Carsten

@Bgreen, I would be interested in knowing what basis you make the claims? As it casts doubt over any system that might be used... While I don't massively farm vertically, my Aquaponics system has worked pretty nicely for a long time now with no ill effects in the environment around us. Please don't get me wrong, I love permaculture but just can't see it as a sustainable means of growing food in a very dry environment, but is however fantastic in environments where you have space, and plenty of water.

If only we could get this ad on free to air TV in Australia, I predict there would be a fairly large backlash against them. Their defence I am sure would be: "We use plastic bottles to avoid the social consequences of glassings". I guess the next question to this, what can replace the plastic bottle and lids? Glass and aluminium cans obviously come to mind first, but even cans are not entirely without their own environmental consequences.

There was a documentary on Chernobyl here about a year ago, it was just amazing to watch and justs see how life there is prospering despite all the radioactive fallout. Seeing this does make me wonder how humans would survive if they moved back into the area..

This is where Aquaponics excels, you can take most scraps and throw them back into the fish tanks for the fish to eat or larger pieces bury in one of the grow beds and earth worms eat them up. Food wastage makes me sad too, I heard a stat not long ago saying in this country 1/4 of food goes to waste, with just a little forward planning and public education we could improve this so much.

I agree with pretty much all that's been said.. I live in an area with very little Public transport options, but the one that is used most frequently is the thumb! But in larger cities I do think free public transit would be a good way to get cars off the road, but to do that you need to make sure there is enough roof for EVERYONE to sit, I know that is one of the barriers in Brisbane (city 1800km south of me) to more people using public transit.. One of the train services gets a nick name of the Bombay express it is so crowded and doesn't seem to matter how many services they put on. The buses are nearly always standing room only too, I know that is a massive turn off for public transit. I don't support the idea of banning cars though, and removing peoples choice of transport, but see no problem with a British style congestion tax to drive into cities.

I used to be all pro choice, but after a few experiences in life I have swung round the other way, personally I am against it and would lobby that it should be illegal... But I live in a country where it has been legal for decades without much debate.

My new years resolution this year has been to do more exercise, and also expand my Aquaponics system and take the excess produce to my local farmers market.. So far I have been out only once for an extra exercise session. BUT!!! I have put plans in place in increase my Aquaponics, I have already ordered two new tanks, and the growing media, I have also started building the 4 grow beds.

I agree totally, that's the next danger.. Or the tobacco companies, I wouldn't be surprised if they try to find a way to regulate it so you need a license to grow it.

To me it's the future of farming, we have gone to the limits almost to how far we can spread, so now really all we can do is go up.. Organics is a great thing but it is too water intensive and space intensive, other systems like Aquaponics do need input but you can use the environment around you, and really see it as the ultimate solution for most of our food needs.

This same topic was on the news here a while back, and I do have to say WOW at the engineering feat it's just amazing, but does make me wonder if wind on a smaller scale is better option, such as residential grid connect solar right now, but in the case of wind having lots of smaller vertical wind turbines instead of the huge eye sores such as the above design.

Hahahahaha!!! This is just gold... In Australia we don't have SUV's that are the same as the American concept, however we do have vehicles such as the Nissan Patrol and Toyota Land cruiser.. An Australian prime minister Paul Keating once called them a pox on our roads... I think he hit the nail right on the head.

Yet still no high speed rail to speak of which is a serious let down... I would give anything to see high speed rail in Australia, it would make commuting in a state like Queensland feasible where towns can be hundreds of kilometers apart. I feel it would also be a boon for cities too, if people could live in regional areas but work in a city with a 40 minute commute on a high speed train it could easily remove much of the traffic of the roads in big cities.

Ok so I am going to open a can of worms here... I have a strong belief Cannabis should be legalised since it has just has many positive attributes.. While I never would advocate reckless use, and strongly believe it could easily be regulated, much the same as Tobacco is regulated, perhaps regulating based on THC content. Where do people sit on the topic?

One of my passions is sustainable food production. In my back yard I have an Aquaponics system, it is a hybrid system crossing aqua culture with hydroponics. Rather than try and reinvent the wheel I will post this Youtube video for an explanation since visuals are so powerful, it's from an Australian gardening program: When I first came across Aquaponics I was really blown away how simple the idea was but also common sense.. Now days I have 8000L across 4 tanks, with Jade Perch and Silver Perch, it has now been established for 3 years, I started small and gradually expanded it... Growing at the moment I have: Tomatoes Eggplant Beans Squash Spinach Beetroot or Beets as Americans know them Lettuce Cabbage Corn Multiple types of Chinese Vegetables including my favourite Buk Choi. Garlic Various types of herbs In the past I have also grown mellons, and various berries all of which grow well, I have known people to grow Potatoes carrots, and various other root crops. For years previous to when this became an interest I often looked about the produce department and green grocers signs saying Garlic then in small print grown in Mexico, Argentina or some such place and wondered why should we need to do such a thing. Which brings me to food miles, I remember reading something last year saying most of our food is delivered to our supermarkets from 100KM or more away, even that seems unnecessary to me in the amount of carbon just the transport is putting into the atmosphere. While I do understand it is not practical for everyone to use a system such as Aquaponics, I do believe it is a system that can lead us back to the old market garden concept since such a large amount of food can be produced in such a small space. The one argument people often come up with is: Oh but your still using aquaculture fish food! Wrong.. While some people use aquaculture feed we use duckweed, black solider flies and earth worms since they reproduce in the grow beds at such a rappid rate, we also put any organic table scraps back into the system, the fish eat it with gusto.. So I guess my question is why isn't more of the world using such a common sense system to farm food?

Hello... I'm from Queensland, Australia, I am quite active in the local green movement, and have a real passion for it.. Some of our local issues are to do with coal seam gas and fracking, I am really interested to see how others on here campaign against it, or any other scientific information I may not yet have access to. I have a 10kw solar system on my roof with, battery redundancy which does get used quite often. I am also into food security, one of my interests is Aquaponics, and ways to produce large amounts of food in as small area as possible while not compromising nutrition.