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Re: Do you believe that Climate Change is real and caused by mankind?
You cannot trust any politic party, they are all the same.Comment
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Re: Do you believe that Climate Change is real and caused by mankind?
A Dutch vertical farming company has just been valued at over $1 billion
- Erez Galonska, co-founder and CEO of Infarm, said in a statement that the current food system is broken.
- At the moment the company grows 75 different varieties of herbs, salads and leafy greens.
- It company ultimately wants to grow the entire fruit and vegetable basket and sell premium food at affordable prices to everyone.
Infarm, an Amsterdam-headquartered start-up that grows food indoors in racks, has been valued at over $1 billion in a new $200 million funding round.
It is the first vertical farming start-up in Europe to pass the $1 billion “unicorn” milestone.
Erez Galonska, co-founder and CEO of Infarm, said in a statement that the current food system is broken.
“Vertical farming and the Infarm system provide a sustainable solution to feed a growing population in a way that’s much better for the planet and is far more resilient and flexible in the face of climate uncertainty and supply chain disruption,” Galonska said.
He added that Infarm is on a mission to build a global farming network of climate-resilient vertical farms that are close to consumers.
At the moment the company grows 75 different varieties of herbs, salads and leafy greens but the company ultimately wants to grow the entire fruit and vegetable basket and sell premium food at affordable prices to everyone.
Next year, it plans to expand its portfolio with 40 new crops including mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, peas and strawberries.
While they have many advantages, critics of vertical farms say they struggle to turn a profit, they use too much energy and they can be expensive to run. They can also produce light pollution and other forms of pollution.
Growing centers
Infarm’s vertical farms are housed in “growing centers,” which have around 110,000 square foot of growing space. The company also builds smaller in-store farming units for grocery stores. It currently operates more than 17 growing centers and over 1,400 in-store farms for 30 retailers worldwide.
The company claims that it can transform a space the size of a living room into an urban vertical farm that produces more than 500,000 plants per year, which is the equivalent of a soccer field-worth of crops.
Unlike conventional farming, Infarm’s vertical farms use no pesticides. They also recycle water and nutrients and use the evaporated water of the plants. As a result, they use 95% less land and 95% less water than soil-based agriculture, Infarm claims.
It’s all highly technical. The indoor farms are jam-packed with sensors that are used to collect vast quantities of data on everything from temperature and humidity to soil nutrient levels and crop growth rates.
Infarm said it will use the capital to expand the deployment of its vertical farms in the U.S., Canada, Japan and Europe, and to enter new markets in Asia-Pacific and the Middle East.
Investors in the latest funding round included Partners in Equity, Hanaco, Atomico, Lightrock, Bonnier and the Qatar Investment Authority, which will support the company’s expansion to countries in the Middle East.
Infarm is planning to open a growing center in Qatar, which has to import the vast majority of its food due to its climate, in 2023.
... with climate change threatening food stability around the world vertical farming will likely be an important part of the future.
... my local grocery store actually offers fresh herbs and leafy greens grown and harvested from a special container in store.
... in Canada, licensed cannabis producers are already cultivating their product in scientifically optimized, very controlled indoor settings. It would probably be not too big of a stretch for them to grow food products.Comment
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Re: Do you believe that Climate Change is real and caused by mankind?
The cost of this year’s 10 worst climate disasters: US$170 billion
Ten of this year’s most destructive weather events cost a combined US$170 billion in damages, according to a new study.
Hurricane Ida, a tropical storm that pummeled much of the eastern U.S. with lashing rain in August, killed at least 95 people and cost the economy US$65 billion. A month earlier, floods in Europe caused 240 deaths and an economic loss of US$43 billion, according to research published by U.K. charity Christian Aid. Floods in China’s Henan province in July killed more than 300 and cost in excess of US$17 billion.
“The costs of climate change have been grave this year,” said Kat Kramer, Christian Aid’s climate policy lead and author of the report. “It is clear that the world is not on track to ensure a safe and prosperous world.”
This year is expected to be the sixth time global natural disasters have cost more than US$100 billion, the report stated, citing insurer Aon Plc. All six of those years have happened since 2011.
The report’s authors estimated damages based on insured losses, meaning the true costs of these disasters are likely to be even higher. Calculations are usually costlier in richer countries due to higher property values and insurance, while some of this year’s deadliest weather events hit poorer counties that contributed little to global warming.South Sudan has been struck by floods that forced almost a million people to leave their homes, while East Africa has been ravaged by drought. That highlights the injustice of the climate crisis, said Christian Aid, which warned that such events will continue in the absence of concrete action to slash emissions.
Mohamed Adow, director of Kenya-based think-tank Power Shift Africa, said the continent has “borne the brunt” of some of the deadliest, most expensive climate impacts. Severe droughts in East Africa, which are expected to last until mid-2022, are “pushing communities to the brink,” Adow warned.
The Paris Agreement on global warming, which aims to hold the increase in global temperatures to below 1.5 degrees Celsius, will not achieve its goals unless more urgent action is taken, according to the report. More needs to be done in 2022 to provide financial help to vulnerable nations, including a fund to deal with the damage caused by climate change -- something that was not delivered at this year’s global climate talks in Glasgow, according to the study.“It was bitterly disappointing to leave COP26 without a fund set up to help people who are suffering from permanent losses from climate change,” said Nushrat Chowdhury, Christian Aid’s climate justice advisor in Bangladesh. “Bringing that fund to life needs to be a global priority in 2022.”Comment
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Re: Do you believe that Climate Change is real and caused by mankind?
Only $170 billion total for 10 storms. That not that impressive. In 1926 The Great Miami Hurricane all by itself did $128 Billion in damage. Wait a minute, isn't 1926 decades before the start of the global climate change lie started?Comment
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Re: Do you believe that Climate Change is real and caused by mankind?
Alaska reached temperatures warmer than Southern California in December
Kodiak Island in southern Alaska set a record for the warmest December day at 67 degrees.Comment
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Re: Do you believe that Climate Change is real and caused by mankind?
Your new name is: The Disinformation Minister.
Has Alaska ever had a 100 degree day?
Alaska's lone 100-degree day occurred more than a century ago, when the thermometer peaked at 100 on June 27, 1915, at Fort Yukon in the east central part of the state.
Adversity temporarily visits a strong man but stays with the weak for a lifetime.Comment
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Re: Do you believe that Climate Change is real and caused by mankind?
Yeah,it is unusually cold here in California this December. In fact recent storms this month has changed the drought conditions from having 97% of the state in exceptional drought conditions to on 33% now. Current snowpack in the Sierras is now between 167% of normal and 145% of normal. Last year at this time it was between 31% to 51%.Comment
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