“Industrial food has totally failed America…I get passionate about being part of solving that.” — Kimbal Musk
Elon isn’t the only Musk seeking to change the world through sustainability innovation.
His brother, Kimbal Musk, has launched The Million Gardens Movement, aimed at building “a happier, healthier world” by getting more people gardening, “no matter if they have a windowsill, fire escape, or backyard”.
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kimbal Musk, executive director of the non-profit Big Green, and Frank Giustra, owner and publisher of Modern Farmer magazine, joined forces to create the Million Gardens Movement.
Big Green is an amazing charity that improves the health of students and communities by creating experiential learning and garden-based education opportunities in low-income schools.
Modern Farmer is the authoritative resource for today’s cutting-edge food producers and consumers: the farmers, wannabe farmers, chefs, and passionate home cooks who are influencing the way we eat right now.
According to statistics, 1 in 4 families in the U.S. in 2020 have faced issues with not knowing where their next healthy meal is coming from (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2020).
With both organizations coming together, they have set an incredible goal — to help plant a million new gardens. The movement aspires to give everyone the opportunity to grow their own food; whether it’s on a windowsill or in a backyard and help create a healthier and more sustainable world.
Giustra and Musk have recruited some of the world’s most recognized faces to join them in helping launch the movement and inspire millions of people to garden: Harrison Ford, Zooey Deschanel, Salma Hayek, Jonathan Scott, Nicole Scherzinger, and Maye Musk are spreading the word to their millions of followers.
Collectively these influencers are lending their name to this movement to inspire millions of people to grow their own food with the shared belief that gardening has a transformational power to fight hunger, support climate action, and increase resilience.
“We’ve been so humbled by the overwhelmingly positive response and the passion surrounding our mission.” — Frank Giustra
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What Is The Million Gardens Movement?
The Million Gardens Movement is a community of gardeners who want to inspire a happier, healthier world by educating people about a better diet, through funding and educating millions of new gardeners to grow their own food. To date, there have been 17876 new gardens created, 632 learning gardens built in schools, and 10 000 garden kits have been donated (Million Gardens Movement, 2020).
Frank Giustra believes that the most successful aspect of the Million Gardens Movement has been the continued growth of an online gardening community. The Movement, just like gardening, is about developing the best aspects slowly and steadily as they grow in numbers towards one million gardeners (Million Gardens Movement, 2020).
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“Real food is food we trust to nourish our bodies, our farmers, and our planet.” — Kimbal Musk
Why Is The Million Gardens Movement Important?
This movement is being built for people who love gardening — whether you have an acre of land or pot on your fire escape, the movement is creating a culture shift around gardening and the value of growing your own food. More importantly, the movement is demonstrating how simple it is to grow fruits, herbs, and vegetables.
5.6% of Americans don’t have convenient access to fresh food. Without the necessary income to spend on healthy foods like meat and fresh vegetables, supermarkets pass these communities by, resulting in the dreaded “food desert” which can leave some houses a mile or more from the nearest place to buy a bunch of carrots.
These impacts can be reduced with home gardens. The average home garden can produce up to $677 worth of vegetables and fruits each year, not only significantly reducing the cost of groceries, but increasing the nutritional quality of the food (Langellotto, 2014).
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The Million Gardens Movement is about reconnecting people to their roots, to real food, and to a path towards a sustainable, healthy lifestyle. The movement wants to inspire millions of people across the globe to experience the magic of growing their own food.
Kimbal Musk believes that we can all have an incredible impact on the health and happiness of current and future generations by gardening more at home, school, and in our community (Million Gardens Movement, 2022).
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References:
Kaiser Family Foundation. (2020). Impact of Coronavirus on Personal Health, Economic and Food Security, and Medicaid. Retrieved March 12th, 2022, from https://www.kff.org/report-section/kff-health-tracking-poll-may-2020-health-and-economic-impacts/
Karpyn, A. E., Riser, D., Tracy, T., Wang, R., & Shen, Y. E. (2019). The changing landscape of food deserts. UNSCN Nutrition, 44, 46–53.
Langellotto, G. (2014). What Are the Economic Costs and Benefits of Home Vegetable Gardens? Journal of Extension, 52.
Million Gardens Movement. (2020). Who Are We, Retrieved March 12th, 2022, from https://milliongardensmovement.org/who-we-are/
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This post was previously published on medium.com.
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