250571589 Thursday January 20th 2011 Susan Dang

The Struggle To Advance And A Battle To Begin

As society copes with rapid change, people begin to populate into cities, thus expanding

the city outwards. In order to provide space for people in the urban areas, cities expand the

destruction of ecosystems that once surrounded the city (Mougeot, 2006). Destruction of

ecosystems plays an important role in many ways of how to sustain the environment around us.

One example of urban agriculture involves farming in a city; this can be done by using the

available spaces in and around communities. Being worried where the next food supply will be

for the future is important because as we destroy places to cultivate, we will no longer have food

that is grown by our surroundings, rather than we import food, which does not reduce our carbon

footprint, but only increases it (Mougeot, 2006). Urban agriculture does not have to be on a vast

majority of land, but can be done in spaces that can be shared with residents of a particular

community. Urban agriculture can be referred to as urban farming and can give the community

residents security of their food, and also gives the community an opportunity to come together

and recognize what can be done in such a small urban spaces (Sumner, Mair & Nelson, 2010).

Even though in Canada urban agriculture is still new, the idea supports the local community as

well as minimizing other environmental impacts such as reducing air pollution and improves the

air quality. On a side note, urban agriculture helps the city clean the waste to improve and

fertilize land, thus this can put the end to the nutrient loop by composting (Redwood, 2009). In

all, urban agriculture brings the community together by using free unused space in areas. By

using the space to cultivate, this helps the environment counteract the space that was eliminated

when cities expand outwards.

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250571589 Thursday January 20th 2011 Susan Dang

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