How much does eating locally-produced food help the climate problem? What are the other potential environmental and social benefits of eating locally-grown/produced food? Do you have a food garden in your school or at home? If not, do you want one?
Home Grown >
Mendocino Farms: Possible in a City?
I recently spent two weekends in Mendocino, a city on the coast of Northern California. I stayed in two different places there, both of which had their own farms. The first home had acres of land and had a large farm with all sorts of vegetables and fruits. They ate most of their meals from their garden. The next place I stayed had their own garden as well as their own composting system. Most properties in Mendocino are relatively spacious and sunny, so it is easy for people to start their own gardens.
Although my family has herbs, tomatoes, peppers, a lemon tree, and other small pots of edible plants, we do not use our garden for our main source of food. When something does grow in our garden, we usually use it for seasoning on a meal but we do not have enough for to be the main food of the meal. My yard has many trees so it is very shaded, so there is only a small patch of our yard that we can use for growing food.
Although my family cannot grow enough food in my yard alone to make a big impact on our carbon footprint, I believe that my family can make steps to decreas e our carbon footprint. For example, we can make sure that we are only eating fruit and vegetables that are in season and are locally grown. This way we will not be indirectly using planes, trucks and many other modes of transportation to get our food. Because most of the houses in my neighborhood do not have a lot of room for gardening, we could suggest that our neighborhood could create a community garden. My family could connect with American Community Gardening Association and see whether they could help my neighborhood with creating a community garden. If we have a dedicated area for gardening that everyone could use, I am certain that our neighborhood would not only have a smaller carbon footprint, but we would also be more connected to all of our neighbors. This would also promote more healthy and aware eating habits. Although each individual family would not have their own garden like the ones in Mendocino, I am sure that having a community garden would be beneficial to my neighborhood in many ways.
Source: https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/bac … 1206294984