Forward thinking or trend pandering?
We live in Oakland California about 10 miles across the Bay from San Francisco.
San Francisco is known – probably worldwide – for being on the “liberal” edge.
In the past few years they’ve put through a rather huge restaurant food waste recycling program, banned plastic bags in grocery stores, banned polystyrene (aka Styrofoam) food containers and most recently dug up a large chunk of City Hall lawn to plant a “Victory Garden” and host Slow Food Nation 08 last weekend.
The food from the garden is being donated to food banks.
And the garden itself serves as example, education and inspiration… as did the White House lawn turned Victory Garden by Eleanor Roosevelt in 1943.
News comes out now that San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsome is expected to release the City’s first “food policy” in the upcoming months.
The policy is said to significantly push the line on “local” food growth.
According to Jared Blumenfeld, director of the city’s Department of the Environment within a 200-mile radius of San Francisco more than 80 different types of food and more than 20 million tons of it are grown a year.
I’m not sure, but I’m guessing this doesn’t include home gardens.
Blumenfeld also notes the Bay Area consumes about 6 million tons and San Francisco specifically about 1 million tons of food a year.
Reportedly Newsome wants – as much as possible – the food that’s served by the City government (schools, hospitals, prison, ect.) to be grown locally.
Additionally, the policy will also encourage home gardens, community gardens and fruit trees in median strips and abandoned lots.
The question comes… who will “tend” all the production. Will all those fruit trees come to drop ripe fruit on the ground to rot?
No doubt there are MANY details to turn “hey wouldn’t it be nice if we…” into a truly revolutionary change in how we grow and distribute food as well as changing our diet from largely processed food products to real food.
And along the way… our understanding and relationship to food.
As Newsom comments: “It’s better to invest in people’s health and wellness. What we’re doing will save money in the long run.”
Another San Francisco “zany idea” or a trail blazing evolutionary idea?
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