Urban Greenthumb

Climate change is a serious concern for a lot of people. Urban agriculture is about growing food but also enforces the importance of green infrastructure in our continuously developing cities. At Baruch College, the Environmental Cooperation Organization agrees with the notion that climate change is a real threat, and they are dedicated to working for a way to get people to work to change. Denise Lescano, President of ECO at Baruch College sat down with me to explain some of what they do.

“We hold events informing students on environmental issues through general meetings, movie screenings, we also do things like volunteer, we’ve done coastal clean ups, we did a community clean up in Corona, Queens where we picked up garbage and planted spring bulbs. We also are planting spring bulbs and cleaning up Washington Square Park.”

She says that a lot of students might be concerned about ecosystems, about climate change, but they don’t necessarily know what they can do. The group’s efforts are focused on group awareness activities, community service and learning activities.

“We are building strong relationships with other clubs, so I feel like that’s a huge achievement, because I feel in the long run we need everyone.”

From the mid 1970’s through the 1990’s New York City’s lower east side became known for it’s small community gardens that could be found in the nooks and crannies of Alphabet City. During some of the bleakest times in the cities history, communities came together and built these gardens in vacant lots that were sometimes used to dump trash of all kind and were havens for drug abusers. I got my inspiration for creating this map from Grace Tankersley’s book, Community Gardens of the East Village: An Oral history & Guide to Community Gardens in New York City’s East Village. Thank you Grace for putting together such a rich history of the community gardens. See here for a map of community gardens in the east village and take a tour.