With the initiation of its Green City Plan, Adelaide has taken another step towards its objective of becoming the world’s first carbon neutral city. The plan consists of two main targets, to be achieved by 2020: add another 1000 trees and 100,000 metres squared of green area around the CBD.

Adelaide City Council Sustainability Advisor Paul Smith said, “The Green City Plan is more about adapting to the impacts of climate change in the city, rather than reducing emissions. We are already seeing climate impacts such as increases in average temperature and extreme heat. If we want to attract more people to live and work here, then we need to have a climate resilient city.”

Council has also established a Green City Grant program, with cash incentives of up to $10,000 for business owners and private homeowners to implement initiatives like living walls, green facades, and vertical and verge gardens. Each project needs to be visible from the street or public place, and enhance the surrounding area.

One of the successful first-round applicants was Jack Greens on James Place, a healthy fast food restaurant. Co-Founder Wade Galea said the grant program would help them build a green wall outside their new store. “Our brand is very much about doing good things for our local communities and keeping things green – all our packaging is biodegradable and we source all our produce from local suppliers. James Place is very much a concrete jungle and we wanted to increase the look of the place with custom designed plants and a pillar outside. The wall would have been too expensive for us by ourselves and we probably wouldn’t have been able to do this if the council wasn’t involved.”

Stay tuned for more urban greening projects as the plan unfolds.

https://indaily.com.au/news/sponsored-content/2017/03/23/green-city-plan-to-speed-carbon-neutrality/

The benefits of urban trees are well established – from improving mental health, increasing property values, storing carbon, and absorbing rainfall. But, what happens to them when they eventually succumb to disease, urban development, weather, or old age? Traditionally, they are ground up and sent to the tip.

In New Jersey, brothers Ted and Zeb Esselstyn, are giving urban trees a second life – creating furniture and wall art from felled urban trees and selling them via their business, City Bench. “Urban wood is a seriously un-utilized resource in our country’s metropolitan areas,” says Zeb. “The city of New Haven probably takes down around 700 trees a year. We don’t have the capacity to take them all, but we do salvage and mill a lot of them.”

Sawmills generally decline to reuse urban trees for lumber, due to their wear and tear. Ted says, “We hit metal on a majority of the trees we mill, from bullets to electric cables to nails. We revel in it. The beat-up quality is what gives the wood character.”

Touchingly, their main business comes from individuals who have lost beloved trees on their property. Ted says, “We’ve had clients weeping in front of us about the loss. We soften the blow by letting the trees continue to live.”

Source:

https://www.citylab.com/navigator/2016/11/crafting-furniture-from-city-trees/507590/

Think working farms only belong in the country? Think again! Sydney now has its own urban organic farm, with Pocket City Farms launching in Camperdown on a former bowling green.

Seeking to provide an alternative to fast-food supermarket fare, Pocket City Farms General Manager, Emma Bowen, says, “In cities, we are often disconnected to the origins of food and the effort that goes into growing food. So we wanted to put farming in a place where people can suddenly reconnect with how food is grown again and know where their food comes from.

“Our primary aim is to bring farming into the city and to create food as locally as possible… People can come past and see us growing the food and then come in on a Saturday to our market and buy the food. It’s a real instant connection.”

Incorporating 1200 square metres of market garden growing vegetables, greens, and herbs, the farm also includes a food forest, chicken coop, and a public footpath currently under construction featuring fruit trees and other edible plants.

Volunteers help out on the farm in exchange for practical lessons on urban farming. One such volunteer is Marrickville local, Kirsty Davies, who says, “Nowadays, food is just big business. We are so used to going to the supermarkets to get food, not knowing how it was grown. But this farm is visible to the public and it raises awareness about where food comes from.

“The nutritional value in food from the big supermarkets is [often] pretty low. To see the food being grown locally makes you think about where it comes from. It would be great if we could have so much food growing around us that we wouldn’t need to be so reliant on big supermarkets.”

To find out more, visit Pocket City Farms. Or, find out more about innovative urban forests here

Source: https://www.sbs.com.au/food/article/2016/08/12/sydney-now-has-its-very-own-working-city-farm