Message to the candidates: listen to "Roger the Gardener"

by Roger Doiron

Senators McCain and Obama, you've spent much of the past two weeks trying to
win Joe the Plumber's support when you could have won many more votes by
addressing me: Roger the Gardener. There are 90 million U.S. households that
have a yard and garden and over 25 million households that grow some of their
own food. As a representative member of this large demographic, I'd like to
offer you some advice on how you can harvest our support by the bushel.
Start by announcing that, if elected, you will make the White House a model
of sustainability. Nine out of ten households believe that it is important to
maintain their yards in a way that benefits the environment, according to a
recent survey by the National Gardening Association. If we, the people, believe
that this is right for our houses, shouldn't it be the standard set for
"America's House?"
You need to know that we gardeners are tangible types and are not won over
with vague promises. When you're making your closing arguments this week and
talking about the importance of weaning the US from foreign oil, give us
specific examples of what you'll do differently as "Landscaper-in-Chief." You
could start very close to home by promising to break America's addiction to
fossil fuel derived fertilizers and pesticides such as the ones being used on
the White House lawn.
Once the White House lawn is free of petrochemicals, it will be clean and
healthy enough to eat from. You can then announce, with great media flair, that
this is exactly what you intend to do. No, I'm not talking about planning the
"First Picnic," but the "First Garden." The White House grounds span roughly 18
acres and include everything from a jogging track, swimming pool and tennis
court to a putting green. A staff of 13 groundskeepers and gardeners keep them
looking prim and presidential. Surely, we have the space, labor, and know-how
for meeting some of the White House's seasonal produce needs onsite. And since
food and agriculture are responsible for one third of the greenhouse gas
emissions we create, announcing this initiative to reduce the First Family's
"food miles" to "food feet" will also help you win over other green voters.
I've seen the polling data on this point and know it's a political winner.
Thousands of Americans have already voted in support of the First Garden on the
popular website OnDayOne.org where ordinary citizens can make proposals for what
you should do upon taking office in January 2009. Of the thousands of ideas that
have been submitted so far, the proposal to the next president to "eat the view"
by planting a food garden on the
White House lawn is currently winning in a landslide with twice as many
votes as the second place entry.
I know this because I am the ordinary citizen who proposed it back in
February.
If this idea has proved popular and has since been

echoed by sustainable agriculture luminaries like Michael Pollan, it's
because it's not just about creating a garden for the president, but a garden
for the people with fresh fruits and vegetables going to supply local food
pantries in the DC area. You can use this part of the proposal to counter your
opponent's charges of edible elitism. How can you be considered elitist when you
have a juicy home-grown tomato dripping down your chin?
Some naysayers and perhaps even some of your own advisers will respond that
it would be inappropriate to alter a historic landscape in this way, but you
will have public opinion on your side, not to mention history. The White House
lawn has been a sustainable and
edible landscape in the
past, notably at times of national emergency. In 1918, for example, Woodrow
and Edith Wilson did away with gas-powered mowers, replacing them with a hungry
herd of sheep. Later, in 1943, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt planted a Victory
Garden on the White House lawn inspiring millions of citizens to follow suit.
For the really obstinate opponents who say "that was then, this is now," you can
point them to the governors of Maine, New York, and North Carolina who are
already happily eating their view and saving tax-payers money along the way.
At this moment of intersecting financial, fuel, and environmental crises, we
the gardeners of the nation are calling on you not only to do the right thing,
but to chew it too. I know that one garden can't save the economy, feed the
world, or tackle global warming, but this new garden, the First Garden, seems
like a logical place to start.
Roger Doiron is Founding Director of
Kitchen Gardeners International,
and is currently a Food and
Society Policy Fellow. His latest project is

selling the White House Lawn on eBay.