The Garden in the Box =

Zero Hunger + Sustainable Cities and Communities

As our population continues to grow and become more urbanized, the democratization of our food source is key to ensuring that we eradicate hunger and facilitates the awareness that we can all be responsible for growing our own food, even within the smallest space. The Garden Project provides children with the necessary skills to grow their own food, cultivate lifelong healthful eating habits and provide growing options in urban environments. This is done through innovative and functional learner and teacher resources that follow the lifecycle of local, seasonal and edible plants. Moreover, the use of Garden in the Box, a portable teaching lab, provides a growing option at a very low cost whenever an outdoor garden is not available.

Shifting the responsibility of our own food source to the individual, could lead to new conceptions of citizenship that, according to farmer activist Wendell Berry, are needed to develop a more sustainable agriculture to revitalize local food economies, develop shared experiences and shorten the food supply chains. From Larzac in France to Greening of Detroit, we are provided with countless models of how community control of resources and participatory democracy works.

The Garden Project encourages schools to connect with the community through planting and growing activities, embracing sustainability as an organizing principle to seek ways to protect local lifestyles and livelihoods, and improving the quality of our cities. “Emphasizing hands-on, real world learning experiences” says David Sobel, not only increases academic achievement but also “helps students develop stronger ties to their community, enhances students’ appreciation for the natural world, and creates a heightened commitment to serving as active, contributing citizens. Community vitality and environmental quality are improved through the active engagement of local citizens, community organizations, and environmental resources in the life of the school” (David Sobel, Place-Based Education).