky, think about the revenue for each sky garden. Each 100 story building could harvest enough food for 100,000 people per city in controlled environment