Last week’s federal report on climate delivered the grave news that we are already experiencing the effects of global warming: eroding coastlines, melting glaciers and more powerful tropical storms to cite a few. Could it also be responsible for the fact that it's rained so much lately people are building arks?
In case the rain never stops, there at least five people in New York who, in theory, will be just fine. The Waterpod, a self-sustainable art exhibit and experiment in green living is built on a salvaged barge docked and open for visitors at the Sheepshead Bay Marina in Brooklyn. The Pod currently houses five artists and a number of chickens and will be making its way to each borough over the next five months. One of the castaways told The New York Times, that she wasn't worried about the cramped quarters saying, "I mean, the Waterpod has a guest room. I don’t think any New York apartment I’ve lived in has had a guest room.”
The crew generates electricity through a combination of solar panels, a windmill and a stationary bike built by an engineering class at Humboldt University. Food comes from a hydroponic farm on the deck, the chickens’ eggs and apparently an arrangement with the Union Square Greenmarket that they call “bartering” but sounds a lot more like “donating.”
Now if they could just figure out how to get the chickens to peddle the bike, they would really be onto something.
