BM and Stanford University scientists announced on Weds., March 10, 2010 a chemistry breakthrough that could lead to new environmentally-sustainable plastics which promise to significantly reduce waste and pollution. Photo credit: Monica M. Davey/Feature Photo Service for IBM

In a paper published in the American Chemical Society journal, Macromolecules, scientists from IBM Research and Stanford University detail discoveries that could lead to the development of new types of biodegradable, bio-compatible plastics. The result of a multi-year research effort, the breakthrough also could lead to a new recycling process that has the potential to significantly increase the ability to recycle and reuse common PET and plant-based plastics in the future. Today’s announcement may have sustainability implications across a wide range of industries including biodegradable plastics, plastics recycling, healthcare and microelectronics.
IBM and Stanford scientists are pioneering the application of organocatalysis to green polymer chemistry, which represents a fundamental shift in the field. This discovery and new approach using organic catalysts could lead to well-defined, biodegradable molecules made from renewable resources in an environmentally responsible way.
“We’re exploring new methods of applying technology and our expertise in materials science to create a sustainable, environmentally sound future,” said Josephine Cheng, IBM Fellow and vice president, IBM Research -- Almaden. “The development of new families of organic catalysts brings more versatility to green chemistry and opens the door for novel applications, such as making biodegradable plastics, improving the recycling process and drug delivery.”

The recently completed greenhouse at the College of Southern Idaho is the most modern educational facility in the state of Idaho. It grows plants using hydroponics and aeroponics, soil less systems that grow the plants faster than in soil.

Casualties of the weather, these ripe tomatoes were rotting in the dirt in a field in Plant City, Florida. Photo credit: AP Photo/Chris O'Meara

The unusually cold winter has made tomatoes from Florida in short supply with some estimates saying the cold weather has wiped out nearly 70% of the tomato crop. Many growers say the shortage will remain for awhile until newly planted replacements start to produce. Meanwhile, the shortage has made prices for fresh tomatoes skyrocket. Some restaurants are garnishing their dishes with tomatoes only on request from customers due to the high prices.

In the CBS video below, a farmer explains the losses he is taking on his tomato crop due to the cold weather.

Carolyn Tyler of television station KGO reports on San Francisco’s free give away to Bay Area gardeners of treated composted sewer sludge,

A free program in San Francisco is under attack by a group of activists who claim the compost the city gives away to local gardeners is toxic.
It was quite a spectacle at San Francisco City Hall Thursday. People dressed in hazmat suits, goggles and gloves dumped piles of compost on the steps.
The city’s Public Utilities Commission has given away the compost for the past three years to anyone who wants to fertilize their garden. They call it biosolid compost.
“It’s the stuff your flushing down your toilet,” San Francisco PUC spokesperson Tyrone Jue said. “It’s brought to our treatment plant, treated there, then to a compost facility where it’s treated for another 30 days at 130 degrees Fahrenheit.”
But the Organic Consumers Association says it is dangerous sewage sludge.

Aeroponics is a cutting-edge type of hydroponic technology that grows plants in a mist. The aeroponic mist most efficiently provides roots with the nutrients, hydration and oxygen needed. Graphic credit: AeroFarms

Aaron Munzer writes in The Ithaca Journal,

Ed Harwood wants to seed the cities of the future with thousands of indoor farms utilizing his new growing systems, based on the technology of aeroponics, which sprays a mist of nutrient-laden water on plant roots, instead of submerging them in water-like standard hydroponics.
Harwood’s company AeroFarms has engineered stackable, modular hydroponic systems that can be implemented into vacant buildings and vertical structures as a way to make urban areas more food independent, he said.
“In order to feed a lot of people, without transporting the food, this is the graduation that will happen for urban agriculture,” Harwood said.
His seedling company just got some fertilizer last month, when he received $500,000 in financing from The Quercus Trust of Newport Beach, Calif. and co-investor 21Ventures LLC, a New York-based venture capital firm.

Click to read the rest of the AeroFarms—Crops Without Soil story.

Kendall Farms grows more than 115 different varieties of flowers in the rugged hills in San Diego, California. Photo credit: Kendall Farm

While most of the commercial cut flower business is being put out of business due to exceedingly cheap imported Colombian cut flowers, Kendall Farms in San Diego County, California, is growing with “new, trendy and hot” Australian and South African cut flowers. The farm was started in 1987 by Dave Kendall on 50 acres of land. Through the years Kendall Farms has grown to over 700 acres.
What makes Kendall Farms unique is that they raise the flowers organically. Kendall Farms was the first farm to become Veriflora certified and have produced USDA certified organic flowers and greens for over 5 years.
Kate Campbell writes about Kendall Farms in California Country,

By most definitions, Kendall Farms doesn’t look like other California flower farms. You won’t see elegant roses and ruffled carnations being pampered in protective greenhouses.
Instead, the 115 floral varieties grown on the farm’s rugged hillsides in eastern San Diego County are surrounded by chaparral and cactus. Floral trendsetters, looking for fresh design options, are equally impressed. They routinely call the farm asking, “What’s new? What’s trendy? What’s hot?”
“The unusual plantings draw considerable curiosity,” farm owner Jason Kendall said. “Visitors are often surprised at the wide variety of plants and the range of colors and textures we grow.”

A Common Vision tour member talks with the students about healthy soil. Photo credit: Common Vision

Common Vision will run its annual Fruit Tree Tour through California, a 20-city, 70-day tour planting over 1000 fruit trees at urban schools from San Diego to Sacramento. Traveling in veggie oil-powered bus caravan, 25-earth educators from Common Vision will teach students about sustainable ecology.
Now in its 7th year, Common Vision’s Emmy Award-winning Fruit Tree Tour is teaming up with national dairy cooperative Organic Valley to bring its back-country brand of green theater to urban kids. In a circus-like program featuring a live band, larger-than-life puppets, and characters like the rhyming farmer, a team of time-traveling ecogeeks, and Wendy Bob, a 5-foot singing earthworm, bring to life important lessons about healthy food and where it comes from.
Plantings can range from a few fruit trees to a few hundred, transforming desolate schoolyards into urban orchards that can provide enough fresh fruit for a school’s cafeteria and community. Known as “a bus full of hope” throughout California, the Fruit Tree Tour fleet is today the world’s largest and longest running vegetable-oil powered caravan, and the only one that leaves orchards in its wake.
This year’s tour will perform and plant at public schools in Berkeley, Castro Valley, Claremont, Compton, Culver City, Fresno, Goleta, Lake Forest, Lawndale, Los Angeles, Mt Diablo, Newark, Oakland, Oceano, Pacific Palisades, San Francisco, San Rafael, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, Sunnyvale, and Watsonville.

To view more videos of the Common Vision Fruit Tree Tour planting trees at some of the schools they visited

A clip from the BBC’s “Around the World in 80 Gardens” showing some of the urban food gardening in Havana, Cuba. Urban gardening is happening all over the world.

From a U.S. Department of Agriculture press release,

The Obama Administration released details of an over $400 million Healthy Food Financing Initiative, which will bring grocery stores and other healthy food retailers to underserved urban and rural communities across America. The initiative was announced in Philadelphia by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. The two cabinet members appeared with First Lady Michelle Obama, who recently launched the Let’s Move! campaign to solve the epidemic of childhood obesity within a generation. The initiative is a partnership between the Departments of Treasury, Agriculture, and Health and Human Services.
The Healthy Food Financing Initiative will promote a range of interventions that expand access to nutritious foods, including developing and equipping grocery stores and other small businesses and retailers selling healthy food in communities that currently lack these options. Residents of these communities, which are sometimes called “food deserts” and are often found in economically distressed areas, are typically served by fast food restaurants and convenience stores that offer little or no fresh produce. Lack of healthy, affordable food options can lead to higher levels of obesity and other diet-related diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.
Through this new multi-year Healthy Food Financing Initiative and by engaging with the private sector, the Obama Administration will work to eliminate food deserts across the country within seven years. With the first year of funding, the Administration’s initiative will leverage enough investments to begin expanding healthy foods options into as many as one-fifth of the nation’s food deserts and create thousands of jobs in urban and rural communities across the nation.
To help community leaders identify the food deserts in their area, USDA recently launched a Food Environment Atlas. This new online tool allows for the identification of counties where, for example, more than 40 percent of the residents have low incomes and live more than one mile from a grocery store. Nationwide, USDA estimates that 23.5 million people, including 6.5 million children, live in low-income areas that are more than a mile from a supermarket. Of the 23.5 million, 11.5 million are low-income individuals in households with incomes at or below 200 percent of the poverty line. Of the 2.3 million people living in low-income rural areas that are more than 10 miles from a supermarket, 1.1 million are low-income.

Click to read the Healthy Food Financing Initiative press release for more information.

From the Food Forward web site,

The ills of industrial agriculture are well known. What we eat and the way we produce our food are sickening us and the planet. Movies such as Academy Award-nominated Food, Inc., Supersize Me and King Corn and writers like Michael Pollan (Botany of Desire and The Omnivore’s Dilemma) and Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation) have done an excellent job of describing the extent of the problem.
So now what?
Food Forward explores alternatives to our current industrial food system through the lives and passions of a vanguard of innovators; educators, scientists, farmers and chefs across America–food rebels who are fundamentally changing the way we eat.
Food Forward is reaching out to our extended networks, seeking to raise $5,000 by March 30, 2010 to help finish our show trailer – a powerful and polished overview of the entire series. This next strategic milestone will hopefully secure a green light from public television and a firm commitment from our sponsors to underwrite the full pilot episode and bring Food Forward to a national audience. The money will be used to fund additional production where we explore new themes like school lunch reform, aquaponics and urban gardening. We want to produce a series trailer that will really sell this project and help to bring on large sponsors who believe in our vision and want to make this show a reality. If you like our project, donate today and spread the word!

Click on the Food Forward box below to view a short video clip…