A Farm in the City?

As the city of New York takes a step towards accepting the age-old tradition of city bee-keeping, we started to ask ourselves whether our fundamental need for farm produce will eventually mean that every skyscraper in every city will also have its very own roof-top farm.

A little while ago the Evolvo Skyscraper Competition highlighted an advanced version of this concept. Eric Vergne, one of three finalists, created an unusual biomorphic building designed to be a hi-tech vertical farm to fulfill the needs of future New York City residents. With official assessments stressing that 80% of the world’s population will be living in urban centers by 2050, vertical farms like Eric’s are an important part of the plan to help feed people in a sustainable manner.

Historically, we know that in times of dire need (during both World Wars for instance), some European citizens were able to successfully grow a variety of products from small allotments within their city boundaries, and in Stockholm this ‘rooftop allotment’ concept continues till this day. As a result, some of the most advanced concepts are still developed in that city.

There are companies now that can offer new, sophisticated designs in which watering and fertilizing are done automatically and huge conversion projects can be completed without stress or damage to the building or the people living in it. There are even people who can help turn your indoor spaces into veritable gardens of Eden.

Of course the idea of ‘Living Roofs’, ‘Sky Gardens’ and ‘Rooftop Farms” are not new and in time they will be an accepted part of our everyday life. One day, whilst walking through your city, you will find it natural to look up and see someone enjoying a little break from their busy schedule in a mini farm on top of their building, away from the traffic, surrounded by fruit, flowers and bees.

Eco Gadgets for the Home

Assuming that 2009 has started for you in the same way that it has for the rest of the country, you might be looking for clever little ways of saving money around the house. These are some of the little gadgets that we thought worthy of your eco-home.

For the kitchen we bumped into something unique and probably quite useful. How many times have you thought about growing your own vegetables but the weather, or the lack of garden, has stopped you? You can now invest in the AeroGarden (available on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk) to help you grow lettuce, cherry tomatoes, herbs, chili peppers and more in an energy-efficient way and right in your kitchen! The kit comes with pre-seeded growth medium, fertilizer, two daylight-spectrum bulbs and the grow pod itself. The plants start to grow within 24 hours, and they mature 5 times faster compared to ordinary soil.

For the laundry room, try this little gadget. The BioWashBall (available here) is an eco-friendly method for washing your clothes without using any washing detergent. The BioWashBall uses specially developed ceramic beads that release negative ions and weaken the adhesion of dirt to fabric. It also increases the pH level of the water in the washing machine (simulating soap powder). It’s the combination of the high pH and the negative ions that helps release dirt from your clothing. The BioWashBall can be used for 3 years on the basis of one 9lb load of laundry per day. That can save big money! Every month, the BioWashBall is ‘recharged’ by placing it in bright sunlight for 2 hours. So: no harsh chemicals and no money spent on soap powder, everyone is a winner!

And for the garden or maybe the office, why not get yourself some eco-music? The Eco Travel Speakers use no batteries, are made of re-cycled materials and fold flat for storage and transport! (available here). Each speaker folds flat for convenient storage and portability; this makes them perfect for use in the garden or on the road (festivals, events, the park, camping, etc). They are universally compatible with all IPods and Mp3 players and once again: no batteries!

Eco Lives: Mark Philip-Sorensen

Maybe I was born eco! Since I was a child my family surrounded me by animals and nature which made me always aware of the impact I (and others) had on our environment. Despite my love for all things green, I went into a more conventional career, but after spending fourteen years in the corporate world I decided it was time to try something different. Years of driving around the UK in a suit was taking its toll on both family and home life and I wanted more for my wife, three children and myself. Both my wife, Lizzie and I agreed that we wanted to run a business which would enable people to become greener and give our children a future they could believe in.

For my family, the seeds of www.moreeco.com began with an interest in buying the best, nutritional and quality food, which, after research, we found to be local and organic produce - without the chemicals. After sourcing organic and natural cleansing products for our children, Lizzie quickly turned her attention to her own facial products and cosmetics and became a fan of brands such as Lavera and Beauty Without Cruelty. We also became more aware of the environmental issues associated with buying organic products and soon realised there were social factors too and wanted to consciously buy from smaller and independent retailers.

Both Lizzie and I wanted to get the children involved in a greener lifestyle too - not turning them into little green radicals, but being given an opportunity to educate them through practice so that it became second nature. Even now, whenever I go to the recycling centre I usually take my kids with me so they understand what I am doing. They take it all in their stride and think that it's a great afternoon out!

As we talked about what we were doing for the planet, such as switching our car insurance to a green supplier at no extra cost, a lot of our friends began to follow suit. Even Lizzie's sister who used to throw everything away is now separating her waste and recycling it. It's like school and peer pressure. Slowly and almost sub-consciously people change their choices. The key is for it not to be led by marketers who make money out of the being moreeco concept and then rapidly ditch it.

It was this point we thought we had the idea for www.moreeco.com. As a couple we were both avid online shoppers and keen to be rewarded for our loyalty but we realised that there was difficulty in finding decent online eco shops in one accessible place. Within a year and just before my 35th birthday, www.moreeco.com was born.

Our aim is to bring together and reward the conscious consumer and eco, organic, ethical and natural retailer. By shopping through www.moreeco.com you can save more money and be rewarded for your loyalty.

Our business is not purely about a guilty-free purchase through a simple carbon offsetting process from the typical high street shop. Instead moreeco offers a choice of true (often smaller and independent) companies with being moreeco at their core. Then we reward their members for their moreeco loyalty with some fantastic rewards.

I think it is never too late to change your shopping habits, and hope that moreeco shopping will become popular and an instinctive way of life for many. Small steps by a lot of people make a big collective difference.

Traveleco readers can get 700 free points instead of the standard 500 when they sign up to www.moreeco.com. Please enter travel09 in the promotional code box.
To find out how you can become greener and make small steps to a better life for you and the planet, why not visit our blog at www.bemoreeco.com

Eco Lives: James H. Spear, Jr.

I have been resident in China since January 1986. In the Spring of that year I first came to Mutianyu Great Wall as a casual visitor. I was entranced by the dramatic, craggy mountains and the impossible construction of the Wall. Exploring the pine forests, orchards, and tiny villages in the area was the perfect antidote to downtown Beijing, where I lived and worked. On one visit to Mutianyu in the early 1990s I sat on a rock to rest after walking down from the Wall. A local guy selling tee-shirts struck up a conversation with me. I think he wanted me to buy a tee-shirt but I bought a house instead.

Actually, as we were chatting I told him how much I envied him to be able to live in such a beautiful natural environment with fresh air and blue skies and that one of my dreams had always been to be able to live under the Great Wall. He immediately said, I'll help you find a place. And he did. As a "laowai" I would never have found my way into a Chinese village to acquire a home but it was just this accidental, magical encounter that changed my life.

For many years our house in Mutianyu was a weekend retreat but some years ago when our kids were off to university my wife and I decided to live full time in the village. The first thing I did was rebuild our peasant's house into something suitable for year-round living. I finally got my Great Wall view study and a view shower to boot. Friends liked the house and one thing led to another and now I've designed and built over 20 homes in the area for foreigners and Chinese alike, including the guest houses we are now able to offer as The Schoolhouse Rental Homes.

I'm afraid to say that we got into the tourism business just as accidentally as I found my house here. When I moved out here full-time the village mayor sat me down and told me that in case I hadn't noticed the village folk were having a hard time. Jobs were scarce and the community with 500 years of history was being pulled apart as the young people just moved away. He told me they had welcomed me into their village and that it was about time for me to give something back. He said I was a rich foreigner and I should make an investment in Mutianyu. So I had to be kicked in the pants.

With the unanimous agreement of the village council we took a long-term lease on the abandoned village primary school and have revamped it into an art glass worskshop, and art gallery, and a restaurant. Over time we've added two other restaurants and a lodging business and also are spreading our projects into other nearby villages. We didn't start out with a big philosophy but over time we're developing a very concrete sense of what it means to be sustainable in the context of a local community. We've gotten a lot of attention and support from the Beijing government as the authorities here are grappling with how to deliver better life chances to rural folk without the countryside emptying out, a dilemma that recurs all over the developing world.

Anyway, I've always believed that the perfect is the enemy of the good enough so we are simply perservering and making incremental improvements in our approaches to social and environmental sustainability. The process of getting certified with 3 Green Stars by Eco Hotels of the World gave me ideas how we can continue to do better, so now we're shooting for 4 stars!

You can see Jim’s property here.