Local Companies Fight Climate Change

CHICAGO—The Plant is a 93,500-square-foot “living food laboratory” and anaerobic digester. Nine years ago, Bubbly Dynamics, a small business incubator, converted the former meatpacking facility into a hub for local food businesses that would turn organic waste into compost, biogas and a nutrient-rich liquid in which to grow algae, reports The New York Times.

The digester is expected to help Bubbly Dynamics implement a circular economy aimed at fighting climate change. This closed-loop system would feed an urban population with locally grown organic food and create little to no waste because materials would be reused, shared, repaired and refurbished.

Currently, The Plant is home to 20 food businesses, including a kombucha brewery, a coffee roaster, a chocolate maker and a vegan-ice-cream maker. Plants are grown in indoor farms that are irrigated with rainwater, and some of the energy is generated from solar panels. The spent grain from the beer company is mixed with wood chips and horse manure to produce roughly 20,000 pounds of compost a month, and some of the carbon dioxide from the fermenting process is used to stimulate the growth of plants and algae.

The wastewater from the ice company in the basement is channeled to a wetland in the lobby that has a vertical garden, or living wall, fish and turtles. Proponents of the circular model argue that cooperation among various groups in the food-production system can significantly reduce energy consumption and waste.

“At its heart, The Plant is primarily a tool to fight climate change,” said John Edel, founder and director of Bubbly Dynamics. By reusing organic waste instead of letting it rot in a landfill, this facility keeps methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, out of the atmosphere.

“It has many other benefits to pass around, like providing economies of scale to small businesses so that they can compete with larger ones,” he said. “If the money stays local that helps everybody.” Some of the collaborations that have allowed The Plant’s low environmental footprint have been encouraged by Plant Chicago, a nonprofit that promotes circular economy practices.

“It’s about collective action, that’s the next frontier. We need to get the Chicago food community to work collectively toward shared goals,” said Jonathan Pereira, executive director of Plant Chicago. But the gigantic food laboratory is also about science and technological innovation. Researchers at the mycology lab are trying to grow mushrooms in the spent grain from the microbrewery, and Backyard Fresh Farms is developing robots controlled by artificial intelligence to tend to its plants.

The urban farming movement is growing in major cities around the world. A 2018 study suggested that urban farming could alleviate some environmental problems in cities by increasing vegetation cover, removing atmospheric carbon dioxide and offering a habitat for bees and other pollinators. It could also help increase food security and reduce food waste.

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