One thing that we need especially is an understanding of the value of how much other people do for us and how much we depend upon them. There's nothing like growing a garden - at least once - to get an appreciation for how wonderful it is to be able to go to to the market and buy any produce you want any time you want for a token amount of money.

But I also think there's value in doing what you can when you can. For example, if you're going to have a garden and landscaping, why not make it edible instead of just lawn?