The Real Freedom Tower
Rather than throw billions of dollars into building the Freedom Tower, imagine if we had instead spent the money on … warrens of vertical farms located throughout the five boroughs that could feed 8 million New Yorkers. As Dickson Despommier, the mad genius touting vertical farms, argues, these structures would also generate “surplus power” and treat wastewater. And of course they’d lighten the burden on conventional agricultural land and our transportation infrastructure. Imagine CSA farms located just down the block.
So what would we call these magnificent beacons of American ingenuity? The Freedom Towers, naturally.
This is quite possibly the best idea I have ever encountered.
— John · May 18, 07:27 PM · #
I’ll bet it would be pretty damn expensive. We need some pilot projects.
— Reihan · May 18, 07:29 PM · #
They can use my backyard if they want (though my landlord wouldn’t be too pleased).
More seriously, though, there was a great article on the growth of urban gardening (as a serious source of food and income, not just a hobby) in the Times last week. These cities where urban blight has left lots of vacant space won’t need freedom towers – until, that is, the beautiful greenery and locally-grown produce starts bringing back the yuppies.
— John · May 19, 02:17 AM · #
Yeah, I remember reading about a ridiculously large vertical pig farm in, I think, Denmark. What draws me, is wondering about the status of the elvators in the residents’ internal (presumed) mythology: you get into this funny little box, suffer some stomach trauma, the ddors open, and suddenly you’re in a strange new farm world. Then every now and then someone is led back to the box, gets in, and you never see him again, as presumably he has gone to some still more unusual place…
— Sanjay · May 19, 02:12 PM · #