The Carbon Victory Garden In The Anthropocene

Anthropocene: "the current geological age, viewed as the period during which human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment."

In December 2018, I posted Climate Change: Sustainability Framework for Carbon Reduction . This simplified, five-part framework for carbon reduction can be applied to any organization from a family residence to a larger organization, even a corporation.?

Within the framework, the concept of mass civic engagement in a manner reminiscent of the Victory Garden movement of WWI and WWII was explored as a method to create an impact of CO2 reduction through engaging a large percentage of the US population (or any country).

What if we applied the framework to agriculture??

Agriculture is a sector of society that involves backyard gardeners, small market farm producers, and large multinationals, with all of humanity as the consumers.??

Applying the Framework to the Modern Day Carbon Victory Garden

In an earlier article, I outlined a framework for carbon reduction. This framework can be adapted to any organization, process or industry.?

Carbon Reduction Framework: ? George H. Thomas

The Carbon Reduction Framework is divided into five parts. Each part plays a role in carbon reduction through the lens of sustainable processes.?

Economic, social, and environmental aspects are taken into consideration through specific decisions and the refinement of processes for daily life, backyard or commercial agriculture.

Three aspects of sustainability are typically considered:

• The?economic aspect?maintains cash flow to support the business and the workers

• The?social aspect?treats everyone within the business and community with respect.

• The?environmental aspect?involves being a good steward of the land, air, and water

Within the Carbon Reduction Framework, as it is applied to agriculture, daily routine modification is leveraged through a mass civic effort to reduce the demand and the resulting emissions from fossil fuels. This type of effort takes leadership on a national level since the World War Victory Garden model was administered from the leadership perspective towards a common goal.

The primary benefits from following a sustainability framework when applied to agricultural processes include reduced carbon emissions per each agricultural site, reduced air pollution, locally produced tasty food, and providing an enriched civic experience connecting the production of food with the consumer.

Who or what event would provide the modern-day motivation to participate en masse?

Background: The WWI and WWII Victory Garden

The Victory Garden movement of the early 20th Century is an excellent example of a purposeful civic campaign that yielded results by engaging numerous sectors of society in a common cause.?

The Victory Garden campaign of WWII engaged 70 million citizens, 51% of US Households. Efforts in Britain, Canada, and Australia followed a similar framework of localizing food production into backyards and local parks to reduce fuel and labor resources used in large scale agricultural production and transportation then repurpose these resources to the war effort.?

Table ? George H Thomas | Data: https://garden.org/special/pdf/2014-NGA-Garden-to-Table.pdf

Comparing the participation in gardening through these three eras, two of which were world wars and the third current era perhaps a larger battle for the survival of the planet. Participation in 1943 seemed to be the height of the American gardening movement with ? of national vegetable production originating in a local Victory Garden.?

In addition to the material efficiencies, a social benefit of a civic camaraderie through working collectively on building and maintaining Victory Gardens, then sharing in the harvest boosted the morale of communities during these challenging times.

Cuba’s Urban Garden

A modern example of local food production for a large urban population can be found in Cuba. With the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, imports of food were reduced and eventually suspended along with material goods to produce food that included fertilizers.?

Local ingenuity through organic agricultural methods on small plots of land through the necessity to provide caloric intake for the citizens, continuously increased yields so that by 1995, most of the fruits and vegetables of Havana (1995 population 2.25 million) were grown locally. What started as a grassroots effort was later adopted and promoted by the government.

While Cuba does have the advantage of a tropical climate with the availability of year-round agriculture, many of the small scale agricultural methods can be implemented anywhere on the planet. Innovative raised bed structures built from wood, rocks, brick and a diverse range of locally acquired materials make up the foundation for an easily worked vegetable bed with crop residues, household food waste, animal manures, worm castings incorporated into the soil to build a nutrient-rich soil.?

Efficient drip irrigation, carefully selected open-pollinated crops, crop rotation and integrated pest management produce yields up to 20kg per sq meter (rapidtransition.org , 2019).?

This government adoption of a citizen-driven movement was crucial to the success in Cuba, while the Victory Garden movement of WWI and WWII was primarily promoted by the government and rapidly adopted by the citizens. This distinction reflects a global shift towards "people power" in influencing governing bodies, with the government adapting to the needs of the people for the greater good of all of society.

Modern Engagement

The example in Cuba was necessitated by the need for survival of the population through the loss of imported foods and basically the need for caloric intake to survive.?The modern-day Victory Garden is an important component for the survival of the planet.

In the time since the victory garden movement, society as a whole has become more dependent on fossil fuels is not only the transportation of agricultural products but the actual growing methodologies dependent on synthetic fertilizers, herbicides and the related processes deployed on GMO mono-crops.??

Mass civic engagement for a cause, or these days a cause is reframed as a “challenge” has a historical precedent. Today, with social media engagement, there is the potential to reach a similar civic engagement rate by extending a Victory Garden type of civic engagement, to a global threat, climate change.

Back to the Local Garden

Gardening is already a popular activity in the United States with over a third of the population with or near a garden. In order to make a dent on climate change, the number of gardens needs to increase, the gardening methodologies shift to a more “organic” approach away from fossil fuel-based fertilizers and herbicides and the yields and varieties of nutritious vegetables need to increase.

“Local” and “organic” are synonymous with healthy eating. These terms are not only embraced by the regional farmers market but marketed by the big box Walmart and Costco who play a large role in this $49 billion dollars organic food and non-food sector (Organic Trade Association, 2017).

“Local” speaks to community engagement, through sharing the harvest of a backyard garden or pea patch or the fact that you can meet the farmer that grows your food at a farmers market or local CSA.?

While “organic” in the marketplace refers to the USDA Organic Certification an internationally recognized methodology for producing food and even some non-food products.?

When not addressing agricultural commerce from the USDA Organic Certification perspective, organic agriculture is the practice of growing plants without synthetic fertilizers, pesticides and ideally with heirloom seeds, seeds that are “open” pollinators that have been grown for several generations, typically acquired through specialty plant breeders or even from local seed savers since these types of varieties can reproduce similar qualities from parent plant through the following generations.?

Natural fertilizers include manures and rotational cover cropping that build soil health and retain an ecosystem within the soil that sequester carbon, stores nutrients as well as maintain the conditions to retain water in the soil.

A Very Local Supply Chain

The modern Victory Garden is in the backyard, the local “pea patch” community garden, the CSA subscription from a market garden or small farm, the commerce of a local farmers market and the occasional locally sourced vegetables from the supermarket.?

Localizing food production to not only reduce the energy used within the supply chain but to connect the consumer with the producer whether it is a neighbor or the local organic farmer at the farmers market. Many home gardens, family farms and larger agribusiness have some connection with the historical Victory Garden movement. Whether it is generational gardening knowledge passed down through a family member through hands-on backyard ingenuity or the family farm that once was guided by the Farmers Almanac and now organized through GPS and data in the cloud, where the end goal is to produce an abundance of crops through efficient methods.?

Localizing food production provides opportunities to not only reduce the energy used within the supply chain but to connect the consumer with the producer whether it is a neighbor with a surplus of vegetables for gifting or trade or the local organic farmer at the farmers market.

The modern-day equivalent of the Victory Garden focuses on reducing the emissions from fossil fuel throughout the supply chain.?

For example, mitigating the carbon emissions associated with the transport of organic tomatoes (or any vegetable) from Mexico or California to a Redmond, WA grocery store or the car trip emissions to the market to buy that tomato.?

Heirloom Tomatoes | Photo: ? George H. Thomas

Within this example, the individual Victory Garden mitigates the supply chain emissions on a small scale that can be scaled to large scale supply chain emissions mitigation through mass civic engagement with numerous neighborhood and regional Victory Gardens. A larger impact can be realized through diversely planted vegetable beds in a local garden, with the variety of vegetables available to the citizens multiplied through trade and barter with neighboring gardens.?

Supply chain emissions can be reduced through growing food locally. The historical case of WWI and WWII Victory Gardens is an example of how fuel savings are possible, yet these historical fuel savings were meant to be repurposed towards the war effort, where the modern-day Victory Gardens intent is to eliminate the need for fossil fuel in the supply chain.

In this modern-day supply chain example, growing tomatoes (or any vegetable) in the backyard or community pea patch reduces individual participation in the supply chain. A Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) subscription reduces supply chain emissions to a lesser extent since many CSA allotments are either picked up by car or dropped off by delivery. Delivery emissions are classified as Scope 3 indirect emissions.

Additional carbon mitigation through the extension of the seasonality; using the locally grown tomato example, through greenhouse use or the preservation of the tomato by making a sauce, salsa or roasted then frozen or canned for a special treat during the long winter months.?

Back to the Garden

By scaling the community-based backyard garden, community garden as well as creating more centralized market gardens, significant benefits related to human well being, ecosystem preservation and carbon reduction are possible.?

Overhead view of a no-dig garden | Photo: ? George H. Thomas

An aerial view of a large backyard no-dig garden, in Redmond Washington May 2019. This is early in the growing season, this image illustrates the use of straw as "armor" to protect the soil and foster an active ecosystem within the soil. Leafy greens are growing under a floating row cover while overwintering kale continues to produce. Peas are starting to grow up a trellis next to sprouting potatoes.

The rain barrels are fed from a rainwater collection system on a nearby barn. The garden is designed to capture subsurface water off of the hill above it. Layers of composted manure with timothy hay and alfalfa layered above that, with another layer of composted manure, then a final layer of straw to act as armor to protect the soil from the elements during the winter.

In the spring, the straw is carefully raked off to plant leafy vegetables, under the floating row cover in this image. Tomatoes, broccoli, squashes, and similarly structured vegetables are placed in "nests" where straw is strategically removed, a hand full of compost from the worm bin added, then the plant "start" (grown in a window sill, cold frame or greenhouse) is placed in the soil with the straw pulled up to the stem of the plant to suppress surrounding weeds and retain moisture.

Backyard gardens using “no-dig” methods, where mulches, compost, and cover crops build up the soil rather than turn it over. The no-dig method is very efficient with water and nutrient retention, thus reducing municipal water input or well water from aquifers. These organic methods eliminated the need for chemical inputs due to the vigorous growth of the plantings while heavy mulch suppresses weeds and the undisturbed microbial ecosystems below ground are left alone to do their ecological services.?

Heirloom potato crop through the season | Photo: ? George H. Thomas

Heirloom potatoes are easy to grow in Washington State, this plot received only the occasional rainfall for water input. Washington summers are notoriously dry, thus the no-dig method provides plenty of nutrients and water retention, while the remainder of straw that was placed on the garden the preceding fall as armor suppresses weed growth.

Potatoes provide ample calories and are easily stored for months, these potatoes are stored in old file cabinets in the garage. Any potatoes that sprout can be used as seed potatoes for the follow-on years crop.

Supporting the no-dig method with (supply-chain downstream - see below) outputs from the kitchen, such as food waste that is processed in a worm bin as well as locally sourced (supply chain upstream) composted manure material. Additional practices of taking care to tread lightly on the soil by walking on the paths and not the beds and not disturbing the beds with manual or mechanical tilling methods suppress weeds and provide rich undisturbed live soils that can support numerous succession plantings over a season.

New Agriculture that is Really Old

When organic agricultural systems are taken to the next level, the term regenerative agriculture comes into play. This method takes a multidimensional approach to not only growing the crop but preserving and in some cases regenerating the ecosystem surrounding the crop. With a focus on soil fertility, soil health, and carbon sequestration in both above the ground surrounding diverse ecosystems and below the ground ecosystems using no or low till conservation practices. All inputs are monitored such as fertilizers and livestock feed as well as outputs whether it is the final agricultural product, wastewater, or carbon emissions.

Michael Pollen’s Book The Omnivore's Dilemma introduced regenerative agriculture to the mainstream with a profile on Joel Salatin’s Polyface Farm in Virginia. Salatin focuses on livestock production through a field rotational method that produces naturally fed chickens, pigs, and cattle. The rotational method is also good for the land through “mob” disturbance of the grassland, then clean up and fertilization of the land and finally regrowth for the next rotation.?

North Dakota rancher Gabe Brown proves that regenerative agriculture is scalable with his family’s 5000-acre ranch that employs a no-till farming methodology with cover and companion cropping with minimal herbicide use and no GMO?or Glyphosate (Roundup).?

Gabe Brown outlines the five principles of regenerative agriculture:?

• Limit disturbance of the soil: be it a mechanical, physical or chemical disturbance.?
• Armor: Keep the soil covered at all times (cover crops or plant residues).
• Diversity in plant and animal species: enhances ecosystem functions through numerous different characteristics above and below ground. Nature is more collaborative than competitive.
• Keep living roots as long as possible in the ground. Living roots feed soil biology by providing carbon. This, in turn, fuels the nutrient cycle that feeds plants.
• Integrate animals. Grazing of plants stimulates the plants to pump more carbon into the soil, which again drives nutrient cycling by feeding biology. By cycling more carbon out of the atmosphere and putting it into the ground, we can actively mitigate climate volatility. It goes without saying that pollinators, predator insects, earthworms and all of the microbiology are incremental to any system.

(Gabe Brown)

"I want to say one word to you. Just one word." Soil.

The process of photosynthesis fixes atmospheric CO2 into plant biomass. As plants form roots and discard their leaves, organic matter is deposited in the soil which serves many purposes, among them water and nutrient retention. This natural cycle allows a natural ecosystem or a crop to thrive as well as future crops stabilizing soils from erosion. Over time as more plant biomass is produced, the soil is left undisturbed so that microbial processes can be sustained and more carbon is sequestered in the soil.

When soil is disturbed through deforestation of natural ecosystems or agricultural tilling, this carbon sequestration process is disrupted along with the nutrient and water retention natural services. By altering modern agricultural processes to adapt to and manage soil carbon sequestration, a vast problem of mismanagement can be shifted into a solution. The positive aspect of regenerative agriculture and surrounding ecosystem preservation works hand in hand to sequester carbon for the long term. Considering the size of some agribusinesses, this new way of thinking can provide measurable results.

Applying the Carbon Reduction Framework To the Carbon Victory Garden

Carbon Reduction Framework | ? George H Thomas

What can you add to the list? Please comment below the article!

Energy

• Install solar or join a community solar group.
• Power an electric car with solar , use the car battery for on-site storage.
• Reduce the dependency of fossil fuel-based inputs by supporting organic agriculture.
• Plant a garden to reduce car trips to the grocery store - reduce Scope 1 emissions.
• Reduce energy use in the supply chain of consumer goods with smart consumer choices - Reduce Scope 3 emissions.

Water

• Develop an awareness of?your water supply and water discharge.
• Reduce water use around the house and garden.
• Design garden or large agricultural system with efficient water use in mind.
• Rain gardens create additional water sequestration on a property.
• No-till or reduced till soil management for carbon sequestration and water resiliency.

Social?

• Gift, trade or barter backyard and pea patch vegetable yields with the community.
• Support your local food bank by donating or growing specific crops for the food bank.
• Connect with a local farmer through a CSA.
• Move to or develop an Agrihood!
• Support local production and local consumption to keep money in the local community.

Supply Chain Upstream

• Think about the supply chain and associated emissions with food purchases.
• Develop “Precycle” thinking about the packaging and the need for grocery store purchases.
• Shop efficiently with minimum car trips to the grocery store - reduce Scope 1 emissions.
• Plant a garden to reduce vegetable supply chain emissions.?
• Use open pollinating heirloom seeds in the garden, then save the seeds from the harvest.

Supply Chain Downstream

• Dispose of food waste through composting or a backyard worm bin.
• Reduce, reuse, and recycle waste from the home or organization.
• Be aware of local water resources, eliminate herbicides, excessive lawn fertilization, and chemical dumping.

Supply Chain Downstream: Food waste example?

The USDA estimates 30% to 40% of the food supply is wasted, 31% at the consumer or retail level or approximate 133 billion pounds (2010). The EPA estimates 218.9 pounds per person in 2010 or approximately 71 billion pounds. The difference accounts for more waste in the upstream supply chain. Yet either way that is a lot of food waste.

The main issue with food waste in a landfill is that the food waste is not exposed to oxygen and it slowly decomposes releasing methane (CH4) to the atmosphere, a potent greenhouse gas that has 24 to 80 times the heat-trapping properties compared to CO2. If the food waste is sent to a composting or worm bin process, the food waste is broken down by worms and microbes and while the process still releases CO2, fertile soil is produced for future agricultural uses.?

Table ? George H Thomas | Data: https://www.usda.gov/foodwaste/faqs

The table above illustrates a few scenarios with different participation rates for managing food waste. Using the WWI and WWII Victory Garden participating rates in a modern-day context, significant CO2 reduction is possible. As a comparison, three large technology companies with their publicly reported combined Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions are displayed.

• With all US households participating in food waste composting, 35.2 million metric tonnes of CO2 emissions can be diverted from release into the atmosphere.
• Amazon total carbon footprint, 44.4 million metric tonnes CO2 emissions, greater than 100% US household participation in reducing food waste.
• Microsoft total carbon footprint, 17.6 million metric tonnes CO2 emissions, equal to 50% US household participation in reducing food waste.
• Google total carbon footprint, 4.4 million metric tonnes CO2 emissions, equal to 20% US household participation in reducing food waste.

Many local waste disposal services now offer compostable food waste disposal as a service. If you live in a detached house or use a local pea patch community garden, a worm bin is an excellent method of diverting this waste from the landfill or avoid the downstream footprint of the food waste disposal service.?

Photo: ? George H. Thomas

My household food waste: onion skins, eggshells, coffee grinds, kale stems on the left, the worm bin on the right that processes the waste into vermicompost.

While I have not weighed my own food waste, I do fill a large bowl every day or two with food waste that includes coffee grounds, food scraps from meals, vegetable off-cuts including peels, paper towels, stale or past-use vegetables or other food waste. My household does not eat out that often thus food is either consumed or sent to the worm bin. I find the 210 lb. annual food waste metric (USDA) to be accurate and similar to my household.

I have a large 3 ft diameter plastic composting bin with a secured bottom and top to keep out the vermin (a few years ago a bear broke into the bin!). The food waste is deposited into the bin and covered with a pitchfork full of the worm bin material that contains worms, castings (worm poop) and previously disposed of material.

Every few months some of the material is transferred to a stackable worm bin for final processing by the worms. Once processed the material is added to the garden, typically as a handful of material with specific plants or mixed into raised beds.

The worms go on to do their work within the gardens. What is really remarkable about the worms is that they regulate their populations per the amount of material they are processing, thus they never overpopulate as long as there is a steady stream of material (their food).

Household Carbon Footprint Reduction

By incorporating the carbon reduction framework into a victory garden model,?the supporting daily services of transportation, utility serviced electricity and air travel are daily reminders of a household or business footprint with a clear methodology on how to reduce that carbon footprint through efficient low carbon methods of food production.?

Each meal continues to remind us of that footprint and the value of whole, nutritious and local food brings to a kitchen table with family or community.?

Average per capita automobile mileage, electricity usage, food waste management, and air travel can be reduced through awareness and efficiencies in daily processes.?By setting a goal as in the example below of a 10% reduction, with national participation at the scale of the WWII Victory Garden movement can make a difference.???

The table below illustrates the average energy use for an American citizen.

• Average auto mileage of 10,000 miles @ 22mpg
• Average household electricity use 10,000 kWh
• Assumption of one coast to coast airline trip to account for jet setters and business travelers.
• Food waste of 202 lbs. per household.

Table ? George H Thomas

The air travel is above average to account for jet setters and business travelers. Food waste is not often mixed into a household footprint, though with the previous calculations earlier in the article and the availability of waste services that provide household composting, this metric has a significant potential for greenhouse gas reduction when food waste is managed properly.

The scope of the climate crisis is overwhelming, thus it will take a critical mass of participants to make a difference.?As noted, 51% of Americans participated in the Victory Garden movement during World War II, with today’s connected society, there are numerous opportunities to match and exceed this participation, the Carbon Victory Garden can not only feed a community with nutritious local food but can reduce impacts associated with global warming gases and their association with components of the supply chain associated with food production.

WWII Victory Garden movement was primarily facilitated initially from federal government promotion.?The power of this messaging has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as well as improve the quality of life for many individuals and communities.?

“Breaking bread” or the act of sharing a meal or metaphorically as fostering meaningful connections is taken to a new level to involve not only the human commonalities but to integrate the natural world through a local relationship with the production of food.

It Is Time For Grand and Not So Grand Solutions

The modern carbon victory garden is in the backyard, the local “pea patch” community garden, the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) subscription from a market garden or small farm, the commerce of a local farmers market and the occasional locally sourced vegetables from the supermarket. Locally produced food from the Carbon Victory Garden serves as a cornerstone to an overall carbon emissions reduction practice.?

Apply or at least think about the Carbon Reduction Framework in all processes! The low apples on the tree are very obvious.

• Drive less or use public transit.
• Use less electricity in the home or business through efficient processes.
• Fly less.
• Compost at home or participate in waste disposal composting program.

Climate change is upon us and it is being documented in real-time. No longer are we talking about an academic concept. Last summer the media focus was on the fires in the west, this summer it was the melting glaciers in Greenland and the warming of the arctic.?

Like many citizens, I am concerned about climate change. I have kids and am concerned about their future as well as future generations. I wonder whether our civilization has the wherewithal to do something about climate change, while strategically building in resilience to our communities.

Grand solutions take buy-in from a large portion of the population. It is time to consider the grand and not so grand solutions that are needed to turn the tide to stabilize CO2 emissions.

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Links for further research

What is the Anthropocene?

Soil Carbon Storage Soil carbon storage is a vital ecosystem service, resulting from interactions of ecological processes. Human activities affecting these processes can lead to carbon loss or improved storage.

Masanobu Fukuoka Japanese farmer and philosopher celebrated for his natural farming and re-vegetation of desertified lands.

Charles Dowding has explored and shared new ways to garden since 1983, most notably no-dig organic gardening, and since 2003 has developed ways to continuous-crop salad leaves. Discover his weed-free, no-dig methods to achieve superb and time-saving results in both small and large garden areas.

Geoff Lawton Permaculture Masterclass Zaytuna Farm, home of the Permaculture Research Institute (PRI), is situated on a sixty-six acre (27 hectares) property opposite the village of The Channon, Northern NSW Australia.

Morag Gamble : Our Permaculture Life

Permaculture Womens Guild Guided by women, we offer free and low-cost training to ecological designers of every gender, class, and persuasion.

Pete Kanaris is a professional landscaper who has taken his craft to another level with permaculture inspired garden and food forests using only organic inputs.??

Justin Rhodes A permaculturalist homesteader who has inspired (and taught) thousands of people to grow their own food.

Curtis Stone - Urban Farmer There are over 40 million acres of lawn in North America In their current form, these unproductive expanses of grass represent a significant financial and environmental cost. Access to land is a major barrier for many people who want to enter the agricultural sector, and urban and suburban yards have huge potential for would-be farmers wanting to become part of this growing movement.

Richard Perkins Learn about the decisions and economics of Farm Scale Permaculture Design, Regenerative Agriculture, Keyline Design, Agroforestry, No-Dig Market Gardening, Pastured Livestock Enterprises, On-farm Slaughter facilities and Holistic Management.

Rob Greenfield Growing and Foraging 100% of your food.

The Gardening Channel with James Prigioni Food Forest Gardening in New Jersey!

Cuba’s Urban Gardens A fascinating overview of urban gardening out of necessity.

Gardening Australia Urban Farming Series

Down to Earth Community Gardens Free garden resources in Washington State.

Soil Carbon Cowboys A film about innovative ranchers and farmers who work with regenerative systems to make their animals healthy and their farms profitable.

Jackson Carpenter : Three steps to cut your carbon footprint 60% Today

World Food Day : time to put a spotlight on the food we produce and consume, as well as business leadership for change in the next years and decades. WBCSD is a global, CEO-led organization of over 200 leading businesses working together to accelerate the transition to a sustainable world.

The power of fruits and vegetables for nutrition

Food in the supply chain calculator

Food scrap calculator using EPA Waste Reduction Model (WARM)

Climate Victory Garden* A non-profit whose mission is to harness economic power—the strength of consumers, investors, businesses, and the marketplace—to create a socially just and environmentally sustainable society.

* I found this link after I wrote much of the article, so I guess we are all on a similar journey!

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Please check out my other articles on sustainability My Take on Sustainability