It does grow on trees: Comfort Azubuko on food forests in public space

“It doesn’t grow on trees, you know!” Many complaints about the use of valuable resources begin with that statement. Some fruits and edible resources, however, do grow on trees. Environmental justice worker and UCLA doctoral student Comfort Azubuko would like to see more fruit trees in public spaces, and she outlines her proposal in this June 2018 essay on the Earth Focus blog of KCET.

Azubuko, “Edible city: Privileging tree aesthetics misses opportunity to feed our urban food supply”

 

1. Trees are beautiful, no doubt about it; they make streets and neighborhoods much more attractive and livable. Azubuko argues, however, that city planners should consider factors beyond a tree’s beauty when selecting species for planting. What are the other factors that Azubuko describes? Is her argument persuasive? Why or why not?
2. While asserting that “food forests” in urban public spaces offer “an important opportunity,” Azubuko also discusses the resistance faced by proposals to create those spaces. What are the objections that people raise? Why might people oppose the plans? How well and how fairly does Azubuko explain the resistance? Explain your reasoning and point to specific examples from the text to support your response.
3. As part of her They Say, Azubuko mentions an organization, Fallen Fruit, and a well-known “gangsta gardener,” Ron Finley. How well does her discussion of these two sources contribute to her argument? Why do you think so? Would you have liked more information about them? Less? Why? Explain your reasoning. You may want to consult Chapter 2 of your text for more information about summarizing sources effectively.
4. Azubuko argues passionately for food forests in public spaces, yet she reveals doubts and reservations that she herself had about picking fruit from a tree on the public parkway. What about you? If you encountered ripe fruit in a public space, would you pick some? Why or why not? Would you go out of your way to find such a resource? Why or why not? Write an essay in which you address these questions and use your own responses to argue for or against the planting of climate-appropriate food resources on public land in your community.

Comments

[Patrick Huegel]

While I agree with the Azubuko she has a lot to argue against to convince people this is a good idea. One of the many concerns about this issue is the fact that free food trees could attract unwanted guest in high end neighborhoods. The article has an example of this, "by residents' fears that publicly accessible fruit will attract unwelcome visitors, including homeless people whose presence is often rejected by neighbors."(Azubuko). As well as the effect of how healthy this would be. a main concern of mine personally is is this sanitary. because L.A where this is intended to happen is very air polluted. Azubuko states, "As city dwellers, we usually assume that food must be sanctioned as edible by a vendor or government authority in order to qualify as legitimate"(Azubuko). And another small reason is it could potentially hurt small businesses.

[Sevinj Mirzatagi]

I enjoyed reading this article because I always wondered, what if every started to plan more fruit and edible trees, would that help the starving population? Some problems addressed is pests and maintaining the edible trees, but I believe if a community came together and handled these small issues, it can help solve larger issues, like hungry people.

[yunhuwang]

I appreciate this idea, but I think its ability to implement is relatively low. The planting of fruit trees in public areas is not the same as the large-scale planting of orchards. Planting in public areas requires a lot of manpower and material resources to complete, which will result in waste. And the fruit trees are not fruitful all year round. This results in the waste of either no one picking up during the mature season or too many people coming to pick up and cause confusion. This will result in bad results.

[Lawrence Bethea]

I agree with Azubuko. I agree with the fact she has a huge point in here argument that food trees should be free especially in big urban city's like L.A, New York, Philadelphia, etc. This could even help the obesity problem because natural foods and fruits would be more accessible to the community. But, then again it could be a bad idea for the community to have them because people from other communities would come around and maybe they’ll start taking others people food and fruits without asking it could be a lot of wrong and a lot of rights at the same time.

[Hannah]

In this article they talk about thinking about other circumstances other than a trees beauty before planting it. I think that they should consider if this tree can grow something such as a fruit or nut so people of the community can freely pick in eat it, then the tree is more beneficial in more than one way. If I found a tree with fruit on it in a public place I would pick it if I was hungry and needed a snack or if I was thirsty. I wouldn't go out of my way to find this resource but some people might if they is their only source of food in their community. This is where the question of if this really is worth it planting a tree that grows fruit because some people might take advantage of it, but I think it is a terrific idea and can only make a community a place.