Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Benefits of School Gardening

Denver Urban Gardens, or DUG, compiled some research findings about the benefits of school gardens. This is a great resource for those of us who are school garden advocates. The studies cited were all published between 2002 and 2012, so there is some fairly current stuff in there. If you're not already convinced that school gardens should be widely used in every school, check out the link below.

If you are already an advocate, this paper looks like a great resource to print and share with folks who aren't so sure about the idea of gardening with students. It's short, with bullet points sharing the benefits in the areas of academic achievement, social and emotional health, physical health, and benefits to the school and community at large. For those wanting to know more, it includes a list of the sources cited in the paper. Check it out!

"Benefits of School Gardens" compiled by Denver Urban Gardens

Friday, September 5, 2014

Race and Our Community

So, I live about 20 minutes from Ferguson in a pretty darn white suburb of St. Louis. Since Michael Brown was killed, I can't stop thinking about that whole situation--but even more so just how entrenched this city is in de facto segregation and systemic racism. I've been reluctant to write about it on here, in part because my feelings of sadness and confusion about how to make a difference have impeded any ability I might have to write something cohesive. But also, if I'm honest, because I am nervous about ruffling feathers. I am definitely non-confrontational.

The title of this blog is "Kids, Community, and Food", and I usually write about food or kids growing food. But community is in the title too, and it's it's in there because I believe so strongly in the power of gardening in groups to build healthy communities. And because I believe that we have to have strong, healthy community groups in order to solve the complex social and environmental problems that our children are inheriting. Mike Brown's death highlights just how unhealthy our community here in St. Louis is, and the outrage and sadness that bubbled over in Ferguson has been there a long time because our community is chronically ill with systemic racism.

I still don't know what to say, exactly. But I do know that I don't want things to just calm down and go back the way they were. I want things to change. To be better. I want to live in a city without a redline. I want to live in a city, where when I choose which neighborhood to live in based on the quality of the school district, that school will also be racially diverse. That is not the city I live in today. And I did choose a well-to-do, mostly white school district when we moved back to St. Louis a couple years ago. It's been a long time since I lived in a diverse suburb of St. Louis, studied environmental justice in grad school, and experienced the power of community and school gardening to bridge racial divides.

Today I find myself gardening in groups of mostly white people through my work to integrate sustainability education into the curriculum at Tillman Elementary. Of course, it's great, because community gardening is almost always awesome. While I'm confident we are laying down experiences that will help the kids involved learn to care for the Earth, I don't believe that this will have any impact on dismantling racism unless we make social justice an explicit part of what we teach. There are lots of avenues for this, especially through the lens of environmental justice. I am certain that issues of fair food distribution will come up, because the kids at Tillman are so wonderfully kind-hearted. But will we adults have the courage to take it a step further and examine who is most likely to be "food insecure" in our city? I don't know. I'm hopeful, actually, because my son told us last night that his class wrote cards for kids at Michael Brown's school. That's a step, and one I could learn from.

After several years of living in mostly white neighborhoods, I have noticed a subtle shift toward complacency in my own self. It's just easy not to think about systemic racism, or even my own personal biases, when I live in a neighborhood surrounded by a lot of other folks enjoying white privilege without even having to think about it. I'm not saying we're bad people, I'm just saying we are enjoying the privilege of staying blind to systemic racism if we want to. I don't know how to fix it, I just think we definitely can't fix it if we are afraid to look at it and talk about it. And if we are on the defensive when we do look and talk.

A couple weeks ago, my pastor quoted Cornell West (prominent black thinker/philosopher) addressing a white audience. West had said something like, "If I still have vestiges of white supremacy in me, I'm willing to bet that you do too." For me, this was so comforting. And challenging. Racism is embedded in our culture and communities, so of course it's hiding in us too. It just is. And if we are honest with ourselves and work to change things for the better, then we need not be ashamed. Another thing my pastor said that stuck with me: "Our faith tells us that we are one. If this is true, then we have to see Michael Brown as our child. And we have to see Darren Wilson as our brother." Whoa. Think about that one for a bit.

Well, I already wrote way more than I had planned. I got on here just planning to share three articles that have touched me deeply, or opened my eyes in new ways since everything blew up in Ferguson. Maybe these will have meaning for you too. There are links to them below. Thanks for reading, and thinking, and talking with your friends about how to make our world better for everyone.

Article by Wash U mom (African-American) about her sons
Article by a white mom about her sons
Blog post from a woman in Portland, Or entitled "I am racist, and so are you"