One of the most memorable lines in film is Orson Welles’ impromptu farewell speech to Joseph Cotton in The Third Man:

“You know what the fellow said – in Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance.  In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace – and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.”

This quote does not reflect well on the Swiss and is even more disturbing when it appears that the cuckoo clock wasn’t even invented in Switzerland.   While I am sure that most Swiss residents barely gave a thought to this put-down, I am pleased to report that the Swiss may, in fact, change the way vegetables are grown in Big Cities:  Aquaponics

Already, somewhat of a commercial success in Switzerland, Aquaponics is described in the latest version of The Atlantic Cities as:

“Aquaponics is a method of combined fish and vegetable farming that requires no soil. The farmer cultivates freshwater fish (aquaculture) and plants (hydroponics) in a recirculating water system that exchanges nutrients between the two. Wastewater from the fish serves as organic fertilizer for the plants, while the plants clean the water of fish feces and urine. The net result: a 90 percent reduction in freshwater use compared with conventional fish farming, and a significant reduction in added nutrients such as fossil fertilizers. The system can be run without pesticides and, because the fish environment is spacious and clean, without antibiotics.”

I realize that this does not sound particularly appetizing, but imagine cutting down on the carbon footprint to bring fresh vegetables to our towns as well as reducing – if not eliminating – the ecological damage caused by pesticides and herbicides.  Lest you think this is simply a backyard garden project, think again:  a 2,700 sq. ft. Aquaponic greenhouse farm on a rooftop in Basel is expected to produce 5 tons of fresh vegetables and 1 ton of fresh fish a year.   Rooftops in major US cities are generally 4 times larger.

While I am sure there are many skeptics out there, I do believe that this new “technology” is certainly a step forward in bringing fresh vegetables to our major cities without the unwelcome ecological costs.    In fact, imagine how cool you will sound to a new love interest when you propose, “let’s go upstairs to fish.”   Certainly sounds better than “Wouldn’t you like to hear my latest poetry?”