Green Bridge Growers
Follow us on...
  • Our Blog
  • Who We Are
  • What We Do
  • How We Do It
  • Contact Us
  • Press
  • Produce Orders

Welcome!

Hey there! Glad you could stop by to learn more about Green Bridge Growers, the innovative social venture with the mission of  growing good food and good jobs for young adults on the autism spectrum.

Contact Us

A Greener Future

7/14/2021

7 Comments

 
          Recently, one of the things that have caught my attention while driving is seeing the rise of Tesla cars on the street. Just back a few years ago, seeing even one Tesla was like once in a blue moon. There are also quite a few charging stations for Tesla cars near the Green Bridge Growers farm, the local mall, and around the University of Notre Dame campus. And the demand for electric cars continues to grow. I recently saw that Mustang is joining the competition with their very own SUV-style electric vehicle. You probably have seen advertisements for it if you watch the local channels or even YouTube.
   ​
Picture
           Besides electric cars, there has been a rise in new companies looking to create other ways to introduce sustainable products to consumers. I read an article that talks about the recent partnership of Emma Watson, who rose to fame with Harry Potter movies, and Twitter co-founder Biz Stones, who are investing money into FabricNano. FabricNano wants to make a biodegradable plastic that is cost competitive to that of regular petroleum plastic. ​          All of these examples point toward the topic of sustainability and how our society is making sustainability more possible.  Just like the elements 

Picture
(Top) These charging stations have caught my attention and put a genuine smile on my face as I pass them at the UP Mall. 

​Photo Credit: South Bend Tribune
(Bottom) Above is the mentioned Mustang Mach-E their all new electric vehicle. 

Photo Credit: ford.com/suvs/mach-e
of charging stations available for Tesla owners and having different companies compete, the electric car business can advance this field to more ​​consumer-accessible levels. These include pricing and versatility. Back in the early 2010s, we saw electric cars take the shape of an unattractive mini cooper-like form. Although for many, they may enjoy the look, if you were to put an electric vehicle compared to today, like a Tesla Model S, which would you rather have? Having better technology, which does not take away the usability of such devices, innovation in longevity, and an attractive design that everyday consumers can afford, makes it possible to see more possibilities for a green future. 
          One of the most significant factors that affect global warming is petroleum usage, either for fuel, single-use plastic items, or packaging for almost all of our everyday things in our house. Please take a look around; it would not take you more than a minute before you find something plastic around your house that you know can not be recycled. However, what if that plastic can be degraded down to its core form and be recycled into new products? That is the mission of FabricNano’s goal of turning microbes into materials that we can then use. However, the explanation is better done by fortune.com than me, so I highly advise you to read up on it further on their site.
             The core of this article still comes back to our farm Green Bridge Growers. One of our missions on the farm is to grow sustainably and to help educate those around us about the good it will do for our environment. One of our most cherished systems at the farm is our Aquaponic Greenhouse. This is a closed-loop system between our fish tank’s waste and the filtration ability of the plant. We all know to grow plants, we need fertilizer and water. At our Aquaponic Greenhouse, the vegetables such as kale, lettuce, and chocolate mint all flourish through water from our fish tanks and the fish waste in them. As the water with the waste goes from the top of a growing high tower to the bottom, the water is then cycled back to the fish tank providing the fish with more freshwater. When water levels decrease for the fish, we add more fresh water to the tank and make sure the pH level of the tank stays consistent throughout growing seasons and every few days. As a result of this process, many of the high towers eventually develop a layer of bio-waste around the edge. In some cases, it calcifies the towers on some sides and maintenance is required. 


​
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
(From Left to right): 1. These are the pipes that bring water and fish waste in a cycle back and forth from high tower to the fish tanks. 
2. The brown stains on the high towers in the calcification left behind from the old plants being grown in it. 
3. These are how some of the kale we sell at the farmer's market in Mishawaka is grown. Also the white rectangle is the high towers that we use, with the black mesh inside the tower. The tray at the bottom helps water filter back to the plant. 
4. The little black tube at the top is where the waste water will come in from the fish tank. 
          The vertical grow towers, along with the plastic mesh making up the core of the growing system, are all made up of recycled plastic. Many vertical grow towers have sustained their usability since the start of the farm, making it a high-yield and highly sustainable system. 
         When it comes to making our community cleaner and helping source food most sustainably, it has to start first at the farm where the food is planted and harvested. But food is part of the bigger picture, and our technology has a long history of massive carbon footprint. It would be great to see in the next ten years that we will move from fuel-based cars to more electric-friendly vehicles with just as much power and efficiency. This also applies to the plastic that we use and the food that large agricultural farms mass-produce. I can go through the channels in stores to support more businesses that grow organically, like our farm Green Bridge Growers. Along with that, I want to save up enough funds to get myself an electric vehicle in the next five years. But lastly, I want to spread the word of what the possibilities of FabricNano are working towards so that people can help raise funds for the company if a biodegradable future is possible. 
--Leo Zheng
​
7 Comments

    Newsletter Signup

    * indicates required

    About Us

    Green Bridge Growers is a social enterprise created to put to work the many gifts and skills of young adults with autism.  Our founders, Chris and Jan, are building an exciting venture that grows fresh local food and grows great jobs for autistic adults. We invite you to learn about us and follow our work! 

    Archives

    November 2024
    June 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    August 2021
    July 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    October 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    June 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    September 2014
    June 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

    Tweets by @GreenBridgeGrow
    View my profile on LinkedIn
Green Bridge Growers
61591 Bremen Highway
Mishiwaka IN 46544


574-310-8190
[email protected]

  • Our Blog
  • Who We Are
  • What We Do
  • How We Do It
  • Contact Us
  • Press
  • Produce Orders