Beautiful Virgin Islands

Thursday, Oct 16, 2025

Kimbal Musk is starting a gardening movement to tackle food poverty

Kimbal Musk is starting a gardening movement to tackle food poverty

A donation to the Million Gardens Movement helps provide a garden kit to a family that can’t afford it.

Elon isn’t the only Musk seeking to change the world through sustainability innovation.

His brother, Kimbal Musk, has launched The Million Gardens Movement (MGM), aimed at building “a happier, healthier world” by getting more people gardening, “no matter if they have a windowsill, fire escape, or backyard”.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Musk, executive director of the non-profit Big Green, and Frank Giustra, owner and publisher of Modern Farmer magazine, joined forces to create the movement.

Their goal is to connect every family in the US to a regular source of fresh fruit and vegetables through the power of gardening.

By setting up the world’s single biggest green-fingered community they hope to combat food insecurity and malnutrition.


MGM is “creating a culture shift around gardening and the value of growing your own food,” says Giustra. “We’re breaking down barriers by showing how simple it is to grow fruits, herbs, and vegetables.”

The initiative’s website features tips and resources from Modern Farmer, coupled with health and nutrition programming from Big Green.

Modern Farmer also says it will help connect growers with local food banks to donate produce.

Americans can either sign up to join the community and receive personalised guidance throughout the year or donate $10 (€8.5, to give a beginner-friendly garden kit to a family that can’t afford it or lives in a food desert.

The Little Green Gardens are ready-to-use fruit and vegetable garden beds, and over 5000 kits have already been distributed. 7,531 gardens in total have been started, while 632 have gone into schools to teach kids about gardening. Nearly 2000 people have signed up to grow in 2021.

Musk explains that each garden bed comes “with a customized growing plan and online lessons and activities to support the growth of culturally relevant at-home veggie gardens.”

Celebrities like Harrison Ford, Nicole Scherzinger and Salma Hayek have also joined the movement, using the hashtag #MillionGardens to praise the benefits of growing your own fresh fruit and veg.


Food deserts and the pandemic

A food desert is an area that has limited access to affordable and nutritious food.

According to MGM, over 35 million Americans (1 in 4 families) have experienced food insecurity since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Food insecurity was also a problem in Europe before the pandemic began and has been compounded since it broke out.

During COVID-19 times, food poverty was particularly an issue for those who were already isolated, self-isolating because of infection, disabled, and experiencing poverty.

"This was a huge problem almost everywhere on the continent," according to Graciela Malgesini, EU and Advocacy Officer at the European Anti Poverty Network (EAPN).

Italy, for example, saw a surge of 50 per cent in people using food banks during the first six months of 2020, compared to the same period in 2019.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Food Insecurity Experience Scale, which measures individuals and households access to food, food insecurity rates are as low as 3.1 per cent in some European countries and more than 20 per cent in others across the continent.

This suggests a growing problem of severe food instability over the past two decades, due to rising food bank use and a lack of governmental response to hunger.

In this absence, it says, we rely on charities to fill the gaps in the social security net.

The benefits of gardening

According to MGM, 9.3 million Americans started gardening in 2020 and up to $677 (€575) a year, on average, could be saved by growing your own fruit and vegetables.

In fact, over 30,000 lives and $5 billion (€4.2 billion) in medical spending could be saved each year in the US if people ate one more serving of fruit and vegetables a day, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates 3.9 million deaths worldwide were attributable to people not consuming their 5-a-day in 2017.

Diets low in fruit and vegetables were accountable for around 172,000 and 118,000 deaths respectively, according to the Global Burden of Disease study 2017.

The WHO recommends adults consume at least 400g (i.e. five portions) of fruit and vegetables every day.

The pandemic has also put a harsh toll on mental health and a recent study from Princeton University found that vegetable gardening is a crucial way to improve mental and physical wellbeing.

“Planting a seed is an act of hope for a brighter tomorrow. We hope millions will join us to grow their own garden and give a garden to a family,” writes Musk.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Australian Punter Archie Wilson Tears Up During Nebraska Press Conference, Sparking Conversation on Male Vulnerability
Australia Confirms U.S. Access to Upgraded Submarine Shipyard Under AUKUS Deal
“Firepower” Promised for Ukraine as NATO Ministers Meet — But U.S. Tomahawks Remain Undecided
Brands Confront New Dilemma as Extremists Adopt Fashion Labels
The Sydney Sweeney and Jeans Storm: “The Outcome Surpassed Our Wildest Dreams”
Erika Kirk Delivers Moving Tribute at White House as Trump Awards Charlie Presidential Medal of Freedom
British Food Influencer ‘Big John’ Detained in Australia After Visa Dispute
ScamBodia: The Chinese Fraud Empire Shielded by Cambodia’s Ruling Elite
French PM Suspends Macron’s Pension Reform Until After 2027 in Bid to Stabilize Government
Orange, Bouygues and Free Make €17 Billion Bid for Drahi’s Altice France Telecom Assets
Dutch Government Seizes Chipmaker After U.S. Presses for Removal of Chinese CEO
Bessent Accuses China of Dragging Down Global Economy Amid New Trade Curbs
U.S. Revokes Visas of Foreign Nationals Who ‘Celebrated’ Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
AI and Cybersecurity at Forefront as GITEX Global 2025 Kicks Off in Dubai
DJI Loses Appeal to Remove Pentagon’s ‘Chinese Military Company’ Label
EU Deploys New Biometric Entry/Exit System: What Non-EU Travelers Must Know
Australian Prime Minister’s Private Number Exposed Through AI Contact Scraper
Ex-Microsoft Engineer Confirms Famous Windows XP Key Was Leaked Corporate License, Not a Hack
China’s lesson for the US: it takes more than chips to win the AI race
Australia Faces Demographic Risk as Fertility Falls to Record Low
California County Reinstates Mask Mandate in Health Facilities as Respiratory Illness Risk Rises
Israel and Hamas Agree to First Phase of Trump-Brokered Gaza Truce, Hostages to Be Freed
French Political Turmoil Elevates Marine Le Pen as Rassemblement National Poised for Power
China Unveils Sweeping Rare Earth Export Controls to Shield ‘National Security’
The Davos Set in Decline: Why the World Economic Forum’s Power Must Be Challenged
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
×