Why Bother?
How much fuel are you putting into your refrigerator?
It’s hard to imagine putting fuel into your refrigerator but that’s exactly what happens every time we buy food. The average American puts 400 gallons of oil into their refrigerator every year. This number is calculated by adding up the distance that food travels from farm to plate and the amount of petroleum-based fertilizer used to grow the food. If every American ate just one meal a week from locally organic produced food oil consumption would be reduced by 1.1 billion barrels of oil per week.
This one small change in consumption could make a big difference. But for many of Americans the sentiment is why bother? For many it seems hopeless to imagine much less attempt a different sort of life. The inclination is to put faith in market based solutions. But much more needs to be done and right now.
All across America a quite revolution has already begun and the 1000 students at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School in Berkeley California are part of it. This school is home to the Edible Schoolyard Project. An idea that started with a vacant lot has evolved into a one-acre organic garden and kitchen classroom. In this program children grow and prepare the whole foods they will eat. Not only are these students gaining nutrition and ecological knowledge they could be the key to our future. This systems approach addresses the crisis of childhood obesity while making food production truly sustainable.
If this urban school of 1000 students can feed itself than the possibility of every American either growing or purchasing locally produced food is not just a talking a point.
Here are some things to consider:
· Growing some of your own food sets an example for others. If enough people bother, each one influences the other. Consciousness is raised, maybe even changed.
· Planting a garden is one of the most powerful things an individual can do. It reduces your carbon footprint but it also reduces your sense of dependence.
· Growing your own food begets a new set of solutions and changes other habits; you learn to provide other things for yourself.
· The single greatest lesson the garden teaches is it changes your relationship to the planet. It’s a long season from seed to vegetable and you get to experience it all.
Schools can introduce and nurture this concept with their students. For many students school is the only way to experience this lesson. Every teacher can begin this simply by starting seeds in paper cups. Start with popular and easy to grow vegetables, tomatoes plants, cucumbers, carrots, radishes are just a few. Students can be encouraged to take these pots home to plant in the ground or a bigger pot. Teachers can also introduce students to local produce by taking field trips to farmers markets and local farms. With a little imagination and planning every classroom can begin to teach sustainability. Students will discover a new way to provide for themselves without diminishing the planet. Our future relies more on action than hope.