Today over at TAPPED Phoebe Connelly professes her love for vegetable gardening. Liberals like gardens for obvious reasons: you don't have to burn carbon transporting the vegetables from your garden to your kitchen, they're more natural, and they encourage you to eat better.
But here's the problem. I live in a city. I live in a narrow row house with no yard. Instead, the area behind my house is covered in cement. By another tenant of liberalism, I'm doing the right thing by living in a city. I can commute to work by walking, biking, or taking public transportation. I don't have to own a car. I'm reducing my carbon footprint just by living where I live. But where I live doesn't let me grow a garden. Here comes the paradox.
How can we promote both cities (good) and gardens (also good!). The answer might not be that each individual grows a garden. It would be difficult to grow enough variety for yourself anyway. Instead something that's gaining more popularity are community lots that are maintained by a group of people who volunteer a little time each week or month. These garden co-ops might be the solution to the paradigm of living in a city and wanting to be pro-garden.
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