Tongue-in-cheek, one wag suggested that President Obama should turn the White House lawn into a garden. Now, while that was a joke, the idea of urban gardens is not. According to a university position paper:
If you have an eye for them, you can see a multitude of gardens in cities all over the world: peeking through fences and over adobe walls in Oaxaca, Mexico; in long strips along the railroad tracks from a train window as you ride through the outskirts of Rome; crowded along the sides of canals in Minia, Egypt; from the alleys and railroad tracks of Tucson; in the compound courtyards of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. (David Cleveland, "Are urban gardens an efficient use of resources?", Arid Lands Newsletter, University of Arizona)
Urban gardening has a multiplicity of positive effects, not the least of which is increasing the nation's food security. When we add decreased pollution generated by locally grown foods, which require less transport the mix, it is clear that cities must become more proactive in the urban garden movement.
As this economic crisis grows, governments and charities will have less money to fund poverty programs and food programs. It makes sense to head the crisis off by promoting urban gardens as a bootstrap measure to develop food security and promote healthy living. It is already mid-January, with planting season right around the corner. The time to act on local gardening support legislation is now.
