You might want to check out the laws in your local community.
http://www.treehugger.com/green-food/memphis-teacher-ordered-to-dismantle-urban-garden.html
As times get tougher, watch as more and more people start their own gardens, or try other things like bee keeping or raising chickens. This is going to cause problems when the less informed people in your community start complaining to their local governments. And we have all heard of horror stories of some clueless local official worrying more about what the letter of the Law not the spirit of the Law.
While Green Wizardry is very much the passive way, don't forget that passive doesn't mean roll over and die. Get involved in your local governance. Help elect politicians that will help people cope with the changes that are coming.
(oh and sign the petitions linked in the article...)
Thanks, David, for the link - I've been aware of the "divide" where I live: two of us are into gardens, reuse/recycle and not interested in lawns or poisons, and the other 3 around me are the "poison and powertools" type, and there is a tension because they are sure that our two "homesteads" are eyesores, and I don't see why I should mow my grass until it gets high enough to be used for grass hay or coop bedding! I have just had 6 foot fences built around my side and back yards, to reduce the neighbors' ability to see in, and now I feel like I can focus on what's important to me. I have a tiny front yard that I will keep mowed and a picket fence (recycled!) that will be installed, so they can have that as a sop. But at least two of those "p&p" group do have large veggie gardens (they are using power hoe-ers and pesticides, of course)... so maybe they are beginning to feel the pressure... I keep daydreaming of the day when they'll come to me asking for help on doing it organically!