Growing gardens has become a peaceful pastime for many. For others, local gardens provide an alternative to getting produce from their supermarkets. Although, growing a garden builds communities, and adheres to cleaner eating, it isn’t necessarily more eco-friendly.

The environmental group, Union of Concerned Scientists, has published a two-year study called, “Cooler, Smarter,” which establishes that local gardens aren’t going to miraculously save the planet. It actually debunks the myth about local produce being better for the environment. Though many supermarkets carry food that has been induced with fertilizers, synthetic hormones, and chemicals, the growint and cultivating of this produce only accounts for 4 percent of greenhouse gases.

First Lady Michelle Obama has put a face to the local gardening. Since growing the Kitchen Garden, her backyard garden at the White House, and authoring her first book, American Grown, she’s inspired many Americans to begin growing their own food, and making small changes to their eating habits. But it doesn’t mean that produce from our local grocery store is any less edible.

Sarah Rich, author of Urban Farms, comments on the trend,

“Local food is about more than numbers. Urban farming … can simultaneously reshape places we live and the way we eat.”
Would you consider growing a local garden or head to the supermarket?