Living Walls Provide Local Produce
by Bridgette Meinhold, 08/20/08
Green Living Technologies is an innovative landscaping company that is taking advantage of an oft forgotten space to grow plants – walls. Their Green Living™ Wall system uses specially designed recycled aluminum panels to grow herbs, vegetables, fruits and even perennials. These beautiful creations not only enliven a space, but can also provide locally grown food.
Green Living Technologies recently teamed up with Urban Farming for a project called the “Urban Farming Food Chain”, which installed a Green Living Wall system in a low-income are in Los Angeles.
After the training and installation, the living wall is now taken care of by local residents that are part of a green club, and provides tomatoes, leeks, cucumbers, strawberries and much more. The wall looks amazing, adds so much character to the neighborhood, gives a sense of pride to the residents, and provides healthy, organic produce. Living wall systems could be an excellent way to provide fresh produce in an urban setting and like green roof systems, help to reduce urban heat island effect.
Installations by Green Living Technologies may be large or very small and can even be connected to a live fish aquarium. One of the most beautiful installations they completed was for the façade of a yoga and fitness studio in NYC. Their Pure Yoga Green Wall looks so soft and inviting and is also incredibly artistic. Truly living art.
Check out their blog for before and after pics of their other installations and to see how it all works.
Interesting ! Great idea… but aluminum salts absorbed by our bodies are linked to aluminum deposits in our brains, which are believed to be a factor in Alzheimer’s disease. So how about using another, less reactive, metal ? Also, toss the Aluminum cookware folks. Do yourselves a favor.