A funny thing happened last week. There was a thoughtful, albeit brief, article about ioby in the Amazon Rainforest News.
Well, what's so funny about that, you ask.
Well, here's the thing. ioby stands for in our backyards. The intention behind those words is that focusing environmental work at the local level is most powerful, and often, more meaningful. We believe this because -- having done environmental work in the Amazon -- we've also seen first hand how important local work is, and it was nice that the First Lady backed us up on that point, too.
Doing local work is also easier, more tangible and more direct. I can support the park in my neighborhood and the benefits of a cleaner park, with more trash cans, more trees, more parties and more people are all felt by me and my neighbors. It's the same thing with local food. When I buy a carrot from a farm in the city, I support my neighbors, our local food system and the ecosystem. Local work, to me, means strengthening my connection to my own community.
But more often than not, the media boils down global environmental issues to an iconic polar bear on a melting glacier or, when discussing greenhouse gases, refers to the Amazon as the lungs of the Earth. We're supposed to do something everyday to protect the Amazon or the polar bear to then protect the Earth. But the connection between what we do every day and how that affects the Amazon is complicated. Really complicated.
Working locally isn't necessarily simpler. There are still complicating social and environmental factors. But the opportunity to strengthen community and build a community space is always there. I'd like to share some examples of that from ioby's first year with you now.
6/15 Green is a community garden is Brooklyn. But it's much more than a garden; it's a community gathering space. Right now, they have a project on ioby to raise funds for their solar arbor. In and of itself, this is a great environmental project. But, what's most interesting about their work, to me, is the social benefit they bring to the neighborhood. They use the solar arbor as a demonstration site that they can use for small-scale solar installation and maintenance workshops. Their garden is also a collection site for one of Brooklyn's fall leaf drops. It's also where Brooklyn Shade hosted one of their first tree guard clinics. The garden provides open space and green space in the city for the environmental benefit for all. The social benefit may not be easily measured and the impacts are hard to track, but having a communal public space that is cared for and used by all neighbors is without a doubt a crucial part of what makes a civically engaged community.
Here's another example. This past August, together with several organizations, the Astoria Park Alliance worked with DOT to set aside three consecutive Sundays of street closures on Shore Blvd in Astoria. Cars typically monopolize the street, speed down the road and create dangerous crossing conditions for pedestrians. The cars also pollute the air and pose as an obstacle to what Shore Blvd is naturally, which is a waterfront promenade for the neighborhood. By closing the street to cars, for three days in summer there's a clear environmental benefit to improve air quality and reduce emissions. But the benefit to the community is perhaps more powerful. The street finally became that promenade for the neighborhood, literally connecting the park to the waterfront on this rare occasion. The activities for the days were centered around enhancing park use, encouraging more recreation and bringing people in the neighborhood to the water.
And what about the Rainbow Garden at Mad Fun Farm? The environmental benefits are obvious. East Harlem is a food desert. The children enrolled with Concrete Safaris have limited access to fresh produce and many of their family members suffer from diabetes and related diseases. So growing fresh produce first has the environmental benefits of growing any green plant in the city (protecting open space, fixing carbon) and the human health benefits in diet. But this Concrete Safaris project has an additional social benefit. With their students from Santo Domingo, Dakar (Senegal), New York City, and Mexico City, they'll cook traditional meals with their parents, share recipes and their heritage and bring families together. There's no way to measure the benefit of those moments, but I think we all can understand their value.
These are the kinds of things that I find inspiring about supporting work in New York City. I haven't forgotten about the issues in the Amazon or its important role in the environmental health of the Earth. But I'm just one person and my impact is never going to be as big as I want it to be. So, for now, I'm going to focus my efforts and intentionally put my action on what's right in front of me, right here, in New York City.
I hope you'll join me, and everyone at 6/15 Green, Astoria Park Alliance and Concrete Safaris and all the other hundreds of amazing groups who have brought projects to ioby, in doing the work that helps the environment and strengthens community.