Victory Gardens 2.0

I find this symbolic possibility inspiring and hopeful with the potential for awesome consequences. Please VOTE and pass the word.

Reprinted from www.change.org. Please VOTE!

Thousands of Americans and people from the around the world are asking the Obamas to lead by example on climate change, health policy, economic self-reliance, food security, and energy independence by replanting an organic food garden at the White House with the produce going to the First Kitchen and to local food pantries.

The many successes(1) of the first Victory Garden movement were the result of effective public policy, bold leadership(2) at a time of national crisis, and the commitment of millions of citizens who were ready to roll up their sleeves for the greater good.

There' s no better, more symbolic place for launching a new National Victory Garden Program than at the White House, "America’s House". There's no better, more urgent time(3) than now. And there's NOTHING that can beat the fresh taste of locally-grown, home-cooked foods.

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(1) Victory Gardens (behind homes, schools, in vacant urban lots, etc.) produced 40% of the nation’s produce at their peak, helped conserve food and natural resources at a time of crisis, resulted in the highest consumption rates of fruits and vegetables our nation has seen, and helped keep millions of Americans physically fit and active.
(2) First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt planted a Victory Garden on the White House lawn in 1943 over the objections of the USDA, inspiring millions by her example.
(3) The UN estimates that 1 billion people will go hungry in 2009 while climate scientists predict this year will be one the five warmest years on record.

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For more on the campaign to grow some organic food at the White House, see: www.EatTheView.org and www.TheWhoFarm.org.

The War of Art 2

I may add more quotes as this book impresses me with its incisiveness. Here is another quote:

As artists and professionals it is our obligation to enact our own internal revolution, a private insurrection inside our own skulls. In this uprising we free ourselves from the tyranny of consumer culture. We overthrow the programming of advertising,movies, video games, magazines, TV, and MTV by which we have been hypnotized from the cradle. We unplug ourselves from the grid be recognizing that we will never cure our restlessness by contributing our disposable income to the bottom line of Bullshit, Inc. , buy only by doing our work.

Go Pressfield! His words are inspiring, creative, and so darn forceful without being bleak. It piques my interest to think about how strongly someone can rail against Consumer culture and yet inspire you to be something different. I think more people that can speak and write like this are needed right now, in this very day in which our insane driving and buying and wasting brings us down, and yet the connection people share is as strong as ever. This hope for the change of our world may be important, yet hope may keep us from simply doing that thing that is unthinkably different.