During WWII, the U.S. government appealed to the American people to take personal action as a way of aiding the war effort. One such initiative involved the creation of “Victory Gardens,” small family vegetable plots which aimed to provide some part of a household’s food supply, and thereby make more output from the larger food production system available to the troops.

Now imagine what modern victory gardens would be like. These could be aimed at reducing pressure on the food production system, which periodically shows strains in the form of e coli scares, mass recalls, and the like. Moreover, as factory farming and food production pumps as much and perhaps even more carbon into the atmosphere as the transportation system, a massive retooling involving low-impact family plot could have a significant impact on climate change. When would we declare “victory?” When we managed to reverse the flow of carbon, and redirect it into the earth around us and our food supply.



American WWII-era poster promoting victory gardens. Artwork in the public domain.

Links:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_gardens

https://livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe40s/crops_02.html