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Chronological Thread  
  • From: Saor Stetler <saor@ycbtal.net>
  • To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [permaculture] Vertical Farming?
  • Date: Tue, 28 Jun 2005 14:13:26 -0700

The Vertical Farm:

Reducing the impact of agriculture on ecosystem functions and services

http://www.verticalfarm.com/essay.htm

Abstract

<>The advent of agriculture ushered in an unprecedented increase in the human population and their domesticated animals. Farming catalyzed the transformation of hunter-gatherers into urban dwellers. Today, over 800 million hectares is committed to agriculture, or about 38% of the total landmass of the earth. Farming has re-arranged the landscape in favor of cultivated fields and herds of cattle, and has occurred at the expense of natural ecozones, reducing most of them to fragmented, semi-functional units, while completely eliminating many others. Undeniably, a reliable food supply has allowed for a healthier life style for most of the civilized world, while the very act of farming has created new health hazards. The transmission of numerous infectious disease agents - influenza, rabies, yellow fever, dengue fever, malaria, trypanosomiasis, hookworm, schistosomiasis - occur with relentlessly devastating regularity at the tropical and sub-tropical agricultural interface. Emerging infections, many of which are viral zoonoses (e.g., Ebola, Lassa fever), rapidly adapt to the human host following encroachment into natural environments. Exposure to toxic levels of some classes of agrochemicals (pesticides, fungicides) and trauma are two other significant health risks associated with traditional agricultural practices. Over the next 50 years, the human population is expected to rise to at least 8.6 billion, requiring an additional 109 hectares to feed them using current technologies. That quantity of farmland is no longer available. Thus, alternative strategies for obtaining an abundant and varied food supply without encroachment into the few remaining functional ecosystems must be seriously entertained. If traditional farming could be replaced by constructing urban food production centers - vertical farms - then a long-term benefit would be the gradual repair of many of the world's damaged ecosystems through the systematic abandonment of farmland. In temperate and tropical zones, the re-growth of hardwood forests could play a significant role in carbon sequestration and may help reverse current trends in global climate change. Social benefits of vertical farming include the creation of a sustainable urban environment that encourages good health for all who choose to live there; new employment opportunities; fewer abandoned lots and buildings; cleaner air; and an abundant supply of safe drinking water.

An essay by Dickson Despommier
Department of Environmental Health Sciences
Mailman School of Public Health
Columbia University
60 Haven Ave, rm. 100
New York, New York 10032
ddd1@columbia.edu <mailto:ddd1@columbia.edu>




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