(In response to Harmony Huskinson’s Feb. 21 article “ASU group hopes to create hydroponic garden for Tempe.”)
I have some serious concerns with this project and with some of the statements in your article. How can they possibly say that this is a “zero carbon” project when they are proposing to use 250 plastic containers — which are made with petroleum products, which have an extremely high carbon footprint?
Besides the plastic containers, the main problem with adopting hydroponics as a food source is the high amounts of energy it takes to control the climate, to provide light and pump in water.
Also the article stated that, “If implemented, ASU’s hydroponic farm will be the only university model of its type not only used for research, but also focused on producing fresh food for the community.”
I believe that is a bit of a misstatement. There are dozens of universities all over the world studying hydroponics, including UA, Berkeley and UC Davis. This way of growing food is so expensive that I don’t think universities can afford to implement systems that “provide food for the community,” which is probably why there aren’t any projects out there.
There is also the statement, “But the hydroponic garden should provide equal access to healthy food and may offer lower prices, Bellotti added.” I have never read any research that says that hydroponics is cheaper or works in any way to provide access to healthy food for people who need it.
This project seems like it has been created by people with their hearts in the right place but very ignorant of the drawbacks to hydroponic systems.
Lora Martens
Statepress.com reader
