The Vertical Farm: Feeding the World in the 21st Century by Dr. Dickson Despommier - Book review

The Vertical Farm

Feeding the World in the 21st Century

By: Dr. Dickson Despommier

Published: October 12, 2010
Format: Hardcover, 320 pages
ISBN-10: 0312611390
ISBN-13: 978-0312611392
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books












"When farms are successfully moved to cities, we can convert significant amounts of farmland back into whatever ecosystem was there originally, simply by leaving it alone", writes speaker, lecturer, environmentalist, and former professor of microbiology and public health in environmental sciences at Columbia University, Dr. Dickson Despommier in his visionary and revolutionary book The Vertical Farm: Feeding the World in the 21st Century. The author offers the concept of the urban based vertical farm as a self sustaining alternative to creating a secure global food supply for the future.

Dickson Despommier understands the severe challenges of pesticide use, soil degradation, crop loss, and dependence on fossil fuels. To meet these growing pressures, the author takes the radical step of moving the farm from the countryside, and into the city itself. With the ever expanding global urban population, and with those growing cities being the final destination for food, Dr. Despommier proposes moving food production to the ultimate consumers. The author believes that cities must produce their own food supplies, as he considers current agricultural systems to be unable to meet the demand. Basing his ideas on scarce resources, environmental concerns, and demographic projections, Dickson Despommier provides what is a viable solution for potential food shortages. By placing the growing of food under glass, and building upwards toward the sky, the urban vertical farm becomes a self sustaining source of food to supply the growing population of the world.



Dr. Dickson Despommier (photo left) points to additional benefits of urban based agriculture, beyond those of environmental and energy challenges. He writes that the wastes generated by urban dwellers can be recycled into the vertical farm. At the same time, water usage is reduced trough reuse of black and gray water for the growing plants. Through the reduction of urban waste and recycling of refuse, the health of the cities would also be improved with less disease and lower vermin numbers. The author extrapolates the growth of the world's population, and calculates that vastly more land area than is even available for cultivation, would be required for conventional agriculture. With the need for either more farmland, or for more intensive use of existing farmland, Dickson Despommier considers the lack of available resources to be a limiting factor. To make up the difference, or to replace current agricultural land entirely, the author considers the vertical, urban based farm to be the only workable alternative.

For me, the power of the book is the visionary approach taken by Dr. Dickson Despommier, as he shares his philosophy, scientific research, and engineering designs for the vertical farm proposal. Along with the theoretical framework, the author provides practical methods to turn the dream of an urban based agriculture into a reality. The author also addresses the critics of his concepts in a realistic and meaningful way. He points to the rapidly evolving conventional agricultural industry, and how it is bumping against environmental, technological, resource, and financial barriers. Even with expanded area under cultivation, and with dramatic yield increases, writes the author, the existing global agricultural industry will fail to produce enough food in a sustainable manner.

Even more controversial than the proposed limits to production, is Dr. Dickson Despommier's proposal to return agricultural land to a native state. The author points out how 70 percent of the world's fresh water is used for agriculture. To Dr. Dickson Despommier, that is an unsustainable amount, and the precursor to an environmental disaster. His urban agricultural vision uses much less water, and recycles its use back into the vertical farm's ecosystem. The saving in energy is considerable, according to the author, especially in light of Peak Oil and other resource limitations. The reduction in pesticides and the lower number of food miles present energy savings that can be applied elsewhere. The author also considers the vertical farm to be a source of future employment, a remover of urban wastes, a technique to reduce crop losses, as well as a source of safer food.

I highly recommend the innovative and seminal book The Vertical Farm: Feeding the World in the 21st Century by Dr. Dickson Despommier, to anyone seeking a viable, and ingenious solution to global food security. The reader might not agree with all of the author's premises or conclusions, but the book provides an excellent starting point for discussion. The future of the family farm, the role of corporations, and the benefits of the urban based vertical farm must all be considered. The author provides a backdrop of environmental degradation, an exploding world population, resource shortages, and the need for more land area for conventional agriculture, when he offers his vertical solution.

Read the important and paradigm shifting book The Vertical Farm: Feeding the World in the 21st Century by Dr. Dickson Despommier, and consider the advantages and potential drawbacks of the vertical farm. The author shares a compelling case that the vertical farm will meet the food challenges of the 21st century. from the viewpoint of the author, it may even be the only way to feed a hungry world.

Tags: The Vertical Farm: Feeding the World in the 21st Century, Dr. Dickson Despommier, future agriculture, economics book reviews.

Branded! by Michael E. Conroy - Book review

Branded!

How the 'Certification Revolution' is Transforming Global Corporations

By: Michael E. Conroy

Published: June 1, 2007
Format: Paperback, 320 pages
ISBN-10: 0865715793
ISBN-13: 978-0865715790
Publisher: New Society Publishers





"There is a movement afoot that has the potential to transform the way global corporations do their work", writes economist and independent consultant on sustainable development certification, Michael E. Conroy, in his visionary and corporate transformational book Branded! How the 'Certification Revolution' is Transforming Global Corporations. The author describes how the rapidly expanding 'certification movement' is creating a revolution in how leading corporations conduct business in a globalized economy.

Michael E, Conroy recognizes that a corporation's brands, and the images and promises both explicit and implicit within those brand names, are their most valuable assets. Because of the critical importance of these brand reputations, leading global companies are taking steps toward protecting their brands. In the process, the same corporations have discovered that improved social and environmental practices are also strengthening their company bottom lines. In effect, the revolution in global corporate thinking is leading to the realization that ethical and sustainable business is also good business practice. To ensure the cooperation of even more corporations, in this growing worldwide sea change, the very effective 'certification movement' was born.



Michael E. Conroy (photo left) understands the controversial position that certification creates for both sustainable development advocates and corporations. The author discusses the criticisms leveled against non-governmental organizations (NGO's) for forming alliances and agreements with multinational companies. Michael Conroy regards certification as simply part of an overall process toward social and environmental sustainability and responsibility. The process works in three general steps:

* Nonprofit organizations create new standards for corporate responsibility
* Companies move to adopt the standards through NGO pressure or market forces
* Standard setting organizations develop an effective certification method

Despite initial skepticism from both environmentalists and corporations, Michael Conroy points to the successes of the certification system. The author describes the concept as a growing movement, gaining acceptance from all stakeholders.

For me, the power of the book is how Michael E. Conroy makes a convincing case for the development and practice of the 'certification movement'. The author provides a theoretical framework that demonstrates not only how the certification process works, but why it operates so effectively. The author shares his ideas for strengthening the system and for expanding it to include more companies, nonprofit organizations, and a deeper understanding of social and environmental sustainability. The author calls for more transparency in the process, to ensure it works more effectively, and achieves its goals more efficiently. The author strengthens his book with research based evidence, resulting from a decade long study of certification, from all aspects of the concept.

Through a series of case studies, of real world corporations utilizing the certification system, Michael Conroy provides evidence of the effectiveness of the alliances. At the same time, the author offers evidence of growing acceptance of certification, as only one step in a journey toward more social and environmental concern, on the part of corporate leaders. The evidence that ethical behavior is also profitable behavior is compelling, and important for companies to recognize. Their brands are associated with their environmental, employee, and social activities, with bad behavior being punished in a growing environmentally aware marketplace. The author also looks to the future of certification, and its prospects for initiating and enhancing efforts toward alleviating poverty, environmental degradation, and employment conditions.

I highly recommend the comprehensive and definitive book Branded! How the 'Certification Revolution' is Transforming Global Corporations by Michael E. Conroy, to anyone seeking a guidebook to understanding the revolutionary and expanding 'certification movement'. The book presents the theory and best practices necessary to developing and implementing a certification system within any NGO and corporation.

Read the seminal and research based book Branded! How the 'Certification Revolution' is Transforming Global Corporations by Michael E. Conroy, and discover not only the power of certification, but also how alliances and partnerships between global companies and international organizations can result in greater social and environmental sustainability. The companies benefit through their brands being associated with sustainable practices, more profitability, and greater positive visibility. NGO's benefit through the achievement of their goals in harmony with companies, rather than through an adversarial role. The general public benefits through a healthier environment and greater social responsibility on the part of corporations.

Tags: Branded! How the 'Certification Revolution' is Transforming Global Corporations, Michael E. Conroy, certification movement, business book reviews.