Recently, I visited a school garden in one of California’s 10,366 public schools. A young teacher brought her class out to prepare a bed for planting, and the kids were hard at work pulling overgrown weeds from the soil. The 4th Grade worked excitedly as the garden provided them a well-earned break from traditional disciplines, but, there was something noticeable in the garden—a distinct lack of food to eat. There was no lettuce and no snap peas to enjoy. As I looked around, I realized there were very few plants that had reached their edible state. There was a lone kale stalk covered in aphids. A scraggily flat of starts sat on a bench. From the over 300 school gardens I have seen, I can say this struggling-to-keep-up, underproductive garden is a common sight.

Tags: Climate Change