Gardeners Against Climate Change

first vegetable garden

That's not the name of a real organization, that I could find anyway. But if you're a gardener, you are helping with climate change whether you intend to or not. Come to think of it, somebody ought to start that organization. If you do, please send me an invite!


Preface: this blog post assumes that you already "believe in" climate change and that it's not still up for debate in your head. We've come too far to still need to convince people of this. I won't spend my time on it.

I know I'm biased but I would challenge anybody to tell me an easier way that a regular ole person can take action against climate change than to start a vegetable garden in the backyard. I don't have a bunch of impressive statistics stored in my head that I can throw out to convince you about the negative impact of those store-bought green beans on the planet (they are so easy to grow!), but, I'm sure there are hundreds of other bloggers who are participating in Blog Action Day today that wrote about how many "food miles"one person (or family) racks up each year. I just know that emissions from trucks used to transport produce from God knows where to our kitchens pollutes the air. And that pollution destroys the ozone and so forth. And anything I grow in my own vegetable garden doesn't do that. It's that simple.

There are lots of folks way richer than me that are doing a lot of fancy stuff to fight climate change like buying expensive hybrid cars or solar panels for their house or installing elaborate rain collection systems on their property. The list goes on. And while a I applaud these folks (and covet their fancy anti-climate change ammunition), it's simply not within my means at this time. (someday!) But what is within my means is growing a few of my own fruits and vegetables out back. And in turn reducing the amount of produce I need to purchase from the grocery store therefore reducing my family's pollution impact and yada yada yada.

Don't have a yard for a garden? Find a community garden in your area and rent a plot. They're cheap! And great!

Allergic to gardening? Try these...

• Find a farmer's market and start shopping there (local food!)
• Find a community supported Agriculture farm and buy a share (local food!)
  

I know that my little vegetable garden isn't going to solve the world's climate change problems, but it's what I can do to help. It's what suits me. If you know me very well, you know that I have a real problem with inaction. I need to be doing something towards a goal or a cause or a problem or whatever. It frustrates me to see people encounter a problem and just sit around thinking about how to solve it all while the problem grows out of control, rather than getting to the business of solving it. Or at least working in that direction! So, let's stop debating and take some small steps as individuals to make a difference. Gardening is what I'm doing to fight climate change. What are you doing?