Stump: “What we’re trying to do is to get you engaged in urban problems today, but we also want you to have glimpses of what they’re going to be like in 40 years, when you’re at the height of your productive career.”
That’s what Donald Stump tells his students. He’s director of St. Louis University’s Micah Program, which seeks solutions for urban poverty.
Stump says we’re in the midst of a mass migration from rural areas to cities. So tomorrow’s leaders will need to provide a huge urban population with fresh food, while limiting the global warming emissions generated by transport and refrigeration.
So St. Louis University and three nearby secondary schools have partnered to build a greenhouse – a living laboratory which will also provide fresh food to those in need.
The plans call for solar power, geothermal heating and cooling, and aquaponics – a way to grow vegetables and raise fish together. As they garden, students will learn about sustainable urban agriculture and solutions to the challenges they expect to face as adults.
”Students Click To TweetStump: “They sense that food security, that environmental rationality and temperance, holding back so we don’t destroy the natural world around us, is going to be the great challenge of their generation.”
Reporting credit: ChavoBart Digital Media.
Photo: Home page photo (copyright protected). Classroom photo and greenhouse rendering courtesy of the Green House Venture project.
More Resources
The Green House Venture website
St. Louis University Micah Program