Gardening activist and director Roger Doiron hosted a TEDxDirigo talk titled, “A Subversive Plot: How to Grow a Revolution in Your Own Backyard”, in which he encourages his audience to begin “subversive plot” gardening. Doiron starts by describing that gardening is a subversive activity because food is essentially a form of energy and power. When people grow and harvest their own food, they are taking control “over their diet…health, [and] pocket books”. As someone continues to pursue a gardening lifestyle, they begin to remove that power from “other actors in society that currently have power over food and health”.
Although power is being removed from those other actors in society, it is not occurring fast enough. As the obesity epidemic, hunger, world food prices and the population continue to grow, Doiron explains how necessary it is for Americans to grow and eat more vegetables in the future. To keep with the rapidly growing population, “more food will have to be produced worldwide over the next 50 years than has been during the past 10,000 years combined”. However, to do this, it will be necessary to modify how food has been grown in the past. …show more content…
Doiron explains that connections between gardeners is one of the best ways to inspire and teach others to pursue gardening themselves. By creating a gardening community and connecting with people either online or in person at one’s local produce market, that essentially grows the next generation of gardeners. Despite gardening primarily being a woman’s responsibility in the past, Doiron wants to encourage men to take part in the gardening lifestyle as well. Lastly, Doiron explains that we need to reorder our federal food policies and priorities by changing the tax code and alternating the stimulus package, working on legalizing all gardens, and passing local food sovereignty
Although power is being removed from those other actors in society, it is not occurring fast enough. As the obesity epidemic, hunger, world food prices and the population continue to grow, Doiron explains how necessary it is for Americans to grow and eat more vegetables in the future. To keep with the rapidly growing population, “more food will have to be produced worldwide over the next 50 years than has been during the past 10,000 years combined”. However, to do this, it will be necessary to modify how food has been grown in the past. …show more content…
Doiron explains that connections between gardeners is one of the best ways to inspire and teach others to pursue gardening themselves. By creating a gardening community and connecting with people either online or in person at one’s local produce market, that essentially grows the next generation of gardeners. Despite gardening primarily being a woman’s responsibility in the past, Doiron wants to encourage men to take part in the gardening lifestyle as well. Lastly, Doiron explains that we need to reorder our federal food policies and priorities by changing the tax code and alternating the stimulus package, working on legalizing all gardens, and passing local food sovereignty