Across the U.S., an urban agriculture movement is flowering as a growing number of people become more interested in the process of growing their own food. Urban farms and gardens are taking root in areas where previously only concrete and asphalt thrived.
With its back-to-the-future curves and swoops, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Marin, California Civic Center feels like the perfect venue for hosting the annual Bioneers conference. A sprawling complex of streamlined colonnades, perfectly round auditoriums and sky-blue roofs, Wright’s design manages to come off as at once strikingly futuristic and—now decades old—comfortably familiar. The center is a fine example of wild creativity meeting stolid pragmatism, which seems very much the point of the Bioneers" gathering of eco-visionaries from around the world.
With its back-to-the-future curves and swoops, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Marin, California Civic Center feels like the perfect venue for hosting the annual Bioneers conference. A sprawling complex of streamlined colonnades, perfectly round auditoriums and sky-blue roofs, Wright’s design manages to come off as at once strikingly futuristic and—now decades old—comfortably familiar. The center is a fine example of wild creativity meeting stolid pragmatism, which seems very much the point of the Bioneers" gathering of eco-visionaries from around the world.
With 3,700 stores in all 50 states, Wal-Mart is well known as the country’s top seller of diapers, toothpaste, DVDs, breakfast cereal and organic lettuce? It may not hold that honor yet, but it’s well on its way.
Woodbury County, Iowa became the first government in the U.S. to financially support organics when the board of supervisors voted last year to give a property tax rebate to farmers transitioning to organic. Since then, Woodbury officials have also passed a law that requires the county’s food service contractor to purchase organic food grown and processed within 100 miles of the county courthouse whenever available.
A growing number of smart, ambitious people are rejecting the lure of lucrative careers for the promise of a simpler agrarian lifestyle. Many of those in the new crop of young farmers boast the kinds of diplomas typically found in Silicon Valley cubicles, Wall Street suites or Hollywood editing rooms. But instead of pursuing fast-paced careers, these members of the so-called "best and the brightest" class are choosing to spend their days weeding carrots and building compost.
