Making it Real

Arable land everywhere has the potential to grow food.  There are over 150,000 acres of derelict urban land across Great Britain that can be beautiully  transformed to grow food with just seeds, compost, water, sunlight, inspiration and a little care.  Learning to grow food makes you appreciate it more. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Food can also be grown in pots on paved areas and even flat and accessible rooftops.

 

 

 

Guerilla gardening is to land what  squatting is to buildings... making good use of unused space.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Richard guerilla gardening in London Road, Elephant and Castle.

 

 

 

We in the West are generally very spoilt when it comes to the amount and quality of space we consider necessary for our own comfort.  In the rest of the world things are very different.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Above.   Families share a 10ft x 10 ft  shack in Kibera slum, Nairobi, Kenya.  

 

 

Below.. no space to rest his head.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you have food in your fridge, clothes on your back, a roof over your head and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75% of this world.

 

Another way to share space is to reduce the Earth’s over population by having less children and to adopt or foster orphans or children in care.

 

More people are realising the benefits of sharing space to build community so there’s more for everyone.   

 

But sharing unused buildings, “squatting”, is now illegal, even though there are 870,000 empty homes in the UK and approximately 500,000 people living rough on the streets.    Why?