What do Disney World & a tiny NYC apartment have in common?

...Hydroponics!

After our discussions this week, I had sustainable farming on my mind. Watching Fresh coupled with our visit to Kate's farm, I began to wonder how others in the USA are partaking in the movement to become more self sustaining or lessen their environmental footprint. I found the video below on TED, and while it answered some of my questions, it left me with so many more! The video is only 8 minutes long but extremely interesting!

First and foremost, did you recognize the name Michael Pollan? (He appeared multiple times during Fresh.) In the video, Britta quotes Pollan's statement that "Growing some of our own food is one of the best things we can do for our environment." Some. After listening to that whole statement, the word that was stuck in my brain was some. Not all of our food, not completely rearranging our diets to "stick it to the man", but SOME. As silly as it seems, knowing that taking small steps in the right direction helps gave me the"I CAN DO THIS!" feeling.

By the end of the video I was sitting in awe and dying to learn more about hydroponics. Did you know plants could grow without sitting in a pot of soil? I didn't. After 45 minutes of intense Google research, I remembered a trip to Disney World I took about 2 years ago. In Epcot, there is an exhibit on growing food with hydroponics. They actually grow SOME of the fruits and veggies for their resorts and restaurants right there in the park. If the happiest place on earth does it, I can definitely try it too...especially the growing my own food part. Window gardening might come later when I find myself cooped up in a tiny apartment in a big city. 

I guess my biggest take away from this week is:changing the world's mindset on food doesn't require completely changing who you are. It means mindfully altering your actions to improve the environment as well as your health. If everyone does SOMEthing, we'll find ourselves way ahead of where we are now. 

WindowFarms: http://www.windowfarms.org/

R&D-I-Y: http://www.rndiy.org/