Thanks for the review of the book.
I was kind of surprised to read your comment about working with your neighbors/community in urban setting as being naive or idealistic. I agree it can be challenging, and you may have neighbors who aren't on board, but what about your community?
I spend a lot of time growing food on my little city lot, and no matter how hard I try, it's not enough to sustain my husband and I throughout the year. I think if we want to truly transition to a sustainable lifestyle we need each other.
Sure, my neighbors on the north don't really care about growing food, but I trade my honey for goats milk from my neighbor down the street. My neighbor on the south helps out in my p-patch plot in exchange for a share of the produce, another lady I don't even know offers u-pick plums from her trees every year. The p-patches donate tons of fresh produce to local food banks every year. Is it really naive to think we can make something like this work for us on a bigger scale?
I know I can't grow, harvest, and cook all the food I need alone, and I sure depend on those unknown people on some far away farm to provide me with food. So why not enlist willing people in your neighborhood and make it happen? The internet is the perfect tool to connect people. I live in Seattle and there are Sustainable Neighborhood Networks popping up everywhere. I really think it's possible to produce a good portion of our food in the city if we work together. Sure you may have to start small depending on where you are and the people you're surrounded by, but plant the seed. Anything is possible. At the end of WWII 40% of American produce came from peoples gardens, there is nothing stopping us from making that happen again.
As for the Wal-Mart in zone 3... I'm definitely confused there, will have to check it out.
