Green Blog

Greenhouses have been used in the past as a medium for hobbyists for their garden greenhouses but commercial greenhouses are becoming more and more prevalent as the world becomes more “green conscious” and energy efficient.

For example, universities and agricultural departments have built commercial greenhouses for their studies. These were only a larger version of smaller greenhouses made for individuals. Many elementary and pre-schools were also building greenhouses to teach and to educate the generations to come. These children and students were learning about our world, our earth, life, organic growing, eating habits and self-worth.

As our land becomes more obsolete many have sought to build greenhouses with the use of hydroponics so the soil is preserved and the vegetation grows healthier by transporting the nutrients directly to the root of the plants.

Recently, I have been reading about building acreage up, a system termed “eco building”. It is the process of building large high rises to use as greenhouses. By growing up and not out, we can use less land, and also generate crops without the dependency on other countries. One example of this is the tomato industry. South America dominants the growing of the tomato crop, however shipping and spoilage present problems. With Greenhouse structures going up and not out, we could capture some of the vegetable and industry back and regain some economic features for our own country. Also consider the world’s poor populations. If we can supply healthy vegetation to otherwise dry climates, we could feed a nation by building these greenhouse structures upward. And lastly, consider the oil crisis. Our development of corn and other types of fuel can only better our world.

The other day I was reading an article regarding the desire to create better food products by farming with organic fertilizers. This can be accomplished by attracting insects with particular plants that kill other insects that bring disease to the crop or plants. This quickly brought to mind how the generations throughout my life have always had a wave of “naturalists” that always wanted to get back to nature. Like myself, I have wonderful intentions. Now, it is time to do something about it.

We are all learning so much about the earth, the economy and about green sustainable living. Greenhouse plantations would conquer a lot of these issues very quickly. Building greenhouses could be the answer.

For more information on how to Build YOUR Southern Greenhouse or go to http://www.SouthernGreenhouses.com.

There is no shortage of evidence that many of the major problems of the world can be blamed on modern technology. Mass production of goods and mass transportation together with the factories and vehicles that enable all this devour the planet’s resources and pollute on an epic scale.

When it comes to the fuel that powers these modern technologies there is an even more depressing legacy. Our energy source of choice is the burning of fossil fuel, in other words oil, coal and gas. However there is now rather less fuel left than has already been burned and what has already been burned has raised levels of atmospheric CO2 to record levels. We’re caught on the horns of a twin dilemma.

The party’s over - the bottle (or barrel) is all but empty and a toxic hangover and a vague recollection of reckless merriment are all that await. The last ironic gasp of this bygone age of technology might yet be a global pandemic of some new disease or virus, spread around the world in just days or weeks thanks to widespread access to easy travel.

But is this really how our world ends? And is technology really the evil root of it all? Well probably not. This won’t be the first time that humanity has had to face up to the painful consequences of some pretty dumb (in hindsight) behaviour. Yet we’re still here.

The fact is that you cannot separate people from technology. It’s what defines us. Go back however far you like into prehistory and wherever a few old bones are identified as being human in origin you will find evidence of technology.

Tracing the human race back as far as possible we can never find a period when we actually didn’t engage in making clothes, decorations, tools and weapons, or cooking food, painting pictures and making music. These things in a sense define what it is to be human, just as wings or a poisonous bite help define other creatures. We are compelled to invent and employ technology just in order to get by.

Whoever first painted animal shapes on a cave wall set us inexorably on the path to writing, printing, and now digital telecommunication. That first flint spear head was destined to lead eventually to nuclear armaments, just as Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony would not have been possible had someone not thought to hollow out a small animal bone to make a simple flute.

There has never once been a time when human technological evolution ceased in its quest to adapt and improve. Ironically this is often because the failings of an earlier technology become all too apparent. Our modern sewage systems and clean flushing toilets owe their origins to the success of the steam technology that drove the Industrial Revolution, thereby creating urban crowding and rampant disease from contaminated water supplies.

So we can be assured then that even if technology is indeed to blame for the current sorry state of affairs, it is still the only means we have to fix things again. Reverting back to some “Golden Age” before modern technology is a naive and dangerous idea; the solution lies in developing better eco-technologies (e.g. extend use of the internet and embrace high efficiency solar energy and low power consumption light emitting diodes).

These new eco-technologies are far less resource hungry and polluting and can help reduce the huge amount of travelling that goes on these days, while simultaneously actually improving the quality of life and offering increased choice. Doubtless we will some day discover that they too are flawed in some as yet unimagined way, but that’s alright, we know what to do about that.

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