Peak Oil Task Force Report - City of Bloomington - State of Indiana

SHORT­TERM STRATEGIES (1­5 Years)
In the interest of increasing all forms of food production within and around the city such
that the city achieves 20 percent self‐provision in vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, and small
animal proteins, the following is recommended: 237
1. Create a community food security plan. Work closely with the private sector and
Indiana University to outline a detailed plan for community food security, using this
Report as guidance.
2. The City should plant edible landscapes on public property. The City of
Bloomington’s Parks and Recreation Department already does a great job of
fostering a few community gardens and a burgeoning orchard through its
Community Gardens initiative. The City should expand these efforts substantially
and plant edible public
landscapes along streets,
in parks and surrounding
public buildings,
especially City Hall. For
example, North Vancouver
is considering a plan to
create edible boulevards.
The idea is to bring food
production within social
spaces.
Under consideration: edible boulevards in North Vancouver. Source: Green Skin Labs
3. Organize City­led horticultural services to include organic waste collection,
processing, and distribution.
• Create a City nursery to supply edible perennials to the City’s Parks and
Recreation and Street Departments;
• Work to establish perennial food forests on public land by grafting and
planting fruit and nut trees;
• Institute an urban forestry and composting program to harvest the carbon
flow through the city and compost it for growers. (e.g., cardboard, hair
from salons, pre‐ and post‐consumer food waste, brush trimmings);
• Promote home‐scale composting of kitchen wastes;
• Create a City arboretum of economic species; and
• Establish additional seed banking facilities in Bloomington.
237 Based on the modified diet discussed above, this would comprise about 200 lbs./person of food—or about
14 million pounds in the aggregate, per year.
Report of the Bloomington Peak Oil Task Force 190