Please view and be prepared to discuss on October 29.
- Brooklyn Grange Farm: sustainable resource use of urban space and its benefits http://www.growingagreenerworld.com/episode322/
Environmental Economics
A City Tech OpenLab Course Site
Please view and be prepared to discuss on October 29.
The OpenLab is an open-source, digital platform designed to support teaching and learning at City Tech (New York City College of Technology), and to promote student and faculty engagement in the intellectual and social life of the college community.
Nice video. I was very surprised that the honey from the rooftop beehives is healthier than the one from the countryside. It is due to the fact that bees and the honey in the countryside are exposed to pesticides and other chemicals such as fertilizers.
From the start of the video I was concerned about the labor costs. My concerns were supported by one of the last speeches in the video when the representative of one of the rooftop farms has mentioned that the profits are not as high due to the labor expenses. Currently, they hire interns and volunteers. It helps the farms to break even. I would say that it is pretty challenging for Brooklyn Grange to find cheap labor in the city because New York is not a rural or farmlands’ area. Therefore, in my opinion, it is pretty challenging for the rooftop farms to compete with the big scale farms because their expenses on labor and assets must be lower, if to to the scale.
Rooftop farming sound as good and very interesting idea to invest in, but analyzing rooftop farming from an architect or an engineering point of view can make you to rethink before investing in this sustainable idea. First thing, I will have to agree that rooftop farming is a powerful concept. But we will have to ask an engineer if a regular flat roof can hold the weight of the soil? We know that soil is heavy in weight, with out even being saturated with water. What will happen if 6 to 8 inches of soil got saturated with water? The weight of the soil will triple and even more. What will happen if you get 3 to 7 inches of snow on top of the roof? Most of New York buildings designed to carry lightweight and some of them can barely carry their own structure. We might make it work, if we have to strengthen the structure of the building, by adding more structural elements to it, and designing new roof details to prevent water /moisture leakage into the building. But how much will cost us to get this done? . I think it will be a lot of money. Therefore, if you interesting in having top roof farming, you should design your house to carry this type of roof.
rooftop farm is really a very interesting concept, but it is also a challenge idea. it sound like a sustainable way to grow food in the urban area, but the big problem is how to find a cheap and suitable place to grow food. the cost of building a roof can hold the weigh of the soil and the labor will outweigh the income of selling the rooftop food.
For me resulted very interesting because i grown up in a country that frequently families have a little space to plant in spring their own vegetables.Then to live in the concrete world with few spaces to plant a simple fruit tree is so sad.Hope to visit this roof farmer next seasons and buy some fresh vegetable. The idea of planting using the roof is fabulous, but still is impossible to realize in every house. This need to have a very good foundation and a roof made with concrete in order to support the heavy weight of the materials and the water that it need. In the other hand is a big budget that we need to create this project if we think in do a system that use storm water and organic earth, but nothing that we can’t do if we have the appropriate conditions. Whit respect to the honey I support this project ,and more in this moment that bees tender to disappear; only my concern lies in the point that in the city a simple bee sting would resulted danger for a few person that are very allergies to it. For the information in the video i think that business in honey ears more than vegetable project, that for me plant for the family is more a hobby or recreation with the benefits to eat healthy.
This video gave me lots of information about local farming and it does help our project. Before I watched this video, I already know local farming because I been to the farmers’ market several of times. But I never heard of growing foods on the rooftop before. After finished watched this video, I think this is a great concept that helps the community to become greener. Also, this is a great opportunity for children to learn and see agriculture in personal instead of reading it from the text book, which is an experience that hard to experience in the city. In addition, I think to grow local food can reduce the amount of genetically modified foods that people absorb in body.