225: Edward Griffin on Indoor Smart Gardens.
Solving some space and time issues around growing fresh food.
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Edward graduated from Arizona State University in 2013 double majoring in Sustainability and Political Science. During this time, he studied some of the hardest questions relating to sustainability at a social, economic, and environmental level. The area of global sustainability that always spoke to him was the complex issue of agriculture, specifically food deserts because it was something he dealt with his entire life. Faced with environmental and time constraints he began experimenting and developing new ways to integrate technology and grow food inside his apartment. This quickly became a new-found passion of his, and with this new obsession he founded the company Lyfbox, which has just released the first fully intelligent indoor smart garden to automatically grow fresh organic food inside your home year-round and is controlled using the Lyfbox app on your phone.Don’t miss an episode! Click here to sign up for weekly podcast updates
In This Podcast:
We meet Edward, a millennial concerned about sustainability and food equity issues, who also wanted to have an active lifestyle and still grow his own food. Not having a backyard did not stop Edward as he took agricultural and sustainability concepts he learned in college and created his own solution.
Listen in and learn about:
- Being in Greg’s class at the University of Arizona and changing directions to agriculture
- Never really having the option to grow his own food and then needing to change it
- A looming food crisis that he is concerned about
- A head of lettuce uses 36 times more energy in transportation than it provides
- A prediction that fresh clean water is going to be the next commodity, about equivalent to oil
- Deciding to do something and grow his own food
- A description of the Lyfbox system
- Being a millennial and wanting to go do his own thing while still growing his own food
- The Indiegogo fundraiser that is open for a limited time
- His class project on crowd sourcing fresh food
- How the system saves energy and water
- Interacting with the system through the app
- What type of plants work in the system
- Why community is such a big part of this project
- The plan to get Lyfboxes into schools in conjunction with a lesson plan
As well as:
- His failure – He’s had thousands so he just moves forward and learns new things
- His success – growing his own fresh food and feeling better, finding a better sense of well-being
- His drive – sustainability and becoming more efficient
- His advice – perseverance, sustainability
Edward’s Book recommendations:
The Alchemist – by Paulo Coelho
How to reach Edward:
Indiegogo Fundraiser/Presell: igg.me/at/lyfbox
Website: Lyfbox.org
Facebook page: @liveyoursfree
UrbanFarm.org/Lyfbox