An interview with Dickson D. Despommier, Professor of Public Health at Columbia University A self-sufficient, cyclic eco-system – creating new vitality through “green” cities 專訪哥倫比亞大學醫學生態學教授Dickson D.

Imagine if the cities of the future were filled with “green buildings” used to grow agricultural produce, and if the restaurants, hospitals and schools got the foodstuffs they needed from these urban “vertical farms.” The cities would be free from carbon dioxide from vehicle exhaust, because all of the fuel that vehicles used would be biomass diesel produced by the vertical farms; cities’ waste water would be transformed into clean drinking water using the self-purification mechanisms of the plants in the vertical farms. Today’s busy, hot, humid cities would become self-sufficient ecosystems.
想像一下，未來的都市中，有一棟一棟充滿了農作物的「綠建築」，而餐廳、醫院、學校中所提供的餐飲，都來自於位在都市中的垂直農場（Vertical Farm）的農作物。都市中也將沒有汽車排放的二氧化碳，因為交通工具使用的燃料，都是垂直農場精算生產出來的生質柴油；都市中的廢水，透過垂直農場植物的自淨系統，都成了可以飲用的乾淨水。擁擠悶熱的城市，成了一個可以自給自足的生態系統（Ecosystem）。

This vision will soon become reality. Dickson D. Despommier, Professor of Public Health at Columbia University, and his students have developed a vertical farm concept, and are currently working to create a prototype. It can be anticipated that, within the foreseeable future, the vertical farm will become an integral part of urban development throughout the world, bringing with it new possibilities for environmental protection and energy conservation.
這是即將實現的場景。哥倫比亞大學醫學生態學教授Dickson D. Despommier 和學生所發想出的垂直農場，目前正在緊鑼密鼓的展開興建垂直農場原型的計畫，在可預見的未來，垂直農場將為全世界不可避免的都市化發展，帶來全新的綠色及節能展望。

Professor Despommier notes that China and the Middle East are suffering from soil erosion, and that even Norway, Sweden and Australia are starting to be affected by soil erosion and desertification; vertical farms offer a comprehensive solution to the problem of soil loss and the danger of reduced agricultural output.
Dickson D. Despommier 表示，在中國、中東面臨著土壤流失的問題，甚至北歐的挪威、瑞典，及澳洲等國，也面臨土壤日益減少或沙漠化問題。透過垂直農場，這些土壤流失以及作物稀少的危機，都將獲得全面性的解決。