I’m in England for a few days, but have a great deal to write about when I get back. For now though, thought I’d share about other countries’ food systems.
England has been reliant on foreign imports of food just like many Western countries, however, there has been a resurgence of interest in local and organic food in the past few years. Farms have always had a prominent place in English culture, perhaps due to the English love of gardening. It seems that everyone with any space at all has a garden, and usually grows some sort of herbs and perhaps vegetables. Farms dot the countryside, and only 20 minutes out of London, you are in farming country. The U.K. has strong zoning laws which forbid anybody from building new houses, even on your own land, which has curtailed the horrible suburban sprawl that is so prevalent across the U.S. Thus, the farms do dot right up to the city, exposing English schoolchildren to more gardening and farming than the average American child, who is usually far removed from the food system since the industrial farms tend to be far away from the cities.
While the hallmark of American democracy is property rights, Britain’s democracy has more lax rules as evidenced by the strict zoning, which would never fly in America. Another example of laxer property rights are the wonderful public footpaths and bridleways all throughout England, which are all on private land. There is a sense that though one person owns the land, it is quite all right to share. The land is, in some respect, public, which makes it a lot easier to enforce community environmental ideals. In America, this would hardly float – similar trails and public footpaths built on private lands take years (if ever) to acquire right-of-ways. American footpaths usually are built on public land instead.
We Americans tend to be more individualistic than the rest of the world, given our individual rights to pursue life, liberty and happiness, and our basis on strict property rights. Environmental ideals, however, will succeed best when we come back to more community-oriented thinking, and that will take a culture change. It will also take more federal support of enforcement and legislation regarding the externalities of property rights – the right of each property owner to clean air, water and the like. Somehow, we must balance our individual rights with concern for the community, stopping sprawl and encouraging mixed-use (agriculture, manufacture, retail, residential) towns and cities.
Anywho, that’s quick thoughts. More when I return across the pond.
