Artwork stating 'Education Destroys Barriers', 'We Demand Treatment', and 'I Need A Chance'

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  • From a Prison Garden Sprouts Real Growth

    Lettuce Grow teaches gardening skills to 200 incarcerated people per year in 16 Oregon prisons and juvenile detention centers. The teaching includes college-level courses and hands-on gardening on prison grounds, which then yields hundreds of thousands of pounds of fresh vegetables for prison kitchens. Graduates of the program commit many fewer crimes than the average ex-prisoner and have found work after prison at nurseries and in other horticultural pursuits.

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  • Fighting plastic waste: a double-edged sword

    Teams of recyclers in Nigeria gather plastic bottles from the streets and landfills and brings them to recycling plants where they can exchange the waste for money. HISL Recyclers collects this waste — which usually contains polyethylene terephthalate, or PET, a dangerous chemical — as a way to remove the waste from the environment. However, more work needs to be done to get more people to participate in the program and to scale the operations. So far, they’ve been able to recycle up to 20 tonnes of plastic waste a month.

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  • Cooler, Cleaner Megacities, One Rooftop Garden at a Time

    Organizations in Egypt and Bangladesh are greening their cities by turning rooftops into urban gardens that can grow food, reduce air pollution, and decrease air temperatures. Green Savers in Dhaka has installed more than 5,000 rooftop gardens in the city and Urban Greens in Cairo partners with sponsors to install hydroponic rooftop gardens for families experiencing economic hardship. It’s been a challenge to convince people that the cost to maintain these spaces is worthwhile, but through community outreach efforts, these organizations have seen an increase in interest in installing rooftop gardens.

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  • Local experts offer free classes, resources to create water efficient landscaping

    Localscapes is a program in Utah promoting more water-efficient landscaping. The program includes state-based horticulturists, landscape professionals, and water experts who help interested people make the most sustainable use of their yards and lawns. "The program focuses on five techniques: a central open space, gathering areas, activity zones, paths and planting beds."

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  • Growing a Just Future in Tulsa

    To mark the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre, in which a white mob killed hundreds of Black residents and destroyed the thriving neighborhood of Greenwood, the Centennial Commission supported a number of initiatives to learn from the past and build a better future. At the base of an ancient elm tree that witnessed the massacre, Up With Trees distributed 100 elm seedlings to children to plant around Tulsa. The commission convinced state education officials to develop a new curriculum on the massacre for K-12 students.

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  • People in Solitary Confinement and Volunteers Team Up to Garden, Imagine a World Without Prisons

    The Solitary Gardens project started in New Orleans and has been copied in multiple other places as a combination art exhibit and therapeutic link between incarcerated people and the outside world. People on both sides of the prison walls collaborate in pairs to design a garden that grows flowers and herbs chosen by the incarcerated person. The gardens match the tiny dimensions of a solitary-confinement cell. The healing herbs are used to help others, and the exercise overall gives incarcerated people a sense of connection to the earth, part of the project's prison-abolition message.

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  • This South L.A. startup will turn your front lawn into a farm

    A startup in California called Crop Swap LA is converting unused front yards into community gardens that can grow crops like kale, rainbow chard, and tomatoes as a way to feed neighbors. Community members can pay for subscriptions for up to $43 a month to receive a bundle of greens and vegetables from the microfarms and homeowners get a share of the profits. Each garden needs to have the proper maintenance, which can make it difficult to scale, but these gardens can help provide access to food to those who don’t have a grocery store in their area.

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  • An Initiative to Improve Street Safety through Public Art

    Street murals and innovative safety features have transformed a dangerous intersection. The Kansas City project not only improved the aesthetic, it also decreased noise pollution, pedestrian crossing distances, and vehicle speeds by 45 percent.

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  • This community garden in Southeast Washington grows far more than food

    As a way to bring the community together and promote healing in Southeast Washington, D.C., residents created a garden known as Project Eden. Their garden has grown to a plot of land that grows roots, legumes, fruits, and greens with a greenhouse and aquaponics system that has fed thousands of people. The founders view the garden as a way to strengthen food security and encourage resiliency for an area where people have witnessed violent acts.

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  • In Dallas' food deserts, community gardens ease — but don't end — food insecurity

    A resolution in Austin, Texas, allows community gardens to use public land. It also created the City of Austin Community Garden Program to help people find partnerships and apply to create a garden. The government support allowed more community gardens to open and help fight food insecurity across the city.

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