Synopses & Reviews
"The vertical farm is a world-changing innovation whose time has come. Dickson Despommiers visionary book provides a blueprint for securing the worlds food supply and at the same time solving one of the gravest environmental crises facing us today."--StingImagine a world where every town has their own local food source, grown in the safest way possible, where no drop of water or particle of light is wasted, and where a simple elevator ride can transport you to natures grocery store - imagine the world of the vertical farm.When Columbia professor Dickson Despommier set out to solve America's food, water, and energy crises, he didn't just think big - he thought
up. Despommier's stroke of genius, the vertical farm, has excited scientists, architects, and politicians around the globe. Now, in this groundbreaking book, Despommier explains how the vertical farm will have an incredible impact on changing the face of this planet for future generations. Despommier takes readers on an incredible journey inside the vertical farm, buildings filled with fruits and vegetables that will provide local food sources for entire cities. Vertical farms will allow us to:
- Grow food 24 hours a day, 365 days a year
- Protect crops from unpredictable and harmful weather
- Re-use water collected from the indoor environment
- Provide jobs for residents
- Eliminate use of pesticides, fertilizers, or herbicides
- Drastically reduce dependence on fossil fuels
- Prevent crop loss due to shipping or storage
- Stop agricultural runoff
Vertical farms can be built in abandoned buildings and on deserted lots, transforming our cities into urban landscapes which will provide fresh food grown and harvested just around the corner. Possibly the most important aspect of vertical farms is that they can built by nations with little or no arable land, transforming nations which are currently unable to farm into top food producers. In the tradition of the bestselling
The World Without Us,
The Vertical Farm is a completely original landmark work destined to become an instant classic
Review
“A captivating argument that will intrigue general readers and give policymakers and investors much to ponder.” --Kirkus Reviews
“A visionary known the world over, Despommier believes that the ‘vertical farm is the keystone enterprise for establishing an urban-based ecosystem and for ‘restoring balance between our lives and the rest of nature." --Booklist (starred)
“Despommier has quickly become the central figure in what could be a worldwide revolution.” -Scientific American
“Nobody has ever dreamed as big as Dr. Dickson Despommier.” --New York Magazine
“Despommiers . . . ingenious idea . . . could ultimately ease the worlds food, water, and energy crises.” --The Huffington Post“Dickson Despommier is a futurist, an architect, and an intellectual in the same vein as Leonardo da Vinci, I. M. Pei, and Buckminster Fuller. Vertical farms will be remembered as one of the preeminent breakthroughs of the early 21st century, and Despommier will be remembered as the man who brought them to us.” --Josh Tickell, director of Fuel, winner of the 2008 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award for Best Documentary
“This book makes the case that urban agriculture can go vertical as well as horizontal, putting all those expanses of pretty glass to some actual use!” --Bill McKibben, author of Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet
“Cities of the future must generate their own food supply. Dickson Despommiers elegant, simple answer for achieving this goal is vertical farming. Welcome to the third green revolution.”--Peter Diamandis, Chairman of the X Prize Foundation and Co-Founder of the Singularity University
Review
“A captivating argument that will intrigue general readers and give policymakers and investors much to ponder.” --Kirkus Reviews
“A visionary known the world over, Despommier believes that the ‘vertical farm is the keystone enterprise for establishing an urban-based ecosystem and for ‘restoring balance between our lives and the rest of nature." --Booklist (starred)
“Despommier has quickly become the central figure in what could be a worldwide revolution.” -Scientific American
“Nobody has ever dreamed as big as Dr. Dickson Despommier.” --New York Magazine
“Despommiers . . . ingenious idea . . . could ultimately ease the worlds food, water, and energy crises.” --The Huffington Post“Dickson Despommier is a futurist, an architect, and an intellectual in the same vein as Leonardo da Vinci, I. M. Pei, and Buckminster Fuller. Vertical farms will be remembered as one of the preeminent breakthroughs of the early 21st century, and Despommier will be remembered as the man who brought them to us.” --Josh Tickell, director of Fuel, winner of the 2008 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award for Best Documentary
“This book makes the case that urban agriculture can go vertical as well as horizontal, putting all those expanses of pretty glass to some actual use!” --Bill McKibben, author of Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet
“Cities of the future must generate their own food supply. Dickson Despommiers elegant, simple answer for achieving this goal is vertical farming. Welcome to the third green revolution.”--Peter Diamandis, Chairman of the X Prize Foundation and Co-Founder of the Singularity University
Synopsis
Imagine a world where every town has its own local food source, grown in the safest way possible, where no drop of water or particle of light is wasted, and where a simple elevator ride can transport you to natures grocery storeimagine the world of the vertical farm When Columbia professor Dickson Despommier set out to solve Americas food, water, and energy crises, he didnt just think bighe thought up. Despommiers stroke of genius, the vertical farm, has excited scientists, architects, and politicians around the globe. These farms, grown inside skyscrapers, would provide solutions to many of the serious problems we currently face, including:
Allowing year-round crop production
Providing food to areas currently lacking arable land
Immunity to weather-related crop failure
Re-use of water collected by de-humidification of the indoor environment
New employment opportunities
No use of pesticides, fertilizers, or herbicides
Drastically reduced dependence on fossil fuels
No crop loss due to shipping or storage
No agricultural runoff
And many more
Vertical farming can be located on abandoned city properties, creating new urban revenue streams. They will employ lots of skilled and unskilled labor. They can be run on wind, solar, tidal, and geothermal energy. They can be used to grow plants for pharmaceutical purposes or for converting gray water back into drinking water.
In the tradition of the bestselling The World Without Us, this is a totally original landmark work destined to become a classic. With stunning illustrations and clear and entertaining writing, this book will appeal to anyone concerned about Americas future.
Synopsis
When Columbia professor Despommier set out to solve America's food, water, and energy crisis, he didn't just think big, he thought "up" and developed the vertical farm--a fully functioning farm grown inside a skyscraper. Four 8-page full-color inserts.
Synopsis
A Library Journal Best Book of 2010
“A world-changing innovation whose time has come. The visionary book provides a blueprint for securing the worlds food supply and at the same time solving one of the gravest environmental crises facing us today.”--Sting
Imagine a world where every city has its own local food source grown in the safest way possible, where no drop of water or particle of light is wasted, and where a simple elevator ride can transport you to natures grocery store - imagine the world of the vertical farm. When Columbia professor Dickson Despommier set out to solve America's food, water, and energy crises, he didn't just think big - he thought up. In The Vertical Farm, he passionately explains the incredible impact of urban agriculture and how it will change the face of this planet for future generations. With this groundbreaking book, “Despommier has quickly become the central figure in what could be a worldwide revolution.” (Scientific American).
Synopsis
A Library Journal Best Book of 2010
In this groundbreaking exploration of urban agriculture and sustainability, Columbia professor Dickson Despommier explains how vertical farms, in which crops grow inside tall buildings, will have an incredible impact on changing the face of this planet for future generations. A passionate, clear, and, convincing work from one of our worlds leading ecologists, The Vertical Farm is “a visionary book [that] provides a blueprint for securing the worlds food supply and at the same time solving one of the gravest environmental crises facing us today” (Sting).
Synopsis
"The vertical farm is a world-changing innovation whose time has come. Dickson Despommiers visionary book provides a blueprint for securing the worlds food supply and at the same time solving one of the gravest environmental crises facing us today."--StingImagine a world where every town has their own local food source, grown in the safest way possible, where no drop of water or particle of light is wasted, and where a simple elevator ride can transport you to natures grocery store - imagine the world of the vertical farm.When Columbia professor Dickson Despommier set out to solve America's food, water, and energy crises, he didn't just think big - he thought
up. Despommier's stroke of genius, the vertical farm, has excited scientists, architects, and politicians around the globe. Now, in this groundbreaking book, Despommier explains how the vertical farm will have an incredible impact on changing the face of this planet for future generations. Despommier takes readers on an incredible journey inside the vertical farm, buildings filled with fruits and vegetables that will provide local food sources for entire cities. Vertical farms will allow us to:
- Grow food 24 hours a day, 365 days a year
- Protect crops from unpredictable and harmful weather
- Re-use water collected from the indoor environment
- Provide jobs for residents
- Eliminate use of pesticides, fertilizers, or herbicides
- Drastically reduce dependence on fossil fuels
- Prevent crop loss due to shipping or storage
- Stop agricultural runoff
Vertical farms can be built in abandoned buildings and on deserted lots, transforming our cities into urban landscapes which will provide fresh food grown and harvested just around the corner. Possibly the most important aspect of vertical farms is that they can built by nations with little or no arable land, transforming nations which are currently unable to farm into top food producers. In the tradition of the bestselling
The World Without Us,
The Vertical Farm is a completely original landmark work destined to become an instant classic
About the Author
DR. DICKSON DESPOMMIER spent thirty eight years as a professor of microbiology and public health in environmental health sciences at Columbia, where he has won the Best Teacher award six times, and received the national 2003 American Medical Student Association Golden Apple Award for teaching. His work on vertical farms has been featured on such top national media as BBC, French National television, CNN, The Colbert Report, and The Tonight Show, as well as in full-length articles in The New York Times, Time Magazine, Scientific American, and The Washington Post. He recently spoke at the TED Conference, Pop!Tech and the World Science Festival and has been invited by the governments of China, India, Mexico, Jordan, Brazil, Canada, and Korea to work on environmental problems. He has been invited to speak at numerous national and international professional annual meetings as a keynote speaker, and at universities, including Harvard and MIT. He is one of the visionaries featured at the Chicago Museum of Science and Technology. Despommier lives in Fort Lee, New Jersey.