The Environment is Also the Built

"When we change the way we grow our food, we change our food, we change society, we change our values..." -Wendell Berry, Preface to Masanobu Fukuoka's "The One-Straw Revolution"

"And they were hungry, and they were wondering, if this land was really made for you and me." -Woody Guthrie, "This Land is Your Land, This Land is My Land"

Our values today in America and much of the world are such that profit, quantity, and property rights are given precedent over people. This is a sad state of affairs, and much of this process has taken place so swiftly that most people have little time or energy--due to their long and stressful jobs--to respond. According to the documentary "Home", over half the world's population still makes its livelihood by farming. Yet many of us in America's urban and suburban areas can trace our fruits, vegetables, and meats only as far back as the grocery store. We are disconnected from the cultivation process of these goods and therefore do not give much thought to the herbicides, pesticides, and hormones used that damage the health of our natural environment, our livestock, and ourselves.

These chemicals are used to increase efficiency and profit for commercial farms, but the environment and people are left behind. We do a great deal of damage using herbicides and pesticides, disturbing the natural balance of weeds and crops, and natural predators to pests. A response to this phenomenon has been organic farming, popping up throughout the world as well as in rural and urban parts of America. The goal here has been to disturb the natural equilibrium of the environment as little as possible, by eliminating pesticide and herbicide use. In North Central Washington, for example, the infestation of the codling moth in apple orchards was drastically reduced by releasing samples of the female pheromone to attract the males, where they were then caught in a trap. Other such methods have been used in other contexts.

Involved in this movement has also been the push to grow and buy local, giving rise to community gardens in America's cities. In underdeveloped areas such as the Bronx in New York and South Los Angeles, communities have formed to grow healthy food that can be cultivated for subsistence--and the rest sold for profit--at low costs. When the production process is made cooperative the cost goes down. This is a victory for low-income families growing their own food and those who buy the goods at local farmer's markets.

I am writing from an organic farm in Kastelia, Greece, and have experienced the transformative benefits of this environment. The soil is healthier, the animals are healthier, the lifestyle is healthier. The aggregate of people from the surrounding villages who have farm holdings often operate as a cooperative, selling needed goods back and forth at prices lower than what are available at the super market. This spirit of cooperation and community reveals that we can thrive and lead healthy lives, at a low cost and independent from large corporate grocers. Community gardens and other such collectives in the U.S. also offer this possibility. A parallel to selfishness and profit can then form (and I believe is already in motion) to bring fruition to the words of Woody Guthrie: "...I saw a sign there that said private property. But on the other side it didn't say nothin', now that side was made for you and me."

We have enough capital in our country even in recession to fund many community garden projects, live more simply, and make true the American Dream. But as Erick Sanchez points out, it is important that we approach this dream in a progressive way. Let capital work for people, not the other way around. And may we work toward a change in how we make our food, the quality of our food, and the values that shape our society.

Michael Stephens
Team Green Bite
Kastelia, Fokidas, Greece

To: Team Green Bite

From: Erick I. Sanchez de Leon

Date: October 29, 2009

Subject: Book Review on Suburban Nation: the Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream.

Traditional Neighborhoods vs. Suburban Sprawl

“This book is a study of two different models of urban growth: the traditional neighborhood and suburban sprawl”(3). These two models are described in this book for the purpose to inform the reader that sprawl is unsustainable. The authors illustrate that sprawl is unsustainable, not only because of construction and maintenance costs, but also the costs to our democracy. The United States, according to the authors, cannot continue building communities that segregate community functions and spaces without compromising its ideals of political and civic accessibility. Compared with traditional neighborhoods, suburban sprawl leaves our most vulnerable, the elderly, the poor, and the youth dependant, isolated and disenfranchised. Americans must change the way we construct our neighborhoods and incorporate regional planning to tackle mutual problems like, pollution, transportation, housing and commerce. For these reasons these authors explain 8 steps for regional planning (142-147).

8 Steps for Regional Planning

Admit growth will occur

Establish a permanent countryside preserve

Establish a temporary countryside reserve

Designate the corridors

Establish priority development sectors

Establish a proactive permitting process for development that follows the neighborhood model

Designate all other types of development as districts

Fairly distribute the Lulus

By taking such measures in consideration and action, development using these steps will help our expanding urban areas to be better able to become sustainable economically, environmentally and politically. We as a nation must work together to create communities that provide accessibility for the maintenance of our democracy. It is our duty as citizens to provide future generations the choice to live in neighborhoods that provide housing, work, play, civic participation and food in walking distance. This will depend on how we citizens exercise our rights and responsibilities. We as a nation will have to change our consumption patterns. We will have to reassess our values. We will have to engage our neighbors and make associations to remold our urban areas. This change will start in our assumptions of what “the American Dream” entails. It is the way we go about it, not the dream it self.

Works cited

Andres Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, and Jeff Speak. 2000. Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the American Dream. North Point Press. New York.