How Can Community Gardens Help Us Save the Environment?

Is there anything more amazing  than growing greens on your own? Well, when we live in cities, seeing greenery is rare and the adulterated food that we eat, just takes away the entire pleasure of having good food.  Our situation is not commendable as many urban cities in the world have become “Food Desert” where they don’t get fresh fruits and vegetables, all they get is food filled with harmful chemicals. This is a serious issue as it is not only harming our health but also the environment. With every problem there comes a solution, and to save our planet and start living sustainably Community Gardens are one of our major solutions. It could not only grow your fruits or vegetables it could also be there for recreational activities. 

Community gardens, as the name suggests is a garden where the members of a certain locality or community can come together and grow their fruits and vegetables. The whole idea behind community gardening is to take a break from our routine work and spend some time with nature and grow your food. This will benefit not only humans but the entire ecosystem.

Benefits of Community Gardens on the environment

 Community gardens create a sharing economy, where individuals realize how important sharing is, sharing not only with humans but all the creatures of the planet.  Below are some of the benefits of having community gardens and how can it save the environment:

• Improving the air quality: With the rise in the number of community gardens, the air that we breathe will become better. It will create greenery, more oxygen and better air quality. During the rainy season the gardens would absorb the excess of water and help keep cities cleaner. In the long run more community gardens result in reducing climate change and cleaner air. 

• Fresh Produce: The main purpose of community gardens is to produce fresh, whether it’s our fruits or vegetables. The juicy cherry tomatoes and lush green salad leaves would satisfy our taste buds. Fresh fruits and vegetables naturally increase the intake of pure food. 

Decrease in chemicals directly benefits the environment and saves the depletion of soil. It is a step forward to save our planet. 

• Concept of Composting- In our everyday lives we all produce some organic waste which could easily act as manure for the gardens. When we collectively  collect organic waste, and reuse it for our gardens,it helps us use less chemicals and makes us more conscious about reducing, reusing and recycling. 

Decomposition of plants and other organisms creates nutrients for the soil and improves the quality of soil. This naturally results in better grown food supplies. The process of decomposition helps us to encourage organic gardens and creation of better green places. 

• Increase in Physical Activity: Growing your fruits and vegetables is not easy, it requires a lot of physical work. This can become a good workout for people and benefit our mind, body and soul as it boosts your physical and mental health.

• Food Miles: Food Miles are basically the distance food is travelled to reach its final destination i.e. consumers. Everyday thousands of trucks carrying our fresh fruits and vegetables travel from one place to another. These trucks emit a lot of pollutants and greenhouse gases, and the freshness of the food doesn’t remain the same. Hence community farming reduces the food travel time and there is reduction in carbon footprints. 

• Reduction in Packaging materials: By growing our food, we are reducing the number of packaging materials, distribution and the number of middlemen involved. This reduction is an excellent solution to reduce packaging waste and goes parallel with sustainable living.

• Strengthening Communities: Community farming plays a major role in creating awareness and educating people about good food and quality living. Community farming cannot be done by a single person, it requires everyone’s contribution, and needs a leadership team who can take that extra step and work a little extra to benefit the community members.  It creates a sense of unity and bond amongst the neighbours. It improves social belongingness and enables us to explore more about what we all can do to grow our own.

• Increased employment opportunities- The purpose of community garden is to engage its members. It helps to enhance the local system and contribute to the economy by localizing production. It increases employment opportunities and hence locally reduces poverty. 

• Changing Mindsets: Community gardens could be in urban, sub urban or even rural areas. It could be started at a vacant or unused plot or in places where there is extra space like schools, hospitals. When we start creating community gardens in the school premises, they subconsciously make students aware about the importance of “reduce, reuse and recycle”. The learning that takes place during your childhood is something one can never forget, so creating one near schools and making children part of it is like making the future generation adapt to this sustainable lifestyle change. 

Community gardens also reduce crime rates, as unused land would now being used productively. 

Food is a basic human necessity and it helps to create food security and reduces waste materials as people would be able to use their organic waste as manure.

Points to think before starting a Community Garden

1. Creating a group of dedicated members who are ready to take responsibilities
2. Finding a proper plot for the garden, it cannot be very small and should be     preferably flat
3. Whether the plot receives enough sunlight and is the water supply possible for irrigation
4. Proper planned design of the garden
5. Preparing a budget
6. Wise investments in the tools that are to be used for the gardens
7. Creating rules for the garden and strictly executing them

Community Gardens are something which has always been there in human history and is a huge opportunity for everyone to contribute their share as a responsible citizen, not only for their country but for their planet as well. For instance East New York farms is one of the most famous community gardens in New York, it is a community garden where the residents promote sustainable agriculture, and believe in community led economic development. It is really interesting to actually see people help uplift each other and the entire planet. 

Creating a community garden is a significant project and if done with precise planning and utmost dedication it will not only create green spaces for the community but also will produce quality food and increase employment opportunities. With a greater number of community gardens there will be a drastic improvement in the quality of air, water, soil and our entire ecosystem. On an individual level also creating and working for community gardens would improve our health and reduce our stress levels. It is one step forward towards living a sustainable life and a better planet.Grow your own, be on your own!

Prachi