2022-11-04T17:01:24+00:00

Turn Any Bottle into a Hydroponic Wick System

November 4, 2022/Matthew Horgan, NYC/Leave a comment

Made some updates to the directions:

Sustain Everyone

Materials:

Process:

Create a bottom and top chamber out of your bottle.
Cut the top of the bottle off about 3 inches below where the curve starts.
Make a hole in the cap. Use the tip of a pen or hole puncher (or drill if using a soda bottle or other thick plastic cap) to make a hole in the bottle cap. You can punch a hole in the plastic near the mouth of the bottle if this is easier.
Thread a wick through the hole in the bottle cap and tie a knot. Be sure to hold the upper end of the wick upright and fill the coco coir around the wick to ensure moisture at top of the coco…

View original post 447 more words

Build A Deep Water Culture (DWC) Hydroponic Garden in Less than an Hour

October 23, 2022November 8, 2022/Matthew Horgan, NYC/Leave a comment

Ever have the urge to grow something green? Since most of us live in cities, access to space to grow plants is practically non-existent and soils are often contaminated with heavy metals and other industrial pollutants. Despite these conditions, people are using creative hydroponic growing techniques that do not require soil or much space to grow nutrient-dense food in their homes.

Hydroponic systems are unique in that they do not use soil to grow plants. Instead, plants use nutrient-rich water (nutrient solution) and growing media (like coco coir, made from coconut husks) for nutrition & root support.

Recently, I built a container deep water culture hydroponic system by re-purposing an old storage container (10 gallons). In deep water culture (DWC) systems, plants sit directly in nutrient-rich water, and an air pump & air stone keeps the water from getting stagnant by blowing bubbles into the water.

It was super easy, and I’ve outlined the steps here so you can construct your own DWC hydroponic herb garden for your home today!

Step 1: Gather your materials (see links at end of the post):

-10-gallon storage tote (or bus box with lid),
-Drill,
-2″ hole saw drill attachment,
-Net pots (2″),
-Coco coir plugs,
-Dry nutrients part A and B for lettuce (also good for herbs),
-Digital EC meter & pH meter,
-Measuring spoon (1 teaspoon),
-Air pump,
-Air stone,
-Herb & lettuce seeds

Step 2: Drill holes into the lid of your storage tote.

5-8 plant sites fit well per 10-gallon container, this spacing will allow your plants to grow to full maturity. Lettuce takes 4-6 weeks to harvest, and cooking greens & herbs take 8-12 weeks.

@Hydroponics.NYC

Step 3: Fill the container nearly to the top with tap water & add dry nutrients.

A simple method for making nutrient solution is to take a quart-sized container and fill it nearly to the top with tap water (you can use the water that is already in your tote.) Then, mix a teaspoon of part A and a teaspoon of part B of the dry nutrients until all nutrients dissolve in the water. Add nutrient solution to your 10-gallon container and fill it with tap water until it is nearly full. Measure the electrical conductivity (EC) using the handheld digital reader.

You want the EC to measure 900-1300 ppm (1.5-2.5) to grow most herbs and lettuce, and you can add 1/4 of a teaspoon of each part A & B and then measure the EC again, repeat as necessary until you reach the desired EC level. After each harvest, check your EC and add nutrients & water when necessary to maintain the 900-1300 ppm (1.5-2.5) range.

*For cucumbers/peppers/tomatoes, desired EC range: 1500-2500 ppm (2.5-3.5).

Step 4: Installing the air pump and air stone

The air pump attaches to the air stone via a small plastic tube (usually provided). Place the air stone in the nutrient solution and the air pump at a higher elevation than the level of the water in your deep water culture system (to prevent a siphoning of water out of your system).

@matthew_gerard_

Step 5: Insert the net pots and coco coir cubes into the holes you cut for each plant site.

You want the bottom of the net pots to be submerged in the nutrient solution, then add a coco coir plug to each plant site.

Step 6: Plant your seeds & place them under a light source.
Now you are ready to plant your seeds in each plug (Ideally, 1 lettuce seed per site or 3 herb seeds per site)

*Be sure to place your system under sunlight or an artificial light source to ensure your plants can photosynthesize!

@matthew_gerard_

Suggestions:
-If it’s summer, consider placing your DWC hydroponic garden outside under direct sunlight, or if one of your windows gets a ton of sun, place it there.

-If you have space under a coffee table, consider using this lamp or installing these lights on the bottom of the table and placing your DWC hydroponic garden under there.

Links to Materials I used:

Storage tote or bus box with lid
Drill
2″-3″ hole saw drill attachment
Net pots (2″)
Coco coir plugs
Dry nutrients Part A and Part B for lettuce (works for herbs too)
- *If you are growing flowering plants, replace Part B with these BLOOM nutrients

IG accounts:
@Hydroponics.NYC
@Matthew_Gerard_

NEPA Rollback & Environmental Justice

July 17, 2020July 17, 2020/Matthew Horgan, NYC/Leave a comment

When people say ‘let’s not dwell in the past,’ or ‘let’s not get too political,” I often cringe. I certainly see the value in not getting too caught up on some issue to the point where you become stuck, but I also see the harm it causes to not give voice to past injustices. By denying or refusing to acknowledge a people’s history, those in power (those who historically have been white people) create an alternative narrative that erases history and increase their own sense of worth, while at the same time further marginalizing people with less status and wealth (those who historically have been Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC)).

We can only begin to uncover the oppressive structures and systems in place that perpetuate inequality and segregation in housing and education among black/white and rich/poor if we tell the stories of the past with honesty and clarity. Stories are a crucial way we reflect on and chronicle our lives, and they give meaning to our sense of place and place in time. Stories have been used to oppress, but they can also be used to liberate and heal.

Additionally, what policies and history contributes to the disparities we see across black and white communities in NYC and the USA in general? More specifically, why are our communities so unequal in terms of environmental burdens and other social determinants of health? I intent to explore these questions through my next series of posts more in detail. I believe part of it is because systematic racism exists at all levels of society (government agencies included), and the many cumulative effects of the policies enacted by these structures over time has lead to severe social inequities between white and BIPOC communities.

Recent news of President Trump’s plan to continue to roll back environmental regulation, specifically to make changed to NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act). I will briefly outline what NEPA is here, and what the proposed changes mean for social and environmental justice.

NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) was signed into law under President Nixon in 1970, and it established a Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) under the Office of the President, and required that all federal agencies’ projects to undergo an environmental assessments (EAs) and environmental impact statements (EIS), to weigh the costs and benefits of a proposed project to society, the economy, and the environment. NEPA also more broadly asserts that each person has a responsibility to enhance and preserve the environment for future generations, laying a framework for a more sustainable national environmental policy.

While I was an undergraduate student at SUNY Binghamton, I had the chance to take an Environmental Impact Statements class, where we learned how to prepare impact statements and all the components that are supposed to be considered before a federal project can proceed.

One of the main components of any EIS/EA is to consider the cumulative effects of the proposed actions. Rather than just considering the direct effects of the proposed project, it is equally or more important to consider the “combination of individually minor effects of multiple actions over time, or cumulative effects” (Source 1, see below).

From Council on Environmental Quality’s (CEQ) regulations for implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), a cumulative impact is:

“the impact on the environment which results from the incremental impact of the action when added to other past, present, and reasonably foreseeable future actions regardless of what agency (Federal or non-federal) or person undertakes such other actions (40 CFR ~ 1508.7). (Source 1, see below)”

This part of NEPA, when applied appropriately, has been used to assess the cumulative impact of carbon emissions and its effect on climate change, and to address environmental justice issues that arise from the disproportionate implementation of harmful environmental projects in BIPOC communities, like highways and toxic waste facilities construction. (In a future post, I plan to dive more deeply into the history of this in NYC, specifically under NYC’s Parks Commissioner Robert Moses and the construction of the Henry Hudson Parkway and Mosholu Parkway during the 1930’s, which divided Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, home predominantly to BIPOC, creating 6 segmented parts of this once continuous greenspace) (Source 2, see below).

Development projects across the US have historically left out the input from BIPOC community members, leading to disparities that are cumulatively added to over time. We must protect NEPA, and even strengthen it in this unprecedented time of social inequity and ecological destruction. Rather than dilute consideration of environmental justice issues, these cumulative impacts should be top of mind and priority for those entrusted to run our federal agencies here in the USA.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you follow along as I discover the histories of NYC’s development that led to the segregation we experience in health, housing and education today.

@Hydroponics.NYC
@Matthew_Gerard_

Source 1:

President’s Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). (n.d.). INTRODUCTION TO CUMULATIVE EFFECTS ANALYSIS. Retrieved from NEPA.gov: https://ceq.doe.gov/docs/ceq-publications/ccenepa/sec1.pdf

Source 2:
SEIWELL, E. (2019, February 19). Van Cortlandt Park Erases History . Retrieved from FordhamObserver.com: https://fordhamobserver.com/38076/features/van-cortlandt-park-erases-history/

Reframe: Sustain Everyone Blog

July 12, 2020July 15, 2020/Matthew Horgan, NYC/4 Comments

As I reflect humbly on the current social landscape, it seems necessary to reframe this blog as a platform where I write about sustainability in terms of social and environmental justice, beginning to expose white supremacy in the past and in today’s systems and structures, in particular, to address the following questions:

1. What policies and history contributes to the disparities we see across black and white communities in NYC and the USA in general?
2. How do/did people in power contribute to segregation in housing and education through overt and covert racist behavior today and in the past?
3. Why do communities of color face higher levels of environmental burdens than white communities?
4. How can we address racial segregation in housing and education on a local and national level?

I hope you follow along on this personal journey of growth and evolution, to look critically at oppressive structures and systems, and consider a path forward that acknowledges our painful history and our own implicit biases, so that we continue to learn and to build better systems with an aware compassion.

@Matthew_Gerard_
@Hydroponics.NYC

Climate Science Navigator: Why?

January 26, 2020January 26, 2020/Matthew Horgan, NYC/Leave a comment

Illustration by Matthew Laznicka (http://inthesetimes.com/)

Climate skepticism is the denial of the overwhelming scientific consensus that human activity is causing a rise in the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that is driving the global climate crisis. With so much misinformation intentionally spread by multinational corporations and politicians whose interests lie in the continued destruction of the planet, people must be able to navigate the up-to-date data on climate science to make informed decisions. This climate science navigator will be a series of posts that can be used to learn and share the data that global, national, and local agencies gathered and reported to the public over the past 10 years on the unfolding climate crisis.

Look out for upcoming posts titled:

Climate Science Navigator: Global Reports on Climate Change

Climate Science Navigator: National Reports on Climate Change

Climate Science Navigator: Local Reports on Climate Change

Instagram: @Hydroponics.NYC
& @Matthew_Gerard_

Turn Any Bottle into a Hydroponic Wick System

August 18, 2019November 4, 2022/Matthew Horgan, NYC/1 Comment

Materials:

Process:

Create a bottom and top chamber out of your bottle.
Cut the top of the bottle off about 3 inches below where the curve starts.
Make a hole in the cap. Use the tip of a pen or hole puncher (or drill if using a soda bottle or other thick plastic cap) to make a hole in the bottle cap. You can punch a hole in the plastic near the mouth of the bottle if this is easier.
Thread a wick through the hole in the bottle cap and tie a knot. Be sure to hold the upper end of the wick upright and fill the coco coir around the wick to ensure moisture at top of the coco coir. Use a pen to assist in threading the wick through the bottle cap, cut the wick long enough on both sides of the cap to reach the bottom of the bottom chamber and near the top of the coco coir in the top chamber.
Attach the bottom and top chambers. Turn the top chamber upside down to allow the wick to sit in the bottom chamber and staple the top part to the bottom part in one spot. Be sure not to staple all sides to allow you to add nutrient solution when necessary.
Fill the bottom chamber with nutrient solution.
- *To mix nutrient solution:
  - Fill a quart-sized container nearly all the way full of water.
  - Using a 1/32 Teaspoon, add dry nutrients:
    - For Basil & Lettuce: Add 6-8 scoops of dry nutrients (Ideal EC = 700 to 1200)
    - For edible flowers, mint, endive, and mustard greens: add 12-14 scoops of dry nutrients (Ideal EC = 1400-1700)
    - Ideal pH of all nutrient solution = 5.5 to 6.5
    - You can test the nutrient level by using a digital meter.
    - When your water level drops significantly, add tap water to keep the wick underwater in the bottom chamber. You do not need to any more nutrients for the life of this plant, just fresh tap water to maintain the water level (keeping the wick submerged).
Fill the top chamber with coco coir and plant your seeds.
Coco coir is made from the outside of a coconut husk and provides the seed with a moist home and later provides support for the plant’s roots. Flatten the coco coir by gently patting it down on the surface. If you use the plug version of coco coir (see link below), tear the plug on one side and sandwich the top end of the wick between the coir to ensure moisture is drawn up to your plant.
Cover with plastic wrap and a rubber band and place near the light source until sprouting.
This will increase the humidity in the top chamber and increase the rate of seed germination (sprouting).
Remove the plastic when you see any sign of a sprout.
Once you see any green sprouting out of the coco coir (or purple if you planted purple basil), be sure to remove the plastic to allow the plant to grow tall and reach its full potential.

Hydroponic Wick Bottle Systems made by middle schoolers in Brownsville, Brooklyn with Teens for Food Justice. @Hydroponics.NYC

*Be sure to add nutrient solution initially to the bottom chamber and refill with tap water as needed, since it will evaporate out and get used up by your plant.

Purple Basil.

IG accounts:
@Hydroponics.NYC
@Matthew_Gerard_

Build A Deep Water Culture (DWC) Hydroponic Garden in Less than an Hour

August 9, 2019October 23, 2022/Matthew Horgan, NYC/2 Comments

Ever have the urge to grow something green? Since most of us live in cities, access to space to grow plants is practically non-existent, and soils are often contaminated with heavy metals and other industrial pollutants. Despite these conditions, people are using creative hydroponic growing techniques that do not require soil or much space to grow nutrient-dense food in their homes.

Recently, I created a container deep water culture hydroponic system by re-purposing an old storage container (10 gallons). In deep water culture (DWC) systems, plants sit directly in nutrient-rich water, and an air pump & air stone keeps the water from getting stagnant by blowing bubbles into the water.

It was super easy, and I’ve outlined the steps here so you can construct your own DWC hydroponic herb garden for your home today!

Step 1: Gather your materials (see links at end of the post):

Step 2: Drill holes into the lid of your storage tote.

5-8 plant sites fit well per 10-gallon container, this spacing will allow your plants to grow to full maturity. Lettuce takes 4-6 weeks to harvest, and cooking greens & herbs take 8-12 weeks.

@Hydroponics.NYC

Step 3: Fill the container nearly to the top with tap water & add dry nutrients.

*For cucumbers/peppers/tomatoes, desired EC range: 1500-2500 ppm (2.5-3.5).

Step 4: Installing the air pump and air stone

@matthew_gerard_

Step 5: Insert the net pots and coco coir cubes into the holes you cut for each plant site.

You want the bottom of the net pots to be submerged in the nutrient solution, then add a coco coir plug to each plant site.

Step 6: Plant your seeds & place them under a light source.
Now you are ready to plant your seeds in each plug (Ideally, 1 lettuce seed per site or 3 herb seeds per site)

*Be sure to place your system under sunlight or an artificial light source to ensure your plants can photosynthesize!

@matthew_gerard_

Suggestions:
-If it’s summer, consider placing your DWC hydroponic garden outside under direct sunlight, or if one of your windows gets a ton of sun, place it there.

-If you have space under a coffee table, consider using this lamp or installing these lights on the bottom of the table and placing your DWC hydroponic garden under there.

Links to Materials I used:

Storage tote or bus box with lid
Drill
2″-3″ hole saw drill attachment
Net pots (2″)
Coco coir plugs
Dry nutrients Part A and Part B for lettuce (works for herbs too)
- *If you are growing flowering plants, replace Part B with these BLOOM nutrients

IG accounts:
@Hydroponics.NYC
@Matthew_Gerard_

NY Harbor, Jamaica Bay, and the Rockaways’ Fight Against Williams Natural Gas Pipeline

March 23, 2019August 18, 2019/Matthew Horgan, NYC/Leave a comment

A couple of weeks ago, I felt the need to stand up publicly and testify at the New York City Department of Environmental Protection’s (NYCDEP) public comment session on the proposed Northeast Supply Enhancement Project (NESE), also called Williams Pipeline for short, which would transport fracked natural gas via the construction of a 23 mile pipeline that “would run along the Staten Island coast and extend out to four miles off Rockaway” (Santino, 2019).

*Note the existing pipeline was pushed through and built after Hurricane Sandy, when local residents were preoccupied with the rebuilding of their homes and communities (Source: NYC Surfrider Foundation).

The NYCDEC has to approve a crucial water quality permit before construction can begin. There is a federal law that requires an environmental impact statement (EIS), to look at the impacts to wildlife and human health before moving forward with projects like this. The first hearing was held on 02/26/2019, in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, during rush hour, on a weekday, and in a hardly accessible area if you travel by public transportation from the areas that would primarily be impacted by the pipeline’s construction, such as the Rockaways. Not many from my area were able to attend.

Fort Tilden, NYC. @hydroponics.mh

After public pressure on the NYCDEC to have it in an area where potentially affected residents live, there was a second public comment session held just one mile from my home on the Rockaway Peninsula in the auditorium of Rockaway High School for Environmental Sustainability. I felt the irony of sitting in a school devoted to environmental sustainability, and at the same time protesting the approval of such an unconscionably unsustainable project.

I can trace my interest in environmental justice and sustainability back to my first interactions with the ocean and its wildlife as a young kid. My parents took us fishing on the beaches of the Breezy Point Tip, and I was always fascinated by the diversity of creatures I discovered near the sea. I feel blessed and grateful to have been raised so close to this amazing natural area, having found a place among the seagulls, horseshoe crabs, piping plovers, and other enchanting forms of wildlife early in my life. These places are a home to several endangered animals and plants, and are some of the last wild sanctuaries still found in NYC.

An oystercatcher in Rockaway Beach, NYC. @hydroponics.mh

Apart from my personal connection to the land and its people, I do, as a graduate from a master’s program in environmental management and sustainable development, understand the scientific review of the potential risks laid out in the draft environmental impact statement conducted by the NYCDEP. With this educational experience, and growing up in the local community, I felt uniquely obligated to testify at the public comment session on March, 6th, 2019. I will not go into the many risks associated with the project here, but will include some helpful resources at the end of this post if you are interested.

Jacob Riis Park @hydroponics.mh

To be honest, there were challenging mental barriers that almost prevented me from testifying. I remember thinking many times, I could be at relaxing at home in my apartment and warm, not walking in the cold to the bus to attend this public comment session. When walking into that building after a long day of work and tired, I remember the thoughts of inadequacy and doubt flooding my thinking when I walked to into the auditorium. Am I really as qualified as I think I am to speak on this?

Yet, I continued to walk to that high school auditorium, to stand in front of a panel of NYCDEC representatives and over 100 of the residents of the Rockaways and other surrounding local communities. Did I mention how much I hate public speaking? I made it short and to the point, as it took over an hour and a half for them to call my name.

My comment addressed the concerns for human health and wildlife when the pipeline is constructed. There would be dredging of sands and sediments off the coast of the Rockaways and Staten Island that are holding and storing safely the industrial toxins of the last century. This action would release toxins like PBCs, heavy medals, and other industrial pollutants into the water column where organisms live and where people swim. The result would be poisoning of people and wildlife that interact with the waters off the Rockaways/Jamaica Bay.

“Exploring with my Nana at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, NYC, on 12/30/13.” @hydroponics.mh

I tell this story not to show off how great of a citizen and environmental advocate I am trying to be, but to point out that we need to persist over the many barriers (mentally and physically) that keep us from speaking out when we know we are qualified and worthy of doing so effectively.

Jacob Riis Park. @hydroponics.mh

Although the comment period has ended, you can still act to oppose the NESE project (see below:)

“Those interested in helping this cause can visit stopthewilliamspipeline.org, call Cuomo at 877- 235-6537 or text ‘RENEWABLES’ to 69866” (Santino, 2019).

Watch this short clip to learn more about the proposed pipeline:
The Fight Against The Williams Pipeline:

Local News Article:
The Push To Stop The Williams Pipeline:
https://www.rockawave.com/articles/the-push-to-stop-the-williams-pipeline-2/

Here is a link to an amazing (and my favorite) documentary about how NY Harbor and Jamaica Bay is experiencing positive ecological renewal as a result of the past 20 years of cleaning up the bay and environmental awareness generated through local advocacy, as well as explores the impacts of Hurricane Sandy on a local NYC community, Broad Channel (This natural and inhabited area would all be affected by the proposed pipeline):

Saving Jamaica Bay:
https://www.amazon.com/Saving-Jamaica-Bay-Susan-Sarandon/dp/B073X9MRL8

“Life is a garden, not a road. We enter and exit through the same gate. Wandering, where we go matters less than what we notice.” — Kurt Vonnegut

IG accounts:
@Hydroponics.NYC
@Matthew_Gerard_

Making Connections: Repost from @TresPiedrasEcolodge

March 18, 2018March 23, 2019/Matthew Horgan, NYC/Leave a comment

Original Post by me on TPEcolodge.wordpress.com

Often I am renewed with a sense of tranquility and serenity when spending extended periods of time in nature. Recently, I was lucky to return to my friends Maricel, Marconey, and Gretel’s property in the rural community of Tres Piedras in remote southwestern Costa Rica, currently known as Tres Piedras Ecolodge. I lived here 2 years earlier, with two of my friends Tessa and Victor, for 5 months while doing field research on carbon storage, and I was returning to visit friends and enjoy the solitude of being so close to the natural world.

I was also excited to introduce Marcel and Marconey to Jack Ewing, owner and founder of Hacienda Baru National Wildlife Refuge and Lodge and author of Monkeys are Made of Chocolate. I had the opportunity to meet Jack during a class trip in 2012 with SUNY Binghamton University Professor Dick Andrus. On the class trip, Jack explained to students how he started his ecotourism business and, in the process, how he preserved a substantial swath of land containing ecologically sensitive mangrove forests and other tropical ecosystems.

During this most recent trip to Costa Rica, Maricel, Marconey, and I took a drive about 40 minutes outside of Tres Piedras to meet Jack at Hacienda Baru, located on the West coast of Costa Rica, just north of Dominical Beach.

I had reconnected with Jack online when Tessa, Victor and I lived in Tres Piedras in 2016 and were brainstorming ways for Maricel and her family to build their ecotourism business when we lived in Tres Piedras for 5 months. It wasn’t until recently that we were able to all come together and meet on March 9th, 2018. Hacienda Baru has been in operation for over 30 years, so we were extremely grateful to be making connections someone as experienced as Jack.

Moreover, Jack was extremely warm and welcoming when we visited a couple of weeks ago. He sat down with us and talked about the challenges of running an ecotourism business, and he also had some helpful suggestions as to how to differentiate the business of Maricel and her family from the already existing ecotourism businesses flourishing in Costa Rica. Being so rural, Tres Piedras Ecolodge offers a unique experience to appreciate an authentic Costa Rican rural community, where traditions are still celebrated by the people who call Tres Piedras home.

Additionally, Jack also introduced us to Juan Carlos who works for Hacienda Baru as a tour guide. He and another tour guide (who showed us the medical plant garden! see below) were interested in hearing Maricel and Marconey describe their ecotourism ideas, and in doing so gave more clarity and direction as to what type of operation could be possible at Tres Piedras Ecolodge in the future for Maricel, Gretel, Marconey and their family.

The next steps are more clear, as funds are needed for repairs to the cabins to make them more appealing to visitors, and one way of accomplishing this is to use government subsidies for conservation to fund the business’ upfront costs. Although the woman in charge of this paperwork was ill while I was visiting Hacienda Baru, Maricel and Marconey intend to visit her when she is recovered and well.

Finally, I am humbled to have had this experience to go to Hacienda Baru with my friends Maricel and Marconey. Check out a picture below of our walk on the trails together after meeting with Jack and his employees! 🙂

A Shirf Towards Ecological Agriculture

February 20, 2018February 21, 2018/Matthew Horgan, NYC/Leave a comment

The way we view the world is often a reflection of the paradigm of the day, that is the deepest set of beliefs and assumptions a culture has about any given topic at any moment in time. Needless to say, paradigms do shift over time to create the unique circumstance we see on a daily basis, and sometimes this happens rather quickly.

The new shift in thinking seems to be towards sustainable urban food production. Photo taken at AgTechX @matt_horgan

Paradigm shifts: Thinking in cycles not lines

One paradigm of today seems to be the perception of our lives as a series of linear processes. We seem to idolize cause and effect relationships whenever possible in daily life and tend to view most of our experiences through this narrow lens without analyzing the entire picture.

However, thinking of systems in terms of lines tends to be characteristically more predictable and simpler, while systems as cycles are naturally more complex.

Nature’s Cycle by Virginia Lee 2001

Shift towards interconnectedness

A personal shift in assumptions I experienced was while I was taking an ecological agriculture class during my time at SUNY Binghamton. My perception of self shifted from the individual, separate self to a more interconnected sense of identity.

Ecological Agriculture: Nature as model

Ecological agriculture is a term used to describe a type of farming that raised food without any chemical or synthetic fertilizers, to create an agricultural system that mimicked ecological systems that sustain in nature.

By: permacultureprinciples.com

The general trend in agriculture since 1950 has been towards large-scale industrial farms that use synthetic fertilizers and chemical fertilizers, but a recent surge in interest in local, organic produce by consumers is causing a paradigm shift in the way we consume and produce food.

Ecological agriculture can be seen in the increased interest in urban farming in recent years. By incorporating sustainable food systems into the built environment, we can improve food security in urban environments.

Sky Vegetables February 2018 By @matt_horgan

We can also use underutilized spaces, like basements, to produce food on land to support the health and to educate our local communities
An example of a hydroponic food system, and what my neighbor calls a “permaponic system”, is seen below (Top: after 6 weeks/Bottom: the before picture).

By @matt_horgan

The potential for ecological agriculture to foster a more harmonious coexistence between human beings and the earth, as well as the practical implications for food security and positive impact on local economies leads me to think that this will become ever more present in our city in the near future.

By @matt_horgan While walking to class at CUNY Brooklyn College, I saw this incredible urban food garden someone created on their front lawn 🙂

I look forward exploring ecological agriculture more on this blog in the future 🙂

Sustain Everyone