How does it feel to sit in the chair of the Secretary General of the United Nations Mr. Ban Ki-moon? You should ask Jenny Mena, a student from ACTION at the Point CDC in the Bronx.
UNESCO New York Office, where I do an internship related to the urban environment, has asked me to identify a student from the Bronx to talk at the Launch of the Education For All 2010 Report. We have decided to forward this inquiry to the Point CDC, an organization that provides after-school education and rebuilds the environment in disadvantaged communities in the South Bronx. Then the Point CDC educators have asked Jenny Mena to talk at the Launch. Jenny has been in the ACTION program for several years, which was a great addition to her formal education in a regular school. For example, the Point teaches students about how to be proactive, rebuild your community, and address environmental issues in your neighborhood – everything that is rarely taught in public schools.
On the photo above, Jenny is delivering a speech about educational opportunities in the Bronx, sitting next to Irina Bokova, the UNESCO Director General. Notice that Jenny has taken Ban Ki-moon’s chair when he had to leave. My other students from the Bronx (The Point CDC, Phipps CDC) also came to the Launch.
Three of my community-based partner organizations in the Bronx have received a grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. A week ago youth and educators from YMPJ, The Point CDC, and Phipps CDC conducted a kick-off meeting, where YMPJ students have discussed the issue of combined sewer overflows (CSO), and how they mitigate this problem by converting impervious areas in inner city into rain gardens and green roofs. This spring/summer each of these three organizations will build new green spaces that will collect runoff water to prevent flooding/pollution of the Bronx River.
Today the UNESCO New York Office has organized a session for several high-school student from ACTION at the Point, the South Bronx. Vahan Galoumian of UNESCO has discussed with youth the United Nations and UNESCO’s programs such as World Heritage, Biosphere Reserves and the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. Students have also learned about the URBIS Initiative, which contributes to the resilience and sustainability of cities around the world. Christine Alfsen, the director of UNESCO New York Office (photo, left) has greeted participants at the end of this session.
Adam and Sharon, thanks for inviting me to the 4th annual ACTION Family & Alumni Holiday Dinner! It was a great overview of everything that high-school students in ACTION at the Point CDC, The South Bronx, are doing. Students have conducted short presentations about each of their numerous projects such as the Green Way, Urban Farming, restoration on the North Brother Island, and Go Green. While I am already familiar with some of these projects, I was surprised to learn that ACTION goes beyond the local environment: sometimes this education program sends students to experience the environment in other cities, countries, and even Antarctica. I look forward to conducting narrative inquiry with some of the most experienced ACTION participants next year to learn more in-depth about their experience in environmental restoration projects and how it influences students’ sense of place and social capital.
Organized by the Sustainable South Bronx (SSBx), the Toxic Tour can be an eye-opening experience. I came to this walking tour with youth from the Civic Action Education Program at the Rocking the Boat run by Chrissy Word. Usually these young people help the local communities to improve the environment through restoration. But today they were just learning from Marta Rodrigues in SSBx about environmental problems in the Hunts Point neighborhood in the South Bronx. In short, Marta suggests that the Hunts Point belongs to the poorest congressional district in the nation with the highest rate of asthma in residents, and very little access to natural sites. Local residents, most of whom are Latino and African-American, experience the disproportionate density of industrial facilities and prisons in the Hunts Point. Marta has also acknowledged that bottom-up initiatives have recently brought the first public parks in this neighborhood, but a lot still has to be done to make this area a safer environment for urban residents.
The South Bronx is sometimes called a food desert because it’s hard to find fresh produce here and because poor residents often can’t allow the price of healthy food. Adam Liebowitz at The Point Community Development Corporation, as well as his colleagues and ACTION youth have organized this event to feature various organizations that are trying to promote urban farming such as the Urban Farming, and to teach residents about healthy eating. More than 200 people have attended this event despite the rainy and cold weather. The program included documentary movies about food (“What’s on Your Plate” and “FRESH!”), and serving vegetarian and locally grown food. Youth from ACTION at the Point, who are part of my research project, were demonstrating the plan for a new community garden that they will plant next spring near the Bronx River in the Hunts Point. They have also demonstrated earth boxes that they use when there is no space for traditional raised beds or when the soil is too contaminated.
I am standing on a green roof on a catholic church in the South Bronx. Last year youth and educators from the Youth Ministry for Peace and Justice have planted grass on this church. During a tour of my research site with Kendra Liddicoat, my colleague at Cornell, we have found that the church has recently installed solar panels on the other side of the roof. Interestingly, both natural and high-tech sides of the roof are using the energy of the sun. Kendra said this roof is very educational because residents in surrounding high rise buildings can see this innovation.
Many years ago the Bronx River was know for oysters that provided delicious food for people and filtered water. Oyster reefs and most other original ecosystems in the Bronx River have been wiped out by industrial pollution, residential sewage, and channeling the river for freight transportation.
Rocking the Boat, a youth education organization in the South Bronx, collaborates with other organizations to bring oysters back to the Bronx River. Today I have participated in an oyster monitoring field trip with students and Chrissy Word, the Director of Public Programs in Rocking the Boat. They were observing how oysters are doing in one of oyster gardens, which has been created by Rocking the Boat a while ago. Usually oysters live in habitats that they create for themselves, where younger oysters attach and grow on older oysters. It is not easy to establish a new habitat for oysters, especially in the Bronx River, which still has some pollution and a different composition of species. However, educators and students in the Rocking the Boat are working hard to restore oyster reefs in the Bronx River to make it a more sustainable ecosystem.
In 2009 New York City celebrates the Quadricentennial of Henry Hudson’s voyage. He has sailed on his ship “Half Moon” from Amsterdam to explore an estuary from Staten Island to Albany, which is known today as Hudson River. He met with native Americans and observed almost undisturbed forested landscapes on an island, which is known today as Manhattan, or Mannahatta in a native language, the land of thousand hills. What has changed since that time? Streams, small lakes, hills, and forests gave way to skyscrapers and the first mega-city. Probably Hudson would never imagine this change, just like it is difficult for us to imagine what New York City will look like in 100 years from now.
This week Hunter College hosted a conference about the urban environment. One of speakers was Erik Sanderson. He is working on The Mannahatta Project, which recreates what Manhattan looked like 400 years ago – both visually and ecologically. Comparing the past and current Manhattan stimulates our imagination, and helps us to think about future changes of urban systems. This project is also very educational because it helps students to think about how to modify urban systems to make them sustainable and resilient in the long run.
In November after 5pm in New York City it’s already dark like at night. But youth in environmental after-school programs in the Bronx are working hard in all seasons to improve urban social-ecological systems. On-Water program in Rocking the Boat is one of such programs that combine a wide range of education and restoration approaches and youth development activities – anything from the restoration of oyster reefs to learning outdoor recreation skills, and from planting moss in walls to conducting various inquiry activities. For example, when I came earlier this week to Rocking the Boat, young people were conducting water quality monitoring. They were using a turbidity tube to evaluate water transparency and a number of other measurements such as temperature, pH, salinity, and dissolved oxygen. Rocking the Boat collects this data on a regular basis and submits it to the Bronx River Alliance, which in turn helps local environmental organizations to make more informed decisions about future restoration activities along the Bronx River watershed.
Can you believe that you are in New York City when you are walking through a dense forest on North Brother Island? This Island in the Bronx with the view of the Manhattan skyline had some houses and a hospital, which have been abandoned in 1960s. Now the NYC Parks Department manages this island as a non-cultivated land belonging to the NYC park system. The A.C.T.I.O.N. youth program from The Point Community Development Corporation in the South Bronx helps to maintain this area by removing invasive species several times a year. A.C.T.I.O.N. collaborates with the NYC Audubon on this project because the island is very important for birds nesting in this relatively isolated ecosystem in the middle of the city. This restoration project is a great learning experience for youth helping to improve ecosystems on this island because there are very few non-cultivated areas in the Bronx.
Who would imagine just 10 years ago that a former industrial site in the heart of the Bronx would transform into a thriving park? The local communities led by Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice with the NYC Parks Department and several other community-based organizations in the Bronx were brave enough to envision such a transformation and organize the whole community to make it true. The park is located along the Bronx River in the South Bronx, and offers plenty of ecosystem services: you can enjoy the view of the River, learn about restored ecosystems, meet with people from your community, and reconnect with the environment. Some educators are already using this site to educate students from schools. For example, today Damian Griffin from the Bronx River Alliance was teaching middle-school students about biological diversity in the river and testing water quality. I need to learn whether some of high-school student groups who I am working with will engage in some kinds of environmental stewardship in this park.
On this photograph Adrian Benepe, Commissioner of the Department of Parks & Recreation, delivers the opening speech.
