City Trees

conservation through creative pathways. Faith in Place and Sacred Keepers Sustainability Lab: environmental justice On our last afternoon in Chicago we had a panel discus- sion with Reverend Debbie Williams, Veronica Kyle, and Toni Anderson about environmental justice. I was moved by each speaker's passion and intimate integration into the community. The question that this conversation raised is how do you have the uncomfortable, complicat - ed dialogue about race and environment? First, Veronica Kyle, Chicago Outreach Director for Faith in Place, spoke about engaging faith-based communities in developing green teams to deliver programs of environmen- tal stewardship and conservation. Their mission is to reach diverse people of all faiths, races, ethnicities, and sexual orientations to share the commitment to care for the earth. She made a compelling argument to make room in opera - tional budgets for diversity. She also spoke about overcom- ing the resistance to the message of environmental impact by meeting a community's immediate needs (e.g. jobs). For example, if you have mold in your home, you are not going to care about geothermal solutions. Second, Reverend Debbie Williams from Faith in Place spoke about story circles and the importance and power of nar - rative and storytelling in connecting people to people and people to nature. Encouraging leaders to be inclu - sive and listen to the priorities of communi- ties and explore mul- tiple avenues of entry into the environmental conservation conver- sation. "Fostering the family and people con- nections is key in envi- ronmental programs because people will do things for the love of one another." Finally, Toni Anderson of Sacred Keepers Sustainability Lab spoke about indige- nous cultural connec- tions to nature, youth engagement, and the need to understand the importance of histories and legacies of ancestral land and settlement. This raised questions about equity, power, and race and how these issues underlie land use and ownership and ultimately gov - ernance. The takeaway here for me included a better understanding of how to engage with groups who are often overlooked in the environmental science discourse. SWALE: Community engagement, art and innovation, food security Our visit to SWALE, New York City's floating food forest, integrating permaculture, social design, and art for educa- tion was innovative and inspiring. Founded by artist Mary Mattingly, this garden is built on a barge and travels to the various piers in NYC, serving as a mobile outdoor class- room to educate visitors about food security and steward- ship of land and public waterways. This initiative address- es the challenge that many citizens live in food deserts (areas with limited access to fresh food). The correlation between public health and greenspaces is becoming more widely acknowledged and projects like SWALE are import- ant models for public education. For me, this site captured many of the themes of that we dealt with during the overall trip: integration of nature and cities, community coming together, art and creativity, mobility, and transformation. Environmental justice panel: From right to left: Reverend Debbie Williams, Veronica Kyle, and Toni Anderson Photo credit: Adrina C. Bardekjian www.urban-forestry.com 27

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