While going through the blogroll today, I came across a post which linked to a site promoting "window farms" . The basic concept is to grow some of your food indoors, using your window as the source of light, and a simple hydroponic system for the plants.
One of the really great aspects of this project is that it is all open source and focuses on easy frugal and practical solutions.
That said, some of the rhetoric on the site does make it clear that they buy into the nonsense coming out of IPCC and Al Gore concerning anthopormorphic climate change, virtually all of which has been thoroughly debunked at the most basic level (google "climategate" or just read The Deniers).
Still, their hearts are in the right place, and unlike the IPCC, they do seem to be focused on real results. Will growing a few herbs and other veg in your windows radically change the world? Nope.. but it could be a great way to get high quality, otherwise expensive produce for pennies, while enjoying better flavor and nutrition as well.
So while I find the idea intriguing, and while I may well try it out myself, one question is nagging at me, prompted by some of the aforementioned rhetoric:
We know that indoor air quality, especially in apartment buildings and urban housing, is terrible.
We know that many if not most of the materials used in such housing out gas significant amounts of toxins.
So...
Won't those same toxins be picked up by the plants which we will be eating?
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