Urban gardening is sometimes viewed as a stodgy hobby practiced by green thumbs and Whole Earth subscribers. This video turns this image on its head and gives the important urban activity an edgy spin that should appeal to a new, younger audience.
It was submitted by Cody (aka smucker1121) an Ohio state student to the YKK AP Building a Better Tomorrow, Today Video Competition
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DV6DjiquzSU
From Youtube:
Lyrics:
Okay, step into my room after a long, hard, day,
Feeling cramped, kinda nauseous, I gotta get away,
To an outdoor utopia, fresh and green,
Full of plants and gardens, so very serene,
Only problem is that I live in the city,
To find a place such like this, I’ve got to be witty,
Public parks are crowded full of people and pets,
Man, I’m thinking about a place only seen by jets.Chorus:
Urban Gardening, Growing plants on the roof,
Efficient with space and energy that’s the truth,
What the limit is, it’s hard to say,
This is how we’re building a better tomorrow today.Urban gardening is shown to reduce energy costs associated with cooling office buildings and households. In addition, the organic foods produced by these rooftop farms is not only healthy for yourself, but also the environment. It is about using space wisely. As our cities become more and more populated, urban gardening is providing a new connection to healthy eating, and helping beautify neighborhoods across the globe.
Fun, but Geez Louise, let’s remake it – -speed it up!
I recently came back from Croatia, where almost every home and restaraunt had their own tomato patch and veggie garden. Seems they have been doing it foir centrues, and was not a new fangled “Urban” idea, just common sense that so many people seemed to have fogotton how to do.
Thanks for the comment Jon. Many of the foundations of urbanism are indeed common sense practices that were done for centuries before that advent of the automobile (and related technologies and infrastructure).
While technology and mechanization has been great for society overall, they have induced a sort of collective amnesia over much of the world, especially in North America. As a result, to rely on the old refrain “everything old is new again.” A large part of my interests and research is involved with finding ways to bridge the gaps between traditional practices and contemporary realities. Video like this play a roles in this exercise.
By making gardening appealing to a younger generation, not only can we help restore this ancient ‘common sense’ practice to our communities, we can also help bridge the generation gap; especially between grandparents (many who grew up with family gardens) and their grandchildren.