MAX
facts
Organic Planet
Festival:
Transforming
Harmful
to Healthful
The fifth annual Organic
Planet Festival is coming Sunday, August 30 to
Humboldt County, California’s Halvorsen Park. It’s
the largest green event in the
area featuring organic food and
beverages, an eco-fashion show,
bands, workshops and you can even
dive into the world’s largest organic salad.
Festival workshops will include growing green advice—
without pesticides, herbicides, and chemicals. Attendees
can drop off healthy and organic foods and claim a poster
redemption voucher.
(Source: www.treehugger.com)
Vertical Garden to Tower Over Chelsea
Flower Show
A 30 foot tall food garden (skyfarm) was constructed for
the 2011 Chelsea Flower Show in London. One wall of the
steel-frame structure is entirely plants, the other entirely
solar photovoltaic panels. The panels power the water
pumps that push water from a borehole round the hydroponic growing system. Inside the tower, along with the
stairs are greenhouse areas for propagation, and a compost chute.
Everything in the garden is edible, even the trees: the vertically trimmed lime trees have flowers that can make an
herbal tea, while the mulberry trees give a crunchy berry.
The garden illustrates the hundreds of edible plants in the
world, including many unusual varieties like Stevia rebaudiana, a sweet-tasting sugar substitute.
(Source: www.guardian.co.uk)
hydroponic news, tips and trivia
Balcony Farms Sprout in Shanghai
Concerns about food safety and the high cost of organics
in Shanghai are prompting some city residents to grow
their own veggies. In
2009, 46.6 per cent of
China’s population,
around 622 million
people, lived in urban
centers and the number
is expected to rise to 70
per cent by 2035.
Susan Evans, founder of
Kplunk, a company specializing in sustainable
strategy decision making
and research, led a study
in 2009 on sustainability
perceptions and behaviors for around 400
households in Shanghai.
It found that around
95 per cent of people
surveyed are concerned with food safety; they are unsure
and concerned about farming practices, levels of pesticide,
fertilizer and the process of manufacturing. Those surveyed
also said that certified organic food is too expensive and
difficult to find. In 2010, another Kplunk study of around
120 individuals found 60 per cent were interested in growing their own vegetables.
(Source: www.theurbn.com)
Ground-breaking New
Waste Water Treatment
Unveiled in South Africa
Major beer brewers SABMiller
is working to reduce its water
consumption and clean up waste
water from its factories using
groundbreaking research. In
partnership with Rhodes University, “Project Eden” will
feature an environmentally
sustainable treatment system for brewery waste-water, with the resulting output
being used to successfully
rear edible, freshwater
fish and grow
hydroponic lettuce. MY
(Source: www.guardian.co.uk)
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Maximum Yield USA | July 2011