Urban agriculture and sustainable food

Urban agriculture and sustainable food: field trip to a Second Life backyard food garden with Delia Lake

UN Sustainable Development Goal #2 is Zero Hunger, yet worldwide, hunger is increasing.

• Getting fresh food to people with little waste and reduced greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs)
• Food – one of the essentials for life.
• Over 4 B people worldwide and growing live in urban areas.
• 1/3 of food produced worldwide is wasted, with people in affluent countries wasting even more, while almost 1 B people experiencing food insecurity.

Most food is produced far away from where it is eaten and is transported to us. All told, it’s estimated that it takes about 10 kcal of energy for every 1 kcal of food we get.

Can we get fresh food to people with little waste and reduced greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs)? Yes, we could grow a significant portion of our food in or near urban areas where most people eat it, but as Joni Mitchell said it in Big Yellow Taxi (1970). “Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone? They paved paradise, put up a parking lot.”

There is a nascent and growing movement toward urban and suburban farming. I have been growing vegetables in RL urban environments for decades, and in SL since 2008. On this Second Life fieldtrip we’ll explore a few ways that each of us might advance urban farming in our solid lives.

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