The project on the McGillUniversity campus is organized by Sentropol Roulant, the non-profit organization mentioned in the article - post below. Sentropol Roulant use the produce for their meals-on-wheals service. The vegetables grown on the campus grounds become part of the landscaping, a point of attraction. This edible growth changes the austere scenery of the surrounding concrete and the monotony of the uniformly cut grass.
Montreal: UQAM The grounds where the food is grown at the university UQAM are more tranquil than the open spaces of the McGill University. The production scale is also much smaller. Yet it presents an oasis of vegetation that one seldom sees in a mega-city's downtown.
Also notice the discreet placement of composting bins.
Growing food locally is becoming not only fashionable but to a certain degree indispensable, considering the sustainability issues. If you live in the city, the local growing might mean cultivating food on the rooftop of your building. The advantages are: it reduces the heat inside the building in the summer, it contributes to the greening of the city, it eliminates the long distances of food transportation, it reduces or even eliminates the transportation costs, and it greatly reduces any food production and storage waste. An excellent documentary Taste the Wastehas just released at the Montreal World Film Festival on the amount of food wasted during production transportation, retailing and as leftovers. See my article about this documentary film in my blog News Real.
Here are some note-worthy examples of rooftop farming:
The edible garden on the roof of the Palais des congrès was conceived by the Montreal Urban Ecology Center. Unfortunately, the center has not yet written about this project on their website.
This Culti-Vert project received funding from the Canadian Ministry of Health's Climate Change Action Plan that includes a section for reducing the negative health impacts of urban heat islands.
One of the participants in the project is Crudessence. They specialize in raw vegan cuisine. They grow on the rooftop of the Palais des congrés the fresh produce for their Montreal restaurants. Here is a video about Crudessence involvement in this project.
Jardins sur les toits du Palais des congrés
I am not really sure why the growing of the produce for the Crudessence restaurants should be subsidized, at least partially, by Canadian Ministry of Health, since Crudessence is not a non-profit organization, and the prices in their restaurants are not low, but I guess their part in greening of the Montreal rooftops somehow qualifies them for the taxpayers' help.
Santropol Roulant is a non-profit organization who use the rooftop of their headquaters to grow produce for their meals-on-wheals service. They grow fresh vegetables in plastic containers, and also have a field like section, see photo below.
At the back of their rooftop field there are bee hives. This not only produces "urban" honey, but also helps to polinate the plants.
This large warehouse rooftop farm in Brooklyn, NY does not only grow herbs and vegetables, but also chickens and rabbits. This is a successful example of urban agriculture on an impressive scale, in one of the most densely populated urban areas in North America.
ECOCITY World Summit 2011 The 9th edition of the Ecocity world summit will take place August 22-26, 2011 in Montreal, Canada. Over 1,00 participants representing more than 70 countries will attend.
The conference will have 6 interconnecting themes:
Climate Change and the ecocity
Ecomobility, Urban Planning, Public Space
Governance and Democracy in the Ecocity
Economics of the Ecocity
Health and the Built Environment
Biodiversity and Urban Agriculture
There will be also 6 conference tracks
Conference Tracks
1. Northern climate cities: Ecocity policy, planning and design
2. Re-building better in Haiti and other post-disaster zones
3. Ecocity Montréal
4. Community engagement/citizen and youth participation
5. Measuring ecocity progress: indicators, standards and best practices
6. Cleantech for Ecocities
A number of exibitors will showcase technologies and innovations related to urban ecology, as well as special innovative initiatives.
