Canada: Why the Climate Crisis Requires 21st Century-Like Victory Gardens and High Tech Solutions
Within the city, a few people harvest fiddleheads, as well as other forms of natural bounty which grow mostly in the ravine systems which twist and turn across the landscape on their way to Lake Ontario.
By Steven Peck
Living Architecture Monitor
Spring 2024
Excerpt:
Some degree of ‘back to the future’, to Victory Garden like days, will likely be required to help us prepare to manage the future impacts of the climate crisis on our food supply. We need to develop a culture which engages in and values local food production. We need public policy support, public institutional support, and private investment in productive capacity, research, technology and training to produce food in, on and around buildings in our cities. Net zero and carbon positive buildings are great, but ones that also support food production are even better.
We also need to protect regional farmland from sprawling urban development, a seemingly never-ending challenge. Grow cities up and use green infrastructure to make them more livable. Regional agriculture capacity is critically important because we are a long way off from feeding cities within our city boundaries. Strategic investments in education coupled with job opportunities can result in a new generation of urban dwellers who will know how to produce food in a more sustainable manner, and be ready to generate surpluses to feed local populations in times of need.
At its core, the challenge is for more decision makers to recognize the need to begin the rapid implementation of our 21st century versions of a Victory Garden, to get ahead of the curve, and thereby reap the many benefits of urban food production in all of its manifestations.
