阅读理解
Water is a necessity of life.
Rain, especially, helps plants grow and stay green. But too much rain,
especially in cities, can lead to flooding. That can cause waste water systems
to overflow and send pollutants into rivers and other waterways. To fight the
problem, several cities in the United States are starting programs like rooftop
gardens.
A team at the University of the
District of Columbia in the nation's capital has created a garden on the top of
one school building. The garden holds many kinds of plants to help absorb
rainwater and grow food at the same time. Architect David Bell has designed
five "green roofs" for the university. He says he is excited about
the project because "it meant doing something more than just dealing with
storm water management. It took advantage of a resource above the city and
these flat roofs that aren't doing anything really became something that was
about urban agriculture." Rainwater is collected in large containers and
sent through a system that waters the rooftop garden. The roof is filled with
green life that appeals to insects.
In cities, "you don't have
that many spaces to choose from and so rooftops are just (unused) space,"
says Caitlin Arlotta. She is a student in the school's Urban Agriculture
program. The project is part of a research program to see which plants do well
on rooftops. The researchers are looking at plants including strawberries,
tomatoes and sweet potatoes. The university also has other green spaces.
"We also have our own farm experiments," Arlotta said. "Within
each of those growing systems, we want to be able to tell people which sorts of
these crops grow the best."
Sandy Farber Bandier helps run
UDC's Master Gardener program. It seeks to improve cities and make them
beautiful by training people to become Master Gardeners. She says she's been
surprised by the garden's output. "My biggest surprise was that we
produced 4, 250 pounds of produce the first year and was able to spread that to
people in need." She also likes being able to show people who live in D.
C. and others beyond the nation's capital what and how food can be grown on a
rooftop. "This is the future for food. You grow it here, you prepare it in
a commercial kitchen, you distribute through farmers markets, food trucks, and
then you recycle."
Water is a necessity of life.
Rain, especially, helps plants grow and stay green. But too much rain,
especially in cities, can lead to flooding. That can cause waste water systems
to overflow and send pollutants into rivers and other waterways. To fight the
problem, several cities in the United States are starting programs like rooftop
gardens.
A team at the University of the
District of Columbia in the nation's capital has created a garden on the top of
one school building. The garden holds many kinds of plants to help absorb
rainwater and grow food at the same time. Architect David Bell has designed
five "green roofs" for the university. He says he is excited about
the project because "it meant doing something more than just dealing with
storm water management. It took advantage of a resource above the city and
these flat roofs that aren't doing anything really became something that was
about urban agriculture." Rainwater is collected in large containers and
sent through a system that waters the rooftop garden. The roof is filled with
green life that appeals to insects.
In cities, "you don't have
that many spaces to choose from and so rooftops are just (unused) space,"
says Caitlin Arlotta. She is a student in the school's Urban Agriculture
program. The project is part of a research program to see which plants do well
on rooftops. The researchers are looking at plants including strawberries,
tomatoes and sweet potatoes. The university also has other green spaces.
"We also have our own farm experiments," Arlotta said. "Within
each of those growing systems, we want to be able to tell people which sorts of
these crops grow the best."
Sandy Farber Bandier helps run
UDC's Master Gardener program. It seeks to improve cities and make them
beautiful by training people to become Master Gardeners. She says she's been
surprised by the garden's output. "My biggest surprise was that we
produced 4, 250 pounds of produce the first year and was able to spread that to
people in need." She also likes being able to show people who live in D.
C. and others beyond the nation's capital what and how food can be grown on a
rooftop. "This is the future for food. You grow it here, you prepare it in
a commercial kitchen, you distribute through farmers markets, food trucks, and
then you recycle."
郑重声明：本文版权归原作者所有，转载文章仅为传播更多信息之目的，如作者信息标记有误，请第一时间联系我们修改或删除，多谢。
