Climate Change Adaptation Strategy

 Say hello to urban agricultureThere are estimates that claim that as much as 80 percent of the world’s arable landhas already been claimed for agriculture. And recently UN estimated that the populationwill increase by 40 percent and exceed 9 billion people by year 2050.As more and more people moves to ever-expanding cities, they will push farmsfurther away from population centers. The inevitable result is longer transportationroutes, increased reliance on petroleum-based fertilizers and more high-intensitymonoculture farming on the remaining agricultural land.With traditional farming practices, the Earth’s arable land will soon not be sufficientto produce enough food for our growing population. In response to this challenge,Plantagon has developed a vertical space-efficient greenhouse for the urbanenvironment.Why should a tomato fly 10,000 km?We believe that The Plantagon Greenhouse dramatically will change the way weproduce ecological and functional food. For instance, it allows us to produce ecologicaltomatoes with clean air and water in urban environments, even in major cities.The Plantagon Greenhouse also cut costs and environmental damage by eliminatingtransportation and delivering directly to consumers. This vertical agricultureinnovationmakes it even economically possible to finance each greenhouse from itsown sales. The consumers will notice the difference by greater taste to less price.Doing well by doing goodConsidering that most of the worlds land will be used up within the next 30 years,one can easily see why the Plantagon Greenhouse is much needed in densly populatedareas today and tomorrow. But the benefits doesn’t stop there:The Plantagon Greenhouse uses less space to grow more crops than a traditionalgreenhouse.The whole purpose with the Plantagon Greenhouse is to offer better food at a betterprice.It’s time to change focus in ecological farming. We’re already moving from a lesscompetitive and expensive alternative of “normal” production, to being more efficient,more available and of higher quality. At the same time we realize that evena small production plant can be financed by direct sales to consumers were costs formiddle hands or transportation is minimised.When building a Plantagon Greenhouse, a company, state or community canshow that they use a strategy built on ‘Action speak louder than words’ as the PlantagonGreenhouse shows the possibilities of green and responsible business to create aunique platform for public relations. One can show the power of lateral thinking andacting and become a good example for others to follow.The Plantagon organization’s basic principle is to balance commercial and valuebasedforces, exploring how to make money while doing good and using the powerof money and public support to achieve benefits for society in general, over andabove economic progress.Plantagon – an award winning innovationPlantagon was awarded the prestigious “Innovator Idol” prize at the Globe Forumin Stockholm in June of 2009. Globe Forum is a matchmaker between innovators,entrepreneurs and investors with a focus on business innovation, sustainability andhigh-growth markets. At its annual conference, ten finalist projects are given theopportunity to present their ideas to about 1,000 investors, with the winning entrychosen by popular acclaim. The finalists was chosen among thousands of competitorsfrom 36 countries.BUSINESS AS USUAL IS OVERBy Hans Hassle and Oren R. LyonsMost of us would agree that mankind is not taking care of Earth and ourselves in the best way we could. Social, environmental and political development are all heading in directions no-one can fail to see, and no-one could wish for.Economics has played a major role in creating this situation, and will continue to determine future directions. Political power is fighting to regain influence, but we already know the economy, or at least the major part of it, is driven by corporations. Today, many of the world’s largest economies are corporations, not nation states. This situation confers enormous responsibility on the owners, their boards and their managers, a responsibility that comes with being the dominant institution on the planet.In this world of ours, greed, short-term strategies and fear are strongly supported by the system, the voluntary rules we play by. As an example one can reflect upon the fact that among the very largest world markets are the markets for weapons, narcotics, tobacco, sex, and environmentally disastrous fossil energy.There is no way we can continue business as usual, if we want a liveable future for mankind. And we should never forget that we do have a choice.We need to see corporations that are not only fixated on money. We need to see corporations going beyond even the environmental and broader sustainability imperatives. We need to see corporations built from a deep sense of responsibility for the common good. This means a core business that is good for society, as well as democratic and transparent organizations that are able to balance commercial success with idealistic principles.Our contribution to this necessary change is PLANTAGON, a new and modern kind of company with maximum competitiveness, building on good corporate citizenship, transparency and democratic values.The basic principle is to combine and balance commercial and value based driving forces in one organization, exploring how to make money while doing good and using the power of money and public support to achieve benefits for society in general, over and above economic progress.PLANTAGON´s mission is Functional and ecological food directly to western consumers or starving citizens of the third world.  To bring this about we will introduce the Plantagon® greenhouse that will dramatically change the way we produce ecological and functional food. It allows us to produce ecological with clean air and water inside urban environments, even major cities, cutting costs and environmental damage by eliminating transportation and deliver directly to consumers. This is due to the efficiency and productivity of the Plantagon® greenhouse which makes it economically possible to finance each greenhouse from its own sales.The quite simple innovation is to use the full volume of the greenhouse, growing in storages. The less simple but wise idea is to adjust the construction, shape and technology of the house mainly to what the plants need – not human beings. After maximizing what is good for the plants, advanced technology is used to help human beings take care of the plants in a rational way.Parallel to the company we founded a non-profit organization with the same name as the company. The non-profit organization owns 10% of the company and nominates 50% of its board members. Membership of the non-profit organization is open to everyone who supports its objectives, and the company has no influence over it.The company and the non profit organization are legally bound to support each other and commit to implementing the Global Compact and the Earth Charter in their Articles of Association and founding documents.It is not only financial but also social compliance with the Articles of Association that is reviewed at each Annual General Meeting.We call the PLANTAGON model a “Companization” – two different legal entities in one organization working for the same cause: One profit-driven, commercial organization (PLANTAGON International AB) and one non-profit organization (PLANTAGON Non-profit Association). The word Companization symbolizes the two driving forces within the organization as a whole – profit and values.We admit we are after money. We admit we want to influence public opinion. We are therefore transparent about how we will use these two powerful resources and we demonstrate that we are prepared to share this power with everyone.PLANTAGON integrates our mission, our promises and our values into the organization´s whole structure; from our Articles of Association to how we organize our ownership to give our stakeholders influence and power over our actions.This may be the first time in the business sector that social responsibility, transparency and sharing are demonstrably valued at the same level as financial engagement.This may be the first opportunity to influence a large company from the inside without being an employee, a manager or an investor, but by being socially engaged in supporting its mission.This may be the first company to show that sharing rather than greed leads to financial success.