Not that many newsletters are really good and inspiring but The Doors of Perception Report – by Doors of Perception founder John Tackara - seldom fails to do the job. Bottom up, interdisciplinary and reporting on great sustainable design and initiatives from all over the world. One of these projects is Polydome, a revolutionary Dutch approach to greenhouse agriculture, interweaving a wide variety of crops and animals, taking advantage of every inch of the greenhouse while eliminating the need for synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. Even a small Polydome system can provide a richly varied food supply for a large population. Currently all commercial greenhouses in Europe are geared to produce a single crop but what does a small, local population do with 33 tons of tomatoes? Hence they end up being funneled into the global produce distribution chain, creating expense in economic and environmental terms. The system also fails to provide the diverse local food supply we would like to see and eat. One of the practical motivations for the project is to find an agricultural model that would be useful for urban environments, produce a variety of edible products, and allow for more than hobby-scale urban agriculture.

http://www.doorsofperception.com

http://www.except.nl/consult/polydome/index.html

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