Comments on: Sick Of The Recalls! http://www.livingoffgrid.org/sick-of-the-recalls/ Info for Off Grid Homes Thu, 09 Sep 2010 05:13:48 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Kate@LivingTheFrugalLife http://www.livingoffgrid.org/sick-of-the-recalls/comment-page-1/#comment-349 Kate@LivingTheFrugalLife Sun, 02 Nov 2008 15:13:52 +0000 http://www.livingoffgrid.org/?p=111#comment-349 I understand and share your concern. But I don't think we're strictly limited to only those two options. I think we *can* grow more of our own food. A lot more. As we did during WWII and the Great Depression. True, there are some who cannot produce much or any of their own food due to their living situations. But with a total population of less than 300 million, your statement that there are hundreds of millions living in apartment and urban centers - and who are therefore precluded from growing any food - seems overstated. (I'd be curious to see real numbers on what our population distribution really looks like at present.) Suburbia is a nightmare of inefficiency. But it does offer this possible silver lining: lawns. I've heard that America currently devotes more acreage to grass lawns than to growing corn. And we grow a helluva lot of corn. You may be right that small scale production cannot meet all our needs. But it is a significant step in the right direction. It also has the advantage of being far more feasible than your two proposed solutions. Moreover, it's within the grasp of a huge portion of our population, and it could be very rapidly implemented. Politics and diplomacy would take much, much longer to have any effect. The average homeowner doesn't need to become a homesteader to make a difference in their own life, merely a gardener. Homesteading is a LOT of work, but gardening on even a moderate scale is well within the reach of fully employed suburbanites. It's all a matter of priority. I think more people will be willing to prioritize the investment in their own food than an investment in political activism, or forbearing to reproduce. I understand and share your concern. But I don’t think we’re strictly limited to only those two options. I think we *can* grow more of our own food. A lot more. As we did during WWII and the Great Depression.

True, there are some who cannot produce much or any of their own food due to their living situations. But with a total population of less than 300 million, your statement that there are hundreds of millions living in apartment and urban centers – and who are therefore precluded from growing any food – seems overstated. (I’d be curious to see real numbers on what our population distribution really looks like at present.)

Suburbia is a nightmare of inefficiency. But it does offer this possible silver lining: lawns. I’ve heard that America currently devotes more acreage to grass lawns than to growing corn. And we grow a helluva lot of corn. You may be right that small scale production cannot meet all our needs. But it is a significant step in the right direction. It also has the advantage of being far more feasible than your two proposed solutions. Moreover, it’s within the grasp of a huge portion of our population, and it could be very rapidly implemented. Politics and diplomacy would take much, much longer to have any effect.

The average homeowner doesn’t need to become a homesteader to make a difference in their own life, merely a gardener. Homesteading is a LOT of work, but gardening on even a moderate scale is well within the reach of fully employed suburbanites. It’s all a matter of priority. I think more people will be willing to prioritize the investment in their own food than an investment in political activism, or forbearing to reproduce.

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