Grow your own

Dirty hands - cleaner earth | Graeme Hodge

It’s a simple statement, but in these three words could very well be one of the most sustainable solutions to climate change and the reduction of excessive and life threatening carbon emissions. Grow your own.

It’s an incredibly gutsy statement, one that could be dismissed by eco-professionals as naïve and perhaps uninformed. But, the evidence actually suggests otherwise. You see, growing your own could be the tangible action that sees our fragile planet not just slow down our ecological suicide but actually shut down the process of earth’s euthanasia altogether. Or could it?

If we back up for a moment, zoom back out to the big macro-picture of our earth and take a look at our phenomenal environment, we can see a rather gloomy picture. It seems we are breaking records on a daily basis, and none of the records we are breaking are ones that we would necessarily want to be recorded in the latest copy of the Guinness world book of records. Highest rainfall, hottest summer, increases in water levels and so on. So when we see all of this bad news, it can make life seem a little hopeless.

There is a dangerous shift in our world today as we are all exposed to the harsh reality of climate change and its effect on our environment. Some would say it is too late, so why bother trying to make a change? Essentially these people have already planned their ecologically-induced death or perhaps resigned themselves to the fact that they will end up being buried on a landfill site along with all of the other waste we generate on a daily basis. It’s a fatalistic view of life, but sadly one some are choosing to live by.

Then there are the others who are genuinely convinced that climate change is inherently a bad thing and that they should do something to help stop it. But they stop short of any kind of serious or tenacious life change, because, after all, any efforts they make are just going to be undone by some major new coal plant in China or massive deforestation project in the Brazilian rainforest.

To be fair, there is probably some merit to this argument in that the historical scenario has been one where the most industrialised and rich nations have been responsible for about 95% of fuel burning activities (as opposed to the entire continent of Africa, which has a global quota of just 3.5%). However, present trends and predictions suggest that by 2020 there will be a doubling of global energy demands and that developing countries, especially those with major emerging industry, will require about 50% of the world’s energy needs and subsequently will increase their emissions substantially unless they choose to go with renewable energy sources. But somehow that doesn’t seem likely looking at the present global picture.

So should we be worried or even angered by this grim prediction? After all, why shouldn’t our “circumstantial twin” in India or China have the right to own a car, electricity in his home and consume as much energy as we do? Does our concern and indignation at the seeming flagrant attitude of developing nations towards this issue become hypocritical given the fact that it is essentially the developed world that has predominantly caused this mess?

So if I believe that I should do something to slow climate change, and have an urgent hunch that something as simple as replacing my light bulb with a more energy efficient one might actually make a difference, then should I abandon my personal environmental activism in light of a seemingly overwhelming wave of indifference somewhere else? The simple answer, we believe, should be a passionate “No.”

You see, inherent to the “make-a-personal-change, make-a-difference” approach and argument are some basic realities that are hard to refute. When we make a simple change, it may perhaps do little to halt climate change by itself. But sharing this change with someone else who in turn shares it with someone else (and so on) creates a group of people who, collectively, are then influencing consumer decisions, which in turn influences markets, which influences producers and manufacturers, who respond to economic and market research which in turn forces them to change their behaviour too. Whew.

Suddenly, as we are seeing in the US and UK at the moment, driving an oversized four-wheel-drive in the middle of a smoothed-road metropolis not only becomes expensive but also somewhat ludicrous. The car industry is a great example of how changing consumer demands have changed industrial production priorities in favour of smaller, more fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly models.

“Going personally green is a bet, nothing more or less, though it’s probably one we all should make, even if the odds of it paying off aren’t great. Sometimes you have to act as if acting will make a difference, even when you can’t prove that it will,” says Michael Pollon in a recent Guardian newspaper article. And indeed, he makes a good point. Whilst there is some degree of chance in the feeling that if I go green, pretty soon others will too, the bigger crime is not trying to go green in the first place.

In these situations, it is tempting to put the blame on government, especially those governments who don’t do enough to make proactive change in favour of the environment. But ultimately (and ideally), the government in any democracy works for the good and agenda of the people it serves. If we want our governments to make changes, we need to tell them what we believe in and how we want them to play a greater part in the protection of this precious planet. Climate change can and will only be affected by global change which, when it all drills down, can only be affected by individual change.

So what does it mean to “grow your own,” and why will that have any impact on climate change? To find the answer, it is probably best to look to our neighbours in developing countries. Ironically, it is the world’s poorest who suffer the most from the effects of climate change and are the most vulnerable to the effects of environmental decline. However, almost every category of agricultural production is dominated by a top ten list of producers, which are almost all developing countries.

Growing your own food, the very basic for living, is fundamental to so much of culture and daily life in developing communities. It makes sense; you grow what you need to survive. So why is this idea so foreign to those of us who live in developed countries? Is it really that we are just too busy and urbanised to consider it as an option? And if not, then what difference will growing even just a bit of our own food make to this huge issue of climate change?

By sacrificing a bit of our lawn, building a window box or getting a local allotment, you could produce enough food for yourself and even your family to at very least dine on for lunch, and maybe even share around to your neighbours! Simply getting into the garden means you will be spending less time on electronic entertainment, less time at the gym and also using your own compostable waste to fertilise, thus reducing significantly the amount of energy you “need” to get through your daily activities and the amount of waste that gets dragged away to landfill. Growing your own then reduces dependence on your local capitalist chain supermarket, which in turn reduces demand for imported food and perhaps returns some of that instinctive spirit we often lose - that of the hunter-gatherer in us all.

The team I work with has had some great experiences since they started making their own efforts to go green and grow your own. One team member has started an allotment where he is successfully growing and harvesting a whole range of produce. He also talks of the new community he has found at the allotments and how he has experienced some quality family time there too. Another few on our team have started growing their own in their backyard. We all benefit from their efforts when they bring in fresh food for us all to share. Others have chosen green energy suppliers and found that costs differ very little to services that are offered with higher emissions. Another team member is going on vacation and has committed to only using public transport to travel around to ensure that her carbon footprint stays as low as possible on this vacation. All simple actions, but all, hopefully, making a difference. If this team can do it, we can all make the change!

Changing one thing, whether it is in your garden or in the choices you make every day, is something we are very passionate about. We even have a whole section on our website with 100 ideas for how you can Change One Thing and by doing so change the world; many of the ideas are focused on environmental action too.

Growing your own can reconnect you with a perfectly created planet with which we are disconnected as a direct result of generationally consuming without regard for the planet and subsequently for the people that live beyond us. Growing your own is just one way to tackle a macro problem in a micro way. But it is a way.

“Planting a garden sounds pretty benign, but it’s one of the most powerful things an individual can do” says Michael Pollon. It is in the decision for each of us to find a way to do our bit to tackle and heal climate change, that a way for mankind and the planet will inevitably be found. Play your part. Make a difference.

Take action:

• Grow your own by buying some seeds and planting them. Start small if you are not usually green-fingered and you can even start in planter boxes first. If you’re really game, get an allotment - it’s a great way to meet your neighbours, produce good, free food and do something positive for the planet.
• Buy a veggie starter pack from our Gift Catalogue, to help others get started on their own efforts and also provide a much needed source of income to lift themselves out of poverty.
• Take other actions to reduce your energy consumption. Simple actions like unplugging your mobile phone charger when you are not using it. 95% of the energy used by the phone chargers is wasted.
• Swap your light bulbs for energy saving bulbs.
• Contact your council for free ways to recycle. Some local authorities give free composting bins and just need encouragement to provide other recycling services.
• Visit the CHANGE ONE THING section on our website to find ways you can start making a global difference.
• Get involved in our new mobile phone recycling programme. Visit our website for more information.

Writer: Graeme Hodge is a passionate Christian, and lives in London, UK, with his wife Emily. In his work as the Assistant Director for The Salvation Army’s International Development department in the UK and Ireland he is actively and fervently involved in a range of social justice issues.

1 Comment to Grow your own

1. Graeme,
   thanks for a great exploration of why individual action is important in the fight against climate change.

   The proposed Emissions Trading Scheme in Australia highlights the problem of the politics of individual action. In its current guise any ’savings’ made by households would not contribute to the nation’s emissions savings. Instead any ’savings’ made by households will be on-sold to polluting industries thereby nullifying those savings.

   I have explored this in more detail in myblog post responding to your post.
Liam Bantock on April 15th, 2009

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