Newsletter for the Rotary Club of Western Endeavour - Issue No.: 1116 Issue Date: 21 Apr, 2024

The talk on the 29th May was a TedTalk given by Roger Doiron in 2011. Roger called his talk "The Subversive Gardener". In the talk, Roger argured for everyone to grow vegetables. He pointed out the advantages of fresh food and the need for more food to be produced. Reasons for doing this are many and include the need to reduce the incidence of obesity, the need to feed an evergrowing population, the problems of climate change and the amount of energy used in food production.

Roger said that the movement to grow more had advantages in empowering people, was good for the children and had economic advantages for families (by growing their own food a family could save $2000 pa).                      

The movement to grow more food was stimulated by the White House having a kitchen garden initiated by the First Lady, and by having Kitchen Garden Day in the US. The spread of kitchen gardens could be increased by an alteration to the tax codes to provide incentives for families to grow more.

The talk was interesting and thought provoking. The full talk can be found at https://www.ted.com/talks/roger_doiron_my_subversive_garden_plot .