Community Gardens

Mustafa and associates cover a multitude of perspectives on urban/local food systems and hunger/income insecurities that highly impact the present and future of global wellbeing, as approximately one third of the population of the world lives in cities of one million or more people. The book and the papers inside address how current food practices are not sustainable long term, because of skyrocketing gas prices and an increase in the destruction of natural habitats that balance our delicate ecosystem. First the book covers Southern countries, secondly sub-Saharan African nations, and finally North American, all pertaining to food systems and food security. Another portion of this book discusses economic follies and how they impact food security

This authors aimed the article towards persons interested in the social and psychological links to gardening and fruit and vegetable consumption. Though the survey was conducted in Denver, Colorado it used around 500 residents for the sample, which is large enough to qualify accurate data without too many outliers. The social, emotional and physical aspects of a community garden are a huge factor in releasing stress for those who take part in it. There is an explanation of the emotional connection that people have to food, and how growing food themselves promotes strong emotion and a will to return to the gardens to further this feeling of caring, for a plant, one’s own body and their family. The article makes an important connection between the positive interaction among neighbors and the number of times an individual would go to the garden and/or consume the produce from this garden. According to the article, community gardeners are more likely to eat more fruits and vegetables than people who home-garden or are non-gardeners. This is then further explained, which could be used to complement the part of my paper where I plan to discuss the benefits of community gardening for the individual. The information in this survey will also be incredibly useful in my research by explaining a solid

Claire Nettle points out the various affects and changes that community gardening has done and can do in the future. Nettle gathered a variety of information over 10 years by interviewing many individuals in Australia, all of whom have a key part in gardening/farming and social action. Although this book is based on information gathered in Australia, it is widely applicable to nations beyond. The author explicitly says that her hope is that the book reaches other areas in addition to Australia. The book is a case study that is relevant to the study of activism on a local scale and academic analysis. For my own research I plan to use this book to correlate community gardening to human involvement in politics and society. I will also use this book to emphasize how this social action both opposes the opposition but also starts the structure of the social change, which is an integral part in being successful. A social movement as simple as growing food together can have impactful results that greaten democracy, culture, and the environment, according to Nettle’s research. The contents of this book have made me question the purpose of such social movements internationally. I understand how bringing people together is a good cause, but what benefit is there beyond that? Who is the opposition to the community gardening movement? This book answered a question that is imperative to my paper, which is whether or not