Blogger, Artist, Social Media, Web Designer, Photographer- I blog about nouns-people, places and things, even when it's negative I try to put a positive spin on it. @tinawinterlikfb https://tinawinterlik.blogspot.com
🌿 From Towers to Tiny Homes: A Better Vision for Real Social Housing
by Tina Winterlik aka Zipolita
“We’re not cars. We’re people. We need roots, not just roofs.”
For nearly 30 years, I’ve lived in and around Vancouver, often on the edge of housing — sometimes pushed out, sometimes finding a way back. I’ve seen it all: renovictions, supportive housing that doesn’t support, and neighbours who didn’t make it through.
I’ve also seen community. The kind that grows in shared gardens, on balconies covered in flowers, where neighbours knock on each other’s doors and remember each other’s names.
So when I hear about proposals to build 21-storey “social housing” towers — like the one in Kitsilano — I worry. Not because I don’t want people to be housed. I absolutely do.
But I want it done right.
🏗️ The Problem With Tower Solutions
A tower can hold 200 people. But does it build community?
Will you know your neighbour?
Will there be a place to plant a tomato?
Will the hallway smell like smoke?
Will you feel like a person — or just another body that needed to be "off the street"?
And will it be like the place in Surrey — where a woman died and no one noticed, because staff mistook her for someone else?
That’s not social housing. That’s institutional neglect.
🛖 The Tiny Home Alternative — With a Green Heart
Tiny homes work — but not when they’re treated like trailers in a storage yard.
We need tiny homes in real neighborhoods. Down every third street. On church land. On co-op green space. In parking lots that are turned into gardens first, with homes built into them — not the other way around.
Not just boxes — but beautiful, creative, nature-connected homes.
Trees, flowers, bees, art, and space to breathe.
Car-free zones. Community kitchens. Shared bike racks. Murals. Medicine gardens.
The kind of place where you don’t just live — you heal.
🌻 Real Social Housing Is About Belonging
Right now, we build towers to keep people away from us — not to welcome them.
Let’s turn that around.
Let’s build villages, not warehouses.
Let’s re-integrate, not isolate.
Let’s make sure elders, artists, people with challenges, single parents, and anyone struggling can live in the neighborhood — not stacked above it or pushed out of it.
🗣️ Reflective Questions for You & Your Neighbours
Would you feel safe and happy living in a 21-storey building where most people are dealing with trauma?
Would you support tiny homes on your block — if they came with gardens and a community space?
Do you know anyone who’s been displaced by renoviction or housing costs?
What kind of community do you want to build — and who gets to belong there?
✨ Let’s Dream Differently
I’m not against helping people. I’m for helping people better.
Let’s stop thinking in terms of “how many bodies can we fit in a building?” and start asking, “How many people can we help grow in a community?”
That’s the kind of social housing I’d want to live next to.
That’s the kind I’d be proud to call my own.
🌱 Reimagining Vancouver: From Pools to Permaculture
Neighbours Feeding Neighbours — One Garden at a Time
By Tina Winterlik aka Zipolita
What if instead of pouring millions into maintaining a giant chlorinated pool — we filled it with forest, food, and life?
What if Kits Pool, iconic but seasonal and exclusive, was transformed into a coastal permaculture garden, a community-led food forest where children learn, elders rest, birds return, and neighbours feed each other?
That’s the kind of future I dream of — and I know I’m not alone.
🍓 Why We Need to Rethink Public Space
In Vancouver, we face a crisis of disconnection.
Food insecurity is rising — while lawns, lots, and boulevards lie unused.
Seniors, disabled people, and youth are isolated — while developers hoard empty land.
Climate stress, mental health struggles, and social divides are growing — while big box stores import what we could grow right here.
It’s time to reclaim our neighbourhoods, not just with protest signs, but with soil, seeds, and solidarity.
🌿 What’s Possible Right Now
✅ You can grow food in your yard — and even your boulevard.
✅ Community gardens are supported by the City of Vancouver.
✅ Vacant lots can be transformed — with enough vision and people-power.
✅ Everyone can help — watering, harvesting, planting, storytelling, cooking, teaching, sharing.
This is more than gardening — this is urban regeneration.
Inspired by people like Ron Finley ("Gangsta Gardener") and Jenny Pell of permaculture fame, I believe we need a city where:
✨ Everyone contributes — and everyone is nourished.
✨ Children and youth get hands-on education.
✨ Seniors and people with disabilities have a purpose and a place.
✨ We grow beyond survival into abundance.
🌊 What If… We Filled in Kits Pool?
Let’s play with the idea:
Instead of 2–3 months of limited pool access each year, what if we planted:
🌾 Edible and medicinal plants (camas, yarrow, mint)
🌲 A grove of trees for oxygen, shade, and quiet
🎶 A community gathering space for music, healing, learning
🧺 Raised beds, compost systems, solar lights, community fridges
It could be our city’s first oceanview permaculture park — feeding bodies, minds, and spirits all year long.
🛠 Let’s Get Growing
🌻 I’m calling out to neighbours, artists, gardeners, cooks, elders, youth, and anyone who believes another world is possible.
📍 Let’s map local vacant spaces
💬 Let’s talk about how to help each other — not just ourselves
📦 Let’s grow our way out of dependency — and into community resilience
If you’re interested in:
Helping start a boulevard garden or shared food plot
Donating seeds, tools, compost, or time
Hosting a conversation, film night, or skill-share
Just sharing your dreams for a greener, kinder city…
👉 Please reach out. Let’s make it real — together.
🌱 Imagine This: A Regenerative Tiny House & Artist Studio Village for All
By Tina Winterlik aka Zipolita
For years, I’ve dreamed of a place where people live with dignity, creativity, and connection. A place where we don't just survive but thrive together—where our homes nourish us, our hands build the future, and every generation is valued. It’s time to Repair Suburbia—not just lawns and landscapes, but the broken systems that isolate, impoverish, and waste.
Inspired by the “Repair Suburbia” vision and the urgent need for solutions in BC—especially for unhoused people, artists, Elders, and struggling families—I propose the creation of a Tiny House & Artist Studio Village, powered by community, sustainability, and education.
🌻 What Would It Look Like?
A thriving, eco-minded village where:
🌿 Tiny houses are built with reclaimed, natural, or prefabricated materials
🎨 Artist studios provide spaces for creation, workshops, and healing expression
🌽 Food gardens and edible landscapes feed the people, support pollinators, and teach growing skills
💧 Rainwater catchment, canals, compost bins, and solar reduce waste and reliance on failing systems
🍲 A JB Soul Kitchen-style community café welcomes all to eat with dignity—pay-what-you-can, or volunteer
🔥 Shared fire circles bring us together for storytelling, music, and truth-sharing
🧠 What Would It Teach?
A community-based school would offer hands-on, intergenerational, land-based learning, such as:
🔨 Tiny house building and repair skills
🧵 Sewing, mending, upcycling, and fibre arts
🌱 Growing, harvesting, preserving, cooking, and seed saving
🌀 Ancestral knowledge: Indigenous Elders sharing wisdom on land, justice, and ceremony
💬 Mental health and art therapy for youth and families
🎓 Classes where kids learn to grow food and care for Elders, reclaiming empathy and responsibility
💡 How Would It Support Itself?
This village wouldn’t be a burden—it would be an investment in a regenerative future. Here's how:
💸 Sliding-scale workshops and tours open to the public
🎭 Art markets and performances from resident creatives
🛠 Trades and skills training tied to BC’s green economy goals
🍽 The café supports itself through donations, local produce, and community sponsorships
🤝 Mentorship and apprenticeships lead to jobs and microbusinesses
🏛 Philanthropic support from BC’s millionaires and billionaires, who want to see real change with their wealth
🌍 Grants, impact investors, Indigenous partnerships, and land trusts to secure the land and model
✨ Why Now?
Because Granville Island needs ideas. Because youth need homes and hope. Because Elders are isolated, artists are priced out, and land is being wasted while people sleep in the cold.
Because BC’s wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few—and it’s time to redistribute care, not just capital.
📣 Calling All Allies
If you're a philanthropist, a landholder, a policymaker—or just a human with heart—we need you. We need space, supplies, support, and solidarity. Help us prototype a village that heals, teaches, and inspires.
Reclaiming the Arbutus Lot: A Vision for a Community of Care, Creativity, and Hope
By Tina Winterlik aka Zipolita
There’s a piece of land between 7th and 8th Avenue off Arbutus in Vancouver — a place that could become something beautiful. Originally proposed as a social housing site, the project was scrapped, and now it sits empty, surrounded by a city with over 2,000 empty condos and rent prices between $2,800–$3,400/month.
Why can’t we do something different?
What if we reimagined it entirely — not just as “social housing” but as a community village, built with heart, sustainability, and dignity in mind?
A New Vision: The Courtyard Village
Let’s build a village of stacked tiny homes surrounded by courtyards — inspired by the warmth of Mexican neighborhoods, where family, community, and colour fill the air. This wouldn't just be housing. It would be home.
A new name. A new model. A prototype for hope.
🏘️ What It Could Look Like:
129 eco-conscious homes (300–400 sq ft), stacked 2–3 stories high
Private bathrooms, small kitchens, and sleeping/living space
Mini courtyards with trees, gardens, mosaics, and shade
A community greenhouse, shared kitchen, art studio, library, and play area
No shared showers — this is dignified, trauma-informed design
Living walls, rooftop gardens, solar panels, rainwater collection
Cob and timber details to make it feel warm and grounded
🔧 What It Would Take:
Here’s a rough breakdown of what we’d need:
🧱 Build & Design:
Modular or stacked tiny house construction (400 sq ft)
Estimated cost per unit: $100K–$150K
Total build estimate: $15M–$18M
🕓 Build Time:
Modular construction: 6–9 months
Site prep + utilities: 2–3 months
Final community handover: within a year
📜 Permits & Licenses:
Rezoning (if needed)
Environmental & engineering approvals
City of Vancouver + BC Housing partnership
Non-profit or Co-op operator
🌱 Why It Matters Now
People are struggling. Many are one paycheck from homelessness. Families are separated. Seniors are isolated. Youth are couch surfing. We need a new model of housing that heals, unites, and gives back.
Vancouver once came together to fight for the Arbutus Greenway Gardens. That same spirit can return. Let’s demand something better than vacancy and silence.
This village could be a blueprint for other underused lots across BC. It could be a start.
✊ Call to Action
💬 What do YOU think? Would you support this idea?
📩 Share this post. Tag your MLA, city councillor, BC Housing.
🛠️ Are you a builder, designer, social planner, or architect? Let’s connect.
🌿 Let’s plant the seeds of something lasting — together.
With love and hope,
Tina Winterlik (Zipolita)
Artist • Storyteller • Mother • Advocate
From Dot-Com Crash to AI Layoffs: What’s Really Happening in Vancouver?
By Tina Winterlik aka Zipolita
History is repeating itself — and this time, it's hitting Vancouver hard.
The Dot-Com Crash 2.0?
In the early 2000s, the dot-com bubble burst after a frenzy of overinvestment in tech startups. Thousands of workers lost jobs as companies folded overnight.
Fast forward to 2024–2025, and we're seeing the same cycle — but with AI leading the charge. Massive tech layoffs at companies like Microsoft, Google, and Amazon have affected tens of thousands of workers globally. Even software engineers, once considered “safe,” are being let go.
Vancouver’s Tech Scene Feels the Impact
As Canada's “Silicon Valley North,” Vancouver is caught in this tech quake. Companies like Thinkific and Appnovation have laid off significant portions of their staff. Local engineers, developers, and creative professionals are feeling anxious, especially within Vancouver’s highly diverse tech workforce, which includes many South Asian, East Asian, and international professionals.
What’s worse? It’s not just tech. Universities, retail stores, and community programs are also facing cuts, painting a wider picture of economic instability.
What This Means: Prepare, Reflect, Rebuild
This moment is about more than just job losses — it’s a wake-up call. Many people are realizing that chasing corporate stability may not offer the security it once promised. So what can we do?
Build Local Resilience: Strengthen community ties, share resources, and support one another.
Return to the Land: Create gardens, learn to grow food, build with natural materials — think Indigenous Green, not Corporate Green.
Rethink Our Values: Ask yourself — what do I really need to live well? Is the endless hustle worth it?
Prepare for Change: Diversify skills, learn to live with less, and stay informed.
The Big Picture
These layoffs and economic shifts are not just temporary hiccups — they’re signals. We’re entering a time of transformation, where people must look beyond money and tech for stability. We can draw inspiration from Indigenous wisdom, regenerative practices, and community-driven solutions.
Let’s support each other and choose a path that respects people, the Earth, and future generations.
If you found this post helpful, please share it. Let’s start the conversation about how we rebuild smarter, stronger, and more connected than before.
I have a question and I think it is one everyone should be asking...
If you can spend a BILLION $$$$ setting up a DIAMOND MINE, THEN WHY CAN'T YOU TAKE CARE OF THE PEOPLE, WHOSE LIFE YOU ARE DESTROYING/OR WILL DESTROY?
WHY?
From Wikipedia
De Beers Canada officially opened De Beers Victor Diamond Mine,
Ontario's first ever diamond mine on July 26, 2008. De Beers has spent
approximately $1 billion on construction of the mine. It is an open pit
mine located 90 kilometres (56 mi) west of the settlement of
Attawapiskat on Attawapiskat First Nation traditional land.
The company has transferred about $10.5 million to a trust fund held by
Attawapiskat as of January 2011. The Attawapiskat Trust, established
January 1, 2007, receives payments made by De Beers Canada and
Attawapiskat Limited Partnership (ALP) as part of the Victor Diamond
Project Impact and Benefits Agreement (November 3, 2005-11-03)
(Financial Statements Attawapiskat Trust 2012 p. 4). The beneficiary of
the trust includes "all members of Attawapiskat on a collective and
undivided basis (Financial Statements Attawapiskat Trust 2012 p. 4)."[46]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now I have some suggestions for the Attawapiskat First Nation- especially the youth.
Rent, Food, Laundry, just the basics are super expensive.
People out here are so numbed out and disconnected from the land they drink, smoke, jog, yoga, do sports everything to occupy there brains and bodies. But it's because they've lost the traditional ways.
If you happen to be a single mom, it's almost a homeless sentence.
So here's a few suggestions.
Get someone to organize it...maybe make De Beers pay but get you all on Lynda.com and you can learn everything about web design, app design and photography on there.
Learn how to make videos- I can help...lots of info online.
Create a little paradise up there. Life is what you make it, ...as I TELL MYSELF, and my dream is tinyhouse and a garden. HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT TINY HOUSES?
Create some tourism but don't rely on it. Tourism can easily destroy things...trust me I worked on the cruiseships. But a little bit is okay.
If you get really connected to the land again with gardens and harvesting and connect to the elders, and if you study permaculture -you can grow your own food and this is where many wonderful things will occur. We really need gardens here in Vancouver but we haven't figured it out yet. http://tinawinterlik.blogspot.ca/2016/03/vancouver-city-we-need-to-grow-our-own.html
YOU COULD MAKE COSTUMES AND PUT ON PLAYS OR MAKE A FILM OR VIDEO!!
Sewing machines would be a good idea, you should ask De Beers for those, and you can make your own fashions.
AUTOTELIC:A thing which is autotelic[1] is described as "having a purpose in and not apart from itself".
Do lots of art JUST FOR FUN and sell it. First Nations art often sells for big money in the cities. This is IMPORTANT - Start a co-op - some kind of fair trade thing- so you receive your fair share and not the middle man.
Here's an art project I did to raise awareness about pipelines and oilspills. It's called #SaveMyCoast
Anyways, I'M HERE FOR YOU!!
Reach out if you want to find out about videos, blogging, web design, I AM HAPPY TO HELP IF I CAN. OKAY?
Just to finish up, a few years ago I tried to make an app for a little town in MEXICO, called Zipolite. I never got it into the playstore, but here's the website I made for the town. http://zipolitemexico.blogspot.ca/
YOU COULD MAKE SOMETHING LIKE THIS. Build an online community.
See mine is all based on my vision.
Maybe you could re-animate it better than I did and make an app for it..
But before you do watch this. This is that perfect world you think we live in. NOTHING could be further from the truth.
Now this is what inspired me to make the app. Chipotle
did something pretty cool there...maybe you can do something similar with your own twist.
The animation encouraged you to download the app, and then you played a game and got a free burrito. Think, how could you put your own spin on it?
WELL , I HOPE THESE SUGGESTIONS HELP!!
Remember this-- This link below might seem odd but YOU ARE THE FUTURE and YOU WILL MAKE THE CHANGEZ. You CAN make the news...and share it on social meda.
OKAY, SENDING LOVE AND LIGHT!! and just for fun a CHERRY BLOSSOM BLIZZARD!!
now, create and share something beautiful with me... I KNOW YOU CAN!! MAYBE MUSIC, DRUMMING, DANCING??? SHOW ME! Show the world!
FANTASTIC!! SO HAPPY!! Thank you City of Vancouver and everyone who worked so hard for this!! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!
I doesn't feel real. After all the drama, pain, hard work finally a miracle, the CITY OF VANCOUVER is buying Arbutus Corridor. Maybe finally I will get a garden. I hope!
The community centre is a central hub for a neighbourhood in the
midst of a revitalization project run by the Toronto Community Housing
Corporation, which operates social housing projects in the city.
"We know that access to affordable and safe housing is part of the
solution to many social issues, such as child poverty, student debt and
our ability to help people with serious mental health issues and
addiction."
I voted Green but so very happy that Trudeau is in and Harper is gone.
If only they could grow their own gardens and then could sell and share the food. And then I remember about this man. We have all the technology, food just keeps getting more expensive and everything they talk about people living in a city can relate too!! The DTES is our BRONKS and we need to CHANGE that. ARE YOU ONE OF THE CHANGERZ?
Well just a quick post as I have to get ready for bed. I was telling Angel about Vanuatu and the terrible cyclone that hit there. I was explaining they had some of the strongest winds ever recorded.
I told her how in BC here we have had the 2 warmest winters in 120 years.
I told her that it's up to her generation to turn things around because they are going to be the most affected. It's a lot, she is just 12, so I showed her these links and all I can do is hope and pray she will take advantage, that you will all look, learn and share. That somehow we can all form a community and work on making this place a better world for all living creatures.
So please check out and share. If you are teacher I hope you will share this with your students. If you are a parent, I hope you will share it with your kids.
Who are The Changerz? We are! You & Me!
Here's the animation- Sadly- we as a community sucked at Earth Hour, I sure hope this apathy isn't a sign of the times.
Let this be true, that everyone's yard turns into a garden. Woot!! That in 10 years there will be gardens with food everywhere and green everywhere and we will have to tell kids stories of a time in the past when there was such ignorance and silliest that people were not allowed to raise chickens, bees and have gardens.
Watch and let's make this a reality!! Please let it be so, after yesterdays crushing news that the city lost it's battle with CP and Arbutus Corridor Gardens will be destroyed. :(
It's tragic and heartbreaking...all those hours of love in attention and just peaceful enjoyment of the beautiful gardens are going to be destroyed. :( So sad and man we have no idea what is come down the track.
If we have trains passing through here...Insanity! Someone said they are going to store fuel there...others say it's going to be condos. What ever it isn't good news for us.
I am happy I documented the gardens but it's a very sad day. Kudos to everyone who tried so hard we shouted but our voices were not heard. :( :( :(
When I was a little girl, my mom and dad had a little hobby farm out in Surrey. My dad was raised on a farm and my mom's mom (my grandma) had an awesome green thumb so between the two they made an wonderful team.
We had rabbits, chickens, ducks, a big pig that had piglets, there was a garden with vegetables and there fruit trees of cherry, plum, peach and apple...maybe more I was little and don't remember it all.
Now we all know about the GMO's and Monsanto and the cost of food is outrageous and trying to buy organic is expensive...
But we live in a big city and there is lots of park land and schoolyards. It's time to convert some of that space and grow gardens and a food forest.
Seattle just came up with this idea and they are going to try...so why don't we. I have seen lots of community gardens, but everyone has their own little plot and no one is allowed to touch it. If we just think on a higher level, sort of like when the blackberries are in season...there's plenty for everyone.
My dream is that we start Edible Schoolyards and each day kids go into the garden or food forest and work, gather, harvest, cook, store food so that we all have this knowledge, that we all share and we all have enough healthy food to eat....the way God intended.
Please share this widely, talk to your school, teachers, principal, schoolboard, the mayor, Vancouver Parks board, who can we get on board to start making this all a reality.
Seattle's Food Forest
"Forget meadows. The city’s new park will be filled with edible
plants, and everything from pears to herbs will be free for the taking.
Seattle’s vision of an urban food oasis is going forward. A seven-acre
plot of land in the city’s Beacon Hill neighborhood will be planted with
hundreds of different kinds of edibles: walnut and chestnut trees;
blueberry and raspberry bushes; fruit
trees, including apples and pears; exotics like pineapple, yuzu citrus,
guava, persimmons, honeyberries, and lingonberries; herbs; and more.
All will be available for public plucking to anyone who wanders into the
city’s first food forest. Read more here "http://www.expressionoftruth.com/2013/06/its-not-fairytale-seattle-to-build.html
I have seen some beautiful community gardens but we need something on a much larger scale that can really be shared with the community.
Here's a few videos of community gardens we've visited and gardens where we went Wwoofing last year.
He makes soooooooooooooo MUCH sense. I have math story. Want to hear it?
I had a math teacher in Grade 8 that was not very good at his job. I fell behind and never could catch up. I managed to get thru Grade 10 Math but HATED it! I never wanted to take Math again. And so I didn't.
I took ART! I LOVED ART! I had great Art teachers in 8, 9, and 10...but 11 & 12, different story. And that's another story. But part of that story is because of the issues with Art I changed to photography. Anyways, I couldn't wait to graduate. I never wanted to go to school again.
When I graduated I went to work in labour. I worked on big production farms and in factories. Fast forward 10 years and I get tendonitis really bad working in a repetitive labour intensive job. I go back to school. I want to take Professional Photography, BUT I need MATH and not only that PHYSICS.
My Math is so old now I have to re-take grade 10 Math so I can take the grade 11 Math. Thankfully I had an awesome teacher, BUT I also had a boyfriend I was living with and everytime I got stuck on a problem he got me thru it and I could finish my homework. I got an A. But many of the other kids/adults did not. Some even failed.
Then I had to take the Grade 11 Math. I was so incredibly stressed, I needed this stupid course with quadratic equations so I could take my Photography course, it was what was standing in the way of my dream.
I remember watching the teacher mark my paper and she was going over my mistakes and tears were falling and some landed on the page, and I couldn't help it and it was just awful.
Anyways I managed a B somehow, and while accomplishing this helped boost my ego a lot when I took the Business Math in the Photography program I sucked and barely passed. I am still not sure how I did it, but 2 other kids didn't. Mainly because they didn't go every single day, which I did.
The Physics was another battle and that I did thru correspondence. Yikes, Yuck!
Thankfully that's all behind me now. And you know what. I don't use any of it.
And I am a very good photographer and artist.
My girl is learning Math now. She had to go to public school recently because they were renovating our building and the noise was so bad that I had to send her for our sanity. She came home with Math headaches. It's CRAZY!! Why are we doing this to kids? God didn't invent Math. You don't see bears and deers in the forest calculating and using math problems to figure things out.
This speaker, John Bennett, is so RIGHT ON!!Stop teaching Math after age 10. Let kids learn cool brain games, there are lots on the internet and in boardgames and other places.
Analytical thinking makes sense.Having common sense and figuring out consequences that makes sense.Math makes no sense. Even many mathematicians say that algebra is all imaginary.
It's unhealthy to stress child this way and at the same time stress there parents and everyone around them.
It's unhealthy to test children period, I believe. Anyways, I love this guy and I hope people wake up to this and stop teaching useless Math in school.
Instead teach them gardening. Teach them to grow food in raised bed gardens. How to compost and grow seeds and plants in popbottle greenhouses. Teach them about GMO and seedbanks. Teach them how to harvest the food, how to weigh it and measure it and how to cook with it.
Teach them how to pick it and pack it and sell it in a market. These are the skillls they need. This is the reality today. You could also teach them how to build cob houses. That would be a super useful skill. A pratical skill. These are the skills and tools need today.
If a kid really wants Math fine. But don't force anyone to learn what they don't want and which they see no point in learning. Help them learn the tools they need to truly succeed and be happy in life.
Hi Everyone, Happy Monday Morning, it's a fairly nice day here in Vancouver B.C. some blue sky with fluffy white clouds. This week is a really wonderful week, we have Good Friday, Easter and Earth Day.
Angel came up with something last night she said we can call Friday, "Good Earth Day" I thought that was very Cool!
So we can Say "Happy Good Earth Day" To everyone on Friday.
Please all the Canadian Parents, Grandparents, Caregivers, Guardians, Teachers and anyone involved in the Education System out there, consider carefully if the government you are about to elect would even consider implementing such important strategies.
I truly believe "It's time". We need to tell them what we want, and get them to promise to do it.
The experts say we have all the solutions, we just need to apply them "collectively!" What's your point of view?
The Garden
The Edible Schoolyard garden is a thriving acre of land on school grounds that serves as an interactive garden classroom for students at Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School in Berkeley, California.
In the spring of 1995, an abandoned lot adjacent to the school was designated as the garden site. Landscape architects, chefs, gardeners, and teachers were invited to share their vision of a garden where students would participate in hands-on learning. 12 years later, the acre of land is lush with seasonal vegetables, herbs, vines, berries, flowers, and fruit trees.
King Middle School teachers and the garden staff work together to link garden experiences with students’ science lessons for truly integrated experiential learning.
The garden is carefully planned to grow a wide variety of seasonal produce that favors the Bay Area climate; it shifts and changes from season to season, as we seed, grow, harvest, and rotate crops with new groups of students each year.
Students harvest and prepare produce as part of their garden and kitchen classes. However, produce grown in the garden is not used for school lunch.
While the global industrial food system can be credited with providing low cost food to large numbers of consumers, it has serious drawbacks and vulnerabilities. Obesity rates are escalating, and dependence on food banks is growing.
Roughly 30% of all greenhouse gas emissions are generated by food production, processing, and distribution; and major watersheds are being harmed by intensive agriculture.
The current supply of inexpensive imported food is threatened by rising energy costs and climate change-related declines in crop yields.
Canadians increasingly understand that a resilient and sustainable food system must address not only the economic wellbeing of producers and consumers, but also environmental impacts and human health outcomes.
Local, diverse, and ecologically sustainable food initiatives are multiplying across the country, including eco-certification, regionally focussed restaurants and food markets, and healthy supply chain strategies that link informed consumers to local producers.
In order to assist this work, the McConnell Foundation is launching an initiativeto strengthen regional food economies in Canada.
