subject: Saving Energy [print this page] To learn how to save energy within the food system, the public would need to learn more about the natural sciences and about practical techniques of small-scale food production.
Ideally I believe that simply by changing from suit to jeans, digging up a bit of lawn, and planting vegetable seeds, the city person will begin asking questions about his environment and about his urban behavior and thinking patterns.
To most city people soil is simply mud or dirt, not a substance in which food is born.
Rain means 'no beach'. It is not seen as a drink for thirsty plants.
Sunny days are 'tanning days', not givers of food energy.
There are no such things as 'beneficial insects'. They're all big game for a can of 'Raid'.
Big toothed dogs are nice animals to feed. Egg-producing chickens are not.
Left-over food, minutes after a delicious meal, becomes garbage to be trucked away out of sight rather than a valuable homemade soil conditioner.
As the urban person moves towards his garden and finds thousands of things there to explore, his lifestyle will gradually begin to change.
Ideally, the new city farmer will find that the fresh vegetables and fruit he has grown are tasty and he will decide to grow more of them. This change in diet will be good for his health. He will feel invigorated by the activity of producing food and will exercise more. Since he is outside in the sun and fresh air,he will improvehis health .
By spending so much more time at home in the garden he will cut down his restless, leisure-time, automobile drives which guzzle gallons of precious energy. By being outside he will see his neighbors, have time to chat about their common work, share some of the harvest and thus contribute to a less alienated community.
A conserver mentality will take hold as wastes will be recycled for use in the garden. For example, broken broom handles become support stakes, orange juice cartons become seedling boxes, and shiny tins become scarecrows.
I believe that a transformation will take place in the mind of the city dweller and that he will look with a different sensitivity at his environment. The environment will gain a new meaning to him as it now will have something to do with what he puts in his mouth to feed himself.
For instance the question of urban air pollution may come up as the city farmer worries about lead pollution from car exhaust tainting his vegetable crop. Or he may show concern about chemical herbicide used by pavers who lay down back lanes.
This newly aware city farmer will begin to take steps beyond the neat consumer shelves of a supermarket out into the country where most of our food is produced. Each square foot of lawn he claims for his city garden will make him aware of the preciousness of those large rural acreages.
If he hears alarming figures about farmland loss he will see more clearly their importance.
