The document discusses the benefits of urban agriculture and victory gardens. It notes that climate change poses grave threats and agriculture contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. However, organic agriculture can help mitigate climate change by reducing emissions and sequestering carbon. Urban gardens and farms can produce significant amounts of nutritious foods and provide health, economic, social and environmental benefits. The East Tennessee Earth Alliance aims to promote local food production and traditional food skills as ways to build more sustainable and resilient communities.

1. Victory Gardens for the 21st
Century
EAST TENNESSEE EARTH ALLIANCE

2. Climate change is the defining challenge for
human development and ecological well being
in the 21st century.

5. The IPCC projects that if no action is taken, concentrations of
greenhouse gases in the atmosphere could reach 2 ºC higher
than their pre-industrial levels by 2035-2050.
The consequences of a 2 ºC temperature rise are grave for
potentially millions of people through death, injury and
dislocation from flooding, fire and disease, adverse effects on
water quality, species extinction and reduced agricultural
yields.
International Trade Centre UNCTAD/WTO, Palais des Nations, 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
(http://www.intracen.org)

6. Agriculture is both affected by climate change but also
contributes to it. As a sector, agriculture adapts to changes and
offers options for mitigation i.e. reducing greenhouse gas
emissions and carbon storage.
When considering the total food chain from farm to the
consumer, the greenhouse gas emissions from all sectors
related to agriculture potentially total 25-30% of all GHG
emissions.
International Trade Centre UNCTAD/WTO
Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL)
Organic Farming and Climate Change.

7. Agriculture can help to mitigate climate change by a)
reducing emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and
b) by sequestering CO2 from the atmosphere in the
soil.
Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL 2007

8. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPPC) defines adaptation to climate change as
„adjustment in natural or human systems in response
to actual or expected climatic stimuli or their effects,
which moderates harm or exploits beneficial
opportunities.‟
„Gateway to the UN System‟s Work on Climate Change‟ http://www.un.org/climatechange/background/living.shtml

9. Traditional skills and knowledge as a key to adaptation to climate
change
Traditional skills and knowledge have been neglected in
intensive corporate agriculture. Organic agriculture, on the
other hand, has always been based on practical farming skills,
observation, personal experience and intuition.
Knowledge and experience replaces or reduces reliance on
industrial agriculture. This knowledge is important for
manipulating complex agro-ecosystems, for breeding locally
adjusted seeds and livestock, and for producing on-farm
fertilizers (compost, manure, green manure) and inexpensive
nature-derived pesticides. Such knowledge has also been
described as a „reservoir of adaptations.‟
Tengo and Belfrages, 2004

10. “Demand at food banks across the country
increased by 30 percent in 2008 from the previous
year,” according to a survey by Feeding America. Even
food pantries in upscale communities are seeing an
uptick in demand. “These are people who never really
had to ask for help before,” said Brenda Beavers of the
Salvation Army.
Even when much of America is prospering, hunger is a
significant problem, according to annual reports
issued by the USDA.

11. Today, far fewer Americans have experience making foods
from scratch, and fewer still understand food preservation,
which requires both skill and an investment in steam cookers,
jars and lids, said Janet Poppendieck, a Hunter College
sociologists who studies emergency food needs.
“We have seen a major shift in the way people prepare foods
and eat foods over the last one or two generations,” said
Vanessa Ulmer, policy and advocacy coordinator of Tulane
University‟s Prevention Research Center.

12. The East Tennessee Earth Alliance is working to
change local food policy and cultural attitudes about
food and revive traditional food skills.

13. ETEA recognizes the value of farm- and garden-scale
urban agriculture for environmental and nutritional
health, personal wellness, urban greening, and an
engaged and active citizenry.
Growing food and non-food crops in and near town
contributes to healthy communities by engaging
residents in work and pleasure that improves the well-
being of themselves and the broader public.

14. The potential to expand urban production is
enormous. One third of the 2 million farms in the
United States are located within metropolitan areas,
and produce 35 percent of U.S. vegetables, fruit,
livestock, poultry, and fish.
Katherine Brown, PhD Southside Community Land Trust
Approximately every $1 invested in a community
garden plot yields $6 worth of vegetables.
Anne C. Bellows, PhD Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

15. Nutrition
Urban gardens and farms produce surprising amounts of
fruits, vegetables, fish, poultry, and meat. In a 130-day
temperate growing season, a 10‟x10‟ meter plot can provide
most of a 4-person household‟s total yearly vegetable needs,
including much of the household‟s nutritional requirements for
vitamins A, C, and B complex and iron.
(Community Food Security Coalition 2008).
Practical experience with food – cultivation, harvesting,
purchasing in stores and farm stands, cooking – influences
dietary knowledge and practice.

16. Exercise
Gardening and food production is good exercise, although its
value is often discounted. When self identified as exercise by
research subjects or isolated by researchers, gardening has
been connected to reducing risks of obesity (children and
adults).
Research shows that gardening is a preferred form of exercise
across age, gender, and ethnicity. Overall, older persons do
more gardening than younger ones. Even moderate forms of
garden exercise increase muscle strength and endurance in
activity-reduced persons including pregnant women, cancer
survivors, and those generally sedentary.
Anne C. Bellows, PhD Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

17. Mental Health
Working with plants and being in the outdoors trigger both
illness prevention and healing responses. Cultivation activities
trigger both illness prevention and healing responses. Health
professionals use plants and gardening materials to help
patients of diverse ages with mental illness improve social
skills, self-esteem, and use of leisure time. Horticulture
therapy promotes plant-human relationships to induce
relaxation and to reduce stress, fear and anger, blood pressure,
and muscle tension.
Jac Smit, The Urban Agriculture Network

18. Building Safe, Healthy and Green Environments
Community and educational lands dedicated to food
production encourage participation in the vigor of a
positive urban environment. Working collaboratively
to “green” a neighborhood creates safe and pleasant
neighborhoods that reduce GHG, decrease air
pollution, reduce crime and enhance civic life. Social
engagement is positively correlated with personal
attention to health care and wellness.
North American Initiative on Urban Agriculture

19. Victory Gardens for the 21st
Century
EAST TENNESSEE EARTH ALLIANCE

20. EAST TENNESSE EARTH ALLIANCE