Urban food security, urban resilience and climate change - weADAPT

climate (which we live and work in 24/7) is what we adapt to on a daily andweekly basis. We don't think oh... in 10 odd years it will be warmer or cooler sowe better plant this now! This is a controversial question assuming that climatechange is proven factor and difficult to answer. We adapt and deal with it daily.[Market Gardener, Melbourne]In comparison, subsistence and hobby growers have expressed their concern towardsclimate change, pointing out that there seem to be a lack of understanding and evensome narrow mindedness about the topic.Well you know I come to this from a strong sustainability perspective but noteveryone does. I’d probably say few people probably do, who are gettinginvolved in community gardens and so, you know, people linking a communitygarden with climate change as a mitigation strategy is probably few but I think ittakes people like myself [and others] talking about it within the group and we’ll doworkshops and that sort of thing and that’ll hopefully broaden people’sperspective of their ability to affect climate change [Community Gardener andPermaculturalist, Gold Coast].Lack of data, information and local modelling were also suggested as a deterrent tounderstanding and adapting to climate change:I am really concerned about it [climate change]. I mean deeply concerned. Andyeah I think we have got to stop just sticking our head in the sand and start reallyhaving a good look around and preparing and looking at data and research so wecan factor that into our preparations and here I don’t know I would really like to beable to get hold of some sort of forecasting information about what they think the[Gold] Coast is going look like. Will it get wetter? Will it get dryer? Obviously thereare weather fluctuations [from] climate change or not, so this idea that things thatare dry, [are] they are going to be dryer? If they are wet are they going to bewetter? If cyclones are going to be bigger, more of them and sooner, longer, thatkind of thing you kind of want to factor that in. [Non-Government Organisation,Gold Coast]Despite this apparent scepticism or lack of knowledge about climate change and itsimpacts on food security, numerous concerns were raised. Concerns about increaseddrought, higher temperatures, water shortages, extreme events such as hail storms,sudden temperature fluctuations, shorter summers, and milder winters were raised bymany interviewees.An experienced backyard gardener and life-long Melbourne resident, commented thatthe ‘real warm springs and damp summers’ are a ‘drastic change’ which had impactedboth backyard gardeners like himself and commercial producers in and aroundMelbourne:The weather changes are a real concern, we’ve seen a progressive decline in theweather, and I’ve had to change my strategies about how I grow [my plants], howI prune [my trees] so they get more air circulation, putting them in warmer spotsso they dry more quickly … Now what we’re getting is much shorter summersand sudden fluctuations in spring [Backyard Gardener and Permaculturalist,Melbourne].Urban food security, urban resilience and climate change 37