Looming Food Crisis Drives Strange Green Future
by Christine Lepisto, Berlin on 05.18.08
Image: Detail of photoillustration by Viktor Koen for Portfolio
Condo Sales Drop Drives Conversion of Star Architect Towers to Greenhouses
"A weak real estate market leaves hundreds of glass condo towers designed by star architects unsold and unpopulated." The futuristic vision in which these empty condos serve as greenhouses is just one of the potential solutions to a looming food crisis imagined and humorously illustrated by a slide show titled "In Case of Emergency" in Conde Nast's Portfolio.
In addition to converting designer condos to greenhouses, imagine pressing all SUVs into service as chicken coops, harvesting tears from hedge fund boom babies to water microgardens, harvesting Donald Trump's stem cells for making cheese, and using the carbon dioxide exhaled by yogis chanting "Om" to promote growth in food production.
Thanks to tipster Regina for sharing this giggle with us. Give your eyes and your mind a treat by looking in the window of Viktor Koen's imagination of a strange, green future.
postscript: A "sharp eyes" award goes to any TreeHugger who notices the the urban greenhouse image was used in a slightly earlier post on Techno-Urban Survivalism. Kudos to Viktor Koen for provoking such inspiration.
Via Portfolio Food Crisis Solutions
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I don't find this strange at all. It reminds me of what happened to Cuba when they ran out of oil. The cost was so high for transportation of food that they had to start growing the food in the cities.
There are already very advanced designs for skyscraper farms. They are called vertical farms. It just is not happening the way we predicted it to happen.
The best site which I have found on verhtical farming is http://www.verticalfarm.com
This is the end point of what people have been planning for years. It just happened in a different way.
We should follow the Cuban example. They had an organic food revolution as well. Let's hope the Americans don't spoil that now Fidel is no longer in charge.
See? And this is what you gain from talking to your enemies -- a very cool solution to a very pressing problem. Vive la difference!