To learn how to save energy within the food system, the collective would need to learn more about the natural sciences and about practical techniques of small-scale food production.
Ideally I believe that simply by changing from suit to jeans, digging up a bit of lawn, and planting vegetable seeds, the city someone will begin request questions about his environment and about his urban behavior and reasoning patterns.
To most city population soil is simply mud or dirt, not a substance in which food is born.
Rain means 'no beach'. It is not seen as a drink for thirsty plants.
Sunny days are 'tanning days', not givers of food energy.
There are no such things as 'beneficial insects'. They're all big game for a can of 'Raid'.
Big toothed dogs are nice animals to feed. Egg-producing chickens are not.
Left-over food, minutes after a yummy meal, becomes garbage to be trucked away out of sight rather than a vital homemade soil conditioner.
As the urban someone moves towards his orchad and finds thousands of things there to explore, his lifestyle will gradually begin to change.
Ideally, the new city farmer will find that the fresh vegetables and fruit he has grown are tasty and he will determine to grow more of them. This turn in diet will be good for his health. He will feel invigorated by the action of producing food and will rehearsal more. Since he is outside in the sun and fresh air, again his condition will improve.
By spending so much more time at home in the orchad he will cut down his restless, leisure-time, automobile drives which guzzle gallons of costly energy. By being outside he will see his neighbors, have time to chat about their tasteless work, share some of the harvest and thus lead to a less alienated community.
A conserver mentality will take hold as wastes will be recycled for use in the garden. For example, broken broom handles become hold stakes, orange juice cartons become seedling boxes, and shiny tins become scarecrows.
I believe that a transformation will take place in the mind of the city dweller and that he will look with a dissimilar sensitivity at his environment. The environment will gain a new meaning to him as it now will have something to do with what he puts in his mouth to feed himself.
For instance the interrogate of urban air pollution may come up as the city farmer worries about lead pollution from car exhaust tainting his vegetable crop. Or he may show concern about chemical herbicide used by pavers who lay down back lanes.
This newly aware city farmer will begin to take steps beyond the neat buyer shelves of a supermarket out into the country where most of our food is produced. Each quadrilateral foot of lawn he claims for his city orchad will make him aware of the preciousness of those large rural acreages.
If he hears alarming figures about farmland loss he will see more clearly their importance.
The City Farmer - Changing the Mentality of Dirt, Rain and Sun