Urban Gardening: Interesting Stuff Happening on the Roofs of NYC Grade Schools

A New York Times article from last year entitled, "On a School Rooftop, Hydroponic Greens for Little Gardeners" highlighted a grade school that is experimenting with a relatively new and innovative idea. Inspired by The Science Barge and aided by New York Sun Works , the school now has a greenhouse covering its roof. Under the panes of glass, a hydroponic system of soil-less plants, water, fish and a water circulation system are teaching children about agriculture and have the potential to feed the entire school, and then some (more about how a hydroponic system works).

New York Sun Works works designed and built The Science Barge in 2006 as a first example of high yield urban food production with zero net emissions. "The Greenhouse Project" is another project: by building hydroponic greenhouses on the roofs of schools K-12 to be used for science labs, they seek to improve environmental science in urban schools.

When I saw this New York Times article, I immediately called the school to see if I could visit the exemplary garden. In addition to the hydroponic system, they also have a rainwater catchment system, a weather station, a sustainable air conditioner made of cardboard, a worm-composting center and solar panels, to name a few. What an example to set!! That said, this is a school on the Upper West Side, not a school in the South Bronx or Bed-Stuy. But why couldn't it be? Why couldn't some donor choose to help out a school in a low-income area rather than a high one? It would be in everyone's interest. These kids on the Upper West Side may think that this garden is good and great in high school, but they grow up learning and seeing that to be successful they should be in suites and cubicles. So while some may fill green-collar jobs on the professional level, we need more green-collar workers in vocational jobs, and as Sun Works knows, there is no better way than to start them young.

Hopefully, I'll be able to visit this school, and several others, to find out what it is they are doing, where they get their funding, and how projects like this can be expanded beyond the Upper West Side's of the world.