Techno-Urban Survivalism: Bauhaus Greenhouse Tomatoes For The Masses
by John Laumer, Philadelphia 
on 05.17.08
Today's New York Times profiles young families joining the "voluntary simplicity" movement (Chasing Utopia, Family Imagines No Possessions), where they leave consumerism in an organic food and truth-seeking roam about: a Gen-Y redux of Kerouac's "On The Road" and CSN's 1975 hit "Wooden Ships"
Wooden ships on the water very free and easy. Easy you know the way it's supposed to beUnfortunately, not everyone can drive off in search of the perfect organic tomato and a low stress life. Most Americans will stay in the city and burbs. Web resources will be pooled to form a post-hippie version of the Whole Earth Catalog: virtual access to tools for survival, skill sharing, etc.
TreeHugger writer Lloyd recently profiled the related Survivalism is the New Black idea. Prior to that, your's truly had pegged the green survivalism trend as Survivalist Green: Parents, Do Your Kids Know Where You'll Be Living In Ten Years?.
For those who prefer not to live on the road - an absurdly money- and climate-oblivious choice in the face of What Happens When Gasoline Exceeds US$7.00 Per Gallon? - and who might instead prefer a community-based expression of simplicity, there is an easy alternative for the suburban dweller: work with local government to build a transition town. (TreeHugger has a lengthy series of posts on the transition town movement that has taken Europe by storm, but which has apparently only begun to make inroads in North America.)
Unfortunately, none of this helps the urban family who wishes to survive the "future stress" of Peak Oil and Climate Crisis, while remaining in an American city. So, for those of you not ready to live on the road, or to move to an abandoned Vermont dairy farm, we offer the hope of an urbane solution: The Bauhaus Greenhouse.
Richard Meier Terrariums:- A weak real estate market leaves hundreds of glass condo towers designed by star architects unsold and unpopulated. Eminent domain is enacted to convert these buildings into high-rise greenhouses. The floor-to-ceiling windows with their river views prove perfect for filling with soil and growing every variety of fruit and vegetable.
See also:
Vertical (Diagonal?) Farm from Work AC in NYC
Image credit; and post inspiration, via::Conde Nast, Portfolio.com, Business Slide Shows, "In Case Of Emergency," Urban Food Crisis. Photo-illustration by Viktor Koen
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Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
- Is School Food Harming Kids? Enlist a Labor Day Eat-In To Promote Fresh, Healthy Food
- Raw Food for the Rest of Us
- Spring for Organic Dairy, Save Money Elsewhere
- Go Green: Share Your Home with Extended Family
- Buttermilk Summer Squash Soup: Elegant, Seasonal, Delicious
- 7 Easy Vegan Recipes to Get You Through Your First Week of Veganism
I'm still surprised that after all this time that our major cities pay to plant and look after flowers to beautify the city instead of using the same space to plant things like Tomato's and corn and what not to help the poor. Allow anyone to take the food for themselves as long as they don't leave the area a mess afterwards. Sure you'd have some greedy people here and there and some fools who'd destroy things but don't people already do that to the flowers?
A city should try this for a year and see how it goes.
Permacultural parks and smog cleaning street trees.
Community gardens, urban agriculture, farmers' markets, CSAs have been growing for the last thirty years. There's a system there already if we only recognize it. Once we see where the gaps are, we can make it better, including Bauhaus greenhouse or even outhouse designs.
Waste=food and food=waste. We should be moving toward zero emissions, 100% recyclable products and services, high efficiency closed loop systems for production, use, and disposal of everything.
Solar IS Civil Defense and we need Solar Survivalists too.