Solarpunk

5502 readers

6 users here now

The space to discuss Solarpunk itself and Solarpunk related stuff that doesn't fit elsewhere.

What is Solarpunk?

Join our chat: Movim or XMPP client.

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

ex_06

poVoq

SteveKLord

Are Urban Farms WORSE for the Environment? (youtu.be)

submitted 8 months ago by LibertyLizard to c/solarpunk

16 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Sorry for the clickbait title but I thought a great video from a great but not well known channel.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] fritata_fritato@lemmy.nz 55 points 8 months ago (3 children)

I don't commonly post here, but this caught my eye and I have professional expertise.

It simple enough. Larger farms in ideal growing regions with established infrastructure are massively more efficient by an order of magnitude.

Gardening is 'probably'* carbon positive.

Its OK though. I still have my vege garden and so should you (or community garden).

It's fun. It builds resilence into your community and local supply chain. And most hobbies are carbon positive, this one comes with benefits too.

[–] LibertyLizard 29 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

It depends on how you measure efficiency. In terms of labor input, yes. In terms of food produced per area of land, smaller farms are actually far more efficient. So it’s not quite that simple.

Not sure if you watched the video but it goes into this topic a bit so if not it could be informative.

But yes home gardens have lots of benefits that go beyond carbon emissions. And since we have direct control of them, it may be easier to reduce those emissions than those from some distant farm.

[–] hex_m_hell 8 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

This probably depends a lot on the gardening method. Like, your average gardener with no strategy is probably carbon positive. Ok, but what about biointensive gardening? What about permaculture gardening? What about guerilla gardening? What about aquaponics?

If you're driving to the garden store to get fertilizer, then you're probably carbon positive. If you're composting yourself and building your soil, I don't know.

Edit: looks like it's covered in the video. Will follow up later.

Edit: watched the video. Yes, basically permaculture is way less carbon intensive. The carbon comes from infrastructure (raised beds, sheds, etc).

[–] Valmond@lemmy.mindoki.com 21 points 8 months ago

It also helps the local fauna like bees, birds etc, which are usually destroyed by large agricultural farms.

[–] cestvrai@lemm.ee 14 points 8 months ago

In my city, personal/community gardens are a haven for bees and insects. However, there is a lot to be gained with scale if done responsibly.