"I love that you've brought this to attention. An extensive database of uncommon but resistant and hardy plants/foods could be developed and organized by climate. Ease of growth and processing should also be taken in to account. I will try to…"
A crash course in changing the world.
Copying the internet
New Note: I´m updating this blog based on the input of all Agents.
Copying the internet
How can we make food and water available for everyone in this planet?
This is how: Building a Global Network of Community Urban Farms using the internet as a model.
The internet is a Distributed Network. This means it´s a network with far more resilience than our
centralized networks.
You can see centralized networks in the way we currently distribute water, food, energy among other things.
This centralized networks are very vulnerable to any kind of disaster. For example:
This images simulates what would happen in case of a nuclear attack.
If in a centralized network the main node doesn´t work like let´s say a hydroelectric plant or a
water treatment facility then the entire network collapses.
We have seen this happen in the Evoke Missions. Food, energy, water and even banks
are all centralized systems, when the main node collapses, the entire network collapses.
More about it here http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blogs/food-energy-water-patterns
Think different
The internet is different because it´s a Distributed Network ("Red Distribuida" in the diagram). If a section is not
working due to an emergency the rest of the network is still working and can help to reconstruct the damaged
node. A Community Urban Farms is a node inside a larger Global Network of Community Urban Farms
Now it´s time to build a Global Network of Community Urban Farms that will bring Water Food
and Energy FOR EVERYONE IN THIS PLANET.
We can start with the biggest cities in the World.
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/04/08/urban.planet.megacities/inde...
This cities have a great cultural influence over their own countries, their regions and the World. With only 14 farms we can impact a little bit more than 9% of the World Population. Other culturally can be included too. In the long term the plan is to have a Community Urban Farm on every block in every City in the World. It may take decades, but we can do it all through incremental steps.
At the beginning this Global Network of Community Urban Farms will resemble more a decentralized network, but with more farms it will eventually will resemble a Distributed Network.
Health and Education
To a certain degree Health and Education can also be part of this Global Network of Community Urban Farms, especially in places where Health and Education infrastructure is not enough. The health can focus on preventive medicine and first aid. Education should also be part of the project. Teaching science with what is grown and built in this Global Network of Community Urban Farms is a unique opportunity to make science fun and real. The Arts and sports can become part of the community live. A place for old and young to learn from each other and create community a global community that feels local.
Empowering Woman
Watch this video: http://www.girleffect.org/ It´s clear to me that if Women are the Facilitators of this Community Urban Farms they will do a far better job than we men do. It´s not about reverse discrimination it´s science proving they are better Community Builders.
Questions
I have some questions for you:
Could we integrate other projects and combine it with this System of Distributed Networks? What about Human Rights? Money or any substitute of it? Any ideas? I´ve seen some great ideas in Evoke and I would love to incorporate them and mix them . . . share with us your ideas!!!
The name Global Network of Community Urban Farms is descriptive but too long maybe? I am thinking
GLOCAL FARMS or GLOCAL URBAN FARMS sounds better . . . Can you think of a cool name?
How can we integrate play into it? If we are gonna change the World it should be a Fun World.
Agent Patricio.
* "The pioneering research of Paul Baran in the 1960s, who envisioned a communications network that would survive a major enemy attacked. The sketch shows three different network topologies described in his RAND Memorandum, "On Distributed Communications: 1. Introduction to Distributed Communications Network"(August 1964). The distributed network structure offered the best survivability. "On Distributed Communications: 1. Introduction to Distributed Comm... " From:Ahttp://personalpages.manchester.ac.uk/staff/m.dodge/cybergeography/...ugust 1964). The distributed network structure offered the best survivability.
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Comment by Ursula Kochanowsky on April 14, 2010 at 4:14am
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*nod*
Okay, lets see if I can answer these and Patricio can fill in if he needs to.
Modern agricultural systems use the centralized architecture. Its more efficient in terms of time spent per plant. You can grow a lot of the same type which require the same treatment which makes the system brittle if theres a plague of locusts or the climate changes so the farmer cant grow food as well. Because they have large lots it makes sense to put it in a central place. A grain silo for instance. But it still requires transportation to begin to be usable by people.
I imagine these urban farms would have hundreds of different species in a small space. I imagine that it would always be throwing off something different. We would keep current farming methods for people who have lots of land in the country but they'd be backup for the things an urban farm would not produce. And they'd still be accessible through the store.
As for quality control, can you tell if an apple has gone bad? Of course you can. Thats not to say there wont be certain crop failures..and thats where the current system steps in and does what its best at, moving stuff around.
And if you produce too much food, or food people are not buying, thats what compost piles are for, to increase soil fertility.
Again, these farms are not meant to be part of a giant food redistribution network. You are absolutely correct, they would not be efficient and they would not be cost effective. But they're not meant to be. They're meant to fill a h*** that our current brittle agricultural systems have. The h*** is that the entire system is weak to just the right catastrophe.
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Comment by Sarah Shaw Tatoun on April 14, 2010 at 5:53am
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Hmm. This is giving me ideas for some of the US rustbelt cities... There has already been talk of returning some of Detroit's derelict areas into farmland, but that's large-scale farming. What I find interesting about both Detroit and Cleveland is that, because of extremely low housing costs groups of artists are beginning to move in. These are people who are already interested in innovation and change, so there is a ready-made community. And in Cleveland a number of new worker-owned coops are starting.
My idea of systems architecture is hazy, but it seems to me that you would not necessarily need to have all 'nodes' capable of supplying everything for this to be a very effective system. As long as there are enough small farms or gardens, most people would be able to find what they need within reasonable walking distance. And even if you fell far short of this, it would still be a huge advantage in many cities if there were at least some fresh produce available. In cities like Detroit in many areas fast food outlets are the only food sources.
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Comment by Patricio Buenrostro-Gilhuys on April 14, 2010 at 6:07am
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@ Michele: Thank you for great projects like this one: http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blogs/act2-part-2-food-security
@ Julio Cesar: I like the activities you propose. This urban farm is the inspiration http://www.urgentevoke.com/photo/albums/urban-farm-mexico-city and www.sembradoresurbanos.org have yoga and salsa dancing in the garden. Since I plan to target the 14 Megacities of the planet and Mexico City is one of them and I was born there I think it´s a good choice- I travel ther almost every weekend.
@ Turil: Your project is awesome!!! http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blogs/the-evolved-nature-sanctu... There is so many unused spaces. Food not lawns!!! I like that you are incorporating an Art ingredient to it. Cool!!! The 4 points that you point out are very very important.
@ Chris: Exactly. The idea is pretty simple and other simple ideas can be added, but always simple. "share as a noun, not a verb" I like that.
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@ Nicholas:This farms are designed to encourage local production and consumption of food water and even energy. One of our biggest problems is centralized networks: http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blogs/food-energy-water-patterns
As you know our food system depends on fossil fuels in every stage. It uses fertilizers and pesticides that are based on oil and gas. If we need to transport food we move it for the most part utilizing oil. We are putting all our eggs in the single basket of fossil fuels. This farms are designed among many other things to have a resilient hyperlocal alternative.
The Distributed Network is planned to keep communication, share knowledge and even disaster relief between Urban Farms. Lets say a catastrophe like a flood hits 3 Urban Farms (3 nodes). That´s when the Distributed Network can help with the surplus of let´s say food and water. If you add up all the small surpluses that the surrounding Urban Farms can give that adds up to enough food and water to this 3 Urban Farms. You make very valid points regarding distribution (I´m thinking distribution ONLY of the surplus) Given your expertise- What approach would you take in this case?
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@ Ursula @ Ursula: Eco.logical.unit http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blogs/next-step-ecological-units is one of my favorite projects. A database like the one you are working on could be incredibly helpful for everyone!!! I imagine the pilot Urban Farm and the next ones could work together with your project. How can we collaborate together?
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@ Sarah: Cool links!!! Houses for $100!!! WOW!!! Artist are the best at reinvigorating neighborhoods and even entire cities. The Cleveland´s Cooperative approach is indeed very interesting, the company grows with it´s workers in a new sustainable economy- Nice!!!
"As long as there are enough small farms or gardens, most people would be able to find what they need within reasonable walking distance." Exactly nodes don´t have to be BIG, just all connected. Small is beautiful.
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Comment by Turil Cronburg on April 14, 2010 at 11:35am
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Also, Nicolas, part of the efficiency of this kind of system is that the transportation of things like shared seeds, seedlings, produce, tools, etc., between the nodes can easily be piggybacked onto other transportation purposes, such as visiting friends and family, or going to work or school. Because the gardens are community gardens, everyone has an interest in helping out, and so it's easy to put up a list of things that need to be taken somewhere, and whomever happens to be going that way anyway can take it there. And because these are cities we're talking about, with people coming and going all the time, things can move pretty quickly.
If you make the gardens more than just food producing places, and include more of the elements of spaces for all your needs, the more people will use these gardens as community gathering spaces, where people naturally spend at least part of their day.
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And again, I spelled someone's name wrong. Sorry Nicholas!
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Comment by Nicholas Nagao on April 14, 2010 at 12:05pm
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Wow, great replies everyone, thanks for helping me understand where you all see the value in these plan. I still am not totally sold on practicality, but I am starting to understand the spirit behind this at the very least. So I think we might be able to accomplish many of the positives you all are talking about through a hybrid of architectures.
While this blog describes the Internet at a VERY high level, the reality of the internet is not really what was drawn. As you may or may not know, many of the nodes in the distributed network of the internet are really "Centralized Networks". In other words, once you make a request of a certain node, what happens behind the node is that a Firewall routes the traffic accordingly to the right server. This is the "Quality Control" I was speaking of before, which the Internet DOES have at almost every node. However, the internet leverages centralized and decentralized nodes as well. As I said before, centralized networks have the advantage of Protection/Quality Control, as well as the ability to Catalog everything inside of it's centralized network easily, in order to save time in routing. This is more of a Decentralized network, but in a sense, most decentralized networks look like a distributed network if you get enough central nodes connected to one another. This is what I would suggest. I think you should have at least a "community catalog" of neighboring farms to help at least catalog what is in the surrounding area, if not also having some storage at these catalog centers. So basically you'd end up with a bunch of neighborhood distribution centers, and have the farmers gather and make deliveries at these centers. By the way this idea of distribution centers would like INCREASE collaboration since you're more likely to have groups of people that share in a distribution center that represents even 4 farms, as opposed to the amount of groups that would have formed in each of the 4 farms individually. This about this, if 3 people came to the distribution center that the 4 farms shared, if they were not shared, at the very best, 3 of the 4 farms would have had an opportunity to talk with 1 other person. At the worst, 1 farmer would have talked to 3 people, and the other 3 farmers would have seen no one. In the distribution center scenario, all 4 farmers got a chance to talk to all 3 visitors, as well as one another.
Anyways, I still love the idea!
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Nicholas..
Perhaps distributed network is the wrong word to use for your techie brain. It looks like you have a very clear idea of what exactly it means while the rest of us see no problem with food stands being set up at the front of these gardens/farms and distributing food that way.
Where applicable, food would move minimally.
As for information problems, this is simple, as soon as a harvest is made, the weight and type of the harvest is entered into a central communication platform so that anyone within a city would know whats available where. Commuting costs across cities, while they may be higher, are less then food miles from other countries or even food miles from country to city. Besides, most of the industrialized world needs to walk more.
Also..I find that when people hear the word farm, they automatically think green revolution agriculture. Meaning theres this notion of maybe 5 species being intensively grown on a single spot of land which results in big harvests that demand storage.
You don't need to worry about storage when you've only planted enough strawberries to meet the demands of the people on your block and maybe a few extra. And since they're constantly throwing off strawberries, you don't have to plant as many. You don't need to worry about storage if people on your block are going to take the veggies home and can them.
Quality control only matters if you're afraid that different people are getting less quality then others. Happily the people who are buying can still walk to a different community urban farm if they feel they can't get what they want at their nearest one. And since theres one on every corner, and they double as neighborhood meeting spots, they get to meet an entire neighborhood, not just a few farmers. They should also be able to go to that central communication platform and find out whats been grown where. And I suppose if you want to be really persnickety about quality control then you can make the platform social so that people can rate their farms produce.
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