Jul
Let’s take a few minutes to look at this aspect of gardening. First, glance at the interstate. What do you see? Despite the rising fuel costs there is little change from when fuel was reasonably priced. There are still a lot of cars, probably more SUVs, and tons of semi trucks. Focus in on the semis for a second. Now think, many of those semis are bringing in grocery items from various parts of the country and world. There are, in my opinion, at least two things wrong with this picture: 1) the food they often truck in is not the best quality, it’s nothing like you can grow; 2) diesel exhaust accounts for approximately 26% of the total hazardous pollution in the air, and 66% of the particulate pollution from on-road pollution. Those truck create noise and smog; they’re just not good for us or our environment. One way that we can do our part in not contributing to bringing those big trucks through our area is to buy locally grown produce from local suppliers. By reducing the demand it is conceivable that the trucks, who bring in the supply for the demand, will drastically reduce also.
Okay, so you don’t really want to pay the higher prices for the premium produce from the farmer’s market. How are you going to do your part? There’s that ugly patch of nothingness out in the back landscaping. Why don’t you turn that spot of uselessness into a lushious garden that gives you top-notch vegetables for not much more that your labor? This would be the best option because you would, at the same time, not demand anything from the suppliers who use the semis to truck the produce in, and reduce your own air pollution by not going to the grocery store or even the local farmer’s market. I would imagine that if you had a green roof this would also be a wonderful area to transform into a productive garden. Gardening can be very therapeutic. You can pull up weeds when you angry, and watch the plants grow when your meditative. They’re a great way to work out stress.