Vertical Farming

The concept of indoor farming is not new, since hothouse production of tomatoes, a wide variety of herbs, and other produce has been in vogue for some time. ...The Vertical Farm must be efficient (cheap to construct and safe to operate). Vertical farms, many stories high, will be situated in the heart of the world's urban centers. If successfully implemented, they offer the promise of urban renewal, sustainable production of a safe and varied food supply (year-round crop production), and the eventual repair of ecosystems that have been sacrificed for horizontal farming.
Advantages of Vertical Farming

Year-round crop production; 1 indoor acre is equivalent to 4-6 outdoor acres or more, depending upon the crop (e.g., strawberries: 1 indoor acre = 30 outdoor acres)

No weather-related crop failures due to droughts, floods, pests

All VF food is grown organically: no herbicides, pesticides, or fertilizers

VF virtually eliminates agricultural runoff by recycling black water

VF returns farmland to nature, restoring ecosystem functions and services

VF greatly reduces the incidence of many infectious diseases that are acquired at the agricultural interface

VF converts black and gray water into potable water by collecting the water of evapotranspiration

VF adds energy back to the grid via methane generation from composting non-edible parts of plants and animals

VF dramatically reduces fossil fuel use (no tractors, plows, shipping.)

VF converts abandoned urban properties into food production centers

VF creates sustainable environments for urban centers

VF creates new employment opportunities

We cannot go to the moon, Mars, or beyond without first learning to farm indoors on earth

VF may prove to be useful for integrating into refugee camps

VF offers the promise of measurable economic improvement for tropical and subtropical LDCs. If this should prove to be the case, then VF may be a catalyst in helping to reduce or even reverse the population growth of LDCs as they adopt urban agriculture as a strategy for sustainable food production.

VF could reduce the incidence of armed conflict over natural resources, such as water and land for agriculture

Another potential design:

Global Warming

Here is the fact:

How Much Land to Power The Whole World with Solar?

"Solar power systems installed in the areas defined by the dark disks could provide a little more than the world's current total primary energy demand (assuming a conversion efficiency of 8%).

From what I see, it is NOT that much area needed.
See this table from the original article:

Location / Desert	Desert Size / km2 [5]	Irradiation / W m-2	Area required / km2
Africa, Sahara	9,064,960	260	144,231
Australia, Great Sandy	388,500	265	141,509
China, Takla Makan	271,950	210	178,571
Middle-East, Arabian	2,589,910	270	138,889
South America, Atacama	139,860	275	136,364
U.S.A., Great Basin	492,100	220	170,455

Global Warming: "Three Times Faster than Worst Prediction"

As reported in yesterday's edition of The Independent, a series of stunning and worrisome studies has just shown that global warming is accelerating three times more rapidly than initially feared. The rate of increase of greenhouse gas emissions has tripled since the 1990s, the Arctic ice caps are melting three times as fast, and the oceans are rising twice as fast as had been originally forecast.

Global warming, CO₂ in particular, is a positive feedback loop. As greenhouse gas increases, ice at the poles are melting faster which leads to less solar energy being reflected back to space, increasing the heat trapped in the atmosphere. As the sea temperature increases, less CO₂ is being absorbed by the seawater as well as less stored in the polar ice, again leading to higher concentration of CO₂.

While the politicians are still talking about reducing the rate of increase of greenhouse gas emission, we should be talking about reducing the TOTAL amount of CO₂ already in the atmosphere BEFORE it is too late! As shown by "The Inconvenient Truth", what is use of economy if the human civilization is going to be wiped away from Earth? Can they get the priority right?