Individual Final Assignment - Backlight - The Green Generation

VPRO'S BACKLIGHT The young people of our time: a generation that grew up in unprecedented prosperity and technological progress. Supermarkets are filled to the nick and no other generation had so much to choose from But the consumer society made them lose their connection with nature. And they are conscious of this. They don't want vegetables on their plate that have travelled the whole world to get there. This is what awaits you: It's kind of sad, because we consider ourselves to be truly advanced and well evolved, but then I see that our most important value, food, with which we start our day, that this has lost its value, that we let machines take care of it. There is a huge shortage of food in some parts of the world, so it would be nice to divide it more evenly. I think it begins with small initiatives, small groups of people working together. It's like going back to medieval times, but using the technology of our time. This is Backlight, "The Green Generation". "The Green Generation" More and more people start to take control of the food chain again Why do they do that? And how does this process take shape? This tea was grown in a garden in Holtenbroek which I set up with three other people With a foundation called De Stadstuinders (The City Gardeners). It's a project that nicely shows how urban people can get their food from their direct environment. I think that indeed we lost our connection with our food. A lot of people still suspiciously scrape the skin of a potato, because they don't know that the skin is actually edible and very healthy as well I think that someone who knows how to grow potatoes rather than knowing how to buy them is a much richer person The fun part is that all our vegetables are harvested directly, so when we harvest some lettuce for someone, they see how it's done before their eyes. That way, we also use it as an example for educational purposes And also people can just point to a particular lettuce and say: I want that one. That makes it unique. I think that self-sufficiency is very important for people of this generation. Sure you can depend on everything you buy at the grocery store. Or take the subject of energy: The trend is: 'green is hip' People like to run their own show by inducing their own energy with solar panels on the roof or with a windmill. And by doing it together with the neighborhood. And also by growing their own vegetables. There is a huge shortage of food in some parts of the world, so it would be nice to divide it more evenly. I think it begins with small initiatives, small groups of people working together. It's like going back to medieval times, but using the technology of our time. We do campaigns; we're going to start a guerilla-garden. Guerilla farming is secretly planting and growing vegetables in urban areas In such a way that the neighborhood can profit Guerilla farming in urban areas is a way to make people smile like: "look, instead of a rosebush a broccoli is being grown there, that's nice." And you can just take it home, so people can also taste the difference between biologically grown vegetables and grocery store vegetables. Vegetables instead of roses, it's meant to be playful. People will see that and they will think: "why do we actually have rosebushes?" It's normal in our culture to put flowers and decorative plants everywhere: it looks nice. But there are fantastic edible plants that you can put there as well. They look beautiful and the neighborhood can profit from them as well. The ideal situation I envision is that urban people are offered a choice: go to the store, if you don't want to get your hands dirty or if you have a busy life, but that you also have the choice to grow your own vegetables in your direct environment: you just go to the park with a knife and a basket and you harvest your own beets or lettuce there. Or that you have some branches of rosemary or some apple trees just around the corner. And 'local' does not mean simply going to a local farm, but really having it right in front of you, so that people can see it.