Protofarm 2050: guide to free farming (urban agricultural speculation)
"Design Indaba invited five designers to look beyond the possibilities and predictions currently in the public domain. Futurefarmers, 5.5 designers, Dunne&Raby, Revital Cohen and Frank Tjepkema each created a unique vision of the year 2050 with increased urbanisation and population, limited natural resources, climate challenges and digital–biological integration. Defining farming as the sustainable cultivation of a renewable resource, Design Indaba presented Protofarm 2050 at the ICSID World Design Congress in Singapore from 23 to 25 November [2009]."
(Design Indaba)
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Simon PerkinsSHARE
Guerrilla Gardening: Seed Bombs & Seed Balls
"I've been following guerrilla gardening on Twitter for quite some time, and have become familiar with the term 'seed bombing' as a result. It's an idea that's always appealed to me – it's a kind of eco–friendly, bee–friendly, slightly radical anti–vandalism activism – but it's just one of those things that I'd never pursued. ...
So how do they work? It's a simple process really – the seeds I bought are encased in a ball of peat–free compost, dried clay and chilli, which are hand–rolled in North London (yes, really, and no, it's not what you're thinking). The dried clay acts as a protective casing from common seed predators (such as ants, mice and birds). When enough rain permeates the clay, the seeds inside begin to germinate – helped along by the nutrients and minerals contained within the balls. So it's like a tiny self–sufficient seeding system. Maya [http://www.mayaproject.org/] have added chili powder to the mix to help to deter predators while the seed ball slowly degrades, and eventually the seeds sprout."
(Lucy Small, 5 April 2013)
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Simon PerkinsSHARE
The Environment Nexus: WATER, ENERGY, FOOD
"Nexus thinking is a new way of thinking that recognises the crucial interdependence of water, energy and food – a relationship that forms the core of the Environment Nexus project. This new IIEA video explores the deep interconnections between the three essential resources and highlights the need for nexus thinking to help meet the world's needs, as it grows from 7 to 9 billion by 2050."
(The Institute of International and European Affairs, 20 February 2013)
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Simon PerkinsSHARE
Big Question: Feast or Famine?
"The world population is growing by 75 million people each year. That's almost the size of Germany. Today, we're nearing 7 billion people. At this rate, we'll reach 9 billion people by 2040. And we all need to eat. But how? That's a critical issue the IonE tackles in our first Big Question video.
At the same time, agriculture is a major contributor to climate change and will suffer as an industry from the consequences."
(Institute on the Environment, 2009, University of Minnesota)
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Simon PerkinsSHARE
Republic of Rwanda Vision 2020: transforming from an agrarian to a knowledge-based economy
"How do Rwandan envisage their future? What kind of society do they want to become? How can they construct a united and inclusive Rwandan identity? What are the transformations needed to emerge from a deeply unsatisfactory social and economic situation? These are the main questions Rwanda Vision 2020 addresses.
This Vision is a result of a national consultative process that took place in Village Urugwiro in 1998–99. There was broad consensus on the necessity for Rwandans to clearly define the future of the country. This process provided the basis upon which this Vision was developed. ...
Even if Rwanda's agriculture is transformed into a high value/high productivity sector, it will not, on its own, become a satisfactory engine of growth. There has to be an exit strategy from reliance on agriculture into secondary and tertiary sectors. The issue, however, is not simply one of a strategy based on agriculture, industry or services, but rather, identifying Rwanda's comparative advantage and concentrating strategies towards it. For instance there is a plentiful supply of cheap labour, a large multi–lingual population, a strategic location as the gateway between East and Central Africa as well as its small size, making it easy to build infrastructure (resources permitting). The industries established would need to address basic needs, for which there is a readily available market, as these products can satisfy local demand and even move towards export."
(Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning for The Republic of Rwanda)
Fig.1 vvkatievv, 15 July 2009, 'OLPCorps Kenema, Sierra Leone 2009', Flickr.
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Simon PerkinsSHARE
