About ESC
ns as we affect it with everything we do. We must become aware of this fact and start to lessen the degrading impact we cause in our every day lives. It is not new to us that our climate and eco systems are changing in a negative way due to human influence. Yet we have not really started to take significant actions to avoid this degradation. Field of Action
ESC promotes three fields of environmental action:
- Alternative Food Production (Organic Food Gardens)
- Growing community based, school based and private food gardens so that the food is grown closer to the consumer, has a higher nutrient content and is the result of collective effort.
- Alternative Energy Production (Solar, Reduction of Energy Use, etc.)
- Using solar energy in its raw form rather than converting it to electricity
- Making woodgas stoves
- Using bio diesel
- Reducing our use of electricity
- Waste Management (Reduction of Waste Prodcution, Recycling)
- Making worm farms to recycle organic waste
- Making compost
- Recycling of paper, glass, plastic and metal
- Using bio digesters to create energy from human waste
These three fields are highly interrelated. ESC engages in all of them by supporting, promoting and developing these alternatives to our current systems and sharing them with everyone who is interested.
Currently we focus on working with low-income communities promoting and supporting the development of food gardens in order to prepare these communities to deal with the challenges of food insecurity.
Why Food Gardens?
Sometimes the link between environmental work and food production is not obvious for everyone, but actually our current food system is one of the greatest environmental polluters. This is because of the way we produced, distribute and consume food. Mass production and global distribution lead to immense chemical input and devastating energy consumption in ord
er to meet consumer demands for lots of food at low prices. Livestock production alone causes a higher share in greenhouse gas emissions measured in CO2 equivalent than transport (cars, airplanes, etc). [FAO (2006). Livestock’s Long Shadow]
Food is generally grown far away from the people who are going to eat it. Which means the greater the distance the food is grown from the consumer the greater amounts of carbon emissions attached to that food and attached to us as our Carbon Footprint.
Nowadays the crisis of our food system becomes more and more evident. Not “just” environmental degradation but also rising food prices and food insecurity (aspects of food quality and availability) get our attention.
We think it is time to do something in order to reduce our dependency on the global agri-business and transport sector, especially as food is an essential good: Without it we cannot survive. Thus, we should start to take responsibility and 
provide ourselves with greater food security by growing (portions of) our own food.
Local food gardening provides an alternative to mass-produced, chemical filled, low nutrient food. If we can grow food closer to the communities where it is going to be consumed, we cut out or vastly reduce the amount of fuel, which is burned in transporting that food. There will be direct access to food, a shorter time span from harvest to consumption (higher food quality), we will cultivate skills within the city in urban agriculture and we can make money doin
g it.
The latter aspect of financial benefits of growing our own food is a vital part of creating urban food gardens. These gardens always produce more than we can consume. And therefore there are 2 ways in which a food garden makes money:
- By not spending money on food you have grown, you have more money for other things.
- Surplus produce can be sold or traded to friends, neighbours and community members.
It is important to remember, "the Earth can survive without us but we cannot survive without Her."ESC invites everyone to experience for him\herself how easy and effective it is to have your own (community) food garden.
Have a look at our manuals and garden offers.
