The South Lawn is Not Enough
The White House has a kitchen garden. The Department of Agriculture has the People's Garden (with USDA facilities around the world to follow suit). However, sustainability campaigners haven't stopped to smell the roses.
Their goal, undertaken by a coalition named Green the Grounds, is to see environmentally friendly landscapes and vegetables gardens put in place at governor's mansions, statehouses and mayoral residences across the country.
Some of the practices that Green the Grounds advocates include reduced water use, water catchment systems (rainbarrels and cisterns), nontoxic fertilizer and pesticide use, native-species plantings, and less intensive lawn management -- or simply reducing the amount of lawn, period. As a result of these changes being adopted by government leaders and facilities, Green the Grounds activists believe that similar methods will then be adopted by homeowners and businesses.
Examples of the landscape and garden plans that Green the Grounds support are the Heritage Garden at the governor's residence in Ohio; "The Greening of the Mansion" in New York; and the grounds management systems at the governor's mansion in Maryland.
Perhaps as these lobbying and consciousness-raising efforts continue, there will be another target set: getting the men into the garden. Have you noticed that it's always the First Ladies who are leading these garden and groundskeeping efforts? Why is that?
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Hey, Green the Grounds.org thanks you for the shout-out. As more and more veg gardens are announced, eco-gardeners and environmentalists are saying - hey, First Do No Harm! And here in D.C. that's first and foremost about protecting the Chesapeake Bay.
Good news coming soon about Gov Rendell in Pennsylvania. His new veg gardens is the last phase of a 4-year greening-the-grounds process! More details coming soon.
Today we are experiencing global warming, so the to cause changes in the overall distribution and intensity of events, such as changes to the frequency and intensity of heavy precipitation. Broader effects are expected to include glacial retreat, Arctic shrinkage, and worldwide sea level rise. Other effects may include changes in crop yields, addition of new trade routes, species extinctions, and changes in the range of disease vectors. So we have to start doing something about this global warming which affects us as a whole. In or own ways, we can make something about it, like recycling materials. It's not yet too late. Start now. Start going green just like the Green the Grounds.org.
Maybe the men aren't getting out there as much because if they do, they'll be perceived as not doing the jobs we elected them to do. Michelle Obama has the luxury of being an adjunct to the president, but is not the president herself. So she can invest her time in dishing out soup, planting vegetables, visiting schoolchildren, etc.
Perhaps it's irrational, but I think President Obama would receive a lot of flack for being seen gardening when he could be in the Oval Office reviewing laws, getting briefed on foreign policy, or otherwise being the president.
I'm not saying this is right: after all, we don't bat an eye when he goes to a basketball game, stops by Ben's Chili Bowl, or takes a weekend jaunt to New York for dinner and a play. For some reason, those activities humanize him and make him more accessible. But I think many people wouldn't feel the same way about him working in the garden.