In Favor of Vertical Farms

I have read about the concept of vertical farms many times. Those not familiar with the concept might want to read this article on the Huffington Post, or the Wikipedia entry on the topic. Both are informative. More extensive information can be found at VerticalFarm.com.


At first, I deemed this idea to be too, well, 'science-fiction'y would be the word. I could only envision these skyscrapers full of floor after floor of plants and crops, and even livestock... Unless there were also flying cars in the picture, there was no way I could really see it.


But the more I think about it, the better idea they seem to be. If done properly, they would allow people in the cities to have fresh produce without the need of hauling them all the way from the farmlands - that's less carbon impact in a way.  It also frees farmland which can be devolved to wildlife. Or used for other kinds of farming. Can it be done?

Cuba has been experimenting with urban farming for almost two decades now, more so in the last few years. Granted, the Cuban case is one of resorting to these measures due to desperation and hunger - but necessity is the mother of invention, and crisis the best fuel for human intellect available. So, the Cubans have shown the world that good, healthy, organic crops can be grown in urban settings, enriching the diet of people in those areas. But they do it in flat tracts of land. Is going vertical too farfetched?


I believe that we will see a vertical farming revolution start somewhere like Singapore or Japan, places where real estate is at a premium and where the population density and its demands will at some point force a crisis of this sort. 


When will this happen? That's difficult to foresee, but I believe that the triggers will be some unprecedented rise in the price of food due to farmland being lost to drought or flooding (hint: climate change); or perhaps the price of oil going through the roof, to levels unheard of, will be the trigger. Whatever the reason, I believe we will see the first vertical farms within the next decade. It will take a while for them to become widespread practice, but that they will. I imagine organic and free-range food advocates might raise an eyebrow or oppose vociferously, depending on their own personal beliefs. I don't know. 


I just know that in perhaps twenty years time I will be having a delicious meal at a rooftop restaurant, surrounded by gardens and with the cityscape all around us. And all the ingredients of the meal will have been grown a few floors below us.

Petition to Somali Pirates: Attack the Japanese!

OK, not all the Japanese. Just Japanese fishing vessels.

Here's the thing: fish are dying out. World fisheries are down to 30% of their size of 40 years ago. Certain species, are particularly at risk, like bluefin tuna. Japan in particular sends fishing fleets all over the world, sometimes even wandering into territorial waters of other countries. They are wiping out multiple species of fish. They kill dolphins. They kill whales.

And they don't care.

They even claim that they will keep at it, even if a ban is imposed.

So, after talking about this with my friend David, here's my suggestion to Somali pirates: go after Japanese fishing boats. For the pirates, it is a win-win situation - they get to ask for their usual ransom and such, and for once they become the good guys in the picture. For the environment, it is also a positive thing - the marine wildlife massacre at Japanese hands is stopped short.

Time to do the right thing, pirates. Here's hoping you'll do it.

Tim Burton's Loss of Talent

I positively hate it when otherwise talented filmmakers find a formula (which might be erroneous) and decide to stick to it. Why do they do it? Because it works, they say. Because it is my trademark, my seal, if you will, they say. 


Because they are lazy and uncreative, I say.


Take M. Night Shyamalan: with The Sixth Sense, he created a fantastic movie, engrossing, atmospheric, and original at a time when Hollywood is apparently busier looking for the next big remake. He signed contracts for more movies. But, wrongly assuming that what made his movie great was the unexpected twist, his next films suffered from being forced into this same situation. Unbreakable was a fantastic concept that sort of worked. Signs and The Village became a showcase of further creative stagnation. And when he finally lets his imagination free again, he unsubtly goes all out against his critics in Lady in the Water. Here we have a guy who is brilliant at creating atmosphere, and able to at least come up with intriguing ideas, but smothers his films in a misguided effort to stick to his 'formula'.


There is another example in Michael Bay. He has given us some good films, like Bad Boys and The Island. But his formula has been distilled by now: get a hot girl, a likable hero or two, enough explosions to level London, and smother everything in over the top special effects. This doesn't mean his films are less entertaining. Sometimes they are fun to watch (Transformers, Armaggedon), sometimes they are dreadful at best (Transformers 2, Bad Boys II). No work of art, his pictures, but at least some are watchable.


Many great filmmakers have found themselves in this hole. And so does Tim Burton nowadays. His formula is very standardized by now: a creepy character played by Johnny Depp (Willy Wonka, Sweeney Todd, The Mad Hatter), some other creepy female character played by Helena Bonham-Carter (who is as bi-dimensional an actress as you can get without actually being a cartoon), music by Danny Elfman (who ails from the same "I've found my style/formula!" problem), and a visual design which was overwhelmingly original the first few times, but which has become stylistically inert by now.





Alice in Wonderland could have avoided Tim Burton's name in all the advertising, title, and even the film itself, and everybody would still have automatically known it was Tim Burton's film. Frankly, he could have used an alias and we would still be able to recognize the author. This is not a mark of genius. This is a signal of lazy creativity (or absolute lack thereof) and a total waste of budget.


Big Fish is one of the best films of all time in my personal opinion. 1989's Batman with Jack Nicholson ranks as one of the best Batman films, superseded only by Nolan's more recent treatments. In fact, most of Burton's filmography prior to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is part of my personal library of favourite films, with few exceptions (Sleepy Hollow was dreadful, for example, and his Planet of the Apes an absolute insult).


Alice in Wonderland is a not very entertaining film that reveals a once talented filmmaker trapped in a cage of his own design. I am sure he has the genius to break out of it, and, while remaining true to his style, get rid of his formula. But for now, he has only a complete loss of talent to show the world.

Genius Dies in the Shadows

Back in the 80s (boy, am I old), there was a Spanish band named Duncan Dhu. Originally from San Sebastian, a town in the Basque Country, they became famous throughout not only their home country, but also in every corner of Latin America. Their style was based on an acoustic and simple pop-rock with a touch of rockabilly. Sounds interesting? Perhaps even more enticing than the sound were the lyrics of their songs. One in particular, En algun lugar (which means 'somewhere') is widely regarded as not only a catchy tune that has become a classic of Spanish-language rock, but also for its lyrics. With the folksy, happy spirit of the music, the words decrying the tragedy of life in many places of the world can be overlooked.


I was recently thinking of this after listening to a speech given by pop-star Shakira at Oxford University (of all places!). My Dad sent me the video, and I hadn't gotten around to viewing it until yesterday. She speaks a great amount of truth, but one phrase in particular jumped out at me:

"Universal education is the key to greater prosperity and stability in the world."

Indeed. Many a totalitarian and repressive government has suppressed education as well as the free access to information as a means of keeping control over its population. This is tragic in itself, but being some sort of humanist as I am, to me the most terrible loss is that of human potential. A small child in Bolivia who can't read or write might otherwise have become the next Nobel in Literature; a young girl in Mexico who will be fortunate if she manages to finish elementary school before having to drop out might have gifted the world with a solution to hunger; and that inner city boy from Detroit who dropped out of high school just might have turned out to be a bright surgeon, able to save many lives.


We will never know, and it won't be just their loss - it is a loss for all mankind.


This brings me back to Duncan Dhu's song. There are a couple of lines which go "Y en las sombras, mueren genios sin saber de su magia concebida, sin pedirlo, mucho tiempo antes de nacer". In the shadows, genius dies without learning of its magic, conceived a long time before being born. This just makes reference to the fact that, even if a person lives, their genus might not: it needs to be nurtured in a different way. If we keep genius in the shadows, it will wilt and die faster than the plants in my German flatmate's room.


We have to give these unknown geniuses the chance to work their magic, so that we might all benefit from it.