I think i have it, I really do.
Everyone is using food banks, right? unemployment is rife. Depression, anxiety, suicide. Obesity. Anti social behaviour and crime rates.
Okay. Are you ready?
Community gardens and orchards. Free to pick what you like, children's and adults clubs to teach people when to pick, sow, etc. Not just food but flowers. Trees. Perenials such as rhubarb, kale and others. I really think that it could work.
I saw a TED Talk about a town who has a whole community or people who grow food in random places wherever there is a free bit of grass and I swear to god I think it could work really well.
I actually can't see a problem arising and if the problem is 'the economy' well how? Because when people are struggling to pay for food I really dgaf about the economy.
Allotments are a nice idea but many are full and have waiting lists of Years and years.
We have a couple of small, secret almost community gardens in a few big parks in our city and they are really cute, work well. Nobody ruins them and if someone took all of the cucumbers then there is a spirit of 'well I guess they needed them'. Part of the reward is in the growing and outside space and time.
Also flowers. There are so many people living in tiny flats with no or very little outside space. Wouldn't adding a few flowers be nice? Maybe a pear tree or 2.
Its the good life isn't it? A very frequent dream is packing up and living off the land. Well why not communal land? What good is that piece of grass? Needs cutting, is littered all over and what? Pooed on?
I'm not some radical who will go round digging up peoples gardens or anything but I was thinking about a previous poster who said that they sorted out their communal garden in their flats and only after she made it nice did everyone else start using it. Well wouldn't the same happen everywhere?
People pay money to go to botanical gardens, so there is a market for this (if you know what I mean)
There could be communal run compost bins which would dramatically reduce waste and green house gasses. That compost would mean almost no costs because that's the main one isn't it?
Classes could be held at libraries and community centres about seed saving.
Everyone could save their pot noodle pots and yoghurt tubs for plant pots. Arts and crafts fairs could have children painting them, I just can't see a downside.
That is how I would fix the worlds problems anyway.