Public green spaces offer recreation and relaxation, but they could also be providing us with fresh, local food. Instead of only planting ornamental trees and flowers, local governments and schools could also place food-bearing plants in parks that feed people as a community service.
It is a very basic food supply for the people in need.
I am a student at an American University, and every year I watch the groundskeepers plant hundreds of ornamental flowers. When these flowers die, new flowers are planted. I wonder why not plant something the students can also eat? When so many of us come from cultures of fast food and processed meals, making local gardens visible and accessible is important for health. And if governments are already paying for plants, why not add an extra perk of planting trees and shrubs that also create food?
Bylaws blocking front yard gardens prevent homeowners from growing more food. Community and public gardens bring people together. The elderly, who actually grew up gardening, can pass their wisdom onto a new generation. Who grows YOUR food? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRsB1mM9qOA
I am a University student in Australia and I have also been pondering on this. Planting a communities food source, such as a university, is such a good idea, creating not only a healthy lunch. Re-establishing a connection between people and their food, blurring the line between consumer and producer, for what better way to balance power than to produce your own sustenance. This will bring communities together, as production does, doubling the usefulness of plants as aesthetics and food.
We can plant edible trees and herbs all over -- including sidewalks and on road dividers. In countries like India where there's a significant population in cities living off the streets, they will automatically start maintaining them without asking. This ted talk linked below shows a fascinating case of simple citizens in a town in UK making the city edible without bothering to wait for permissions or laws or subsidies or anything!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5ZgzwoQ-ao&feature=player_embedded Sjá önnur myndbönd fra Geoff Lawton
Geoff Lawton og fl.eru að gera eiðimerkur viða að matarskógum.
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