By KATHLEEN GALLAGHER
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
A year ago, Erik Lindberg rented a boom lift with a bucket and hoisted 15 cubic yards of dirt to the roof of his north side remodeling business. In the process, he planted himself firmly in the middle of a growing urban agriculture movement.
Lindberg, owner of Community Building & Restoration, turned to rooftop gardening in the belief that his actions might encourage people to grow their own food or buy locally grown produce.
And by selling the vegetables he grows to subscribers and a nearby Outpost Natural Foods store, he may have become Milwaukee's first commercial rooftop farmer.
"It's an experiment," said Lindberg, 42. "Can you develop a business plan out of something like this? The answer is, I don't know yet."
Rooftop farming is in its infancy, but the potential is enormous, said Steven Peck, founder and president of Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, a 10-year-old Toronto-based association that claims more than 5,000 members.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Trend and Tradition Meet at a Queens Farm
....Just about a year ago, the Queens farm began keeping tiny herds of
sheep and goats, along with the pigs, for what are called “productive
purposes” — farm-speak for wool, milk and meat. The museum always had
animals but they were merely décor for legions of visiting school kids.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/28/nyregion/28about.html
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Interfaith Prayers Press for Food Justice in New York City
Stringer started pushing the "foodshed" idea last fall, it's great to see there is not only movement on this idea, but it has connected not just food and justice advocates but unions and workers.
United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1500 Joins Forces with Faith Leaders for Environmental Justice to Call for a Just and Sustainable Food System for New York City.
New York, NY (PRWEB) - Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, and Sikh faith leaders locked hands with representatives of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 1500, We Act for Environmental Justice, The Majora Carter Group, and the NYC Coalition Against Hunger on the steps of City Hall last Thursday under an early morning deluge. Rain-soaked, yet regal, the diverse group stood as one to demand changes to food policy at the city and federal levels. Their "demands" were in the form of prayers and policy recommendations. And perhaps their prayers and petitions were answered. City Council will hold an educational hearing on food access disparities today in the state office building.
On the City level, the faith leaders urged Mayor Bloomberg to include food policy in PlaNYC, an omission that disproportionately affects low-income and minority residents who are more likely to be unable to afford and access healthy food in their communities.
United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1500 Joins Forces with Faith Leaders for Environmental Justice to Call for a Just and Sustainable Food System for New York City.
New York, NY (PRWEB) - Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, and Sikh faith leaders locked hands with representatives of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 1500, We Act for Environmental Justice, The Majora Carter Group, and the NYC Coalition Against Hunger on the steps of City Hall last Thursday under an early morning deluge. Rain-soaked, yet regal, the diverse group stood as one to demand changes to food policy at the city and federal levels. Their "demands" were in the form of prayers and policy recommendations. And perhaps their prayers and petitions were answered. City Council will hold an educational hearing on food access disparities today in the state office building.
On the City level, the faith leaders urged Mayor Bloomberg to include food policy in PlaNYC, an omission that disproportionately affects low-income and minority residents who are more likely to be unable to afford and access healthy food in their communities.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Si Se Puede! helps to clean up businesses
Great example of democracy + sustainability that's economically viable--and they're in Brooklyn!
Wearing a hot pink T-shirt emblazoned with the words “Si Se Puede!,” Luz Maria Hernández, 29, slips on a pair of rubber gloves and goes to work. A few hours later, the two-bedroom, one-bath apartment is sparkling clean—and Hernández pockets $110.
Hernández doesn’t have to give half the fee to a cleaning contractor, because she’s one of 24 members of Si Se Puede! (“We can do it”), a women’s cleaning cooperative in Brooklyn, New York. Si Se Puede! was started in 2006 by neighborhood women with the help of a local community organization, the Center For Family Life. Rule No. 1 for this women-owned, women-run, eco-friendly (workers use only non-toxic products) cleaning co-op: Keep all the cash, except a $5 fee.
Wearing a hot pink T-shirt emblazoned with the words “Si Se Puede!,” Luz Maria Hernández, 29, slips on a pair of rubber gloves and goes to work. A few hours later, the two-bedroom, one-bath apartment is sparkling clean—and Hernández pockets $110.
Hernández doesn’t have to give half the fee to a cleaning contractor, because she’s one of 24 members of Si Se Puede! (“We can do it”), a women’s cleaning cooperative in Brooklyn, New York. Si Se Puede! was started in 2006 by neighborhood women with the help of a local community organization, the Center For Family Life. Rule No. 1 for this women-owned, women-run, eco-friendly (workers use only non-toxic products) cleaning co-op: Keep all the cash, except a $5 fee.
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