I first began to follow green teen urban gardeners in my August 5, 2009 post . This is a growing trend (pun intended) that continues to shi
ne light on a still dim economy. What follows is my latest favorite green teen story. I thank Cory Vanderpool whose article I found in triplepundit.The tale of a phoenix-like rise for the city of Detroit offers hope. Over a century ago rich land in Detroit was lost to the building boom of the industrial revolution. As businesses and residents flee the city, vacant land is again being cultivated, and Detroit's hardcore citizens are learning to sustain themselves much as their ancestors may have done.
Perhaps the most resourceful application of this concept is demonstrated by The Ferguson Academy for Young Women where traditional education, parenting, job skills, and urban farming are t
aught in equal measure. At the same time young women learn to care for themselves and their future children, they learn to raise crops and care for farm animals.The Academy is named for freed slave, Catherine Ferguson, a strong advocate of education for poor children, and it is no easy-pass school. Ferguson students must be accepted by at least a two-year college in order to graduate. This admirable institution was named a “Breakthrough High School” by the National Association of Secondary School Principals.
As uplifting as this story is, I have to ask why it took a foreign filmaker to see the value of this program and immortalize it in an award-winning documentary film?
In other green teen news, Miranda Brooke Pawline of New Jersey created a gown from plastic bags
to make a point. What prompted this? Seeing flotillas of plastic bags floating in the Delaware River. Miranda, you are an inspiration for the teens in my forthcoming novel STAKEOUT. They do their best to discourage bag use in an area where sea turtles die from swallowing these floating bags. Mothers have also grown increasingly appalled by overuse of plastic bags. In particular, plastic sandwich bags. Three creative mothers' solution? LunchSkins--colorful, reusable and dishwasher safe lunch bags. You can make a small contribution to saving the planet by purchasing your own at http://www.3greenmoms.com/.
- Are you sustaining yourself through a bit of gardening?
- Do you practice any green habit or habits?
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People are asking so here it is -- the latest ISLAND STING news.
ISLAND STING has been nominated for YALSA's 2011 popular paperback crime list. YAY! The news gets better. It's now in its second printing and just received another great review from educator and writing specialist, Carol Baldwin. Here's what Carol says about one of the reasons she referred to ISLAND STING during her homeschooling presentation August 14 in Charlotte, NC: "In my book, Teaching the Story, I [Carol] discuss how setting should answer the question, What can happen here? This example of a well-honed description, prompts the reader to ask that question: Cars poured out of the shopping center under an ever-threatening sky. Clouds darkened and billowed upward. Armies of great mushrooms, brewing thunderous time bombs.” (Island Sting, p. 192.)
I've been busy this summer and life continues to be a blitz of travel. Seems like I only just returned from presenting at SCBWI MD/DE/WV and a five day retreat that followed, and now I'm taking off again to appear on a YA mystery panel at Killer Nashville on Sunday, August 22nd .
September 11, I join John Hart and Erica Spindler on a mystery panel at Bookmarks Book Festival of Books in Winston-Salem, NC.
To end the busy season, ISLAND STING was chosen as the Forsyth County, NC middle school online read for the month of September. As a finale to this experience, on October 5th I'll speak with readers at Teen Central in the Forsyth County Central Library. The following day I fly to Oklahoma City to present ISLAND STING at the State Department of Education's Encyclomedia October 7-8.Phew. That's it for now. See you next month. "God willing and our creek don't rise!"
I'm far from being a teen gardner, but I do have a tabletop of tomatoes waiting to become salsa. Yeah! My greenbeans were a flop. Peas, same story. If I had learned as a teen, maybe by now I would be better at this.
ReplyDeleteGretchen
Love those lunch bags. Gotta get some. What a great idea!
ReplyDeleteLaurie
Tomatoes and basil--that's about all my little garden produces. But, I do stack my leaves in a place where they eventually turn into dirt...does that count? My daughter laughed at me years ago when I was buying dirt. She wondered why I wasn't just digging it up from under the leaves!
ReplyDeleteAnd I have inherited my mother's habit of washing out zip lock bags and reusing them. Some habits die hard. Great blog!
Just in the local newspaper yesterday... Clear Path Recycling LLC is a recycling plant that started operating on July 14, 2010 in Fayetteville, NC. It handles 10-12% of the nation's plastic drink bottle recycling and will rise to more than 20%. Way to go!
ReplyDeleteLinda A.
Too many times, I've gone to put my groceries in the trunk and only remembered the cloth bags when I see them lying there unused. They are now on the front seat of the car. If I can remember to use them three times in a row, I hope a habit will be born. And how difficult is it to grow herbs? I don't know if I'm ready for the work of veggies, but I'd love to try herbs.
ReplyDeleteWell, Bonnie, I don't garden as I have a brown thumb but I do recycle, plastic bottles (which I try not to use), cans, some medicine bottles or OTC bottles, all the cardboard boxes that crackers and tobasco and electronics come in and newspapers. Whew, it took me an hour to separate all that stuff yesterday. I also re-use plastic bags to pick up dog poop - not good for the landfills but does help other parts of the environment. I loved Island Sting and can't wait for the sequel. I'll be at Charlotte so let's have fun. Oh, I also recycle jars and wine bottles and magazines and junk mail. I'm using cloth bags as much as I can. See you soon.
ReplyDeleteBonnie,
ReplyDeleteI had trouble remembering the cloth bags, so I bought the kind that folds up to the size of a pair of sunglasses and keep them in my purse. It helps.
Alas, no garden for me. I could kill a plastic plant. But I am spending the week at my parents' farm in Ohio helping them put by their garden vegetables.
I use canvas bags, purchased at thrift stores, for my groceries. I grow tomatoes and potatoes. Have utterly failed to grow peas and beans. I compost. My own intrpeid teens have nudged the family into a vegetarian diet. They attended a pig pickin' two years ago. Saw the pig and haven't eaten meat since. Anyway, these are our small family gestures toward a greener life. I would love to drive a greener (Prius)car(no money to buy one) and have a green roof with some solar panels. Maybe after one of my books becomes a best seller?
ReplyDeleteIn Peace,
Caroline McAlister
Good stuff, Bonnie!
ReplyDeleteWe recycle everything we can, use reuseable bags at the grocery, and I mulch my lawn so I have no clippings to bag and throw away. Unfortunately, we did not get a garden in this year (although we do have a ginormous rosemary bush, if you need any?), but we make good use of our neighbors' garden ;-} They have asparagus, tomatoes, peppers, etc.
Keep up the good work, and congrats on Island Sting!
Tim Keeton
(Undead)Poet / Wizard / Teller-of-tales
I just ordered sandwich and snack bags from http://www.reusies.com/ , so I'm trying to cut back on our plastic baggie use too.
ReplyDeleteAs for gardening, we have a blueberry bush, an apple tree, & a tomato plant. It's a start.
Dear Bonnie,
ReplyDeleteI'm not a gardener, but I'm a great recycler. Mecklenburg County has a great recycling program for paper, cardboard, cereal boxes, newspaper, plastic and glass bottles.
I take my shipping boxes and plastic bags to a UPS man in Matthews, NC. He gives the boxes to his customers free and uses the plastic for packaging instead of the styrofoam popcorn pieces! I love that! Cardboard being used twice instead of once.
I'm one of those people who wash and reuse zip baggies and even tin foil. I do have a small veggie garden (most summers) and use only organic pest controls and fertilizers.
ReplyDeleteI recycle those plastic grocery bags and avoid using them if the milk jug or other container makes them unnecessary.
I try to recycle egg cartons but don't know who wants them other than the occasional family who keeps chickens on the farmstead.
Recycling? YES!
Is there more that I could do? YES!
Still haven't read Island Sting, but I'm going to.
We are getting cloth sandwich bags for the kids this year for school lunches. And we recycle like crazy. Our town recycles almost everything, and It's great to know that it isn't going to the landfill.
ReplyDeleteNice post, Bonnie. I try to grow at least tomatoes in the little bit of sunlight between the trees here in Chapel Hill. But I do compost, even my coffee grounds and filter. Also, being able to recycle mixed paper at the curb has cut my garbage to the landfill by half or more! I too, keep my cloth bags in the car and use them at the pharmacy and the grocery store. See you in Charlotte!
ReplyDeleteHi Bonnie - Great post!
ReplyDeleteI bought a reusable water bottle instead of relying on buying cases of water. And we're vigilant about recycling. I like the re-usable sandwich baggies, might have to look into that for the coming school year.
Funny thing, years ago I would wash and reuse foil and wax paper. I even took the wax paper from empty cereal boxes to use. Back then we called it saving money! But it started me along the habit of recycling and now it is just second nature.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on all your good news, Bonnie! So exciting to hear about the YALSA list and the second printing. :)
ReplyDeleteWe use a programmable thermostat to reduce our use of AC/heat. One of these days we'd love to install solar panels on our roof. Friends of ours did this and they say that sometimes their electric bill is a negative number--the electric company actually buys power from them instead of the other way around.
We grow tomatoes, peppers, garlic, carrots, and green beans, and we subscribe to a CSA for more local food. We've been composting, too.
ReplyDeleteWe've been recycling for years, and carrying our own grocery bags forever - now we're slowly replacing all our old lightbulbs with compact florescent bulbs. And our last car purchase was a hybrid. And I can't wait to start a new garden next spring!
ReplyDeleteyour blog ate my comment - is that called recycling or just garbage??? I have recently joined the composting people - small scale, but it will certainly be welcomed when I can use it later in the yard. My other recycling efforts are done with the cooperation of my extended 'family' - I take their batteries, light bulbs, grocery bags, old paint, whatever to the appropriate recycler - my car and house sometimes look like a recycling dream (or nightmare). There is most always a place to reuse or recycle lots of 'trash' - it just takes a little thought and effort. I have a collection of reusable grocery bags from the east coast - I sometimes even trade out with a neat one that I see - even if it is someone's hands and full of groceries - great way to meet kindred souls!
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine's husband is working on developing a machine that turns trash into energy. They built the prototype from cast off machine parts that the Post office didn't want. Wonderful recycling story- hope to write it about when it's live and in use!
ReplyDeletep.s. - and then there are the cleaning products that I use all over town - I make them mostly from baking soda, white vinegar, and Dr Bronner (one of the original environmental gurus)soap - saves my lungs, make my clients houses smell so much better and does just as good a job - no more bleach white outs on clothing, either!
ReplyDeleteI love the photo of the dress made from plastic bags! So creative. I am very interested in art made from found objects, but this is the first dress I've seen.
ReplyDeleteThank you to all who joined the conversation! Miriam Caldwell was the winner of the t-shirt contest. Miriam, I hope you check out every book title listed on the back of the shirt. There were many wonderful living green ideas shared on this blog during August. Each contribution, no matter how small, enhances the health of our beautiful planet and our own as well. Keep up the good work.
ReplyDelete