Mississippi youth have just finished their school's first community garden, according to WJTV.
Byram Middle School is now host to a garden with cabbage, carrots, lettuce, green beans, and ornamental plants. It was put together by the local Beta Club.
The Beta Club is a national organization that mobilizes youth towards achievement in academia, character, service, and leadership. This isn't the first time these goals have intersected with the environment, either. Chapters have engaged in beach clean-ups, building pollinator gardens, and tree-planting.
"This garden gives people the opportunity to come together, put their hands in the soil and actually work together for a common goal," said Byram Middle School assistant principal George Jones, per WJTV.
Engaging actively in gardening yields a bunch of benefits, including improved mental and physical health.
Growing your own food in a garden like this isn't subject to the harsh pesticides found on food from the grocery store. Those pesticides can also cause damage to the marine ecosystem through runoff.
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Combined with the shorter distance homegrown produce goes to get to your plate, local produce is typically healthier to eat than what you would buy in the store.
That short travel distance also reduces pollution. About 20% of the atmospheric pollution created by any given product comes from transportation. This exacerbates destructive weather patterns like floods, droughts, and heat waves, which disrupt agriculture and ultimately raise prices at the grocery store.
Those weather patterns equally have negative effects on housing and ecology. By eating local, you help curb those trends.
While there are benefits of community gardens that abound, the Byram Beta Club's lead on the project spoke to what motivated him to plant one at his middle school.
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"My grandma and grandpa would grow their own things. It really inspired me because I wanted to do the same thing," said organizer Kenneth Brown, per WJTV.
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