PanamaTimes

Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Planting a Victory Garden Can Help Fight Global Warming

Planting a Victory Garden Can Help Fight Global Warming

The popular wartime solution for supplementing food rations was embraced by Eleanor Roosevelt, and now environmental experts say it's time to bring victory gardens back.

There's no roadmap for fighting climate change, but bringing back a few old traditions might be a way for all of us to do our part. Green America, a nonprofit focused on ethical consumerism, honed in on the victory garden when looking for ways to help more people get actively involved in a solution to global warming. Victory gardens were especially popular during World War I and World War II when people needed to supplement rations by growing their own food. And we need this concept again, says Green America, because now what we need to ration most is our contributions to climate change.

“When we were at war, we wanted people to grow fruits and vegetables at home so there would be more available for the troops overseas,” says Todd Larsen of Green America. He says that today, victory gardens offer us a way to “grow food for ourselves and our families, and also be part of the climate solution.”



The Victory Garden Impact


Tens of millions of people planted victory gardens during both World Wars, including Eleanor Roosevelt, who planted one on the lawn of the White House. During World War II, these gardens provided about 40 percent of the country’s fruits and vegetables. According to Green America, if we could produce that much again in our home gardens, we could collectively make a positive impact on the environment.

That’s because growing your own food means less needs to be produced on big farms (which usually isn't as sustainable as home gardening can be) and then transported to you. And when you plant and care for your garden sustainably, it can also help to protect soil, support pollinators, and reduce your carbon footprint. It might not seem like you would make much difference in the world by planting your own tomatoes and beans, but multiply it by millions of similar gardens across the country and the world, and it can all add up to a significant change, like victory gardens before.

Keeping Carbon in the Soil


Carbon dioxide is one of the major contributors to the greenhouse effect, and it's released into the air when we burn fossil fuels in cars, planes, and power plants. The more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the more it traps heat from the sun and helps raise the Earth’s temperature. But there are natural methods here on the ground to remove that carbon dioxide from the air. It's called carbon sequestration, which basically means taking that carbon dioxide from the air and storing it where it can’t contribute to the greenhouse effect.



In what scientists call the carbon cycle, plants are like carbon dioxide vacuum cleaners, sucking it out of the air and storing it in their tissues. When plants die, they turn into organic matter in the soil, which holds onto that stored carbon dioxide with the help of billions of fungi, bacteria, and other tiny creatures that live there. Green America believes that climate victory gardens can be a major contributor to this natural carbon capturing process.

“If you do no-till gardening in your yard, so you're not digging up the soil year after year, it actually does have a big impact in terms of sequestering carbon in the soil,” says Larsen. That’s because when you disturb soil, it causes organic matter to break down faster and release more carbon dioxide back into the air. Mulching and composting also boost your soil’s ability to store carbon; plus, you won't need to water as much or use chemicals for fertilizer or weed killer.



It Gives Wildlife a Home


With millions of climate victory gardens across the country, beneficial wildlife like pollinators would have more of the food and habitat they need to survive. “We have been taught all these years that we don't want wildlife in the garden, that bugs are bad. But plants are the foundation of any wildlife habitat,” says David Mizejewski, a naturalist at the National Wildlife Federation and author of Attracting Birds, Bees, and Other Backyard Wildlife. He points out that roughly nine out of ten insects in your garden aren’t pests at all. Instead, they might be butterflies, whose caterpillars provide essential food for birds, or ladybugs, which eat the pests that do show up.

Plus, many fruits and veggies you’d grow in your garden, including zucchini, peppers, tomatoes, and eggplant, actually produce more for you when bees and other bugs pollinate their flowers. These insects then help feed birds and many other creatures. Climate victory gardens can play an essential part in supporting this entire ecosystem. And when you have a healthy ecosystem, you can rely on fewer pesticides, fertilizers, and other outside inputs that all create carbon emissions when produced.



A Source of Healthy, Hyper-Local Food


Environmental benefits aside, it's also nice to sample the fruits of your labors! If you grow a tomato plant, you can walk into your backyard and pick one to eat instead of driving to the grocery store (which releases carbon dioxide and other harmful greenhouse gases). Tomatoes at the supermarket might've come from a farm far away (which requires fuel to get to you). Transportation accounts for about 11 percent of food’s total emissions, so you can cut that to zero by growing it yourself, as well as cutting other carbon creators that large farms use, such as synthetic fertilizers and big tractors to plant and harvest.

Larson points out that there are psychological benefits as well. “We find that people who are really involved in gardening, especially the kind where you're really taking care of the earth, makes folks pretty attentive when they go to the supermarket,” he says. If you know exactly what it takes to grow a radish, you might begin to value radishes at the store differently. You might decide to use parts of that radish that many would throw away (the greens make a great pesto). And if you can’t grow it yourself, you might choose to buy organic or local if you have the choice. All these decisions help to reduce your carbon footprint, which is the name of the game.

The victory garden concept started with World War I food rationing, progressed to producing mass amounts of food during World War II, and now can help us all fight against climate change. And like we saw during those wars, growing even just a small part of what you eat can make a difference when we’re all in this together. Time to get planting!

Newsletter

Related Articles

PanamaTimes
0:00
0:00
Close
Apple warns against drying iPhones with rice
In a recent High Court hearing, the U.S. argued that Julian Assange endangered lives by releasing classified information.
Global Law Enforcement Dismantles Lockbit Ransomware Operation
Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny has died at the Arctic prison colony
The President of Argentina Javier Mile does not fly private, he flies commercial, with the citizens he represents. And they LOVE him for it.
Bitcoin Reaches $50,000 for First Time in Over Two Years
Belo Horizonte: Brazil's Rising Carnival Hotspot for 2024
In El Salvador, the 'Trump of Latin America' stuns the world with a speech slamming woke policing after winning a landslide election
Tucker’s interview with Putin is over 50M views on X within the first 5 hours.
Finnish Airline, Finnair, is voluntarily weighing passengers to better estimate flight cargo weight
President Nayib Bukele has proudly announced El Salvador's remarkable achievement of becoming the safest nation in the Western Hemisphere.
Former Chilean President Sebastian Piñera Dies in Helicopter Crash
This farmer seems to understand science a bit more than the event organizer, Klaus Schwab.
Facebook turns 20: From Mark Zuckerberg's dormitory to a $1trn company
The Coolest Dictator in the World" on the Path to Victory in El Salvador
Macron, France and fake news
Indian-Origin Man 'King' Arrested For Smuggling $16 Million Drugs Into US
Can someone teach Americans that not every person with slanted eyes is Chinese?
Europe's Farmers Feeding the People, Protesting Against Politicians Who Do Nothing for Their Country and Serve Only Themselves at Taxpayers' Expense
Paris Restaurant That Inspired 'Ratatouille' Loses $1.6 Million Worth Of Wine
Brazilian Police Investigate Bolsonaro's Son for Alleged Illegal Spying
Police in Brazil Raid Residence of Bolsonaro Associate Over Allegations of Illegal Spying
Border Dispute Escalates as Texas Governor Vows Increased Razor Wire
OpenAI Enhances ChatGPT-4 Model, Potentially Addressing AI "Laziness" Issue
The NSA finally acknowledges spying on Americans by acquiring sensitive data
Report Reveals Toxic Telegram Group Generating X-Rated AI-Generated Fake Images of Taylor Swift
US Border Patrol States 'No Plans' to Remove Razor Wire Installed in Texas
Bitcoin Experiences Approximately 20% Decline in Value
Klaus Schwab recently appointed himself as the Earth's "trustee of the future."
DeSantis Drops Out, Endorses Trump.
Nikki Haley said former President Trump is "just not at the same level" of mental fitness as he was while president in 2016.
Residents of a southern Mexican town set the government palace on fire in response to the police killing of a young man
Samsung Launches AI-Driven Galaxy S24, Ushering in New Smartphone Era
Judge Questions SEC's Regulatory Overreach in Coinbase Lawsuit
The Ecuador prosecutor who was investigating the television studio attack, has been assassinated.
Is artificial intelligence the solution to cyber security threats?
Vivek Ramaswamy suspends his US election campaign and endorses Trump.
Viral Satire: A Staged Satirical Clip Mistaken as Real Footage from the 2024 World Economic Forum in Davos
The AI Revolution in the Workforce: CEOs at Davos Predict Major Job Cuts in 2024
Ecuador Reports 178 Hostages in Prison Gang Standoff
The Startling Cuban Espionage Case That Has Rattled the US Government
Two Armed Men in Ecuador, Dressed as Batman and The Joker Storm the Streets.
Armed Gang Raids Ecuadorian TV Station Following State of Emergency Declaration
Anti-Democratic Canada: Journalist Arrested for Questioning Canadian Finance Minister on Support of Terrorist Group
Ecuador's 'Most-Wanted' Criminal Vanishes from Prison
Mexican Cartel Supplied Wi-Fi to Locals Under Threat of Fatal Consequences for Non-Compliance
Border Surge Leads to Over 11,000 Migrants Waiting in Northern Mexico
Outsider Candidates Triumph in Latin American Elections
As Argentina Goes to the Polls, Will the Proposal to Replace the Peso with the Dollar Secure Votes?
Fatal Shark Attack Claims Life of Boston Woman Paddleboarding Near Bahamas Resort, According to Police
×