Field Action Report
GreenThumb: GrowTogether Conference 2018.
For the Sustainable Systems field action assignment, I volunteered my time at the GrowTogether Conference organized by GreenThumb and NYC Parks on 31 March 2018. The conference had representatives from organizations all over New York City who dealt with a wide variety of issues related to the environment.
The organizations present were: Randall’s Island Park Alliance, the City Parks Foundation, The Bronx and The Manhattan Land Trusts, NYC Compost Project, The Lower East Side Ecology Center, Wildlife NYC, NYC Sanita tion, East New York Farms, Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals, Earth Celebrations, FoodCorps, NYC Urban Soils Institute, 596 Acres, New York Restoration Project, Smugtown Mushrooms, Outer Seed Shadow, Citizens Committee for New York City, Grow NYC, USDA among various others.
These organizations and projects are working to raise awareness on a wide range of issues including feral cat infestations, composting and community gardens. They are trying to get the general public involved in more issues related to the environment because that will help raise awareness and make changes happen much quicker and more effectively. A lot of these projects take the help of schools and community gardens to get younger children involved and to educate them about the importance of taking care of the ecosystem they are living in.
Most of these projects are either funded by the city or they rely on donations and fundraisers to help them keep running. Hence it is important for them to get even more people involved with the work that they are doing. In order to do so, they hold many events all over the city throughout the year ranging from nature walks and cherry blossom festivals to workshops and classes about gardening. They have made great use of the advertising opportunities as their poster and flyers are not only eye catching but also extremely helpful and detailed. Some organizations even collaborate with artists from different fields to increase interest and support for the issues that are trying to be tackled.
Apart from giving out information about their work, there were also many different workshops being held that were open to the participants all day. These included information sessions on climate change, medicinal plants, soap making, sun printing, how to start up and fund your own organization etc. There were events of interest for people of all ages catering exactly to the demographic present at the conference which ranged from small children to the elderly. Some booths were dedicated to educating people about what they can do to help the environment on their part whereas others were catering to larger organizations with a higher reach. A booth representing NYC parks had prototypes of solar powered panels that can be installed into the ground and a new combination of materials that retain water which can be installed on rooftops to help maintain rooftop gardens.
The representatives and volunteers present at the conference were very helpful and informed about their organizations and the causes they were supporting. They answered all questions that I had for them and provided information regarding who to get in contact with if I wish to get more involved.
Some of the booths present at the conference.
Worms at a booth about composting.
Prototypes for rooftop garden flooring.
Prototypes for solar panels that can be installed in roads.
I was appointed to help out with the distribution of food.
The event had recycle bins and volunteers placed in front of them to help the participants sort out their trash into compostable, landfill and recyclable. They also had a bucket to pour liquids such as coffee, tea and water in.
