Recently, the class went on a trip to a rooftop garden in Cumberland Street. The rooftop of the Brooklyn Navy Yard has a sustainable garden that grows many different crops. The people that works there grew crops like sage, pepper, lettuce, kale, and many more. Flowers were grown as well. The flowers attracted many bees and insects due to their sweetness and nectar. The whole rooftop was a garden, so crops were everywhere. The garden has a lot of sunlight for the crops. There were technologies like weather machines used in garden to help the crops. Water irritations were used to provide water to the plants. A water tank was on the roof to provide water for the whole building. There were also chickens being raised there. Our school had rented spaces to grow crops in the garden. So far sages, basil, rosemary, and more are grown there.

The class was shown a film in class before we went on the trip. The film was called “Food Machine”. The film was hosted by a man named Yul Kwon. Yul explained how crops are grown in farms on different states in America. Farmers use center-pivot irrigation to water their crops. Many farmers face problems in their farm. One of the problems are insects. Some farmers tried using pesticides. Other farmers hired professionals to get rid of the insects. However, getting rid of the insects wasn’t easy. Insects face evolution to resist the chemical. Soon farmers went to use GMO (genetically modified organism).

There were two articles that we read that relates to agriculture. Apparently, Michael Pollan wrote an open letter about a broken food system in 2008. He explained that a massive amount of fossil fuel was used for creating chemical fertilizer and pesticide. A huge amount of greenhouse gas was created as well. Due to these problems, the health care costs had increased. A few days later, Obama responded to the article. He promised to change all of the problems occurring. Michelle Obama planted an organic garden in the lawn of the White house. It was a powerful act that stimulated a food movement. However, the food movement wasn’t a big thing in political force.