Grow Your Own in the City

Neem.World — Mon, 19 Jun 2017 16:26:55 +0000

As consumers become more informed, concern is growing over the way that conventional food is produced. Although synthetic pesticides allowed the global population to grow exponentially and more than double since 1970, the consequences of these toxic chemicals are now becoming a consumer concern.

This has not only led to a rise in the demand for organic food, but has also ushered in an era of urban organic gardening throughout the world. From major developed cities in the United States to developing countries like Vietnam, urban gardens are providing a space for people to grow their own healthy, organic food in a sustainable way for their personal consumption.

What does an urban farm consist of? Simply put, urban farming is growing or producing food in a city or heavily populated town or municipality. It could be anywhere, ranging from a small pot of vegetables to utilising unused office space to grow a variety of produce at work! When growing their produce, gardeners use alternatives to synthetic pesticides, and that is where neem-based natural pesticides and fertilizers come in! These gardeners utilize a more natural, regenerative and sustainable approach leading to increased freshness and quality of food, and to improve the quality of their food supply.

While many urban gardens are small, individual ventures, there are also large-scale urban farms that are tackling the problem of available farmland in urban areas. Instead of using the land, they have used technology to innovate large-scale farming processes and become a viable resource of fresh produce for the surrounding urban area. For example, BrightFarms has utilized a commercial rooftop by building a glass greenhouse covering 15,000 square feet in Brooklyn, New York. They are able to sell over 500 pounds of fresh produce daily and provide their crops to local supermarkets the very day they are picked!

Organizations are working to bring together communities of urban gardeners, such as Urban Organic Gardener, a community dedicated to providing urban gardeners resources and seeds for their gardens. Due to technology’s amazing connecting ability, this movement has become a global community in emphasizing sustainable food production and reducing the environmental footprint of traditional farms.

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The Future of Cities

Neem.World — Wed, 03 May 2017 16:04:33 +0000

Global cities occupy 2% of the world’s surface and yet they are home to more than half of the world’s population (3.75 billion people), responsible for 75% of global energy consumption, and 80% of CO2 emissions. What are the environmental and health impacts of these growing global cities?
In these urban centers, where over three-fourths of the growing population will reside by 2050, the air pollution exceeds safety limits, containing excessive levels of sulfate, nitrates, and black carbon. When the air pollution is too great, the health and lives of urban residents are put at risk. This excessive air pollution causes an estimated 3 million deaths every year. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 94% of these deaths arise in the form of noncommunicable diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, strokes, and lung cancer. Even though the rate of high pollution levels seems daunting, they can be mitigated and overcome by a change to more sustainable practices, like the introduction of eco-cities.
Eco-cities are human settlements that are committed to working as a self-sustaining structure, like a natural ecosystem, without consuming more natural resources than it produces, limiting the amount of waste it produces, and functioning without impacting neighboring ecosystems. Already, over 2,500 cities have submitted carbon emission reduction plans to the United Nations, with a potential to cut over 500 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year by 2030! Neem is the perfect addition to these eco-cities, as it is one of the best tree species in air filtration and carbon sequestration. Due to its high sequestration ability, neem is ideal for reforestation efforts, with its high carbon sequestration rate of 14 µmol of CO2 m-1 sec-1, enough to eliminate 12.27 tons of carbon per year! Neem even serves as a filter for pollutants in the air and cleanses your skin and body of the toxins it absorbs from living in urban areas, defining its prowess as the tree of the sustainable eco-city. How sustainable is your city?

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Grow Your Own in the City

The Future of Cities