Eat The View: Obama Urged to Go Organic

Watching the Presidential Inauguration this morning made me reflect on the message that President Obama has been delivering for the past two years: Getting involved and being of service.

It also made me think of a group that has been advocating for this at the grass-roots level, encouraging the new president to plant an organic garden at the White House. Their campaign, called Eat the View, at www.eattheview.org, was started in February 2008 by Roger Doiron the man behind Kitchen Gardeners International, a non-profit group committed to spreading home gardens worldwide.

They are encouraging President Obama to replant an organic garden on the 18 acres of the White House front lawn. The produce grown in this garden would be used in the White House kitchen and go to local food pantries.

The group believes that the garden would inspire people to create their own organic gardens and that Obama could be leading by example to meet the global challenges of food security, climate change, and energy independence. Organic gardens help individuals improve their health and ease the rising cost of food expenses.

This seems like a great way to symbolize his call to action that harkens back to the days of Victory Gardens, when the country embraced the idea of contributing to the greater good.

Eleanor Roosevelt planted a victory garden on the White House front lawn to encourage all Americans to plant their own Victory Gardens. As University of California garden historian Rose Hayden-Smith points out, “inspired by her example, millions of Americans planted gardens. The result? More than 40 percent of the fresh fruits and vegetables consumed during 1943 were produced in school, home and community gardens.”

Prominent sustainable food advocates have been supportive of this idea including Alice Waters and Michael Pollan, but they are not the only ones who think this idea has merit. Eat the View won the Grand Prize in the OnDayOne.org contest where citizens voted to help the President set a positive, global agenda.

Now, they need people to vote and urge President Obama to support the “9 for ’09” program. I am encouraging everyone to go to www.ondayone.org to register your support of this wonderful idea.

You can also sign the petition at Eat the View’s site, encouraging Obama to do it within his first 100 days, www.eattheview.org/petition.

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

T. A. H.

6:53PM PDT on Jun 29, 2011

What, they didn't replant for the summer? The garden needs to be year-round. What's up with this?

send a green star

Past Member .

6:48AM PST on Jan 29, 2009

Great Idea..People should be more encouraged for organic gardening....and help nature to fight back with what we have left by playing with nature (GLOBAL WARMING)

NatureAdvice
http://www.justmeans.com

Judy E.

8:52AM PST on Jan 26, 2009

Sounds like a great idea. I have been growing my own vegetables in Torrance for years using only biological control. I would love to see you succeed in your efforts.

11:20PM PST on Jan 22, 2009

Great idea!!!! They should adopt this idea in South Africa as well!

Sue M.

9:01AM PST on Jan 22, 2009

Bravo Sis ! Excellent article and fantastic idea!

Margot B.

7:43AM PST on Jan 22, 2009

Calm down, Les Rose. The world can only get better without Dow and Monsanto.
Or do you work for them?
Here's to sustainability... :-)

Les R.

2:17AM PST on Jan 22, 2009

Sorry for double post!

2:16AM PST on Jan 22, 2009

No no no! Organic farming is a potential disaster. If we go totally organic we will deforest the planet.

No no no! If we go totally organic we will deforest the planet.

Judi G.

9:10PM PST on Jan 21, 2009

Those of you who are my Torrance friends, how do you feel about a demonstration garden similar to the Eat the View idea in Torrance? I am trying to put something like that together and could use some input!