Living with Plants inside an enclosed Ecosystem: Doctor Tested and Approved

Living with Plants inside an enclosed Ecosystem: Doctor Tested and Approved

Screenshot: Professor Iain Stewart lived for two days in a glass box
Source: london24.com/news/health: Doctor proves plants
hold the secret to life - by locking a man in a box
by Kate Ferguson, Reporter Saturday, February 18, 2012
Image Source: london24.com/news/health

A professor in the U.K., Dr. Ian Stewart, has gone to the extreme to prove just how vital plants are to our survival. For two days, he lived in a glass box with nothing but plants.

The experiment was the brainchild of Dr. Daniel Martin, a Consultant with Royal Free, who decided to replicate an experiment first conducted by 18th Century chemist Joseph Priestly—an experiment which would prove the existence of photosynthesis.

"Although, he did kill the first mouse,” Dr. Martin said of Priestly’s experiment which consisted of a mouse in a bottle.

Obviously, the 21st Century human redo at the Eden Project in Cornwall had a few safety measures in place, with Dr. Martin observing levels of carbon dioxide and oxygen. Still, most of the oxygen was sucked out of the box before the experiment began.

The public could watch as Professor Stewart exercised to increase CO2 for the plants, who in turn produced O2 for the good Professor. All in all, the simple indoor ecosystem went for two days.

Why stop at only two days? Living in a small oxygen-deprived box surrounded by plants makes for an interesting scientific experiment — and a pretty cool stunt — but at the end of the day, is pretty extreme for the average individual / family.

The real purpose of the exercise must have been to illustrate the value of plants on the vitality of humans. In other words, their effect on the vitality of our interior environments: livability and quality of interior space.

No matter what you live in today, Peapod Life has options to bring indoor ecosystems into your space to create extreme comfort, beauty, health and wellness, even food security ... without having to go to extremes.


Attila Lendvai
VP of Strategic Development
Wo-Built Inc. - Innovative Design and Build

Extreme Comfort without going to Extremes:
Peapod Life is Comfortable and Livable 365 days a year!
2012 @ wobuilt + peapodlife

links:
bbc.co.uk: Scientist starts plant-only oxygen test at Eden Project
A scientist is spending 48 hours sealed inside an airtight chamber breathing in oxygen produced solely by plants.14 September 2011
dailymail.co.uk: Living in a box: Scientist to spend 48 hours in an airtight container with 160 plants to keep him alive
By Ted Thornhill, Updated: 8 September 2011
edenproject.com: Scientist to be sealed plant-filled “bell jar” at the Eden Project for BBC photosynthesis experiment
14 September 2011
facebook.com: How Plants Made The World - Taken at Eden Project, Cornwall, UK
By BBC Scotland - Updated about 10 months ago
hamhigh.co.uk: Doctor proves plants hold the secret to life - by locking a man in a box
by Kate Ferguson, Reporter Saturday, February 18, 2012

Green Success: Attendees of Live Green Toronto Festival give indoor ecosystems two green thumbs up!

Photos: Wo-Built Shares Its Latest Innovation for Peapod Life
Live Green Toronto Festival – where green hits the streets!
Toronto's largest celebration of all things green!
Saturday, July 21, 2012 @ Yonge-Dundas Square
and all along Yonge Street, from Dundas to Queen
2012 @ Wo-Built + Peapod Life

• At the @LiveGreenTO festival at Yonge and Dundas showing off the indoor eco system for condos and apartments. #Toronto
• @peapodlife @LiveGreenTO Festival Lots of visitors. Great. Come & see us here on Yonge. Unveiling of condo version of indoor eco system.
• Wow. Visitors 2 @LiveGreenTO festival who stopped by our booth loved the Condo @Peapodlife. Join the fun. Lots 2 see at the event.#Toronto
• @LiveGreenTO festival still in full swing. What a great day for unveiling Peapod Condo @peapodlife
• @wobuilt tweets July 21, 2012

This past weekend Wo-Built attended the annual Live Green Toronto Festival on Yonge Street. Many ecology and sustainability-oriented companies, non-profits and agencies were out to showcase their products and services to the community.

Wo-Built was also present to showcase its latest innovation for Peapod Life: mini self-contained ecosystems designed for condos, apartments and other smaller spaces.

Peapod Life indoor ecosystems consist of aquaponics and include plants and optional living walls encased in attractive glass and wood enclosures. Timers and other supporting technologies ensure the systems are kept at the right temperature and humidity, with a constant stream of water recirculating throughout the unit.

Plants and select wildlife keep the system in perfect balance and practically maintenance-free.

Wo-Built had a Peapod Life demonstration unit on hand and the response was overwhelmingly positive. People loved the look and really liked the benefits of fresher air and a living system for their home.

The Live Green Toronto Festival was proof that Peapod Life really is desired by the general public, and will soon be available via the peapodlife.com website.

Attila Lendvai
VP of Strategic Development
Wo-Built Inc. - Innovative Design and Build

Extreme Heat and Drought: two more reasons for taking charge of your life with Peapod Life

Photo: Corn stalks struggling from lack of rain and a heat wave covering
most of the country lie flat on the ground Monday, July 16, 2012, in Farmingdale, Ill.
Image Credit: AP Photo/Seth Perlman
Source: Yahoo! News: Drought worsens crop damage, raising world food, fuel worry

It’s official: North America is experiencing some of the worst drought conditions in decades. It is being widely reported that the impact on food prices will have a major impact on an already beleaguered economy.

Peapod Life believes the time may be approaching when individuals and families will have to rely on themselves to ensure they have ready access to fresh produce and other foodstuffs. And, as admirable as urban and rooftop gardening efforts are, they can do little without Mother Nature’s cooperation.

Indoor ecosystems by Peapod Life benefit from a controlled environment all year ‘round. Peapod Life ecosystems are sheltered from extreme heat and cold, and constantly re-use and recycle their own water and nutrients, requiring a fraction of the inputs of traditional agriculture.

Because Peapod Life is not a greenhouse or a solarium but shares useable living space, the ecosystem’s environment is your environment: there is no disconnect between your life or your Peapod Life. This maximizes efficiency and ensures conditions suitable to produce food are constantly maintained.

The type and quantity of produce you can grow with Peapod Life depends on your existing indoor space and/or the availability of space to build a Peapod Life addition.

Contact Wo-Built, The Vision Builder, to see how your residential and/or commercial property can be upgraded with Peapod Life. Take charge of your life and future food security today.

Attila Lendvai
VP of Strategic Development
Wo-Built Inc. - Innovative Design and Build

Sharing Our Vision of Peapod Life at Food Forward

Photos: Wo-Built Shares Its Vision of Peapod Life with Food Forward
Urban Agriculture: Foodie Drinks - Eglinton-Lawrence Edition
May 29, 2012 at Zito's Marketplace, 210 Marlee Avenue, Toronto
2012 @ wobuilt.com

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to share.
It was a great evening, wonderful food and company.
A special thank you to Orla Moylan Hegarty for inviting us.
We loved hearing everyone's great community initiatives.
See you all at the next Foodie Drinks.
~ Wo Built

They say there is great beauty and wisdom in simplicity…in that which is elemental.

On Tuesday evening, Wo-Built joined Food Forward’s event held at Zito’s Marketplace, 210 Marlee Avenue, Toronto.

The venue was packed with a diverse group ranging from members of the local community to social entrepreneurs to individuals from across the GTA. Their common cause: a sincere interest in eating healthy, organic, local, sustainable, community-empowering food.

Picture it: in the heart of a gourmand’s paradise, an outstanding spread of homemade snacks courtesy of Zito’s Marketplace, delightful hobnobbing with foodies from the community … what better place for Wo-Built to talk about Peapod Life?

Speakers included Cousellor Josh Colle, member of the Toronto Food Policy Council, and Susan Poizner, founder of Growing for Green, Community Orchard and Backyard Sharing initiative.

Attila Lendvai, VP of Strategic Development, gave a lively and interactive talk on behalf of Peapod Life, highlighting the very simple fact that human beings “are what we eat.” And all five elements go into growing food: earth, wind, fire, water, and space. Ergo, “we too are those five elements.”

As opposed to legacy approaches to building which focused on sheltering people from the elements, Peapod Life embraces the fact that we are those elements. Quality earth, wind, fire, water and space are essential to our survival and well-being, and so they are essential to Peapod Life as well.

We know, for instance, how important natural light is to us; that artificial light is less than healthy. The same goes for fresh air; clean, vitalized and revitalizing water; vibrant, beautiful space that is calming yet invigorating—not unlike a forest, meadow, or just about any other outdoor natural environment.

This elemental approach means Peapod Life operates on a level so primal, so fundamental to the well-being of living things, it creates indoor spaces that are literally full of life: unmatched in terms of their ability to support productive, peaceful, healthy living.

Peapod Life ... it’s really quite elementary.

Martina Ernst
President/CEO
Wo-Built Inc. - Innovative Design and Build

Photos: Wo-Built Shares Its Vision of Peapod Life with Food Forward
Urban Agriculture: Foodie Drinks - Eglinton-Lawrence Edition
May 29, 2012 at Zito's Marketplace, 210 Marlee Avenue, Toronto
2012 @ wobuilt.com

And even more pictures from this Food Forward Foodie Drinks night:

Screenshot: facebook.com: Food Forward Events Photos
Foodie Drinks - Eglinton-Lawrence Edition
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
credit: http://www.facebook.com/groups/foodforward

 

Air Quality 10x Better than Outdoor Air for a Better Quality of Peapod Life

Image: Indoor Ecosystem from Peapod Life can achieve 10x Better air Quality than Outdoor Air

Another humid day in Toronto, another air quality warning in effect.  As the city waits with bated breath for a good downpour to refresh the city’s air, let’s take a moment to consider the implications.

We all know the importance of having fresh air.   

We know how stuffy and unpleasant indoor spaces can become and so we open doors and windows in our homes and install expensive HVAC systems in our commercial buildings to either get fresh air inside or process recirculated air to make it seem fresh.

Given the air quality warnings we receive on a regular basis from the city, the methods we use to get fresh air indoors should raise a few eyebrows.  How fresh is that air, after all?

What if you could achieve air quality ten times better than that available outside, with no HVAC system?  This is the magic of utilizing nature’s air purification system, ecosystems, indoors.

Peapod Life works with technologies and methodologies developed over decades by experts in the fields of indoor ecosystems.  These deceptively simple systems allow Peapod Life to create fully integrated indoor garden living spaces that are a step above potted plants or typical living walls. 

You wouldn’t want to live in a green house, precisely because of the poor air quality!  Unless you change the soil seasonally in your house plants, you’ll find they (and you) don’t do so well after a while.  

Soil is alive.  Eventually it dies.  Then it starts to decompose.  Thanks to fungus, mould, bacteria, etc., rotting soil releases putrid gases and noxious fumes that are anything but “fresh.”

One reason why the air seems so fresh in nature—especially forests—is because of proper ecosystems.  Soil dies in nature, too.  But rather than dying all at once as in a potted plant, it dies similarly to human skin: continually, constantly being renewed as it dies.  The ecosystem itself is alive.

This is Wo-Built’s approach to living structures: buildings that support life…all life…Peapod Life.  Our indoor ecosystems support vibrant, living growth media continuously regenerating itself, in turn supporting healthy plants that clean the air and feed the other elements of the complete living system. 

The result?  Commercial installations using the same methods and technologies employed by Peapod Life have achieved indoor air quality ten times better than outside air.  Just imagine what it would be like living, working and/or playing in air so fresh; in space so alive.  

It’s just another aspect of what we call Quality of Peapod Life.

Indoor Landscapes: Companies See the Light of a whole New Level of “wow, cool!”

Image Montage by Wo-Built: Indoor Landscapes
Image Credits: Travels with Zen-Aida + Plantscape - Interior Plant Service, Indoor Office Landscaping

Companies are beginning to embrace the notion of indoor landscapes with more enthusiasm, and it’s no wonder why. The business case is compelling; the players impressive; the wow-factor seductive.

eFig, a U.K.-based non-profit trade association of interior landscapers, have collected a number of reasons why organizations of all sizes and types should invest in professionally installed and maintained plants. Their list of benefits cites various researchers and studies that back up each claim.

The benefits of indoor landscapes to business begin with making a positive impression in reception and sales areas, to reduction in stress, sickness and absenteeism in employees, and an increase in overall productivity. But business leaders should be weary of that word: maintained.

There is something else at work in the mad rush to green interior spaces. It has something to do with what you might call the “wow, cool!” factor; not to mention landscape designers’ determination to “turf” existing notions of what’s “doable” indoors. Consider the following installations.

Image Montage by Wo-Built: “Turf” your notions about what’s “doable.” Above Left: Grass floor key part of Hassell’s design for PTTEP’s new 46,000 sqm Headquarters. Read More: http://www.hassellstudio.com/en/cms-projects/detail/pttep-headquarters Image Credit: http://www.hassellstudio.com/cms_images/230_02-02-2012_8366.png;

Above Right: Grass walls by Heather Ackroyd & Dan Harvey transform church. Read more: Living Grass Walls Completely Cover the Interior of London's Dilston Grove Gallery! | Inhabitat - Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building Image Credit: http://inhabitat.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2012/04/dilston-grove-Ackroyd-harvey-grass-walls-537x402.jpg

That’s all well and good, but there’s a problem. Plants are alive. And, like all living things, they are dependent on their environment. Traditional / conventional buildings are notoriously “sick.” Adding some plants may improve things on one level, we may be creating more problems than we know.

Living walls costing tens of thousands of dollars in plant replacement costs; putrefying soil having detrimental effects on indoor air quality; inappropriate water usage causing more harm to plants than good. Interior landscapers will say anything is doable—even maintainable—but is it really sustainable?

Wo-Built loves “wow, cool!” And we would never have created Peapod Life if we didn’t believe in the benefits of indoor landscapes and healthier spaces. But we also know life comes with strings. We don’t overpromise. And with all-glass designs, you can count on the fact that transparency is our business.

Peapod Life is unique. It’s not about forcing living landscapes into sick buildings or dead spaces in the hopes of healing or resuscitating them. We build autonomous living spaces from the ground up, with an eye on creating fully integrated indoor ecosystems that are beautiful, cost effective and sustainable.

Peapod Life is based on biomimetic design & build philosophies. Our mission is to create sustainable indoor ecosystems supported by living structures that maximize the benefits for all life, especially our clients. Forget about what’s doable. See the natural light of what’s actually livable. Peapod Life.

Yeah, with Wo-Built, you could say it’s time for a whole new level of “wow, cool.”

Attila Lendvai VP of Strategic Development
Wo-Built Inc. - Innovative Design and Build

Get Peapod Life™ Indoor Garden Living Space for your Non-Profit or Community Organization at Cost

Peapod Life designs indoor garden living spaces for many applications.
Ask us how you can acquire Peapod Life™ at cost for your group, non-profit or other organization that serves the local community. 2012 @ peapodlife.com

"Gardens, scholars say, are the first sign of commitment to a community. When people plant corn they are saying, let's stay here. And by their connection to the land, they are connected to one another."  

- Anne Raver Source: Quotes Daddy

Peapod Life™ is announcing an exciting offer for non-profit and other community groups in the Greater Toronto Area. Now you can get Peapod Life for your organization at cost.

As part of its community outreach program aligned with a social mission to increase food security for suburban and urban neighbourhoods, Peapod Life is offering organizations an opportunity to build fully useable community spaces that have integrated indoor vertical gardens, solar power and more.

The urban gardening movement is experiencing a renaissance in Toronto. Peapod Life supports all efforts to green rooftops and utilize other available green spaces. Our approach to healthy living brings the benefits of fresh air, natural light and organic gardens indoors, 365 days a year.

 Peapod Life recognizes the need for indoor community centres for neighbourhood gatherings, meetings, young people, learning, spiritual development, meditation and worship, and a host of other uses. We believe such centres are ideal for Peapod Life’s approach to living structures that support life.

Be it the slow food movement, urban garden sharing, or food swapping programs, we believe Peapod Life represents the ideal space for grassroots initiatives revolving around food security and healthy living.

Imagine your neighbourhood or community with its own Peapod Life building, providing essential space for young and old alike to participate in whatever activities near and dear to their heart, at the same time producing organic fruits and vegetables all year round.

Peapod Life is committed to the future of neighbourhoods and communities: with strong bonds and grassroots efforts to improve everyone’s standard of living: from energy and food security to health and overall happiness and well-being.  

That’s why we are offering Peapod Life to not-for-profit and other community groups at cost.

Contact us for more details.

 Attila Lendvai VP of Strategic Development  
Wo-Built Inc. - Innovative Design and Build