Grow Up, Grow Smart1Grow Up, Grow Smart:Sustainable Development Using Vertical FarmsMohammad BeheshtaeinJacob DelineCraig HyattWilson TsanChris SlafterUNVS 196DProfessor QuillDecember 5, 2008Grow Up, Grow Smart2Table of ContentsPageIntroduction 4Section I. Sustainability and vertical farms 5A. The general problem of sustainability 5B. Sustainability and agriculture 6Section II. Problems with current methods of farming 7A. How is it unsustainable? 81. Soil 82. Water 103. Energy and Transportation 11B. Urban farming 111. Vertical farms boost crop yield 122. Vertical farms make water use sustainable 133. Vertical farms improve waste management and distribution 14Section III. How vertical farms will help San Jose State University 15A. Spartan Dining's current environmental and business practices 15B. Green rooftops and vertical farms are the next step for SJSU 16C. Our proposed model 18Section IV. Integration of a vertical farm into the San Jose State University campus 19A. Potential structure sizes 19B. Proposed structure locations 21Grow Up, Grow Smart3C. Estimated construction timeline 23Section V. The nutritional benefits of eating healthy 23A. Eating healthy is good for you both physically and mentally 24Conclusion 29References 30Grow Up, Grow Smart4IntroductionOur purpose is to examine, in the words of Thomas Friedman, what we can “do inresponse to the truly massive challenge that we face to preserve the natural world that has beenbequeathed to us.”1 San Jose State has a long history of innovation and progress. Our plan is tocontinue San Jose State University’s history of innovation by growing vegetables and fruits oncampus for use by the campus. We will utilize once unused land while taking advantage ofsustainable practices. Our proposal is to begin with rooftop gardens and then progress toconstructing a vertical farm on campus.Our ultimate goal is to demonstrate the utility of vertical farms and develop their usage inSan Jose and beyond. This urban farming technique offers many benefits including: sustainablefarming techniques, low cost food production, a new sense of civic pride, more nutritious eatinghabits, and an innovative plan that could make SJSU and San Jose an even better place to live,work and play.Beyond these benefits, we feel that urban farming offers San Jose a chance tosystemically address the problems facing the environment and the community. We do not aimmerely at a solution to fix an isolated problem. By asking San Jose to accept our proposal we aregiving San Jose the opportunity to embark on a path of real change. Already, we have garneredsupport from Associated Students, Spartan Dining, and Professor Mathur. A change in behaviorwill go a long way toward finding solutions to our environmental problems. John Gardner, thefounder of Common Cause, remarked that, “today’s energy – climate challenge is a series ofgreat opportunities disguised as insoluble problems”.2 1 Friedman, Thomas L. Hot, Flat, and Crowded. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York. 2008. Pg 397.2 Ibid. 170.Grow Up, Grow Smart5Section I. Sustainability and vertical farmsThe purpose of our paper is to clearly define the problem with which the human speciesis confronted and to offer an answer. The proposed solution to this problem will be a proactiveapproach that addresses the issue systemically rather than an approach that only addressestechnical problems as they arise. Solutions which solve individual technical problems do notaddress the core issue. An examination of the history of how western thought3 has come tounderstand the relationship between the human species and nature will reveal that the westernoutlook has lead to the creation of methods of production that are not sustainable. A lack ofsustainability is the systemic problem that we are faced with and any proposed solution to themyriad problems facing the human species needs to address this directly. This lack ofsustainability needs to be addressed first conceptually, and then at a technical level.A. The general problem of sustainabilityOur civilization cannot currently provide for itself without utterly exhausting the naturalresources that it uses. Derrick Jensen notes:Industrial fishing practices have decimated every one of the world’sbiggest and most economically important species of fish….Fully 90 percent ofeach of the world’s large ocean species, including cod, halibut, tuna, swordfish,and marlin, have disappeared from the world’s oceans in recentdecades….[F]ishing has become so efficient that it typically takes just 15 years toremove 80 percent or more of any species unlucky enough to become the focus ofa fleet’s attention.4The Earth’s resources are finite; therefore, we must live in a manner that is sustainable.According to Jensen, a lifestyle “is sustainable if it does not damage the capacity of the landbase 3 We say ‘western thought’ because though there are many other ways of life, the way of life determined by western thought hasbecome the dominant paradigm in the world. Therefore, if we are going to address problems that have arisen within our culturewe need to discuss how our world view came to be.4 Jensen, Derrick. Endgame. Seven Stories Press, 2006. 235-236.Grow Up, Grow Smart6to support its members.”5 From a western perspective, the practice of unsustainably gatheringresources has its roots in how the relationship between human beings and nature has beendefined. Clive Ponting, author of A New Green History of the World: the Environment and theCollapse of Great Civilizations, discusses the history of how human beings have articulated theirrelationship to nature. According to Ponting, there is a tendency to place human beings in aposition of privilege over nature; nature is seen as a resource to be used. Classical Greek thought,Judeo-Christian thought, modern economics, science, and philosophy have all given weight toarguments in support of anthropocentrism. Within these systems of thought, the unrestrained useof natural resources has been justified and encouraged. Human beings now find themselves in aposition where their civilizations are using more resources than the natural world can provide.Derrick Jensen points out, in Endgame, that this is evidenced by the historical fact that everycivilization, with the exception of hunter-gatherer communities, imports its resources once it hasexhausted the resources immediately available to it. “[C]ities must import resources, a