Take a look at the Wulf, A. (2011) Gardening as politics: Digging the founding gardeners. Preview the
document article, which suggests gardening as a tool for addressing sustainability challenges grounded in the
vision of early American leaders. For context, this article is the first excerpt from a compilation by
EcoChallenge.org (formerly the Northwest Earth Institute), a nonprofit organization based in Portland, Oregon
dedicated to sustainability education. The course book is called Hungry for Change: Food, Ethics, and
Sustainability.
Examine this article from a social sustainability lens, considering this recommendation from Taylor & Klingle
(2006):
“We…need to expand our notion of what constitutes nature and who speaks on its behalf. Unless
environmentalists take a full reckoning of their past to find other voices to remember and celebrate, the
movement may grow ever more narrow and irrelevant.”
Write a post addressing the following questions:
Critique this article. What aspects of U.S. history does the article ignore?
How do these omissions reflect a culture of white immunity or privilege, reflective of the environmental
movement’s elitist past?
When a sustainability coursebook begins with an article like this, what might the impact be on
environmentalists (or people just beginning to learn about sustainability) who are members of minoritized
groups?
Sample Solution
