Readings for 2/13/07: Doing it Right From the Start and Gardening's Socioeconomic Impacts

In my minds eye I combined both articles. I have to say that I found the article on the socioeconomic impacts of gardening to be a fantastic read. Both articles serve to encapsulate the importance of having plants/trees in nature. All of these things enhance the aesthetics of an area. Also, people need vegetables to enrich their bodies and people need trees to provide clean air.

The Patel article talks about the benefits of community gardening. It was very enlightening for me since I come from a place where an idea such as this would be laughed at. All of the points presented were brilliant. Community gardening is a way of breaking down the social, racial and ethnic barriers that divide us. It can also improve health, diet and overall well-being. Most importantly I like the point the author makes about community gardening saving money. This is a huge incentive to get people to participate in such an endeavor.

I also like the point the author makes about community gardening fostering self-sufficiency by providing a plot of land that someone who is landless can call their own for a time. I agree with him when he says that it is worthwhile to promote community gardening. I just have a hard time conceiving how an idea such as this works. I feel that despite all the benefits presented by the author there must be some disadvantages to community gardening yet I cannot come up with any at the moment.

The article about urban tree planting was very informative. It crystallizes the importance of taking various factors into consideration when making additions to nature. It also highlights that everything we put into nature has an affect, even though we may not see any obvious effect at the present time. Tree planting is a complex process and should not be entered into lightly. I know the reason why most trees planted in urban areas in the tropics are palms because palms are highly resistant to adverse weather conditions. When planting trees factors such as what effect that tree species will have on other tree species present should be considered in addition to the nutrient needs of the tree. Other questions to be considered are: What is the level of competition between the trees? Is the tree shade tolerant or will it require lots of sunlight? Is the planting area up to meeting the challenge posed by planting a tree there? Basically try to account for any and every possible outcome when planting trees in urban areas and making additions to nature in general because if something is to be done it is worth doing to the best of our ability the first time around.