<
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240322-the-most-climate-friendly-vegetables-to-grow-in-your-garden>
'
As spring gets underway, it's the ideal time to start growing veg at home. To
make the most difference for the climate, some crops are especially worth
growing.
You can tell these allotments have been here, on the Isle of Dogs in London,
for a long time. Some of the sheds are former air raid shelters. "There's a lot
of that still here from the war," says Paula Owen, a relatively recent arrival
who has maintained her own plot for the last 10 years. "A lot of people make do
and mend."
There are raised beds made of repurposed scaffolding boards. No heavy
machinery. And hazel sticks for propping up tomato and bean plants. Somewhat
incongruously, the giant glass and steel towers of Canary Wharf, London's shiny
financial district, perforate the skyline to the north. But next door is a city
farm, says Owen: "You can hear pigs and donkeys."
Owen and many like her see their allotments or urban gardens as low-impact,
low-carbon contributions to their local community. A place where you can grow
your own food, with no need for plastic packaging or planes that bring in
produce from abroad. And so she was surprised to see reports of a study
published in January 2024 that suggested urban agriculture in the US and Europe
is on average six times as polluting, in terms of carbon emissions, as
conventional, commercial agriculture.
One form of urban growing not included in the study was backyard or home garden
veg growing. For collective gardens such as community-run gardens,
specifically, the research suggested they were the most carbon-intensive of all
– at 0.81kg of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) per serving on average, versus
0.07kg of CO2e for conventional agriculture. Meanwhile, individual gardens –
one person's allotment plot – were somewhere in between at 0.34kg of CO2e. Owen
says she found the study "thought-provoking" but it left a sour taste. "It's a
bit like David and Goliath," she says. "Why are they picking on the small
guys?"'
Via
Positive.News
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
