I
was contacted a couple of weeks ago by a representative of Sierra Club TV asking whether I would do a review on a DVD they wanted to send me. I explained that they could send me a copy and if I found it useful to my readers then I would post something - but no guarantees.

The DVD arrived in the mail yesterday and I sat down to watch it not knowing what it was about.

For the next 28 minutes I was engrossed in the plight of New York's citizens who were facing the extinction of their community gardens. These gardens had been established on council land in the middle of a city sadly lacking in public open space. Most of the city's residents live in high-density apartment buildings and therefore have no garden of their own so these community gardens became a way for them to grow plants and produce their own fruit and vegetables.

After years of hard work relationships with the city's disenfranchised ethnic groups were built in harmony along a common thread - the garden. People worked together, helped each other with garden tasks, talked about their methods and related as organically as human nature can.

Then, the city council decided to remove the community gardens to make room for more apartments. They destroyed some of these gardens in their bid to capitalise further on a shortage of land and line the city coffers never contemplating the wealth that these gardens were already generating the city of New York. Alas, in the eyes of business people wealth can only ever be measured in dollars.

I found this short DVD more disturbing than watching Minki Whales being killed of the coast of Iceland. Why? Because this is the human spirit that is being crushed, a far greater sin that killing an animal. I'm not a greenie by any stretch of the imagination but I easily get riled when I see people treating others badly for the sake of the Almighty Dollar.

If this stirs your conscience head over to Sierra Club TV and view the episode. You can join their email list for further updates or even get a House Party together to view the DVD.