June 14, 2012
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Greening the Ghetto
“If you live in a community plagued by violence, poverty, and health problems, it can be hard to see our collective ecological crisis as more pressing than the everyday crisis of survival. ” This is a quote from Marc Bamuthi Joseph, who holds Life Is Living festivals (http://www.lifeisliving.org/) in hopes of bringing artists, philanthropists, community organizers together to help the depressed areas of the inner city a more positive attitude and offering hope they can improve their environment.
“The heavy material is buoyed by moments of humor, like the depiction of hard-core enviros’ holier-than-thou approach to green living (“Are you eatin’ local, organic, non-packaged, and fresh? Are you a vegan, eatin’ in season, freezin’ what’s left?”) that made a diverse Seattle audience laugh in recognition.” You can find the full article here: http://grist.org/cities/greening-the-ghetto-from-survival-to-sustainability/. (My edit link doesn’t work, sorry.)
Community gardens are a great idea that has been taking off for some years now. The community garden in an inner city neighborhood can aid impoverished families with healthy, fresh food as well as greening up the area.
Joseph is also an artist and the founder of Youth Speaks, a non-profit organization that help kids use their voices to change the environment they live in and create leaders within these communities to promote change. The I Live Here project helps to create opportunities for a new generation of leaders to emerge articulate, thoughtful, engaged, knowledgeable, and unafraid to speak toward making local and global communities healthier places to live.
Other ways inner city artists can beautify their environment is through graffiti art. Some of the most amazing murals can be found on ghetto walls.
By investing in our young people in inner city impoverished neighborhoods, we are not only doing the right thing by the kids, but also creating a better next generation for environmental and social change.
Comments (50)
indeed. I have never lived in a city with such a problem, but I can see how programs such as this would have a positive and lasting effect on young people.
what an incredible wall that is!
Are these being done in Denver? There are such projects going on in Phoenix and San Diego.
Wealth creation and entrepreneurism have always been the driving forces behind the elimination of poverty.
The 1960′s War on Poverty actually created concentration camps (called the “projects” or section 8 housing) for poor people which insured an ever growing and always impoverished lower class in the urban ghetto.
Before that, poor mixed with rich people mixed with middle class people and everyone could learn from each other. Poor people had role models in the middle and upper class people they saw every day.
When I was teaching in inner city Los Angeles I met high school age kids everyday who’d never even been the beach. All they had to do was hop a bus.
In that late 80s movie “Stand and Deliver” about inner city LA math teacher Jaime Escalante, there was a scene which showed a bunch of kids jumping into the Pacific Ocean as if it were the Promised Land.
Community organizing is for politicians and guilty white people. It really doesn’t do much good in addressing ghetto poverty.
that building!! oh my golly! makes my eyes just pop out of my head. so cool. the rest of the post is awesome too. but me and shiny… kinda makes the important info just drip out.
@PrisonerxOfxLove - seems to me that every time government gets involved in some kind of war to fix something, it just makes the situation worse.
Cleveland has nothing like this happening to my knowledge, then again, we are the taint of America.
Beautiful and in the apt complex where I used to live, which was much larger than where we live now, we had a huge community garden. These kind of things make apt living much more comfortable and enjoyable.
i love this post. and, i really love it when people care enough to try to make a difference, make their world better. you are one such person. amen. it’s wonderful what communities in the inner cities are doing, chicago and southern california for example. i always enjoy the colorful art in chicago– grocery store building murals, under overpasses. it’s so vibrant and rich. i also like the rooftop gardens — wonderful use of space. i even saw a cta bus that was converted into a garden. and, did you know that they now have a bus that services south side of chicago, delivering vegetables — kind of like an ice cream truck only with fresh fruits and vegetables. it’s wonderful! =)
we have a wee little vegetable patch that the neighbor girls are going to start helping us with in the backyard. just tomatoes and little cucumbers for now. but my mom, when she was at the peak of health, once had string beans, chives, onions, lettuce, cucumbers, broccoli, parsley, tomatoes, potatoes. =) my uncle had grapes, tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, cucumbers, sweet corn, differnt kinds lettuce, pumpkins, squash, radishes– really inspires me.
i decided even if i have a little studio apartment, i’m going to grow herbs and tomatoes in the windows =). bloom wherever you are planted, i say. =)
Community gardens and school gardens are one of the best educational tools in the world!
I love the idea of community gardens, when people really get into it. Gardening in general is such a healing hobby.
This is a great idea. The more positive things introduced and cultivated in low income communities, the better. There will be more positive options to counter the prevailing bad ones.
Otherwise they continue to erode into places where it is something to try and escape rather than build up. The ones with any hope will leave, increasing the concentration of those who have adapted to the negative environment by engaging in the negative activities themselves.
The end result is a blighted area that continues to expand as people near the borders of such areas leave and the vacated areas get absorbed.
I so agree with that. Providing for the youth can really bring about success in their lives and as well as help the community.
Right now certain jobs are in demand. Welders in certain specialties are in big demand and I suppose teaching inner city kids those skills would be a great idea.
However I am biased and prefer that everyone learn to grow things. The patience involved in growing things is a good thing to have. Also the health benefits is not bad either.
I don’t know if city folks have too much difference with “Ghetto” folks. The gap if it gets too big reflects badly for America.
That’s really cool!
Great post, Christina and all very true!! Look at the artistic abilities of what is on those buildings, etc. So many of these young people have talents that just sit on the side lines because nobody cares. I lived in Los Angeles for a short while and had the chance to work side by side with neighbors (old to young) in a community garden. The complex was run down, but the joint community spirit was amazing. We used to have monthly get togethers where everybody would bring something to eat, the younguns would supply the music (some real talent) and we would all have a great time. There was an incredible mix of ethnic groups with whites being a minority, yet I never felt more at home. A good time in my life. Thanks for the memories…
@plantinthewindow – isn’t it gorgeous? Thanks!
@RighteousBruin – Not these in particular. These are out east, but there are projects happening in Denver.
@PrisonerxOfxLove – Haha, you know what I do don’t you?
@promisesunshine – shiny and pretty!
@Thatslifekid – That’s too bad, it makes me want to come fix it!
@Grannys_Place – I love community gardens. I think there is no end to the good they bring
@YouToMe – great idea, I may plant herbs myself!! And thank you, most ppl want to make a difference but don’t know where to begin
@whyzat – I agree
@lucylwrites – Me too, thank you
@SoullFire – Whatever you water grows, whether it’s disdain and neglect or positive empowerment. Thanks for your comment
@angys_coco – NO harm can come of it, and every little thing counts, right?
@PPhilip – anything that encourages marketable and personal skills are necessary for our kids I think. In the ghetto or the burbs, discipline and skill never hurts
@ShimmerBodyCream – Thanks!
@MzSilver – impoverished areas are full of talent that needs to be cultivated! Cool story about the gardens, I love those gardens
@BoulderChristina - If you enjoy being riddled with bullets, go for it!
We spent 10 years in the Detroit area and saw a few gardens there. It was a community effort, but not publicized for some reason. The interested neighbors participated and gew food. It was great to see and a great use of land. I think some Mayors want to tear down abandoned, dilapidated houses and use the land for the surrounding community. I think it is a great idea, but has hurdles to overcome.
frank
good idea
Neat stuff, I must say.
i’ve always been fascinated by graffiti… so much talent there
I wonder if my produce would be safer from lysteria if I grew it myself. Fantastic grafitti too!
@Kris0logy -
@ANVRSADDAY - There are always hurdles, aren’t there?
@Bridget1022 - Thanks!
@brrraaaiiins - Thank you!
@Peridot21 - Isn’t it amazing?
@Big_Bang_Theory - I think we would be free from many things if we grew it ourselves! And thank you!
ours is a small town, and we do not have the kind of problem you have written about, but it seems that there is a community garden in the city.
This is a great idea… positive irony though where it makes city life turn to country equivalents in the fading of the industrial age prosperity that brought people to cities in the first place.
I attempted this “greening-the-ghetto” business but was fired. I feel it was quite the slight because although only the weeds that I had planted grew; by gosh, by golly, they were still green!
Oh, I’m available if you need a gardener.
@BoulderChristina - yep, totally!
@ZSA_MD - I have never lived in a place large enough for a ghetto, either. I have helped build community gardens in low income neighborhoods, but nowhere I felt unsafe.
@Ampbreia - You know, I have thought of that, too! great minds… .
@Kellsbella - Green is green and who would protest weed??
You’re hired. I will have your uniform waiting for you.
kudos bc – there are many of these here in chitown… fun to watch them reap…
@Peridot21 - there’s many a book out now p21 – from the history/evolution of it both in the us and abroad – and even gender specific ones… http://lagraffitigirls.com/