Larger the cities, smaller the rainforest

Sections of rain forest cut for slash-and-burn agriculture in Peru.
(Photo by R. Butler)

As the population increases rapidly on earth, we consumed more and more valuable resources. The shrinking size of rainforest means we are losing the biodiversity of our planet. Rainforest has many various species that we will probably never encounter them again. 

The consequences of losing the rainforest

1. Green house gases

• Deforestation not only lessens the amount of carbon stored, it also releases carbon dioxide into the air. This is because when trees die, they release the stored carbon. Deforestation is the second largest human-caused source of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, ranging between 6 percent and 17 percent. 
• Water vapour is also one of the greenhouse gases. Deforestation has reduced global vapour flows from land by 4 percent from a study by the National Academy of Sciences. Even this small change in vapour flows already disrupt the natural weather patterns and modify current climate models.

2. Loss of species

• Animals are losing their habitat, there are negative consequences for medicinal research and local populations who rely on the animals and plants in the forests for hunting and medicine.

3. Soil erosion 

• Tree roots anchor the soil. Without trees, the soil is free to wash or blow away, which can lead to soil erosion, flooding and landslide issues. 

My biggest concern about deforestation is that it is a permanent destruction of forests to gain more land mostly for fuel , housing and urbanization. According to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization, every year around 18 million acres (7.3 million hectares) of forest are lost. In the the WWF reports ,50% of the trees cut down from forests illegally are used as fuel. A forest takes hundreds of years to grow but it only takes 1 weeks for us to clean the whole forest, it is a one way process which is totally not sustainable, once it is clean it is gone, forever. Although forests seems far away from us, who are living in the urban areas, but it is a gift from nature, from our ancestors, it deserves respect and conservation. 

Deforestation in Brazil: Aerial view of a large soy field eating into the tropical rainforest.

It is never too late to stop diminishing the rainforest, we can help to reforest the area, helping the restoration of the animals original habitat. We have to stop the urban sprawl all over the world. we could think of ways like urban consolidation in the urban areas but not expanding into the rural area. We should reduce our use of timber-sourced products like paper, paper cups and bowls in order to minimise the demand of timber. we can encourage people to buy second hand furnitures to minimise the need of new timber of wood furniture. You can also choose to buy environmental responsible product, or donate to the rainforest organisations like rainforest foundations, orangutan, growingairfoundation and
rainforestconcern.

It is the time where all of us should take the responsibility to look after our planets, our rainforest!

Reference:

    Bradford, By Alina. "Deforestation: Facts, Causes & Effects." LiveScience. 2015. 

    Accessed March 25, 2016. http://www.livescience.com/27692-deforestation.html. 

    "Loss of Renewable Resources and Wildlife Conflict Resulting from Deforestation."
    Mongabay.com. Accessed March 25, 2016. http://rainforests.mongabay.com/0905.htm. 

    "10 Things You Can Do To Save The Rainforest | Rainforest Foundation US." Rainforest
    Foundation US. Accessed March 25, 2016. http://www.rainforestfoundation.org/10-things-

    you-can-do-to-save-the-rainforest/. 

Is Green Roof sustainable?

1. What is a Green Roof?

A green roof is also called the eco-roof or living roof. They were built on buildings for for a long time in different countries. E.g. the Chicago's City Hall building is famous of their living roofs . A green roof is a roof that has vegetation and a medium to grow the vegetation. Its costs also depend on the type of green roof installed. 

2. What are the advantages of Green Roofs?

Roof areas are a important part in urban cities surfaces. Plants on green surfaces can absorb heat and then use it through evapotranspiration. Therefore, green roofs is very important for reducing urban temperatures, and improve air pollution/smog, reduce the urban heat island effect.

Green roofs store rainwater in the plants and soil, water then be evaporated into the atmosphere. In summer, green roofs can retain rainfall from 70-80% ; in winter, they can retain from 25-40%.

Green roofs can reduce and delay run off when there is heavy and prolonged precipitation. A study in Germany stated that when there is a 10mm rainstorm, 200 litres of rainwater fell on an 18m2 green roof ,only 15 litres will run off from the roof to the ground.Therefore, it can reduce the run off on the storm water drainage system, and reduce the chance of local flooding.

Green roofs can also trap the dust in the air to reduce air pollution and has positive impact on people physical and mental health, also lower the temperate of the building.

However, it is really sustainable in all kind of roofs and situations?

3. The "sustainability" of Green Roofs

• The right kind of vegetationAccording to Scott MacIvor, from York University in Toronto, sedum does not absorb water as good as other plant species. At certain times of the year, sedum actually absorbs heat instead of reflecting it. What even worse is that it does not encourage biodiversity of plant species on the roof. According to MacIvor’s research, green roofs provide the most benefit when they are planted with a diverse group of species that are adapted to local conditions.
• The right installation
  A drain screening system is needed to prevent soil or other sediments from accumulating in your roof drains. A blockage of one or more drains due to sediment could turn your lawn into a flood disaster, and your roof will no longer be sustainable because of the cost and maintenances involved. The root penetration barrier is also needed to prevent the root growing into your house and causes leakage.

A green roof failure ecample:
vegetations struggle to grow on it

In my opinion, green roof is still a good options to improves the sustainability in the urban area. However, the installed must be well prepared or consulted by a green roof specialist. and include a wide variety of vegetation that is suitable for green roof. A regular check to maintain the green roof is also recommended. It is a sustainable tool if you use it correctly and carefully.

Reference:

"Green Roof Technology Blog." Green Roof Blog. Accessed March 23, 2016. http://www.greenrooftechnology.com/green-roof-blog/tag/maintenance_on_Green_Roofs/. 

B., Jonathan. "What Are Some Potential Green Roof Problems? - Good Question." Accessed March 23, 2016. http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/atgreen-home-re-29590. 

"European Federation of Green Roof Associations - EFB." Green Roofs. Accessed March 23, 2016. http://www.efb-greenroof.eu/verband/fachbei/fa01_englisch.html. 

Hilary, Dave. "Green Roof." EzineArticles. Accessed March 23, 2016. http://EzineArticles.com/5237712. 

Urban heat island effect in Hong Kong

An urban heat island (UHI) is a city or metropolitan area that is apparently warmer than its surrounding rural areas due to the activities of people. The phenomenon was first discovered by Luke Howardin the 1810. The temperature difference usually is larger at night than the day, and it is more easy to happen when winds are weak. It is most noticeable in the summer and winter.

The urban heat island effect happens due to the modification of land surfaces. Unnecessary heat generated by energy usage is one of the factors. When urbanization grows, it appears to expand and increase its average temperature.

A bird eye view of  central, Hong Kong 

"Urban Heat Island” (UHI) occurs in a densely populated area, Hong Kong is a one of the most crowded cities in the world, it has a  higher temperature than surrounding rural areas. In the urban development of Hong Kong , the changes of land use and the landscape, the densely located urban infrastructure and anthropogenic heat has caused the poor cooling effect in built-up areas, resulting in forming the Urban Heat Islands.

I lived in Hong Kong for a long time, during the summer time, the constantly high temperature has caused sickness and deaths associated with excessive heat exposure. As UHI exacerbates heat waves, which increases the risks of heat stroke and exhaustion, especially on those with chronic diseases and people who are working outdoors.

However, vegetation cover and using proper building materials can help reducing the UHI effect. But it is always hard to convince developer to have more green space and spend more money on building materials when it doesn't bring any economical benefits to the company. 

It is happy to hear that there is a Remote Sensing technologies and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) according to Dr Charles Wong Man-sing at the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics, it can help to improve town planning based on data gathered. By using this we can design ventilation pathways by mapping out the Frontal Area Index (a ratio of total area of the building facets exposed to the wind) of each building gathered from GIS data and reducing the paths of the lowest air flow resistance. This helps town planners to have better decisions in environmental design without blocking the main ventilation corridors. If we can maintain the ventilation then UHI effect can be mitigated.

Reference:

"Urban Heat Islands." Wikipedia. Accessed March 18, 2016. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_heat_island. 

 "Mitigating Urban Heat Islands for Better Living Environment." Mitigating Urban Heat Islands for Better Living Environment. Accessed March 18, 2016. http://www.polyu.edu.hk/cpa/excel/en/201504/viewpoint/v1/index.html. 

Have you thought of having a more sustainable protein sources other than meat?

As we are living in the era where population are growing rapidly and the food demand will be increasing. More and more natural resource will be consumed till there is no more left.The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations and the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) have announced that no more than 40 years we will be facing food and water shortages all over the world.
They stated if we continue the current eating habits, and not reduce our animal based foods consumption like meat, eggs and dairy products. There will not be enough water for food production in 2050 for the future 9 billion population. Moreover, meat production (beef, lamb, chicken, pork, seafood) uses up a large amount of energy and largely relies on the natural resources on earth.

I admits that I am a meat lovers personally. But when I understand that when I started to consume less meat, I actually made a small difference to the planet. I started to find ways to consume less meat but more vegetables and nuts. My parents was concerned on my diet may not have enough protein, but I showed them the following research to proof that we can have a healthy and balanced diet while eating less meat, which eventually our planets will benefit from it and we will be benefit from it.

  

The government of Netherlands' Nutrition Centre has announced their latest dietary advice and launched a national healthy eating campaign.

Their recommendation of the weekly meat intake is 500g, which included up to 300g of red meat. This is because red meat contains higher saturated fat and have high environmental impact.

The current weekly meat intake of the Dutch is around 930g which is double of the recommended amount. The nutrition centre advised the consumers should be replacing meat with more sustainable protein sources: fish, nuts, eggs and vegetables.

Not only Netherlands support  replacing the protein source from meat to fish and plants. The UK's new Eatwell dietary guidelines also suggests plant-based proteins gives more prominence over meat and dairy for sustainability reason. The link between sustainability and health is very close. As the population is growing quickly, in order to maintain the food resilience and security, we should start to think about how to develop a eating habits that is both healthy and sustainable.

I highly recommend this website for recipes that can help everyone who wants to develop a health and sustainable dietary, it contains a lot of different recipes that contains plant-based protein. Plan your dinner tonight with this new healthier and environmental friendly diet!
http://jessicalaurendebry.com/10-powerful-sources-of-plant-based-protein/





Reference:

 "Meat Free Week." Meat Free Week. Accessed March 17, 2016. https://meatfreeweek.org/content/food-water-scarcity#. 

"A Sustainable Breakthrough? Dutch Dietary Advice Cuts Meat by Almost Half." FoodNavigator.com. Accessed March 17, 2016. http://www.foodnavigator.com/Policy/A-sustainable-breakthrough-Dutch-dietary-advice-cuts-meat-by-almost-half.

"10 Powerful Sources of Plant-Based Protein." Jessica Lauren DeBry. Accessed March 17, 2016. http://jessicalaurendebry.com/10-powerful-sources-of-plant-based-protein/. 

How often you aware of the word "Greenwashing"

• How often do you see the words "green", "nature", "organic" on a product package?
• How many times you bought these products because they seems to have less impacts to the environment?
• Would you doubt whether their claims are true or not?

When a company exaggerated a part of supposed environmental friendliness, but shirks commitment to sustainability on a larger level, some might call it simple ignorance or a half-baked attempt at going green — but it is called the "greenwashing".

Greenwashing refers to a product or company that claims itself as sustainable, but spends more effort marketing and advertising itself as green than actually implementing practices that minimize environmental harm.

There are 7 sin of greenwashing that helps us to identify the companies that uses greenwashing, here is the link to the website: http://sinsofgreenwashing.com/findings/the-seven-sins/
However, I notice that nowadays not only products like food and daily necessities, but also buildings. Many of them uses green roofs, green louvres and green ratings to attract people. One example is the $6 billion "Dubai Pearl’ - a mixed-use city within the city of Dubai is being planned for an area near Dubai’s new business centers. According to the developers, the program will promote energy efficiency, “smart technology”, a column-free design, and a walkable environment that will enable community living. But to be honest I doubt whether Dubai needs and can even support another massive residential, hotel and office complex of the Dubai Pearl’s scale.

Model of Dubai Pearl 

According to Dubai Pearl’s press office, the 40 acre site will include:

-15,500 parking spaces- 1500 residential units
- 1400 offices and a retail zone- A population of 30,000 people.

The site has included a lot of green and blue zone which requires a huge amount of water to maintain these zones, I don't think it would be a big problem if Dubai is a coastal city , but Dubai and the rest of the United Arab Emirates still rely on desalination, which means massive amounts of water will be needed to keep Dubai Pearl working. Furthermore, information on what sustainable materials for the buildings’ interiors and exteriors is still lacking. Therefore, I think the "sustainable" title of this development seems to be misused. We often see renderings of buildings with a green facade or lots of greens in the surroundings, and it gives a "sustainable" image to the people but the system behind those façades are not sustainable. As a urban designer, I think we should create a sustainable built environment instead of a "green" building.

Reference:

"Greenwashing: How To Spot False Environmental Claims." Curiousmatic. 2016. Accessed March 17, 2016. 
https://curiousmatic.com/greenwashing-how-to-spot-false-environmental-claims/. 

"The Heart of New Dubai." Welcome to Dubai Pearl. Accessed April 03, 2016. http://www.dubaipearl.com/.

"Dubai Pearl Is Another Massive and Dubious “Green Building” Project in The Gulf." Inhabitat Green Design Innovation Architecture Green Building. Accessed April 03, 2016. http://inhabitat.com/dubai-pearl-is-another-massive-and-dubious-“green-building”-project-on-the-gulf/. 

The hot topic - "Urban farms"

By the year 2050, almost 80% of the earth’s population will be living in urban areas. And the human population will shaprly increase to 3 billion people at that moment.If the traditional farming practices continue as they are practised now, around 109 hectares of new land will then be needed to grow enough food to feed them. Therefore urban farmers have to come up with creative ways to maximize space and fit their operations into an urban environment. There are more and more methods to grow crops in urban areas, we will be discussing the methods and find out the pros and cons of urban farming.



Hydroponics  
It means of growing food without soil where the nutrients are provided directly in the water.

The following is a common type of hydroponics - Ebb and Flood Hydroponics. It uses a tray which placed above a separate nutrient solution reservoir, that is periodically flooded with the nutrient solution directly from the reservoir. This directly supplies the roots of plant with nutrients while the hydroponic system is in operation. The tray is always filled with a type of growing media like expanded clay aggregate or rock wool, to anchor and supply structure to the plants growing inside. 



















Aquaponics

It is a system of aquaculture in which the waste produced by farmed fish or other aquatic animals supplies nutrients for plants grown hydroponically, which in turn purify the water.

Aquaponics consists of two main parts: the aquaculture part for raising aquatic animals and the hydroponics part for growing plants. 

Aquatic effluents, resulting from uneaten feed or raising animals like fish, accumulate in water due to the closed-system recirculation of most aquaculture systems.

The effluent-rich water becomes toxic to the aquatic animal in high concentrations but this contain nutrients essential for plant growth.

Vertical farming 

• The practice of growing in a vertical direction
• Usually without soil (hydropnically)
• Usually in urban areas and sometimes will applied in sky scrapers' design)

Example: VERTICAL HARVEST (Jackson Hole, Wyoming )
Three-story, 13500 sq.f hydroponics green house (150' x 30')
Able to produce 37000+ pounds of greens, 4400 pounds of herbs and 44000 pounds of tomatoes
95% future crops already sold to local restaurants, groceries and hospital



Micro-farming
A micro-farm is an independent farmer who operates on a small acreage.15% of the worlds food comes from the micro farmer. Many people know of at least one person in their social network who has a garden that feeds families. Micro-farm can be exist in a small patio garden, a tiny backyard garden or a large garden even on roof or walls, the point is we use as much as the space that is available for growing plants.

So is Urban farming the ultimate solution to solve the food and land shortage problem and is it a sustainable method ?

PROS:

• Less footprint. By reducing the distance in transport to reach the consumer – an average of 1,000 miles – urban farming can reduce global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from food production by up to 15%.
• Less waste.
  Up to 60 pounds of food per person is wasted globally every year in production and distribution. Having a farm in your backyard could significantly reduce this.
• Less heat.
  Urban rooftop farms would provide shade and insulation for cool air, reducing the need for summer air conditioning, which accounts for 20% of urban energy usage.

CONS:

• Gentrification.
   By growing on land that would possible be used for housing or business, urban farming takes up plenty of space in urban area and may increase the land prices and contribute to gentrification.
• Not a cure-all. The production from any urban farming techniques may never be sufficient for the growing populations in cities. And the farming process is not efficient as the traditional farms.
• Disease and pollution.  Improper handling of produce and related agrochemicals could lead to both contaminated foods and environments.
  I personally agree on the concept of urban farming, I think the main concerns is not on solving the food shortage, but raising the awareness of the importance of food and produce less food waste. Also it can provided positive social effect such as strengthens communities through cooperation, and provides people with affordable, healthy foods. But I think the public has to be educated on how to grow food sustainably and what types of foods are suitable to grow in their home, therefore I hope the government can do more to promote the concept of urban farming in different scale.

Reference:

"Hydroponic Growing Techniques - Deep Water Culture & Ebb and Flow / Flood Hydroponics - Hydroponiacs." Hydroponiacs. 2014. Accessed March 09, 2016. http://hydroponiacs.com/hydroponic-growing-techniques-deep-water-culture-ebb-flow-flood-hydroponics/. 

"Aquaponics vs. Hydroponics vs. Ecoponics." Search for a Greener Life. 2015. Accessed March 08, 2016. https://searchforagreenerlife.wordpress.com/2015/03/07/aquaponics-vs-hydroponics-vs-ecoponics/. 

"The Micro Farm Revolution:Think Small." Ready Nutrition. 2009. Accessed March 09, 2016. http://readynutrition.com/resources/the-micro-farm-revolutionthink-small_02112009/.

"Urban Farming Technology." Urban Farming Technology. Accessed March 10, 2016. http://www.slideshare.net/ReneHubbard/technology-in-urban-farming-techniques. 

"City of Sydney - Council - Home." Community Gardens. Accessed March 10, 2016. http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/community/participation/community-gardens.

"Is Urban Farming The Ultimate In Locally-Grown Food? - Curiousmatic." Curiousmatic. 2014. Accessed March 10, 2016. https://curiousmatic.com/urban-farming-ultimate-locally-grown-food/.