Stories of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.0:23
Tell of a structure with lush green gardens on different levels, many meters high.0:28
These are long gone, but as our modern consumer society continues to drain the world of its resources, the population rises, and food prices soar, a modern-day equivalent may soon be springing up in your neighborhood.0:33
According to UN statistics, by the year 2050, the population of planet Earth will have risen to over 9 billion, And feeding all these people will require extra farmland the size of Brazil.0:47
Finding this agricultural land will be a real challenge, but one that some creative scientists believe they have solved with the idea of vertical farming.1:00
The idea is actually very simple.1:11
Just as an apartment block has different stories, a vertical farm will have many different floors growing a variety of fruit and vegetables.1:13
On one floor there will be lettuces, on the next floor carrots, and on another tomatoes, and so on.1:22
The walls will be made of glass to allow in sunlight, and instead of soil, the produce will be grown in a solution of nutrients and water.1:29
Dr. Dickson Debsomière, a professor at Columbia University, points out that just one 30-story building could provide food for 10,000 people.1:37
'With about 160 of these buildings, you could feed all of New York,' he says.1:47
But as well as offering a solution to possible food shortages, this idea is environmentally friendly.1:53
Often, by the time food arrives on your plate, it will have been traveling for days or even months.2:00
Vertical farms, however, will go up in the center of the city and will be powered by solar and wind power.2:06
So we'll save on transport costs, burn less fossil fuels, and we'll all be eating fresh local produce from the skyscraper next door.2:12
The idea isn't without its problems though.2:21
Crops nearer the glass would get more light, which means they would grow quicker than crops farther away.2:25
The only whole floor to get direct sunlight would be the top one.2:31
Possible solutions include having a permanent light source on every floor, like the ones we now have in industrial greenhouses.2:35
At the moment, the price of building and lighting these modern Hanging Gardens of Babylon is far too high.2:43
But that doesn't mean we won't be able to do it soon.2:49
Mankind has been farming horizontally for over 15,000 years, but now almost 80% of our farmland is already in use.2:53
Isn't it about time we started growing up?3:02
Клик по слову — перевод и «+ в мои слова» (в любом режиме). Клик по строке или таймкоду — перейти к этому месту записи.