Urban Agriculture

Urban Agriculture: Food, Bats, and H20 in the City

Blake Ellett

Atlanta, GA

Bats, Agriculture, and H20; these three things can all have a symbiotic relationship and can help improve our cities. What is this relationship between these three very different things? Creating these urban agricultural areas can mitigate destroyed habitat in peri-urban areas and distant ecosystems for many different species that can provide natural services around these urban agricultural areas which will help increase the productivity, reduce polluting runoff, and control insect populations. These positive impacts assist in the ecological health of the cities and can be instruments in reducing cities ecological footprints and restoring urban ecosystems (Oliveira, 2011).  The United States contains some of the most urbanized landscapes in the world, with approximately 80% of the population in these urbanized areas (Schewenius, 2014).  We should view the continual urbanization of our landscapes as an opportunity to including the surrounding environments into the working systems of our cities and its inhabitants. As we continue to expand our concrete jungles, we need to remember the green that surrounds us and include it in our planning at a more connected level. By connected level I mean the functionality of the biological systems within our urbanized environments. We can produce food and provide habitats in designated urban agricultural areas and improve the quality of life within these areas by providing a sense of community and production on a sustainable and “green” level.

Food is something we all can agree on that is one of the necessities of life. As we grow our communities and cities, we should explore some areas in which we can produce our own foods sustainably. Through the history of time we have seen that food and water security on regional to local scales are dependent on spatial access to prominent landscapes of food production (Barthel, 2012). The issue of land availability is one of the major hindrances to urban agricultural production. Knowing this, we also must realize that urban agricultural areas can be small, medium, or large scale operations. The scales of these agricultural areas can vary from:

1.       Small commercial farms and community-supported agriculture (CSA),

2.       Community gardens

3.       Backyard gardens (Mok, 2013).

These gardens provide many opportunities to better our cities not only through organic food production, but it also has opportunities to institute all sorts of wildlife into these areas. One such animal that comes to my mind is the bat.

Biodiversity is a key component to ecological health and protecting this in American can be an issue. Many species of bats endemic to the United States are migratory and require specific habitats for roosting. As trees are cleared for urban expansion, a lot of these habitats are destroyed. Bats roost in all types of buildings, shelters, and homes and these animals provide an advantageous service to the surrounding ecosystems.

Bats are great insect controllers. Most all species are insectivores, meaning they gain all of their sustenance from insects. Installing bat houses around these garden areas will help increase biodiversity as well as provide natural pest controls for the urban agricultural areas. These urban agricultural areas can provide habitat for these bats and increase the connectivity in urban ecosystems acting as greenways and ecological networks (Ahern, 2012). This green spacing of urban environments provides ecological refuges and connects the surrounding ecosystems to each other. Bats significantly reduce the amount of pest insects in your backyard while simultaneously helping farmers and gardeners by eating insect pests. An individual bat can eat thousands of insects in just one night! More bats eating insects mean less pesticide use in our environment, and less pesticides in our environment mean cleaner food and water. To learn how to build or buy a bat house click here.

H20. Creating innovative ways to advance a cities sustainability should be an involved and creative process. We remove as many pesticides as we can with our construction of bat boxes, but how else can we improve upon the sustainability of these urban agricultural areas? Storm water catchments and rain detention tanks can provide sustainable water resources for these areas. Water use in cities has increased five-fold since 1950, and this simple, cheap option provides some relief from the water demand in urban areas (Richter, 2013). Some storm water runoff can also be diverted into vegetated conveyance systems to distribute the water. Utilizing wetland plants into conveyance ditches will provide natural filters to water runoff, cleaning and treating the conveyed water before it is used to water the plants. Managed wetland systems add resiliency to the water supply portfolio, enhance urban aesthetics, provide wildlife habitat, and improve water quality (Hering, 2013).

What are some other opportunities for urban agriculture? These urban agricultural areas can have the potential to grow in their utilization and purpose as time progresses. A lot of these community gardens help increase community involvement and morale, so once a community garden is created and is allowed to grow, it has the potential to influence the community for many generations. As the functionality grows, other avenues such as vegetated buffering and swale enhancement can be built on the surrounding areas of the gardens. These improvements can show a progressive and active community, involved in realistic steps towards creating a sustainable community and society. Urban agriculture has the opportunity to provide small, community driven sustainable production areas which improves the lives of the citizens and community that are willing to play an active role in producing food locally and sustainably through creative and innovative methods.

·         Barthel, S., and C. Isendahl. 2013. Urban gardens, agriculture, and water management: Sources of resilience for long-term food security in cities. Ecological Economics 86:224-234.

·         Mok, H., et al. 2014. Strawberry fields forever? Urban agriculture in developed countries: a review. Agronomy and Sustainable Development 34:21-43.

·         http://www.batconservation.org/bat-houses?gclid=CjwKEAjwrNeiBRD3goG_1s-0_XMSJADuGQQcrZoV3Vs8UX82QUhllKFkdgvS39g7L0Qbsn1Xi1g5sBoCCgLw_wcB

·         Puppim de Oliveira, J., et al. 2011. Cities and biodiversity: Perspectives and governance challenges for implementing the convention on biological diversity (CBD) at the city level. Biological Conservation 144:1302-1313.

·         Ahern, J. 2013. Urban landscape sustainability and resilience: the promise and challenges of integrating ecology with urban planning and design. Landscape Ecology 28:1203-1212.

·         Hering, J., et al. 2013. A changing framework for urban water systems. Environmental Science & Technology 47:10721-10726.

ATL Eco District

Atlanta Eco District Initiative: A Local Based Sustainable

Plan for the Future

 Source: http://www.sustainableatlanta.org/

By: Blake Ellett

Atlanta, GA

September 28, 2014

                Thanks to the initiative and resolve of community leaders in both private and public sectors, I can join a movement in my city that I have a lot of appreciation for and that is a sustainable Atlanta. Atlanta, it is our time to push for innovation in our city planning. EcoDistricts are one of the ways we can begin to make a meaningful change to reaching for a sustainable future in Georgia.

The Office of Sustainability for the City of Atlanta describes sustainability:

“Though “sustainable” is the new “green,” the term itself means different things to different people. For the City of Atlanta, working to be more sustainable means reconciling the city’s developmental goals with its environmental limits over the long term. In order to do this, all city government operations are being filtered through the lens of ensuring that current levels of consumption can be maintained in perpetuity. Implementing the Power to Change plan, the City of Atlanta’s Office of Sustainability is working with all city departments to balance Atlanta’s economic growth with environmental protection while being mindful of social justice”

 What are some of the steps in which our society must take for a sustainable future? Where do we begin and to what degree do we invest our time and resources to reaching a sustainable goal? These are questions that have to be answered from multiple angles and in a realistic way. Atlanta has taken some steps in the right directions for creating a sustainable plan for the city and its inhabitants. Sustainable Atlanta is a group of public and private sector individuals that have been brought together through the help of the Mayor’s office and public private partnership. Sustainable Atlanta has a clear initiative and its purpose it to “… advance the health, prosperity and quality of life for all people in metro Atlanta by nurturing a balance between environmental stewardship, economic development and social equity.” A main driver in this effort is the introduction of EcoDistricts.

Several large municipalities already have EcoDistricts such as Portland OR, Charlotte NC, and San Francisco CA. What is so great about these EcoDistricts is that they are all different. Each city, each EcoDistrict, each community decides where to focus their efforts on supporting a sustainable future for their city.

•  Living Cully: Portland Oregon EcoDistrict which focuses on anti-poverty.
•  Innovation District:  Boston, Massachusetts EcoDistrict takes under-developed land and transforms them into new live-work-play neighborhoods and public centers for innovation.
• SW EcoDistrict: Washington, DC EcoDistrict focuses on creating “complete streets”, improving bike lanes, sidewalks, and overall pedestrian transportation improvement.

Atlanta EcoDistrict Initiative:

We have seen some great examples of EcoDistrict utilization in other cities. The exciting part of all of this now is that it is our turn to create a collaborative sustainability initiative based on local input and community response. The plan starts at the local level, and Sustainability Atlanta recognizes this, calling for community level leaders (active citizens, faith communities, local businesses, and school leaders) to answer the sustainable call to take action. Now we can collectively come together in our communities and make local, ground based choices using the voice of every individual who wants to be heard.

Some ideas of where to start:

The city of Atlanta’s Office of Sustainability has some great initiatives currently in action. Good steps in achieving a successful sustainability plan should work in juncture with our local government. Some ideas in which could collaboratively be pursued are:

•         Green space
•         Lighting and Building efficiency increase (Atlanta is currently #3 in the Energy star ratings)
•       Water Conservation
•         Recycling
•         Paper Use Reduction
•         Commute Alternative Program

With these ongoing initiatives in mind, our local communities can begin to collaborate and apply to be an Atlanta EcoDistrict. The 2015 applications are currently being taken on waiting list and can be found here.  It’s our opportunity to grasp. I look forward to what the future holds and what innovations can occur at the local level for a sustainable and successful future for the great city of Atlanta, Ga.