Dear Editor,
I read Miranda Bryant's article on city allotments (The Guardian, 15. December 2021, link below) and strongly agree that locally produced food could play a major role.
As I was growing up the produce that we got from my Dad's (suburban) allotment was central to our household meals and I am convinced that his vegetables (along with some dirt and a few bugs that came with them) contributed greatly to our family's health.
In those days there was a good number of vehicles around but not enough to stop my brother and I riding our bikes and skateboarding on those streets. But now suburban roads are packed and are often in grid-lock with school-run-parents jostling with delivery-vans on streets that were designed for a completely different era.
Those vehicles are emitting not just exhaust-fumes but also (invisible) toxic powder from brakes, tyres and from the road-surface. This cocktail of dust is potentially even worse than exhaust fumes because, once produced, it lies on the road ready to be repeatedly whipped up into the air to then be carried off by the wind to land on, among other places, those allotments.
So, yes, urban gardens are a good thing but they will only really contribute to general health if society starts to curb its fanatic addiction to the motor-car and the toxic emissions that it produces ... not just from its engine!
Regards
