Metropolitan Gardening

Dr. Chaoui. being interviewed on CSI-liveby "youandmedia", website of the Center for Social Innovation. (photo supplied by UFO ) U rban Farms Organic, Inc. is essentially research and development conducted by Hala Chaoui, PhD who is the Principal and an Agricultural Engineer. The work has focused on an alternative to composting that could solve enormous problems in the disposal of food waste as well as create a fantastic resource for gardening. There's a good UFO blog link for the gist of the material but I wanted to get more clarity about what the product was that was being developed. Also because the Center for Social Innovation interview was streamed live I couldn't find the video link to download it. The story is a bit hard to grasp but worth the read. Technically speaking concepts are moderately complex. On a related note Dr. Chaoui's doctoral thesis was on removing earthworms from vermicast aided by an electric field. She is an innovator in vermicast...

T he Festival of Ideas for the New City   is an urban triumph. The mayor of Seattle gave us some tips on composting and David Byrne (who was a delightful surprise for the evening) said that he has a small herb garden. The presentation opening the panel of mayors was of a number of pictures Byrne had shot while bicycling - in his signature manner Mr. Byrne described urban greening, the future of cities and the importance of parking spaces for bikes. The great hall was packed for the event and the crowd was enthralled while each of the four city leaders elaborated on their plans for successful community. “ The overwhelming focus of the evening was this - act transparently, use resources wisely, be available and open, wander your city in search of marginal neighborhoods -  plant gardens and build unique town squares and architecturally innovative structures to displace blight. These initiatives have a positive and measurable results - crime is red...