visions of green cities that find positive local use for their massive organic wastes through rooftop gardens, urban agriculture, and even growing industrial feedstocks. On the other hand, at the same time, developments in the life sciences and materials science are making it easier to use plant materials for a wide variety of uses in manufacturing and construction. In the last decade or so, we have seen an explosion in the commercialization of enzyme-based detergents, vegetable-based inks and paints, and starch-based plastics. Plant oils and resins are increasingly used in the production of lubricants, paints, detergents, solvents, and plastics. Wood, cotton, kenaf and hemp are used as a source of fibres. While there is growth in the use of traditional renewable materials like hemp and soybeans; there are also newer ag-based materials like rapeseed, (an oilseed with a wide variety of uses), quayule (a replacement for both natural and synthetic rubber); and jojoba (currently used in cosmetics, but with increasing uses in plastics, soaps and waxes). In addition, there has been a vast expansion of materials generated by biological processes like fermentation (Geiser, 2001, p. 286).