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The potential for urban household vegetable gardens to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
Abstract
We carried out a life cycle assessment to model the potential for alternative household vegetable gardens (AHHVGs) to mitigate global climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE) for Santa Barbara County, California, USA. Our model included changes in GHGE due to the effect of creating an AHHVG for five components: reduction of lawn area due to replacement by the AHHVG; reduction of vegetables purchased from the conventional agrifood system due to replacement by vegetables produced in the AHHVG; reduction in amount of greywater exported to treatment facilities due to diversion to irrigate the AHHVG; reduction in amount of household organic waste exported to treatment facilities due to diversion to composting at the household level for application to the AHHVG; and composting organic household waste for use in the AHHVG. We found that AHHVGs could reduce emissions by over 2 kg CO2e kg⁻¹ vegetable, but that results were sensitive to the range of values for the key variables of yield and alternative methods for processing household organic waste. In our baseline scenario (50% of single-family households with an 18.7 m² AHHVG, providing 50% of their vegetable consumption), AHHVGs contributed 3.3% of the GHGE reduction goals of unincorporated Santa Barbara County for 2020, 0.5% of the goals for the City of Santa Barbara for 2050, and by extrapolation, 7.8% of the goals for California for 2020. Our results could provide an incentive for governments to include support of AHHVG as part of climate mitigation strategies, and for households to grow vegetables in AHHVGs to address climate change.
... Many UA LCAs focus on food production at the farm level (Sanyé-Mengual et al., 2015b), but some use the city scale (Benis and Ferrão, 2017) and land-use function . These assessments often presume that UA has reduced environmental impacts from the conventional food systems, and research is framed as quantifying these benefits and reduced impacts (Cleveland et al., 2017;Kulak et al., 2013). Sometimes the conclusion is that UA greatly reduces climate change impacts from conventional agriculture, when only the reductions were modeled, with no impacts from UA itself (Cleveland et al., 2017;Vávra et al., 2018). ...
... These assessments often presume that UA has reduced environmental impacts from the conventional food systems, and research is framed as quantifying these benefits and reduced impacts (Cleveland et al., 2017;Kulak et al., 2013). Sometimes the conclusion is that UA greatly reduces climate change impacts from conventional agriculture, when only the reductions were modeled, with no impacts from UA itself (Cleveland et al., 2017;Vávra et al., 2018). Sometimes data come from specific, functioning urban farms and gardens (Fisher, 2014), and sometimes data come from the scientific literature or models (Weidner and Yang, 2020). ...
... Studies at the city level, and studies with uncommon functional units that could not be harmonized with impacts of food production at the farm level (for example, provisioning of resources needed to supply food, energy and water to a neighborhood for one year; or avoided impacts per kilogram of food produced), were excluded (such as Sanyé-Mengual et al., 2018Toboso-Chavero et al., 2018;Weidner and Yang, 2020). We also excluded consequential LCAs of UA, which is where only the consequences, or external changes resulting from a change in an activity, were modeled, rather than modeling the processes of a system itself (Benis and Ferrão, 2017;Cleveland et al., 2017;Puigdueta et al., 2021). For example, modeling the reduced residential lawn maintenance if UA were to be installed, or the change in diets of UA practitioners. ...
The global food system causes massive environmental impacts, and faces the challenge of feeding an even larger, more urbanized population in the coming decades. Urban agriculture (UA) is a type of alternative agriculture, which may have environmental and social benefits, and comes in a large diversity of forms. These environmental benefits and impacts can be modeled with life cycle assessment (LCA). Application of LCA to UA is relatively recent, and has not undergone the same methodological reflections and adaptations that LCA of other sectors has. In this thesis project, I investigated 1) what LCA tells us about the environmental performance of UA, and 2) how best to apply LCA to UA. I performed a review and meta-analysis of UA LCAs, and reviewed literature on the development of LCA for agriculture in general. I did LCAs of nine urban farms and gardens in Paris, France and the Bay Area, California, USA, and (with the FEW-meter project) analyzed resource use and food production at 72 UA case studies. I summarized and generated knowledge on the environmental performance of UA, and created a methodological framework to improve consistency and completeness in UA LCAs.
... This creates opportunities for several species that, Home gardening has also been pointed out as having a positive impact on the social conditions of local populations, trough-strengthening cohesion, and the local economy [112,113]; an increase in financial revenues, the reduction in poverty risk factors have been highlighted in the literature. Another important achievement of home gardening is related to its benefits for carbon sequestration: plant cover might buffer climate change variability [114] by creating more complex canopies than modern agriculture and/or urban areas, thus ultimately modulating microclimatic conditions [115] and sequestering atmospheric carbon into the soil [116]. In addition, green-house gas (GHG) footprints of consumers through conventional agribusiness systems is far higher than of home productions [117]. ...
... Home composting from gardening waste can also produce methane and nitrous oxide, which are strong GHGs [119][120][121]. Nonetheless, GHG reductions were observed in gardening communities, compared with conventional systems, particularly when vegetable production replaced lawns [116]. In developed countries, post-harvest processes, such as storing, refrigeration, and transportation over long distances produce high GHG emissions, comparable to the production processes [122]. ...
... The widespread use of mulching or compost, ground cover, vegetables and fruits in raised beds (filled with an uncontaminated soil), no tillage, and sowing annual plants away from busy roads are practices to be considered [117]. All these practices can also contribute to the recovery of degraded soils in gardens, but also capture different forms of atmospheric carbon, contributing in this way as a carbon sink [116]. ...
Home gardening has a long history that started when humans became sedentary, being traditionally considered an accessible source of food and medicinal plants to treat common illnesses. With trends towards urbanization and industrialization, particularly in the post-World War II period , the importance of home gardens as important spaces for growing food and medicinal plants reduced and they began to be increasingly seen as decorative and leisure spaces. However, the growing awareness of the negative impacts of agricultural intensification and urbanization for human health, food quality, ecosystem resilience, and biodiversity conservation motivated the emergence of new approaches concerning home gardens. Societies began to question the potential of nearby green infrastructures to human wellbeing, food provisioning, and the conservation of traditional varieties, as well as providers of important services, such as ecological corridors for wild species and carbon sinks. In this context. and to foster adaptive and resilient social-ecological systems , our supported viewpoint intends to be more than an exhaustive set of perceptions, but a reflection of ideas about the important contribution of home gardens to sustainable development. We envision these humble spaces strengthening social and ecological components, by providing a set of diversified and intermingled goods and services for an increasingly urban population.
... However, in the same period and country, other researchers have pointed to the lifestyle and leisure aspects of gardening and contested the interpretation of gardening as a mainly economically motivated activity [29]. Contrary to these differences, there is an overall consensus, based on research from various countries, that food is produced mostly for their own consumption or sharing with relatives, friends, or neighbours, and only rarely sold, either in an official or unofficial way [23,33,36,55]. ...
... Social relationships (e.g., extended family, friends, and neighbours) are also important, due to their help with work in the garden [60] and as recipients of the shared self-produced food. Giving, receiving, or the bartering food has been confirmed by almost every study focusing on this aspect of food production, although the amount of shared food varied [23,24,46,55,60]. In Czech conditions [55], two-thirds of the whole population participate in food sharing (giving, receiving, or both) and two-thirds of food growing households share some of the food they produce. ...
... Giving, receiving, or the bartering food has been confirmed by almost every study focusing on this aspect of food production, although the amount of shared food varied [23,24,46,55,60]. In Czech conditions [55], two-thirds of the whole population participate in food sharing (giving, receiving, or both) and two-thirds of food growing households share some of the food they produce. Interestingly, the flow of homegrown food often contradicts simple economic logic. ...
Unsustainable food practices in the global North have brought a lot of attention to the concept of alternative food networks. However, prevailing research perspectives have focused on urban areas or market-related activities and tended to overlook the widespread yet neglected food growing in home gardens, especially in rural areas. This paper uses a mixed method approach to study home gardening in two villages in Czechia, focusing on the state of the art of gardening, its sustainability context, and the perception of gardening by the local citizens. We have found that the vast majority of households grow fruit and vegetables, while livestock is also present. Home grown food, which has a supplemental character, is mostly shared within networks of relatives. An understanding of food production as a part of rural identity and tradition is an important element of the perception of gardening. Our findings contribute to the rich debates about the sustainability of food systems. The paper is innovative because it steps outside of the typical poverty or food security discourse of rural informal food production, as well it reveals information on livestock breeding, discusses home gardening in the context of rural development and food policies, and emancipates the semi-peripheral locality as a regular source of new knowledge.
... UA can also improve sustainability through shortening food supply chains, thus reducing the demand for energy in transportation and preservation (Mohareb et al., 2017). For example, Cleveland et al. (2017), estimated that, in Santa Barbara, USA, when these savings were summed with those achieved through waste diversion and a reduction of lawn maintenance, each kg of vegetables produced through UA had the potential to prevent 2.1 kg of CO 2 equivalent greenhouse gas emissions. Other possible environmental benefits and negative impacts of UA have been reviewed by a number of authors, including Goldstein et al. (2016); Hamilton et al. (2013) and Mok et al. (2013). ...
... To estimate the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions that an expansion of UA could potentially achieve, we assumed GHG emissions reductions of 2.1 kg of CO 2 equivalent for each kg of vegetables produced (Cleveland et al., 2017). Cleveland et al. (2017) is the only study we are aware of which quantifies the GHG emissions involved in urban vegetable gardening. ...
... To estimate the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions that an expansion of UA could potentially achieve, we assumed GHG emissions reductions of 2.1 kg of CO 2 equivalent for each kg of vegetables produced (Cleveland et al., 2017). Cleveland et al. (2017) is the only study we are aware of which quantifies the GHG emissions involved in urban vegetable gardening. Whilst it is based on research performed in California, USA, we assumed that most factors used within the analysis would be similar in Sydney (e.g. in both areas vegetables are produced and transported by similar means and newly established vegetable gardens would largely replace lawns). ...
Urban agriculture (UA) can be highly productive in terms of yield per unit area, however productivity is limited by available land and high input requirements. We determined how much of the food supply of Sydney, Australia, could be produced through UA by synthesising yield data from 13 UA gardens with information on labour and key material inputs and using spatial analyses to assess available land area. We modelled three scenarios with varying proportions of available land used for food production; 25 %, 50 % or 75 % of domestic yard space along with street verges and unused land (e.g. vacant lots). Around 15 % of Sydney’s total food supply, or its entire vegetable supply, could be produced through UA under the low range scenario, increasing to 34 % under the highest land use scenario. Under the low range scenario, all necessary irrigation water and organic soil amendments could be obtained from local waste streams, though these sources were insufficient to meet the needs of higher range scenarios. Available labour was a limiting factor in all scenarios, with the entire population being insufficient to meet labour needs required to maintain food production under efficiency and labour investment regimes typical of amateur urban gardeners. Establishing a professionalised UA workforce with greater labour efficiency would be required for managing the available land, however this scenario would likely require changes in public attitudes towards use of private land. These social issues, rather than physical limitations, may be the biggest factors preventing cities like Sydney from obtaining a non-trivial proportion of their food supply from UA.
... In general, FSP contributes to the decrease of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from food production (Cleveland et al., 2017), additionally, gardens also provide space for various ecosystem functions (Cameron et al., 2012). However, the research suggests that the extent of FSP impacts on the environment depends on the specific garden management method used, which in turn might have negative consequences in terms of the overuse of fertilisers or the GHG emissions generated by transportation to the garden (Dewaelheyns et al., 2013;Smith and Jehli cka, 2013). ...
... Researchers of various specialisations advocate FSP due to its positive consequences and strong sustainability potential. Apart from the already mentioned environmental aspects (Cameron et al., 2012;Cleveland et al., 2017), FSP is also linked to health and psychological benefits of gardening activity (Van den Berg et al., 2010;Waliczek et al., 2005;Zick et al., 2013); potential for the strengthening of resilience of the urban food system (Barthel et al., 2015;Toth et al., 2016); solution to economic hardship (Caskie, 2000;Schupp and Sharp, 2012); cultural reproduction (Taylor and Lovell, 2014); and capacity for resistance and empowerment of citizens (Larder et al., 2014;Taylor and Lovell, 2014). Recent research has shown that FSP is relatively common not only in the Global South but also in industrialized countries of the Global North (Brown et al., 1998;Schupp and Sharp, 2012;Teitelbaum and Beckeley, 2006;V avra et al., 2018). ...
... Given the importance of food in the overall GHG emissions of households, FSP can be viewed as a promising activity which may lower the emissions related to food. Cleveland et al. (2017) analysed the potential of home vegetable gardens for the reduction of GHG emissions of households. Their calculations considered the effects of lawn replacement with a vegetable garden, consumption of home grown vegetables instead of purchased ones, composting of organic waste, amount of organic waste exported outside households and use of grey-water. ...
Food self-provisioning, also labelled as household food production, is a traditional activity persisting in the countries of the Global North. Recently, it has become an object of sustainability oriented research due to the positive social, health and environmental outcomes. However, little is known about the rate of self-sufficiency of the food self-provisioners and about environmental context of this kind of food production, including its actual potential for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. To clarify these topics, we analysed sociological data from a quantitative research study carried out in the Czech Republic in 2015. The data from 775 food growing households were used. The combined rate of self-sufficiency of the households was calculated as the share of home grown fruit, vegetables and potatoes in the overall consumption of the household. The rate of self-sufficiency (33%) was then compared with average food consumption and multiplied by the different values of greenhouse gas emissions reduction potential of home grown food. This led to the reduction of 42–92 kg CO2eq/person/year, which constitutes 3–5% of overall food emissions of Czech households. The research shows that positive environmental effects are not negatively counterweighted either by excessive use of industrial fertilisers or by car transportation to the gardens. Environmental motivation is unimportant for gardeners. Our findings give support to “quiet sustainability” and “sustainable materialism”, two recently advanced concepts highlighting the importance of considering everyday practices in the quest for sustainability.
... Both population growth and anthropogenic warming are concentrated in cities. Emerging solutions to these related issues reimagine where and how to grow food. Relocating production to underutilized urban areas like vacant lots and lawns can increase yields (McDougall et al. 2019) while reducing greenhouse gas emissions (Cleveland et al. 2017). Further incorporating useful trees diversifies agricultural outputs while storing more C in wood and soils (De Stefano and Jacobson 2018). ...
... A recent metanalysis indicated that agroforestry soil C sequestration rates may be multiphasic, with an initial decelerating trend yielding to a transitory increase before a long term steady state (Feliciano et al. 2018). For a holistic picture of how UFF can factor into mitigation schemes, further measurements and modelling will be necessary to estimate the capacity and rate of C sequestration aboveground, which are reported to be considerable (Schafer et al. 2019), as well as the extent to which local food production offsets GHG emissions as has been demonstrated for other forms of urban agriculture (Cleveland et al. 2017). ...
Urbanization displaces agriculture and natural ecosystems, constraining food security and carbon (C) sinks. A proposed solution, Urban Food Forestry (UFF), promises local food from trees that can sequester C faster than other land cover types as long as soil function can sustain increased above and belowground productivity. We compared fine-scale variation in soil physical, chemical and biological properties within and between UFF and traditional lawn for evidence of changes in below-ground ecosystem services. Both land covers sequestered C, but UFF did so 834% faster, especially in upper soil strata where soil bulk density fell by 50% and microbial activity increased by 1167%. Species richness of both soil fungi and bacteria increased along with nutrient concentrations. Contrary to expectations, that different tree traits would drive increasing fine scale variability in C density, soils beneath the UFF became more uniform, which is consistent with the rapid emergence of system-level regulation. Soil C mass balance may distinguish forests from collections of trees and determine how long UFF helps cities store their carbon and eat it too.
... In the first place, the proximity of farms to the consumers greatly reduces the 'food-miles' which otherwise could entail an ecological foot print due to transporting from the production/rural areas to the urban centers (Lacour et al., 2018;Benis & Ferrao, 2017). According to this framework, the least GHG emission was estimated for food production in the home garden (food self-provisioning of a family) at 0.97 kg CO 2 eq/kg of food produced and the same system emits 2.1 kg CO 2 eq per kg when inputs (organic wastes, composts) transported out-side the household and uses-grey water (Cleveland et al., 2017). A study by Benis and Ferrao (2017) based on the food production LCA has indicated that producing food locally and thus reducing transporting by 30 km reduces CO 2 emission by 3.5% under recommended healthy diet (400 to 800 g per person per day). ...
... Vavra et al. (2018) have reported similar results (3.5% or 42-92 kg CO 2 eq/person/year) from the Czech Republic. Cleveland et al. (2017) have generally estimated GHG emission of food production at 3.6 kg CO 2 eq while Vavra et al. (2018) estimated home garden food production mitigates 58.1-125.8 kg CO 2 eq/person/year based on the average combined European household consumption of vegetables, fruit and potatoes (i.e., 505 g/ person/day). ...
Urban agriculture (UA) can be deployed as a strategy to ensure sustainability in pursuit of building a resilient city. The objective of this study is to investigate what and how UA contributes to environmental sustainability (ES) thereby to the building of a resilient city. Scholarly search engines such as Elsevier, Google Scholar, Science Direct, Springer and Taylor & Francis were used to retrieving articles of interest. The findings revealed that UA has immensely contributed to urban environmental sustainability through mitigating greenhouse gas, mitigating urban heat island effect, controlling flood, enhancing biodiversity, promoting agro-tourism and generating technologies contributing to addressing urban land allocation challenges for UA. UA is a solution to curb rising key urban ES issues. However, challenges such as lack of policy support, exclusion to include in urban land use planning and/or replacing it with other land use types and urbanites’ behavior toward the choice of its agricultural products are determinants to enjoy the full benefits of UA. Therefore, implementing UA as a strategy to ensure ES at this very high time of global climate change is time to harvest its multiple benefits. Policy support is a key tool for the success of UA as well as making a competent urban land user.
... Other social benefits of UPA can include increased food resilience, food security, and environmental justice for marginalized and low-resource populations [47,48]. Health benefits include reducing blood cholesterol levels and maintaining a healthy blood pressure [49,50]. ...
... In 2014, about 31% of US households engaged in their own garden food production [44]. Home gardens have many health, social, and financial benefits, such as increasing vegetable consumption (by two servings each day for gardeners compared to non-gardeners), reducing food costs, and maintaining family food culture [42,49,50]. Although motivations for producing food in home gardens vary widely, access to a home garden was found to be positively correlated with increases in both number of servings and diversity of fruit and vegetables consumed (based on data from a survey of over 500 residents in Iowa [51]). ...
Although vegetables are important for healthy diets, there are concerns about the sustainability of food systems that provide them. For example, half of fresh-market vegetables sold in the United States (US) are produced in California, leading to negative impacts associated with transportation. In Iowa, the focus of this study, 90% of food is imported from outside the state. Previous life cycle assessment (LCA) studies indicate that food consumption patterns affect global warming potential (GWP), with animal products having more negative impacts than vegetables. However, studies focused on how GWP, energy, and water use vary between food systems and vegetable types are less common. The purpose of this study was to examine these environmental impacts to inform decisions to buy locally or grow vegetables in the Midwest. We used a life cycle approach to examine three food systems (large-, mid-, and small-scale) and 18 vegetables commonly grown in/near Des Moines, Iowa. We found differences in GWP, energy, and water use (p ≤ 0.001 for each) for the three food systems with the large-scale scenario producing more emissions. There were also differences among vegetables, with the highest GWP for romaine lettuce (1.92 CO2eq/kg vegetable) approximately three times that of leaf lettuce (0.65 CO2eq/kg vegetable) at the large scale. Hotspots and tradeoffs between GWP, energy, and water use were also identified and could inform vegetable production/consumption based on carbon and water use footprints for the US Midwest.
... The UH literature combined with the well-established health behaviour and ecosystem service literature, however, provide a strong argument in favour of the implementation of nature-based tools such as UH in order to tackle current urban environment and health emergencies. UH presents a promising strategy with the potential to beautify the urban landscape, improve the urban biodiversity, and reduce the environmental impact of cities whilst improving public health bib137 [20,38,79,137]. Additionally, the broader literature has also identified crime reduction as an additional benefit, due to the fact that people spend more time outdoors, and repair and beautify derelict lots among other social benefits bib26 [26,48,121]. Once again, there are also potential negative consequences, for example some studies have reported increased pain in different parts of the body in older adults due to positions adopted while gardening [104]. ...
... The promotion of UH is particularly crucial at a time where urban areas green spaces are being diminished [58]. Multiple authors have noted how, in the Global North in particular, people do not have sufficient spaces to connect with nature bib81 [38,81] and lack easy access bib15 [15,18,72,115,154,155,158]. Re-establishing the link between people and nature is therefore an essential step for the conservation of the environment and improvement in people's well-being bib85 [80,85,135]. ...
Urban agriculture has increased rapidly in the Global North in recent decades. However, because most research has focused on developing countries, we still lack systematic information on the benefits, barriers, costs and risks of the practice of food production in cities of the Global North. Urban horticulture (UH) is the agriculture of plants for food consumption, materials production, or decoration, developed inside city boundaries. UH has recently been proposed as a tool to improve population health and urban biodiversity. This study takes a systems approach to reviewing the literature on the impacts of UH on public health, the environment and health behaviours, using the ecosystem services (ES) concept as lens. Using a scoping review methodology, 138 papers met the search criteria and these studies were used to develop a conceptual framework summarizing and synthesing the direct and indirect pathways in which urban horticulture and public health are interconnected. The resulting “eco”systems-based framework analyses and visualises the relationship between UH and public health and provides evidence for relationships (both positive and negative) between, and pathways linking, urban horticulture and benefits for mental health, physical activity, diet, and socialisation. This study demonstrates that UH can help to improve public health in cities of the Global North and makes the case for UH as a solution to tackling multiple health and societal challenges that arise in urban populations. We provide a framework to enable local authorities and urban stakeholders to maximise the benefits from, and reduce the risks related to, the practice of UH at a systems level.
... Die Ergebnisse der Ökobilanzierungen hängen dabei wesentlich mit den Anbauformen, deren Management und den klimatischen Bedingungen des Anbauortes zusammen. Bei Studien aus klimatisch wärmeren Gebieten sind vor allem die Vorteile kürzerer Distributionsketten (wie reduzierter Transport, Verpackungen und Lagerung), sowie die darauf resultierenden Emissionseinsparungen, hervorzuheben(Sanyé-Mengual 2015;Sanyé- Mengual, Oliver-Solà, et al. 2015;Benis und Ferrão 2017;Cleveland et al. 2017;Pérez-Neira und Grollmus-Venegas 2018;Sanjuan-Delmás et al. 2018). Diese Vorteile zeigen sich -bei Betrachtung des gesamten Lebenszyklus der Lebensmittelproduktion -über verschiedene Anbauformen und -systeme hinweg: Von integrierten Glashäusern auf Dächern(Sanjuan- Delmás et al. 2018), über gemeinschaftliche Dachgärten (Sanyé-Mengual, Orsini, et al. 2015, bis hin zum Anbau in privaten Gärten(Cleveland et al. 2017) ergeben sich laut den AutorInnen -hinsichtlich der THGE -Vorteile gegenüber konventionell produziertem Gemüse. ...
... Bei Studien aus klimatisch wärmeren Gebieten sind vor allem die Vorteile kürzerer Distributionsketten (wie reduzierter Transport, Verpackungen und Lagerung), sowie die darauf resultierenden Emissionseinsparungen, hervorzuheben(Sanyé-Mengual 2015;Sanyé- Mengual, Oliver-Solà, et al. 2015;Benis und Ferrão 2017;Cleveland et al. 2017;Pérez-Neira und Grollmus-Venegas 2018;Sanjuan-Delmás et al. 2018). Diese Vorteile zeigen sich -bei Betrachtung des gesamten Lebenszyklus der Lebensmittelproduktion -über verschiedene Anbauformen und -systeme hinweg: Von integrierten Glashäusern auf Dächern(Sanjuan- Delmás et al. 2018), über gemeinschaftliche Dachgärten (Sanyé-Mengual, Orsini, et al. 2015, bis hin zum Anbau in privaten Gärten(Cleveland et al. 2017) ergeben sich laut den AutorInnen -hinsichtlich der THGE -Vorteile gegenüber konventionell produziertem Gemüse. Bisherige Studien aus kühleren Regionen deuten darauf hin, dass die potenziellen Vorteile stärker von den jeweiligen Anbauformen, dem eingesetzten System, dessen Management und den erzielten Erträgen abhängen(Goldstein et al. 2016;Dorr et al. 2017). ...
There has been growing discussion concerning urban agriculture (UA) as a viable way of making cities more sustainable on a social, ecological and economic level as well as increasing urban food supply. While the overall potential of UA to contribute to sustainable urban development has been extensively investigated, comprehensive analyses comparing the strengths and weaknesses of the various forms of UA are still scarce. In particular, the use of life cycle analysis (LCA) in quantifying the ecological sustainability of UA provides useful data for decision-making processes.
The aim of this thesis is to close some of these research gaps by contributing to the emerging discourse on UA in the global north, with a focus on the city of Vienna, Austria. Different methodological approaches are combined in order to provide a comprehensive and detailed picture of the multifunctional potential of the analysed forms of UA. Important sustainability aspects and challenges to consider are shown: (i) a typology of seven relevant ideal-typical forms of UA in Europe is developed, systematically describing and comparing their concepts, goals and effects, as well as resource, energy and spatial requirements. (ii) On this basis, a systematic, multi-criteria sustainability assessment is carried out for each of the seven forms of UA. Starting with a comprehensive literature review, 39 sustainability indicators are defined, individually assessed and discussed with experts. In a third step (iii), an LCA is conducted to analyse the carbon footprint of 1 kg tomatoes from community garden projects in Vienna, a rooftop garden (RTG) and a project on a field (FP). The system boundary encompasses impacts from raw material extraction to the point of consumption and discerned four stages: substrate production, infrastructure, fertilizer management and soil tillage.
The evaluated UA forms reach between 16 and 41% of the potential maximum urban sustainability value and form two clusters: (i) forms with a multifunctional character: community gardens and farms (37-41%) with potential benefits on social (e.g. community building and education), ecological (e.g. green infrastructure and recycling of organic urban waste) and economic (e.g. savings at the household level and establishment of alternative operating models) levels; and (ii) forms with more specific strengths: technically innovative forms of cultivation (16-18%) (e.g. food production, job creation as well as research and innovation). The differences are mainly due to the degree of multifunctionality along the analysed sustainability aspects. As the low overall values indicate, there is room for improvement as well as possible barriers and risks for all analysed forms of UA. The carbon footprints of the two case studies show considerable differences: compared to the FP system (60 g CO2e/kg of product), greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of the tomatoes produced in the RTG system are almost four times higher (221 g CO2e/kg of product). The difference is mainly caused by the use of compost substrate in the RTG system, which alone exceeds the total emissions of FP tomatoes by a factor of 2.3, thus representing a significant GHG hotspot in the production of RTG tomatoes. The results are within the range of comparable urban and organic production systems, which indicates that community-based UA projects – in addition to their socio-ecological benefits – could play a vital role in mitigating GHG emissions related to urban fruit and vegetable consumption in Vienna. With a comprehensive understanding of how the different forms of UA potentially contribute to overcoming major socio-ecological challenges in cities (such as the climate crisis and increasing urbanization) the present study can support urban policy-makers and stakeholders in integrating UA into city-wide development strategies and planning tools.
... Another is to unlock the conservation potential of blue and green spaces on private residential lands (e.g. Cameron et al. 2012;Lindemann-Matthies and Marty 2013;Cleveland et al. 2017;Baldock et al. 2019), particularly when faced with increasing population and housing densities Loram et al. 2007;Gaston et al. 2007). Additionally, it is clear that multi-level community engagement, including initiatives that engage, educate and empower residents Goddard, Dougill, and Benton 2013;Buijs et al. 2016;Mumaw 2017), is crucial to unlocking the conservation potential of private residential lands, or gardens. ...
... Similarly, private urban gardens can provide an array of supporting, provisioning, regulating and cultural ecosystem services (Cameron et al. 2012;Lindemann-Matthies and Marty 2013;Cleveland et al. 2017), including enhanced biodiversity at multiple levels (Galluzzi, Eyzaguirre, and Negri 2010;Sperling and Lortie 2010;Lerman and Warren 2011;Goddard, Dougill, and Benton 2013). Further, biodiversity conservation can also have direct positive affects on cultural ecosystem services, e.g. ...
Nature-based solutions directed at improving biodiversity, on both public and private land, can provide multiple benefits, but many of these benefits are not being fully realised. One reason is the normative and cognitive disconnect between people and nature, highlighting the need for new learning programs to foster better nature connections. More is known about learning in the context of community gardens than in relation to private gardens. Using semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis, this study explores learning among residents engaged in home gardening for biodiversity in Winnipeg, Canada. We uncovered diverse and interconnected learning processes/activities founded on formative childhood experiences. The processes/activities were non-formal and informal, and included individual, social and blended experiences. Learning outcomes were also mutually influencing and multi-levelled, comprising normative, cognitive/behavioural and relational changes. The results support an analytical framework suggesting how learning-focused initiatives can enhance biodiversity on private property and aid in delivery of nature-based solutions.
... This might be due to the fact that impacts by climate change on cities are considered in a more general way, not focusing solely on UPA. However, empirical studies investigating UPA's potential in adapting and mitigating to climate change found that food grown in cities can be an important source in reducing greenhouse gas emissions such as carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), for instance by reducing food mileage [43], growing vegetables in residential gardens [44] or using soilless crops [45]. Besides reflecting climate change as a challenge for urbanization, climate change can also offer UPA opportunities in growing food such as reflected in a case study in Toronto (Canada) [46]. ...
... The instruments promoting the implementation of UPA in the review are manifold. Most of them refer to financial aspects and incentives (29%), including, for example subsidized start-up costs for new gardeners, e.g., [44], or tax breaks for rooftop farmers, e.g., [110,162]. Laws and regulations promoting UPA are often mentioned as important instruments in our review, as well (27%). ...
Urbanization and achieving sustainable agriculture are both major societal challenges. By reducing food miles and connecting people with nature, food cultivation in cities has several major advantages. However, due to further urban development (peri-) urban agriculture (UPA) is under threat. To strengthen UPA, we argue for considering UPA as a nature-based solution (NbS) supporting systemic approaches for societal challenges. However, academic knowledge on UPA's contribution to various societal challenges of urbanization is still fragmented. This study addresses the gap by conducting a systemic literature review, incorporating 166 academic articles focusing on the global north. The results of the review show that UPA contributes to ten key societal challenges of urbanization: climate change, food security, biodiversity and ecosystem services, agricultural intensification, resource efficiency, urban renewal and regeneration, land management, public health, social cohesion, and economic growth. The value of UPA is its multifunctionality in providing social, economic and environmental co-benefits and ecosystem services. When implementing UPA, social, institutional, economic, technical, geographical, and ecological drivers and constraints need to be considered. To upscale UPA successfully, the study develops an integrative assessment framework for evaluating the implementation and impact efficiency of UPA. This framework should be tested based on the example of edible cities.
... Diese Tätigkeiten tragen auch zum Aufbau von Gemeinschaft, zur Produktion von Gütern und Dienstleistungen und eventuell zur Reduktion von Klimawirkungen bei. So trägt der Trend zu eigener Gemüseproduktion oder "urban gardening" als emissionsarme Produktion von Lebensmitteln dazu bei, CO 2 -Emissionen zu verringern (Cleveland et al., 2017). Wenn für ehrenamtliche und alternative Aktivitäten zur Subsistenzsicherung Zeit aufgewendet wird, die dann nicht für Erwerbsarbeit und marktliche wirtschaftliche Produktion zur Verfügung steht, trägt das auch indirekt zu Emissionseinsparung und einem klimafreundlichen Leben bei; insbesondere da weite Teile der Erwerbsarbeit in Österreich die Voraussetzungen für ein klimafreundliches Leben nicht erfüllen (vergleiche Kap. 7). ...
Zusammenfassung
Die technische Zusammenfassung richtet sich an das Fachpublikum und fasst die wichtigsten Ergebnisse des Berichtes zusammen, ohne aber alle Details auszuführen. Jedes Kapitel wird auf ungefähr zwei Seiten zusammengefasst. Hierbei wird bei den relevanten Aussagen eine Bewertung mit Hinblick auf Übereinstimmung und Literaturbasis angeführt. Im Unterschied zur Zusammenfassung für Entscheidungstragende wird auch die Literatur angeführt.
... These activities also contribute to building community, producing goods and services and possibly reducing climate impacts. For example, the trend towards growing one's own vegetables or "urban gardening" as low-emission food production helps to reduce CO 2 emissions (Cleveland et al., 2017). Spending time on voluntary and alternative subsistence activities, which is then not available for paid employment and market-based economic production, also contributes indirectly to emission savings and climate-friendly living; especially since large parts of paid employment in Austria do not meet the requirements for climate-friendly living (compare chapter on paid employment). ...
Zusammenfassung
The technical summary is aimed at a professional audience and summarizes the most important findings of the report, but without going into all the details. Each chapter is summarized on approximately two pages. For the relevant statements, an evaluation with regard to agreement and literature basis is given. In contrast to the summary for decision-makers, the literature is also cited.
... So trägt beispielsweise der Trend zu eigener Gemüseproduktion (z. B. "urban gardening") als emissionsarme Produktion von Lebensmitteln dazu bei, CO 2 -Emissionen zu verringern (Cleveland et al., 2017). Wenn für ehrenamtliche und alternative Aktivitäten zur Subsistenzsicherung Zeit aufgewendet wird, die dann nicht für Erwerbsarbeit und wirtschaftliche Produktion zur Verfügung steht, trägt das indirekt zu Emissionseinsparung und einem klimafreundlichen Leben bei. ...
Zusammenfassung
Im Kapitel 8 wird das Thema Sorgearbeit und die für ein klimafreundliches Leben notwendigen Strukturen vorgestellt. Versorgung und Fürsorge der eigenen Person, von Haushalt, Familie und Gesellschaft sind unverzichtbare, (über-)lebensnotwendige, aber oft unsichtbare Tätigkeiten. Die Relevanz dieser unbezahlten Sorgearbeit für ein klimafreundliches Leben hängt davon ab, in welchem Umfang Güter, Dienstleistungen und Mobilität für diese Tätigkeiten erforderlich sind und eingesetzt werden, wie emissionsintensiv diese bereitgestellt werden und wie viel Zeit dafür zur Verfügung steht.
... Therefore, traditional gardening practices may increase the emissions of volatile chemicals and carbon dioxide on a more global scale and may have a long-term impact on the balance of ecosystems [16]. Since the methods used in gardening directly impact the amount of carbon dioxide captured in the soil [17], several research attempts have been conducted to boost sustainable gardening practices to increase biodiversity and limit the effects of climate change [18]. Sustainable gardening practices, also called ecological or naturalistic, are distinguished by the growing of plants within local resource limitations, using the right physical site features with specific plant species that flourish under those conditions, preserving resources, using organic compost, using no or very few pesticides and artificial fertilizers, weeding and grass mowing on a relatively rare basis [10]. ...
A successful expansion and intensification of the links between tourism and horticulture is needed for tourism to contribute to economic diversification. Without inter-sectoral coordination and the cultivation of sustainable links between tourism demand and other sectors in the destination’s economy, tourism will be unable to function as a driver of tourist attraction. Therefore, tourism needs to establish ties with other industries, such as agriculture, to positively contribute to the surrounding area’s economy and improve the quality of life in rural and urban areas. The current study explores the sustainable gardening practices (SGP) in hotels and their impact on predicting tourist revisit intention with the mediating role of tourist attitudes (ATT) toward green hotels and assessing the environmental gardening identity (EGID) as a moderator. Dyadic data were collected from 286 guests and hotel gardeners and was analyzed by PLS-SEM. The results revealed that sustainable gardening practices positively (R2 = 0.581) and significantly (p > 0.05) improve tourist revisit intention through the mediating role of tourist attitudes toward green hotels. At the same time, the empirical results supported the moderation effects of the EGID on the links between SGP and ATT. Several practical and theoretical implications were discussed and elaborated upon.
... These activities also contribute to building community, producing goods and services and possibly reducing climate impacts. For exam-ple, the trend towards growing one's own vegetables or 'urban gardening' as low-emission food production helps to reduce CO 2 emissions (Cleveland et al., 2017). Spending time on voluntary and alternative subsistence activities, which is then not available for paid employment and market-based economic production, also contributes indirectly to emission savings and climate-friendly living; especially since large parts of paid employment in Austria do not meet the requirements for climatefriendly living (compare chapter on paid employment). ...
This technical summary provides an overview of the main statements of the APCC SR Structures for Climate-Friendly Living chapters. Based on scientific literature, the report assesses different approaches for transforming structures in order to make climate-friendly living in Austria possible and make it permanently and quickly the new status quo.
... Diese Tätigkeiten tragen auch zum Aufbau von Gemeinschaft, zur Produktion von Gütern und Dienstleistungen und eventuell zur Reduktion von Klimawirkungen bei. So trägt der Trend zu eigener Gemüseproduktion oder "urban gardening" als emissionsarme Produktion von Lebensmitteln dazu bei, CO 2 -Emissionen zu verringern (Cleveland et al., 2017). Wenn für ehrenamtliche und alternative Aktivitäten zur Subsistenzsicherung Zeit aufgewendet wird, die dann nicht für Erwerbsarbeit und marktliche wirtschaftliche Produktion zur Verfügung steht, trägt das auch indirekt zu Emissionseinsparung und einem klimafreundlichen Leben bei; insbesondere da weite Teile der Erwerbsarbeit in Österreich die Voraussetzungen für ein klimafreundliches Leben nicht erfüllen (vergleiche Kapitel Erwerbsarbeit). ...
In der vorliegenden technischen Zusammenfassung werden die wesentlichen Aussagen der Kapitel des APCC SR Strukturen für ein klimafreundliches Leben zusammengefasst. Der Bericht bewertet auf Basis wissenschaftlicher Literatur unterschiedliche Ansätze zur Transformation von Strukturen, damit klimafreundliches Leben in Österreich dauerhaft möglich und rasch selbstverständlich wird.
... However, with the growing urban resilience agenda, scholarly attention has been drawn mainly to the environmental externalities produced through home gardening, the aim being to push citizens towards more sustainable garden practices (Coisnon et al., 2019). At the European level, private gardens might actively contribute to ecological transition and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions (Cleveland et al., 2017) by becoming a 'resource by small gardening actions' pointing to the positive cumulative outcome of individual, pro-environmental gardening practices (Dewaelheyns et al., 2016). However, comparison between rural and urban areas shows lower biodiversity knowledge and less sensibility to sustainable practices among urban citizens (Coisnon et al., 2019). 1 While it has been suggested that providing more trustworthy information on biodiversity could go some way to reducing the gap, there is clearly a paradox around the increasing concern in big cities for organic food, 2 permaculture or chemical-free food production in the interstices of the building (Aubry et al., 2014). ...
Ongoing confinement for millions of urban citizens due to the Covid-19 pandemic has raised ecological consciousness, changed food habits and questioned the relationship urban dwellers have with nature. There is more interest in bringing plants into urban homes and in sustainable food sources, but no research have studied the relationships between food behaviours and plant-care activities. To address this gap and explore urban citizens' nature relatedness through the greening of private areas, we conducted a national survey of French, young urban citizens (n = 1000), who are more committed to ‘edible’ cities than older generations but have the lowest rate of plant purchasers. A quantitative approach reveals the prevalence of aesthetic/hedonistic expectations for plants in private housing but also demonstrates contrasting perceptions of tasks for plant maintaining and unequal valuation of social issues around plants. We discuss continuities between environmental awareness, commitment to sustainable food and natural/social uses of plants and argue that urban planning processes should address potential synergies for more integrative resilience. Community building around green areas, urban agriculture or collective gardens, in cities, can have ripple effects towards the greening of private housing. Lastly, the multi-disciplinary approach bridging psychosociology and urban studies can inspire multi-scalar urban planning.
... More broadly, 'greening' activities are associated with 'avoided' healthcare costs of £1bn, including less hospital admissions for cardio-pulmonary illnesses (Cleveland et al, 2017;Jones et al, 2017). An estimated 28m tonnes of CO 2 was removed from the atmosphere in 2018 through horticultural activity (ONS, 2020). ...
In recent years there has been considerable reporting of a range of physical and psycho-social benefits derived from ‘green exercise’, a term which describes a myriad of nature-based activities, including gardening, walking, climbing, and running in natural surroundings. Extant literature has largely focused upon exploring these benefits in respect of specific physical and psycho-social health and wellbeing outcomes, including positive impacts upon mood states, enhanced social connectedness, and improvements in recovery rates for patients in physical rehabilitation programmes. However, numerous gaps existed within the research beyond a focus on outcome measures: firstly, articulating the essential influences (mechanisms and processes) potentially driving these impacts. Secondly, insufficient qualitative investigations, particularly longitudinal ones. Third, a lack of innovation in researching green exercise, especially in respect of ethnographic studies. Fourth, and relatedly fifth, a need for more granular focused research upon specific population groups and settings, and utilising specific modes of green exercise - gardening, horticulture, and conservation activity - that had hitherto been under-investigated.
The work consists of findings from six published papers that not only confirm that green exercise promotes positive enhancements to physical and psycho-social health and wellbeing for participants, but also offers possible explanations as to why and how these are derived, drawing upon relevant theories and concepts. The investigations were based upon a pragmatic overarching research approach employing ethnography to research participant experiences within four distinct contexts: a purpose-built garden within a medium secure NHS unit; a conservation project in an urban park; a woodland project outside formal mental health service provision; and a corporate health setting. Combined, these small-scale ‘case studies’ of GE offer important insight into the value of GE for specific groups and contexts and enable the development of a suggested socio-ecological model that emphasises a ‘green transformative ripple effect’ can be achieved delivering benefits not only for individuals, but also at group and community level. The latter is further evidenced through local ‘social impact’, demonstrating potential for the adoption of green exercise initiatives by practitioners and policymakers involved in social prescribing and community development as part of a more comprehensive health improvement strategy within communities.
... Top-down incentives may include tax reductions (tax breaks) for households with gardens or diverse forms of government granting for desired management (composting, creating ponds, etc.) and similar financial incentives offered to households for the installation of various tools or technologies (renewable energy, rainwater collection, etc.). Planning legislation can become a top-down tool through, for example, declining applications with potentially harmful impact on existing gardens, or protecting fully-grown trees, hedgerows, etc. Cleveland et al. (2017) also recognize subsidized start-up costs for home gardens and education of new gardeners. Bottom-up initiatives include community residents´associations, horticultural clubs, or societies and similar stewarding organizations, which can engage gardeners in managing their gardens more synergistically. ...
Home gardens represent critical spaces in the configuration of socio-ecological landscapes and an increasing number of local and regional governments have begun including them within their resilience strategies, local biodiversity action plans, and food or health agendas. This paper contributes to the limited literature on contemporary home gardening in the Global North with a pilot study of Czech home gardens. This study aims to: (i) reveal what is the current role of the home garden and how the gardeners themselves perceive the care of their gardens; (ii) asses what is the potential of “scaling up” home gardens to address problems on a larger scale and how the gardeners understand the potential of their contribution to urban environment. This pilot study uses data collected during a questionnaire survey of 464 home gardens in different settlement types in Czechia. The results show that home gardens may provide important amenities for individual gardeners and their families, while at the same time contributing to both intended and unintended environmental consequences at the level of whole neighbourhoods or green space in general. The scaling up of home gardens in making cities more sustainable is possible and desirable, but a strategy for communication must involve both the top-down and bottom-up approaches and tools sensitive to a variety of diverse populations who tend home gardens.
... Estudios y reportes resientes se han centrado en las políticas de descarbonización del transporte (Aletà, Alonso, & Ruiz, 2017; Grupo Intergubernamental de Expertos sobre el Cambio Climático (IPCC)., 2014; Zawieska & Pieriegud, 2018). Algunas investigaciones se centran en la cuantificación de emisiones (Cleveland et al., 2017;Litman, 2013;Shahbaz, Loganathan, Muzaffar, Ahmed, & Ali Jabran, 2016;Shaheen & LIPMAN, 2007)otros en las repercusiones sociales (Bencardino & Greco, 2014;Kenyon, Lyons, & Rafferty, 2002;Marletto, 2014;Sachs, 2007) algunos más en las políticas de control de transporte (Higher, n.d.;Ilpes, 2011;Leff, 2007;Lopez, 2018). ...
RESUMEN. La interacción de la sociedad con las tecnologías de la comunicación tiene muchas más aplicaciones que solo interactuar con una pantalla. En la actualidad se abre una nueva ventana de posibilidades al emplear Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicaciones (TICs) en búsqueda de eficientar la movilidad urbana y contrarrestar los altos índices de motorización. A lo anterior, resulta un tema también abordado, dentro del marco del desarrollo sustentable, en agendas internacionales como: El futuro que queremos, Agenda 2030, y Hábitat III, donde se plantean tanto ciudades como asentamientos habitables y sustentables dónde se aumente significativamente el acceso a las TICs. Por lo tanto, éste documento explora la opción de "no viajar" basada en TICs en la ciudad de Mexicali B.C. con lo que se reducirían las emisiones de CO2 provenientes del transporte, así mismo, se estima el nivel de Conectividad Urbana mediante el Índice con el mismo nombre, con base en la información proporcionada por INEGI y se analiza el comportamiento de movilidad digital y física de la población mediante la aplicación de una encuesta basada en la Encuesta Nacional sobre Disponibilidad y Uso de TIC en Hogares. Los resultados indican que la ciudad de Mexicali tiene un índice de conectividad del 49% y que la población que cumple con las condiciones del mismo índice se encuentra en la periferia de la ciudad.
... This is due to its direct dependency on the runoff and amount of water level (Vergara et al., 2011). Therefore, due to spatial and temporal changes in runoff as a consequence of climatic changes, generation of hydroelectric power in the current or future plans is uncertain (Cleveland et al., 2017;Yaseen et al., 2020 and Javadinejad (17) , 2011). The surveys worldwide indicate that global warming will lead to a water resources crisis in dry regions of the world (DeNooyer et al., 2016). ...
In order to develop a valued decision-support system for climate alteration policy and planning, recognizing the regionally-specific features of the climate change, energy-water nexus, and the history of the current and possible future climate, water and energy supply systems is necessary. This paper presents an integrated climate change, water/energy modeling platform which allows tailored climate alteration and water-energy assessments. This modelling platform is established and described in details based on particular regional circumstances. The modeling platform involves linking three different models, including the climate change model from Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 under the most severe scenario (Representative Concentration Pathways, Water Evaluation and Planning system and the Long-Range Energy Alternatives Planning system). This is to understand the impacts of climate variability (changes in temperature and precipitation) on water and electricity consumption in Zayandeh Rud River Basin (Central Iran) for current (1971-2005) and future time period (2006-2040). Climate models have projected that the temperature will increase by 7 °C and precipitation will decrease by 44%, it is also proposed that electricity imports will rise during severe dry scenario in the basin, while power generation will decrease around 8%.
... This is due to its direct dependency on the runoff and amount of water level (Vergara et al., 2011). Therefore, due to spatial and temporal changes in runoff as a consequence of climatic changes, generation of hydroelectric power in the current or future plans is uncertain (Cleveland et al., 2017;Yaseen et al., 2020 and Javadinejad (17) , 2011). The surveys worldwide indicate that global warming will lead to a water resources crisis in dry regions of the world (DeNooyer et al., 2016). ...
In order to develop a valued decision-support system for climate alteration policy and planning, recognizing the regionally-specific features of the climate change, energy-water nexus, and the history of the current and possible future climate, water and energy supply systems is necessary. This paper presents an integrated climate change, water/energy modeling platform which allows tailored climate alteration and water-energy assessments. This modeling platform is established and described in details based on particular regional circumstances. The modeling platform involves linking three different models, including the climate change model from Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 under the most severe scenario (Representative Concentration Pathways, Water Evaluation, and Planning system and the Long-range Energy Alternatives Planning system). This is to understand the impacts of climate variability (changes in temperature and precipitation) on water and electricity consumption in Zayandeh Rud River Basin (Central Iran) for the current (1971–2005) and future time period (2006–2040). Climate models have projected that the temperature will increase by 7 °C and precipitation will decrease by 44%, it is also proposed that electricity imports will rise during a severe dry scenario in the basin, while power generation will decrease around 8%.
... Outros benefícios da horta autônoma norteiam a independência de produtos de grandes agricultores, fazendo com que o usuário de uma horta possa cultivar seu próprio alimento e reduzir o consumo de agrotóxicos aplicados pela indústria (Lin and Egerer, 2020). Assim, as hortas automatizadas contribuem para a redução da emissão de gás carbônico (Cleveland et al., 2017), possuem independência de manuseio humano e facilidade de manutenção. Além disso, a horta inteligente possui tamanho compacto, adequando-se ao espaço disponível em residências e a rotina de trabalhadores que não dispõem de tempo para cultivar uma horta, podendo monitorá-la em longas distâncias e em tempo real (Choque Moscoso et al., 2018;Erick et al., 2018). ...
Atualmente, os incentivos para o cultivo de hortas urbanas têm crescido no mundo todo, uma vez que esta prática proporciona diversos benefícios nas áreas da saúde e meio ambiente. No geral, essas hortas necessitam de cuidados com o cultivo e usualmente são construídas em espaços públicos, condições que muitas vezes não são possíveis de serem alcançadas. Dessa forma, a presença da automação no setor pode contribuir para o incentivo de hortas residenciais em que o controle e gerenciamento são realizados de forma remota e automática, em um espaço reduzido. Neste contexto, este trabalho tem como principal objetivo descrever as etapas do desenvolvimento de uma horta inteligente de baixo custo, construída com base em projeto já existente e de código aberto, utilizando fabricação com impressora 3D, e tecnologia de framework da internet das coisas
... Urban ecosystems, including community gardens, allotments, and domestic household gardens, have increasing potential to mitigate climate change (SDG 13). Therefore, engaging with the people who own or manage these areas is becoming increasingly important in delivering on this SDG [60]. The project website has had over 30,000 views from 164 countries (25 June 2020), supporting findings that CS provides an excellent platform for the public to engage with the environment and local environmental issues, as well as enhancing the connectivity between soil and participant [24,45,61]. ...
Gardening has the potential to influence several ecosystem services, including soil carbon dynamics, and shape progression towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals, (e.g., SDG 13). There are very few citizen/community science projects that have been set up to test an explicit hypothesis. However, citizen/community science allows collection of countrywide observations on ecosystem services in domestic gardens to inform us on the effects of gardening on SDGs. The geographical spread of samples that can be collected by citizen/community science would not be possible with a team of professional science researchers alone. Members of the general public across the UK submitted soil samples and buried standardised litter bags (tea bags) as part of the Tea Bag Index-UK citizen/community science project. Participants returned 511 samples from across the UK from areas in their garden where soil organic amendments were and were not applied. The project examined the effects of application of soil amendments on decomposition rates and stabilisation of litter, and in turn, effects on soil carbon and nitrogen concentrations. This was in response to a call for contributions to a global map of decomposition in the Teatime4Science campaign. Results suggested that application of amendments significantly increased decomposition rate and soil carbon, nitrogen, and carbon: nitrogen ratios within each garden. So much so that amendment application had more influence than geographic location. Furthermore, there were no significant interactions between location and amendment application. We therefore conclude that management in gardens has similar effects on soil carbon and decomposition, regardless of the location of the garden in question. Stabilisation factor was influenced more prominently by location than amendment application. Gardening management decisions can influence a number of SDGs and a citizen/community science project can aid in both the monitoring of SDGs, and involvement of the public in delivery of SDGs.
... Moreover, some evidence suggests that not-for-market food production in the Global North performs better ecologically than its commercial counterparts. Home gardens contribute to maintaining agrobiodiversity (Taylor and Lovell, 2014), have higher species richness than market farms (Taylor et al., 2017), emit less carbon than conventional food production (Cleveland et al., 2017;Vávra et al., 2018), and are typically grown with organic fertilizer or no fertilizer (Jehlička and Daněk, 2017). Since non-market production systems lack a revenue stream with which to purchase inputs, one might hypothesize that they tend to rely on seed saving, tool sharing, rainwater harvesting, humanwaste composting, and traditional knowledge. ...
Non-market practices and institutions make up much of every economy. Even in today's most developed capitalist societies, people produce things that are not for sale and allocate them through sharing, gifts, and redistribution rather than buying and selling. This article is about why and how ecological economists should study these non-market economies. Historically, markets only emerge when states forcibly create them; community members do not tend to spontaneously start selling each other goods and services. Markets work well for coordinating complex industrial webs to satisfy individual tastes, but they are not appropriate for governing the production or distribution of entities that are non-rival, non-excludable, not produced for sale, essential need satisfiers, or culturally important. Moreover, we argue, markets do not serve justice, sustainability, efficiency, or value pluralism, the foundations of ecological economics. We sketch an agenda for research on economic practices and institutions without markets by posing nine broad questions about non-market food systems and exploring the evidence and theory around each. By ignoring and demeaning non-market economies, researchers contribute to creating markets' dominance over social life. Observing, analyzing, theorizing, supporting, promoting, creating, and envisioning non-market economies challenges market hegemony.
... These assessments attempt to compare the full lifecycle impact of UA versus conventional agriculture. Three of the four lifecycle analysis studies found that at least some aspects of UA could produce emissions reductions relative to conventional methods, but these reductions were context-specific (Benis & Ferrão, 2017;Cleveland et al., 2017;Goldstein et al., 2016), while one study found no significant changes in soil carbon content in a vegetable plot across the three study years (Whittinghill et al, 2014). In sum, the potential contribution of community gardens to the health and resilience of urban ecosystems may be significant but has been insufficiently researched. ...
Food production in cities is increasingly regarded as one of the building blocks for sustainable urban living, particularly as the agricultural industry faces mounting ecological and economic constraints, and populations continue to concentrate in urban centers. While substantial research exists on the qualitative outcomes of urban agriculture (UA), few studies present these outcomes in monetary terms that align with municipal decision makers economic priorities. In response to this gap, this paper reviews the literature on potential outcomes of one form of UA—community gardens—and identifies where gaps exist which prevent the translation of garden outputs into an economic quantity. The paper then describes a pilot return on investment assessment of a community garden in Ontario, Canada. Substantial data constraints were encountered, however the limited available data indicate that community gardens may represent an ROI-positive government investment. Further local-level research quantifying garden impacts would enable a more robust case for community gardens in cities.
... The potential for local vegetable production in Nunavik to mitigate climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE) was investigated through an LCA. The protocol described in Cleveland et al. (2017) for urban household vegetable gardens was adapted to ...
L’objectif principal de cette thèse est la caractérisation et l’analyse des transformations du système alimentaire des Inuit du Nunavik, et en particulier les enjeux soulevés à l’intersection des interactions humains-milieux, puis les conséquences encourues pour le bien-être et la santé des Inuit. Des pistes de solution pour améliorer la résilience du système alimentaire dans cette région nordique y sont explorées, dont la principale est le développement de projets de jardinage communautaire. La collecte des données pour réaliser les quatre articles qui forment le corps de cette thèse s’est échelonnée entre octobre 2015 et mars 2019 dans les villages nordiques de Kuujjuaq et Kangiqsujuaq, au Nunavik. Différentes méthodes ont été combinées, dont la principale se base sur les principes de la recherche-action participative. Les résultats illustrent que les aliments traditionnels issus des activités de chasse, de pêche et de cueillette demeurent des vecteurs importants de la relation au territoire et du bien-être inuit, malgré le fait qu’ils ne représentent plus qu’une fraction de la diète. La perte de mobilité et l’adoption d’un nouveau mode de vie, accompagnées et rendues possibles par la transition nutritionnelle, ont perturbé les interactions humains-milieux à différents niveaux. La plus grande pression exercée sur l'environnement naturel provient des activités humaines menées ailleurs sur la planète et d’un modèle de consommation incompatible qui génèrent de nombreuses externalités négatives sur l’environnement et la santé humaine. À travers leur alimentation, les Inuit du Nunavik sont dorénavant connectés au reste du monde par le biais du système alimentaire globalisé, dont les ramifications complexes couvrent toute la planète Or, au Nunavik, les défauts inhérents à la chaîne de production agroalimentaire globalisée s’expriment d’une façon bien singulière. L’intensification des liens entre économie inuit et économie globalisée concourt à placer les territoires nordiques dans une position d’échange inégal et de dépendance envers les producteurs et les fournisseurs d’un secteur agroalimentaire exogène au sein duquel les résidents du Nord ont peu d’occasions de se faire entendre. La souveraineté alimentaire à l’égard des aliments du marché est ainsi fortement limitée.
... Wastewater includes gray water (wastewater minus the blackwater) component, sewage wastewater, and wastewater from urban streams (Hamilton et al. 2014). Light gray water (from the laundry and bath/shower) has fewer contaminants and particles being applicable directly to food gardens (Cleveland et al. 2017). Wastewater reuse is an opportunity for food security through UA in developing countries; at the same time, it helps cleansing the urban environment. ...
Over the past decade, a growing body of literature recognizes the importance of urban agriculture (UA) as relevant phenomenon able to interconnect a range of environmental, economic, and social issues in urban areas. In parallel with food production, UA contributes to climate change mitigation, biodiversity promotion, rainwater regulation, and cultural and health and equity issues. The aim of this chapter is to explore the relationship between water use and UA in cities in the context of the water – food – energy – ecosystem nexus in both developed and low-income countries. Furthermore, crop water use in the framework of irrigation water requirements in urban environment was emphasized. By exploring the interlinkages among water use, rainwater harvesting, and ecosystem services provided by UA as key component of urban green infrastructures, this work attempts to provide new insights into urban water management, with recommendations and suggestions for urban farmers, city planners, and policymakers for more sustainable and multifunctional urban food systems.
... While UA may increase urban property values in some localities [24], other studies have found limited economic impacts [25]. While UA can reduce greenhouse gas emissions related to transportation and storage [26], it may lead to increased emissions from climate-controlled local food production [27]. While UA can result in increased urban nutrient recycling through the use of compost, nutrient recycling efficiency may often be very low [28,29] resulting in nutrient loss to groundwater and surface water [30,31]. ...
... Besides, although private gardens provide a given level of diversity in terms of plant species, it may also be a source of plant invasion, possibly affecting the local ecosystem equilibrium in the long-term (Smith et al., 2006) or even contributing to the amplification of volatile compound and CO2 emissions on a more global scale (Niinemets and Peñuelas, 2008). Cleveland et al. (2017) show that the contribution to greenhouse gas emissions reduction is sensitive to household gardening practices. Finally, gardening practices frequently raises natural resources use conflicts, more particularly over water rights (Domene and Saurí, 2006). ...
The specific case of home gardening practices is particularly relevant when discussing lifestyle habits and ecological transition, due to the wide range of positive and negative environmental externalities private gardens may generate. However, existing studies usually focus on restricted areas, mostly at a city scale. We provide an original empirical contribution to the literature on individual and institutional drivers regarding ecological transition by exploring the variations of individual behavior between European countries with an appropriate econometric approach. Using a European database (Eurobarometer 83.4), we highlight several interesting results regarding Europeans’ adoption of sustainable gardening practices, more particularly on the role of socio-demographic drivers, urban or rural residential location and access to trustworthy biodiversity-related information. In conclusion, we provide recommendations for the design of dedicated public policies, specific to a national or local level of decision.
... In achieving their three main goals (increase agricultural productivity sustainably to promote food security, income, and development; adapt and build resilience to climate change from farms to global sphere; and develop opportunities to reduce GHG emissions in agriculture), CSA seeks to provide a climate and food security in all levels, creating global and local actions concerning research, policies, and investments, acting in synergy with public and private players, as well as the civil society. Cleveland et al. (2017), carried out a model to mitigate GHGs by alternative household vegetable gardens (AHHVGs) in Santa Barbara County, California, in the United States. Lee et al. (2015a,b) report a reduction in GHGs from the urban agriculture in Seoul, South Korea to support food supply and to mitigate climate change. ...
The several changes happening in environmental, social, economic, technological and geopolitical spheres of our society result in countless risks, challenges and opportunities for human development. The global population crosses 7.7 billion with the loss of biodiversity, increasing pressure on food, water, and energy resources. The migration of people from rural to urban in large scale is a matter of concern; as the global urban population will almost reach 68% by 2050, approximately 6 billion. A very high concentration of people living in urban areas and growth projection pose a serious challenge for large cities for vulnerability. Amongst the several challenges, food security will be a serious issue for the future of cities. In this context, the Fourth Industrial Revolution and movement towards creating Smart Cities have to provide solutions and opportunities to deal with those challenges. In this opinion paper, we seek to discuss the future of cities, with a holistic vision of several actions to deal with food security challenges in urban centers.
... Entre los planteamientos centrales de esta corriente de pensamiento, se considera que las estrategias de acumulación capitalista (capital inmobiliario) han adoptado el término "capitalismo verde", como una forma "de mercantilización y financiarización que profundiza la penetración de la naturaleza por el capital" (Smith, 2007). Este discurso subyace tras actividades como el ecoturismo y las áreas de conservación, y conduce a patrones de consumo que generan crisis ambientales, toda vez que se construye un paisaje que idealiza el sentido bucólico de la naturaleza y relega otros problemas socioambientales trascendentales como el uso y abasto de agua y el manejo de residuos, así como la contaminación de los suelos y el escaso control de las emisiones de gas a la atmósfera derivadas de compostajes y sistemas naturales de reciclaje orgánico (Cleveland et al., 2016;Dinis et al., 2018). ...
La práctica de actividades agrícolas en las ciudades se ha difundido en numerosos países, independientemente de sus condiciones socio-políticas y económicas. Se han conformado expresiones territoriales precisas a partir de las interacciones de la ruralidad con la dinámica urbana, fundamentalmente las modalidades en las prácticas agrícolas y su rol potencial en la gestión sustentable y la seguridad alimentaria de los espacios urbanos y periurbanos. Se presentan algunos debates contemporáneos en torno al papel que desempeña la Agricultura Urbana y Periurbana (AUP), en la reconfiguración de los sistemas metropolitanos y su entorno rural. Se exponen algunas expresiones territoriales y se analizan diversos cuestionamientos en torno al sentido y potencialidades reales de las prácticas agrícolas urbanas, en términos de la sustentabilidad y su incidencia en los patrones alimentarios urbanos. Se acota el fenómeno a lo que acontece en ámbitos urbanos en Europa Occidental, América del Norte y América Latina. Se concluye que, si bien su práctica se ha acrecentado, hasta el momento, la AUP no ha alcanzado una presencia significativa en los sistemas alimentarios urbanos y su consideración es aún marginal en la construcción de las políticas públicas territoriales. En los países desarrollados, su impacto ha sido sobre todo en términos terapéuticos, paisajísticos (espacios verdes) y en la salvaguarda patrimonial de los espacios urbanos y periurbanos; en los países pobres, ha trascendido en el autoabasto de la población urbana de bajos recursos, en la recuperación de espacios públicos, en el fortalecimiento del tejido social y en el desarrollo comunitario
... Urban spaces where food production takes place can be framed within urban green infrastructures, namely, multifunctional ecological areas (e.g., backyard, rooftop gardens, public gardens, and open spaces) that provide ecosystem services and benefits for human well-being (i.e., regulating, provisioning, supporting, cultural) [6,7]. Apart from food supply and nutrition issues, opportunities and benefits include the positive potentials for climate regulation [8], greenhouse gas emissions [9], air quality [10], biodiversity [11], storm-water runoff [12], rainwater harvesting [13], cultural and health issues [14], while controversies are reported for water resources [15,16]. Furthermore, UA can represent an interesting way of saving money reducing the budget earmarked for the purchase of fresh food [17]. ...
Urban agriculture in Global North cities is strongly promoted as a sustainable solution to achieve different goals, such as food production, quality of life, and well-being. Although several attempts have been made to evaluate urban agriculture production, few studies have investigated food production in a multitemporal geospatial way and considered per capita population needs, gender, and age strata consumption. This study presents a spatiotemporal quantification of urban agriculture in the city of Milan (Italy) for assessing food self-provisioning potential. We utilized high-resolution Google Earth images and ancillary data to create a detailed cadaster of urban agriculture for the years 2007 and 2014. Based on four scenarios of food production and statistical data on vegetables and cereals consumption, we estimated current total production and requirements for the city dwellers. Our results showed that the actual extension of vegetable gardens (98 ha) and arable land (2539 ha) in the best scenario could satisfy approximately 63,700 and 321,000 consumers of vegetables and cereal products, respectively. Overall, current urban agriculture production is not able to meet vegetables and cereal consumption for more than 1.3 million city residents. Scenario estimates suggest rethinking land use promoting horticultural production to achieve more sustainable food systems.
... In addition, further GHG savings were realized when researchers accounted for lawn replacement, recycling gray water, and recycling organic household waste. However, home composting can produce methane and nitrous oxide, which are strong GHGs (Cleveland et al. 2017). Other studies that performed similar analyses for urban community farms also demonstrated reductions in GHG emissions compared with conventional systems, especially when vegetable production replaced lawns (Kulak et al. 2013, Fisher andKarunanithi 2014). ...
Investments in urban agriculture (UA) initiatives have been increasing in the United States, but the costs and benefits to society are poorly understood. Urban agriculture can link socioeconomic and health systems, support education and societal engagement, and contribute to a range of conservation goals, including nutrient recycling and biodiversity conservation. Urban agriculture is spatially dispersed and small scale, creating opportunities to redirect underutilized land, water, and nutrient resources. Urban agriculture reduces water and carbon footprints when it replaces lawns. Labor and time requirements, potential for environmental and nutrient pollution, and scarce water resources are challenges that UA must address. Based on our review of the literature, it is unclear whether UA provides economic or nutritional benefits to urbanites, but our case study shows that UA can provide some benefits when replacing other land uses. © The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Institute of Biological Sciences. All rights reserved.
... Our findings that UA can potentially be highly sustainable from an emergy perspective are in general agreement with studies that have assessed the sustainability of UA via other means. Life cycle analyses have shown that UA can have environmental benefits, reducing greenhouse gas emissions through reduced energy use in transport and storage of food, reduced entry of run-off water and organic waste into the waste stream, reduced energy for lawn maintenance, and improved carbon sequestration (51,52). UA also has the potential to improve urban biodiversity through replacing low-diversity vegetation, such as lawns, with more diverse garden plantings, which can, in turn, provide habitat and resources for urban biota, including ecologically important groups, such as pollinators (53,54). ...
Significance
Growing food in cities for human consumption could be one means of increasing global food supply in the face of rising population growth and global food security concerns. While previous studies have shown that urban agricultural systems are productive, few studies provide yield figures that incorporate data on the inputs used to achieve the outputs. Across 13 urban community gardens, we show that yields were nearly twice the yield of typical Australian commercial vegetable farms. However, economic and emergy (embodied energy) analyses indicated they were relatively inefficient in their use of material and labor resources. Balancing the sustainability of urban food production with the cost of inputs is important to determine the trade-offs required to achieve high yields.
... The potential for local vegetable production in Nunavik to mitigate climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE) was investigated through an LCA. The protocol described in Cleveland et al. (2017) for urban household vegetable gardens was adapted to Kuujjuaq greenhouse production. The net change in GHGE for replacing one kilogram of storebought vegetables with the same amount of locally produced vegetables is calculated as follows: ...
Disruptions in the way of life of indigenous peoples from the Far North have greatly affected their ability to meet their food needs. The implementation of community greenhouse and gardening projects is one of the initiatives taken to address this issue in Nunavik. Through a mixed-method approach, we analyze social benefits and challenges, as well as the potential food productivity and nutritional contributions of these projects. We discuss the potential of current greenhouse energy optimization scenarios and we address the benefits of Kuujjuaq’s greenhouse in terms of carbon dioxide mitigation. Discussions with the local stakeholders highlighted technical challenges regarding the energy supply, its efficient management and the supply of soil in sufficient quantities. Our results highlight the interconnectedness and complexity of food and energy systems in Nunavik. They show that the establishment of local fresh food production corresponds to a need expressed by the residents and could bypass some of the difficulties associated with the conveyance and freshness of food sold at the supermarket. They also indicate that the implementation of such production poses many challenges that require taking into account the geographical isolation, the arctic climate and the availability of local resources.
... In East Asian cities, a variety of initiatives have also emerged in recent years with different levels of institutional support. In the growing literature on urban gardening, it has been argued that urban gardens can contribute to: neighbourhood resilience in times of disaster and economic crisis (Tidball and Krasny, 2007); reducing demand for less sustainable food production and delivery (King, 2008); climate change mitigation (Cleveland et al., 2017); and creating deep engagement and long-term commitment to sustainable living (Turner, 2011). In short, urban gardening can serve as a strategy for adaptation and bolstering urban resilience through food production, sustainable practices and community building. ...
With rising concerns for food security and climate adaptation, urban gardening and urban agriculture have emerged as a rising agenda for urban resilience around the world. In East Asia, a variety of initiatives have emerged in recent years with different levels of institutional support. Focusing on Taipei, where a vibrant urban agriculture movement has been unleashed in recent years, this article examines the ongoing outcomes of the city’s new ‘Garden City Initiative’, which supports the establishment of urban gardens including community gardens, rooftop gardens and school gardens. Based on interviews and participant observations during the initial period of advocacy, planning and implementation between 2014 and 2017, this study examines the background of the programme, the involvement of governmental and non-governmental actors and the programme’s ongoing implementation. Based on the findings, the article further reflects upon their implications for the practices of urban governance in the face of contemporary environmental, political and social challenges. The case of Taipei suggests a model in which policy formation and implementation may require opportunistic actions involving a variety of actors and organisations in both institutions and the civil society. Rather than dramatic changes or instant institutional realignment, the effort may require strategic adaptation of the existing bureaucratic structure, while mobilising its strengths and resources. In addition, despite the critical role of civil society organisations, the Taipei case also illustrates a considerable public-sector investment, distinct from the predominant model of neoliberal governance that has been associated with urban gardening programmes elsewhere.
... The potential for local vegetable production in Nunavik to mitigate climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE) was investigated through an LCA. The protocol described in Cleveland et al. (2017) for urban household vegetable gardens was adapted to Kuujjuaq greenhouse production. The net change in GHGE for replacing one kilogram of storebought vegetables with the same amount of locally produced vegetables is calculated as follows: ...
... Our survey on detailed food categories quantitatively confirmed that the custom of sharing homemade foods greatly enhances the accessibility of seasonal foods and local production for local consumption. Cleveland et al. (2017) found that household vegetable gardens could reduce greenhouse gas emissions in terms of life cycle assessment such as the reduction of vegetables purchased from the conventional agrifood system. Consuming seasonal vegetables in a local-production-forlocal-consumption system conserves production and transportation energy, and reduces GHG emission (Tsuda et al. 2005). ...
People in rural areas often grow foods in their home gardens and share them through food-sharing networks. Besides the obvious economic benefits, such shared food via non-market transactions enriches the inhabitants’ lives by strengthening their social relationships and nutritional quality. These shadow benefits of non-market food are qualitatively recognized, but have not been fully integrated into formal accounting systems. Thus, the present study quantifies the shadow benefits of food-sharing networks by considering the non-market food distribution on Hachijo Island, Japan. Based on interviews and questionnaire surveys, we graphically visualized the structure of the food-sharing networks and the seasonality of the shared-food species. The study revealed the proportions of foods acquired through self-production, sharing networks and purchases by systematic food category, and quantified the monetary and nutritional values of the non-market foods. The island residents shared various seasonal foods within and beyond the island, and the non-market food was beneficial to their health. More than 20% of the islanders’ annual consumption of potatoes, vegetables, seafood, and fruits were obtained through the food-sharing networks. Non-market food largely saved the household expenditure and provided a wide variety of nutrients. As future perspectives of food-sharing networks, we suggest balancing market-based and non-market food provisions, promoting local production for local consumption, and designing local food resilience in disaster events.
Cities worldwide are increasingly committing to achieving net-zero carbon emissions in the coming decades. Most cities are not yet aware of the drastic changes in built environment required to reduce GHG emissions, and in many cases carbon neutrality targets will require atmospheric carbon removal outside or within city boundaries to offset remaining emissions. Since cities are particularly affected by increasing temperatures (e.g. due to the urban heat island effect), direct regulation of radiation through surface albedo management has also been suggested to alleviate these exacerbated urban heat impacts. With the aim of supporting the path to carbon-neutral cities, this paper assesses the existing literature on Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) at the urban scale, seeking to quantify the potential negative emissions contribution of cities globally. Our potential estimates indicate that deploying CDR options at the urban scale could make a significant contribution to global mitigation of climate change, alongside supporting the upscaling of climate action from local to regional and national scale. The associated human and environmental well-being effects strengthen the case for cities as carbon sinks. The upscale of the reviewed technologies is nevertheless constrained by numerous uncertainties, economic barriers and governance issues that pose substantial drawbacks to their implementation and scope, suggesting a future research agenda.
The Garden Patch—an urban agriculture program of the Saskatoon Food Bank & Learning Centre (SFBLC)—relies on corporate and individual donations in a time of growing austerity. The SFBLC does an excellent job of communicating programs to donors, but they had not previously completed a return-on-investment analysis. A social return on investment evaluation study for the 2018 growing season provided guidance on the most significant impact of the organization’s strategic objectives and provided an additional tool to communicate the program’s value to donors and the community. This work indicates the monetary value of social benefits gained from the investments made to the SFBLC for its urban agriculture program. Data sources included harvest data, volunteer logs, budget, and workshop attendance; key informant interviews with community members, volunteers, and staff; and community-based telephone and online surveys. It also included in-person surveys with community members accessing food hampers. With feedback from stakeholders, we measured the most valued program outcomes. The inputs and resources to run the Garden Patch were valued at CA$96,474 in 2018.[1] The outputs were vegetables for food hampers, gardening skills, physical and psychological health, and work and educational experiences. Outcomes were valued using financial proxies. For each outcome, the deadweight, attribution, and displacement were considered and discounted to calculate the impact value of $155,419. The final calculation is expressed as a ratio of present value divided by the value of inputs. We conservatively estimate a $1.61 of social value created for every dollar invested in the Garden Patch. We also analyze this method in the context of the current societal neoliberal paradigm, recognizing that there is much work to be done to advance food security and social justice.
[1] All currencies in this paper are in Canadian dollars.
Environmental merits are a common motivation for many urban agriculture (UA) projects. One powerful way of quantifying environmental impacts is with life cycle assessment (LCA): a method that estimates the environmental impacts of producing, using, and disposing of a good. LCAs of UA have proliferated in recent years, evaluating a diverse range of UA systems and generating mixed conclusions about their environmental performance. To clarify the varied literature, we performed a systematic review of LCAs of UA to answer the following questions: What is the scope of available LCAs of UA (geographic, crop choice, system type)? What is the environmental performance and resource intensity of diverse forms of UA? How have these LCAs been done, and does the quality and consistency allow the evidence to support decision making? We searched for original, peer-reviewed LCAs of agricultural production at UA systems, and selected and evaluated 47 papers fitting our analysis criteria, covering 88 different farms and 259 production systems. Focusing on yield, water consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, and cumulative energy demand, using functional units based on mass of crops grown and land occupied, we found a wide range of results. We summarized baseline ranges, identified trends across UA profiles, and highlighted the most impactful parts of different systems. There were examples of all types of systems—across physical set up, crop type, and socio-economic orientation—achieving low and high impacts and yields, and performing better or worse than conventional agriculture. However, issues with the quality and consistency of the LCAs, the use of conventional agriculture data in UA settings, and the high variability in their results prevented us from drawing definitive conclusions about the environmental impacts and resource use of UA. We provided guidelines for improving LCAs of UA, and make a strong case that more research on this topic is necessary to improve our understanding of the environmental impacts and benefits of UA.
With more than half of the world’s population residing in cities, there has been intense interest in urban agriculture’s contribution to sustainability and self-sufficiency. This paper provides new insight into the potential for food production to occur within residential properties. High-resolution optical imagery was employed to quantify residential land immediately available for vegetable production (i.e. residential lawn) in a low-density city. Adelaide (Australia) was used as a case study. Productivity was estimated according to three empirical (low, medium and high) and one commercial yield scenario. Under high and medium yield scenarios, lawn in a typical block exceeded the space required to achieve household self-sufficiency of vegetables. Under the high-yield scenario, 23% of lawn area would be required to meet the recommended vegetable intake of residents, while under the medium yield scenario, 72% would be required. This study demonstrates the plausible reality of self-sufficiency through backyard vegetable production. Other resources that might limit production, such as labour, water and nutrients, were explored in the discussion. Urban agriculture is shown to be particularly worthwhile in low density cities; contrasting previous research performed under different urban conditions. However, in this case study, potentially productive land has decreased over time.
The urban food garden is an interesting natural solution to the need to develop sponge cities structured and designed to absorb and capture rain water for reducing flooding, worldwide. This study applied a storm water management model and field experiments to investigate properties of the garden substrates. Taipei City was taken as a case study as the Taiwan government has promoted urban food garden projects since 2015. The urban food garden in Taipei has established a cultivable area of 197,168 m², 64,026 m² (32.5%) of which is designated as green-roof gardens and the rest as domestic gardens. Four substrate mixtures were found to have infiltration rates positively related to their soil water content. Substrate 1 had the highest infiltration rate (6.47 × 10⁻⁵ m/s) and soil water content (281%) when vegetation grows in limited containers. In 2019, the total water retention capacity of the urban food garden in Taipei City was 50,550.7 m³. This means that 1 m² of the urban food garden in Taipei retained 256.4 kg of water. Considering climatic conditions, the water retention capacity of the green-roof gardens in Taipei ranges from 28.2% to 41.0%. During short-term high-density rainfall events, the green-roof gardens were found to be more efficient in reducing the runoff volume, whereas during long-term high-density rainfall events, they were found to be more efficient in reducing the runoff peak flow duration (~20 mins) compared with concrete surfaces. This study proved that establishing the urban food garden contributes to increasing the water retention capacity and reducing the volume of surface runoff and the duration of runoff peak flow in prevention of flood disasters.
Urban agriculture has its history tied to the development of civilizations. Aiming to identify the benefits generated by the practice and its motivations, a literature review and later analysis of articles describing current experiences, management characteristics and organization aspects was carried out. In countries with a very high HDI, community gardens and the well-being of the population are prominent themes. Countries with high HDI focus on soil contamination and mitigation of pollution impacts, as countries with an average HDI has as main theme the sustainability of the practice. Finally, low HDI countries discuss their importance for food security. Regardless of the objectives that motivate urban agriculture and research in the area, is evidenced its contribution to the environmental, social and economic quality of cities.
Two home vegetable gardens (77.4 and 58.3 m ² ) in Tucson, Ariz., yielded an average of 1.24 and 2.31 kg/m ² of produce per year over 3 and 2.5 years, respectively. Average net returns were $109 and $123 per year, $0.72 and $1.11 per hour, or $8.80 and $7.75 per dollar of water used. Thus, in the southwest desert, a weekly investment of 2-to-3 hours in a home garden can provide savings.
Objectives:
We quantified the productivity of food gardens in Laramie, Wyoming, over 3 growing seasons.
Methods:
From 2012 to 2014, 33 participating gardening households weighed and recorded each harvest. Academic partners measured plot sizes and converted reported harvest weights to volume in cups.
Results:
The yield of the average 253-square-foot plot was enough to supply an adult with the daily US Department of Agriculture-recommended amount of vegetables for 9 months.
Conclusions:
Gardeners produced nutritionally meaningful quantities of food; thus, food gardening offers promise as an effective public health intervention for improving food security and nutritional health. (Am J Public Health. Published online ahead of print March 17, 2016: e1-e3. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2016.303108).
Global warming over the past several decades is now large enough that regional climate change is emerging above the noise of natural variability, especially in the summer at middle latitudes and year-round at low latitudes. Despite the small magnitude of warming relative to weather fluctuations, effects of the warming already have notable social and economic impacts. Global warming of 2 °C relative to preindustrial would shift the 'bell curve' defining temperature anomalies a factor of three larger than observed changes since the middle of the 20th century, with highly deleterious consequences. There is striking incongruity between the global distribution of nations principally responsible for fossil fuel CO2 emissions, known to be the main cause of climate change, and the regions suffering the greatest consequences from the warming, a fact with substantial implications for global energy and climate policies.
Urbanization is a world- wide phenomenon with expansion of urban areas often resulting in the loss of prime farmland and undeveloped land. In the U.S. developed land increased by 50% in the last 25 years. Urbanization can result in the loss of soil carbon (C) as a result of the expansion of impermeable surfaces, degradation of soils during construction, and lack of management. Impermeable surfaces can cover 80% of the soil surface in high- density urban areas, with this value decreasing to 30% when the greater populated area is considered. However, several factors suggest that there is a potential to increase C storage in urban areas. Research has shown that intensive management of urban soils can result in higher C reserves than similar soils in rural areas. Recently the importance of green-space in urban areas for storm water management, as a means to counter the heat island effect, and for restoration of limited ecological function has been recognized. Urban areas also generate large quantities of organic residuals that can be used as soil amendments. Over half of yard wastes generated are currently land applied, with approximately 50% of municipal biosolids and 98% of food waste landfilled or incinerated. Land application these amendments will accelerate C storage and can also replace synthetic fertilizers. Long- term studies in Tacoma, Washington found that 19–81% of amendment added C persisted in soils 3–18 years after amendment addition. Based on a conservative estimate using this data, application of residuals to pervious surfaces in Tacoma would result in an annual C sequestration rate of 0.22 Mg C ha−1 year−1, similar to rates observed for no- till agriculture. Use of urban generated residuals offers a low impact and sustainable means to increase urban soil carbon reserves.
Environmental life cycle assessment is often thought of as cradle to grave and therefore as the most complete accounting of the environmental costs and benefits of a product or service. However, as anyone who has done an environmental life cycle assessment knows, existing tools have many problems: data is difficult to assemble and life cycle studies take months of effort. A truly comprehensive analysis is prohibitive, so analysts are often forced to simply ignore many facets of life cycle impacts. But the focus on one aspect of a product or service can result in misleading indications if that aspect is benign while other aspects pollute or are otherwise unsustainable. This book summarizes the EIO-LCA method, explains its use in relation to other life cycle assessment models, and provides sample applications and extensions of the model into novel areas. A final chapter explains the free, easy-to-use software tool available on a companion website. (www.eiolca.net) The software tool provides a wealth of data, summarizing the current U.S. economy in 500 sectors with information on energy and materials use, pollution and greenhouse gas discharges, and other attributes like associated occupational deaths and injuries. The joint project of twelve faculty members and over 20 students working together over the past ten years at the Green Design Institute of Carnegie Mellon University, the EIO-LCA has been applied to a wide range of products and services. It will prove useful for research, industry, and in economics, engineering, or interdisciplinary classes in green design. © 2006 by Resources for the Future. All rights reserved. All rights reserved.
We have designed novel thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) materials, 2DMACPN and 2DMACTPN, with 9,9-dimethyl-9,10-dihydroacridine (DMAC) as an electron donor and dicyanobenzene as an electron acceptor. We obtain the zero-zero transition energies of the first excited singlet (S-1) and first triplet excited (T-1) states of TADF materials by performing density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) calculations on the ground state using a dependence on charge transfer amounts for the optimal Hartree-Fock percentage in the exchange-correlation of TD-DFT. The calculated E-ST values of 2DMACPN (0.019eV) and 2DMACTPN (0.023eV) were smaller than those of 2CzPN (0.363eV) and 2CzTPN (0.178eV) because of the large dihedral angles between the plane of DMAC and the connected phenyl rings of PN and TPN. We show that 2DMACPN would have the highest TADF efficiency among the four compounds because it has the largest dihedral angle, which creates a small spatial overlap between the HOMO and the LUMO, and consequently the smallest E-ST.
A frequent suggestion to increase individuals' willingness to take action on climate change and to support relevant policies is to highlight its proximal consequences, that is, those that are close in space and time. But previous studies that have tested this proximizing approach have not revealed the expected positive effects on individual action and support for addressing climate change. We present three lines of psychological reasoning that provide compelling arguments as to why highlighting proximal impacts of climate change might not be as effective a way to increase individual mitigation and adaptation efforts as is often assumed. Our contextualization of the proximizing approach within established psychological research suggests that, depending on the particular theoretical perspective one takes on this issue, and on specific individual characteristics suggested by these perspectives, proximizing can bring about the intended positive effects, can have no (visible) effect or can even backfire. Thus, the effects of proximizing are much more complex than is commonly assumed. Revealing this complexity contributes to a refined theoretical understanding of the role that psychological distance plays in the context of climate change and opens up further avenues for future research and for interventions.
A survey based on the Life Satisfaction Inventory A (LSIA) was used to investigate gardeners' and nongardeners' perceptions of life satisfaction. The LSIA was developed in 1961 by Neugarten and measures five components of quality of life including zest for life, resolution and fortitude, congruence between desired and achieved goals, high physical, psychological and social self-concept, and a happy optimistic mood tone. The survey was posted for four months on one of the largest online resources for Texas Master Gardeners within the Aggie Horticulture network, the Texas Master Gardener Web page (http: aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/mastergd/mg.html). During the 4 months, 402 responses were gathered. Additionally, identical 'paper/pencil' format surveys were distributed to garden, church, social and community groups with about 400 responses received. In each group of participants, respondents differentiated themselves as gardeners or nongardeners by responding positively or negatively to the survey question, Do you garden? Results indicated statistically significant differences in comparisons of the overall life satisfaction scores with gardeners receiving higher mean scores indicating more positive results on the LSIA. When responses to individual statements were analyzed, results indicated statistically significant differences on 20% of the statements. Differences were detected on statements relating to energy levels, optimism, zest for life, and physical self-concept with gardeners answering more positively on all statements when compared to nongardeners' responses. Additionally, gardeners rated their overall health and their physical activity levels higher than did nongardeners.
The expansion of urban agriculture assists in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions not only by producing food but also by reducing the amount of food transported from farming areas and therefore reducing the food mileage. This study seeks to estimate “the expected GHG reduction effect” in the case of a revitalization of urban agriculture. For this purpose, this study first calculated the area available for urban farming by targeting the metropolitan area of Seoul and then calculated the production per unit area by focusing on “the crops suitable for urban agriculture”. Using this estimated value, the study estimated crop production, the resultant food mileage decrement, and the reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions that could be obtained if the Seoul metropolis introduced urban agriculture. The results estimated that if the Seoul metropolis implemented urban agriculture in a 51.15 km2 area, it would be possible to reduce CO2 emissions by 11.67 million kg annually. This numerical value is the same amount of CO2 absorbed annually by 20.0 km2 of pine forests and 10.2 km2 of oak tree forests that are 20 years old. From the perspective of GHG reduction effects in the transportation sector, urban agriculture is expected to produce a considerable effect in diverse aspects such as the habituation of green growth, self-sufficiency, and food security.
Actions by individuals and households to reduce carbon-based energy consumption have the potential to change the picture of U.S. energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions in the near term. To tap this potential, however, energy policies and programs need to replace outmoded assumptions about what drives human behavior; they must integrate insights from the behavioral and social sciences with those from engineering and economics. This integrated approach has thus far only occasionally been implemented. This essay summarizes knowledge from the social sciences and from highly successful energy programs to show what the potential is and how it can be achieved.
California Assembly Bill 32 (AB 32), passed in 2006, mandates reductions in California's greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. Charged with implementing the bill, the California Air Resources Board has identified emission reduction strategies, including nine for agriculture. The goals set for agriculture are voluntary, but because the agricultural sector represents a significant portion of both the state's economy and its greenhouse gas emissions, it offers considerable opportunities for mitigation activities. To reduce compliance costs, the Board's plan includes a cap-and-trade program that allows for offsets to be purchased from nonregulated firms that undertake mitigation in or outside the state. However, methodologies are needed to assess the impact of mitigating activities. Without them, emission reductions are expected to fall far short of potential. We review an existing international mechanism - the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) - that offers a framework for evaluating offset projects and advanced methodologies that could facilitate AB 32 implementation in California.
Urban agriculture is being promoted as an important part of a sustainable food system. Whether urban agriculture can play a significant role in feeding the world's population, however, is unclear. In particular, the literature provides little guidance on how much food could be produced in Western cities. This research addresses some of this gap by presenting the results of a survey conducted with 50 backyard gardeners that explored how much food they produced and what these gardens used in terms of land, labour and capital. Data comes from Guelph ON, a mid-sized Canadian city west of Toronto, and was collected over the 2012 gardening season. Results indicate that home vegetable gardeners produced an average of 1.43 kg of fruit and/or vegetable per m2 gardened. This means that the value of these garden products would be worth $4.58USD/kg if bought in a grocery store. When these data were extrapolated up to the city level, results show that self-provisioning could produce approximately 200,000 kg of food - enough to feed 2900 people. When labour is valued at minimum wage, producing this food required $35.86USD/kg of inputs. When labour is not valued, this dropped to $10.82USD/kg. There are wide variations in the data; the productivity of the most and least productive gardens varied by nearly 2 orders of magnitude (the range was 0.08 kg/m2–5.18 kg/m2 and 0.3 hours/kg and 21.9 hours/kg). Three key conclusions stand out: (1) there is impressive potential when only the most productive are considered as an illustration of what could be produced; (2) as it is currently practiced, only a fraction of potential production is happening; and (3) for urban self-provisioning to meet its potential, a major increase in the area gardened and gardening skill is required.
Due to strong demands from organic farmers, landscapers, and home-gardeners, production and utilization of composts have rapidly increased. So, there is the need for their characterization (compost quality evaluations, particularly their nutrient releasing characteristics). In this study, three vermi-composts, six thermo-composts, and a green manure were incubated at 10 g/ kg with a Mollisol and an Oxisol at room temperature. Unamended soils served as controls. Nitrate (NO 3 -N) was extracted and measured at 3, 7, 14, 21, 28, 42, and 56 days during the incubation. The results showed that the potentially mineralizable N (referred to as N 0) varied widely among the composts, but the mineralization rate (k) remained nearly constant, ranging from 0.02 to 0.03/day, suggesting that approximately 2 to 3% of N 0 was transformed into NO 3 -N per day. Cumulative NO 3 -N release was linearly related to the square root of the total N in the composts. Relative absorbance at 260 nm of a 0.01M NaHCO 3 extract failed to predict N 0 , but could clearly separate vermi-composts (low absorbance readings) from thermo-composts (high absorbance). A subsequent greenhouse experiment using pak choi (Brassica rapa, Chinensis group, cv. Bonzai) as the test plant grown on the same two soils amended with 10 g/kg composts or green manure demonstrated the beneficial effects of the organic inputs when compared with the control (soil alone) or a complete mineral fertilizer treatment (providing 80 mg N/kg as 16-16-16 commercial fertilizer with 0.5% micronutrients). Organic amendments provided more benefits to cabbage growth in the infertile yet better drained Oxisol than in the fertile but poorly drained Mollisol.
In the United States, interest in urban farms and community gardens is flourishing, yet the urban home food garden (UHFG) and its contributions to urban systems have been overlooked and understudied. To begin to address this gap, we are conducting a mixed methods study of African American, Chinese-origin and Mexican-origin households with home gardens in Chicago, IL. Study methods include in-depth interviews, participant observation, ethnobotanical surveys and analysis of the chemical and physical properties of garden soils. As of this writing, findings indicate that home gardening has an array of beneficial effects, contributing to household food budgets and community food systems, the reproduction of cultural identity and urban biodiversity. The majority of informants in the study were internal or international migrants. For these individuals, gardening, culture-specific food plant assemblages and the foodways they support represent a continuation of cultural practices and traditional agroecological knowledge associated with their place of origin. The gardens of some migrant households also harbor urban agrobiodiversity with roots in the Global South. At the same time, gardens may have less salubrious effects on urban systems and populations. A lack of knowledge of safe gardening practices may expose vulnerable populations to environmental hazards such as soil contaminants. Gardeners in this study reported using synthetic chemical fertilizers and pesticides, sometimes indiscriminately, and the repeated application of synthetic fertilizers and compost may contribute to the nutrient loading of urban stormwater runoff. These effects may be moderated by the relatively low bulk density and high porosity of garden soils due to tillage and the application of organic matter, which can be expected to enhance stormwater infiltration. While the UHFG's potential contributions to urban systems are significant, outreach and research are needed to help gardeners grow food safely and sustainably in ways that contribute to overall ecosystem health.
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Micronutrient malnutrition is a serious public health problem among women and children in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Nepal and the Philippines. Helen Keller International has been implementing homestead food production (HFP) programs (coupled with nutrition education) in these countries to increase and ensure year-round availability and intake of micronutrient-rich foods in poor households, particularly among women and children. Between 2003 and 2007, the HFP program was implemented among ~30,000 households in these four countries. Data collected from representative samples (10 to 20% of program households and a similar number of control households) taken for evaluations of HFP programs in these countries were reviewed to illustrate the benefit of the program for households. Data were collected through interviews with households in villages that had the HFP program and from control households in non-HFP program villages. Blood samples collected from ~1000 children aged 6-59 months and ~1200 non-pregnant women before and after program implementation were analyzed for hemoglobin. The review showed that participation in the HFP program significantly improved dietary diversification. The combined data from all four countries showed improved animal food consumption among program households, with liver consumption increasing from 24% at baseline to 46% at endline (p
Undisturbed grasslands can sequester significant quantities of organic carbon (OC) in soils. Irrigation and fertilization enhance CO2 sequestration in managed turfgrass ecosystems but can also increase emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases (GHGs). To better understand the GHG balance of urban turf, we measured OC sequestration rates and emission of N2O (a GHG ˜ 300 times more effective than CO2) in Southern California, USA. We also estimated CO2 emissions generated by fuel combustion, fertilizer production, and irrigation. We show that turf emits significant quantities of N2O (0.1-0.3 g N m-2 yr-1) associated with frequent fertilization. In ornamental lawns this is offset by OC sequestration (140 g C m-2 yr-1), while in athletic fields, there is no OC sequestration because of frequent surface restoration. Large indirect emissions of CO2 associated with turfgrass management make it clear that OC sequestration by turfgrass cannot mitigate GHG emissions in cities.
This article reports on a literature review and meta-analysis of 82 studies, mostly life cycle assessments (LCAs), which quantified end-of-life (EOL) management options for organic waste. These studies were reviewed to determine the environmental preferability, or lack thereof, for a number of EOL management methods such as aerobic composting (AC), anaerobic digestion (AD), gasification, combustion, incineration with energy recovery (often denoted as waste-to-energy incineration), mechanical biological treatment, incineration without energy recovery (sometimes referenced by just the word “incineration”), and landfill disposal with and without energy recovery from generated methane. Given the vast differences in boundaries as well as uncertainty and variability in results, the LCAs among the 82 studies provided enough data and results to make conclusions regarding just four EOL management methods - aerobic composting, anaerobic digestion, mass burn waste-to-energy (WTE), and landfill gas-to-energy (LFGTE). For these four, the LCAs proved sufficient to determine that aerobic composting and anaerobic digestion are both environmentally preferable to either WTE or LFGTE in terms of climate change impacts.
Food environment studies have focused on ethnic and income disparities in food access. Few studies have investigated distance travelled for food and did not aim to inform the geographic scales at which to study the relationship between food environments and obesity. Further, studies have not considered neighborhood design as a predictor of food purchasing behavior.
Atlanta residents (N = 4800) who completed a travel diary and reported purchasing or consuming food at one of five food locations were included in the analyses. A total of 11,995 food-related trips were reported. Using mixed modeling to adjust for clustering of trips by participants and households, person-level variables (e.g. demographics), neighborhood-level urban form measures, created in GIS, and trip characteristics (e.g. time of day, origin and destination) were investigated as correlates of distance travelled for food and frequency of grocery store and fast food outlet trips.
Mean travel distance for food ranged from 4.5 miles for coffee shops to 6.3 miles for superstores. Type of store, urban form, type of tour, day of the week and ethnicity were all significantly related to distance travelled for food. Origin and destination environment, type of tour, day of week, age, gender, income, ethnicity, vehicle access and obesity status were all significantly related to visiting a grocery store. Home neighborhood environment, day of week, type of tour, gender, income, education level, age, and obesity status were all significantly related to likelihood of visiting a fastfood outlet.
The present study demonstrated that people travel sizeable distances for food and this distance is related to urban. Results suggest that researchers need to employ different methods to characterize food environments than have been used to assess urban form in studies of physical activity. Food is most often purchased while traveling from locations other than home, so future studies should assess the food environment around work, school or other frequently visited destinations, as well as along frequently traveled routes.
Efforts to divert organics away from landfills are viewed by many as an important measure to significantly reduce the climate change impacts of municipal solid waste management. However, the actual greenhouse gas (GHG) impacts of organics diversion from landfills have yet to be thoroughly evaluated and whether such a diversion provides significant environmental benefits in terms of GHG impacts must be answered. This study, using California-specific information, aimed to analyse the GHG impacts of organics diversion through a life-cycle assessment (LCA). This LCA considered all aspects of organics management including transportation, materials handling, GHG emissions, landfill gas capture/utilization, energy impacts, and carbon sequestration. The LCA study evaluated overall GHG impacts of landfilling, and alternative management options such as composting and anaerobic digestion for diverted organic waste. The LCA analysis resulted in net GHG reductions of 0.093, 0.048, 0.065 and 0.073 tonnes carbon equivalent per tonne organic waste for landfilling, windrow composting, aerated static pile composting, and anaerobic digestion, respectively. This study confirms that all three options for organics management result in net reductions of GHG emissions, but it also shows that organics landfilling, when well-managed, generates greater GHG reductions. The LCA provides scientific insight with regards to the environmental impacts of organics management options, which should be considered in decision and policy-making. The study also highlights the importance of how site and case-specific conditions influence project outcomes when considering organic waste management options.
The goal of this paper is to introduce community gardening as a promising method of furthering well-being and resilience on multiple levels: individual, social group, and natural environment. We examine empirical evidence for the benefits of gardening, and we advocate the development and testing of social ecological models of community resilience through examination of the impact of community gardens, especially in urban areas. The definition of community is extended beyond human social ties to include connections with other species and the earth itself, what Berry (1988) has called an Earth community. We discuss the potential contribution of an extensive network of community gardens to easing the global climate change crisis and address the role of community psychologists in community gardening research and policy-oriented action.
Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions related to composting of organic waste and the use of compost were assessed from a waste management perspective. The GHG accounting for composting includes use of electricity and fuels, emissions of methane and nitrous oxide from the composting process, and savings obtained by the use of the compost. The GHG account depends on waste type and composition (kitchen organics, garden waste), technology type (open systems, closed systems, home composting), the efficiency of off-gas cleaning at enclosed composting systems, and the use of the compost. The latter is an important issue and is related to the long-term binding of carbon in the soil, to related effects in terms of soil improvement and to what the compost substitutes; this could be fertilizer and peat for soil improvement or for growth media production. The overall global warming factor (GWF) for composting therefore varies between significant savings (-900 kg CO(2)-equivalents tonne(-1) wet waste (ww)) and a net load (300 kg CO(2)-equivalents tonne( -1) ww). The major savings are obtained by use of compost as a substitute for peat in the production of growth media. However, it may be difficult for a specific composting plant to document how the compost is used and what it actually substitutes for. Two cases representing various technologies were assessed showing how GHG accounting can be done when specific information and data are available.
Agriculture plays a major role in the global fluxes of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane. From
1991 to 1999, we measured gas fluxes and other sources of global warming potential (GWP) in cropped and nearby unmanaged ecosystems.
Net GWP (grams of carbon dioxide equivalents per square meter per year) ranged from 110 in our conventional tillage systems
to −211 in early successional communities. None of the annual cropping systems provided net mitigation, although soil carbon
accumulation in no-till systems came closest to mitigating all other sources of GWP. In all but one ecosystem, nitrous oxide
production was the single greatest source of GWP. In the late successional system, GWP was neutral because of significant
methane oxidation. These results suggest additional opportunities for lessening the GWP of agronomic systems.
To determine the association between household participation in a community garden and fruit and vegetable consumption among urban adults.
Data were analyzed from a cross-sectional random phone survey conducted in 2003. A quota sampling strategy was used to ensure that all census tracts within the city were represented.
Flint, Michigan.
766 adults.
Fruit and vegetable intake was measured using questionnaire items from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Household participation in a community garden was assessed by asking the respondent if he or she, or any member of the household, had participated in a community garden project in the last year.
Generalized linear models and logistic regression models assessed the association between household participation in a community garden and fruit and vegetable intake, controlling for demographic, neighborhood participation, and health variables.
Adults with a household member who participated in a community garden consumed fruits and vegetables 1.4 more times per day than those who did not participate, and they were 3.5 times more likely to consume fruits and vegetables at least 5 times daily.
Household participation in a community garden may improve fruit and vegetable intake among urban adults.
In order to carry out life-cycle assessments as a basis for far-reaching decisions about environmentally sustainable waste treatment, it is important that the input data be reliable and sound. A comparison of the potential greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with each solid waste treatment option is essential. This paper addresses GHG emissions from controlled composting processes. Some important methodological prerequisites for proper measurement and data interpretation are described, and a common scale and dimension of emission data are proposed so that data from different studies can be compared. A range of emission factors associated with home composting, open windrow composting, encapsulated composting systems with waste air treatment and mechanical biological waste treatment (MBT) are presented from our own investigations as well as from the literature. The composition of source materials along with process management issues such as aeration, mechanical agitation, moisture control and temperature regime are the most important factors controlling methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O) and ammoniac (NH3) emissions. If ammoniac is not stripped during the initial rotting phase or eliminated by acid scrubber systems, biofiltration of waste air provides only limited GHG mitigation, since additional N2O may be synthesized during the oxidation of NH3, and only a small amount of CH4 degradation occurs in the biofilter. It is estimated that composting contributes very little to national GHG inventories generating only 0.01-0.06% of global emissions. This analysis does not include emissions from preceding or post-treatment activities (such as collection, transport, energy consumption during processing and land spreading), so that for a full emissions account, emissions from these activities would need to be added to an analysis.
Despite significant recent public concern and media attention to the environmental impacts of food, few studies in the United States have systematically compared the life-cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with food production against long-distance distribution, aka "food-miles." We find that although food is transported long distances in general (1640 km delivery and 6760 km life-cycle supply chain on average) the GHG emissions associated with food are dominated by the production phase, contributing 83% of the average U.S. household's 8.1 t CO2e/yr footprint for food consumption. Transportation as a whole represents only 11% of life-cycle GHG emissions, and final delivery from producer to retail contributes only 4%. Different food groups exhibit a large range in GHG-intensity; on average, red meat is around 150% more GHG-intensive than chicken or fish. Thus, we suggest that dietary shift can be a more effective means of lowering an average household's food-related climate footprint than "buying local." Shifting less than one day per week's worth of calories from red meat and dairy products to chicken, fish, eggs, or a vegetable-based diet achieves more GHG reduction than buying all locally sourced food.
More than 50% of the world population (∼3.5 billion) lives in urban areas, and the relative magnitude will increase to 60% by 2030. The highest rate of urbanization in the world is in Latin America, and in the emerging economies of China and India. Urban ecosystems, covering ∼3% of the terrestrial land area, strongly influence biogeochemical cycles of elements (C, N) and water, and alter regional and global climate through gaseous emissions. Yet, urban lands are an important C pool with a C density as high as 20–40 kg C m−2. Because of intensive management, the above ground net primary productivity can be 300–400 g C m−2 year−1. Principal components of the ecosystem C pool include urban forests, lawns and turfs and recreational grounds, and soil C pool. The net ecosystem C pool can be enhanced by reducing the hidden C costs associated with management. Urban agriculture is gaining importance and adds to multifunctionality of urban landscapes. Urban ecosystems have a large technical potential to sequester C in soils and biota through judicious management. While sources of gaseous emissions must be reduced, C sink capacity of urban lands can be enhanced through adoption of recommended management practices.