Gardening The Future.

I have now presented my poster to the class about my window farm. Thanks to everyone that stopped by to learn about window farming. Showing my window farm to people gives me an opportunity to educate others about creative gardening and producing/buying local organic food.

I was asked many times today about what I was going to do with window garden now that the class project is over. My garden will live on so do not worry. My window farm will be moving with me to a Boy Scout summer camp that I run. There it will hang in a window in the dinning hall. With this prime location I will have around 1500 people walk by it during the summer and I am sure that many of them will stop to take a look.

The possibility of having 1500 people learn about local food is an exciting idea that I cannot turn down. Exceptionally sense most of that 1500 will be middle school kids. Teaching kids at a young age is the easiest way to make meaning life changes.

And after camp the garden is moving with me to Chicago where I hope to expand it.

I hope that many of you are think about making your own window garden, and if you do please let me know. Here are a few things that I have learned from making my own can could help you.

First, herbs are the best to plant in a window garden because many of them do not grow to big. This style of gardening is not good for large plants. Also herbs allow you to continually harvest them without completely killing the plant.

Second, do forget to water them. The bottles themselves are not very big and with that they cannot store a lot of water. I have to water my garden every two days or it will quickly dry out. I learned this the hard way and my lettuce has not fully recovered from it yet.

Last, come up with a design of your own. You could simply build one close to mine or you could be creative. Being creative with your garden makes this project such a fun to do. A good friend of mine is now making one out of old sections of plastic plumbing of different sizes. Some of the pipes even have right angles in them so he can be even more creative with the design. He is planting wild flowers in his.

Over all this has been a fantastic project. I have truly enjoyed designing and building my garden and learning about environmental issues at the same time in class.

The Bigger Idea

My last post I talked about how unrealistic this project is when it comes to providing food. It is impossible to grow enough food from so few bottles and the amount it would take is huge. Some people did not like this idea that I was claiming that this was not realistic. I would like to clear up a few things.

While the amount of food this system can grow is very little it has allowed me to educate others on the idea of local food. Just before the start of this class I was learning for myself about the importance of local food but did not have a way to share it. This project has allowed me to educate others about this movement will showing them my project. The real value of this project is the education and not in production.

On another note Window Farms have showed up on Weekend Edition on National Public Radio a few weeks ago. I have posted the link to the story at the bottom of this post. A key thing that they talk about in this story is how much fun it is to build and take care of a window farm. In my opinion this plays as equally important role as education. If it were not fun then no one would take the time to build one.

While trying to find out exactly how much this project helps the environment I have came across a bigger idea. I want to know how many trees I would have to plant in order to cancel out my carbon footprint. This way I can sleep at night knowing that I am not making things worst. Worst as in green house gases. I am going to look into this and will blog about what I have found soon.

Week 1: Vegetarianism Summary

So, my original online calculator eatlowcarbon.com has been replaced by http://www.nature.org/initiatives/climatechange/calculator/. Several reasons for this, but it’s mostly because this calculator lets me calculate my carbon footprint based on the amount of meat and animal products I consume whereas eatlowcarbon.com only had ‘sample meals’ that I could choose from—and none of them were really close to what I ate that day.

Here are some facts from www.nature.org:

Diets heavy in meat produce 24% more carbon emissions than the average American eater.

7% of greenhouse gasses are tied to food, specifically to agricultural production within the U.S.

91% of this carbon comes from methane and nitrous oxide that is produced by land, animal, and farm-vehicle management/use

And here are some super-relevant-to-my-project-facts from www.nature.org:

Veggies emit less than 42% of the average American meat-eater’s carbon footprint

Vegans produce less than 72% of the average!

Here’s a graph I’ve made charting my process, specifically tracking the carbon footprint. As you can tell, I have already divided my Carbon footprint in half–from 4.2 tons per year to 1.5.

Constraints against my potential Vegetarianism/Veganism success:

• I am a picky eater and my constantly-moving lifestyle requires me to dig fast, processed food–which I do.
• I also dislike some ‘staple’ vegetarian/vegan items like tomatoes and onions. Shocking, I know. Peppers are growing on me. I love broccoli, which is only because I serve at Applebee’s and the last time I was vegan I could only eat baked potatoes with salsa (delish!) and garlic broccoli while I worked there.
• The only tofu I like is extra-firm because I can’t handle gelatinous textures for salty, flavorful foods (I love the heck outta jello, chocolate mousse, and puddin’, however.)
• I also can’t cook beyond processed, ready-made foods. I think that my inability to cook is predicated on the fact that I haven’t really tried. Because of my lack of experience I depend on Morningstar and Boca products as substitutes for meat eating—these will likely not have a low carbon footprint for the same reasons Oreos probably don’t: processing plant matter (or chemicals), manufacturing, packaging, shipping to one central location (HyVee headquarters, etc) and then to our local business.
• I am on campus for large portions of the day, sometimes encompassing 2 out of the 3 meals. Just today, I looked up at the little analog clock and realized that I hadn’t eaten in nearly 24 hours (which probably explains my headache.)

As requested-where I’ve been buying my food

I’ve noticed that I fall in and out of patterns of vegetarian/veganism.  I mean that I have certain ‘go-tos’ depending upon my dietary choices.  I buy different sets of food.  And, because I am constantly on campus or coming from campus, that includes fast food.

So here’s the Union’s rankings for vegetarian diets:

Panda Express—although technically they use animal based products to prepare their food (because EVERYONE does), they do have some vegetarian options.  Their fried rice with mixed veggies is delicious, flavorful and filling. Or, a veggie spring rolls and steamed rice Panda Bowl is also good (and, arguably, vegan.) However, it’s not cheap—over $5 a meal kinda sucks, but that’s probably the norm for the Union.

Salsarita’s—Beans. They’re good for vegetarians. They have lotsa protein, are versatile, and are pretty delicious. Veggies can get beans, cheese, and a whole host of other delicious toppings on some nachos, in a burrito, or stuffed into tacos.  Also pricey. But pretty big portions—if you go from eating meat to vegetarianism you might notice that you’re hungry. Turns out that’s because protein, specifically animal protein is ‘heavier’ and fills you up.  Salsarita’s fills you up, too. Delish.

Taco Bell—Also beans. Beans and rice. Cheaper. Still pretty alright in terms of quality.

Other restaurants follow the same guidelines—‘ethnic foods’ are usually more feasible for vegetarians than ‘American’ cuisine like Chile’s or Applebee’s. Beans, Tofu, Delicious Veggies, etc

Also the Union has ala-carte items like fruit and roasted red pepper hummus and pita. Chickpeas (which is what hummus is made out of) are good for many of the same reasons as why beans are good: versatility and protein-content.

Grocery:

If you can afford it, People’s Grocery rocks face. They have bulk staple foods; local meats, cheeses and produce; and have the elusive Tofurkey around the holidays. They have lots of gluten free-foods, cruelty-free products, and lots and lots of soy products. Like I said, kinda pricey and on 17^th street by Dara’s which is sorta far away.

Dillon’s has (or used to have, I’m not sure since they renovated their biz) a great aisle conveniently located ‘Vegetarian’ which has organic products and even quick-cook foods like Amy’s Organic Cheese Pizza pockets. They also have Morningstar and Boca Products in the freezer section next to breakfast foods, for some reason.

HyVee has an entire section of ‘healthful foods’ including a cold-case section with lots of different veggie foods. Even non-meat/soy-free food. And Tofutti-vegan ice cream!

Other than that-the vegetarian switch hasn’t been too bad! Probably because it’s been only a week and I was veg for a year and a half. Veganism happening now.

Sustainable Design = Sustainable Living

Aesthetic Appeal: The Lucida: Upper East Side Condominiums, registered for LEED certification

Hey everyone,

For this entry, I’ve decided to take a slight turn from the economic and environmental benefits of sustainable design and focus on the aesthetics of sustainable building. For some time now, many people have conjured up this idea of green buildings as well… ugly. Why might that be? Well, fist of all – the first few examples of environmentally “responsible” designed buildings were ugly! Many of the earliest models of sustainable design were focused primarily on performance; nothing else. Now this is understandable when a new movement is trying to figure itself out and the buildings are being slapped with random solar panels and building materials. Additionally, these experimental buildings were first designed by brilliant technological engineering types rather than artistic designers and the more innovative technologies, materials, and systems were not yet available.

I think it is important to stress that aesthetic design and beauty of a building is always an issue with any architect or designer. This is often because in every architecture school creativity, aesthetic appeal, and inspiration are taught to drive passion about particular projects or ideas. By doing so, beautiful and often bizarre buildings bring people from all over the world to take pictures and ponder their beginnings. Eiffel Tower, St. Louis Arch, Notre Dame… anyone??

Since the green movement is young, misunderstanding of many of the principles and technologies of sustainable design has perhaps limited its success aesthetically. So for that reason, schools all over the world are adopting the principles and teachings of sustainable design into their design practices! And as I have shown you the pictures of various LEED certified buildings throughout my blogs, more successful buildings are emerging with not only high performance and earth friendliness, but beauty! Most of the buildings are very attractive due to their large clear windows that allow natural light and the bright lush plants that grown around, in or on top of the building. The shapes, angles, and materials often look sleek, connected, and friendly. These qualities have only recently been developed but are drawing people to the idea and look of sustainable design.

Some (extra eco-friendly people) might ask why beauty is even necessary if it’s helping the environment. According to McLennan (2004), he explains that beautifully designed buildings that elicit an emotional response are likely to be respected in their use and be maintained and repaired as necessary. He claims, “It is the most beautiful of buildings that typically gets saved from the wrecking ball.” Therefore, beauty is necessary. Overall, beautiful buildings become a sort of muse for individuals, a result that is essential to the sustainable design philosophy that teaches people to reconnect to their environment. A building that is built to change with the seasons and weather patterns can be beautiful and help connect people to these processes as well. Also, as I discussed in my earlier blogs, sustainable buildings often promote productivity. The same is true in that a beautiful building can increase functionality and productivity overall. Attraction and interest can compel people to learn more about the places we inhabit and in this way can lead to helping more people connect to their surroundings. By connecting to our surroundings, we grow and connect with our communities and most of all, nature!

Peace