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Community Gardening: A Parsimonious Path to Individual, Community, and Environmental Resilience
Author(s) -
Okvat Heather A.,
Zautra Alex J.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
american journal of community psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.113
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1573-2770
pISSN - 0091-0562
DOI - 10.1007/s10464-010-9404-z
Subject(s) - community resilience , psychological resilience , resilience (materials science) , community organization , community psychology , environmental planning , health psychology , environmental resource management , sociology , ecology , public health , political science , public relations , geography , psychology , social psychology , economics , biology , medicine , physics , nursing , redundancy (engineering) , computer science , thermodynamics , operating system
The goal of this paper is to introduce community gardening as a promising method of furthering well‐being and resilience on multiple levels: individual, social group, and natural environment. We examine empirical evidence for the benefits of gardening, and we advocate the development and testing of social ecological models of community resilience through examination of the impact of community gardens, especially in urban areas. The definition of community is extended beyond human social ties to include connections with other species and the earth itself, what Berry (1988) has called an Earth community . We discuss the potential contribution of an extensive network of community gardens to easing the global climate change crisis and address the role of community psychologists in community gardening research and policy‐oriented action.