The Living Skyscraper by Blake Kurasek

As I got older, I watched the farms and orchards disappear, replaced with cookie cutter communities. Houses that all looked the same and were close enough to scratch your neighbors back while they were in the shower cluttered the horizon and slowly took over the entire area. By the time I moved out of town at 18, there were no more farmers in the area, the suspenders were gone and the soccer moms had moved in.

Now 30, I have seen more and more farms disappear as land is annexed to squeeze in more people. Where I currently reside, there are still many farms in the surrounding areas, and as I drive the back roads to work, I cringe at the though of the roof-tops that will consume the beautiful land over the next 20 years.  So what are we going to do when all the farms are gone? Where will we grow our food? What will happen to the green in the concrete jungle?

Enter The Vertical Farm Project from Columbia University. The idea came about in 1999 when an environmental sciences professor mentioned the idea to his students. In 2001, they actually began researching and outlining the idea, and it has continued to grow since then (Pun intended!).

According to Dickson Despommier, the professor of environmental sciences and microbology that started this ball rolling, vertical farming could provide many benefits around the world. Aside from adding additional green space in overpopulated urban areas, the avoidance of deviated weather conditions such as flood

s or droughts would be a major asset. Growing crops indoors in well maintained conditions will assist in optimal growth rates year round. One acre of vertical farm could produce the same amount of 15 acres of soil-based farmland.

Unfortunately, these farms are still in the proof of concept phase as they figure out ways to reduce the costs of creating the massive structures. If costs are brought down, maybe we could see some of these farms created in highly populated urban areas by 2020! Keep our fingers crossed. Some additional advantages:

Advantages of Vertical Farming

• Year-round crop production
• Eliminates agricultural runoff
• Significantly reduces use of fossil fuels (farm machines and transport of crops)
• Makes use of abandoned or unused properties
• No weather related crop failures
• Offers the possibility of sustainability for urban centers
• Converts black and gray water to drinking water
• Adds energy back to the grid via methane generation
• Creates new urban employment opportunities
• Reduces the risk of infection from agents transmitted at the agricultural interface
• Returns farmland to nature, helping to restore ecosystem functions and services
• Controls vermin by using restaurant waste for methane generation

My father was a very handy guy, but he didn’t know everything, and he certainly didn’t look into future requirements and costs when he put stuff together. For instance, one year, he decided to take the empty spot under one half of our deck and create a storage area out of it. Sounds like a plan right? It’s not being used, let’s put it to use. Of course, he wanted to make it accessible from the basement in the house so we could put firewood in there and access it without going into the blistering cold winters.

He decided that it would be best to enclose the outside foyer at the back door, essentially extending out basement hallway by about 10 feet, to give us more room there and provide an area to access the new storage area he was planning. It was a great idea, and it sounded sane at the time, until winter hit.

Because he extended the basement hallway into the garage, and did not make the wall standard width, we ended up having to close this area off from the rest of the house due to the added cold that was coming in from this area. It didn’t really seem like an issue in the middle of summer, but it sure came back to frost-bite us during November!

While we saved money on the initial construction costs, it cost more than the original quote from a contractor in the end when we had to go back and redo things (It was still done DYI, but with more insight and costs). My new motto for DIY is ‘Whats is going to cost me later?’. If I think I can do it myself, I look at all the possible problems and costs I could incur in the future before making a decision.

Saving money is great, but you always have to weigh the professional costs against the DIY costs from all angles. Don’t stop doing it yourself… unless it will cost you more in tools and resources than to hire a professional!

It seems like every time we turn around something is getting cut from the budget somewhere, and it’s usually something important. Local politicians seem to support ‘city sprawl’ by annexing more and more land for more and more low-cost (And by low-cost, I mean quality) communities that will be overvalued and overpriced. They raise our property taxes to get more money for the city, then then spend it on things that are unnecessary and don’t really do much for the community. We waste and waste and waste, and wonder why we’re in a deficit.

Then I start to look around. I look at the opportunities to save money, left right and center, and I wonder why such simple things are being ignored by the government and big business. Do they not care about the environment? Do they not care about the bills that are being paid by the taxpayers? Do they just not care period?

Take a look downtown at night, in any major metropolis. Have you ever wondered who could possibly be working that late at night? I mean, 95% of all the buildings are lit up like it was Christmas, yet they are vacant… Some would say it’s for security. OK, Security of what? Who’s going to see somebody robbing the 32nd floor of that skyscraper? “Well, the security guard when he does his rounds”. Fair enough, but couldn’t he just turn on the lights when he does his rounds on that floor, then turn them off again when he leaves? Is that really so difficult for somebody that spends 80% of his time watching TV or playing games while he waits for his next round (Disclosure: I was formerly a security guard, and no, it would not have been difficult for me to do)?

How about all the street lights? Sure, they are great in core when it’s busy, but what about after the ‘evening rushes’, in the middle of the night. Couldn’t they turn every second one off? It would still provide more than enough light, especially on the highways that see very little traffic at that time of night. Would that be so hard? I can already hear people whining about this ‘It’s only a few extra watts, what does it matter’. Take those few extra watts and multiply that by the billions and billions of streetlights in North America. That would be a LOT of electricity saved, and our environment would thank us.

These, of course, are some basic money saving ideas for sustainability that a city could implement, and I am sure the list goes on and on. Until we get people in office that actually care enough to step outside the box and see what other options we have, our cities will continue push themselves further in debt and try to pass that on to it’s residents. Isn’t it about time, especially during difficult economic times, that our cities and big business chipped in on getting greener and saving money? What ideas do YOU have that could reduce costs? Post in the comments.

Unplug Your Unused Appliances – A lot of people don’t realize that many appliances and chargers are still drawing power when they are not in use. From your office printer, to your bread maker and Xbox, they are all suckling at the power teat while sitting idle. By plugging these items into an energy star rated power bar, you can stop these watt sucking vampires from upping your monthly bills. While it may not seem like much, you can easily save $200/yr on your power bill.

Ditch the Bottled Water - Even though the great BPA scare made many people switch to reusable water bottles, millions of bottles of bottled water is still sold every year. Most people don’t think about all the trucks it takes to deliver all that water around the world to the grocery and convenience stores. Not only can you save a bundle buy purchasing an in house filtration system, but you are reducing the amount of bottles that go into the trash or have to be recycled. This way you can have convenient, fresh filtered water anytime you want, but you help to reduce green house gases (Sorry, it won’t help with your ’significant others’ gasses).

Buy Local, Go Organic – In the same vain as bottled water, it takes millions of gallons of gas to deliver fresh produce and other food products around the globe. By buying locally grown, organic produce you are not only supporting and investing in your local economy, but you are helping to reduce carbon emissions from large trucks barreling down the highways.

Resource Sharing – Take a look around your garage and basement. How many of these things did you ‘have to have’ at the time, and now they are collecting dust. How many items do you own that are used once or twice a year, and sit idle the rest of the time. Why can’t your friends or neighbors borrow or rent these items from you for a small fee? Why do we have this crazy idea we need to own EVERYTHING when there are surely 5-10 of them within blocks of your house. Save some money, save some space and get to know your neighbors!

Ditch the Credit Cards – While many will say that this is more money saving than reducing your carbon footprint, think again. Of course you will save money, but since credit cards make over-spending so much easier, you end up contributing more waste from all those products you bought. And as with other items in this list, they had to get to the store somehow! You will be reducing greenhouse emissions.  A few tips to keep from spending: Leave the credit cards at home unless you absolutely need them. If you have a serious credit card addiction, you might want to put your assets on ice, literally. Put yours cards in a Tupperware container filled with water and put it in the freezer, that way if you have a sudden urge to spend, you have time to walk yourself down while the cards are defrosting (Don’t try putting it in the microwave either, it will melt your cards!)!

These are just a few of the things you can do to reduce your carbon footprint and your spending. What tricks do YOU use in your day to day life? Post additional ideas to share in the comments.

Wouldn’t it be nice to lend one of your co-workers the latest season of Desperate Housewives so you can add another person to your gossip group at work? What about letting the guy two cubicles down your jigsaw to make those cool shelves his daughter wants for her birthday? It’s not hard to turn a stagnant office place into an area of friendship and closeness with a minimal amount of effort. It will not only benefit the employees, but happier workers will also benefit the company as a whole!

We have all sorts of idle items laying around our house; from TV on DVD to movies and video games. Why not do some in office trading and lending? It saves you from dropping $50 on that game you will finish in a week, or save you from spending $80 on that Hard Cover novel you have been dying to read. Resource sharing with co-workers gives you more piece of mind than dealing with strangers. Many people find they are more comfortable lending to people they are familiar with, and you can’t get more familiar than the people you work with!

With so many people hit during the recession, many families are starting to open their eyes to new and less conventional methods of saving money and reducing their consumption. Resource sharing at work, and in their neighborhood makes a lot of sense for everybody involved, and helps to reduce the amount of stuff that ends up in landfills. It’s a win-win-win situation. As Sheldon Mopes (Edward Norton) said in Death To Smootchy, “You can’t change the world but you can make a dent.”, Let’s make some dents people!

BorrowMe gives you the tools to reduce spending, reduce clutter, reduce waste and bring together community. Christmas is gone and a lot of clutter has been left behind. How many of these items will you use on a regular basis?

• Put your Stuff on BorrowMe to let your friends and neighbors borrow or rent them.
• Save money by renting and borrowing little used items.
• Create a resource sharing group for your office or organization.
• Create Wish lists to help non-profits get items they require.

The sooner we start to make changes in our life, the sooner others will see the benefit and jump on board. Big changes take small steps to achieve, we may not be able to change the world, but we can make a dent!

Don’t forget to Come be a Fan, follow us on Twitter, or consider Getting Started.

Turns out, the dream is not that far from reality.

Simon and his family at their woodland home in Wales.

Photographer and fine artist Simon Dale had a dream for a low impact woodland home that was not only family friendly, but eco-friendly as well. With their decision to be full time parents to their children, purchasing a mass-produced monstrosity with an over-inflated mortgage was out of the questions.

With some past experiences and a lot of self-belief, the family embarked on an incredible journey of sustainable living. They camped under canvas tarps during the construction of their house with no facilities and no electricity, a feat that some would call crazy. Crazy or not, you can’t deny the beauty and sustainable nature of this magnificent home.

They started by digging into the hillside and created a foundation and retaining wall from dry stone (Recovered from the hole). The initial framing was erected using small trees and logs. The roof and walls were assembled with bales of hay and shaped via chainsaw and covered in lime plaster (Which also kept the rodents at bay). The floor was a series of palates covered with hay and planks. They used the dirt and mud they dug from the ground to seal the roof (Along with some plastic), patch holes and level where required.

Some key points on design and construction:

• Dug into hillside for low visual impact and shelter
• Stone and mud from diggings used for retaining walls, foundations etc.
• Frame of oak thinnings (spare wood) from surrounding woodland
• Reciprocal roof rafters are structurally and aesthaetically fantastic and very easy to do
• Straw bales in floor, walls and roof for super-insulation and easy building
• Plastic sheet and mud/turf roof for low impact and ease
• Lime plaster on walls is breathable and low energy to manufacture (compared to cement)
• Reclaimed (scrap) wood for floors and fittings
• Anything you could possibly want is in a rubbish pile somewhere (windows, burner, plumbing, wiring…)
• Woodburner for heating – renewable and locally plentiful
• Flue goes through big stone/plaster lump to retain and slowly release heat
• Fridge is cooled by air coming underground through foundations
• Skylight in roof lets in natural feeling light
• Solar panels for lighting, music and computing
• Water by gravity from nearby spring
• Compost toilet
• Roof water collects in pond for garden etc.

The end result is an awe inspiring home that is completely sustainable, and a beauty to look at. There are many more photos, plans and overviews on their website for your viewing pleasure. If you have any interest in eco-friendly homes, then this is a must see! Congratulations to the Dale family for taking the initiative and building a work of art to live in, fantastic work.