I just read a compelling piece by Paul Tranter about the need to prepare our children for an uncertain world by teaching them how to grow their own food and generally be resilient. It is part of a piece on child-friendly cities and how we must develop child-friendly spaces and cities for our children who he describes as 'indicators' of healthy environments. He predicts and plans for an uncertain future where our children will need to know how to grow local food in the event of a range of crises including oil shortages, climate change and population stress as the world absorbs the inevitable impacts of climate change.
Let our kids dig in the dirt.
I must confess I don't let my children dig in dirt as much as I should and they love it - only a few days ago they asked me for a shovel and started digging holes just for fun. I started to get uptight about it because of the mess but I will resolve to encourage them to dig anything they want as long as they are touching the earth!
He said our children need to learn practical skills such as how to grow their own food at home, at school and ultimately in the community. Currently we educate our children in schools to fit into our complex, corporatist and consumerist world based on economic growth and oil resources but this model is already outdated. They will need to be resilient and to adapt to change and learn some basics as the world we know starts to fall apart at the seams. That's why the kitchen garden program is vital for our children's future.
It's all good however, as no matter how bad things get...and they will get bad....change is an agent for good and will force us all to develop alternative technologies and survive and regenerate our battered planet.
Schools should become a place where children learn to be creative and part of a cooperative community that can grow food, tackle solutions to alternative energies and innovate. Currently our children depend on us to drive them to activities in their highly scheduled lives - we need to change and our cities and spaces need to change to enable children to explore and play. Even our front yards should be places where children can interact within their community, play, explore, dig in the dirt and grow stuff.
Being part of a robust connected community is good for our health and will help us respond better to future crises such as global food shortages if we have the networks to act cooperatively and share food.
Create a garden in an old car
There has been an alternative movement in urban communities to grow gardens in old cars. What a great idea. Have a look at this car garden 'how to' website in the Netherlands. Very cool!
http://www.autotuin.nl/cargarden.html
Peru's International Potato Centre
After the Crookwell Potato Festival you may want to visit the International Potato Centre in Peru. A well-travelled friend sent me this link saying this was on her list of places she'd like to visit. Our taxpayer dollars help fund this through AusAID and they are doing great things like developing iron-enriched super potatoes. Iron is the most common nutritional deficiency in the world and potatoes are a good alternative to meat. Thanks for this link W and I'm sure their souvenir shop is exciting!
International Potato Centre
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