By Cecilia Pasini
The initiative is the re-appropriation of a former industrial chemical plant that produced viscose, the ex CISA/SNIA Viscosa, in Rome. The abandoned plant has been partly occupied by activists and citizens and re-used, through a re-signification and re-territorialization (Maggioli and Tabusi, 2016) of the former plant in ruins and the creation of a new park, spaces for the community, and an archive of the former workers.
Photo of Lago Bullicante and abandoned ruins of the shopping centre project.
Images by Cecilia Pasini
Where is this grassroots initiative? Who are the promoters? Who are the beneficiaries?
The ex-Snia is located in Rome, the Italian capital city, in the neighbourhood of Pigneto–Prenestino and bordered by via Prenestina and via di Portonaccio. It is now called Parco delle Energie (Energy Park) because it became a public park as a result of the grassroots initiative. The area covers a total of 14 hectares, 6.5 of which are public. In the park stands the Park House and the Quadrato, a skate park where activities, festivals and sports tournaments are organized. The Park House, which in the past was one of the two structures used as a dormitory for factory workers, is a public space managed by the Forum Territoriale Permanente del Parco delle Energie (Permanent Territorial Forum of the Energy Park, from now on “Forum”) in agreement with the City Hall, (AAVV, 2023). The Forum is a civic body built up over the years during the activists’ struggles to protect and manage the area.
The Centro Documentazione Territoriale Maria Baccante – Archivio storico Viscosa (Maria Baccante Territorial Documentation Centre – Historical archive Viscose) is hosted in the Park House and is dedicated to a former worker and partisan in the Italian Resistance. The archive collects documents abandoned by the former Snia Viscosa direction after the closure of the firm. It is managed through an assembly that meets weekly, made by activists and inhabitants of the neighbourhood with a special biographic relationship to the plant, some of them have professional skills in the conservation of archives. The archive has an institutional recognition since 2012, when the Regional Directorate for Cultural and Landscape Heritage of Lazio recognised its value.
Inside the park, there is a natural lake, which leaked from the underground water table during work on the construction of a shopping centre in the early 1990s. The emergence of the lake and the consequent arrival of several people and nonhuman species, especially birds, has been an important turning point in the initiative. In a sense, the initiative is a form of creation of multispecies relationships based on the protection of commons, in which a coalition between human and nonhuman actors is made possible with relevant positive consequences.
Everyone in the neighbourhood and abroad can benefit from the initiative. Thanks to the presence of the park, the community centre and the archive Maria Baccante, the place is visited by relatives of former workers who want to reconstruct their family history as well as researchers, students, industrial history enthusiasts, and even by the curious who want to learn more about the city.
How does this initiative engage with climate? Does it tackle mitigation, adaptation, both, or other dimensions of climate change?
The initiative is against soil exploitation by economic powers, the big firms and the political elites. It tries to defend the area as a common good, preserve the park, and have more places where the community can meet. Activists act to safeguard and increase biodiversity, raise among the inhabitants of the neighbourhood awareness of the importance of green areas, the development of a civic sense, and of awareness of collective goods. The initiative also tries to do something out of the waste and ruins of the deindustrialization process, with a practice that overcomes the sense of loss (Elliott, 2018). It opposes the ruination and waste of a post-industrial area, claiming the need of commoning and creating new forms of relationships (Armiero, 2021). It is also an opposition to the abandonment of the stories of the neighbourhood. The polluting plant (the industrial complex used highly toxic chemicals, such as carbon disulphide, to create rayon or artificial silk) has created a toxic and noxious heritage (Feltrin, Mah, and Brown, 2022) that has condemned the neighbourhood and its inhabitants to become a wasted community, out of sight for the most. The initiative permits to overturning this perspective by developing alternative visions for the community and its territory.
Additionally, the initiative has been made possible thanks to the emergence of human-nonhuman alliances, and the sudden and bulky entry of the urban wilderness in the area, starting with the birth of the Bullicante lake.
What are the main objectives? What are the main values?
The main objectives concern the fight against capitalist power, privatization, resistance to overbuilding and the cementation of natural green areas. The activists want to oppose the new capitalist projects that since the Nineties have aimed to make the area at the service of private interests, asking the municipality for the expropriation of that part of the ex-Snia, which is still privately owned. They consider the park a common good that needs to be owned and used by the community without capitalist exploitation or further privatization. In the words of one of the activists: “We want to be the largest re-naturalised post-industrial settlement in Rome”. The main values concern the protection of urban nature, the importance of creating commons to fight against speculation, and the valorisation of the workers’ stories in an area with a polluted and noxious recent past.
What is the timeline? Are there already visible effects?
The initiative’s history is intertwined with the history of the industrial plant and comes from afar. In 1922 the plant was located by the Società Generale Italiana della Viscosa (Italian General Society of Viscose) and started its activity in 1923. The choice of the location is influenced, among other reasons, by the massive presence of water in the area. In 1944 an Allied bombing raid hit the factory, severely damaging it. Despite this episode, the factory resumed operations after the Second World War, but began a considerable decline that led to the loss of labour, from over 1,600 workers in 1949 to only around 120 in 1953. The decline was accompanied by demonstrations: in 1949 there was a 40-day occupation of the factory asking to improve working conditions and wages. The factory closed in 1954. In 1969 the land became part of the Snia Viscosa estate, and by 1982 it was owned by the Società Immobiliare Snia s.r.l.
In 1990 the builder Antonio Pulcini, through the company Ponente 1978, purchased the warehouses and surrounding area (AAVV, 2023). In 1992, he started the construction of a shopping mall. During the excavation for the underground parking, the excavators eroded the Acqua Bullicante aquifer. The building site filled up with water and attempts to pump it away through the sewer system failed. On the contrary, the sewer burst and the water leaked out flooding the entire area of the nearby Largo Preneste. Then the work finally stopped (Archivio Maria Baccante, 2018). In the following years, the water level stabilised and formed a lake. Its extension is about 10,000 square meters and its depth is about 9 meters, with clean and swimmable waters. On 22 May 1992, a regional decree ordered the cancellation of the building permit for Pulcini’s project.
In 1994 the Rome City Council approved the project to turn part of the Snia Viscosa area into a public green area and started the expropriation procedure. In 1995 the former Snia is listed as an area of archaeological interest. The Snia factory is also preserved as industrial archaeology. The same year activists occupied the former warehouses to guard the park that was to be created. On this occasion, the Occupied Social Centre CSOA ex Snia opens (AAVV, 2023).
In the abandoned offices of the former factory, numerous folders with workers’ and employees’ files, drawings, plans, and blueprints of the technical office, and workers’ medical records were found, collected, and safeguarded. In 2012, the Archival Superintendency of Lazio recognised the cultural interest of the archive (Archivio Maria Baccante, 2018). Now these documents, recognised as heritage, are kept in the Park House in the Centro Documentazione Territoriale Maria Baccante – Archivio storico Viscosa, constituted in 2015.
Photo of The Centro Documentazione Territoriale Maria Baccante. Workers’ documents.
Images by Cecilia Pasini
The park opened in 1997 and other areas were expropriated and made public in 2000. In 2007 the Energy Park Committee was created. This is committed to the protection of the existing park and the realisation of a broader park system. The Park Committee will later become part of the Forum. In 2011 the House of the Park and the Forum were born, the municipal administration, the Municipality of Rome VI, various associations, committees, and citizens of the neighbourhood participated in the meetings. In 2011 the WWF Pigneto Prenestino Committee is born. In 2014 a thousand people participating in a demonstration obtained the opening of the gate of the former factory and reached the lake and the public green area. The Rome City Council approved a motion tabled by an ecologist political group, which partly incorporated the demands made by the Forum for the protection of the lake, the completion of the expropriation, and the opening to the public of the area around the lake. In the same period, the Forum submitted a request for protection of the former Snia industrial complex.
In 2018 the activists presented an appeal to the President of the Lazio Region to establish the Natural Monument of the former Snia Lake and in 2019 they asked to enlarge the Natural Monument area. In 2020 the President of the Region established the “Lago ex Snia- Viscosa” Natural Monument and placed it under environmental protection. One part of the ex-Snia is still owned by the Ponente 1978 company which started a project in 2022 with the official aim of “conservative restoration and partial restructuring” (AAVV, 2023). According to the Forum and to the local WWF, the real aim is to establish in the area a logistics hub. In the same year, the Forum asks again to the local and regional authorities to enlarge the perimeter of the ex Snia – Viscosa Lake Natural Monument.
Which limits (institutional, physical, social, etc.) does it encounter?
The main problem of the initiative seems to be the big dimension of the ex-Snia area that is considered by the municipality and by the privates as a field for private investments and economic exploitation. Nowadays different parts of the area have different statuses and different forms of recognition and protection. Even if the institutions, in particular the Lazio Region, have been active in the protection of the lake, some other decisions seem to stretch out towards interests of privatization. Additionally, the strategy of the promoters of the initiative asking for preservation of the natural and archival heritage has been successful, but at the same time makes the possible future of the initiative strictly connected to the political decisions of the institutional actors.
Are any shortcomings or critical points visible? What other problematic issues can arise from its implementation?
The main problem is about the private interests that threaten the stability of the initiative. The majority of the ex-Snia has been expropriated by the municipality, but a part is still privately owned by the Ponente 1978 company that is trying to establish a new economic activity.
Another threat is the condition of the buildings where the Snia had its production, which has been polluted for so many years that would need an evaluation of the ecological condition from a technical point of view.
How would it be potentially replicable in other settings?
The main strength of the initiative is the capability to build relationships inside and outside the neighbourhood. The initiative has been at the core of various academic papers and the activists are available to spread and communicate the initiative with people interested. Additionally, the aims of the initiatives the activists carried out are close to the neighbourhood needs and identity, in particular the closeness between the history of the plant and the history of families and individuals living in Prenestino.
The special occurrence of the human-nonhuman coalition is something particularly linked to the physical characteristics of the area that are difficult to reproduce in other contexts. Anyway, the idea to re-signify a former industrial area, with the appropriation of space and a memory, is something possible for the majority of the abandoned ruins of the industrial era. It can be made also by valorising and protecting the urban wilderness as well as in the ex-Snia.
Another strength of the initiative concerns the multiform knowledge and the different skills that the activists mobilise, even the more technical and scientific ones (Gissara, 2018). Everybody brings their own capabilities and previous experiences to contribute to the common good.
Is this initiative conducive to broader changes (law, institutional arrangements, long-term sustainability or community preparedness, etc.)?
The initiative has been important in the political decision made by the Region since the Nineties to expropriate the ex-Snia area in order to create a Natural Monument, and for the creation in 2015 of the Centro Documentazione Territoriale Maria Baccante – Archivio storico Viscosa within the Park House. This implies that the initiative has been successful in relating with the political elites, negotiating some positive political outputs, while retaining at the same time its antagonistic and alternative role with respect to institutional politics. The process has been a real long-term initiative that is nowadays incorporated into the political, social and economic life of the neighbourhood, and the assembly is still working, asking for the expropriation of the last privately owned part of the former industrial plant. The initiative is widely recognized within Rome, and more broadly in Italy, as a successful initiative to oppose the privatisation and speculation on the industrial heritage, as well as to defend the preservation of nature and green urban spaces.
References
AA.VV. (2023) Il Lago Bullicante Ex-Snia “Lago per Tuttə – Cemento per Nessunə”. Retrieved from https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/38259072ca4d4b2490fa70a3460abe68 [last accessed 10 July 2023].
Armiero, M. (2021). L’era degli scarti. Cronache dal Wasteocene, la discarica globale. Torino: Einaudi.
Centro Documentazione Territoriale Maria Baccante (2013). La fabbrica. Retrieved from https://www.archivioviscosa.org/la-fabbrica/ [last accessed 10 July 2023].
Centro documentazione territoriale Maria Baccante (2018). L’acqua e la carta: il ritrovamento dell’archivio storico Viscosa. Zapruder, 47, 124-127.
Elliott, R. (2018). The Sociology of Climate Change as a Sociology of Loss. European Journal of Sociology / Archives Européennes De Sociologie, 59(3), 301-337.
Feltrin L., Mah A. and Brown D. (2022). Noxious deindustrialization: Experiences of precarity and pollution in Scotland’s petrochemical capital. Politics and Space, 40(4), 950-969.
Gissara, M. (2018). Intorno al lago. La riappropriazione popolare dell’area dell’ex Snia Viscosa a Roma. Tracce Urbane. Rivista Italiana Transdisciplinare Di Studi Urbani, 2(4), 218-236.
Maggioli M. and Tabusi M. (2016). Energie sociali e lotta per i luoghi. Il ‘Lago naturale’ nella zona dell’ex CISA/Snia Viscosa a Roma. Rivista Geografica Italiana, 123(3), 365-382.
Image 1: “Tarlataban – A grassroots gathering full of solidarity” by Alper Can Kılıç. February 2018.
Source: https://tinyurl.com/tarlataban. Image with permission to use by Tarlataban.
Where is this grassroots initiative implemented? Who are the promoters? Who are the
beneficiaries?
Tarlataban community was formed at Boğaziçi University. Boğaziçi University is a state university in Istanbul, Turkey. The university campus is located in Beşiktaş district, Bebek neighbourhood. Tarlataban is the name of the green space where the collective was meeting for urban agriculture activities and discussions on food politics. Tarlataban literally means the field (tarla) at the bottom (taban), referring to the location of the field on the university campus.
Volunteer students and academics started the initiative. They came together and asked for logistic support from the university administration, such as land for urban gardening and necessary tools. Later, people outside the university also joined the community. Those people included students from other universities, activists and ordinary citizens “with an interest in an alternative food system” as one of the earliest volunteers of the community, Mustafa says. The beneficiaries include but are not limited to the community members since Tarlataban’s influence far exceeded campus boundaries.
How does this initiative engage with climate? Does it tackle mitigation, adaptation, both or other dimensions of climate change?
The community contributes to the adaptation to and mitigation of climate change. Tarlataban positions itself within the food sovereignty movement. They embrace ecological farming principles and follow agroecology. Their methods respect the carbon cycle and climate system, and also protect and enhance biodiversity. Çiğdem, another volunteer who put her efforts into the foundation of the community and worked actively for long years, agrees with the community’s positive contribution to climate. She claims the initiative helped reduce GHG emissions by “shortening the production-consumption chain”. Mustafa adds that engaging in farming practices makes people more aware of the effects of their choices on the ecosystems. He also believes that “putting effort for an alternative food supply chain free of exploitation might be one of the many meaningful steps to take against climate change”.
●What are the main objectives? What are the main values?
The community was part of a tripartite structure. The purpose was to establish a holistic food system at the campus, including a gardening community that produces food from the field; a consumer cooperative (BUKOOP – Boğaziçi Members Consumer Cooperative) that works directly with the small-scale local producers in Turkey and Tarlataban community; and a Student Cooperative that would prepare affordable, fair and healthy meals for students using the ingredients produced by Tarlataban and the producers of BUKOOP. Tarlataban strictly used only heirloom seeds and no synthetic chemicals, fertilisers or pesticides. Their ultimate purpose was not to grow food but to establish a model for urban food sovereignty. In Mustafa’s words, they were keen to “initiate and foster a debate about alternative agriculture techniques that might pave the way for a more fair, healthy, exploitation-free and ecologically-friendly food supply chain”.
Image 2: Tarlataban community working together on the field in their first year. May 2012. Source: https://tarlataban.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/2012-05-06-13-04-09.jpg. Image with permission to use by Tarlataban.
What is the timeline? Are there already visible effects?
The idea for a collective agriculture initiative was born after the Starbucks Occupation at the campus towards the end of 2011 (Bostan Hikayeleri, 2017). Students occupied the shop, stating that it was the capital’s occupation of a common area that belonged to the university. They were against the neoliberal occupation of public spaces. They used the term “counter-occupation” for their activism (Kocagöz, 2012). They demanded access to fair, healthy and affordable food within the campus area.
The volunteers established the tripartite structure in 2012 with the help of the university administration. Tarlataban’s first harvest also dates to 2012. Using the products from the field, they cooked meals for students and sold them near the university cafeteria and in the small building called “Baraka” (barrack) the Student Cooperative and BUKOOP used. After the 2013 Gezi Park protests in Istanbul, the city experienced a bloom of solidarity collectives. Many other urban gardening initiatives, food cooperatives and solidarity kitchens were formed. Sometimes, Tarlataban’s harvest was excessive for a limited volunteer group to process; they shared that excess with a migrant solidarity kitchen in the city centre. The big greenhouse in the Tarlataban area was used to produce seedlings from seeds. Tarlataban opened their greenhouse for collective use. They distributed the seedlings to the other collectives in the city, for they lacked such infrastructure. The community experienced several years full of production and solidarity.
Image 3: Inside Tarlataban’s greenhouse. January 2015. Source: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1043789885637807&set=pb.100064517147201.-2207520000.
Image with permission to use by Tarlataban.
After 2015, the government of Turkey significantly increased its pressure on the university. The outsiders’ entries to the campus got restricted. That way, the collective started to lose its active participants. In 2016, the President of Turkey, Erdoğan, ended the democratic rectorate elections and appointed a new rector to the university (“Bogazici Kayyum Tarihcesi”, n.d.). In 2018, the appointed rectorate of the university chained the doors of Tarlataban and made the space inaccessible to the community. This marks the ending of the old Tarlataban.
However, during those years of political turmoil, a new community was formed with the newcomer students. Among them, some had the chance to experience the old place with the founding community members. The new Tarlataban community requested entrance to the locked Tarlataban area to continue gardening activities. The administration didn’t allow them to use the old tarla; instead, showed them another place on campus. Their reasoning was that the old field was a difficult place to control and secure. In 2019, the community got their new tarla, but their seeds and gardening tools in the old place were destroyed (Tarlataban Bogazici, 2019).
The new community has been struggling hard to survive under the despotic top-down rule of the appointed administrators. Student meetings and collaborative work in the campus area are very rare because of the current atmosphere. As a result, gardening activities also freeze. Presently, volunteers stay in contact through social platforms and try to reactivate the community.
Who are the actors involved? What are their backgrounds?
Students who came together for the Starbucks Occupation and the Environmental Club members (a student community) constituted the founding team. They collaborated with supportive academics and communicated their requests to the university administration towards the end of 2011. Campus gardeners helped them with their first seeding in the spring of 2012. The actors diversified in time and included administrative personnel, civil servants, NGO members, activists and urban dwellers. The students came from different fields, such as social sciences, engineering and natural sciences. Most of them were urbanites without experience in agriculture, but some of their families were farmers. Some participants who joined the community outside the university shared their knowledge and experience in traditional and ecological agriculture with the Tarlataban community. During the regular weekend meetings, other initiatives visited Tarlataban. Those visitors include bicycle collectives, feminist groups, volunteers of other urban gardening collectives, musicians, journalists, documentarists, and researchers.
Which limits does it encounter?
In Tarlataban’s establishment period, Boğaziçi University had a free and democratic atmosphere compared to its recent years. The administration was supportive of student activities. The university was open to the public. People could come and join student activities on campus. For maintaining the garden work, this was important. Because, for example, in summer terms students were mostly absent, and participants coming outside did the necessary work such as irrigation. From time to time, these seasonal difficulties and the voluntary structure of the initiative were experienced as limitations by the community. However, it was a lively space that attracted people. Participants coming outside took active roles and contributed a lot. That way, the collective labour and solidarity over this urban garden continued for years.
However, a more serious limitation for Tarlataban was Turkey’s political direction towards authoritarianism. In the 2015-2016 period, Turkey experienced a series of bomb attacks and a coup attempt that failed. Security concerns were the most prominent issue on the country’s agenda. Boğaziçi University also had its share of this situation. In 2016, Erdoğan appointed the university’s rector himself, not recognising the result of the democratic rectorate election held within the university. The new university administration first wanted the Tarlataban community to provide a list of visitors coming outside of the campus, then restricted the entrance of outsiders, then put a chain to the doors of the community garden and fired the community out of their space completely in 2018. This process corresponds to the fast anti-democratisation of Turkey.
In the following years, President Erdoğan continued to appoint administrators to many universities, including Boğaziçi. Some opposing academic and administrative staff were dismissed and banned from the university. Waves of arrests targeted the academics and students, the university campus got terrorised by the police force. This caused the forced distancing of the students from the university. When it comes to Tarlataban, some of its volunteers were imprisoned, and some were banned by the rectorate because they attended the protests on campus. Thus, in those years and at the present time, the biggest limitation for Tarlataban initiative is the autocratic rule both in the country and in the university.
Image 4: Photo taken by Behram Evlice. The police handcuffed Boğaziçi University’s gate. January 2021.
Source: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Eq6aDc4XIAEDXqF?format=jpg&name=large.
Are any shortcomings or critical points visible? What other problematic
issues can arise from its implementation?
The community’s voluntary structure comes with its shortcomings regarding the maintenance of the garden work. Because the initiative was located on the university campus, holidays were hard times for people concerned about the organisation of the work. Summertimes were even more challenging, for plants needed care and irrigation when students were not around.
Another shortcoming is the scale of the initiative. The debates over food and agriculture, the activism of the community members and the agricultural production of Tarlataban were limited in scale. Its capacity was not big enough to provide fair, ecological and affordable food for the whole university. In the end, the community wanted to establish a model. Turning this model into a widespread application requires the collaboration of institutions with greater means. Civil initiatives put their efforts into multiplying such collectives throughout the city. But if the governmental bodies do not support people and even discourage them, such implementations become problematic.
Another difficulty regarding the wide-scale implementation of this model is the neoliberal-capitalist economic frame that shapes markets and agricultural activity. The rules of the game that favours commercial industry giants pose serious challenges for these small-scale initiatives to transform the food system and become significant actors.
How would it be potentially replicable in other settings?
Boğaziçi community’s food sovereignty model is applicable in other university settings that support such ideas. Suppose the campus has an area that can be used for gardening activities and there are volunteers to maintain the activities. With some equipment, an initiative could easily be established.
The Tarlataban model can be modified and adapted for the local districts as well. Indeed, after the Gezi Park protests in Istanbul in 2013, this kind of solidarity movements spread throughout the city. Many other urban gardening communities and food cooperatives were formed with the assistance of the Boğaziçi experience. Some local governments provided land for community gardening and small stores for cooperative initiatives. Since these practices are alternatives to commercial businesses, having commons is important for people to come together, design and test their alternative systems. Even if the governmental bodies do not provide support, people search and find solutions to realise their utopias. However, the Tarlataban example shows that a minimum condition is necessary: the administrators and governments should not be afraid of the potential of collectives and do not prevent them from dreaming and acting together.
Is this initiative conducive to broader changes?
Tarlataban mentally transformed and prepared its participants regarding the ecological crises, including the climate, biodiversity and food crises. Many volunteers later focused on environmental issues in their academic studies and worked for environmental NGOs. The initiative could have continued contributing to the sustainability of student life by providing ecological and affordable food. Currently, there is a severe inflation crisis in Turkey; the prices rise so fast. As a result, the quality and quantity of the food sold in the campus area decreased. Students suffer from the economic crisis greatly. If not prevented, such a holistic structure could have reduced the economic stress on students. Experiencing solidarity and community spirit would also contribute to people’s mental well-being in these hard times.
Such initiatives are also good examples for governmental bodies. Their practices can assist local governments regarding environmental and climate policy designs. Indeed, recently, Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality was reorganising a municipal park near the university and invited the Tarlataban community for collaboration. Tarlataban will survive and remind us even in the middle of a megacity like Istanbul, on a university campus, food sovereignty practices are possible and can be transformative.
References
Bogazici Kayyum Tarihcesi. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://bogazicikayyumtarihcesi.com/#/76C592CE
Bostan Hikayeleri. (2017, November 2). Tarlataban. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuFoY7rUVAg
Kocagöz, U. (2012, February). Karşı İşgal Deneyimi: Neo-Liberalizm ve Kamusal (Birikim). Retrieved from http://starbuckssenligi.blogspot.com/2012/02/kars-isgal-deneyimi-neo-liberalizm-ve.html
Tarlataban Bogazici. (2019, July 15). Tarla’dan Tekrar Merhaba. Retrieved from https://tarlataban.home.blog/2019/07/15/example-post/
By Sormani Daniele
After two days it* left the lair. The storm had passed. Its signs were evident everywhere: the barren ground soaked, almost muddy; traces of hail on the ground; rivulets of water running down the hill. The damage was not extensive, on the contrary: the land was no longer suffering the effects of the torrential half-yearly rains, nor wasting the great resource they constituted.
The woods were bright green, the colours brought to life by the rain. They had reclaimed the mountainsides, tree by tree, tempering the searing heat that now reigned for so many months of the year.
The rivers had taken back what had been taken from them by force: so many decades of human neglect and maintenance, coupled with the exceptional weather events that had now occurred almost two centuries ago, had caused the rivers to destroy those human-made riverbanks that were too narrow for them. The course of the rivers had changed over the decades, partly renaturalised, but not completely. The Adige no longer flowed through the centre of the city. The Fersina no longer flowed straight down, instead sweeping across the plain into the areas where human animals had once slept. Now these dwellings had become the homes of other species: as the forest advanced, birds came to nest, taking advantage of the presence of the watercourse, fish wallowed in the water, preyed upon by some mammals and birds. Some animals used the ruins of human houses for their dens, while others kept their distance as if fearing the sudden return of their now-extinct owners.
After this quick reconnaissance, it* headed for some foods, preferably some nuts, or some of the little fruit that still managed to grow in August, rigorously in the shade of the mountain. It* took the way for what the human animals once called GITAV. As it* walked, it* looked around, saw the mountains reinvigorated by the forests that had taken over the slopes that human animals had once torn up with ski lifts, a kind of transport based on metal rope that connected large bare trees; it* saw other non-human animals adapted to that torrid climate grunting in the woods, fluttering in the treetops, living their lives, unaware and perhaps consciously ignoring how much the human one had been canceled, along all the other species that had not made it.
The absence of human animals had changed the balance of species: with their disappearance, the cows, pigs, and chickens that had been kept in cages for so many millennia had dwindled to the point of near extinction, partly due to their now genetic weakness and inability to forage for food. Over the decades, those that remained had re-acclimated themselves to the forests, grasslands, mountains and hills, and by now had integrated with the other herbivores. The goats were the first to regain their stolen freedom.
In their place, the more hidden and less meek species had reclaimed their space. The woods were teeming with deer, chamois, and fawns; the riverbanks with beavers and marmots; the burrows of moles could be seen; not to mention the insects, reptiles, amphibians, and birds. Carnivores were beginning to return in large numbers after two centuries of slow repopulation.
They said that in the last decades the major effects of the Little Warm Age were easing, giving some respite to an exhausted Earth. But it* looked around, its eyes on the forests and non-human animals, and wondered who and what was exhausted: the Earth, or human rule over it?
The road to GITAV meandered around the river, then broke off and climbed slightly, then steepened in the last part. In that part of the valley, the beating sun could not penetrate the vegetation, and in the undergrowth there were berries and greedy acorns; where there had once been vineyards, there were now firs and larches, while the fruit trees had remained and even multiplied, given the influx of animals that had gone in search of food and, without perhaps knowing it, had scattered seeds.
GITAV was one of its* favourite places to forage. Collective memory said it had been created by humans two centuries before. The human animal had dug it out with ‘machines’, non-living creatures he controlled at will, made of those strange inedible stones. It had hollowed out one side of the mountain east of Trent, destroying the homes of many non-human animals and even a few humans, sweeping away the trees and undergrowth.
It was said that the idea was to create a kind of path inside the mountain, through which they would pass another machine, different from the others, in which they would put food and other things that humans used. This never happened. They had started, yes, but then more or less left it at a third, caught off guard by the onset of the Little Warm Age. With its arrival, heavy rains had destroyed the banks of the valley’s rivers and flooded the entire plain. The mountains stripped of trees had failed to hold, and landslides had added to the chaos. The human animal had abandoned the valley after a few years of resistance, finding it too difficult a habitat in which to live. Many other species had come to the same conclusion, including chamois, goats, and bears, followed later by wolves.
Wherever we stopped, it was incredible to hear the discrepancy: first of all, silence. It was said that in the time of the human animal, the most prevalent noise was that of its machines and tools. Now, however, silence could be heard. But as soon as one’s ears got used to it, one realised that it was not silence, but a very wide range of many different sounds, noises, and sounds. The sound of water from rivers and streams, the rustling of leaves, the breaking of twigs in the undergrowth as an animal passed by. And then the grunts, groans, moans, snorts, burps, cries, howls. A cacophony of sounds that together created an incredible harmony. And all this in the light of day, or rather to the ears of those who wanted to listen, who had previously been absorbed and dazed by a multitude of negative, dangerous, frightening, and intrusive auditory stimuli. Which was more or less the same way one remembered humans.
When humans fled, they left all their traces behind. Over time, we reclaimed their impermeable paths: mushrooms were the first to penetrate them with their spores, followed by perennial weeds and then, decades later, by scrubland.
The human dams, very different from those of the beavers, were destroyed by algae and rain, and the streams reclaimed their riverbeds. The quarries, on the other hand, remained as an eternal reminder of the wounds left by the human animal.
Back in GITAV, with their exodus, this path was left unfinished. According to the original plan, the water springs from the mountain would have been plugged once and for all. Over time, however, they had eroded the rock and entered this horizontal hole. The cave that was created was therefore full of water, and as the sun shone on it for many hours, a very strong humidity was created at the entrance, which was then diluted further inland. Plants grew in this habitat that could not grow outside because of the heat. In addition, most animals were afraid to enter the cave because of the high humidity. There was always an abundance of berries and wild fruits and great peace.
Had it not been for the sisterhood of the species, it* would probably have made its* lair there. It* would spend hours there eating, lying down and resting, never leaving. It* would arrive early in the morning, at first light, before the humidity could become too enveloping, and it* would not leave until the sky had turned orange, perhaps streaked with pink or violet. At that point, it* would roll in the grass, scratch itself* against the logs, smell all the essences that had changed since morning. It* runs, it* eats, it* urinates, it* grunts, it* growls. Then it* would slowly make its* way back to his den, to its* own kind, safe from predators.
In the silence of the cave it* had time to think, to let its* imagination run wild, to create futures, pasts, and presents. It* wondered what had become of the human animal. Had it become extinct like so many other species of animals and plants? Had it survived? Where did it live and how did it live?
When it had left the valley, the human animal had gone north, away from this increasingly tropical, increasingly dry and hot climate. At first, it was said, it had climbed higher, aided and abetted by the climate that made the Highlands more habitable, but soon it was gone, unable to live in so small a space and so impervious, used to having the world at its yoke.
Who knows what the North was like, what the climate was like, what the different species were like. Who knows what the North was like 200 years ago, or a few decades later, when the human animal went there in search of a future. Who knows what that future was like.
Who knows what the human animal was like two hundred years ago and now, if it still exists. It was said that it was a predator. The worst of all predators: they said it was predatory even towards its own kind, its peers, its equals. Who knows if it had changed. Who knows if it still lived on violence and pain, or if the collective pain had bent it, transformed it, mutated it. Who knows what interests the human animal had? Who knows if a human animal of today would be like a human animal of two hundred years ago and would want to turn its* cave into a path, or if it would want it to become its cave instead.
These thoughts and reflections were its* own; it* shared them with no one else. Leaving the cave and returning home, it* made no mention of them. Its* secret never revealed, its* treasure not shared.
Next day, same life.
By Stefanie Naoun
Screenshots taken from Ruge el bosque’s website. The artwork was designed by Clarisa Chervin, with permission to use the images by Dr. Valeria Meiller
Ecoteca is an experimental podcast recorded in Spanish available in Spotify. It seeks to preserve landscapes from the Southern Cone. The name derivates from the words eco and thèque. It is an archive of environmental degradation stories fighting to preserve the climatic, linguistic, and political ecosystems of Abya Yala/Afro/Latin America; all terms alluding to the same ground. Abya Yala refers to the New World in the indigenous language of Guna. These guided listening sessions are accompanied by sonic reverberations, ecopoetry, and city movements. The second episode focuses strictly on sacrifice zones in the locality of Quintero and Puchuncaví, Chile. The National Institutes of Health defines these sites as “hot spots of chemical pollution where residents live immediately adjacent to heavily polluted industries”. In other words, places where the community’s wellbeing is unjustly sacrificed purely for economic growth approved by the government in a disproportionate manner. These locals are frequently people of color and belong to lower socioeconomic statuses; demonstrating that capitalism’s inequalities affect racialized and marginalized communities. In 2018, a state of sanitary emergency was declared in Quintero and Puchuncaví due to the formation of a toxic yellow cloud arising from the industrial park. It contained substances such as methyl chloroform, toluene, and nitrobenzene, leaving more than a thousand inhabitants affected (Peña, 2019). Ecoteca’s episode braids together a script that delves into the manifold problems raised in the sacrificial zones of the Southern Cone by interlacing political ecologies with the work of three poets, Carlos Soto Román, Victoria Cóccaro, and Ana Gayoso with the percussionist Federico Orio, specifically commissioned for the episode. Ecoteca recognizes that environmental degradation is irreversible. However, it spreads awareness about climate change while visualizing cruel capitalist practices. Episode two lasts nearly 25 minutes; it is concise and persuasive.
Photograph taken by Anita Peña Saavedra (2019)
The image above shows the CODELCO (Corporación Nacional del Cobre de Chile) Ventana complex in Quintero-Puchuncaví, which is currently the largest power plant in Chile. It is a coal-fired electrical generating station that has erased nature’s color in the area and painted it literally and metaphorically gray. CODELCO focuses on copper mining while its Ventana complex ventures into thermoelectric power generation. The Quintero-Puchuncaví area has been the subject of environmental concerns due to these activities, leading to air pollution and contamination. However, this is not the only industrial facility threatening the bay. There are oil refineries, chemical plants, and ports. Its designation as a sacrifice zone reflects that the interest of economic development has taken precedence over the wellbeing of living and nonliving entities.
Where is this grassroots initiative implemented? Who are the promoters? Who are the
beneficiaries?
Ecoteca is a subdivision of Ruge el bosque, an anthology series combining literature and ecology. The poems shared in the second episode belong to volume 1. The initiative’s main promoters are the Latin American Studies Association (LASA) and the University of Texas in San Antonio (UTSA). Ruge el bosque received the 2022 Ford-LASA Special Projects grant and UTSA’s INTRA 2023 research grant. The project director is Valeria Meiller, who is additionally part of the editing team. Whitney DeVos and Javiera Pérez Salerno are co-editors. However, the project has more collaborators such as graphic designer Clarisa Chervin and Celeste Precioso who is in charge of sound design. Frederico Durand is the podcast’s musician and creates minimalistic melodies. Analía Iglesias has created collages and Sofía Stel is the website’s proofreader. All individuals involved have written an ecobiography that can be found on the website explaining their proximity to nature and interests regarding environmental humanities. The podcast initiates dialogues among activist groups, artists, and institutions while acting as a grassroot scheme to avoid the erasure of biomes. Its founders believe climatic urgency requires a combination of strategies: ethos, pathos, and logos. The crisis requires the unity and action of all global citizens, in whichever manifestation possible, including the artistic field. Ecoteca is a subsection of Ruge el bosque seeking to initiate transnational and intercultural conversations about the role of Latin American literature in the context of the current climate crisis.
How does this initiative engage with climate? Does it tackle mitigation,
adaptation, both or other dimensions of climate change?
Ecoteca engages with climate by opposing the destruction of habitats and linguistic extinction. It strives for the harmonious kinship between humans, animals, territories, and nonliving entities.
This project aspires to reach diverse audiences; to call attention to the intersectional issues of the current ecological crisis from the power of poetry. It tackles both, the mitigation and adaptation dimensions of climate change from an indirect stance. It criticizes anthropocentric practices. In particular, extractive industries such as thermoelectric plants causing permanent and corrosive impacts on landscape, putting everything and everyone at risk. Ecoteca understands that these industries will not cease to exist. However, it desires the implementation of controlled practices; the problem is not necessarily the Anthropocene, and rather Moore’s idea of the Capitalocene. As for the mitigation part, by critiquing thermoelectric plants in the previously mentioned sacrificial zone, it promotes the transition to renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, hydro, and geothermal power; hopefully reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Ecoteca’s implicit and explicit outcomes also include sustainable land use. In line with the adaptation element, the podcast (not limited to second episode) hopes for water management strategies, agricultural adaptation, and mainly, ecosystem conservation and restoration. This second episode explains how sacrifice zones disrupt communities, lead to environmental injustice, addresses its health impacts, talks about the economic dependance on polluting industries, and offers a voice for the residents of Quintero-Puchincaví and the environment.
What are the main objectives? What are the main values?
Its main objectives are to promote respect for the environment and lend it a voice for causes and communities that go unheard. Its central values are:
What is the timeline? Are there already visible effects?
There will be a total of eight episodes. Ecoteca’s first episode aired on April 13, 2023 while the second one came out on May 17. The release date for other episodes is still unknown. However, they will follow a similar pattern to the previous two. It can be speculated that a different episode will be released every month. Among its visible effects are reaching multiple Latin American individuals and spreading awareness about sacrifice zones in the bay of Quintero and Puchuncaví, Chile. The podcast is advertised on Ruge el bosque’s social media platforms (Instagram and Twitter) and it is available on Spotify. Every time an episode comes out, the link is shared on social media along with a post.
Which limits and shortcomings does it encounter?
Ecoteca and Ruge el bosque have limited funding and depend on their director to constantly apply for grants. Being realistic, they are not guaranteed to receive support. However, regardless of this shortcoming, the team is still willing to allocate time for researching more financial opportunities. Another limitation is that it is currently only available in Spanish. Although Spanish is among the world’s top five languages in terms of number of speakers and geographic extension, the lingua franca is still English. If this project could be translated, the audience reached would be much broader. However, the main shortcoming is that translating poetry turns into a difficult task. Rhymes, if any, tend to be lost along with puns or clever literary devices. The podcast should be kept as faithful as the original as possible.
How would it be potentially replicable in other settings?
This podcast can easily be replicated in other regions. A climate issue in a city must be identified. In the case of Ecoteca, it follows the following structure:
Each episode targets a different city from the Southern Cone; a geographical subregion of South America typically covering Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay. In Spotify, there is a distinct graphic piece per episode, along with a description of the content, poets’ names, and a brief acknowledgements section. The podcast scripts must consist of an introduction, at least 3 poems relating to the issue, the author’s implications to the climate crisis, background music, and credits. Interviewing citizens living in the affected area and including their statements can also be beneficial. There is plenty of artistic freedom when it comes to a project like this. What is most important is devoting plenty of time to contact potential participants, selecting the appropriate content, researching, and setting the agenda. There are many tasks involved when it comes to creating a podcast. The team must be communicative, respectful, responsive, and most importantly, passionate about the crisis. Each poet is asked to read their selected materials and it can be recorded asynchronously. I invite all Spanish speakers to visit the website and listen to it. The creation of a similar podcast must require a pre-production phase, episode preparation, recording, editing and postproduction, revision, and promotion. Applying to grants, fellowships, and securing partnerships are important steps in the replication of the project.
Is this initiative conducive to broader changes?
This podcast initiative can be conducive to broader changes in multiple ways. First, it can raise awareness by educating listeners about environmental threats while presenting well-researched and compelling information such as deforestation, habitat loss, extinction, and so on in specific areas of the Southern Cone. Secondly, the podcast can inspire listeners to take individual or collective actions. By showcasing these heartbreaking stories, environmental conservation, sustainability, and positive change can emerge as a result. Listeners can be motivated to adopt environmentally friendly practices, spread information, and support relevant organizations. Podcasts can play an influential role when it comes to policy advocacy. Perhaps, it can contribute to public discourse with audiences eager to propose new ideas and debate existing policies to prioritize environmental protection, sustainability, and improve quality of life. Policy makers could even listen to the podcast. Overall, it can be concluded that Ecoteca can reach wide audiences, raise awareness, educate, inspire action, facilitate dialogue, and mobilize individuals. Ecoteca seeks to underscore how the region’s poetic production shapes emerging politics, demonstrating that poetry can work as a way of preserving endangered ecosystems and even languages. Nature is constantly speaking; it is simply that we fail to hear it. That is why the podcast acts as a mediator or dare I say, interpreter. It is impossible to avoid anthropocentric discourse. However, the podcast would like to imagine that if nature could talk, it would verbalize its state and needs, even though it already does through climate change. Nature is the voice of the Earth and is hurting because its ecosystems are being disrupted.
References
Lerner, S. (2010). “Sacrifice Zones: The Front Lines of Toxic Chemical Exposure in the United States.” The National Institutes of Health. Accessed on May 20, 2023.
Peña, A. (2019). “Historic victory for citizens of Chile’s ‘sacrifice zone’.” OpenDemocracy.
Accessed on June 2, 2023.
By Anyi Viviana Castelblanco Montañez
Cambium association
This entry is written by a member of the CAMBIUM association.
The Spanish version is below.
Where is the grassroots initiative implemented?
The Chiguaza urban garden and environmental classroom is located in Colombia, more specifically in the city of Bogota, in the Miraflores neighborhood. Its promoters are the CAMBIUM Association, of which I am a member. This is a collective project to build a more harmonious relationship with nature.
Who are the promoters?
The CAMBIUM Association (whose acronym in English is Climate, Environment, Research-action Uniting Worlds); is a civil society organization formed in Colombia by professionals and activists who are aware of the urgency to achieve profound changes in the ways of inhabiting the world. Members of CAMBIUM are united by a common interest in researching, training, and trying to influence public opinion on issues related to climate change, mitigation and adaptation. The association believes that local knowledge is crucial to foster this radical change.
Our objective is to directly and indirectly influence decisions regarding climate change. The association tries to achieve this goal especially through knowledge production and dissemination, working with citizens’ science and local knowledge. CAMBIUM explores global and local strategies of adaptation to climate change and transformation of society and nature relations, adopting a gender approach and an intersectional perspective.
The beginning of the urban garden. Photo by Anyi Castelblanco
Who are the beneficiaries?
In the midst of this dream, we wanted to build our environmental classroom, not only to reflect on the climate crisis, but also to generate actions that would allow us to contribute and transform our relationship with nature. To that extent, the benefit is for the community around the environmental classroom, which ceased to be “the neighborhood garbage dump” to become a green lung in the middle of the city. At the same time, universities and high schools’ students do their internships in this scenario, where in addition to learning about the current climate crisis, they work hand in hand with CAMBIUM to cultivate, compost and recover the soil.
How does this initiative engage with climate? Does it tackle mitigation, adaptation, both or other dimensions of climate change?
This is an Action Research initiative that combines research and reflection with concrete actions aiming to transform our relationship with nature, thus mitigating and adapting to the current crisis.
What are the main objectives? What are the main values?
CAMBIUM aims to recover the peasant practices of the inhabitants of the neighborhood as a way to nurture and build the community, by rescuing its memory and defending the environmental heritage of the eastern hills of a city with its mountains and water.
What is the timeline? Are there already visible effects?
At first, this environmental classroom began virtually. We began to exchange knowledge with a group of students from the Minuto de Dios’ University in 2021, Later, the opportunity arose to find a space to build our environmental classroom. This was in Miraflores, a neighborhood that grew in the context of armed violence in the country, which displaced millions of peasants, and has deepened the growing social inequality. Faced with these difficulties, many people began to inhabit the eastern hills and spread out into the high Andean jungle. Miraflores is an example of the displacement and concentration of land in a country that, according to Oxfam (2017), is the second most unequal in the world.
The research-action in process. Photo by Liza Gaitán
That place, although full of garbage, has allowed us to dream of many possibilities to learn and teach what we know. Started in 2022, our urban garden remains a pedagogical tool to talk about environmental problems and begin to transform our perspectives about the territory. While developing our initiative, we have built a close and friendly relationship with people living in the area collaborating with nearby urban gardens.
Which limits does it encounter? Are any shortcomings or critical points visible? What other problematic issues can arise from its implementation?
But we have also had difficulties. The first one was to stop conceiving the place as a garbage dump. To change the common perspective on this place, we organized collective walks aiming to uncover the history of the place and rethink our connections with it.
We continue working and transforming. Photo by Anyi Castelblanco
We have then organized walking tours with young people from different parts of Bogota to know the stories of the place, recognize the plants, understand its connections to the rest of the city, and discover the water streams that run through it. In 2023 we have organized tours through the mountains of the city, understanding the connections with the moors that surround the city and allow us to have access to clean water.
The walks allowed us to understand that we are surrounded by water and we are part of the Chiguaza river basin, hence we decided to give this name to our space. The Chiguaza water stream is part of the indigenous worldview of the city, where the waters are sacred and hide the magical stories and adventures of the Muyscas divinities. According to Rincon and Urrutia (2019), Chiguaza was born on the hill of Zuque, in the Páramo. 69 years ago, it was still an immense stream.
Chiguaza is an indigenous word that means “wave moon”. Our ancestors gave this name referring to the shadow of the moon on this river. In the Indigenous culture, the Muyscas divinities sent two beautiful girls to the mountains of the Southeast. One became the Chiguaza water stream and the other the Agua Azul water stream. The rainbow began to visit them frequently and delighted with their beauty began to speak with other divinities about them. The Zuque, one of the deities, heard about them and asked the rainbow if he could meet them.
In this way Zuque and Chiguaza met and fell in love. And in this way, a water stream was born. Likewise, Rainbow and Agua Azul fell in love too. However, the Muyscas divinities found out and punished the rainbow by exiling him . That’s the reason why the rainbow wanders the world looking for his beloved Agua Azul from river to river. In other wise, Zuque and Chiguaza were allowed to be together with the task to take care of the water stream. Since then the two water streams run parallel and in the middle of them is a small body of water and our urban garden.
How would it be potentially replicable in other settings? Is this initiative conducive to broader changes?
These initiatives can be replicated in various urban settings, anywhere in the world. This initiative allows us to understand four fundamental issues: 1. The importance of soil for life; 2. The need to be more aware of our waste and the impacts of garbage on our land and water; 3. The hard work involved in food production; 4. Urban agriculture as a real alternative to adapt and mitigate the climate crisis.
Although our dream still has a long way to go, I consider that the collective effort reveals radical transformations in the territories. Feeling and contemplating the land, our relationship with waste, composting, caring for other living beings that nourish us, witnessing the greening of a space once filled with debris, learning to nurture and see other beings grow, and noticing the increasing presence of pollinators – all of these elements allow us to understand that utopia and dreams slowly can become reality by building and uniting other worlds.
We continue working and transforming. Photo by Anyi Castelblanco
Bibliography
OXFAM (2017) Radiografía de la desigualdad. Lo que nos dice el último censo agropecuario sobre la distribución de tierra en Colombia. https://oi-files-d8-prod.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/file_attachments/radiografia_de_la_desigualdad.pdf
Rincón, C. and Urrutia, H. (2019) Mito de la Chiguaza: https://www.facebook.com/escuelitaKimy/posts/mito-de-la-chiguaza/711499029350380/?locale=es_LA
Nuestra aula ambiental: La huerta urbana Chiguaza
Anyi Viviana Castelblanco Montañez
Asociación Cambium
Esta entrada fue escrita por una integrante de la Asociación Cambium.
¿Dónde se implementa esta iniciativa?
La huerta urbana y aula ambiental Chiguaza se encuentra en Colombia, específicamente en la ciudad de Bogotá, en el barrio Miraflores. Sus promotores son la Asociación CAMBIUM, de la cual soy miembro. Este es un proyecto colectivo para construir una relación más armoniosa con la naturaleza.
¿Quiénes son los promotores?
La Asociación CAMBIUM (Clima, Ambiente, Investigación-Acción Uniendo Mundos) es una organización de la sociedad civil formada en Colombia, compuesta por varios profesionales y activistas, que nos ha permitido tomar conciencia de la urgencia de transformar nuestra relación con la naturaleza en nuestra sociedad, lo cual exige lograr cambios profundos en las formas de habitar el mundo. En CAMBIUM nos unimos por nuestro interés en investigar, formar e influir, a través de la acción y el rescate y fortalecimiento del conocimiento local, en temas relacionados con el cambio climático, la mitigación y la adaptación. Nuestro objetivo es influir directa e indirectamente en los procesos llevados a cabo por la sociedad civil y los tomadores de decisiones relacionados con el cambio climático y su relación con el ambiente y la sociedad; a través de la formación ciudadana, el reconocimiento del conocimiento local y técnico, el diseño, la documentación y la investigación sobre estrategias globales y locales con especial énfasis en la adaptación al cambio climático y la transformación de las relaciones entre la sociedad y la naturaleza, todo con un enfoque de género y una visión interseccional.
El comienzo de la huerta urbana. Foto de Anyi Castelblanco
¿Quiénes son los beneficiarios?
En medio de este sueño, quisimos construir nuestro aula ambiental, no solo para reflexionar sobre la crisis climática, sino también para generar acciones que nos permitan contribuir y transformar nuestra relación con la naturaleza. En ese sentido, el beneficio es para la comunidad que rodea el aula ambiental, que dejó de ser “el basurero del barrio” para convertirse en un pulmón verde en medio de la ciudad. Al mismo tiempo, estudiantes universitarios y de secundaria hacen sus prácticas en este escenario, donde además de aprender sobre la crisis climática actual, trabajan codo a codo con CAMBIUM para cultivar, compostar y recuperar el suelo.
¿Cómo se relaciona esta iniciativa con el clima? ¿Aborda la mitigación, la adaptación, ambas u otras dimensiones del cambio climático? ¿Cuáles son los principales objetivos? ¿Cuáles son los principales valores?
Este sueño, que se hace cada vez más real, nos permitió construir nuestro aula ambiental. Con el propósito de investigar, reflexionar y generar acciones que nos permitan contribuir y transformar nuestra relación con la naturaleza, y así poder mitigar y adaptarnos a la crisis actual. La investigación-acción es parte de nuestro proyecto, por lo que no solo hablamos de agroecología, sino que al mismo tiempo la aplicamos en nuestro entorno urbano. Por lo tanto, este escenario nos permite recuperar las prácticas campesinas de los habitantes del barrio, nutrir y construir una memoria comunitaria y defender el patrimonio ambiental de los cerros orientales de una ciudad que tiene la suerte de estar rodeada de montañas y agua.
¿Cuál es la línea de tiempo? ¿Hay efectos visibles?
Inicialmente, este aula ambiental comenzó de forma virtual. Comenzamos a intercambiar conocimientos con un grupo de estudiantes de la Universidad Minuto de Dios en 2021; sin embargo, surgió la oportunidad de encontrar un espacio para construir nuestro aula ambiental. Esto fue en Miraflores, un barrio que creció en el contexto de la violencia armada en el país, que desplazó a millones de campesinos y ha profundizado la creciente desigualdad social. Frente a estas dificultades, muchas personas comenzaron a habitar los cerros orientales y a extenderse hacia la selva altoandina. Miraflores es un ejemplo del desplazamiento y concentración de tierras en un país que, según Oxfam (2017), es el segundo más desigual del mundo.
En ese lugar, aunque lleno de basura, nos ha permitido soñar con muchas posibilidades de aprender y enseñar lo que sabemos. Nuestro huerto urbano comenzó en 2022 y sigue siendo una estrategia pedagógica para hablar de problemas ambientales y comenzar a transformar nuestra perspectiva del territorio. Por eso, hemos hecho amistades e intercambiado conocimientos con un proceso de afecto; comenzamos a crear relaciones con huertos urbanos cercanos, donde trabajamos juntas para apoyarnos mutuamente y crecer juntas.
¿Qué límites encuentra? ¿Se ven deficiencias o puntos críticos? ¿Qué otras cuestiones problemáticas pueden surgir de su implementación?
Pero también hemos tenido dificultades. La primera fue dejar de concebir un lugar como un vertedero de basura, lo que nos llevó a generar conciencia en la comunidad a través de recorridos de reconocimiento de la historia del lugar que habitamos, pero también de la conexión con él.
Aunque aún debemos seguir trabajando en el barrio, hemos recorrido con jóvenes de diferentes partes de Bogotá para reconocer las historias, las plantas, las formas en que llegamos al barrio y conocer las quebradas de agua que lo atraviesan. En 2023 hemos realizado recorridos por las montañas, comprendiendo la conexión de los páramos que rodean la ciudad y nos permiten tener acceso a agua limpia.
La investigación-acción en proceso. Foto de Liza Gaitán
Continuamos trabajando y transformándonos. Foto de Anyi Castelblanco
Los recorridos nos permitieron entender que estamos rodeados de agua y que somos parte de la cuenca del río Chiguaza, por eso decidimos poner ese nombre a nuestro espacio. El arroyo Chiguaza forma parte de la cosmovisión indígena de la ciudad, donde las aguas son sagradas y esconden historias mágicas y aventuras de las divinidades Muyscas. Según Rincón y Urrutia (2019), Chiguaza nace en la colina de Zuque, en el páramo. Hace 69 años, todavía era una quebrada inmensa, donde se consumía agua.
Chiguaza es una palabra indígena que significa “luna ondulante”; fue bautizado por nuestros antepasados, producto de la reflexión producida por la luna sobre sus aguas a lo largo de su recorrido. Cuenta una historia de amor, donde las divinidades Muyscas enviaron a dos hermosas chicas a las montañas del sureste. Una se convirtió en la quebrada Chiguaza y la otra en la quebrada Agua Azul. El arco iris comenzó a visitarlos con frecuencia y, deleitado con su belleza, comenzó a hablar de ellas con otras divinidades. Zuque se enteró de ellas y le pidió al arco iris que le permitiera conocerlas.
De esta manera, Zuque y Chiguaza se conocieron y se enamoraron. Y así nació una quebrada. De la misma manera, el arco iris y Agua Azul comenzaron un amor. Sin embargo, las divinidades Muyscas se enteraron y castigaron al arco iris separándolo de su amada Agua Azul, quien fue condenada al exilio. Es por eso que el arco iris deambula por el mundo buscando a su amada Agua Azul de río en río. En cambio, a Zuque y Chiguaza se les permitió estar juntos con el propósito de cuidar la quebrada, desde entonces lss dos quebradas corren en paralelo y en medio de ellos hay un pequeño cuerpo de agua y nuestro huerto urbano.
¿Cómo sería potencialmente replicable en otros entornos? ¿Esta iniciativa conduce a cambios más amplios?
A partir de esta historia mágica de sueños y transformación con nuestro entorno, junto con los cambios que ha generado tanto en el territorio como en nuestra mentalidad y relación con la tierra, creo que estas iniciativas deberían replicarse en diversos entornos urbanos alrededor del mundo. Esto se debe a que nos permite comprender cuatro aspectos fundamentales: 1. La importancia del suelo para la vida; 2. La necesidad de ser más conscientes sobre nuestros residuos y los impactos de la basura en nuestra tierra y agua; 3. El arduo trabajo que implica la producción de alimentos; 4. La agricultura urbana como una alternativa real para adaptarnos y mitigar la crisis climática.
Aunque nuestro sueño aún tiene un largo camino por recorrer y requiere de un mayor trabajo comunitario para consolidarse, considero que, a pesar del tiempo limitado, el esfuerzo colectivo revela transformaciones radicales en los territorios. Sentir y reflexionar sobre la tierra, nuestra relación con los desechos, el compostaje, el cuidado de otras formas de vida que nos alimentan, presenciar el reverdecimiento de un espacio antes lleno de escombros, aprender a cuidar y ver crecer a otros seres, y observar cómo llegan cada vez más polinizadores; todo esto nos ayuda a comprender que la utopía y los sueños se están convirtiendo lentamente en realidad al construir y unir otros mundos.
Continuamos trabajando y transformándonos. Foto de Anyi Castelblanco
Bibliography
OXFAM (2017) Radiografía de la desigualdad. Lo que nos dice el último censo agropecuario sobre la distribución de tierra en Colombia. https://oi-files-d8-prod.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/file_attachments/radiografia_de_la_desigualdad.pdf
Rincón, C. and Urrutia, H. (2019) Mito de la Chiguaza: https://www.facebook.com/escuelitaKimy/posts/mito-de-la-chiguaza/711499029350380/?locale=es_LA
By Lynthia White
Where is this grassroots initiative implemented? Who are the promoters? Who are the beneficiaries?
City of Harare continues to expand as more and more people relocate from the rural areas to the city in anticipation of better standard of living (Masimba, 2021, p. 6). The demand for more housing led to the opening up of new areas further out from the CBD for development (Zinyama et al., 1993). This lateral expansion of the city has resulted in increased travel distances and changed the form of urban infrastructure promoting automobiles, increasing greenhouse gasses emissions and pollution. In the concept of climate change and migration, migrants modify social, environmental and economic systems. In this case, more migrants in Harare are contributing to increase in automobiles which is a contributor of greenhouse gasses. Harare Active Mobility (HAM) is a city initiative of the Harare City Council in partnership with numerous stakeholders in the city of Harare aiming at promoting walking and cycling. The supporters of the initiative include private organizations such as (Bikes for Zimbabwe; JM Busha Races; CaliGraph), NGOs such as (Inspire Zimbabwe; Miracle Missions; Road Safe Zimbabwe Trust) and citizens of Harare such as Jenna Hutchings who is helping to mobilize residents of Harare to support the initiative. The initiative intends to benefit all citizens of Harare because it is aim to restore vibrancy of the city through safer and sustainable modes of transport.
How does the initiative engage with climate? Does it tackle mitigation, adaptation, both or other dimensions of climate change?
According to Dawson (2017), “Cities are one of the major drivers of climate chaos and they are also its principal victims” (p, 130). The Harare City promote use of automobiles which contribute 35% of the greenhouse gas emissions (Masimba, 2021, p. 6). The initiative aims to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11 of promoting sustainable cities and communities and also SDG 13 of climate action (United Nations, 2023, p. 2). It focuses on utilizing walking and cycling in order to promote a smart city with reduced emissions from automobiles. HAM initiative engages with climate because it cares about reducing carbon emissions the major cause of climate change; with traffic contributing 25% of carbon emissions worldwide (Kamer, 2022, p. 15). Human energy or non-motorized transport such as bicycles and walking have a direct effect on mitigating climate change (Brand et al., 2021). The Citizen of Harare revealed that, “The air in the city of Harare is heavily polluted by poorly maintained vehicles as well as being predominately second- hand imports (dumping ground for Global North’s waste vehicles)” (City of Harare, 2022, p. 9). This is a health risk to all citizens of Harare, but at risks groups include people with heart and lung disease, pregnant women, children and the elderly. This directly impacts to broad of human rights such as right to life and right to good health. Thus, the initiative promotes a sustainable and safe environment for all. This is derived from the subject of environmental and climate justice that links human rights with development and climate. Separated cycle lanes were constructed in the past but have not been maintained, leaving many people without access reliable, connected, safe and efficient public transport. Therefore, HAM connects clean environment and climate protection with safe and sustainable public transport. Active travel such as walking or cycling is the most sustainable form of personal transport (Brand et.al., 2021). Walking and cycling reduce the consumption of fossil fuels, helping to mitigate the effects of climate change and prepare the city to adapt to climate change. Each 7 kilometers travelled by bicycle will avoid 1 kilogram of carbon-dioxide over a year to the same distance covered by car (United Nations, 2023, p. 9).
What are the main objectives? What are the main values?
According to the findings from the Town Clerk of Harare City Council, HAM has the objective to:
HAM has the value of designing streets and roads for children in order to ensure safe roads for all. It also prioritizes active mobility routes for a healthier community for all journeys less than 5km. The initiative has the ability to co-create active travel solutions through person-private- public partnerships that ensure rapid transformation.
Image 1:Teachers and children from Borrowdale school in Harare encouraging active mobility through public art; image 2: Harare City Council maintaining roads in Harare for safe pedestrian movement. Image 3: Harare City Council encouraging active mobility in Harare, Zimbabwe through public art. Images used with permission by Jenna Hutchings.
What is the timeline? Are there already visible effects?
HAM initiative was launched in February 2022 and expected to end in December 2025. The initiative has already visible effects such as installation of 800m gravel walking or cycle track on Borrowdale road Harare. On the 4th of June 22 the city carried awareness campaigns like the Bike Day. On the Bike Day, 100 bicycles were distributed to the residents of Highfields in Harare who travel daily from home to work. The CaliGraphy private organization has already printed numerous novels and articles aiming at inspiring residents of Harare through eco-poetry on climate change and active travel.
Who are the actors? What are their backgrounds?
HAM involves various actors with the Harare City Council on forefront (City of Harare 2022, p. 4-21). These actors include;
Which limits does it encounter?
The initiative is facing several limitations for successful implementation. The built environment in Harare has limitations. The city and public alike continue to plan for more cars. This is an outdated and unsustainable model of city planning adopted in the 1950’s when population sizes of cities were low, car ownership was normal, and climate change was not understood. The public transportation system is not built on a monopoly, hence, the competition in the city brings reckless driving and increasing automobiles to ferry passengers. According to Kodero (2005, p. 15) the Harare policies seem to be silent on equitable access for all road users (walking, cycling, skating and motoring). Public spaces allow limited options and routes of transportation. Cycling is also facing gender stereotyping because women fear cycling. Most Africans think cycling is for men. This is resulting in many women resisting cycling. The initiative is also facing other social constraints. A lot of Zimbabweans view cycling as a sign of poverty, resulting in increase of automobiles. Other social and cultural myths point out that cycling removes virginity and reduce fertility, resulting in young girls resisting the initiative.
Image 1: Open Streets Day in Harare Zimbabwe that encourage active mobility; image 2: Harare Bike Day marching campaign in Glenview High Density Suburb. Images used with permission by Jenna Hutchings
How would it be potentially replicable in other settings?
The initiative in Harare strives to bring communities together to co-create sustainable and safe public spaces for all people living and moving in Harare. The lessons learnt from other cities worldwide such as Seattle, Copenhagen and Amsterdam could see it implemented rapidly and rolled out in other cities across Zimbabwe. The initiative is easily replicable in other cities around the world. The main challenge is securing partnerships to finance the initiative and provide assistance. The main criterion is to have collaborative financing that help in funding the initiative. Secondly, there is need for public art that help in mobilizing for change through narrative story telling. By creating public art, can potentially help in transforming minds of residents on how cycling can help to bring a sustainable city. This ensure participatory planning and contribute social and behavioral change towards cycling and walking. People in climate action will help in decolonizing the view that active travelling does not play an important role towards mitigating climate change in Harare.
Harare City Council workers constructing a cycle lane along Ridgeway road in Harare Zimbabwe. Image used with permission by Jenna Hutchings.
Is this initiative conducive to broader changes?
The initiative can be conducive to broader changes to a lesser extent. However, to a greater extent the initiative faces shortfalls such as spatial and institutional constrains. The city’s spatial arrangement limits the options and routes of transportation, while institutional constrains are linked to lack of funds of the Harare City Council to review current planning approaches. This will slow down progress on changes in law, institutional arrangements and long-term sustainability.
References
Brand, C. (2021). The climate change mitigation effects of daily active travel in cities. Transportation Research Part D, 93 (2), 1-6.
City of Harare. (2022). Stakeholder Working Group for Active Mobility. Organizational handbook. [Unpublished Manuscript]. Organizational Handbook, Harare City Council.
Dawson, A. (2017). Extreme Cities: The Peril and Promise of Urban Life in the Age of Climate Change. London: (Verso books, Ed.). British Library.
Kodero, K. (2005). TransPolicy: Pro-Poor Transport Policy Meeting the Challenge in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe Forum for Rural Transport and Development, 96 (3), 15-26.
Masimba, G. (2021). Harare City Scoping Study. [Manuscript submitted for publication]. African Cities Research Consortium.
Zinyama, L.M, Tevera, D.S, Cumming, S.D. (1993). The Growth and Problems of the City. University of Zimbabwe Publications. (Original work published 978-0908307302)
Union Cycliste Internationale. (2022, April 22). Earth Day Take away: How cycling can help alleviate climate change. UCI.
Mutongwiza, L. (2022. May 22). Harare city drive to promote cycling to work. 263Chat.
https://www.263chat.com/harare-city-in-drive-to-promote-cycling-to-work/
Nyaude, S. (2022, November 1). Raising awareness for safer pedestrian walkway in Harare, Zimbabwe. Slocat Partnership.
https://slocat.net/raising-awareness-for-safer-pedestrian-walkways-in-harare-zimbabwe/
Suburban. (2022, December 7). City of Munich team visits Harare. Sub Urban.
https://www.suburban.co.zw/city-of-munich-team-visits-harare/
Kuhudzai, J. (2022, July 15). The future of Harare: Roundtable meeting as part of Harare Bike Day. Clean Technica.
By Lucia Tedesco
‘A little puzzle my dad taught me when I was ten. When is someone you will love still going
to be alive?’ What do you mean?’
‘You’re twelve years old. When will you turn ninety?’
They jot down on a piece of paper:
2090 + 90 = 2180
‘Now let’s imagine your ten-year-old grandchild, born in 2170: when will that person turn ninety? When
would they still be talking about you?’
They work out the sums.
‘Would it be 2260?’
‘Yes, can you imagine that? The person you’ll love most in all the world will still be alive in 2260!
Imagine your time. I was born in 2008 and you’ll know a person who’ll still be alive in 2260. That’s the
length of time you connect, more than 250 years. The time you can touch with your own hands. Your time
is the time of the people you know and love, the time that moulds you. And your time is also the time of the
people you will know and love. The time that you will shape. Everything you do matters. You create the
future every single day.’
– Andri Snær Magnason, On Time and Water
Seven days. Seven very long days since I found in my father’s secret hiding place the safe with my great-grandmother Emma’s things. Several times I thought of not opening it, of ignoring this discovery, but I felt the need for answers. I hope that this trip will not turn into a nightmare and that my stay here in Bologna will go unnoticed at home. I’ve been thinking for a long time whether or not to tell my father about this trip. In the end, the least complicated solution for everyone seemed to leave without telling him. I know it is dangerous, that nobody would think of going over the border at the beginning of the Crazy Season, but I am sure that for my father the answer would have been the same at any other time: “Ophelia, no, you cannot go”. Too many memories for him, I understand. Not to mention that in the Crazy Season the weather is extremely variable: some days it can reach 40 degrees and then suddenly there can be heavy rain for up to 72 hours straight. My grandmother used to say that it didn’t used to be like this. There used to be half seasons, periods of transition from too cold to too hot temperatures and vice versa. The Crazy Season, on the other hand, lasts 40 days and for the rest of the time the temperatures stay around 27-30 degrees.
Ever since I found that diary, I can’t stop thinking about it. I have fantasised for days about the idea of taking a trip to old Bologna, to the place where – according to my great-grandmother Emma – a city stood until not so long ago.
I have a hard time imagining a city. There hasn’t been one for so long that I couldn’t distinguish it from any other inhabited place. My grandmother used to say that they were born for the purpose of distinguishing human from non-human space.
My brothers and I did not understand at first: how is it possible to live while ignoring other species? How is it even conceivable to survive without being surrounded by greenery? I probably won’t understand – we will never understand – yet my curiosity is now uncontrollable. I feel that I can no longer put off this moment. I feel I must discover my roots.
I just arrived on the aerotrain. The sky here is strange, constantly changing. I have Emma’s diary with me, an acclimatising mask, and the satellite in case of emergency. I try to get my bearings with a map from 2023 that I found among Emma’s things, but it’s very difficult. There is tall grass everywhere, remnants of buildings from time to time, some clearly visible others less so because they are swallowed up by a strange form of ivy.
I open the diary and start reading again:
There is buzz in the city these days. 25 April is celebrated in a big way here. Via del Pratello is invaded by streams of people arriving from all over Italy. Few are the citizens of Bologna, many are the out-of-towners, mostly students. Friends from Florence came up. We sang “Bella ciao” in the square in chorus, as we do every year. Then we moved to the centre; at Pratello it was almost impossible to walk, talk, and breathe. We stopped in Piazza del Nettuno, still laughing at the statue’s hand thinking of Giambologna. They wanted to whisper things to each other under the vault of the Podestà, but I was too tired, so I headed home.
Looking around, I see a perimeter of a strange dark stone. What’s left of the marble, I suppose. I move closer to get a better look at it. I trample the grass to trace a path; I climb over the low wall and find myself in a pool. I begin to be more certain of where I am: it must be the fountain of Neptune, even though there is no longer any trace of the statue. Now that I have a point to start from on the map I can orient myself better. I pick up the diary again and continue reading at the point where I had stopped:
I avoided Via Indipendenza. Everyone knows that on holidays it is a jungle. I preferred to continue on via Rizzoli and go down via Oberdan. I will miss all the side streets, all the red bricks of the buildings. I will miss peeking in the doorways and looking at the inner courtyards. I will miss the taverns, the people in the streets, under the arcades drinking and talking. When I can, I will continue to enjoy this. There weren’t many people on Via Oberdan. Only a few tourists stopped at the Prosciutteria, unaware of the annual magic that is created at Pratello. Almost at the end of the street I noticed that the canal was full of water and the view was strangely crowded. People are usually unaware that Bologna’s canals are visible in several places, so they queue up on Via Piella to get a tiny glimpse. They call it the secret Venice, but it has nothing Venetian or secret about it.
I stop at this point, I want to get back on track. Above all, I am curious to see what a canal is like. The temperatures are beginning to rise. I look around for nearby shade, I don’t want to risk walking for too long in the sun’s harmful rays.
The streets are not so well traced and visible now, but I realise I have to go north because before leaving I read something about the morphology of Bologna and apparently the northern part of the city is lower than the one to the south. I spot a building with a tower and choose it as a reference point to shelter from the increasingly hot sun. I hear a noise, a strange thud in the distance, but I decide to ignore it. I admit that I am starting to feel a little scared, but I am used to sudden encounters where I live, and above all I have not travelled so many kilometres to run away at the first doubt.
I keep walking and arrive at the spot where my great-grandmother said there should be an overlook to the canal. Yet, of the canal, no trace. A wide clearing now opens up before my eyes, which I decide not to enter. At this point, according to my calculations, I should not be too far away. I consult the diary again:
Via delle Moline welcomes the university area. It still makes me strange to think that the canals have been covered over and that I live in a house that long before had been a mill. The first street on the left, leaving Via Oberdan behind, is Via Capo di Lucca. There, amidst new buildings and brick houses, my nest emerges. A mansard flat far too big for one person. I will never forget the first time I saw it, the sense of home I felt; just
as I will never forget when I no longer felt safe. That time when the rain came down for
three long weeks incessantly. That time I was forced to sleep on the sofa in the kitchen, the place most hidden by the skylights, fearing that I would end up with water everywhere, just as was happening in the bedroom. Everything that used to give me security, peace, serenity now frightens me, terrifies me, generates anxiety. I no longer feel safe even in my own home. I feel I will soon leave this city.
Emma’s diary stops here. Or rather, what remains of it. The tears make me suspect that there is a part of her story that I will never know.
I set off again, but after a few steps I am forced to stop: a not too large pond prevents me from turning into via Capo di Lucca. The pond is via Capo di Lucca. I look around to see which way to cross it. Among the reeds I glimpse a roof and something tells me that I am close to what I am looking for. Suddenly, a strange animal emerges from the water with a hairy, matted coat, a long tail that they wave slowly and gills on his sides. They become aware of my presence and remain motionless for a few seconds. You don’t see animals like that in my neck of the woods, so I can’t quite make out what I’m looking at. Something about them reminds me of a feline: their moving silently, their attentive, cunning gaze. Felines in my neck of the woods are not amphibians, so this confuses me. I keep looking around in search of a support to cross the body of water, and so I spot an old abandoned bottega. But as I try to make my way inside, the animal makes a dash for it and disappears back into the water.
The inside of the bottega is partly covered. On the uncovered side, the sun illuminates an object I havenever seen. I decide to curb my curiosity and concentrate on finding the stand; also because it is getting warmer and soon I will have to shelter in the shade for more hours. Behind me, I notice that the door is not quite firm. I try to pull it off with some force and, after a few attempts, I find it in my hands, heavy enough to make me lose my balance. I drag it to the shoreline of the pond and try to climb on it a little awkwardly. I try to push the water with my hands to move from there and realise that I make this gesture spontaneously. Tired and on the verge of giving up, I stop for a few moments, when again the noise from before calls my attention: there, among the reeds in the middle of the pond, I glimpse a small house half submerged. Again, instinct tells me that I am close to my destination. I am about to pick up the pace, when a force under the door takes over and pushes me there: I see its tail, I suspect that it might be the creature I encountered just before. I am frozen with fear, I cannot make a sound. When we reach the front of the dwelling, they stop. I breathe a sigh of relief. I try to figure out how to reach the interior of the strange island, but my heart is still pounding. At this point, the animal starts moving more slowly again. I have the feeling that they have not come to harm me and that, on the contrary, they want to help me in some way. Like a spirit guide. We pass through a semi-underwater arch and walk down the long corridor. With my hands I grip the raft tightly. Slowly we approach a more or less walkable staircase. I take courage and jump onto the first accessible step, hoping it will hold my weight. Now I can see my helper. Our glances cross. I nod my head in thanks, I’ve seen this gesture in some sci-fi movie, I’m not sure they will understand. They give me one last look and disappear beneath the surface again. I am alone again – I think. I start to move from step to step, avoiding the gaps and trying to feel the condition of the structure with my foot first. The temperature is different now: it is still very hot, but something seems to be obscuring the sun. I can’t see from there. I continue up the last three steps and at the sight of the floor, my stomach closes. I have the feeling that I have already been there, that I have already seen this place. I pick up the diary and hurriedly try to open the pocket inside the cover. I hear a loud bang outside, but I don’t let myself be distracted. I knew it. I could hear it. Among the notes stored in the secret pocket, a picture of Emma’s house pops out. The house she loved so much and then hated as well. I’m in the right place. Now I just have to look for something, to look for it. Now I can reconstruct my story. Her story. A heavy drop falls on my head. It starts to rain
Psychogeographic map of Bologna made by Ophelia
By Cecilia Pasini
The Great Plain was a land of cement and ash. The soil was once parcelled out into fields where rooted bipeds cultivated their food- They called themselves “humans”.
Water was constrained and flowed in canals. The bipeds decided when to release it and for how long. The plain, however, was interrupted by the smoke and concrete towers of the factory, where the bipeds entered and exited. They were like ants when seen from above.
Time, I have heard, was counted in hours, days, weeks and years and flowed like a line. Humans lived without thinking about the only thing that matters concerning time: death. They lived considering themselves, their artefacts, the cages they lived in, as endless.
They also thought that resources from mother Earth the Gentle were eternal.
Water was used to put out fires, to cool a world on fire.
The river Po was closely controlled, because humans were concerned about its power. Water was able to ruin the brick buildings they used to live in.
Humans used to venerate another kind of liquid: it was called oil, and they considered it as the “black gold”, because, apparently, gold was something precious, for them, and this oil was precious. And it was as dark as the night is.
Once, I met a seagull, they told a story that was passed on by their ancestors: this black gold travelled millions kilometres for the need of humans. It passed the oceans closed in huge floating junks to reach ports where it entered pipelines and, hidden, continued travelling underground.
It was impossible, indeed, to follow its journey from our perspective.
We could just inhale a part of it that was not liquid anymore. A pigeon told me that the black gold entered some strange buildings made of cement, then exited and travelled again towards places where it served to feed the humans’ means of transport.
You know, they were so slow when they moved, and they found all these means imitating the faster animals. It’s so lovely-dovey if you reflect about it carefully: humans were unsatisfied and always wanted to overcome their limits. They, poor unskilled animals, felt disappointed.
They condemned themselves, they approached their end.
And it happened. Earth was suffering, everyone was. The whole multitude of living beings felt thirsty, flushed, hungry. Moribund. Mother Earth said: Enough.
Enough.
Earth asked her siblings to help her. It was time to free ourselves from humans.
Free.
Release.
Rid.
Relieve.
Too much suffering, too much pain.
And then it happened. Suddenly water exited every row it was constrained in. She took everything and everybody, she destroyed, ruined, crashed, demolished, wrecked.
I can’t lie: it was force, power, and violence. Something you can’t –and shouldn’t- expect from the Gentle Earth and the floating Water. But they could no more stand and see the suffering and pain. Enough, it was enough.
But then.
What remained was peace.
And silence.
And everything started all over again.
But humans weren’t there anymore.
At that time, water was everywhere, and she was able to introduce her two souls to each other: saltwater met freshwater, they barely knew each other from the estuary of the rivers and the rain, especially the torrential ones. Now they met and covered the planet. And our plain. Everything appeared…What did they call it… Sure: swamp. Or wetland. It was wet, indeed. For most of us it was heaven: trees, shrubs, bushes, grew wildly. Insects found their place and proliferated. And for us…I cannot describe the joy, the feeling of deep fulfilment.
Finally, it was home.
Earth became, again, home to everyone.
Of course, these are just tales of things I have never seen and I am not definitely sure they really happened. It can also be that humans never existed and parents tell us this story to make us respect Mother Earth and Sister Water.
These are legends whose origins are lost in the mists of time, and today it seems hard to imagine a land in squares, water obeying a master, the plain interrupted by concrete towers catching fire.
Nowadays water, water is the only Queen. It could not be otherwise in a world where everything flows. Water is everywhere: it produces and reproduces life. I think that humans, if just they could have understood anything at all, would have called it “the transparent gold”. But what is gold? We don’t sell or buy anything, the preciousness of metals has seen its twilight together with those humans.
Seen from above, the territory, that is land and water, does not seem to have a past, not least because past and present have no meaning for those who inhabit it. The only time that exists is that of the seasons: it is a circle, reborn each spring to slumber in autumn. Death’s power is recognised, anyone understands it and no one fears it. It’s nature: things begin, things end.
Nobody is interested in speed anymore: moving fast is a way to approach death. We do respect death, but we are not impatient to meet it.
My time is not even cyclical, it is geographical. Such is the time for herons: we fly to change the season. I fly and I can travel and see the world as it is, from above.
References
Alliegro, E.V. (2012). Il totem nero. Petrolio, sviluppo e conflitti in Basilicata. Roma: CISU.
Brennan, S. A. (2016). Public, First. Retrieved from: https://dhdebates.gc.cuny.edu/read/untitled/section/11b9805a-a8e0-42e3-9a1c-fad46e4b78e5.
Clément, G. (2002). Éloge des vagabondes. Herbes, arbres et fleurs à la conquête du monde. Paris: Nil éditions.
Dal Gobbo, A. (2022). Energy and the ethnography of everyday life: A methodology for a world that matters. Ethnography, 0(0), 1-22.
Dennis, K., Donnelly, J. (Writers) & Munden, M., Yip, W., Garcia Lopez, A., Donovan, S. (Directors). (2013). Utopia. Wilson, K., Featherstone, J., Kelly, D. (Executive producers). Liverpool, England: Kudos.
Reclus, E. (2005). Storia di un ruscello, Milano: Elèuthera.
Sepulveda, L. (1996). Historia de una gaviota y del gato que le enseñó a volar. Madrid: Planeta.
A grassroot initiative going beyond mere food production.
By Maximilian Rischer
*München ist ein Dorf = “Munich is a village“
Photo 1: Volunteers on the fields gardening near the city of Munich. (Photo: Kartoffelkombinat eG)
Where is the grassroot initiative implemented?
The grassroot initiative Kartoffelkombinat is located in Munich, a city of about 1.5 million inhabitants in Germany. The initiative is organized as a cooperative, owned by all members equally, and is not limited to a certain neighbourhood but spreads throughout the entire city.
Who are the promoters? Who are the beneficiaries?
Kartoffelkombinat was founded by two citizens of Munich, Daniel Überall and Simon Scholl, who wanted to make a difference in how they consume vegetables and agricultural products.
The origin of the organization’s name:
“Kartoffel” = Potato; “Kombinat” = Collective combine (typical way of production in many socialist countries, (Farlex, n.d.)
The two founders were disappointed that despite the option that food can be produced regionally, ecologically friendly, without too much packaging and transport, in many cases supermarkets offer only low-quality cheap food, packed in tons of plastics, and shipped from abroad. The first beneficiaries were family and friends at the beginning of 2012 during a test phase of the project. Then, Kartoffelkombinat officially was founded on 30th April 2012. Since then, many citizens of Munich and surrounding areas have been part of the organization (Kartoffelkombinat eG, 2022).
In 2023, about forty people are currently working for the organization. However, the initiative continues to flourish also as volunteering becomes the norm. Many helping hands guarantee the organization’s success as I will illustrate in this entry.
Furthermore, smallholder farmers may profit from this project because they work as partners on equal terms for the organization. Given the strong pricing competition of conventional agriculture, they profit, because Karfoffelkombinat, despite owning farmland, leases land from smallholders and gives them some additional income. At the same time, farmers are encouraged to use more ecologically friendly agricultural practices, as Kartoffelkombinat so successfully does.
In 2023, agricultural products generated by the Kartoffelkombinat provide food products on a weekly basis for more than 2,000 households (Kartoffelkombinat eG, n.d.-b)!
But, as we will see in the following, it is not only food which is the “outcome” of this grassroot initiative.
How does this initiative engage with climate change? Does it tackle mitigation, adaptation, both, or other dimensions of climate change?
The initiative is tackling climate change mitigation by providing more regional and seasonal food, educating people, and raising awareness about conventional and more environmentally friendly agricultural practices. Food losses and overproduction is minimized. It may happen that certain summer vegetables, like tomatoes or cucumbers, are being produced to a surplus extent. In these cases, excess vegetables are processed and canned, with the help of volunteers from the cooperative. Vegetables that even organic wholesalers and retailers do not accept, e.g., rooked cucumbers, small heads of lettuce, or small cucumbers are still put into boxes (Kartoffelkombinat eG, 2015). Also, the cooperative produces mainly vegan goods, and very few products are associated with animals (like honey). Besides, non-dairy products typically have a smaller greenhouse gas footprint (Carlsson Kanyama et al., 2021).
The initiative further contributes to climate change mitigation by reducing the production of crop packaging and by ensuring an efficient and safe food transportation system. Furthermore, since the initiative aims to follow principles of organic farming exclusively, due to the absence of artificial fertilizer whose production is energy-intensive, greenhouse gas emissions are avoided. According to a meta-analysis by Tuomista et al. (2012), organic farming uses 21% less energy on average compared to conventional farming. The same study also associates a higher carbon sequestration potential, which generally results in increased soil organic matter (7% difference), compared to conventional farming practices.
As another effect, more soil organic matter increases the water-withholding capacity of the soil (Lotter et al., 2003; Tuomisto et al., 2012). Additionally, rotating crops and a more diverse vegetation as typical for organically farmed soil, prevent soil erosion and strengthen the capacity and resilience of soils to cope with extreme weather circumstances like extreme drought and floods (Dumaresq & Greene, 2001; Nair & Delate, 2016; Pimentel et al., 2005). The resilience of the soils gets further enhanced through fertilization using “natural” input, through manure, compost, or straw (Nair & Delate, 2016).
All of this qualifies the grassroot initiative to significantly contribute to climate change adaptation.
What are the main objectives and main values of the initiative?
The broader objective of the cooperative Kartoffelkombinat is to develop an independent, highly democratic, and self-organizing institution to provide good quality food, which is organized, grown, harvested, and eaten by people, for people of the organization. The organization is structured as a cooperative. People can buy shares, to get weekly food rations in exchange throughout the year. As of 2023, the cooperative owns agricultural land of about 7 ha and employs more than 40 people for activities like cultivation, harvesting, and organization, fourteen of whom work in gardening activities.
In addition, many people help on a voluntary basis to enable the functioning of the project. An example of this voluntary work is that the food is transported to various private spaces (e.g., garages) all around Munich, to work as distribution spots, where members of the Kartoffelkombinat can collect the goods from. This voluntary work is thus crucial for the success of the initiative. Aside from employed gardeners, everybody may contribute to harvesting and cultivation activities.
Subsequent to an one-time payment of 150 € (“buy-in” to the cooperative), every member can choose to pay each month about 75 € or about 47 € (for a smaller box) to receive one box with agricultural products per week. To facilitate the planning and to reduce food losses, each member is expected to pay this amount as long as the member is part of the cooperative. In case members are not available or do not wish to receive food, they get the opportunity to suspend the delivery of food four times a year, which aims to further reduces food waste. Examples of what people receive in each box are illustrated in the following, see also photo 2:
Week 19: 3 apples, 500 g rhubarb, Batavia lettuce, 1 bunch rocket, 400 g spinach, 1 bunch carrots, 2 pieces kohlrabi.
Week 28: 1 stick fresh garlic, 1.5kg potatoes, 2 courgettes,
0.5kg tomatoes, 400g chard, 1 lettuce, 1 cucumber, 1 bunch basil.
Week 43: 1 head of lettuce, 600g carrots, 600g red cabbage, 500g onions, 600g tomatoes, 2 pieces of fennel, 500g spinach, 1 bunch of chives.
Besides this, high-quality bread made by a partnering baker and beer produced by the members of the cooperative may be purchased for some additional payment.
Kartoffelkombinat does not only want to provide regional and ecological food but re-think the consumerist lifestyle as it is typical for Western societies. Furthermore, Kartoffelkombinat aims to redefine “welfare”, by strongly advocating for public welfare instead of profit maximization. Through the community approach, economic sovereignty and decisions remain in the hands of citizens. Furthermore, the aim is also to preserve knowledge about agricultural techniques for future generations.
There are a set of advantages of the community-based agriculture approach. This entails, that their goods are mostly vegan (no dairy products and meat), that ecological production is taken up, that goods are more eco-friendly regarding packaging and transport, and that all food is regional and seasonal. Also, local smallholder farms are being supported to survive in the midst of a costly power struggle involving powerful corporations (Kartoffelkombinat eG, n.d.-a).
From an organizational and economic point of view, Kartoffelkombinat follows the principles of the Economy of the Common Good (Gemeinwohlökonomie), which was officially certified in 2016 (Kartoffelkombinat eG, 2016). As the name indicates, companies that follow these economic principles aim to maximize the benefit for society, instead of the corporation’s financial profit. An organization that wants to be certified is evaluated within the organization, but also towards suppliers and clients, against the following principles (Gemeinwohlökonomie Deutschland, n.d.-b):
What is the timeline? Are there already visible effects?
The initiative started in 2012, and it is still operational since it has strong supporters and many participants. The positive effects of the initiative are all too obvious. Almost 3,000 households are being provided with food on a weekly basis, and the organization has developed from a small CSA cooperative to an organization which provides so much more to the community and the city (see examples and more info later in this entry, Kartoffelkombinat eG, n.d.-c).
Who are the actors involved? What are their backgrounds?
Regarding their prior work experience, the actors involved in the organization’s management have different backgrounds. For instance, people are coming from advertising agencies, the IT sector, photography, and simply higher education. Despite employing professionals from the agricultural sector, Kartoffelkombinat also offers apprenticeships to become a professional vegetable farmer. Like this, the organization attracts young people. Usually, shareholders, consumers, and collaborators have some financial stability and moderate purchasing power.
Which limits (institutional, physical, social, etc.) does it encounter?
The organization has evolved to an organization where hundreds of people collaborate and thousands more benefit from it. However, these huge dimensions would at some point lead to organizational limits or at least huge challenges to cope with. Some more organizational growth to reach even more people seems difficult.
As outlined above, the Kartoffelkombinat follows the principles of the Economy of the Common Good which comprises reporting about the organization’s values and activities along economic principles. However, surprisingly enough, the organization has only published one report back in 2016. The lack of information on the organization casts a shadow on its future potential and seems to be motivated by a lack of resources, rather than a result of a lack of intention to follow the prescribed principles and values.
Are any shortcomings or critical points visible? What other problematic issues can arise from its implementation?
The buy-in policy and the relatively high monetary amount of the monthly share indicate that not everybody might be able to afford the involvement in the organization. Thus, certain layers of society might be excluded. On a different level, Kartoffelkombinat could be competing against farmers who follow organic farming principles. Because these farmers likely could not rely on people working for them as volunteers (for “free”), they would need to offer their products at higher prices. Like this, clients of these farmers potentially could tend to buy fewer products from them, but rather use the services offered by Kartoffelkombinat. It is however unclear if this problem deserves attention because the coverage of Kartoffelkombinat (reaching almost 3,000 households) still seems very insignificant compared to the number of inhabitants residing in the city of Munich.
How would it be potentially replicable in other settings?
It is an initiative which can be replicated in many other areas or cities as well. People willing to start a similar initiative only would need to find agricultural associates to start farming. Noteworthy, Kartoffelkombinat had similarly humble beginnings. Additionally, many networking events and information about the activities of regional groups coming from many countries, are provided by the European CSA Research Group (2016).
Is this initiative conducive to broader changes (law, institutional arrangements, long-term sustainability or community preparedness, etc.)? If yes, which?
Kartoffelkombinat is promoting and influencing societal change in a broader sense in many ways. Apart from the current organization (Kartoffelkombinat eG), a non-profit association which offers much more than agricultural goods, called Kartoffelkombinat – Der Verein e.V., was founded by the members. The association (in German “Verein”) aims to enable a cultural change in many different parts of society, related to exchange within the community, societal transformation, education, ecology, and research. Examples of each field of activity will be illustrated at the end of this entry. At this point though, two examples will be described in more detail:
Example 1: ErdLink – A cottage garden transforming the street city (Original in German: Der ErdLink – ein Bauerngarten wandelt die Straßenstadt)
As one might discover from the name, ErdLink aims to create a connection (link) between Earth’s inhabitants (German: Erdlinge) and nature in urban environments which would have remained inaccessible if the project had not been initiated.
The ErdLink had been a temporary pop-up agriculture area in a concrete-dominating square of Munich (Europaplatz) in September 2021. Specifically, the “nature” of a traffic island was used to create an area for urban gardening.
ErdLink aimed for and succeeded in the following objectives:
For the project, huge boxes were transported to the area, which contained grown regional and seasonal vegetables, herbs, and other flowering plants, e.g., bell peppers, basil, leek, or sunflower. The content of the boxes was crafted in such a way that anyone could easily grow them in their private properties, both in gardens and balconies. Visitors of ErdLink could also take plants or seeds home. Pictures 3 and 4 illustrate how ErdLink looks like.
Photo 3: ErdLink at Europaplatz in Munich (Photo: Nick Bergner)
Photo 4: Plant boxes from ErdLink (Photo: Nick Bergner)
Most of the nearby living citizens and visitors liked this setting pretty much and associated it with an increase in life quality in the urban environment. Apart from realising a significant change in the appearance of the urban environment, ErdLink also brought along various activities to learn about agriculture, through seminars, workshops, and information campaigns. Examples were guided tours through the ErdLink area, a guided city tour focusing on green and “nature” space in other parts of the city, public readings of children’s books related to nature, or online seminars to inform about urban gardening and urban nature in general.
The entire project was considered by the organizers as very informative and successful as learning was willingly shared between organizers, visitors, and nearby living citizens, who shall take it as input for similar projects in the future. But until today, though, no similar project has been announced so far for the near future (LORA MÜNCHEN, 2021; Meincke, 2021).
Example 2: Discovering Big City Wilderness… (German: Großstadtwildnis entdecken…)
Discovering Big City wilderness was a project executed in August 2021 by offering six four-hour long guided tours for children and young adults through a biotope in the neighbourhood of Obersendling in Munich. Obersendling is a district which is currently undergoing a transition and is characterised by a high degree of density. This makes the natural surroundings in and around Siemenspark even more important to remain recognizable for the citizens of the neighbourhood. The main parts of the discovery tours for the all-in-all 60 participants were: discovering dead wood, trees, meadows, waste or trails used by humans. Among the activities were nature observation, multicolour meadow items collection, man-nature relationship building, building “waste monsters”, marble runs, deadwood artwork, and many more…
The following pictures shall illustrate some of the activities:
Photos 5, 6 and 7: Different photos from the discovery tours of urban nature (Photos: V. Westermeier & G. Baumert)
In an exciting and playful way, the young “scientists” were able to experience the nature of the big city with all their senses which awakened topical enthusiasm in them. It also sensitised the participants about the importance of city nature protection (Kartoffelkombinat e.V., n.d.-a).
As already mentioned earlier, there are several activities and workshops organized by the Kartoffelkombinat e.V. Some of these are (Kartoffelkombinat e.V., n.d.-b):
The examples presented above show that Kartoffelkombinat eG and Kartoffelkombinat – der Verein e.V. want to achieve a behavioural change in society, not only towards climate change but on a much broader scale to help form a peaceful and dignified life on Earth, where respect between humankind and nature is reciprocal, away from any profit maximisation and nature exploitation motives. Kartoffelkombinat and its members are contributing significantly to reduce potential dependencies and exploitation of people and land in and from the global south, and as such work together to help make the world environmentally friendly and a better place for all.
References
Carlsson Kanyama, A., Hedin, B., & Katzeff, C. (2021). Differences in Environmental Impact between Plant-Based Alternatives to Dairy and Dairy Products: A Systematic Literature Review. Sustainability, 13(22), 12599. https://doi.org/10.3390/su132212599
Dumaresq, D., & Greene, R. (2001). Soil Structure, Fungi, Fauna & Phosphorus in Sustainable Cropping Systems. Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation.
European CSA Research Group. (2016). Overview of Community Supported-Agriculture in Europe.
Farlex. (n.d.). Kombinat. In The Free Dictionary. Retrieved 7 June 2023, from https://de.thefreedictionary.com/Kombinat
Gemeinwohlökonomie Deutschland. (n.d.-a). Gemeinwohl-Matrix. Retrieved 7 June 2023, from https://germany.ecogood.org/tools/gemeinwohl-matrix/.
Gemeinwohlökonomie Deutschland. (n.d.-b). Werte der Gemeinwohlökonomie: Wirtschaft neu denken. Retrieved 7 June 2023, from https://germany.ecogood.org/vision/werte/
Kartoffelkombinat eG. (n.d.-a). Kartoffelkombinat. Blog. Retrieved 7 June 2023, from https://www.kartoffelkombinat.de/blog/uber-uns/die-gartnerei/
Kartoffelkombinat eG. (n.d.-b). Über uns. Ziele und Werte des Kartoffelkombinats. Retrieved 7 June 2023, from https://www.kartoffelkombinat.de/blog/uber-uns/ziele-und-werte/
Kartoffelkombinat eG. (n.d.-c). Was bisher geschah. Retrieved 7 June 2023, from https://www.kartoffelkombinat.de/blog/uber-uns/was-bisher-geschah/
Kartoffelkombinat eG. (2015). Gemeinwohlbericht. https://www.kartoffelkombinat.de/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/GW%C3%96_KK_final_testat_160203.pdf
Kartoffelkombinat eG. (2022). Was bisher geschah – eine Chronik des Kartoffelkombinats. https://www.kartoffelkombinat.de/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/2019_Juni_Chronologie_KK.pdf
Kartoffelkombinat eG. (2016, February 16). Schlagworte-Archive: Gemeinwohlökonomie. https://www.kartoffelkombinat.de/blog/tag/gemeinwohloekonomie/
Kartoffelkombinat e.V. (n.d.-a). Großstadtwildnis entdecken… Retrieved 7 June 2023, from https://kartoffelkombinat-ev.de/grossstadtwildnis-entdecken/
Kartoffelkombinat e.V. (n.d.-b). Projektübersicht—Kartoffelkombinat—Der Verein e.V. Retrieved 7 June 2023, from https://kartoffelkombinat-ev.de/projektuebersicht/
LORA MÜNCHEN. (2021, September 9). Mobilitätsprojekte im öffentlichen Raum: Der „Erdlink“ des Kartoffelkombinats. https://lora924.de/2021/09/09/mobilitaetsprojekte-im-oeffentlichen-raum-der-erdlink-des-kartoffelkombinats/
Lotter, D. W., Seidel, R., & Liebhardt, W. (2003). The performance of organic and conventional cropping systems in an extreme climate year | American Journal of Alternative Agriculture | Cambridge Core. American Journal of Alternative Agriculture, 18(3), 146–154. https://doi.org/10.1079/AJAA200345
Meincke, I. (2021, August 30). Der ErdLink – ein Bauerngarten wandelt die Straßenstadt. https://kartoffelkombinat-ev.de/2021/08/der-erdlink-ein-bauerngarten-wandelt-die-strassenstadt/
Nair, A., & Delate, K. (2016). Composting, Crop Rotation, and Cover Crop Practices in Organic Vegetable Production. In D. Nandwani (Ed.), Organic Farming for Sustainable Agriculture (pp. 231–257). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26803-3_11
Pimentel, D., Hepperly, P., Hanson, J., Douds, D., & Seidel, R. (2005). Environmental, Energetic, and Economic Comparisons of Organic and Conventional Farming Systems. BioScience, 55(7), 573. https://doi.org/10.1641/0006-3568(2005)055[0573:EEAECO]2.0.CO;2
Tuomisto, H. L., Hodge, I. D., Riordan, P., & Macdonald, D. W. (2012). Does organic farming reduce environmental impacts? – A meta-analysis of European research. Journal of Environmental Management, 112, 309–320. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2012.08.018
ReparadTUM, a Student Bike Kitchen initiative in Munich
By Santiago Londoño Castillo
ReparadTUM volunteer taking a look at the cogset of a bike during one of the pop-up workshops held in Garching, Munich. Image by Santiago Londoño Castillo
Location:
Munich, Germany
Who are the promoters?
An internal survey conducted in 2022 indicated that over half the students at Munich’s universities cycle regularly. However, many respondents pointed out that they often lacked the tools or skills to fix their bikes in case of breakdown. Based on this information, a group of students from the technical university of Munich (TUM) and recently also from the Ludwig-Maximilian University (LMU) with the support of their respective student unions and their environment department (Referat für Umwelt), and VCD (Verkehrsclub Deutschland e.V), decided to create reparadTUM: a space for bike self-repairs, where tools are available and volunteers ready to give students a hand fixing their bikes a.k.a a bike kitchen.
Who are the beneficiaries?
The internal survey identified the TUM students at the Garching campus (on the outskirts of Munich) as the main beneficiaries of the initiative, approximately 40.000 students. The initial plan of reparadTUM was to establish a permanent bike kitchen on campus, with fixed opening days/hours. However, due to the lack of space on campus and limited funding, reparadTUM started by first hosting pop-up workshops. The pop-up workshops take place for one or two days in open spaces on campus and any student can come to fix their bike or get advice. Hitherto, three pop-up workshops have been held in Garching, almost exclusively for TUM students, and on the 31st of May, the first workshop in downtown Munich took place as a result of a collaboration between LMU and TUM students. In the long run, as more volunteers join and the project grows, the goal is to establish permanent bike kitchens in different locations on campus and to expand the number of people who can benefit from it.
What is cooking up in this kitchen?
Vision, Mision and Climate Engagement of ReparadTUM
The reparadTUM project aims to engage with climate in a manifold of ways, from the political to the more practical aspects of biking in a city, it aims to be more than simply a “green initiative”. The points below summarise not only the connections between reparadTUM and environmental issues but also the values it stands for and its objectives as a project to address those issues.
● Green mobility and mobility justice
House to the automobile giant BMW, Munich has become a city with one of the highest motorization rates in Germany, with almost 1⁄3 of all daily trips within Munich being car trips (Buehler et al., 2016). In the past years, this trend has been reversing, and the city has made a considerable effort to increase green mobility, mainly by expanding its public transportation networks, nonetheless, the transport fares remain too high for many to afford, pushing them to bike or walk. ReparaTUM believes that everyone has the right not only to safe bike roads but also to a safe and functioning bike. By providing free bike repairments, reparadTUM aims not only to boost the use of bicycles but also to keep biking from becoming a privilege that not everyone can afford.
Moreover, as a collective, reparadTUM engages with and supports larger organizations advocating for green mobility, mobility transition and bike safety, such as ADFC (German Cyclist’s Association), VCD (German Traffic Club), and Critical Mass. Among some of the key points these organizations are backing are safer and better-connected bicycle lanes, introducing speed limits in the autobahn and 30 km/h as default speed within cities, and more affordable public transportation fares. ReparadTUM has attended public demos, mass rides, and events organized by these organizations since we know that organizations, operating at a national level and working beyond “bicycle matters”, are as important as small collectives to transition to a greener and more just mobility. Thus, we seek to engage and support already established organizations advocating for mobility justice policies.
● Mutual aid and community building
Everyone involved with reparadTUM is a volunteer and none of its members receive any monetary benefits from taking part, it is overall, a solidarity project. Besides voluntary donations, used to purchase tools, no monetary transactions take place during the workshops, we work there because we enjoy doing it and not because we expect something in return. Moreover, reparadTUM wants to be more than an ordinary bike shop, where people go to just get their bike fixed and then leave, it wants to provide a social space where people go to talk, eat, teach what they know and learn what they do not, a space for the exchange of ideas, free of discrimination where everyone feels welcome, in an era of capitalist alienation we need to build stronger and healthier communities.
ReparadTUM volunteer working on a flat tyre during the last pop-up workshop held in March 2023 in Garching, Munich. Image by Santiago Londoño Castillo
● Circular economy and waste reduction
Last but not least, we live in a time where discarding something as soon as it breaks down has become the norm, and this is a problem that goes beyond individuals’consumerist/wasteful attitude, it is a problem of design, skill and costs. When someone’s bike breaks down, many people cannot afford to take it to a bike shop due to their high costs, at the same time, most people do not have the right tools at home to fix their bike, and if they do many simply do not have the skills. The result is that the person stops using their bike, insists on riding a broken and potentially dangerous bike, or, given the high prices for certain bike fixes compared to second-hike bikes, buys a used bike. The outcome is almost universally the same, a bike, far from completing its useful lifespan, going to waste. ReparadTUM wants to address this issue, not only by providing the tools and assistance for citizens to fix their bikes, but also by teaching them the necessary skills to fix a bike, so that next time not only can this person fix their bike if it breaks, but maybe even assist their neighbours or family, saving yet one more bike from going to waste. ReparadTUM is no ordinary bike workshop, you are your own mechanic and we just help you help yourself!
Timeline
The initiative started in the summer of 2022, the first few months consisted mainly of thinking about how to turn this idea into a reality, i.e. finding the funding, spaces, people, existing literature and similar initiatives in the city and Germany. In this initial stage, reparadTUM came a long way, members got in touch with organisations, initiatives and collectives, official and unofficial, regarding funding, ideas, challenges and limitations. Based on the feedback and information acquired during this time a realistic plan was set, initially, reparadTUM would host pop-up workshops on campus a couple of times per semester, which would provide its members with experience about bike kitchens, statistics which can then be used for further funding and planning and as a way to get exposure, i.e. what is reparadTUM and what they do. To this day, June 2023, four pop-up workshops, which nearly 100 people attended in total, have successfully taken place, three in Garching and the latest one, held on May 31st, in downtown Munich. From the positive feedback received during the workshops and as more students get on board, reparadTUM is planning to start hosting regular workshops, every two weeks, on campus after summer 2023. The idea is to have enough volunteers and attendees to be able to soon establish a permanent location on campus where the bike kitchen will regularly take place and be open a couple of times per week. If this first bike kitchen proves successful, reparadTUM would like in the long term to establish workshops in different locations and potentially expand this initiative beyond university students. Despite having been active for only one year, reparadTUM has got a long way, additionally to the successful workshops carried out so far, and the dozens of bikes saved from an early retirement, the project already counts with a bicycle-specific toolkit comparable to that of a small bike shop, and its active members have gone from a handful last year to nearly 40 at the time being, with more joining every week. Moreover, the feedback from the workshops has been almost exclusively positive, being the regularity of pop-up workshops one of the only improvement areas.
Who are the members of reparadTUM?
The majority of members are university students with very diverse backgrounds. None of us are bike experts or mechanics, many of the members did not have a lot of experience fixing bikes when they first joined the project, we are just a group of bike enthusiasts happy to learn from each other as we go. Despite most of the members being German speakers, we have a very diverse group with many international members, all reparadTUM communications and meetings are carried out in English to make it as international-friendly as possible. ReparadTUM has also received valuable support, both economically and logistically from the TUM student union, in particular its department for the environment, which also consists almost entirely of university students.
Limits and challenges
Being a very new, student-led project, reparadTUM has encountered mainly economic, and physical limitations. To begin with, the project needed initial funding to acquire the most essential tools, reparadTUM applied to several stipends, funds and funding opportunities, both public and private. Finally, after a staggering amount of paperwork and bureaucracy, which seems to be common in Germany, reparadTUM secured its initial funding to kickstart the project. However, the funding itself came with its limitations, in particular, since the funding came from the student union, only students could attend the pop-up workshops, something which has impacted severely the outreach of the project. Another limitation has been space, due to the shortage of rooms at the university campus, reparadTUM has been unable to find a permanent location where to set up its operations, currently, the project could not afford to rent a permanent place and all the tools are inconveniently stored at the student union’s basement.
Bike owner cleaning the chain of their bike during one of reparadTUM’s pop-up workshops in Garching. Image by Dais Davy
Criticism
One significant shortcoming of this project has been its target audience and outreach. Despite having the intention to reach out to as many people as possible, reparadTUM has so far remained almost entirely within the student sphere in Munich, mainly two factors account for this; funding and location. First of all, as was discussed before, since most funding comes from the student union, due to legal reasons reparadTUM can only provide tools and spare parts to students. Moreover, the funding received so far has been able to secure only a limited number of tools and spare parts, making it difficult to increase the project’s outreach without increasing the funding accordingly. Secondly, most of the students involved in the project are located on the Garching campus, 20 km away from the city centre, where so far most of the pop-up workshops have taken place. Due to its distance from the city and the presence almost exclusively of the university in this area, the majority of people biking from and to Garching are students. In the long term, hopefully, reparadTUM will manage to increase the number of people that have access to their workshops and bike kitchens, one step in this direction is already being taken; on May 31st reparadTUM held its first pop-up workshop in the city centre, which proved to be a great success, with a record-high attendance.
Replicability
Replicability is one of the greatest advantages of this project. One needs very little to get a bike kitchen started, from our experience at reparadTUM we have noticed that a great number of the bikes that are brought to the workshops can be fixed with very basic tools: patches, screwdrivers, hex keys and oil. Bike kitchens can be easily started at any scale, neighbourhood, school, workplace, university, or city, one only needs a couple of tools and a group of motivated people who are willing to learn and do not mind getting their hands dirty. Naturally, as the scale of the bike kitchen grows so do the challenges it involves and the resources necessary, which means that if you want to give it a shot, call your friends and neighbours, gather some tools and get to work!
Pop-up workshop held by reparadTUM in November 2022 in Garching, Munich Image by Santiago Londoño Castillo
Is reparadTUM conducive to broader changes?
The power of initiatives such as reparadTUM lies in its simplicity, both in terms of replicability and implementation. Just a year ago, reparadTUM started with a couple of students and bike enthusiasts with some basic tools and very little bike-repairing experience, today, the project counts nearly 40 members, a well-equipped tool-box and many plans to keep growing and doing what we love.
Bike kitchens and projects like reparadTUM want to provide new ways to look not only at bike repair but at community initiatives as a whole. As a living example of mutual aid and community economies, bike kitchens show us that other ways of providing services and interacting with each other, outside the capitalist sphere, are possible, work and are already here. Bike kitchens modify our reality, a broken bike goes from being a potentially very expensive nightmare, into an opportunity to learn a new skill, hang out with your friends and all without having to spend money. Then, the natural question becomes “If this is possible for bikes why not for everything else?”. Big disruptions begin with small changes led by strong communities, which then lead to new policies first at the local and ultimately at the national and global scale. ReparadTUM is just one out of hundreds of community initiatives springing all around the world, ultimately, all these initiatives strive to build a better and more just world, one community at a time.
References
Buehler, R., Pucher, J., Gerike, R., & Götschi, T. (2017). Reducing car dependence in the heart of Europe: lessons from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Transport Reviews, 37(1), 4–28. doi:10.1080/01441647.2016.1177799
Monika Didžiulytė
“September in Šilainiai Gardens” by Vytautas Paplauskas (2022), URL: https://www.facebook.com/silainiusodai/photos/pb.100064754194218.-2207520000./5883427801667742/?type=3, used with permission from the initiative
Šilainiai Gardens.
Where is this grassroots initiative implemented? Who are the promoters? Who are the beneficiaries?
Šilainai Gardens is a public urban garden located in the Šilainiai neighborhood of Kaunas, Lithuania. The Šilainiai neighborhood is a so-called “sleeping neighborhood,” primarily consisting of residential apartment buildings. It is home to approximately 50,000 residents, mainly senior individuals and families with children.
Established in 2018, the Šilainai Gardens project aims to preserve and continue the traditions and practices of the local community, which has been actively involved in gardening and greening the area since the interwar period.
Currently, the project is supported by the Lithuanian Culture Council, Kaunas city municipality and a public enterprise called the Kaunas Fort Park. The Šilainai Gardens is managed and supervised by Evelina Šimkutė – garden’s project coordinator.
How does this initiative engage with climate? Does it tackle mitigation, adaptation, both or other dimensions of climate change?
The Šilainiai Gardens project is contributing to both mitigation and adaptation efforts. The project’s vision identified its benefits for people and the city. City utilities, city assets, and sustainability are particularly relevant in this context. The document argues that composting eliminates organic waste, significantly reduces the need for packaging, alleviates pressure on waste collection and transportation, and decreases illegal dumping. Additionally, the project as a whole contributes to sustainability by reducing the heat island effect, slowing down water flow to increase infiltration, rehabilitating the soil, and enhancing resilience in the food system. Importantly, the document aligns with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) established by the UN (Šimkutė et al., 2018).
More specifically, the garden managers prioritize environmentally conscious practices and organize lectures and educational activities to teach responsible and effective gardening methods that minimize harm to the surrounding ecosystem. For example, lectures on non-chemical methods of pest control, such as dealing with slugs, have been provided. Additionally, participants and attendees are encouraged to use reusable containers and be mindful of their environmental impact during events (Šilainių Sodai, n.d.).
Furthermore, Šilainai Gardens serves as an educational and resilience-building space. Various lectures are held, covering topics such as permaculture and biomimicry, which introduce participants to sustainable and nature-inspired solutions for urban gardening. The project also regularly organizes tidy-up days, contributing to the protection of the environment and the preservation of the area’s natural beauty (Šilainių Sodai, n.d.). Ultimately, Šilainai Gardens cultivates resilience, a sense of community, sustainable cohabitation practices, and offers an alternative to more harmful food production practices.
What are the main objectives? What are the main values?
The values of the Šilainiai Gardens project encompass the preservation of traditional practices and knowledge, sustainable social and agricultural practices, sustainable cohabitation of people with flora and fauna, biodiversity, resilience, and more.
The primary goal of the project has always been to meet the demand of urbanites for gardening spaces. The area’s residents, particularly senior citizens, have already utilized areas for gardening purposes and have greened the neighborhood by planting trees and bushes, enhancing the aesthetics in the Soviet-style modern architecture in the area. The project has provided the community with a space where they can practice traditional, sustainable, and safe gardening, while also fostering a sense of community and cultivating resilience among its members (Šimkutė et al., 2018).
The initiative’s coordinator, E. Šimkutė, emphasizes the importance of harmony between nature, humans, and heritage. By involving artists and scholars, the project has facilitated learning about the ecosystem itself and sustainable solutions for effective and safe gardening practices. The community has discovered over 300 different species, and through sustainable gardening and tending to the green areas, the space has become friendly and inviting to animals and birds, including foxes, newts, frogs, thrushes, blackbirds, nightingales, and bees. When working in the gardens, consideration is given to the cycles of birds, bees, dragonflies, and butterflies, and efforts are made to disturb them as little as possible (Javaitytė, 2022).
Coordinator Šimkutė also highlights the importance of preserving traditional knowledge. The garden serves as a space to share and pass on the knowledge about growing food. Senior gardeners, particularly those with rural backgrounds, play a significant role as natural educators, frequently assisting urbanites with their crops and stepping in to help rectify mistakes (Javaitytė, 2022). This involvement of senior citizens is particularly significant because Soviet-style apartment building areas are predominantly occupied by them (Burneika, Ubarevičienė & Baranuskaitė 2019).
Image 2: A photo of a bee in Šilainiai Gardens by Vytautas Paplauskas (2021) https://www.facebook.com/silainiusodai/photos/pb.100064754194218.-2207520000./4500489259961610/?type=3, used with permission from the initiative Šilainiai Gardens.
Senior citizens involved in the project share that gardening is now their primary activity since retiring. The project provides them with a safe and natural space for engaging in pleasant physical activity and relaxation. It offers easy access to nature, allowing them to enjoy its tranquility, grow their own crops, and harvest fruits, vegetables, berries, and greens. Many of these residents have been gardening since their childhood or youth. Hence, working outdoors, enjoying the fresh air and growing food themselves is important to their lifestyle and identity (Šimkutė, n.d. -a).
Finally, the garden values community. The coordinator emphasizes that the garden is is first and foremost an informal community engaged in shared activities. The community consists of over 100 people, and their plots range from 1 square meter in raised beds to larger traditional plots. It not only aims to bring neighborhood residents together but also encourages and welcomes anyone interested to participate continuously or as a guest. The place is open for visitors to take harvest from shared farming beds with community signs, indicating that anyone can come and water the plants or taste the produce (Krapavickaitė, 2021).
Image 3: ”June in the educational beds of Šilainiai Gardens” by Vytautas Paplauskas (2021) https://www.facebook.com/silainiusodai/photos/pb.100064754194218.-2207520000./4361511580526046/?type=3, used with permission from the initiative Šilainiai Gardens.
What is the timeline? Are there already visible effects?
The Šilainiai Gardens project has its roots in the interwar period when residents first began engaging in gardening activities in the area. The project is situated within the Kaunas Fortress, which was originally constructed to protect the Russian Empire’s western borders. Like many military and imperial heritage sites, it carries a controversial and often negative historical and social meaning. Despite this, locals managed to repurpose the area after World War I, utilizing the tunnels as natural refrigerators for storing and preserving their harvests (Šimkutė et al., 2018).
In 1984, the Šilainiai neighborhood was established, and apartment buildings were constructed. Many residents of the newly built neighborhoods, originating from rural areas, continued gardening activities in the area. The newcomers took the initiative to clean the run-down and overgrown territory of the VIII fort, which was covered in bushes and infested with Sosnowsky’s hogweed. They planted trees and plants, creating a community garden that, by 1999, was already well-established (Šimkutė et al., 2018; Krapavickaitė, 2021).
Image 4: ”Spring in Šilainiai Gardens” by Vytautas Paplauskas (2021) https://www.facebook.com/silainiusodai/photos/pb.100064754194218.-2207520000./4239055472771658/?type=3, used with permission from the initiative Šilainiai Gardens.
In more recent years, as many original residents of the neighborhood entered retirement, gardening has become one of their main activities. However, there has also been a rise in robberies and instances of destruction. These incidents have led to heightened levels of physical and perceived insecurity, resulting in a demand for increased supervision and administration of the area. Formalizing activities through the Šilainiai Gardens project has played a crucial role in providing a safe environment for senior residents to continue their traditional practices (Šimkutė et al., 2018).
In 2018, a transformative project was initiated by the residents and volunteers, with the support of various partners. The project aimed to revitalize the area and promote sustainable gardening practices. The Kaunas Fort Park enterprise provided the land for this initiative, creating a dedicated space for the Šilainiai Gardens project to flourish (Šilainiai Project, 2019). The project has also been supported financially by the Lithuanian Culture Council. The Council provides funding for materials and tools necessary for enabling educational communal activities, which include clean-up events, workshops, lectures with naturalists and gardening experts, seed exchanges, grass mowing and more (Šilainių Sodai, n.d.). From 2020, the project has also received support from the “Initiatives for Kaunas” program of the Kaunas municipality (Krapavickaitė, 2021).
Since the inception of the project, Šilainiai Gardens have grown into a thriving community-driven endeavor, attracting over 100 members and fostering a sense of togetherness among the residents. The community holds gardening meetings every Wednesday from 18:00 to 20:00, organizes clean-up events on weekends, and hosts workshops on Sundays (Krapavickaitė, 2021).
Image 5: A photo of participants involved in the outdoors furniture making workshop by Vytautas Paplauskas (2020),
https://www.facebook.com/silainiusodai/photos/pb.100064754194218.-2207520000./3440968382580375/?type=3, used with permission from the initiative Šilainiai Gardens.
Who are the actors involved? What are their backgrounds?
Evelina Šimkutė is an artist and cultural producer who specializes in socially engaged art and creative place-making practices. She graduated from the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in 2012 and is currently based in Lithuania. Since 2015, Evelina has been leading the ‘Šilainiai Project,’ a creative platform in the Šilainiai housing estate in Kaunas. Evelina is a coordinator and an active initiator of the Šilainiai Urban Gardens initiative, focusing on long-term strategies for a sustainable city and community development in the neighborhood. E. Šimkutė is an actor organizer and participant of all the events, whose genuine and active involvement in the community is evident. Evelina is active on social media communicating and sharing events and achievements of the community (Šimkutė n.d. -b).
Are any shortcomings or critical points visible? What other problematic
issues can arise from its implementation?
It is difficult to critically evaluate the implementation of the project. It would perhaps require comprehensive research, such as an anthropological study or a survey of participants and neighbors. However, from an amateur outsider’s perspective, the project seems to have proven itself as a long-term, needed, effective, and practical initiative. I would attribute its success to the project managers and initiators drawing from the community’s traditional practices, which were already in place and are now supported and amplified through the project’s more formal structure and funding.
How would it be potentially replicable in other settings?
Considering the significance of multiapartment buildings in Lithuanian architecture and their predominant occupancy by individuals often as old as the buildings themselves, it is reasonable to assume that this initiative could be replicated throughout the country. Considering that over 60% of Lithuanians reside in multiapartment buildings, with more than 70% of these buildings constructed before 1991, it is evident that many neighborhoods share similar characteristics with Šilainiai in terms of architecture, urban planning, and sociodemographics (fi-compass, n.d.; Renonbill, n.d.; ). These neighborhoods and their elderly residents could benefit from access to community and safe spaces promoting comfortable and active lifestyle essential for health and well-being. Consequently, in Lithuania, the Šilainiai Urban Gardens model could prove effective in promoting resilience, and a certain level of autonomy among senior citizens. However, it’s worth noting that some neighborhoods may not have access to land resources similar to what Šilainiai Gardens in Kaunas Fort Park offers, which could be seen as a primary limitation.
Is this initiative conducive to broader changes? If yes, which?
The Šilainiai Gardens initiative can be considered conducive to broader changes and has the potential to impact various aspects of the community and its surroundings. The support and recognition from the city municipality, as well as the involvement of diverse non-governmental social enterprises, highlight the effectiveness, visibility, and versatility of the project.
In terms of broader changes, the initiative promotes social and environmental sustainability. By preserving traditional practices and knowledge, fostering sustainable social and agricultural practices, and promoting the cohabitation of people with flora and fauna, the Šilainiai Gardens project contributes to a more sustainable way of living. It encourages sustainable gardening practices, the use of non-chemical methods for pest control, and the cultivation of biodiversity, all of which have positive effects on the environment.
Additionally, the project promotes community preparedness and resilience. Through its emphasis on community engagement, shared activities, and the involvement of senior citizens with rural backgrounds, the initiative strengthens the sense of community and cultivates resilience among its members. The gardens provide a safe and natural space for physical activity, relaxation, and the sharing of traditional knowledge. By involving educators and naturalists, the project also promotes learning and encourages the passing on of knowledge to younger generations.
Institutionally, the support from the city municipality and the involvement of social enterprises indicate recognition of the importance of community-driven initiatives and the value they bring to the neighborhood. This recognition could lead to the developing of more supportive policies and institutional arrangements that encourage and facilitate similar grassroots projects in the future. The project’s success and its positive impact on the community’s well-being could inspire other neighborhoods or cities to adopt similar initiatives, further contributing to long-term sustainability and community preparedness.
In that regard, it is important to note that the Šilainiai Gardens initiative drew on experiences of overseas urban gardens. The project vision initiators overviewed Battery Urban Farm in NY (US), Lasnaidee Laagna Garden in Tallinn, and Aleksandri Community Garden in Tartu (Estonia) (Šimkutė et al., 2018). Moreover, representatives from Lasnaidee Garden visited Šilainiai Gardens, sharing their success stories and holding a workshop. The Furniture workshop, in particular, was an activity adapted from the Estonian friends (Javaitytė, 2022). This indicates cohesion among urban projects and the potential for the diffusion of these models.
Overall, the Šilainiai Gardens initiative goes beyond its immediate impact on gardening and community engagement. It has the potential to catalyze broader changes in terms of social, environmental, and institutional aspects, fostering a more sustainable, resilient, and prepared community.
References:
Burneika, D., Ubarevičienė, R., & Baranuskaitė, A. (2019). Soviet housing estates in Vilnius, Lithuania: socio-ethnic structure and future (-less?) Perspectives. Housing estates in the Baltic countries: The legacy of central planning in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The Urban Book Series, Cham: Springer, 247-270.
fi-compass. (n.d.). Energy-saving renovation: good for the planet…and for the wallet. Retrieved June 14, 2023. https://www.fi-compass.eu/f/the-beacon-winter-2020-2021/energy-saving-renovation-in-lithuania/
Javaitytė S. (2022). VIII forto slėnyje įsikūrę Šilainių sodai – žydintis rojaus kampelis mieste. Kas vyksta Kaune. https://kaunas.kasvyksta.lt/2022/05/15/video/viii-forto-slenyje-isikure-silainiu-sodai-zydintis-rojaus-kampelis-mieste/
Krapavickaitė D. (2021). „Šilainių sodai“ laukia naujakurių! Kauno diena. https://kauno.diena.lt/naujienos/kaunas/miesto-pulsas/silainiu-sodai-laukia-naujakuriu-1025166
Renonbill. (n.d.). Knowledge sharing. Retreived June 14, 2023, from https://www.renonbill.eu/knowledge-sharing/the-residential-building-sector-in-lithuania?briefings=on&factsheets=on&infographics=on&language=any&reports=on&tools=on&page=1
Šilainiai Project. (2019, August 19). ŠILAINIŲ SODAI 2019 – Ilgoji versija [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnzkfjO54_Y&t=512s&pp=ygUOc2lsYWluaXUgc29kYWk%3D
Šilainių Sodai (n.d.). Posts [Facebook page]. Facebook. Retrieved June 14, 2023, from https://www.facebook.com/silainiusodai
Šimkutė E. (n.d. -a). Šilainiai Urban Gardens. Retrieved June 14, 2023, from https://evelinasimkute.com/portfolio/Šilainiai-urban-gardens/
Šimkutė E. (n.d. -b). About. Retrieved June 14, 2023, from https://evelinasimkute.com/about/
Šimkutė E. et al. (2018). Šilainiai Gardens: Military Land Reclaiming Process Through Communal Gardening.
Ysabel Muñoz Martínez
[20.07.2231]
Hey, sorry for the noise… the boat is fully booked, and you know how chatty we can get. You will probably get this message later because I’ve heard that communications are still a problem when entering the Caribe land, something about electric interference, they are saying here on the boat. May is doing alright, but I think she is a bit anxious about getting the hormones she needs in Trinidad. Other passengers recommended we travel to Santiago to get the rest of the pills in case we want to stay longer in Cuba, we’ll see. I know she’s trying to hide any signs of concern from me because I am so excited, she says I’m a little girl again. Everyone else on the boat, especially the Cubans, is excited too. Can you imagine? The CariSun Festival is not only in Cuba, but in my hometown! I guess they are really taking seriously the decentralization of everything this time, LOL… it seems like all the criticism paid off, and the R2.0 (2nd Cuban Revolution, updated in 2180) is really going somewhere.
I am just a bit tired with all the travelling, but I am still grateful we got a spot on the boat. It might take a couple of days to get there since we didn’t qualify for the flight even with my condition. It’s okay, really, my knee doesn’t hurt as much, and I think that besides worrying about the pills, May is fine. I am happy the flights are reserved for those who really need to be there or can’t endure a trip this long… It is hard to even conceive how people were flying so much back then, especially to the Caribbean every other weekend off just for a holiday. I’ve heard cruise ships were popular too, but nobody would travel to the island in one of those. To think their casual visits were in fact contributing to destroying our islands’ beauty…
This boat is relatively small, but the 46 people on board are making everything work so efficiently. Speaking of which, we are on kitchen duty tomorrow, so I will probably not be recording any messages, but we’re almost there, so I’ll send you another voice message when in Trinidad. Remember these aunties love you!
[27.07.2231]
Oh, my Goddess! The Sun! So bright, so strong! My skin sensors are showing crazy readings, but the locals say it is normal this time of the year, but they are still recommending staying outside just long enough to recharge one’s battery. They have planned the recovery and organization activities for the early morning or late afternoon, but there is not much more to do, to be honest. We met a volunteer from Boriken, and he said Cuba suffered a bit more from the hurricane Atama, but the response was so quick from the island, its neighbors and nationals in the diaspora who –like us– came soon as they could, that everything was almost completely back to normal in less than a month. In the mornings we are attending the food garden Mama prepared in the neighborhood’s corner, and thanks to her contacts we got nice shifts at the local Archivo descolonial y ecofeminista checking if the documents were damaged by the humidity left by the hurricane. We are actually having so much fun it hardly feels like work, but the archive is so big that you come across with the most different materials, from a 400-year-old newspaper clip announcing the sale of a slave, to a picture album with the latest festival of the queerafrocaribbean collective. Bodies in pain, and bodies in joy, they are all part of the archive now.
The best moment of the day is the afternoon, no doubt. With a milder sun and soft breeze we sit on the stairs in the old city, under the bougainvillea tree. It is so perfect! This is the only fruitless tree that has been permitted because the entire place is supposed to be covered with native fruit trees to provide free edibles, but the flower is so iconic in the city that people agreed on having them in certain places. I have been watching a music video filmed almost a century ago, and that particular spot doesn’t seem to change. They keep playing that electronic version of Compay Segundo’s Chan Chan and it gets me so sentimental every time. We just sit there and relax, catching up with anyone who passes by and wants to join. We’ve learnt so much about the festival, and how challenging the preparation has been, but everyone agrees this is going to be one of the best ones in the last decades since Caribbean cities started hosting this celebration in 2194, honoring the forces of nature, both the energy from sun and the cleansing chaos of the hurricane.
[29.07.2231]
I was expecting some security in the streets because Teja Salomon should be arriving soon. For being one of the best well-known minds of the century one would assume it would be a great fuzz, but I always forget how the quotidian and extraordinary walk hand by hand on these islands. I have seen some zines and pamphlets about the super scientist circulating around though, their research in human body transition led to such an impressive discovery regarding our own bodies’ capacity to harness energy from almost everything, especially from the sun. What I like the most is how the information was more focused on how the discovery changed forever the way we perceive energy consumption: we use that which we ourselves produce, and the surplus goes to your nearest community.
I can’t believe how there are still people trying to make money out of socellar technology, because commercialization is heavily penalized, but you know how we humans are… (rolling my eyes). Salomon is now retired, but thankfully they have made sure nobody can put a patent on this technology, so the greed of both individuals and big corps has been temporarily kept at bay. The problem now has been how to approach the migration situation since many people want to come to Caribe land with tempting offers to the government to export energy. Voting starts next week, but Mama told us Trinidad has already chosen not to open the city, at least not to westerners. Most people here resent them due to the old histories of colonialism and tourism, others argue this is nonetheless discriminatory. In any case, the sun is still the treasure of the tropics, and many celebrate these days that we have been harvesting its energy long before socellar technologies came into the picture.
[01.08.2231]
I can’t believe that the day has finally come, and the festival will start in only a few hours! May and I were so excited this morning that we decided to put on our wedding suits because they were still in our old wardrobe, and all our other white pieces are dirty until next week, when it is supposed to rain. Everyone will be in white today, the intention is twofold, for maximizing the energy harvest and a reverence to our Santeria heritage. Can you hear the music in the background? They have been playing this anthem all day and we just can’t stop smiling and moving our bodies to Bob’s rhythm. We’re going out now, everyone is on the streets… Wait, May wants to sing a bit for you…
Sun is shining, the weather is sweet, yeah
Make you wanna move your dancing feet now
To the rescue, here I am
Want you to know, y’all, can you understand?
here I am
Want you to know just if you can
(Tuesday evening) where i stand
(Wednesday morning)
Tell myself a new day is rising
(Thursday evening) get on the rise
A new day is dawning
(Friday morning) here I am
(Saturday evening) want you to know just
Want you to know just where I stand
When the morning gathers the rainbow
Want you to know I’m a rainbow too…
Paola Tásai
Introduction
The historical conception of Western society is based on linear time. The original peoples of Abya Yala conceive of time and space in many different ways. In this sense, thinking about past, present and future time as something that is in a constant spiral is something that is repeated in the worldviews of many of them. This creative writing is based on and felt from that notion. These are small thoughts about how I imagine the future in three significant places at different moments in my life: Ignacio Zaragoza, Chihuahua in México, the town where I grew up, where I locate my roots, the city of Chihuahua, México where I spent my adolescence and early years of professional life, and the city of Granada, Spain where I am currently studying a doctorate in History and Arts. These three places are connected by something more than my personal history, they are places that speak of the rural and the urban, the periphery and the center, but they are also places that reflect in their daily symbolism the colonial history that, from many places we are working on from a decolonial approach. To heal that historical wound. This is a contribution to it.
Ignacio Zaragoza, Chihuahua, Mexico
The town where I grew up. In northern Mexico. It is the year 2200 and Hortensia, a 10-year-old girl rides a bicycle in the streets of the town center. Her family works in the collective garden that provides the population with food, as well as in the vegetable proteins factory. That day at school her homework was to explore the town doing her favorite activity, which is riding a bicycle. Hortensia’s classroom, nestled under the shade of ancient trees, was a sanctuary of shared wisdom. The stories of the bear day had been passed down through generations, a reminder of the strength that lay within each individual when united by a common goal. The tale was etched in the minds of young and old alike, a beacon of hope and inspiration. In the heart of the town, a statue of a bear reaching for the sky served as a perpetual reminder of their capacity to overcome adversity.
That day she even rode until the house for her grandmother, with whom she spent hours talking and she told her that in the first decades of the 21st century the town went through a very complicated situation where groups of armed people, drug traffickers and hit men almost destroyed the town. Many people suffered then, but around the year 2030 there was a great awakening among the population that intelligently put a stop to the situation and managed to rebuild the peace they had before this violent process began. It got dark, Hortensia realized that she had a lot to tell the next day at school, she looked at the starry night sky and felt at peace. What a fortune to have a place to breathe fresh air, drink clean water, ride a bike safely.
The year 2200 found Ignacio Zaragoza bathed in the warm embrace of transformation. Streets once marred by violence now teemed with life and purpose. With each harvest, the townspeople remembered the lessons of their ancestors, fostering a bond with the land that sustained them.
Chihuahua, Mexico
The capital city of the northern province of Mexico. The Sister of Hortensia lives in the City of Chihuahua, although learning is no longer limited to attending universities, because in Ignacio Zaragoza there are, since the people managed to be reborn from the tragedy, places of common study, where the ancestral knowledge of the region is transmitted. There, people build their identity and discover how they can gradually improve their relationship with each other, but above all, how to keep the town in harmony with the environment. Teresa is 20 years old and wakes up in her student apartment with a beautiful view of the self-sustaining park that is located in the complex. Her first class of the day is on the history of the early 20th century. She´s interested on Intercultural humanities studies of the 21st century. Since she was little, speaks 5 languages: Rarámuri, ódami, Pima, Warijó and Spanish and is learning English and French. To get to her class she transports herself in an individual capsule that works with solar energy. Teresa grew up in Ignacio Zaragoza and wanted to move to Chihuahua for study in the free University where she could have free access to a big complex of digital and physical papers of knowledge. As Hortensia realized that day, Teresa learned about the process of revolution of 2030 in Ignacio Zaragoza. The people in 2200 called “the bear day”, because everything started with a bear in the center of the town trying to go high in a three, a lot of people arrive to know the animal, and then, naturally, they started to talk about the scary situation about the town. The “bear day” was celebrated annually, not just in Ignacio Zaragoza, but throughout the region. Festivals brought people together, reinforcing the values of unity and resilience. Folklore and history intertwined, creating a tapestry of identity that honored both the past and the present. Teresa’s fascination with this tale led her to study the interplay between history and collective memory, a subject that resonated far beyond her classroom.
The forests surrounding Ignacio Zaragoza contain ancestral wisdom that was then hidden from people who lived under constant siege by violent groups. Many lives were lost due to the chaos caused by the struggle between criminal groups to control the illegal sale of narcotics. The peasants were weakened because their ability to produce food was reduced at the end of the twentieth century when bad governments led to the decline of the economy of the region this combined with international treaties that only benefited the neighboring country to the north. Faced with such a scenario, that day, that bear as a carrier of ancestral energy transmitted the strength that people needed to defend themselves. Five people traveled to Chihuahua city from that time and they got some training in human rights, they got strong knowledge for defend themselves and also created a new way to kick out the criminal from the town. It was not an easy struggle, but with the passage of time they managed to build what was thought impossible, a quiet place to live in harmony and peace with nature. Thanks to that day the intercultural teaching started, and she can talk 5 languages.
Granada, Spain
Far away from México, crossing the transatlantic ocean, the capital city of the province where the Catholic kings signed the capitulations with Christopher Columbus that would give way to what is known as the colonization of America has an anticolonial museum in the center of the city where all the symbols that remained from that past were placed. The intercultural city is connected by green spaces where you can walk car-free and there is a plant and animal integration system that allows a biocentred coexistence. Adela, Hortensia and Teresa’s aunt lives in Granada. Part of his life interest was to know what was on the other side of the sea and understand a little more of the history, understand how people in Europe in 2030 managed to overcome green neo-fascisms, these currents that sought to make energy “sustainable” by filling peasant lands with solar cells and extracting lithium from Latin America as well as Africa for electric power batteries. People in Europe were also very brave when they had to face the colonizing project that at that time had been just over 500 years old. Power groups consumed natural resources under the pretext of economic growth that was leading the planet to self-destruction. Adela deeply admired how the people of Chihuahua and Granada faced racism and the annihilation of migrants. Adela was proud to speak the ancestral native languages that they managed to rescue at that time and also speak the Andalusian language, a mixture between Spanish and Andalusian Arabic.
In Granada, Adela’s journey of self-discovery paralleled the city’s commitment to healing and reconciliation. The anticolonial museum stood as a tribute to the pain of the past, a space for reflection and transformation. Adela’s research delved deep into the annals of history, uncovering stories of resistance and revival. She marveled at the parallels between Ignacio Zaragoza’s journey and that of communities across the world, their struggles and victories interconnected by a common thread.
The interconnectedness of these three places went beyond their narratives. It was a philosophy, a way of life that transcended borders. They had embraced a resource-based economy, recognizing the fragility of Earth’s resources and the urgency of stewardship. Communities flourished by valuing quality over quantity, forging connections that transcended material wealth.
The people in this three places has something in common: they live in peace with nature and they can adapt to the needs of the movement and cycles of the earth. They don´t want to reach other planets but respect the local spaces. The monetary system doesn’t exist anymore. They changed for an economy based on resources where every community use only what they need and spend quality time with the people they care. Nobody knows if this will stay like that always, but at least in this beyond utopic thinking (because this actually can happen), it is a reality, like the spiral time where the past and the future are here.
As the years marched on, the spiral of time continued its dance, bringing the past forward and propelling the future into the present. Ignacio Zaragoza, Chihuahua, and Granada had become more than physical places; they were embodiments of humanity’s potential for growth and renewal. The generations that followed, inspired by the stories of these places, carried their spirit forward, weaving new chapters into the tapestry of existence. And as the sun dipped below the horizon, casting a golden glow upon these lands, the promise of a harmonious future seemed more attainable than ever before.
By Dishannesha Mukherjee
I
The hunger of the river- talks of it were afloat in the air even before this generation was born. Their forefathers had seen the signs, but were unable, perhaps even unwilling to face the music. You see, it was but a landmass populated by insignificant outcasts, so, why would it not be insulated from the bad of the world as it was from the good? You see, they had made the land theirs through the toil of centuries, surely they can keep a hold on it. They had fought with a multitude of enemies- one of which was always inevitably the river and its roaring tides. However, paradoxically, the river was their lifeline- they felt in its waves an extension of the constant throbbing of the blood which flowed within their veins.
Their connection was undeniable which made these people the people of water. It was a divine river, vested with the powers to wash away human sins, so surely its holy powers would not fail in eradicating the looming evil. Its waters were brought into the earth from the heavens for this very purpose. Here, where the river divided herself into uncountable channels to rush towards the sea, the land was ever moody. Sometimes, it evaded sight, sometimes it showed itself. That is why when the men first decided to claim the land from the tides, they had to create embankments to mark their territory.
The river wasn’t too pleased with it and always communicated its displeasure by trying to wrest the land back into its belly. Hence, the constant tussle. In a vicious, yet ironic twist of fate, the actions of humans all over the world disgruntled the oceans. The displeasure channelled itself into this riverine estuary via the waves of the rivers. The holy droplets of water were polluted with human greed which turned it to poison. Its heart corrupted with the venom of rage, the waves danced to the tune of devastation. Even in the thinnest of its extensions, one could feel the rejuvenated strength. Anger, and a desire to conquer back the snatched land surged with its waves. Water. Water. Eating away at the fading landscape. Finally, everywhere. Where do you go when your home refuses to house you?
II
Tushi was ten years old. Her family were fortunate enough to live in an area which withstood the river’s plundering, for now at least. However, the slow land erosion did not safeguard them from the other dangers of the watery invasion. Destitution and diseases hung like miasma over the remaining land. It rained from the clouds and blew with the cyclonic winds. Tushi and her family still clung to their homestead, or whatever remained of it after the annual floods receded. The land was a ghost of its former self, unable to support the dreams- or the corporeal existence of the hordes that claimed kinship to it. You see, even in its heyday, the delicate and complex ecosystem of the land hadn’t been able to yield enough to sustain the population. With the bounty of the forest, the people had somehow made it through, but with almost the entirety of the forests gone, that was no longer an option. The remaining mangrove warriors were too battle-weary to provide protection against the regular onslaught of cyclonic storms.
Even then, Tushi and people like her had clung to the land, for as long as they could, as there wasn’t any other alternative. Cyclones and saline swells ravaged their dwelling, uprooted the homestead, and rooted hopelessness deep in their hearts. Tushi saw the river every day. It was an integral part of her life even in the days it benignly floated her father’s boat. The family depended on the murky tides for sustenance, so the river was almost like a family member, always at the hearth, ever present even in absence.
However, it was impossible to cling to the illusion of safety now. Their village had become uninhabitable. If they wished to live, they must move. Packing wasn’t all that difficult, a few rag tag clothes to cover their bodies, some utensils to fill their stomachs when they could manage to procure food, her parents and younger brother- Tushi was ready to go. They must leave before this year’s monsoon winds enter the delta.
The journey started.
III
Over the years, just like the hungry river that flowed through the land, the city of Kolkata had also slowly but surely encroached on the periphery. Such seamless integration made it rather difficult to demarcate its boundary. It was like the Cretan labyrinth, populated by hordes of ashen faces, each more troubled than the previous. To Tushi, it was like looking into a mirror. Everywhere she looked, she saw an image of utter destitution- like herself and her family. But, even in alike appearances, where was the kindred spirit?
Tushi and her brother Montu took care of each other during the day as their parents were roaming the city, searching for work. Initially, the siblings were intimidated by the strange environment. The only thing that stood out to them about their new home was the filth that laid all around. The “home” they were staying in was a ramshackle one room structure they shared with another family of four in one of the newest and dingiest slum-mushrooms that had cropped up on the body of the city.
In this potpourri of unfamiliar currents, Bashir Ali became the only island of familiarity to Tushi and Montu.
Bashir was the same age as Tushi and belonged to a family which, just like Tushi’s, was one of the last to leave their village behind. Even though they hailed from different villages in the same region, now they found themselves struggling side by side for survival in one of the many, many slums of a city which was populated by many millions. What are the odds! In life, poverty proved itself time and again as the greatest equaliser- making people of all creeds and castes and religions brethren in the struggle to live.
While Tushi’s family worked the river, Tariq, Bashir’s grandfather worked the forest. Mauley– honey gatherers is the name for their profession. With the government becoming stringent regarding who gets to rightfully enter the barely surviving mangrove forest, these professionals went almost extinct (just like the tigers!). They believed that the humans and tigers in the delta were brothers who shared the same fate for they were the children of the same mother- Bonbibi1. The animals and the humans of the delta shared the same fate, so it is only right they share the same mother.
In the sweltering heat of the summer noon, Tushi, Montu and Bashir gathered around Tariq Ali to listen to the stories of bygone days. This was how it has always been. Tariq had learnt all he knew sitting at the knee of his elders and now in turn shared with the future generation his patrimonial wisdom. Oh how magical those stories were! Tariq spoke of his lost home, his childhood, the forest, the rivers, the people and the bygone days.
He told them stories of how they lived back in the days when the river wasn’t so vengeful. He spoke of journeys into the forest, of encounters with tigers and crocodiles, of how their ancestors came and wrestled with nature to win this home-land that was now gone. He spoke of Bonbibi and Dakshin Ray2, celebrations and festivals, and the brotherhood of men that are no more. As he recounted the stories his voice was embittered by the recounting of losses. Tariq spoke with nostalgia but the children heard only love.
The trio sometimes listened mesmerised and sometimes assailed their Dadu3 with a plethora of questions. Tushi and Montu kept whispering these stories to each other as they laid in the darkness waiting for sleep to come, beside their exhausted parents. Bashir, Tushi and Montu would often in the afternoons meet by the black-watered canal that flowed behind their houses. Here was a place that was completely their own. It is here they would imagine many answers to the supplicatory “Tarpor?4” of every story Tariq told them. It is here, miles away from their delta home, where three displaced children formed a connection to their original home.
IV
Anil, Tushi’s father had been gloomy for some days. Whenever Tushi and Montu asked him about it, he avoided answering them. This bothered the siblings greatly as their father was one of those people who always looked at the silver lining. Although Anil kept mum, the children heard something from the discussions of the adults around their home.
The gist of the matter was already familiar to them. The city of Kolkata was also besieged by the river just like their old deltaic home. It was bursting at its seams due to the explosive rise in the number of migrants. It simply wasn’t sustainable. The systems of the city barely functioned due to the influx of people. Coupled with that was the constant expansion of the river into the city. Hunger and poverty old companions, but along came disease. It became increasingly evident to everyone that not all of them could continue staying here. In fact, those who had the means had been on the move, but for those who didn’t, a decision remained to be taken.
Leaving is easy for two types of people- one, who have everything, and the other who have nothing. For people like Tushi and Bashir, the ones who had something, rather an illusion of something, it was a dilemma because hope and care is what kept them rooted in their current place.
“We will lose all that we have right now”, said Anil. “What exactly do we have that you’re so worried about losing?”, asked his wife Sandhya. Anil did not reply, and kept looking out of the door. “At least we will have the chance to have something”, his wife added in a softer tone.
This is a scene that has been recurring in Tushi and Montu’s home for almost a month now. It has been a year since Anil and Sandhya came to the big city with their children. None of them had been able to find steady work or a means of bettering their lives. They had been able to barely survive due to the solicitude of neighbours. The condition of the city itself was also rapidly worsening.
It was at this moment the announcement was made. There was a land far, far away here where there was space for them- these displaced hordes. There, the people would have a place to live, and food to eat, and work to do. Actual homes, not dingy slums. Actual food, not just scraps. All you had to do was register your name with the government and wait. Once your turn comes, you’ll be transported there with your family and the other registered people. Some people jumped at the first chance while some people, like Anil, were hesitant. Once burnt, twice shy.
Bashir, Tushi and Montu would meet at their secret place and imitate the discussions of the elders. “We will have a place to live”, Montu would say, “But, we won’t be together”, Bashir would counter. “It is a foreign land far, far away”, Tushi would add. The three would be silenced by the solemnity of those words and the ominousness of the unknown.
V
The entire colony was suspended in this dilemma when Tariq Ali called his neighbours for a discussion late one evening.
Tariq was respected in the community not only because of his age, but also because he was a relic of better bygone days. Some people answered his invitation, his next-door neighbour Anil and his family were one of them.
In a soft, low voice Tariq began his address. “I, just like you, heard about this relocation business some time ago. I was deeply anxious to hear it… I felt the same helplessness that I did when I left home with Bashir. But, during this time, many of those that lived with us have moved and that got me thinking. I am poor and illiterate, I fear the big world out there. I wanted to spend my days in the mangrove forest but that wasn’t possible, Mother Nature herself refused me- us that privilege,”Tariq’s voice moistened as he spoke these words.
He carried on. “When I-we simply couldn’t stay, so we moved here. I often thought to myself why this place? When I could have gone to any other big city with my family. I got an answer to my question as I told the stories of the life I-we lived to these children” he pointed out Tushi, Bashir and Montu among the group of listeners. “It was because I didn’t want to be far away from what I called home even when I was already exiled from it. I wanted to look at the river and pretend it’s the same. I wanted to pretend this is the same…” Tariq gestured to his ill-lit, dingy room and broke down crying.
After a few moments, he recollected himself. “As I was telling my stories I also slowly realised something- just because I moved away from the land I called home doesn’t mean I’ll have to abandon my home. I will keep it alive here” he gestured to his heart. “I moved to give Bashir a better life and I cannot do it here. So, I must move. Just like my great grandfathers had to in order to give me the life I am pining for right now. So, I’ll take my family and go to this new land. No matter how far it is, it is still under the same sky. There, we will forge a home. We will build it with the best of the home we lost.” There was a firm ring of conviction in his voice. “I will not lose my home, instead, I will just transport it elsewhere, where it will be safe.” He had composed himself by now, “But, my forefathers couldn’t have done it alone, they managed to defeat the river and the tigers because they were together. I called you here to ask for help- let not me, or any of us, go friendless to face the dangers of the unknown and the uncertain.”
That night, Anil came back home late. As soon as he did, he sat down beside Sandhya and said, “You were right… we came here to live, and this is no way of living. It will be difficult, but let’s go together. My grandparents created the homestead I pine for, and we will together create a new home for us to thrive in. At least let’s take the chance, whatever be the outcome.”
Sandhya clasped Tushi and Montu to her chest, and turning towards Anil she said, “The first step is the most scary. Alone, we might not have made it, but together, I believe we will. We will somehow manage- just like we are doing now. Our people fought the hungry river and the bloodthirsty tigers, we can do it.”
They rested that night in anticipation of tomorrow. It was an anticipation pregnant with hope, unlike their usual worries. There were a lot of preparations to be made for it was no longer only a measly number of four people who would be travelling.
Thus, the journey started.
Balint Kronstein
The warm winter sun blazing down on Áilu’s back made her especially uncomfortable with wearing her ancestors’ thick-layered gátki. She could not wait for the moment to step inside the NEA3 biodome – or how it was called officially by the Northwestern Bothania Sámi-Swedish Republic: Northvolt Ett Arctic Artificial Area – to finally get rid of her air-filtering device and all the equipment reminding her of the “outside” world.
Skellitta-Skellefteå had one of the few green-industry-turned-biodomes, or how the policymakers liked to call them arctic artificial areas, where the original climate after the Tipping Point was preserved and being upkeeped by the joint effort of those who survived. People fleeing to the area generations before Áilu was born, the indigenous people of Sápmi and the descendants of those living in Norrbotten and Västerbotten.
There were always signs that the point-of-no-return might happen, but society disregarded, repressed, or just simply did not care about those who spoke up. Did not matter if they were scientists, climate activists, religious fanatics, average civilians or capitalists seemingly going insane and wanting to destroy their own empires.
“I do not understand how people can survive out here for more than half-a-day” exclaimed Áilu annoyedly when the metallic gates of what once was the biggest battery manufacturing plant on the European continent started to materialize in front of her eyes. That unique matte glow was so familiar to Áilu. The European continent – once the center of colonial powers and the heartland of the European Union – now an almost uninhabitable land engraved with several seas and megarivers. Lowlands in Turkey, Greece, Western Europe, and Iberia all underwater. Southern Italy almost disappeared, similarly to the flatlands of the Balkans, Eastern and Central Europe. Those places that were still relatively habitable were all laid North from the Baltic Sea or located in the higher areas of the former continent, such as the Alps or the Pyrenees.
In the years after the Tipping Point – which Áilu heard so much about from the bedtime stories of her grandfather who was an archaelogy professor specialized in the history of the sustainability transition at the International-Swedish University of Skellitta-Skellefteå – many tried to stay put and fight the natural forces unleashed by Gaia. Most of them perished and those who did not simply had to flee from their homeland and leave everything behind to restart their life somewhere higher or Northern. “Probably the first time those people realized what it feels like to be indigenous and constantly being pushed out from your motherland” thought Áilu several times before. The same idea crossed her mind as the enormous metal gates to the stabilization area – the passageway between two worlds – opened up in front of her after the bioscan identification granted access to enter.
She liked “being one with the Arctic” – how Oula always referred to being born inside the biodome into a herder kinship –, but from time-to-time she could not help it. Somber thoughts took over her mind. “Not much better than those Native American reservations before the Tipping Point. Ugh… wonder when they will start to reduce the area of the dome… it already started… slowly but surely! I hate those ideas of the Renew Gaia project… sure, other cultures and biomes deserve a chance to survive… or a revival. But why at our expense? Why the same things happen again? And again? Always…”
She felt trapped and free at the same time during these journeys when she needed to run some errands in the “outside world”, as she liked to refer to it in her head. Felt free both by realizing every time how exceptionally lucky she is that she can live the life that her ancestors lived hundreds of years ago. How fortunate to see the grandiose radiance of snow hit by the first shimmering light beams of the sun on a winter morning. And for living in a time when the “outside world” is an improved and more equal place than it was ever before. Yet, happiness and joyous moments aside she could not help but worry. “Like a kingfisher with damaged wings longing after the heights of the sky.” Worry about the dome. Its boundaries. The limits to survive. Worry about people growing distant and indifferent about past disasters with the relentless advance of time. Worry about civilization’s hubris. Humans repeat the same mistakes all over again.
She arrived back from a trip. Visiting distant kin in the Hybrit dome a few hundred kilometers North. These journeys always took days, but drained physical and mental energy to levels as if she would travel for months. The emotions, the thoughts, the different climate she experienced with every single step outside of Northvolt.
Living in the city of Skellitta-Skellefteå was one thing. The road from there to other settlements and domes was another. It was not especially dangerous, or at least the dangers were non-human. An acid rain or a desert hailstorm – even the slight chance of it – meant that the chargeless hovertrain service did not leave the shelter of the mid- or end-stations. These events made the travel times impossible to know, but people get used to the new normal generations ago. “You get there when you get there” Oula always said when Áilu complained about the transport.
Life was slower after the Tipping Point. In Skellitta-Skellefteå you could have lived the accelerated lifestyles of those who came before, but simply people did not want that anymore. The extensiveness of virtual reality for work, leisure, socializing and culture, the artificial nature created in general biodomes, digitalization and above all the local hub – a new form of societal organization based on the Sámi kinship idea and guided by the Árbediehtu – made terms like rush-hour, multi-tasking or burnout obsolete and unfamiliar. Skellitta-Skellefteå, one of the bigger cities of the North, led by the democratic council of the local hubs’ leaders was a living paradise. “Must be somewhat like Eden, I suppose” told Áilu to an “outsider” friend once. Truly, it was an oasis on the border between the calmness of the Baltic Sea and the roughness of the Great Northern Desert.
As Áilu passed through the stabilization area unrushed and entered the small connection chamber – the final stop between home and the “outside world” – a sudden harsh feeling heavily pressed on her chest. “What if it will all happen again? Yes, Renew Gaia might succeed. We, or… they? Might win back territories to extend the habitat… might not… but even if it does, do we need it? Why do we always want more? Why? And why does wanting more means taking from others? Why Northvolt must play the role of a laboratory rat. Will the herd survive that? Will we survive it?” She had so many questions in her mind. And very few answers. “Why do I feel it is happening all over again? Why cannot we just be happy about what we have right now? We have our hubs, our domes, kin around us. We stopped worrying about what does not matter. We are finally equal. Yes, equal in hardship and equal in a world which is almost uninhabitable for our kind… but… finally equal. Our words, our ideas, the Árbediehtu final leads and governs. Everyone is welcome in our city, in our living quarters, in our life. Why cannot we stop craving for more?”
As the door connecting the inside of the dome and the chamber split the late afternoon sunlight blinded Áilu for a moment. “The biodome is life. But it also disregards the will of Gaia. It is not meant to be… this meant to disappear. And why? Because those in charge did not listen… by the time they did… by the time they understood the difference… by the time they started celebrating distinctiveness and realized we should not be another colonial project of equalization driven by white guilt… by that time it all was too late. The only thing they managed to do is this… captive life under a glass cover. Mom always says I should be happy that we have all this and the other domes… she never tells me how.” Her eyes begun to sense the world around.
A light breeze of familiarity reached Áilu as she was stepping into the snowy landscape of the dome. “Perishing. Yes… perishing without a trace is what I am afraid of” a voice remarked in her head. “To disappear… me, the parents, kin, Skellitta, the domes… everything that I know and those things that I am yet to know… some which I do not even know to exist. Perish… like the Azure Window… those during the Tipping Point… or Heike and Lemma.”
When her eyes finally got used to the light after the darkness of the chamber she noticed a Snowdrop blooming below a snow pile under a peaceful and sheltering Norway spruce. And the realization came as sudden as the fear. “Perishing is a part of the circle of life. Death as much as birth. The important thing is that we make out as much as of our life as we can. This is what we all should live for. To prevail regardless of harsh environments and circumstances. To think and feel together with kin, society, and Mother Nature. To not to make the same mistakes again. For making Gaia a better place together.”
Darío Machuca
Regarding Environmental Justice and Agroecology
This paper engages in a dialogue with the theoretical framework proposed by Martínez-Alier, which “entails understanding that human economy is a subsystem of a broader physical system” (2008: 12, own translation). Specifically, the emphasis is placed on the environmental justice component of his thesis, as it presents a counterargument to the top-down agribusiness approach to land management. This perspective diverges from mainstream topics such as the concept of “sustainability” (see Martinez-Alier, 2008: 13, 2016: 98) and proves valuable in comprehending certain initiatives that, characteristic of the so-called “Global South,” manifest even in cases where resource mobilization within a community is scarce.
Environmental justice movements constitute one of the streams of environmentalism(s) described by Martinez-Alier (2016). While this may not always encompass the environmentalism of the poor, it is indeed true that a correlation exists between both expressions (Martinez-Alier, 2008). It is noteworthy that in the Global South, such manifestations exhibit distinct characteristics from those observed in countries of the Northern Hemisphere. For instance, there is a significant influence of the agricultural sector and a connection with the constraints imposed on traditional forms of agriculture within this context.
The progression of agrarian capitalism or “agrarian change” (Berstein, 2012) has led to the disappearance of a considerable number of small-scale producers and native species from local landscapes. It is the capitalist agrarian framework, not agriculture per se, that depletes the land and disrupts the ecosystem. In this context, among the expressions that counteract the primary manifestations of this issue, agroecology must be situated.
Certain experts have highlighted the potential for integrating agroecology into the broader global environmental justice movement (see Martinez-Alier, 2016: 100). In more specific terms, Rosset and Altieri offer the following definition:
Agroecology is variously known as the science that studies and attempts to explain the functioning of agroecosystems, primarily concerned with biological, biophysical, ecological, social, cultural, economic, and political mechanisms, functions, relationships, and design; as a set of practices that permit farming more sustainably, without using dangerous chemicals; and as a movement that seeks to make farming more ecologically sustainable and more socially just. (Rosset & Altieri, 2021: 1)
Where is this grassroots initiative implemented? Who are the promoters? Who are the beneficiaries?
The studied initiative is implemented in South America, an area in which, as pointed out by Martinez-Alier;
in recent years, modern agriculture and the overall current economy have been criticized because they entail the consumption of fossil fuels, environmental contamination, and a greater loss of biodiversity compared to traditional agriculture and preindustrial economies […] In countries with a significant presence of rural communities, the ecological critique of modern agriculture currently converges into the Via Campesina movement. (Martinez-Alier, 2008: 24, own translation)
The above discussion helps to comprehend certain characteristics of environmentalism in the South American segment of the Global South. The case under examination, in particular, occurs in an Argentine locality within the Chaco, a vast plain that stretches across parts of Bolivia, Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil, where temperatures in the summer exceed 40°C, while in winter they can drop below 0°C. Its predominant vegetation cover is xerophytic forest (Maldonado & Hohne, 2006), although the implementation of the agribusiness model has caused various disruptions in the ecosystem due to the expansion of cattle and soy farming, which have led to the deforestation of thousands of hectares and consequent destruction of the existing ecosystem landscape.
Image 1: Location of the South American Chaco, Avellaneda & Kremer (2016)
This initiative of experimentation, production, demonstration, and agroecological education, called “Faro Agroecológico La Arboleda” is promoted by the family of Miguel Gaulisky. It consists of an agroecological farm implemented in the rural area of Villa 213 municipality, a locality of approximately 6,000 inhabitants in the Pirané department of Formosa province, located in northern Argentina.
On this farm, Miguel welcomes students and small-scale producers to teach them the process of integration of fruit production, the preservation, recovery, and conservation of soils in the area, the use of the woods, and the native species. In this regard, the main beneficiaries are small-scale farmers, children, and young people from different parts of the continent who learn elements related to agroecology and climate field mitigation, which they can apply and adapt to their agricultural productions.
How does this initiative engage with climate? Does it tackle mitigation, adaptation, both, or other dimensions of climate change?
The environmentalism of this initiative presents elements of the mantra of Environmental Justice and the Environmentalism of the Poor (Martinez-Alier, 2016). In the region, various droughts have strongly affected the ecosystem in the last decade, impacting the population unequally and primarily affecting small-scale farmers. The necessity for survival makes the impoverished population aware of the need to conserve resources. This proposal aims to mitigate climate change by promoting family farming with an agroecological approach, focusing on local markets.
In his exploitation of 48 hectares, half of them are preserved as native woods while the rest is used for ecological production. The 24 hectares of native forest – both natural and planted – serve as a habitat for over 150 species of birds and other wildlife. Additionally, timber is harvested and cattle (20 heads) are raised in a silvopastoral system using natural forage. The farm also has a henhouse with 100 laying hens. The remaining 24 hectares are used for fruit and vegetable production with agroecological criteria (see Juárez, 2022).
Image 2: Distribution of space in La Arboleda, Juárez (2022)
What are the main objectives? What are the main values?
Juárez (2022) explains the main objectives of agroecological projects this way:
The experience aims to confront the challenges posed by deforestation in the Chaco forest, the expansion of the agribusiness-linked agricultural frontier, and the production of commodities […] to raise visibility and educate farmers and technicians about agroecological production. Expand the agricultural activities of families in the participating communities. (Juárez, 2022, par. 19)
In turn, its managers set the objective of disseminating the agroecological approach, through visits, workshops, and camps. Miguel says that their values are closely tied to environmental care, education, and a sense of community: “We are focusing heavily on education so that you can gain knowledge and skills and also be able to stay in your fields” (Fontagro, par. 14, own translation). It is worth noting that the property has a camping area, a residential and lodging area, and a classroom area.
What is the timeline? Are there already visible effects?
Until the mid-1990s, Miguel was dedicated to cotton cultivation, which was the predominant crop in the Chaco region at that time but was in a state of decline in the Villa 213 area, leading to a significant disappearance of agricultural farms (Kazmer, Guillen & Sapkus, 2010; Guillen, Kazmer & Sapkus, 2012). This situation marked the beginning of the first of the two phases of this experience (see Juárez, 2022), which took place between 1994 and 2003. During this time, the Gauliski family shifted towards agroecological production after Miguel’s stay at the Bio Bio Education and Technology Center (CET-Chile) facilitated by the Catholic NGO, Institute of Popular Culture (INCUPO).
In 1996, Miguel developed a management plan for the native forest combined with vegetable plots, fruit trees, livestock, farm animals, and exotic tree species, with the collaboration of technicians from INCUPO and support from the Organization of American States (OAS) and the national government (Juárez, 2022). Furthermore, in 1999, he began working in coordination with the Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA) (Fontagro, 2022), the main institution dedicated to agricultural topics in the country.
In the second phase, from 2004 to the present, the farm transformed into a “beacon” and was equipped with the necessary infrastructure to receive and accommodate visitors through various experiential training activities. Since then, “La Arboleda” has been the venue for a diverse range of activities, including talks-workshops, conferences, educational-environmental camps, and rural agrotourism, among others.
In the province where Villa 213 is located, there is no established environmental movement with a significant trajectory, as it is seen as a subsidiary issue within the broader framework of peasant demands. In this sense, it’s worth highlighting the various ways in which an environmentalism of the poor could become evident, even in the absence of a formal environmental justice movement. It has been pointed out that: “In the province of Formosa, besides the actions of state organizations such as INTA, the Agroecological Beacon [La Arboleda], and the actions of INCUPO, they are the only ones working strongly from this perspective” (Juárez, 2022, own translation and emphasis). Given this context, the mere promotion of environmental issues can be seen as a visible effect.
Who are the actors involved? What are their backgrounds?
The actors involved in this experience include, first and foremost, the owner of the farm, Mr. Miguel Gauliski, his son, and his close collaborators who are responsible for the daily management of the production. They also receive support from volunteers, including technicians from public organizations and university students, who engage with “La Arboleda” to learn about the experience and study the production model (Juárez, 2022). In addition to these individuals, there are over a thousand visitors per year, including students, researchers, tourists, and farmers, among others.
Additionally, some actors participate in the experience as facilitators – for example, municipal officials or representatives from the provincial education department or forest organizations – who are involved in organizing visits and workshops. Others contribute their knowledge as advisors and/or trainers, such as personnel from INTA, the Servicio Nacional de Sanidad Animal (SENASA), and various provincial government departments. The farm has a demonstration plot for the Fontagro project, a joint program of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), which implements integrated pest management (IPM) and disease control through prevention and the elimination of diseased plants (Peralta & Giancola, 2019; Fontagro, 2022).
“La Arboleda” receives support from the Ministry of Production and Environment of the province and the Municipality of Villa 213, whose logos can be seen as the main sign of the establishment.
Image 3: Main sign of La Arboleda
Nevertheless, a broader perspective on the socio-economic significance of “La Arboldeda” should entail contributions to stakeholder engagement policies, local government initiatives, and civil society organizations. This is especially important through measures that promote ecosystem governance, inclusivity, income generation, and prevention of outward migration trends, even when the capitalist agrarian conception disputes any form of community organization.
Which limits does it encounter?
“La Arboleda” receives various benefits by collaborating with organizations such as INCUPO, INTA – of which Mr. Gauliski is a member of the Local Advisory Council -, OAS, provincial government agencies, municipalities in the area – Villa Dos Trece and Mayor Villafañe -, producer associations, universities in the country – Universidad Nacional de Lomas de Zamora and Universidad Nacional de La Plata -, the Environmental Education and Agroecology Program of the Environmental Education Coordination Unit of the National Secretariat of Environment and Sustainable Development, secondary schools, among others (Juárez, 2022).
The necessity of governments to rely on the money from primary exports to sustain their policies for poverty alleviation has been pointed out as a constraint to the environmentalism of the poor (Martinez-Alier, 2016: 99). In this regard, it is important to note that governments, in one way or another, tend to employ certain mechanisms of institutionalization for civil initiatives, as seen in cases like La Arboleda. Therefore, expanding this experiment or further connecting it with larger organizations could potentially entail placing it under bodies that could alter its objectives and restrict its autonomy.
Indeed, operating as an Agroecological Beacon would require a certain level of coordination with other actors for its implementation, to attract a wider audience, and to achieve greater dissemination of the activities. This includes accessing various subsidies and human resources.
It has been noted that, in general, governments feel uncomfortable with initiatives that “explicitly opposes dispossession of land, forests, mineral resources, and water by governments or business corporations, fighting against the inroads of the generalized market system and the growth of social metabolism” (Martinez-Alier, 2016: 99). Therefore, it is worth questioning the existence of “top-down pressures” (Lapegna, 2019: 171-181) in these relationships aimed at influencing certain practices and discourses. In other words, the collaboration with numerous entities could potentially limit Miguel’s autonomy to maintain the benefits of these relationships.
Furthermore, it has been noted that;
There have been and continue to be public policies for agroecological-based family farming […] but the scale and penetration are still limited in the Argentine Gran Chaco region. Formal education and extension practices in agroecology are still closely tied to an academic and paternalistic perspective, and the Beacon has not yet positioned itself as a tool to expand knowledge boundaries by integrating family farmers. The agricultural frontier continues to expand in the Chaco, driven by the technological package of commodity agribusiness […] the scientific and technological system primarily serves extensive agribusiness interests (Juárez, 2022).
Are any shortcomings or critical points visible? What other problematic issues can arise from its implementation?
As mentioned, it is relevant to examine the farm management’s margins of autonomy. Furthermore, the limits of agroecology as an alternative to agribusiness continue to be a subject of debate, at least in the Global South (see Lapegna, 2019, Pons Cortès, 2022). The transformations in social relations of production and the concentration of capital within the prevailing accumulation regime continue the process of decomposition of the subaltern layers of the rural and agricultural world in the region (Azcuy Ameghino, 2021; Sapkus, Vázquez, & Telesca, 2021; Sapkus, 2022).
Furthermore, a challenge for La Arboleda is to establish a process of political autonomy that, through the production of knowledge and practices, politicizes the socio-environmental conflict to question the Capitalocene in terms of the capitalist accumulation processes that oppress the social, ecological, and biological reproduction of the communities and territories in question.
How would it be potentially replicable in other settings?
The studied case can be understood in dialogue with various local expressions throughout the region within the global environmental justice movement. Within the region, there are different environmental activist spaces, such as Brazil’s landless workers’ movement MST. However, it’s likely that the enumerated challenges also arise in other areas. While there might be other governments or regional policies that could increase the likelihood of success or expansion, the truth is that its tangible implementation reveals significant limitations (Martinez-Alier, 2008, 2016).
Despite everything, it is true that the concept of an “Agroecological Beacon” already has instances in various countries, including Chile, Spain, and Colombia. In this sense, it can be confidently stated that the experience is potentially replicable in other spaces.
Is this initiative conducive to broader changes?
This initiative was institutionalized through various legal instruments that accredited it before state authorities, which can serve as a precedent for future experiences and contribute to introducing environmental issues into public discourse. However, considering its limitations and the current course of the Capitalocene in the region, it would be speculative to claim that it leads to broader changes.
Conclusion
This paper has revolved around the concept of environmental justice through a case study situated in the South American region of the Global South, primarily involving the agricultural sector. In this context, agroecology has been perceived as a form of expression linked to the environmentalism of the poor and the environmental justice movement. The analyzed experience demonstrates significant continuity, and within its context, the mere promotion of environmental issues can be perceived as a noticeable outcome. Nevertheless, the relationship with the State strains its autonomy and poses challenges for further engagement in environmental advocacy.
References:
Avellaneda N. & Kremer L. (2016). La región del Chaco Americano [on-line]. https://www.ritimo.org/La-region-del-Chaco-Americano
Azcuy Ameghino, E. (2021). El capitalismo agrario pampeano. Buenos Aires: Imago Mundi.
Bernstein, H. (2012). Dinámicas de clase y transformación agraria. México: Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas.
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Guillen, J. L.; Kazmer, J. & Sapkus, S. (Septiembre, 2012). Desarrollo y agro en la provincia de Formosa en el cambio de siglo. In XXXII Encuentro de Geohistoria Regional. Instituto de Investigaciones Geohistóricas, Resistencia
Juárez, P. (2022). Colección de Experiencias DAKI – Semiárido Vivo. Cuaderno de casos Gran Chaco Americano 17: Faro agroecológico “La Arboleda”: Espacio educativo vivencial. Daki. https://semiaridovivo.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/DAKI_GCA_17_FARO_AGRECO_ESP_vf.pdf
Kazmer, J.; Guillen, J. L. & Sapkus, S. O. (Agosto, 2010). El agro en la provincia de Formosa en las últimas décadas. In XXX Encuentro de Geohistoria. Instituto de Investigaciones Geohistóricas, Resistencia.
Lapegna, P. (2019). La argentina transgénica: de la resistencia a la adaptación, una etnografía de las poblaciones campesinas. Buenos Aires: Siglo XXI.
Maldonado, P. & Hohne, E. (2006). Atlas del Gran Chaco americano. Buenos Aires: Agencia Alemana de Cooperación Técnica. https://redaf.org.ar/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/ATLAS_GRAN_CHACO_ES.pdf
Martinez-Alier, J. (2008). Conflictos ecológicos y justicia ambiental. Papeles, (113), 11-27. http://istas.net/descargas/Conflictos_ecologicos_J1%20_MARTINEZ_ALIER.pdf
Martinez-Alier, J. (2016). Environmentalism(s). In Adamson, J., Gleason, W. & Pellow, D. (Eds.), Keywords for Environmental Studies (pp. 97-100). New York: NYU Press.
Peralta, C. & Giancola, S. (2019). Jornada de capacitación y lanzamiento del lote demostrativo en establecimiento “La Arboleda”, Formosa, Argentina. En Fontagro (Comp.), Control sustentable del vector de HLB en la Agricultura Familiar en Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay y Bolivia Producto 6. Capacitaciones sobre el control sustentable del vector del HLB y charlas de concientización social de prevención de HLB (pp. 47-61). Fontagro. https://www.fontagro.org/new/uploads/productos/17232_-_Producto_6_A%C3%B1o_2019_.pdf
Pons Cortès, G. (2022). No, la agroecología no solucionará los problemas del sistema alimentario. El país. https://elpais.com/planeta-futuro/3500-millones/2022-08-03/no-la-agroecologia-no-solucionara-los-problemas-del-sistema-alimentario.html
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Sapkus, S. (2020). Cambio agrario y reconfiguración de las relaciones sociales en la provincia de Formosa. In Guber, R. & Ferrero, L. (Eds.), Antropologías hechas en la Argentina, Vol. II (pp. 397-412). Montevideo: Asociación Latinoamericana de Antropología.
Sapkus, S.; Vázquez C. & Telesca, I. (Comps.). (2021). Ruralidad y sujetos subalternos: una mirada comparada al nordeste argentino. Formosa: EdUNaF.
By Ludovica Battista
Terranostra Occupata – Verde liberato autogestito, scene from the last meeting that took place in the area between the actors involved (February 2023), photo by the author
Where is this grassroots initiative implemented?
It is located in Via Boccaccio, Casoria, in the northern fringe of Naples, Italy. More precisely, the place is 200 meters from Casoria-Afragola train station. The place was chosen as it was regularly used as an illegal site for waste discharges, and as it looked to the activists particularly exposed to building speculation (Terranostra, 2015).
Who are the promoters? Who are the actors involved? What are their backgrounds?
In the Facebook page, this grassroot initiative is called Terranostra Occupata, which the author translates as “Occupied Ourland”. It is promoted by a group of active citizens, coming from local collectives and associations, and from diverse knowledges and backgrounds. The author recalls having heard during a meeting that the number of activists has been decreasing during the last years, as the place has been closed by the police due to lack of alignment with the municipality. In fact, the closing has led to a change in activities for the collective, now prevented from living the space and therefore active mainly externally in a struggle that lacks of a fixed operational base (as one can read on the Facebook page, the members of the group, and whoever is interested in helping their efforts towards reclaiming the area as a common good, meet now occasionally in different venues around Casoria). The present situation has limited the possibility to engage with a larger public as it occurred when the occupation was still in place.
Who are the beneficiaries?
The inhabitants of Casoria, especially those who live in the outskirts of the town, whose urban structure, according to the site surveys by the author, lacks common open space and green space. Potentially, being situated near the train station, it could be also used by people from towns nearby.
How does this initiative engage with climate?
It is located in a conurbation whose lands have been covered in cement and waste throughout the years. Casoria is located in an area that has been defined as Terra dei Fuochi (“Land of Fires”). The activists want to counter-act the loss of collective agricultural infrastructures and the lack of livable green space. It also provides a refuge from summer heat to many neighbors: during the pandemic it has been one of the few if not the only place where people could find some free open space to inhabit together. This was an argument often repeated during a public assembly in winter 2023, which was convocated by the municipality to share with the activists and university professors the plan for an incoming “Boccaccio Park”. The site of Terranostra has in fact become the object of a design process for an “institutionalized” urban park, which is leading to an intense yet very difficult process of mediation between activists and the municipality. The area was previously a military fuel depot that had stayed closed for decades and deemed as contaminated. Despite the activists’ attempts to reclaim the soil, for instance through Phyto depurating and manually picking old waste, the levels of pollution of the site are eventually one of the reasons why the municipality has decided to close it during the design process.
Does it tackle mitigation, adaptation, both or other dimensions of climate change?
This initiative tries to integrate strategies to improve the quality of life for the citizens in the changing climate of the area, but its promoters also want to raise awareness on ecological multispecies relationships, soil and subsoil care, and biodiversity. The aim is to foster a change in lifestyles that can contribute to transform Casoria’s urban setting. It is worth mentioning that in this initiative the environmental justice and ecological conscience discourse are never separated from the dimension of the “commons”, central to Terranostra’s initiative.
What are the main objectives? What are the main values?
One can read on the external wall of Terranostra occupata in Casoria the writing “VERDE LIBERATO AUTOGESTITO” (which can be translated as “self-governed liberated green”). Its main objective is building a space for socialising, defending and enhancing recovery processes for the few green areas of that territory.
Terranostra is contextualized in a broader Neapolitan network of grassroots organizations campaigning for commons for civic and collective use fighting to re-appropriate the collective heritage. Terranostra’s activists say they “would like a park with an agricultural traction, where people can cultivate and eat healthy food together, living in nature and spending convivial moments in the countryside,” even though they “are in the most built- up area in Europe.” Agriculture and zero-kilometer food are basic ingredient of their objectives, they are instrumental to the change they wish for. At the present, the activists and the Municipality are discussing the construction and management of the park. The activists ask to be included as participant observers and to be consulted before any unscheduled intervention on the present vegetation. They also demand the right to directly manage the place through the assembly of the users. The conflict is between the Dichiarazione d’uso civico e collettivo (Declaration of Urban Civic and Collective Use), proposed by the activists, and the municipality’s Patto di collaborazione (Collaboration Pact), which sees the park as a property of the municipality to be entrusted to an individual, or a fixed group of individuals, i.e. an association). This conflict reflects an ongoing fight for a wider recognition of grassroots initiatives without paying the price of losing their original values. The aim is to find a management solution that building upon the heterogeneous and informal composition of activists’ community could offer better and more flexible ways to care for the planned park.
View of the of the fruit orchard planted by the activists (February 2023),
photo by the author
What is the timeline?
The group of active citizens started caring for these five abandoned hectares in the summer of 2015. After years of struggles with the Municipality, in 2021 they were forced out, and now they are at the center of a delicate process of dialogue with the Municipality, as an institutional regeneration project is intended for this area.
Are there already visible effects?
As a person who has been there and talked to them and to their neighbors, the author can say that the activists of Terranostra made the five hectares (38,000 square meters ) a true participatory laboratory for Casoria’s people to know, contact, and care for their land. By giving life to a social garden and organizing many activities, they imagined a productive and biodiverse urban park. Many local people have started to spend a lot of time there, and care for this green area.
Which limits does it encounter?
The relationship between the activists and the Municipality has been problematic especially since their political background is clearly far from institutional politics. This happens in spite of being next to Naples, home to Osservatorio e Rete dei Beni Comuni – observatory and network on “Emerging Common Goods” (De Tullio, 2018), an observatory and network that has succeeded in establishing fruitful institutional synergies during the last ten years. . As previously mentioned, the site of Terranostra is presently the object of a design process for an “institutional” urban park, and therefore closed and inaccessible to the community. This forces Terranostra activists to try to steer the project from afar, in a situation that presents many uncertainties, hoping to be soon entrusted as the caring community of the new park.
Closed access to the area (February 2023), photo by the author
Are any shortcomings or critical points visible? What other problematic issues can arise from its implementation?
The impossibility to access the area is a significant limitation since the community is deeply connected to that place and the possibility to use it. The risk is that the activists’ community might dissolve during the time needed for the construction of the park. In case the area is transformed into an urban park, it loses the agricultural drive that is crucial for the activists’ political project. More in general, the institutionalization of the park will imply the imposition of rules, laws, and management that can drastically change the nature of the experience.
How would it be potentially replicable in other settings?
It could be replicated in other parts of the town and its hinterland,, which has a huge amount of abandoned lands, often used as illegal dumps, as this one was, and a huge lack of green space for its inhabitants. The history of Terranostra demonstrates that occupations of similar open spaces, can avoid that they become target for urban development and illegal dumping, Those areas can instead be transformed into centers for community sharing of knowledges and for fostering new multispecies relationships, they can become tools to challenge the present condition of urban spaces in a political and ecological perspective.
Is this initiative conducive to broader changes?
Yes, it is. Activists and engaged researchers — including the author of this entry — are negotiating with the municipality to introduce a set of regulations that will make possible for this community and for others to be recognized as a community of care for common lands. The result might be that more experiences like Terranostra can be generated producing better socioecological conditions, especially in low-income or hyper densely built contexts.
References
Aa.Vv. 2015. L’appello di Terranostra Occupata: “Aiutateci contro ogni intenzione repressiva delle istituzioni”. [online] Available at: https://www.casoriadue.it/lappello-di-terranostra-occupata- qaiutateci-contro-ogni-intenzione-repressiva-delle-istituzioniq/ [Accessed 14 June 2023].
De Tullio, M.F. 2018. Commons towards New Participatory Institutions. The Neapolitan Experience. In Dockx, N., & Gielen, P. (Eds.), Commonism: A New Aesthetics of the Real.
Iavarone, S. 2022. Un nuovo parco di 30.000 mq nascerà a Casoria a via Boccaccio un Parco finanziato con i PICS della Regione Campania. [online] Available at: http://newsnapolinord.it/un- nuovo-parco-di-30-000-mq-nascera-a-casoria-a-via-boccaccio-un-parco-finanziato-con-i-pics- regione-campania/ [Accessed 13 June 2023]
Khalil, S. 2016. Giovani e agricoltura. Terra dei fuochi? No Terranostra. A Casoria il verde autogestito. [online] Available at: https://www.diregiovani.it/2016/09/01/49721-giovani-e- agricoltura-terra-dei-fuochi-no-terranostra-a-casoria-il-verde-autogestito.dg/ [Accessed 12 June 2023].
Tanzilli, E. TerraNostra, da Casoria una nuova esperienza per vivere la città. [online] Available at: https://www.liberopensiero.eu/12/07/2015/varie/terranostra-da-casoria-una-nuova-esperienza/ [Accessed 12 June 2023].
By Lucia Tedesco
The “Rigenerazione No Speculazione” (Rigeneration No Speculation) Committee was founded by a group of Bologna’s citizens. In particular, the initiative takes place just outside Porta San Felice, in the Borgo Panigale-Reno neighbourhood (Bologna, Italy). The Committee’s action aimed to preserve the urban forest of Prati di Caprara (Caprara Meadows), giving birth – in the following years – to a socio-environmental movement and claiming the principles of social, environmental and climate justice (Zinzani & Proto, 2020). Thus, it not only benefits the citizens of Bologna, but also the entire ecosystem of the Prati di Caprara.
Image 1: Exploring the urban forest of Prati di Caprara, April
2022 Photo by Lucia Tedesco
What is the timeline? Are there already visible effects?
The area of Prati di Caprara, which measures 47 hectares and is divided into two parts – east and west -, has gone through heterogeneous transformations over the last century (Zinzani & Curzi, 2020). Whereas at the very beginning of the 20th century it was used for agriculture, since the 1940s the area became a military site progressively abandoned during the 1970s.
In the early 1990s, Mayor Walter Vitali declared that Prati di Caprara would become a new municipal park, but the idea remained on paper and after forty years the area has become a real forest. So, Prati di Caprara was not on the political agenda until 2016, when the Municipality of Bologna produced a strategic document for urban regeneration (POC – Piano Operativo Comunale) without the participation of citizens (Zinzani & Curzi, 2020). The POC contemplated a quite radical transformation of Prati di Caprara area, officially owned by state enterprise INVIMIT, through the construction of new infrastructures, such as a fashion mall, residential and commercial buildings, a school and a new park. This transformation would imply the eradication of most of the forest (Zinzani & Curzi, 2020).
Faced with initial protests, Virginio Merola (the mayor at the time) said that this was not really a forest usable by citizens, but only “perceived green”. Various initiatives were organised then. In particular, after a public assembly on April 6th 2017, the “Rigenerazione No Speculazione” committee was born. Among the most significant moments, the Committee activists remember three in particular. The first, one activist recounts, is when they surrounded the forest in a huge embrace (see the picture). They write that they, 1870 people, embraced the forest, holding hands, all around the perimeter of the area (Wu Ming 2, 2022).
Image 2: Embracing the forest, April 2017. Photo by “Rigenerazione No Speculazione” Committee.
Then, the Committee organised ParteciPrati, a civic forum of participatory planning that involved a group of 100 citizens, as diverse as possible and living in Bologna, in a process that took place from January to April 2018 (Anonymous, personal communication, May 13, 2023). The Civic Forum availed itself of a technical staff and the supervision and support of a guarantee committee and a scientific commission. The process, implemented through 6 meetings, was supported by a group of facilitators and concluded with an open citizens’ assembly to present the results (10 May 2018). Also in 2018, in September, the Committee managed to obtain a public inquiry. An activist writes:
“when citizens collect at least 2500 signatures certified by a public official, the council must discuss the proposed topic. In our case, it committed to decreasing the number of flats and enlarging the green area that would remain intact. From a verge along the canal we went to a thirty-metre strip, but even thirty metres, compared to a thirty-nine-hectare forest, is very little. So we insisted, we went to the square disguised as trees, with ivy and fronds on, quoting Macbeth and the prophecy of the three witches. Those witches predict to the king that his power will end “when he sees Birnam forest advancing”, and we were advancing, like a forest, towards palazzo d’Accursio (ed. the seat of the municipality)”(Wu Ming 2, 2022, pp. 38-39).
Despite the fact that two hectares of forest were destroyed for the construction of a school, the “Rigenerazione No Speculazione” Committee’s actions led the municipality to re-discuss the POC and abandon previous development plans. The rest of the Prati di Caprara forest is still there, so
the Committee has declared that it will continue to mobilize to preserve the entire Prati di Caprara urban forest for a more sustainable, just and ecological future.
The process and mobilisation succeeded in raising awareness of the issue and, above all, in attracting the attention of the media. From being a liminal space unknown to most, the Prati di Caprara became the emblem of a battle for the defense of the environment and the commons, for an alternative regeneration of abandoned areas that were renaturalised (Zinzani & Curzi, 2020). Moreover, the area is ranked among the top ten Italian places to be protected and enhanced in the annual initiative promoted by the Italian Environmental Fund (Zinzani & Curzi, 2020).
Who are the actors involved? What are their backgrounds?
The Committee includes about 12 people (the founding group) and an imprecise number of inhabitants who take part in organising initiatives in different ways. The founding group, which also includes the three spokespersons, is composed of people with different backgrounds (e.g. from the fields of biology, urban planning, sociology, and forestry). They organise public meetings and make decisions on a democratic basis. The Committee also cooperates with other local associations and committees.
How does this initiative engage with climate? Does it tackle mitigation, adaptation, both or other dimensions of climate change?
The “Rigenerazione No Speculazione” initiative confronts the climate on several fronts. Indeed, the presence of the Prati in the city contributes not only to improving public health, but also to maintaining the balance of the entire ecosystem.
First of all, the Prati area helps regulate rainfall, for example by preventing flooding, and counteracts heat islands. Experts have highlighted how at Prati di Caprara surface temperatures are almost 10 degrees lower than in the adjacent large area of the railway yard, and at least 4-5 degrees lower than in the aforementioned third wall (Trentanovi et al., 2021). The Prati is a “cool” and unique island within Bologna’s urbanised system.
Moreover, the Prati has a positive impact on air quality, which is extremely impaired in urban contexts (Trentanovi et al., 2021). Experts have shown how the 17.5 ha of forest in the Prati di Caprara are able to capture and metabolise 900 to 1800 kg of fine dust per year (Trentanovi et al., 2021). As is well known, it is precisely particulate matter that is responsible for more than 90,000 deaths per year in Italy (WHO estimates) due to cardiovascular diseases and cancer (Trentanovi et al., 2021).
At the same time, the Prati contributes to carbon sequestration. It is estimated that a permanent forest with a natural structure at our latitudes, such as the Prati di Caprara forest, as a whole can store between 5 and 15 tCO2/ha/year depending on the pools considered (soil, stem, roots, branches and leaves), the age of the stand and climatic conditions (Trentanovi et al., 2021). The wooded areas of the Prati di Caprara constitute a very efficient “sponge” capable of absorbing considerable quantities of carbon dioxide (Trentanovi et al., 2021).
Finally, the presence of diversified flora and fauna guarantees the development and maintenance of biodiversity.
What are the main objectives?
The Committee was set up to intervene in the project for the renovation of Bologna’s municipal stadium, which envisaged commercial and building interventions in the quadrant from the Stadium to the sports center “Cierrebi” and the Prati di Caprara (Rigenerazione No Speculazione, n.d.). These interventions would have drastically changed the quality of life in the district and the city. For this reason, the Committee has two different objectives:
1) With regard to the Prati area, it asks that the urban forest should not be attacked or reduced to a conventional park, but that should maintain its unique qualities of biodiversity and ecological heritage. Moreover, the Committee asks INVIMIT, current owner of the Prati di Caprara, to take note of the requests of the city and the administration (Zinzani & Proto, 2020).
2) Concerning the Cierrebi, now owned by the Bologna Football Club, the Committee calls for a reopening of its facilities and the maintenance of its sporting vocation with public uses, as guaranteed by the convention contextual to its construction (Zinzani & Proto, 2020).
What are the main values?
The Committee claims that its main values include sharing a struggle, sisterhood/brotherhood and friendship, as well as valuing the common goods. By valorisation, in the case of the Prati, the Committee means that the forest should not be turned into a municipal park, but that it should be highlighted for its spontaneous and undisciplined nature.
Which limits does it encounter?
The main action carried out by the Committee is civil disobedience. In particular, as private property, the Prati di Caprara is not accessible to the public. This means that all the initiatives carried out within the area (e.g. exploratory walks) are liable to prosecution. However, one of the spokesmen I interviewed claims that fortunately so far no one has ever been reported (Anonymous, personal communication, May 10, 2023).
Are any shortcomings or critical points visible? What other problematic issues can arise from its implementation?
The main problems have to do with the internal organisation of the committee, as some activists I interviewed claimed (Anonymous, personal communication, May 13, 2023). The committee is a spontaneous and unstructured initiative by choice, which is why they may find themselves discussing divisive topics. Currently, they are working so that the assemblies can be better managed and more organised. Above all, they are reflecting on the possibility of becoming an association.
Another activist argues that also the communication process – both through social media and the journalistic world – could be considered a critical point (Anonymous, personal communication, May 13, 2023). Some would like the initiatives carried out and the work behind each choice and action to stand out more in the eyes of the public.
How would it be potentially replicable in other settings?
Activists claim that the committee’s activity is replicable in other contexts, and indeed is already replicated in the Bologna area thanks to the collaboration with other groups of activists.
Is this initiative conducive to broader changes?
The committee’s activities have managed to change the political agenda of the municipality of Bologna (Rigenerazione No Speculazione, n.d.), to change the narrative on the Prati di Caprara (in the past they spoke of “perceived green” now they speak of “urban forest”) and to involve many people, even outside the neighbourhood. the country.
References
Aria pesa. (n.d.). https://ariapesa.org/
Rigenerazione no speculazione. (n.d.). Rigenerazione No Speculazione. https://rigenerazionenospeculazione.wordpress.com/
Comitato “Rigenerazione No Speculazione”. (n.d.). Info. Facebook. Retrieved May 15, 2023 from https://www.facebook.com/Rigenerazionenospeculazione/?locale=it_IT
Trentanovi, G., Alessandrini, A., & Roatti, B. (2021). Il bosco urbano dei Prati di Caprara: Servizi ecosistemici e conflitto socio-ambientale (Prima edizione). Pàtron editore.
Trentanovi, G., Zinzani, A., Bartoletti, R., & Montanari, F. (2021). Contested novel ecosystems: Socio-ecological processes and evidence from Italy, «Environmental Development», 40, pp. 1 – 13. 100658. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envdev.2021.100658
Wu Ming 2 (edited by, 2022). Bologna: Deviazioni inedite raccontate dagli abitanti. Ediciclo Editore.
Zinzani, A., & Curzi, E. (2020). Urban Regeneration, Forests and Socio-Environmental Conflicts: The Case of Prati di Caprara in Bologna, Italy, «ACME», 19, pp. 163-186.
Zinzani, A., & Proto, M. (2020). L’emergere del Political nei processi di rigenerazione urbana a Bologna: Movimenti e spazi di dissenso, «Geotema», pp. 45-54.
By Giulia Baquè
The Book of Histories
“Once there was city built on water. A city that stood against the tides and built its strength and power on its domination of the sea.
Once there a was a city vibrant with life and colors, where the aromatic scents of spices mixed with the morning aroma of fish raising from the canals.
Once there was a city that became too eager and lost its track. A city that slowly saw its inhabitants leave one after the other until there was no one left.
Once there was a city that had been betrayed by its waters and its canals. A city that had coexisted with water and its whims for centuries. The high tides came and went, but when the water started rising too much, the water became frightening. Until one day it came and didn’t recede anymore.
Once there a was a city, and now it is no more”
Year 2223
The sun was shining and the temperature was hot, almost unbearable. The journey from the northern territories had been such a long one that Maaike was wondering why she always allowed her curiosity to get the best of her. She should have thought this through more and maybe she would have realized that this trip so far from home could not have been an easy one. She was not going on holiday, what was she expecting? Nice weather and places to relax and sunbathe?
She had started her trip in the north, in those territories that were once known, a couple of centuries ago, as the Kingdom of The Netherlands. Now there were only some independent cities left, trying to survive at the edge of a Northern Sea that was warmer and coming dangerously closer with each passing year. And now, because of her damned curiosity she was traveling south, across barren and arid landscapes, where the heat was higher than she had ever experienced. For what? She should have stayed home and be content with the dusty pictures she found in the library, instead of wanting to see it with her own eyes. But now it was too late to go back. She knew she was almost there. If her group kept a steady pace, they would have reached their destination before heat peaked at midday. Her clothes were too warm for the southern climate. She should have changed into a more practical outfit when she had the chance during their last stop. But she didn’t want to linger for too long. Despite her many doubts, the only thing she could think about was reaching her destination as soon as possible. She had heard and read so many wonderful things about the long lost city of Venice that she immediately volunteered for this journey when the opportunity arose. The library where she worked was trying to salvage as many books as possible to prevent further losses. Already the world had lost so much because of the consequences of climate change that books seemed to Maaike a good way to save the past from disappearing completely. And books could also help preventing further losses; by understanding the mistakes that were made and transmitting the knowledge of what could be done better, maybe it was possible to build some kind of future. Maaike had hope. And that was why she was traveling south. She hoped that this research journey, could give her stories to bring back to the library; stories about what was lost; memories that could be preserved and could be accessed to move forward in a different direction. Her purpose was to record as many stories as possible about Venice and then transcribe them, so that the library could have a record of what happened to the city that drowned so many years ago and that was almost fading from memory despite its great history.
It was at the library that her fascination with Venice had started. Right when she was only an intern doing menial tasks to help the staff there. She had seen the few old books – those that survived the rising seas, the fires that raged across Europe, and the various raids that had destroyed several cities when the first governments had begun to fall – with beautiful depictions of Venice; a colourful and crowded city, full with people coming from across the world in the days of carnival. She had seen faded pictures of the once famous calli and campielli. She had heard stories handed down from the first refugees coming from the south when the seas first started rising; the high tides in Venice started to get higher and higher, until they stopped receding altogether. Now, she was almost there. Her journey was almost over. Her guide, a muscular man in his forties, halted raising a hand. The entire group came to a stop.
“We are there” the guide sighted, almost with a hint of sadness in his voice.
Maaike was barely able to contain her excitement. Even though she was exhausted by the heat and the long walk, she sprinted to reach the guide on top of what looked like a small hill.
She had to shield her eyes with her hand, it was so bright. For a moment she could not see a single thing. Then her vision adjusted to the bright reflection of the sun on the water. And then her heart sunk. What was in front of her was not what she expected. The water extended as far as she could see.
“How can we be here? Where is the city? Is the guide wrong?” thought Maaike dazed.
“We must be in the wrong…” she started saying but the guide started pointing at something in the water. With such a bright light it was difficult to make out shapes and objects and the water was such an intense blue that all the other colors seemed to be drowning in it.
But then she saw it. Of course they were in the right place. Some shapes were emerging from the water. It looked like a bell tower but from such a distance she could not be sure. “Let’s keep moving, we can’t stay under this sun at this hour”, said the guide.
And he signaled to the group to follow him. He started descending towards the water, there was what looked like a small camp, and in the distance, it was possible to see older buildings, maybe from a couple of centuries before, high constructions with what probably must have been windows and balconies. Now they were all completely empty and the people seemed to be living closer to the water in makeshift housings. When they entered the camp a crowd of children immediately came to meet them.
“Maaike, the elders will see you later, after sundown, so you can ask them your questions”, informed her the guide with a polite tone. “I will be there to translate for you”, he continued with a smile.
***
The afternoon had been agonizing, both because of the heat to which Maaike was not used, and because of the sense of anticipation and curiosity that had devoured her since they reached that small settlement.
The library she worked at in the northern territories owned a couple of old books about a beautiful city built on water. The pictures had fascinated Maaike for so long that she could not stop talking about how amazing it would have been to once go and see it. So, when finally, the library could obtain some founding for research from the Council of the Free Cities, it was decided that the money would be well spent on a research trip to find more details about the lost city of Venice. Not only because of the wonders that city seemed to have had, but mostly because understanding the fate of such an ancient city could help in finding solutions to prevent even more cities to be lost to the rising waters; Maaike of course was the first to volunteer for the trip. And now she was finally here, waiting to meet the elderly of the settlement, those who, according to Carlo, the guide, still retain some first-hand memories of the city.
“They are over a hundred years old so they are a bit deaf, please be patient with them”, Carlo told her before they entered the tent of the elders.
The light was dim inside but the air was fresh, it was a pleasant sensation after the heat of the sun. Maaike could see four figures sitting on carpets at the far end of the tent. Two women were discussing something in low voices while drinking water that was frequently poured to them by a young girl in attendance. The other two seemed fast asleep, with their heads lowered on their chest and their breath regular and calm.
“Benvenuta” said in a low voice the elderly woman sitting on the left, “my name is Daniela.”
“She welcomes you, she is Daniela, she is over a hundred and twenty years old. No one knows their exact age anymore” whispered Carlo.
“Carlo, is this the girl coming from the north?” asked suddenly one of the two elderly Maaike thought were asleep.
“Yes, she is the one who wants to hear your stories, Sofia. She traveled all the way from the north just to see you” replied Carlo.
“Sit down dear”, said a third voice, with a gentle and kind tone. “We are not that young anymore so our memories might be a bit confused, but we will try our best to answer your questions and tell you our stories.”
“Memories are the only way we have to preserve the past. And by sharing them we can somehow learn to live with the guilt of not having done enough when we could and the shame of not being able to preserve our world for the generations to come”, said the fourth voice who had been quiet until that moment. She spoke with an authoritative tone but the sadness in her voice was clear.
“What do you want to know?” asked the gentle voice.
“Everything you can tell me! I want to know how it all started!” said Maaike almost out of breath from the excitement.
“This is going to be a long story”, replied the woman.
“I will start, my grandparents were there when it all started, so I heard their stories,” said Daniela.
“It wasn’t sudden you know, there were signs for a long time, people knew that the city would disappear, that the sea would devour it but it always seemed something far away in the future. The previous generations did not understand how our actions can affect the future. They only lived in the moment, thinking only about the short span of their lives.”
“Venice was a city of colors; my grandmother always told me. It was a city full of life and beauty. In the summer evenings, you could see the lagoon and the bell tower of San Marco turn red at sundown. You could hear music and singing in improvised concerts, mixing with the chirping of birds and the cries of seagulls. Dogs barking would suddenly be heard in the quiet of the night and the voices of elderly people sitting at bars and speaking in the Venetian dialect would fill the hot summer air. It was a city full of life, but also silent and peaceful; at night you could walk in small calli and campielli hearing only your footsteps. You could breathe in the soul of Venice. Its unique way of living, at its own pace and with its own small idiosyncrasies. But to this beauty there was a dark side. Venice had existed for centuries in a very delicate and complex environment, but when this balance broke, Venice was doomed. Plans were made to develop the mainland, huge factories and shipyards were built, but in order to do so, canals were interred while new ones were dug to channel the water and dry some part of the land. Those areas however lost their soul. Birds, fish, and insects died. The water was polluted. The lagoon became silent.”
“Oh come on Dani, while all your stories have this poetic tone? I bet this young lady does not care about the ‘soul of Venice’” said mockingly Sofia. “She wants to hear the facts! How the generations of our great-grandparents allowed the big cruise ships to sail through the Canale della Giudecca, of how the tourists would crowd those cramped calli sometimes even preventing people from walking at all. I have heard that sometimes it looked like everyone was queuing around the entire city from how full the city was with tourists.”
“But didn’t the city drown because of the rising seas?” asked Maaike confused.
“Yes it did” said the fourth elderly woman. Her voice sounded younger than the others but her tone made clear that she was probably in a position of authority.
“Her name is Rosa” whispered Carlo, “she is the head of the council.”
“But as Daniela and Sofia said, the lagoon was delicate and in danger all along. The previous generations did not think about the consequences of their actions. They wanted to build shipyards and factories at the edge of the lagoon, and they did without thinking how this would affect the rest of the ecosystem. They did everything in the name of profit. Profit was their goal and as long as they reached that end, they thought they could solve all the problems. It was the same with the rising seas. Not only Venice, but everyone knew that people’s desire for profit would bring about catastrophes, but they did not do enough to prevent any of it from happening. The worst was always to come, they pretended not to see that the end was nearing already, creeping up on people at fast speed. They were blind, they wanted to be blind and ignorant, pretending that nothing was changing. But everything was different.”
“People forget too easily.” Continued Rosa “one time, before Venice disappeared, there was a flood; it was not a normal high tide, one of those to which the people were used. It was an extraordinary one; the water was so high that it was called aqua granda, the great water. It was a tide so high and unexpected that left the city prostrated. So devastating that people kept remembering it, pieces of art were created to preserve its memory and the effects it had on the city and the people. But then again, everyone forgot. People did not worry anymore about the signs the lagoon was sending. The lagoon was suffering, and with it the rest of the world, but no one wanted to listen.”
“Come”, said Rosa, “Let me show you something”
The elderly lady slowly got up and walked outside the tent. Maaike and Carlo followed her surprised. Rosa was walking quite briskly for her age and she reached the shore, where a small rowing boat was waiting. The three got on and the boy sitting at the oar began to row.
Slowly, the buildings slightly emerging from the water started to get closer. The sun was almost setting and now the heat was not that unbearable anymore. It was almost pleasant, thought Maaike, and the view reminded her so much of home. The old Kingdom of The Netherlands partly occupied territories that were under sea level, they had built a complex system of dykes, pumps and sand dunes that made up an extremely sophisticated anti-flood system. But not even such an advanced planning saved the old kingdom. The cities closer to the coast such as Den Haag had been abandoned and people moved further inland. The central government broke down but cities managed to create a system of self-governing cities that were still somehow holding on against the waters. Maaike had seen how restless the sea could be.
Maaike’s thoughts were suddenly interrupted as Rosa spoke. “You see, Venice was a city built on water, in a similar way to the place you are coming from. But the past generations did not want to understand how much care was needed to make such a fragile environment not only survive but thrive. Venice was never the city alone, nor the people. It was also the birds, the fish, the trees, the water and every other small part that composed the lagoon. Venice was never only human, but we forgot that. And when we forget how closely tied to nature we are, we also lose track of the importance of care, if we don’t care for nature, we also don’t take care of the people who live in it and with it. Centuries ago, when people started realizing how human actions were affecting the world, Venice could have represented an example of creating an environment that accepted both the human and nature, and in which people were used to accept nature’s whims without fighting, without having the arrogance of wanting to change it. But this city also became an example of the shortsightedness of people. They did not care about the future, and so they lost their present. And now this is all that is left”
Rosa pointed towards what was in front of them.
“That’s the belltower of San Marco right?” said Maaike pointed to a green roof protruding from the water. “I have seen its pictures at the library.”
“Yes, most of the buildings you are seeing coming out of the waters are belltowers, Venice used to have a lot of them” said Rosa with a laugh. “But this is not why we came here”. And the boat crossed easily across the sparse towers emerging slightly. They reached a construction that looked newer. When they arrived, Rosa gestured Maaike to get off the boat.
“Carlo, you wait here with the boy”, she said in an assertive tone. Then she gestured to Maaike to follow her.
They entered the building; it was white and definitely newer than the old buildings they just sailed through. They entered an elevator and starting going down. Rosa didn’t say anything so Maaike just followed her silently.
When the doors of the elevator opened, they went out.
“We must be underwater now”, thought Maaike.
They walked across a narrow corridor and entered a room. To Maaike’s surprise books were stored there, and they looked old. Older than any book she had ever seen in her life. If she thought that the pictures they had at the library were old, these must have been many centuries older.
Rosa slowly walked to a shelf and carefully selected two books. She wrapped them with a cloth and gave them to Maaike.
Then she started to walk back where they came from. When they reached the boat, they got on without a word. Rosa murmured something to Carlo, but he didn’t translate; Maaike did not understand what was happening.
Rosa seemed happy and relaxed on their sail back to the shore. She seemed to be absorbed in contemplation, looking at the sparse buildings that could be seen in the water.
When they reached the coast, Rosa suddenly spoke. “Ti auguro un buon viaggio di ritorno! Ti prego, tieni al sicuro questi libri per noi, qui probabilmente andrebbero persi, ma sono parte della nostra memoria e vanno conservati. E poi, anche i due autori sono stati grandi viaggiatori, in tempi diversi ovviamente, ma come te hanno esplorato posti lontani e misteriosi. Buona fortuna!”, and then she disappeared back into the tent. Maaike started to follow her but Carlo stopped her. “We should get ready, tomorrow we travel back to the north” he said. “But I didn’t get what I wanted” exclaimed Maaike, almost angry.
“You got something more precious, you got the memories of Venice, its stories and also the stories of those who left it to travel far away, to visit new countries, but who always longed for it. Marco Polo and Nicolò Manucci wrote the books you are carrying. They are part of the memory of this city. Save them and with them, save the stories that the council of the elderly told you. They told you of a city that was complex, beautiful but difficult, full of contradictions, but also of hope and curiosity, a city that even when lost sight of what was important kept fighting. There were always people who tried to be the conscience of this city, reminding the people in charge how delicate it was and how quickly it could be destroyed. No one listened to them, they were not the majority, but they were there and they tried with all their strength to save not only the people, but the lagoon and all its beauty. Now you can bring back not only the story of how Venice disappeared but also their stories, and stories much older than those. Memory is the only way we have to keep thinking about the future. Saving the past means building the present and imagining a future that will be different. I also have something to give you, come!”
They walked silently to a low building of red bricks. Carlo pushed the door and entered. The room was small with a low ceiling. Carlo walked to the table and took a copy of a book whose pages were yellowed and whose back was discolored by the scorching sun. “Take also this. It is my copy of The Book of Histories. It is a poem written by the people who witnessed the rising seas and were forced to leave Venice. In here the tell their fight to make people realize that the city and the lagoon were in danger, and they tell of how they saw the water coming and not receding anymore. Take it, these are also the stories you came for.”
Maaike looked confused. She could not accept so many important books, why were they giving them to her? They were the memories of Venice. But listening to Carlo she started to understand, the memories needed to be saved and preserved, and shared in order to make a difference. Those books represented the different souls of the city, of the lagoon, and she was entrusted to keep them safe.
“Thank you”, she said to Carlo, “I will keep them safe, and with them, the memories of Venice, of its people and the lagoon. They will never fade from memory again.”
Angela Pietrafesa
Where is this grassroots initiative implemented? Who are the promoters? Who are the
beneficiaries?
In the small city of Satriano di Lucania (PZ), Basilicata, Southern Italy, every year a celebration renews: it is the ritual Carnevale di Satriano (Carnival of Satriano), an ancient tradition that was transformed in recent years by the spontaneous initiative of Rocco Perrone, municipal councillor, activist and keeper of the tradition, and a group of young citizens. The annual celebration reiterates an ancestral ritual that has gained now a new meaning, thanks to the will of the organisers to bring a different reading to a local tradition, of which the whole community is extremely fond of. What makes this Carnevale unique is the presence of one of the most ancient traditional masks in Southern Italy. The name of this character is Rumita, a word that can be translated as hermit, a silent and quiet man whose identity is completely concealed by a mask made of ivy leaves. Every year, a parade of Rumita and other traditional masks march through the streets of Satriano, surrounded by a joyful crowd of locals and tourists. The Carnevale di Satriano has gained more and more international recognition over the years and has become one of the most important traditional festivals in Italy. Part of its magic, it should be noted, is due to the strong ecological message it delivers, linked to the coexistence of humans and non-humans, and the effective sustainable practices put in place during each edition. The message behind the tradition of the Rumita has always been that of a reconnection with nature, as anthropologists have observed (Spera 1982), but it was only with the reinvention of the rite that it has gained a deeper environmental awareness.
How does this initiative engage with climate? Does it tackle mitigation, adaptation, both or other dimensions of climate change?
Since the initial idea of redefining the traditional Carnevale, the initiative has become a full-fledged narrative of the everlasting relationship between human and non-human nature. This kind of connection between humans and the lands they inhabit, is one that still exists in Basilicata’s rural areas and is, in fact, incarnated by the hybrid being of the Rumita. With the recovery of the Carnevale and the traditional mask, the citizens of Satriano were able to revive the original spirit of the ritual. Traditionally, in fact, the Rumita was the hybrid of human and nature that at the end of winter would ask for food and small offers of money to the people of Satriano. Through the gifts to the Rumita, the village would pay back its debt towards nature (Spera 1982). The grassroot initiative for the recovery of the Carnevale has thus restored the ideal connection that interlinks the community of Satriano with the land it inhabits and has allowed the creation of a storytelling that merges past and present. The promoters of the new Carnevale, by always keeping in mind the ancient symbolic meaning of the Rumita, have created a new form of storytelling, that adds the sensibility of younger generations towards climate change and environment. It must be highlighted as well that climate change also has an impact on local communities and their culture and identity: it is crucial, therefore, to take concrete action towards the defence of lands as well as the nature and humans that inhabit them. However, the initiative has a more practical side, in which locals and tourists are directly involved: anyone can be involved in the parade, through workshops in which those willing to take part in the parade are invited to build their own Rumita costume and become one of the protagonists of La foresta che cammina. Moreover, the main promoters of the initiative are working to build a concrete environmental sensibility in their town: they have planted a large number of trees to compensate for the CO2 emissions of the event and, more importantly, to raise awareness among the students of local schools, who took part in the project. Being mainly an artistic and cultural initiative, the Carnevale shows that a connection between folklore, traditions and art is a way to spread awareness about climate change and the ways it can affect lands and identities.
What are the main objectives? What are the main values?
The Carnevale di Satriano as we know it today is a grassroot initiative that came from the innate sensibility of Rocco Perrone and the first organisers towards ecology and environmental sustainability. As stated by Perrone, one of the main goals for the promoters, while recovering an important historic tradition, is that of keeping the anthropic impact under control, as well as reflecting constantly on the role that the festival itself might have on the community and local environment. According to him, it is crucial to always remember the ancestral bond between pre-industrial nature and human beings, of which the Rumita is a metaphor. In addition, Perrone reiterated that every decision and step taken in the making of the Carnevale is spontaneous, and only dictated by a shared environmental consciousness that makes it possible for the rite to become an emblem for the importance of communities in becoming the true actors for a change. In short, the Carnevale exists for two main reasons: on one hand, it represents the symbolic hybridization of culture and nature, and, on the other, it provides new means and ideas for the local community to tackle rising concerns about the environment.
What is the timeline? Are there already visible effects?
The initiative began in 2012, when the Carnevale already existed but was very different from now. Perrone and a group of citizens were upset by the decision of the local administration of removing the parade floats from the program of the Carnevale. After this event, they decided to take action and ask for the permission to organise the future editions of the festival. It must be noted that while the traditional masks, including the Rumita, never truly disappeared from the festival, it was only after 2012 and the encounter with the film director Michelangelo Frammartino that the Carnevale and the Rumita started taking its present shape and meaning. After Frammartino’s video installation Alberi (ital. trees 2013) and its presentation at MoMa in New York, in fact, the tradition was changed and the Rumita, that once was a lonely hermit, now moves in groups. In the film, in fact, the director follows a group of Rumita in their annual visit to the town. Since 2014, the organisers of the Carnevale have taken inspiration from Frammartino’s vision and the Rumita are now 131, one for each town in Basilicata, organised in a parade called La foresta che cammina (The Walking Forest) (Perrone, interview 2023). After almost ten years, La foresta che cammina has become a moment for local population and outsiders to meet and form a diverse and rich community. The main result that the promoters have achieved is that of recreating every year a gathering of people connected by the respect for nature, that often lacks in modern society, and the creation of a sustainable model for the protection of historic rituals. Also, the rite has been opened to visitors and tourists, who, for the first time, are allowed to actively participate in the parade, by building their own mask and marching alongside with locals. This way the tradition has become universal, as universal is the message of returning to a healthy and wholesome relation with nature. As stated before, the goal of the promoters is that of having a sustainable celebration, open and accessible to all, that counts on many concrete initiatives, such as implementing the use of biodegradable and reusable items for the distribution of locally sourced food and drinks. This approach has created a virtuous circle of cooperation between the organisation of Carnevale and local producers and workers, as well as becoming a model for sustainable forms of tourism. Moreover, until now, the Carnevale has been included in the Aarhus Sustainability Model in 2018 as a case of good practice for the message it delivers as well as the implementation of sustainable actions throughout the celebration. The Rumita have also walked from Satriano to Matera to support the candidacy of the city as capital of culture for the year 2019, as well as taking part, in 2017, in the Aarhus Sustainability Festival, for which a group of Rumita have travelled on e-bike all the way to Denmark from Matera, always proposing itself as the guardian of an environmentalist message.
Who are the actors involved? What are their backgrounds?
During the years, La foresta che cammina and the Carnevale di Satriano have seen growing support from local institutions, inhabitants of Satriano, scholars, and reporters, as well as filmmakers. Besides Frammartino, in fact, Maria Giménez Cavallo in 2020 made the documentary La foresta che cammina, that follows the ritual stages of the building of the Rumita’s mask. The main stakeholders, however, are local organisations and associations: Associazione Al Parco, in particular, has been organising the celebration every year since 2013, and many other are involved in the synergy that brings the Carnevale alive, one of which is Forum dei Giovani di Satriano that directly takes care of the preparation and construction of the costumes for the Rumita.
Which limits does it encounter?
The idea of expanding the message of the Rumita and Carnevale has led to a growth in the number of people that come to Satriano every year from all around the world. While it is good for the rite to receive international recognition, Satriano is a small village that has a limited capacity. This is the biggest obstacle that Perrone has identified: the larger the number of tourists and visitors, the more the very existence of the festival is at risk. The consequence would be the loss of Carnevale because it could become virtually impossible to host in a small village such as Satriano a number of visitors that grows exponentially from year to year. It is also getting more and more complex to guarantee the sustainability of the project, because more visitors mean more cars, more pollution, and more waste, and also less control over the use of resources and the interaction with the local environment.
Are any shortcomings or critical points visible? What other problematic issues can arise from its implementation?
Since this is a grassroot initiative, each aspect of the organisation is managed by volunteers, who cooperate to guarantee the success of the Carnevale. However, as the celebration gets bigger and bigger every year, it becomes dangerously easy to lose control over it. It is possible that, in future, it will be harder to follow the good practices that Rocco Perrone and the other volunteers have put in place until now (such as the monitoring of separate collection of waste, the promotion of carsharing and carpooling, the limited number of entries). From my personal perspective, in addition, the problem with an excessive number of tourists is also connected to a problematic gaze upon locals and their culture. In fact, when the local tradition of a small community is discovered by the general public, the first and most immediate critical aspect is the loss of unicity and peculiarity of the tradition. There is a concrete risk that the tradition could become more and more gentrified, to accommodate to the tastes of the average visitor, and that the symbolism and the conscious stance of Satrianesi might end up caught in a North-centred perspective, that flattens and manipulates the specificity of Southern regions that have often been only depicted by others (Cassano 2005).
How would it be potentially replicable in other settings?
While the mask of the Rumita is specific of Satriano and would be impossible to export it elsewhere, the model of the Carnevale di Satriano, potentially, can become a precedent for the creation of other local-driven narratives to promote a strong ecologist message and the specific characteristics and traditions of small communities. The measures adopted to guarantee the sustainability of the celebration prove that a grassroot initiative, lead only by the enthusiasm and willingness of local promoters, can really become the motor for a concrete action towards the reappropriation of marginal identities and the rediscovery of one’s own ancestral roots. The initiative, of course, still has its limitations, some of them highlighted above, but I believe it can lead the way towards a more aware conception of tourism.
Is this initiative conducive to broader changes ?
The organisation of the Carnevale is constantly working towards the building of a concrete environmental consciousness inside the community of Satriano: Perrone reported that the main associations involved in the making of the Carnevale have worked with schoolkids to build trees in order to compensate for the CO2 produced during the celebration and, also, to educate them to the respect of nature and environment. It is now necessary for the community and the town to avoid the collapse of the Carnevale: to do so, Perrone and those involved in the organisation, are actively trying to build a balance between the openness of the celebration and the town to the outside world and a constant attention for the land and town of Satriano. It was taken into consideration to extend the period of the Carnevale (that now is of two days), as well as opening to an active dialogue with local institutions and population to create a deep understanding of the dynamics that act between human and non-human nature and their intrinsic fragilities.
References
Carnevale di Satriano https://www.carnevaledisatriano.it.
Cassano, F. (2005). Il pensiero meridiano. Laterza.
Perrone, R. (2023). Interview.
Spera, E., (1982). Il Romita, l’orso e la vedova bianca, in Quaderni. Edizioni La scena territoriale.
By Catalina Quiroga Manrique
Version in Spanish below
Where is this grassroots initiative implemented?
In a territory1 that is highly disputed by various actors, a group of 12 women belonging to the black community of Villa Gloria, in the district of La Boquilla, Cartagena, Colombia, are planting mangroves to reforest the Ciénaga de la Virgen and Juan Polo. “Mangle verde, salvemos a Villa Gloria“, is the name of the local initiative to adapt to climate change and care for the mangroves as the home of the black communities. This project began in 2017 with the support of the company Concesión Costera, a conglomerate of companies in charge of the construction of the viaduct to link the city of Cartagena with Barranquilla2.
The Ciénaga de la Virgen and Juan Polo is a coastal lagoon located on the north side of the city of Cartagena and separated from the sea by a sandy beach. This cordon of sands is the territory where the black communities of La Boquilla, Villa Gloria Linda have consolidated their homes after successive displacements associated with the conflict and land grabbing in the interior of the Caribbean (Centro Nacional de Memoria Histórica, 2017). The swamp is considered a priority part of the region’s territorial and environmental planning. CARDIQUE (Corporación Regional Autónoma) declared the region a priority for water management, adaptation, and mitigation of climate change on the edge of the city of Cartagena since 2003.
What are the main objectives? What are the main values?
1 In this entry, the term territory is used to understand the social and power relations that transform and organise certain spaces. Beyond a concept centred on the limits of space, the idea of territory that I use is one that allows me to think about how different actors territorialise ways of life and defend local spaces (Fernandes, 2009; Ulloa, 2016).
2 The infrastructure work of the “viaducto el gran manglar” is part of a process of construction of fourth generation roads that seek to connect the cities of Barranquilla and Cartagena, as they are the cities with the highest urban growth and development in the Caribbean region (Ministry of Transport, 2021). The project had a total cost of 1.64 trillion pesos, and according to the Colombian government: “it benefited nearly 3 million people in Bolívar and Atlántico and allowed the generation of 9 thousand jobs in the region” (Ministry of Transport, 2021, web page). This viaduct was built over 5.4 km of the Ciénaga de la Virgen.
Since 2017, the women’s community of Villa Gloria, which initially had a total of 26 families, has been managing a mangrove seedbed where they produce seedlings for reforestation processes in the ecosystem (Álvarez, 2019). The project was initially financed by the company Concesión Costera in the framework of the fulfilment of its responsibilities with the Consulta Previa e Informada (Prior and Informed Consultation)3. However, the women who started the process quickly claimed the project as their own and as a fundamental part of the defence of the territory, which includes the use and care of the mangrove as their home (Contreras, 2021).
The general idea of the mangrove planting project was to implement mangrove seedbeds of various species, which would then form the basis for the environmental compensation process associated with the construction of the viaduct. In addition to this, the women leading the project mention that preserving the mangrove forest is the way to guarantee access to food, promote fishing as a key economic activity for these communities and guarantee the permanence of these communities in areas that are highly disputed by other actors.
3 Prior and Informed Consultation is a participation mechanism included in ILO Convention 169 on indigenous and tribal peoples, which urges national governments to promote spaces for consultation and redress for activities related to land use change in territories inhabited by indigenous and Afro-descendant communities, in the case of Colombia.
Villa Gloria, Cartagena, images by author
How does this initiative engage with climate? Does it tackle mitigation, adaptation, both or other dimensions of climate change?
From the beginning, this project has been community-led, although it has been related to private actors. The planting of mangroves has become a way to generate local capacity in historical processes of territorial defence. This entry, then, aims to present the challenges and the history of a climate change adaptation initiative that is inserted in a context of profound inequality, but also demonstrates how at the local level the mangrove is key to the defence of the territory and the lives of black women in the community.
Different private, public, academic, and local actors are involved in this conflict associated with the mangrove restoration process. In this sense, beyond showing the initiative in detail, this entry seeks to highlight the complex relationships between different actors and the mangrove ecosystem in the process of implementing a project associated with climate change mitigation or adaptation in urban contexts.
What is the timeline, who are the actors involved? What are their backgrounds?
Cartagena is a city characterized by high rates of segregation and inequality, much of it race-related. The process of segregation in Cartagena began in the early 20th century. Between 1910 and 1930, members of the economic elite began a process of promoting the city as a tourist jewel. This process took place through the consolidation of various institutions such as hotel and merchant organisations (Deavila Pertuz, 2015; Flórez-Bolívar, 2015). Each of these actors, who also promoted the growth of the city as synonymous with development, produced discourses in which the presence of black and mulatto communities was seen as obstacles to development (Cunin, 2013). The idea of the dream city, called “the pearl of the Americas”, was the discourse that justified the production of a racist city.
According to Deavila (2015), the urban development of Cartagena since the 1950s was based on the production of tourist spaces, and therefore on the displacement of poor neighbourhoods, most of them inhabited by black communities, to the peripheries, including the vicinity of the Ciénaga de la Virgen and Juan Polo. One of the mechanisms that produced this territorial organisation was the patrimonialisation of the historic city centre. This patrimonialisation took place through the “cleaning” of the edges of the city walls. These produced processes of gentrification that expelled black populations towards La Boquilla and Villa Gloria sectors (Deavila Petruz, 2015).
In the context of these processes of segregation and added to the presence of the armed conflict and the control of fertile lands in regions close to Cartagena, such as Montes de María, on 26 March 1993, Doña Gloria and approximately 26 families from the sectors of La Boquilla, Barú, Sur de Bolivar, Montes de María and Magdalena Medio settled on a beach in a shallow area on the edge of the Ciénaga de la Virgen and Juan Polo facing the Caribbean Sea (Grupo de Memoria Histórica, 2013). At that time, this sector was part of the privately owned Hacienda Los Morros. For several months these families were settled there, fishing and organising the neighbourhood. By 1994, the community had already built some houses and were beginning to build a grassroots organisation called the Pro-Boquilla Committee, of which Doña Gloria was one of the leaders (Gil Cepeda, 2014; Lozano, 2015).
Due to the work carried out by the Pro-Boquilla Committee and the process of community consolidation, in 1995, the then owners of Hacienda Los Morros together with the police forcibly evicted several families from the community. The title deed that supported the police action mentioned that Mrs. Sonia Gutt de Haime and Mr. Carlos Haime B. were the owners of the Los Morros Development Company, Colombia branch, and that the land occupied by the Villa Gloria community was their property (Gil Cepeda, 2014). Despite this, the Villa Gloria community, as a strategy to defend the territory, at the local level, began a process of recognition as a Community Council of Afro-descendant communities.
During the second part of the 1990s, the process of defending the territories through the consolidation of Community Councils under Law 70 of 1993 became stronger and stronger. Achieving the consolidation of community spaces was the working horizon of these communities whose permanence in this territory between the mangrove swamp and the Caribbean Sea was threatened. Thus, after the entry into force of Law 70 of 1993, several communities living in the corregimiento of La Boquilla, including Villa Gloria, began a process to guarantee their recognition and their rights to land ownership and use of the mangroves (Gil Cepeda, 2014; Hernández-Ospina, 2020; Lozano, 2015).
The first community council to receive municipal recognition from the mayor’s office of Cartagena was Marilinda in 1996, followed by La Boquilla in 2005. It was only in 2018 that Villa Gloria received such recognition. The recognition of the community councils, however, did not imply a land titling process. Several reasons were mentioned by the then INCODER, the state office in charge of land titling processes. Among the reasons mentioned was that these communities had arrived in this area after displacement processes and therefore there was no national land registry.
The dispute over land ownership in this sense has been a key element in the history of this organisation of Mangrove planters. As an example of this, Hernández (2020) mentions that between 2000 and 2001 INCODER visited the community of Villa Gloria and declared that the land was not part of the Haime family’s land title. However, this family hired a private surveyor and disputed the decision. At the same time, the Corporación Autónoma Regional CARDIQUE sent a letter to the mayor of Cartagena stating that these “invading” communities were at high risk of flooding. The author mentions that these legal and judicial processes helped to consolidate a negative image of the communities of Villa Gloria, affecting local processes of territorial defence (Hernández-Ospina, 2020).
This story of resistance is the precursor to the locally led mangrove conservation project. This project, like others associated with climate change, has been appropriated by the community in order to comprehensively defend their right to land, sea and mangrove. All this exalting their role as key actors in the production of knowledge associated with climate change adaptation.
Which limits does it encounter? How would it be potentially replicable in other settings? Is this initiative conducive to broader changes?
For Villa Gloria’s women mangrove-planters, adaptation actions have become a way of defending Black territories from the pressures of both climate change events and urban growth. This also fits within literature on how climate change can deepen the inequalities in urban contexts where high-value urban development threatens impoverished communities. As Goh (2021) explains, climate events and responses can end up exposing “persistent social and spatial striation… [and] long-time patterns of marginalization that were accentuated in the wake of the disasters and at risk of being entrenched and exacerbated in the future plans”. As the author also notes, community groups end up mobilizing against “the perceived injustices and oversights of the prominent plans”.
With this in mind, it is worth mentioning that the local climate change adaptation strategy led by black women in the city of Cartagena is also part of a process of territorial defence against the dispossession of livelihoods and land. This concrete example shows how climate change adaptation and mitigation is linked to the struggle for territorial rights. In this sense, this initiative allows us to recognise how claims for access to land and the guarantee of the reproduction of life are transformed and adapted to projects that are part of international agendas.
Thus, in the development of these adaptation projects, local communities encounter two limits in the application of the project, the first of which has to do with the fact that the institutions responsible for the application of climate change policies do not necessarily recognise the existence of structural inequalities, and therefore reduce the application of projects to short-term processes that are not in tune with the historical claims of the communities. Second, some private actors also take a narrow view of the impacts of development projects on the daily lives of the communities they impact.
Are there any shortcomings or critical points visible? What other problematic issues can arise from its implementation?
The case study in Cartagena de Indias with the women mangrove planters is an interesting example of how locally climate change is intertwined with previous socio-environmental inequalities, as well as with local territorial defence actions. This implies that the implementation of adaptation projects is transformed, discussed, and redefined at the local level. In terms of the possibilities of replicating the exercise, I consider that beyond the replication of mangrove planting processes, it is relevant to recognise the places where these projects are applied. This means that beyond generating models, it is relevant to know the historical formations and the processes of exclusion and resistance that are found at the local level. All this in order to recognise how projects associated with climate change can fit in or generate new frictions in their application.
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SPANISH VERSION
Paisajes del cambio climático: manglares, resistencias negras y mujeres frente a procesos a adaptación y mitigación del Cambio Climático en Cartagena de Indias, Colombia
By Catalina Quiroga Manrique.
¿Dónde se implementa la iniciativa de organización comunitaria?
En un territorio4 altamente disputado por varios actores, un grupo de 12 mujeres pertenecientes a la comunidad negra de Villa Gloria, corregimiento de la Boquilla, Cartagena, Colombia, siembran manglar para reforestar la Ciénaga de la Virgen y Juan Polo. “Mangle verde, salvemos a Villa Gloria”, es el nombre de la iniciativa local de adaptación al cambio climático y el cuidado de los manglares como hogar de las comunidades negras (Contreras, 2021). Este proyecto inició en el 2017 con el apoyo de la empresa Concesión Costera, un conglomerado de empresas a cargo de la construcción del viaducto para unir las ciudades de Cartagena y Barranquilla5.
La ciénaga de la Virgen y Juan Polo es una laguna costera ubicada sobre el costado norte de la Ciudad de Cartagena y separada del mar por un cordón de arenas. Este cordón de arenas es el territorio donde las comunidades negras de La Boquilla, Villa Gloria y Marilinda han consolidado sus hogares luego de sucesivos desplazamientos asociados al conflicto y al acaparamiento de tierras en el interior del caribe (Centro Nacional de Memoria Histórica, 2017). La ciénaga es considerada parte prioritaria del ordenamiento territorial y ambiental de la región, incluyendo los servicios ecosistémicos asociados a adaptación al cambio climático. CARDIQUE (La Corporación Regional Autónoma) declaró desde el 2003 la región como prioritaria para el manejo del agua, la adaptación y la mitigación del cambio climático al borde de la ciudad.
4 En este trabajo el término de territorio es usado para comprender las relaciones sociales y de poder que transforman y organizan determinados espacios. Más allá de un concepto centrado en los límites del espacio, la idea de territorio que utilizo es aquella que me permite pensar cómo diferentes actores territorializan formas de vida y defienden espacios locales (Fernandes, 2009; Ulloa, 2016)
5 La obra de infraestructura del “viaducto el gran manglar” hace parte de un proceso de construcción de vías de cuarta generación que buscan conectar la ciudad de Barranquilla y Cartagena por ser las ciudades con mayor crecimiento urbano y desarrollo de la región Caribe (Ministerio de Transporte, 2021). El proyecto tuvo un costo total de 1,64 billones de pesos, y según el gobierno de Colombia: “benefició a cerca de 3 millones de persona en Bolívar y Atlántico y permitió la generación de 9 mil empleos en la región” (Ministerio de Transporte, 2021,
web page). Este viaducto fue construido sobre 5,4 km de longitud de la Ciénaga de la Virgen.
¿Cuáles son los principales objetivos y cuales los principales valores de la iniciativa?
Desde el año 2017, la comunidad de mujeres de Villa Gloria, que contó al principio con un total de 26 familias, maneja un semillero de manglar donde producen plántulas para procesos de reforestación del ecosistema (Álvarez, 2019). La idea general de proyecto de siembra de manglar fue implementar unos semilleros de manglar de varias especies, que luego fueran la base para el proceso de compensación ambiental asociada a la construcción del viaducto. Así mismo, la idea de los semilleros fue construir un emprendimiento que brindara libertad económica a algunas de las mujeres participantes. En todo caso, la venta de manglar es todavía un proyecto que no tiene suficiente salida económica.
El proyecto de siembra inicialmente fue financiado por la empresa Concesión Costera en el marco del cumplimiento de sus responsabilidades con la Consulta Previa e Informada6 asociada a construcción del viaducto. Sin embargo, rápidamente las mujeres reclamaron el proyecto como suyo y como parte fundamental de la defensa del territorio. Las mujeres que lideran el proyecto mencionan que preservar el manglar es la forma de garantizar el acceso a la alimentación, promover la actividad pesquera como actividad económica clave para estas comunidades y garantizar la permanencia de estas comunidades en zonas altamente disputadas por otros actores. Así, para las mujeres negras de Villa Gloria, más allá de la compensación ambiental y la reforestación, cuidar y preservar el manglar incluye el aprovechamiento de las aguas y los bosques y la construcción de una geografía negra en resistencia (Contreras, 2021).
¿Cómo la iniciativa se relaciona con el cambio climático? ¿La idea es hacer frente a procesos de mitigación o adaptación, ambos u otra dimensión relacionada con cambio climático?
Desde el inicio este proyecto ha sido liderado comunitariamente, si bien este ha estado relacionado con actores privados, la siembra de manglar se ha convertido en una forma de
6 La Consulta Previa e Informada es un mecanismo de participación incluido en el convenio de la OIT 169 sobre pueblos indígenas y triviales, que insta a los gobiernos nacionales a promover espacios de consulta y reparación por actividades relacionadas con cambio del uso del suelo en territorios donde habitan comunidades indígenas y afrodescendientes, en el caso de Colombia.
generar capacidad local en procesos históricos de la defensa del territorio. Esta entrada7 tiene como fin presentar los retos y la historia de una iniciativa de adaptación al cambio climático que se inserta en un contexto de profunda desigualdad pero que demuestra cómo a nivel local el manglar es clave para la defensa del territorio y de la vida de las mujeres negras de la comunidad.
¿Cuál es la historia de la iniciativa?, ¿Cuáles son los actores involucrados?, ¿Cuáles son sus historias locales?
Cartagena es una ciudad caracterizada por altas tasas de segregación y desigualdad, muchas de ellas relacionadas con la raza (Deavila Pertuz, 2015). El proceso de segregación de Cartagena comenzó a principios del siglo XX. Entre los años 1910 y 1930, miembros de la élite económica comenzaron un proceso de promoción de la ciudad como una joya turística. Este proceso se dio por medio de la consolidación de diversas instituciones como las organizaciones de hoteles y comerciantes (Deavila Pertuz, 2015; Flórez-Bolívar, 2015). Cada uno de estos actores, que además promovían el crecimiento de la ciudad como sinónimo de desarrollo, produjo discursos en donde la presencia de comunidades negras y mulatas eran vista como obstáculos para el desarrollo (Cunin, 2013). La idea de la ciudad soñada, llamada “La perla de américa” era el discurso que justificaba la producción de una ciudad racista.
Según Deavila (2015) el desarrollo urbano de Cartagena desde los años 50 se basó en la producción de espacios turísticos, y, por lo tanto, en el desplazamiento de barrios pobres, la mayoría de estos habitados por comunidades negras, hacia las periferias, incluyendo las inmediaciones de la Ciénaga de la Virgen y Juan Polo. Uno de los mecanismos que produjo esta organización territorial fue la patrimonalización del centro histórico de la ciudad. Esto produjo procesos de gentrificación que expulsaron a las poblaciones negras hacía el sector de La Boquilla y Villa Gloria (Deavila Petruz, 2015).
En el marco de estos procesos de segregación y sumado a la presencia del conflicto armado y el control de tierras fértiles en regiones cercanas a Cartagena, como Montes de María, un 26 de marzo de 1993, Doña Gloria y aproximadamente 26 familias provenientes del sector de la
7 En este conflicto asociado al proceso de restauración del manglar hacen presencia diferentes actores privados, públicos, académicos y locales. En este sentido, más allá de mostrar la iniciativa en detalle, esta entrada busca poner de manifiesto las complejas relaciones que se entablan entre diferentes actores y el ecosistema de manglar en el proceso de implementación de un proyecto asociado a la mitigación o adaptación al cambio climático en contextos urbanos.
Boquilla, Barú, el Sur de Bolivar, Montes de María y el Magdalena Medio se instalarón en un playón en zona de bajamar a borde de la Ciénaga de la Virgen y Juan Polo y de frente al Mar Caribe (Grupo de Memoria Histórica, 2013). Para ese momento, este sector era parte de la Hacienda Los Morros, propiedad privada. Durante varios meses estas familias estuvieron allí asentadas pescando y organizando su territorio. En 1994, la comunidad ya había construido algunas casas y comenzaban a construir la organización de base llamada el Comité Pro-Boquilla, del cuál Doña Gloria era una de las lideresas (Gil Cepeda, 2014; Lozano, 2015).
Debido al trabajo realizado por el Comité Pro-Boquilla y el proceso de consolidación de la comunidad, en 1995, los entonces dueños de la Hacienda Los Morros junto con la polícia desalojaron a la fuerza a varias familias de la comunidad. El título de propiedad que sustentó la acción de la policía mencionaba que la señora Sonia Gutt de Haime y el señor Carlos Haime B. eran los dueños de la empresa de Desarrollo los Morros sucursal Colombia y que los terrenos ocupados por la comunidad de Villa Gloria eran de su propiedad (Gil Cepeda, 2014). A pesar de esto, la comunidad de Villa Gloria, como estrategia de defensa del territorio, a nivel local, comenzó un proceso de reconocimiento como Consejo Comunitario de comunidades afrodescendientes. Una figura jurídica asociada a la Ley 170 de 1993 que reconoce la presencia de pueblos afrodescendientes y busca garantizar la pervivencia de estos.
Durante la segunda parte de la década de los noventa el proceso de defensa de los territorios por medio de la consolidación de Consejos comunitarios cobijados bajo la ley 70 de 1993, se fue haciendo cada vez más fuerte. Lograr la consolidación de espacios comunitarios era el horizonte de trabajo de estas comunidades que veían amenazada su permanencia en este territorio entre el manglar y el mar Caribe. Es así, cómo luego de la entrada en vigencia de la Ley 70 de 1993, varias comunidades habitantes del corregimiento de La Boquilla, incluyendo Villa Gloria comenzaron un proceso para garantizar su reconocimiento y sus derechos a la propiedad de la tierra y el uso de los manglares (Gil Cepeda, 2014; Hernández-Ospina, 2020; Lozano, 2015).
El primer consejo comunitario que recibió reconocimiento municipal de la alcaldía de Cartagena fue Marilinda en 1996, seguido de la Boquilla en 2005. Solo hasta el 2018, Villa Gloria recibió dicho reconocimiento. El reconocimiento de los consejos comunitarios, sin embargo, no implicó un proceso de titulación de tierras. Varios motivos fueron mencionados
por el entonces INCODER, oficina del estado encargada de procesos de titulación de tierras. Entre los motivos mencionados se dijo que estas comunidades habían llegado a esta zona luego de procesos de desplazamiento y que por tanto no había registro de propiedad a nivel nacional.
La disputa por la propiedad de la tierra en ese sentido ha sido un elemento clave para tener en cuenta en la historia de esta organización de sembradoras de Manglar. Como muestra de esto, Hernández (2020) menciona que entre el año 2000 y 2001 el INCODER visitó la comunidad de Villa Gloria y declaró que esa tierra no era parte del título de propiedad de la Familia Haime. Sin embargo, esta familia contrató a un topógrafo privado y disputó la decisión. Al mismo tiempo, la Corporación Autónoma Regional CARDIQUE envió una carta al alcalde de Cartagena mencionando que estás comunidades “invasoras” se encontraban en alto riesgo de inundación. La autora menciona que estos procesos legales y judiciales acompañados de varios prejuicios ayudaron a consolidar una imagen negativa de las comunidades de Villa Gloria, afectando los procesos locales de defensa de los territorios (Hernández-Ospina, 2020).
Hoy, 2023, el único Consejo comunitario que cuenta con titulación de tierras es el consejo Comunitario de La Comunidad Negra del Gobierno Rural de La Boquilla. La historia de este proceso de titulación es analizada por Hernández quien menciona que el primer registro de reclamo comunitario de tierras data del año 2012, varios años después de haber logrado el reconocimiento como consejo comunitario (Hernández-Ospina, 2020). La misma autora menciona que actores económicos y políticos tales como dueños de tierras, entre ellos la familia Haime, dueña de la Hacienda de Los Morros, emprendimientos turísticos y otros empresarios locales estaban en contra de este reclamo de tierras. Entre los argumentos que tenían estos actores estaban que esas comunidades no eran afrodescendientes, no cuidaban el medio ambiente y por lo tanto eran invasores y destructores del manglar y que esas tierras no podían ser ocupadas por ser zonas de inundación y bajamar (Hernández-Ospina, 2020).
Esta historia de despojo de tierras y formas de vida, y de resistencia es la antesala del proyecto de conservación de manglar para la adaptación al cambio climático liderado localmente. Este proyecto ha sido apropiado por la comunidad con el fin de defender integralmente su derecho a la tierra, al mar y al manglar. Todo esto exaltando su papel como actores claves en la producción de conocimiento asociado a la adaptación al cambio climático en terrenos altamente disputados y con la ausencia de derechos de propiedad sobre las tierras.
¿Cuáles son los límites y obstáculos que la iniciativa ha encontrado? ¿Qué tipo de arreglos institucionales ha permitido abrir esta iniciativa?
Para las mujeres plantadoras de manglar de Villa Gloria, las acciones de adaptación asociadas a la siembra del manglar se han convertido en una forma de defender los territorios negros de las presiones tanto de los fenómenos del cambio climático como del crecimiento urbano y lo que este ha implicado en términos de exclusión. La titulación de tierras es la principal lucha de la comunidad y, dentro de ese contexto, la plantación de manglares se ha convertido en una forma de hacer valer su derecho a permanecer en los márgenes de la ciudad de Cartagena. Esto también encaja en la literatura sobre cómo los efectos del cambio climático pueden profundizar las desigualdades en contextos urbanos donde el desarrollo urbano de alto valor amenaza a las comunidades empobrecidas que además son las responsables de promover proyectos de protección de la ciudad. Como explica Goh (2021), los fenómenos climáticos y sus respuestas pueden acabar sacando a la luz “estrías sociales y espaciales persistentes… [y] pautas de marginación de larga data que se acentuaron tras los desastres y corren el riesgo de afianzarse y exacerbarse en los planes futuros”. Como también señala el autor, los grupos comunitarios acaban movilizándose contra “las injusticias y descuidos percibidos de los planes destacados”.
Teniendo esto en cuenta se puede mencionar que la estrategia local de adaptación al cambio climático liderada por mujeres negras en la ciudad de Cartagena se enmarca también en un proceso de defensa del territorio contra el despojo de formas de vida y tierras. Este ejemplo concreto muestra como la adaptación y mitigación al cambio climático está atada a la lucha por lo derechos territoriales. En este sentido esta iniciativa permite reconocer como los reclamos de acceso a la tierra y la garantía a la reproducción de la vida se transforman y se adaptan a proyectos que hacen parte de agendas internacionales.
Así, en el desarrollo de estos proyectos de adaptación las comunidades locales encuentran dos límites en la aplicación del proyecto, el primero de ellos tienen que ver con que las instituciones encargadas de la aplicación de políticas de cambio climático no necesariamente reconocen que existen desigualdades estructurales, y por lo tanto reducen la aplicación de proyectos a procesos de corto plazo que no entran en sintonía con los reclamos históricos de las comunidades. Segundo, algunos actores privados también tienen una mirada muy reducida de los impactos de los proyectos de desarrollo en las vidas cotidianas de las comunidades a las que impactan.
¿Qué puntos críticos emergen de la lectura y el análisis de esta iniciativa? ¿Qué otros problemas pueden emerger en el proceso de implementación?
El estudio de caso en Cartagena de Indias con las mujeres sembradoras de manglar es un ejemplo interesante de cómo localmente el cambio climático se entrelaza con previas desigualdades socioambientales, así como con acciones locales de defensa territorial. Esto implica que la aplicación de proyectos de adaptación se transforma, discute y redefine a nivel local. En términos de las posibilidades de replicar el ejercicio, considero que más allá de la réplica de los procesos de siembra de manglar, es relevante reconocer los lugares en donde estos proyectos son aplicados. Esto quiere decir, que más allá de generar modelos, es relevante conocer las formaciones históricas y los procesos de exclusión y resistencia que se encuentran a nivel local. Todo esto con el fin de reconocer cómo los proyectos asociados al cambio climático pueden encajar o bien generar nuevas fricciones en su aplicación.
Referencias
Álvarez, R. (2019). En Villa Gloria al mangle le dicen “El oro verde” | EL UNIVERSAL – Cartagena. El Universal.
https://www.eluniversal.com.co/cartagena/en-villa-gloria-al-mangle-le-dicen-el-oro-v
erde-CD2140958
Centro Nacional de Memoria Histórica. (2017). Campesinos de tierra y agua: Memorias
sobre sujeto colectivo, trayectoria organizativa, daño y expectativas de reparación
colectiva en la región Caribe 1960- 2015. (CNMH, Ed.). CNMH. Contreras, D. (2021). Vivienda Y Manglar: Un Análisis De Los Procesos De
Reterritorialización Desde La Comunidad Afro De Villa Gloria En Cartagena.
Universidad Santo Tomás.
Deavila Pertuz, O. C. (2015). Los desterrados del paraíso: Turismo, desarrollo y
patrimonialización en Cartagena a mediados del siglo XX. In Los desterrados del paraíso. Raza, pobreza y cultura en Cartagena de Indias (Issue December, pp.
123–146). Maremágnum. https://www.academia.edu/20292495/Los_desterrados_del_para%C3%ADso_turismo _desarrollo_y_patrimonializaci%C3%B3n_en_Cartagena_a_mediados_del_siglo_XX
Fernandes, B. M. (2009). Sobre la tipología de los territorios. In CLACSO. Haesbaert. http://www.iirsa.org
Flórez-Bolívar, F. (2015). Culto a la piedra, desprecio a la gente: Cartagena en tres escenas. In Los desterrados del paraíso Raza, pobreza y cultura en Cartagena de Indias. Maremágnum. https://www.academia.edu/39047887/Culto_a_la_piedra_desprecio_a_la_gente_Carta gena_en_tres_escenas
Gil Cepeda, J. E. (2014). El trasfondo de la política del reconocimiento en el caso de la comunidad negra de Villa Gloria de Cartagena. Pontificia Universidad Javeriana.
Hernández-Ospina, M. (2020). Afro Colombian Communities, Conflict, And Collective Land Titling [The State University of New Jersey]. https://rucore.libraries.rutgers.edu/rutgers-lib/65051/PDF/1/play/
Lozano, Y. (2015). Configuración de lo Público desde el horizonte de construcción de políticas sociales fundadas en la interacción Afrodescendiente. Pontificia Universidad Javeriana.
Ulloa, A. (2016). Feminismos territoriales en América Latina: Defensas de la vida frente a los extractivismos. Nómadas, 45, 123–139. https://doi.org/10.30578/nomadas.n45a8
Silvia Lavanco Livreri
Italian version below
Palermo, July 14th, 2200 12 pm
A glance at that map hanging on the wall: it depicts a city that, although it is her own, looks like another. There is no nostalgia in her gaze; after all, for a girl born in 2186 Palermo always appears as she sees it outside her bedroom window: the corner of Via Roma and Corso Vittorio Emanuele, only one street separates her from the port.
She leaves the house with a quick step, still angry with her parents, who knows for what futile reason –but, you know, despite the mugginess and the turbid sea looming menacingly, adolescence is stilladolescence and, indeed, perhaps today it is an even more difficult adolescence: there are not many peers to share it with.
She walks. According to the map, there was supposed to be a long road before the seafront; she thinks about it as if she were thinking about a legendary place: she has seen pictures, but they seemed to her neither more nor less than drawings of a utopian place, so far away that she could not even dream of it…but then again, it is July and it is too hot even to sleep, let alone dream. Air conditioners had been banned, As if that’s enough, if that changes things, she thinks in a dismissive tone. She is fourteen years old, young, but not stupid; she is fully aware that, at this point in history, any action taken by the city government is just a way of wiping her conscience clean, a cure for a disaster that has long since occurred. They should have acted earlier, before the raging floods of the season began to alternate with extreme heat, with no middle ground left. Before the rain became just a memory. Before the sea gained positions on the coast while the inhabitants lost them.
The beautiful sea of Palermo, a friend of the people of the city. She had heard of it and stood there instead of that murky, stinking aquatic enemy. People from Palermo had not saved him, the sea. He had not saved them, the people. Perhaps that is why she is so angry today, she reflects on it as she rounds the corner of what used to be the “Cala”[1]: a few boys and girls around, in the 2200s, and she also has to look for what is needed for today’s “festino”[2]. Feast, feast, but what more will they have to celebrate? She collides with a small stall and gets angrier.
«Watch out!»
«Excuse me»
«Where are you going, so angry?»
«I was looking for snails for today», and, as if she is trying to distance herself, she mechanically uses the Italian language, which immediately clashes with the old woman’s dialect.
«The “babbaluci”[3]! They are here, this is an old tradition…all year long everyone says these things should not be sold anymore, that no one remembers them. Then the patron saint’s day comes and they look for the snails…people from Palermo, always like that!»
And indeed, all around them was a buzz, at every corner were sweaty, busy humans: moving garbage, pushing water off the street. Tucked away inside the old Royal Foundry, in what remains of the homonymous square, some people put the finishing touches on the star of the day: the “carro”[4].
«This year they put so much effort, it was not easy to build it, with this heat…but you can’t give it up, you know».
«What do I know? I know you couldn’t have the feast and instead I see they do it every year, but what’s the point?». This time she answers in dialect too, she got nervous: all this attachment to the festival, why? It’s just a procession, it’s just a popular thing, there’s so much else to think about, but she doesn’t say that.
«Darling, it’s to remind you who you are, because if you remember this, we will still have hope…»
4 pm
The sun filters through some openings on the roof of the old Foundry and beasts down hard on the noses bent over to work: the night session was not enough and, covering themselves as best they can, the volunteer people are now finishing the wagon before the parade. A young man of about thirty, although big gloves on his hands, handles lightly the tools, which the afternoon heat had made incandescent – weak refrigeration systems, evidently, are not too useful –. Looking at him from a distance, the tools looked like nothing more than an extension of his hand, such was the familiarity: a near-perfect apparent fusion of the human body and matter. Neither suffered, and neither was inert. The hand knows which screw to tighten, but the screwdriver knew which movement to make. An alliance is what the boy is thinking as he watches with his eyes what takes place at the end of his limbs as if they were not his own. It is the same synergy he sees around him. The busy people were almost dancing around the wagon in synchrony – who knows how consciously – of movements: their steps and gestures weaving a web.
Now he shifts his gaze to the nearly completed work: it is towering. The structure is made entirely of wood, is colorful, and is at least five meters high. It resembles a boat resting on four wheels; the lower part is so large that it can hold at least ten people facing the parapet and all the material needed for the parade. A pulpit from which someone was supposed to give his annual speech was carved on the forward part of the boat. At one time, many years before, the mayor of the city would stand there for a brief greeting, and then much space was given to actresses, actors, and people telling stories, reciting poetry, and cheering on the crowd. Today it is different, no one wants to expose themselves so much, and no one knows what to say to encourage people. People in those popular areas don’t have much hope for the future, the little they have has to be taken care of, it’s not an easy task when you don’t
have confidence even for yourself. Behind the pulpit, from the center of the wagon stood a large tower, a kind of mast, at the top of which would rest the statue of the patron saint: Saint Rosalie. [5] It is on this structure that the saint would parade along the streets of the city, all the way to the sea. Let me be clear, this was not a grand tour – and at this thought the boy, who has meanwhile stopped working, ironically smiles –. The lower part of the city, which once overlooked the sea, had shrunk considerably, and in the few streets that had not yet been completely submerged there was always a bad smell and wetness on the road, which is why they had decided to remove them from the parade route.
The discussion on how to end the parade had been long: from one side some said to stop before the sea, from the other side some insisted on keeping the tradition and hoisting the structure on a boat at midnight and taking it out to sea. Eventually, it was decided on a middle ground: raise it on a boat but without going too far, otherwise, it would be tiring and dirty. In any case, the will had been to try to respect tradition as much as possible (except for the fireworks, which by then had been banned for years): a miracle had to be asked for this time, and, as we know, a great miracle requires great dedication.
«The wagon is beautiful this year», he says.
«It’s always beautiful» a nearby woman echoes him.
«This year it’s more beautiful because we thought we couldn’t make it, because of this heat…and no money…and the administration not supporting us anymore» comments her friend.
«They tried, but they know, if the people here want to do something…» by now there is a small huddle of people admiring the wagon and chatting.
«Enough of this rhetoric, the wagon has to be finished…rather where is the one who has to speak tonight?», who speaks is always the most practical person and brings the others back to order.
«He is strolling along the harbor…» says the boy feeling almost guilty for communicating the whereabouts of his friend who wanted to be alone for a while.
Who knows what he will say tonight, he thinks, but, beside him, his friend seems to intercept his concern and asks him in a whisper: «Will he make it?». The boy responds by looking far into the emptiness.
8 pm
One person decides to stop behind the cathedral, to keep in mind to look at things from another point of view. The huge church seen from behind is just as beautiful as seen from the front, if not more so because it has the flavor of hidden things, of things that try not to let you see and that you see anyway. Better yet, you purposely turn the corner to look at them. The problem is that in the corner where urban planning hides them, other things get piled up as well. So, the person sits down, looking from
the outside at the part that corresponds to the apse of the Church and takes a seat between a dry bush and a heap of waste. The person sits down and thinks we should all do that: not stop at first sight, not look at a beautiful front and think that’s all there, but go around it, ask ourselves: where does it end? Does it end up in a nice place? We will be amazed to discover that sometimes it does, but very often, unfortunately, it doesn’t. And then sometimes we should sit among the dry leaves and the garbage and perceive ourselves as small and big at the same time, try to feel on our shoulders the problems of each being living on this planet and embrace the awareness that there can be no one-size-fits-all solution to save the earth, but that everyone has to do his or her part, and that would be more than enough already.
What is my part? the person asks herself, and again the stomach tightens, Get on that wagon? And say what? Is it going to be all right? Everything seems already gone wrong.
«You don’t have to do it if you don’t feel like it» the friendly voice comes from behind.
«I promised»
«I know»
They look into each other’s eyes and hint at a weak smile.
«Have you been here in the square long?»
«Not long enough. It’s hot».
«I know».
«How is it going over there? Are they having fun?»
«Yes, nothing stops them»
«Are they waiting for me?»
«Less than they wait for the rain»
«Do you know how many centuries have passed since the Santuzza worked a miracle and defeated the plague?»
«I don’t remember…»
«Almost six, I looked it up to prepare the speech…five hundred and seventy-six years. And now they ask her for rain, they challenge the city, they challenge the heat, they challenge the uncertainty, and they ask her for a few drops. No matter if they are religious or not, they do it. And I am a grateful person for what I see, for their dedication, for the city they create, for the resilient community they have been able to hold together».
«There’s always someone who gets pissed off…», the face smiles with weariness.
«And my gratitude also goes to them, to the ones who pout but get busy, to the little boys and girls who blame the adults, suffer loneliness but always lend an ear to those who want to talk. To the old
men and women who ruminate, but then know how to relieve you. One cannot be perfect, to each his own, as seen during the preparations».
«You insisted that they should have the fest again this year, I thought you did not agree, that you wanted to invest time to do something else, to repair the small harbor, for example, instead of decorating the wagon and streets, why?»
«Because there is a drought, but also because they can’t take it anymore and because people are looking for a miracle and they need to look for it».
«But are you a believer?»
«Not in a religious way».
«What do you believe in?»
«I believe in them, I believe that they will find a way to cope with the lack of water if it doesn’t come. They prepared a big party under the scorching sun, they must have realized at least that».
Clapping can be heard, the procession must be close by now.
«Come on, it’s my turn».
The person regards the sheet of confusing notes taken and puts it back in his pocket: it is no longer needed.
11:59 pm
The wagon has concluded its short tour, surrounded by heads dancing along the seafront’s streets. “Evviva Palermo, Evviva Santa Rosalia”[6] shouted like a mantra, a chant, or a prayer: even the most skeptical person sometimes prays and even the most believer sometimes repeats only mechanically.
The little girl takes her place on the ground, tired of walking. She sits on the “balate”[7] and does not seem to mind the heat that the stone gives off at night, after a day of beating sun. No adult could sit on it, but, since generations, that’s how thing go: young people sit on the balate, they don’t care how much hot they are. After all, they don’t care even to imagine them cooler than they are now. She sees a boy near the boat giving directions on how to hoist the wagon onto it, and she is amazed at the care he takes in that process.
She will not look at the wagon walking on the sea, she will watch the human beings who have worked to coordinate the day, wondering if it is not all in their gestures that is the meaning of so much hope.
The boy is sweating more now than in the afternoon heat under the sun; when the wagon is finally hoisted onto the boat, he notices that he has thrown his shirt on the ground. He bends down to pick it up: it is dirty, but he will wash it later. He wears it now if only because he feels the gaze of a little girl across the street on him, Who knows what she is thinking, he turns his back on her but still feels her gaze.
He will not look at the wagon walking on the sea, he will look at the sky because he believes it.
His friend in a moment will come close to him and take him by the hand, keeping her eyes firmly closed, because she is afraid of not believing enough.
The person who spoke from the wagon to the crowd around is now walking home, has turned back to the sea, catches a breath, giving in to weariness. The person will not look at the wagon walking on the sea but will soon stop the steps and will be stuck with a foot in the middle air, like one who does not know whether to go or stay, with his eyes fixed on Porta Nuova.
Between turned-away looks and pointed glances, between raised eyebrows and wet eyes, everyone looks or not at what they want to look at as if it were the last time…will it be?
Then a unanimous gasp, a single phrase in the murmur:
«It’s done».
Notes
[1]Today the “Cala” is the little touristic harbor on the border of the city center.
[2]In Italian “Festino” (“feast” in English, as we’ll call it in this story) is how people from Palermo refer to the celebrationsin honor of Santa Rosalia (Rosalia Sinibaldi, Palermo 1130-1170), patron Saint of the city since 1625 when, as history tells us, she saved the city of Palermo from the plague.
[3]In the Palermitan dialect “babbaluci” stands for a particular little type of snail, it is tradition to eat it during the summerin general and, most of all, during the feast for the main Saint.
[4]The Santa Rosalia float is built differently every year, carried in procession on the night of July 14-15; the rest of theyear it remains on exhibit in the city center.
[5]The wagon that the writer had in mind while writing this text is the one built for the July 14, 2022, parade.
[6]This is in Italian the common phrase repeated by people during the feast, I preferred to keep it in the original languagein the text. You can translate it as “Yay/Hurray Saint Rosalia”.
[7]“Balata”, from the Arabic word “balath” (“stone”) is the term for the large square bricks typical of the paving ofPalermo’s streets. It is made of black stone and, even today, it gets hot during the summer nights.
References
Giarrizzo S., Dizionario Etimologico Siciliano, Herbita Editrice, Palermo. History of the Feast of Santa Rosalia: https://www.comune.palermo.it/storia-festino-santa-rosalia- palermo.php.
Pasqualino F., Rocca R., Dizionario Siciliano – italiano, compilato su quello del Pasqualino, Giuntini, 1859, consulted on https://archive.org/details/dizionariosicil00pasqgoog/page/n69/mode/2up.
ITALIAN VERSION
Palermo 2200
Silvia Lavanco Livreri
Un rapido sguardo alla cartina sul muro, raffigurante una città che, pur essendo la sua, sembrava un’altra. Nessuna nostalgia nel suo sguardo; d’altronde, per una ragazza nata nel 2186 Palermo è sempre stata come la vede fuori dalla finestra di camera sua: via Roma angolo Corso Vittorio Emanuele, solo una strada tra lei e il porto.
Esce di casa a passo svelto, è ancora arrabbiata con i suoi genitori, chissà per quale futile motivo – ma, si sa, nonostante l’afa e il mare torbido che incombe minaccioso, l’adolescenza è pur sempre l’adolescenza e, anzi, forse al giorno d’oggi è un’adolescenza ancora più dura: non ci sono molti coetanei con cui condividerla.
Cammina. Secondo la cartina doveva esserci una lunga via prima del lungomare, lo pensa come se pensasse ad un posto leggendario: ha visto delle foto, ma le sono sembrate né più né meno che disegni di un posto utopico, talmente lontano da non riuscire neanche a sognarlo…ma d’altra parte è luglio e fa troppo caldo persino per dormire, figuriamoci per sognare. Da quando avevano vietato i condizionatori poi…Come se questo potesse bastare, potesse cambiare le cose, il suo pensiero ha un tono sprezzante. Ha quattordici anni, è giovane, mica stupida: è perfettamente consapevole che, a questo punto della storia, ogni azione intrapresa dal governo cittadino è soltanto un modo per pulirsi le coscienze, una panacea per un disastro ormai avvenuto da tempo. Avrebbero dovuto agire prima, prima che le alluvioni fuori stagione iniziassero ad alternarsi al caldo estremo, senza mezze misure. Prima che, infine, la pioggia diventasse soltanto un ricordo. Prima che il mare guadagnasse posizioni sulla costa e gli abitanti le perdessero.
Il bel mare di Palermo, amico dei palermitani. Ne aveva sentito parlare, stava lì, al posto di quel nemico acquoso torbido e puzzolente. Non lo avevano salvato, il mare, i palermitani. Non li aveva salvati, i palermitani, il mare. Forse per questo è così arrabbiata oggi, ci riflette mentre gira l’angolo verso quella che una volta era la Cala: pochi ragazzini e poche ragazzine in giro, nel 2200, e le tocca anche cercare il necessario per la festa di oggi. Festino1, festino, ma che avranno ancora da festeggiare?. Urta una piccola bancarella e si incupisce più di prima.
«Accura!»2
«Mi scusi.»
«Unni va, accussì mutriata?»3
«Cercavo le lumache per oggi…» e, come per darsi un tono e prendere le distanze, utilizza meccanicamente l’italiano, che subito si scontra con il dialetto dell’anziana signora. «I babbaluci4! Ca su, chista è tradizione antica…tuttu l’annu ricinu ca ri sti cose un si n’avissiru a vinniri chiù, ca un c’interessa chiù a nuddu. Poi arriva u fistinu e vannu circannu babbaluci…palermitani, sempre accussì5!».
E in effetti intorno a loro era tutto un fermento: ad ogni angolo, esseri umani sudati e affaccendati spostano l’immondizia, spingono via l’acqua dalla strada. Nascosti all’interno dell’Ex Real Fonderia, in quel che resta dell’omonima piazza, alcune persone danno gli ultimi ritocchi al protagonista della giornata: “u carro6”.
«St’annu s’apprecaru assai, un fu facile a fallu, cu stu cavuru, ma un si po’ arrinunciare, u sai7».
«Ma io chi sacciu? Sacciu ca un si putia fari u fistinu e invece viu ca u fannu tutti l’anni, a chi serbe8?». Stavolta risponde in dialetto anche lei, si è innervosita: tutto questo attaccamento alla festa, perché? È solo una processione, è solo una cosa popolare, c’è tanto altro a cui pensare, ma questo non lo dice.
«Picciridda, serbe pa arricurdariti cu si, picchì si t’arricordi chistu, avemu ancora spiranza…».9
Ore 16:00
Il sole penetra da alcuni buchi sul tetto dell’antica Fonderia e picchia sulle nuche chine intente a lavorare: il turno notturno non era bastato e, coprendosi come meglio possono, adesso le persone volontarie danno gli ultimi ritocchi al carro. Un ragazzo sulla trentina maneggia con leggerezza, nonostante i grossi guanti, gli attrezzi che il caldo pomeridiano aveva reso incandescenti – a poco evidentemente servono i deboli sistemi di refrigerazione. A guardarlo da lontano, gli strumenti non sembrano altro che un prolungamento della sua mano tanta è la dimestichezza: una perfetta apparente fusione tra corpo umano e materia. Nessuno dei due subisce, nessuno dei due è inerte. La mano sa quale vite stringere, eppure il cacciavite sa quale movimento compiere. Un’alleanza, questo sta pensando il ragazzo guardando con gli occhi quello che avviene all’estremità dei suoi arti, come non fossero suoi. È la stessa sinergia che vede intorno a sé. Le persone affaccendate quasi danzavano intorno al carro in una sincronia – chissà poi quanto consapevole – dei movimenti: i loro passi, i loro gesti intessono una tela.
Adesso sposta lo sguardo verso l’opera quasi ultimata: è imponente. La struttura è tutta in legno, variopinta e alta almeno cinque metri. Ricorda una barca poggiata su quattro ruote; la parte inferiore è così grande da contenere almeno dieci persone affacciate al parapetto e tutto il materiale che serve per la parata. Sulla parte anteriore è stato ricavato un pulpito da cui qualcuno avrebbe dovuto tenere il suo discorso annuale. Un tempo, tanti anni prima, vi si affacciava il sindaco della città per un breve saluto e poi molto spazio era dato ad attrici, attori e persone che raccontavano storie, recitavano poesie, incitavano la folla. Oggi è diverso: nessuno vuole esporsi così tanto, nessuno sa cosa dire per incoraggiare la gente. Le persone in quelle zone popolari non nutrono molta speranza per il futuro, la poca che hanno va curata, ma non è un’impresa facile, quando non se ne ha neanche per sé stessi. Dietro il pulpito, dal centro del carro, si erge una grande torre, una sorta di albero maestro, alla cui sommità sarebbe stata poggiata la statua della patrona: Santa Rosalia. È su questa struttura che la santa avrebbe sfilato lungo le vie della città, fino al mare. Sia chiaro, non si trattava di un grande giro – e a questo pensiero, il ragazzo, che intanto ha smesso di lavorare, sorride ironicamente –. La parte bassa della città, che un tempo si affacciava sul mare, si era notevolmente ristretta e nelle poche strade che ancora non erano state del tutto sommerse il tanfo e l’umidità rendevano poco piacevole il passaggio, motivo per cui avevano deciso di eliminarle dal giro della parata.
La discussione su come concludere la processione era stata lunga: chi diceva di fermarsi prima del mare, chi insisteva sul mantenere la tradizione e issare la struttura su una barca a mezzanotte e portarla a largo. Alla fine, si era deciso per una via di mezzo: issarla su una barca ma senza spingersi troppo lontano, altrimenti sarebbe stato più che altro faticoso e sporco. Ad ogni modo, la volontà era stata quella di cercare di rispettare il più possibile la secolare usanza – eccezion fatta per i fuochi d’artificio, che ormai erano stati banditi da anni –: si doveva chiedere una grazia e, si sa, per un grande grazia serve una grande dedizione.
«È bello quest’anno, il carro» dice.
«È bello sempre» gli fa eco una donna vicina.
«Quest’anno è più bello perché pensavamo di non farcela, con questo caldo…e senza soldi…e l’amministrazione che non ci appoggia più», commenta l’amica.
«Ci hanno provato, ma ormai lo sanno, se il palermitano vuole fare qualcosa…», ormai si è formato un piccolo capannello di gente che ammira il carro e dice la propria.
«Basta con questa retorica, il carro si deve finire…piuttosto dov’è chi deve parlare stasera?», chi parla adesso è sempre la persona più pragmatica e richiama rapidamente all’ordine.
«Passìa10 verso il porto…», dice il ragazzo sentendosi quasi in colpa per aver denunciato la persona che voleva soltanto stare da sola per un po’.
Chissà cosa dirà stasera, questo è solo un pensiero, ma l’amica a fianco sembra intercettare la sua preoccupazione, «Ce la farà?» gli chiede in un bisbiglio. Il ragazzo risponde guardando nel vuoto.
Ore 20:00
Ha deciso di fermarsi dietro la cattedrale11, per ricordarsi di guardare le cose da un altro punto di vista. L’enorme chiesa vista da dietro è bella tanto quanto vista da davanti, se non di più, perché ha il fascino delle cose nascoste, di quelle che cercano di non farti vedere e che tu invece vedi lo stesso. Anzi, giri appositamente l’angolo per guardarle. Il problema è che nel cantuccio in cui l’urbanistica le nasconde, vengono ammucchiate anche altre cose. Così siede, guardando dall’esterno la parte che corrisponde all’abside della Chiesa, tra un cespuglio secco e un cumulo di rifiuti. Si siede e pensa che dovremmo fare tutti così: non fermarci alla prima vista, non guardare una bella facciata e pensare che sia tutto lì, ma girarci intorno, chiederci: dove finisce? Finisce in un bel posto? Ci stupiremo nello scoprire che a volte sì, ma molto spesso purtroppo no. E poi a volte dovremmo sederci tra le foglie secche e l’immondizia e sentirci piccoli e grandi nel medesimo tempo, provare a sentire su di noi i problemi di ciascun essere che vive su questo pianeta e abbracciare la consapevolezza che non possa esistere una soluzione univoca per salvare la terra, ma che ognuno debba fare la propria parte, e questo sarebbe già molto più che abbastanza.
Qual è la mia parte?, si chiede, mentre di nuovo lo stomaco ha una stretta, Salire su quel carro? E dire cosa? Andrà tutto bene? Sembra già andato tutto male.
«Non devi farlo se non te la senti», la voce amica viene dalle sue spalle.
«L’ho promesso»
«Lo so»
Si guardano negli occhi accennando un debole sorriso.
«Sei qui in piazza da molto?»
«Non abbastanza. Fa caldo»
«Lo so»
«Come va di là? Si divertono?»
«Sì, non li ferma niente»
«Mi aspettano?»
«Meno di quanto aspettino la pioggia»
«Sai quanti secoli sono passati da quando la Santuzza12 ha fatto il miracolo e ha sconfitto la peste?» «Non mi ricordo…»
«Quasi sei, l’ho cercato per preparare il discorso…cinquecentosettantasei anni. E ora le chiedono la pioggia, sfidano la città, sfidano il caldo, sfidano l’incertezza e le chiedono qualche goccia. Non importa se siano religiosi o no, loro lo fanno. E io sono una persona grata per quello che vedo, per la loro dedizione, per la città che creano, per la comunità risoluta che hanno saputo tenere unita» «Anche se c’è sempre qualcuno che si arrabbia…», sorride di stanchezza.
«E la mia gratitudine va anche a loro, alle persone che mettono il muso e però si danno da fare, ai ragazzini e alle ragazzine che danno la colpa ai grandi, soffrono la solitudine e però porgono sempre l’orecchio a chi ha voglia di parlare. Agli anziani e alle anziane che si rummuliano13, ma poi sanno come darti conforto. Non si può essere perfetti, a ciascuno il suo, si è visto durante i preparativi». «Hai insistito perché facessero il festino anche quest’anno, pensavo non fossi dello stesso parere, che volessi investire tempo per fare altro, per riparare il porticciolo, per esempio, invece che per addobbare carro e viuzze, perché?»
«Perché c’è la siccità, perché non se ne può più, perché la gente sta cercando un miracolo e ha bisogno di cercarlo»
«Ma tu sei credente?»
«Non in senso religioso»
«E in che senso?»
«Io credo in loro, credo al fatto che troveranno un modo per far fronte alla mancanza di acqua, se non dovesse arrivare. Hanno preparato una festa in grande sotto il sole cocente, si saranno resi conto almeno di questo».
Si sentono schiamazzi, la processione deve essere vicina ormai.
«Andiamo, tocca a me».
Riguarda il foglio di appunti confusi che aveva preso, lo ripone in tasca: non è più necessario.
Ore 23:59
Il carro ha concluso il suo breve giro, attorniato da teste danzanti tra le vie del lungomare. “Evviva Palermo, evviva Santa Rosalia”, urlato come un mantra, una cantilena o una preghiera; che anche il più scettico a volte prega e anche il più credente a volte ripete meccanicamente.
La ragazzina ha preso posto a terra, è stanca di camminare. Si siede sulle balate14 e sembra che non le importi il calore che la pietra emana alla sera, dopo una giornata di sole battente. Nessun adulto vi si siede su, ma, da generazioni, è così che vanno le cose: i ragazzi e le ragazze si siedono sulle balate, non importa quanto siano calde, d’altronde non c’è alcun interesse nell’immaginarle più fresche di così.
Vede un ragazzo vicino alla barca dare indicazioni su come issare il carro e resta stupita dalla cura che dedica a quell’operazione.
Lei non guarderà il carro passeggiare sul mare, guarderà gli esseri umani che si sono adoperati per coordinare la giornata, chiedendosi se non sia tutto nei loro gesti il senso di tanto sperare.
Il ragazzo sta sudando più adesso che nel pomeriggio sotto il sole; quando finalmente il carro è stato issato sulla barca si è accorto di avere gettato in terra la sua maglietta. Si china a raccoglierla: è sporca, ma la laverà più tardi. Adesso la indossa, anche soltanto perché sente su di sé lo sguardo di una ragazzina dall’altra parte della strada, Chissà che pensa, le volge le spalle ma la avverte ancora. Lui non guarderà il carro passeggiare sul mare, guarderà il cielo, perché ci crede davvero.
L’amica tra un attimo gli si farà vicina e lo prenderà per mano, tenendo gli occhi saldamente chiusi, perché ha paura di non crederci abbastanza.
Chi ha parlato dal carro alla folla intorno s’incammina verso casa, volta le spalle al mare, tira un sospiro, si arrende alla stanchezza. Arresterà molto presto il suo passo, ma rimarrà fermo, con un piede sospeso a mezz’aria, come chi è indeciso tra andare e restare, gli occhi puntati verso Porta Nuova.
Infine, tra sguardi distolti e sguardi puntati, tra sopracciglia alzate e occhi bagnati, tutti guardano ciò che vogliono guardare come se fosse l’ultima volta…lo sarà?
Poi un sussulto unanime, una sola frase nel mormorio
«Fatta fu».
Bibliografia e sitografia
Giarrizzo S., Dizionario Etimologico Siciliano, Herbita Editrice, Palermo.
Pasqualino F., Rocco R., Dizionario siciliano-italiano compilato su quello del Pasqualino, Giuntini, 1859, consultato all’indirizzo https://archive.org/details/dizionariosicil00pasqgoog/page/n5/mode/2up.
Storia del Festino di Santa Rosalia: https://www.comune.palermo.it/storia-festino-santa-rosalia- palermo.php.
José Mena
Image 1: José Mena, Founder of MiHAoUZ, in the first prototype, image with permission to use by MiHAoUZ
Where is this grassroots initiative implemented? Who are the promoters? Who are the
beneficiaries?
Nestled in the heart of Quito, Ecuador, the MiHAoUZ Project isn’t just a concept on paper – it’s a testament to human ingenuity and the pursuit of a better tomorrow. With a vision rooted in creating thriving and self-sustaining communities across Ecuador, this personal initiative goes beyond blueprints and diagrams. It’s about turning dreams into reality through the power of prefabricated constructions that marry efficiency, affordability, and a light ecological footprint.
The project’s journey was fueled by curiosity and a commitment to transformation. Drawing inspiration from the bustling cities of Boston and New York, research was meticulously undertaken to distill concepts that could transcend borders and cultures. The result? A visionary blueprint for transportable, ecological, and replicable homes that could redefine the very essence of housing.
In 2016, the project stepped into the spotlight at the Entrepreneurship Fair of the esteemed San Francisco University (USFQ). Amid a sea of ideas, the MiHAoUZ prototype emerged as the undisputed victor in the Social and Environmental Responsibility category. This recognition was more than just a trophy; it was a testament to the project’s potential to reshape the narrative of responsible architecture.
But MiHAoUZ was not a lone crusader. It stood on the shoulders of local industries that believed in its cause. Cutting-edge materials flowed in from companies like NOVOPAN, KUBIEC, and Edesa, weaving innovation into every fiber of the project’s being. Financial support from INSOTEC breathed life into blueprints, ensuring that the vision was backed by more than just good intentions.
The heartbeat of MiHAoUZ resonated within the walls of the USFQ, where eager students, dedicated professors, and intrigued visitors converged to witness something remarkable. A community came together to see the prototype materialize before their eyes, transcending paper sketches and becoming a tangible testament to what collaboration can achieve. As the pieces fell into place, the structure rose from the ground in a mere day, a testament to efficiency and purpose.
Image 2: Speed Build: Prefabricated Home Assembly in 1 Day – MiHAoUZ Project, images with permission to use by MiHAoUZ.
How does this initiative engage with climate? Does it tackle mitigation, adaptation, both or other dimensions of climate change?
The heart and soul of the MiHAoUZ Project, however, lay in its outreach to the marginalized. It was a whisper of promise to rural communities that lacked the luxuries many take for granted – access to energy, sanitation, and dignity. These communities, often overlooked by progress, were the true beneficiaries of this endeavor. Solar panels and biodigesters replaced distant dreams with immediate solutions, channeling sustainable energy and hope into homes that stood as more than just structures.
The MiHAoUZ project proposes a shift away from traditional construction, which can have a significant impact on climate change due to several factors:
These prefab marvels weren’t merely about brick and mortar. They were bridges connecting people to the future they deserved, promising a better quality of life while treading lightly on the Earth. It was a quiet revolution, a way of saying that everyone deserves access to not just the basics, but to a life filled with respect for the environment.
MiHAoUZ wasn’t just about houses; it was about justice – environmental justice. It championed the spirit of innovation and the symphony of collaboration as it etched a path towards a brighter future. By redefining housing as not just a roof, but a promise, it unfurled the banner of change and cast a spotlight on a more equitable Ecuador. It was a beacon, a reminder that the future could be built with intention, compassion, and a deep understanding of what it truly means to uplift communities while treading gently on the Earth.
What are the main objectives? What are the main values?
In the heart of Ecuador’s rural landscapes, the MiHAoUZ project comes alive with a fervent mission to weave together the fabric of sustainable communities. At its core, this endeavor is more than just a blueprint – it’s a heartfelt journey towards harmonizing humanity with the environment.
The main objectives of the MiHAoUZ project are: (1) creating sustainable communities, (2) reducing environmental impact, (3) promoting replicable solutions.
Imagine walking through the verdant landscapes of Ecuador’s low-income rural areas, where hopes and aspirations are often overshadowed by the lack of affordable and eco-friendly housing. This is where MiHAoUZ steps in, with a resolute determination to craft something extraordinary out of the ordinary. It envisions communities that are not just clusters of houses, but thriving ecosystems where families can flourish.
One of MiHAoUZ’s pillars is its commitment to creating homes that are more than shelter – they’re catalysts for transformation. These homes will stand as living testaments to resilience and innovation. They will harness the power of the sun with solar panels that wink in the daylight, generating clean energy for the community. Waste will turn into wealth as biodigesters transform organic matter into valuable resources, creating a circle of sustainability that mirrors the rhythms of the Earth itself.
The project doesn’t just build structures; it crafts narratives of change, stories of people taking the reins of their own lives. With every nail hammered and every beam laid, the community becomes the author of its own destiny, shaping the physical and social landscapes for generations to come.
But MiHAoUZ doesn’t stop at erecting homes. It’s a movement, a revolutionary dance with the environment. It’s about using prefabricated materials that whisper secrets of efficiency, and innovative building techniques that embrace the future while honoring the past. As hammers meet nails and walls rise to meet the sky, the project pays homage to the Earth by reducing waste and energy consumption, casting a vote for sustainability and climate resilience.
At its heart, MiHAoUZ is a storyteller. It doesn’t just tell one tale; it pens a multitude. It doesn’t just build one home; it lays the foundation for countless more. The project’s beating heart is woven with threads of sustainability, social responsibility, innovation, and collaboration – values that infuse every step, every decision, and every dream.
With each brick laid, the project stands as a tribute to social responsibility. It’s a gesture of solidarity with those whose voices often go unheard – the marginalized, the underserved. MiHAoUZ isn’t just about building structures; it’s about weaving dreams and aspirations into the very fabric of these communities, providing a sanctuary where futures can bloom.
Innovation is the song that MiHAoUZ sings. It’s the tune of possibility, the melody of progress. As new materials and technologies are woven into the architectural tapestry, these homes become living embodiments of creativity and forward thinking. Aesthetic marvels that blend seamlessly with their surroundings, these homes are a testament to the power of human imagination to harmonize with the natural world.
Collaboration is the symphony that propels MiHAoUZ forward. It’s a harmony of minds and hearts, a collective endeavor that embraces the knowledge of local industries, the backing of financial institutions, and the wisdom of academic partners like USFQ. Together, they breathe life into MiHAoUZ, transforming it from a vision into reality.
In the story of MiHAoUZ, the past and the future merge, creating a narrative that transcends time. It’s a tale of sustainable homes rising from the Earth, of communities standing strong against the tides of change, and of a world that becomes a little more just and equitable with every brick laid. As MiHAoUZ turns the page on conventional housing, it pens a chapter of hope, resilience, and transformation – a chapter that will be read and remembered for generations to come.
What is the timeline? Are there already visible effects?
Over the course of its journey, the MiHAoUZ Project has woven a tapestry of experiences that breathe life into its aspirations. The initial prototype, a testament to innovation, was painstakingly transported and reassembled on Ilaló Hill not just once, but thrice, underlining the persistence and determination that lie at the heart of this endeavor. From this humble genesis, the project’s scope expanded to encompass diverse locales, each with its own story to tell.
A significant chapter unfurled in the historic city of Ambato, nestled 150 kilometers away from the bustling heart of Quito. Here, the project gained recognition beyond its innovative construction techniques, breathing life into the very essence of the city’s architecture. The mantle of transformation then extended to Tumbaco, a quiet suburb where the construction of two houses mirrored the dreams of countless families seeking sustainable shelter. In this microcosm, the project’s foundations stood as a beacon of hope, embodying the belief that a brighter future could be built one brick at a time.
A symphony of impact echoed through the creation of a school, an amalgamation of nine interconnected buildings in the backdrop of progress. The community’s children embarked on a new chapter, where the structures that housed knowledge were themselves a testament to the harmonious coexistence between human habitats and the environment.
And as the project’s reach stretched even further, the sands of Olón, a tranquil coastal retreat, bore witness to its transformative touch. Here, a house emerged as more than just bricks and mortar; it was a testament to the adaptability of the project to diverse terrains and climates, standing as a sentinel against the tide of conventional construction practices.
Figure 1: Chronicle of Innovation: The Evolution of the MiHAoUZ Project, images with permission to use by MiHAoUZ
Through these unfolding stories, the very tenets of the MiHAoUZ Project were tested, and they stood strong, like the pillars of a bridge connecting innovation and reality. The chapters of this tale, etched in time, resonate with meaning:
Who are the actors involved? What are their backgrounds?
These experiences, etched on the canvas of time, illuminate the project’s effectiveness in ways mere words cannot capture. The whispers of swift assembly, the tales of translocation, the echoes of repetition, and the embrace of adaptation together form a narrative that attests to the MiHAoUZ Project’s impact. It stands as a living testament to the fusion of sustainability and community, reducing the footprint of the past while laying the foundation for a greener future.
Amidst these pages, the characters who breathe life into this narrative emerge, each with a unique role and story:
By bringing together industries with forest assets, professionals from academia, local governments, and communities, the MiHAoUZ project creates a collaborative and multi-stakeholder approach. Each actor contributes their unique background and expertise, ensuring the project’s success in delivering sustainable and environmentally friendly housing solutions to low-income rural communities.
Thus, the MiHAoUZ Project isn’t a mere abstract concept; it’s a living tapestry woven by a cast as diverse as the colors of nature. It’s a tale that captures the human spirit’s capacity to bridge dreams and reality, to create harmony between innovation and the world we call home.
Figure 2: Harmonizing Rural-Urban Ecology: A Holistic System Approach, figure with permission to use by MiHAoUZ
Which limits does it encounter?
MiHAoUZ is a project driven by a noble mission to uplift rural communities through sustainable housing solutions. However, like any entrepreneurship, it faces a range of real-world challenges that require more than just a conceptual approach. Let’s delve into the project’s challenges and potential hurdles with more depth, recognizing the human factors at play:
Are any shortcomings or critical points visible? What other problematic issues can arise from its implementation?
In this journey to make a difference, there are people behind every challenge:
How would it be potentially replicable in other settings?
The MiHAoUZ project is more than just a blueprint; it’s a living example of adaptable and sustainable housing that resonates with the real world. Here’s a deeper look at how its replicability is firmly grounded in practicality and human engagement:
Crafting Homes with a Human Touch: The heart of the MiHAoUZ project beats with the concept of adaptable design. Think of it as a puzzle that clicks together to form a cozy, modern home. The beauty is that this puzzle can be assembled in various corners of the world, addressing unique needs and cultures. Each modular piece is like a brushstroke in a masterpiece painting, with local materials and techniques adding vibrant shades to the canvas. The project’s genius lies in being able to embrace the landscape, climate, and the people who’ll inhabit these homes.
Sustainability that Sings: The MiHAoUZ project is not a sterile prototype, but a testament to sustainable living. It’s a whisper to the environment, a promise to minimize the carbon footprint. Wood and renewable resources are the orchestra, playing harmoniously with solar panels and biodigesters. As the sun kisses the solar panels, and waste transforms into energy, it’s more than a home; it’s a symphony of ecological harmony. This harmony can be the anthem for other communities, echoing through homes built with respect for the planet.
Communities Building Communities: Imagine a village coming together to build its future. The MiHAoUZ project is more than construction; it’s a collective endeavor. It’s a celebration of culture and identity, with local communities adding the brushstrokes to the canvas. The very process of building these homes cultivates a spirit of collaboration. From young hands passing tools to elders sharing wisdom, the MiHAoUZ project isn’t just about erecting walls; it’s about nurturing bonds and shared dreams.
Redefining Shelter: When winds howl and earth trembles, MiHAoUZ houses stand firm – not as mere structures, but as shields of resilience. These homes are woven from threads of preparedness. With their roots in sustainable building practices, they empower communities to face nature’s fury with courage. It’s more than shelter; it’s security. And this security ripples through the community, encouraging the preparedness that safeguards lives and dreams.
From Local to Global: MiHAoUZ doesn’t just build houses; it constructs a better world, brick by brick. Its impact extends beyond four walls – it’s about the systems that govern our lives. As policy makers witness the triumphs of the project, they’re nudged towards a fresh perspective. Regulations and incentives blossom, nurturing eco-friendly practices. The MiHAoUZ initiative serves as a storyteller, spinning narratives of change that inspire broader shifts in the way we build and live.
Empowering Tomorrow: MiHAoUZ empowers communities by giving them more than a home; it gives them agency. It’s a catalyst for change – not just in architecture, but in how we perceive the power of community. As the MiHAoUZ project spreads its wings, the lessons learned become a compass for others to navigate their own journeys. It’s a ripple that extends far beyond construction, carrying the spirit of sustainability, resilience, and empowerment to new horizons.
In Conclusion: The MiHAoUZ project isn’t just about replicating structures; it’s about replicating ideas, dreams, and hope. It’s about embracing the pulse of a community, the heartbeat of a planet, and weaving them together into a tapestry of sustainable living. From modular components to resilient communities, from local adaptations to global shifts – the MiHAoUZ initiative is an anthem for a more sustainable, inclusive, and resilient world.
Is this initiative conducive to broader changes?
Yes, the MiHAoUZ initiative has the potential to contribute to broader changes in various areas, fostering long-term sustainability, community preparedness, and influencing institutional arrangements. Here are some ways in which the project can facilitate broader changes:
Legal and institutional frameworks: The success and impact of the MiHAoUZ project can highlight the need for updating or creating supportive legal and institutional frameworks. It can demonstrate the effectiveness of sustainable construction practices and encourage policymakers to develop regulations and incentives that promote eco-friendly and resilient building methods.
Community preparedness: By implementing sustainable and resilient housing solutions, the MiHAoUZ project can enhance community preparedness for natural disasters, such as earthquakes or extreme weather events. The project’s focus on safe and adaptable housing can encourage communities to prioritize disaster preparedness, fostering a culture of resilience and proactive measures to mitigate risks.
Long-term sustainability: The MiHAoUZ project’s emphasis on sustainable materials, energy efficiency, and low-carbon design aligns with the goals of long-term sustainability. By showcasing the benefits and feasibility of sustainable construction practices, the initiative can contribute to a shift towards more environmentally conscious building methods in the construction industry.
Community empowerment: Through its participatory approach, the MiHAoUZ project empowers communities by involving them in the decision-making process and providing them with sustainable housing solutions. This empowerment can extend beyond housing, encouraging communities to actively engage in other aspects of sustainability, such as resource management, renewable energy adoption, and social cohesion.
Knowledge dissemination and replication: The MiHAoUZ project can serve as a valuable case study and knowledge hub for sustainable construction practices. By sharing their experiences, best practices, and lessons learned, the project can inspire and inform other initiatives, leading to a wider adoption of sustainable building methods and contributing to broader changes in the construction sector.
Overall, the MiHAoUZ initiative has the potential to catalyze broader changes in law, institutional arrangements, long-term sustainability practices, community preparedness, and community empowerment. By showcasing the benefits of sustainable and resilient housing, the project can contribute to a more sustainable and resilient future in both local and global contexts.
References
Earth Overshoot Day home – #MoveTheDate. (n.d.). Retrieved August 21, 2023, from https://www.overshootday.org/
Español — IPCC. (n.d.). Retrieved August 21, 2023, from https://www.ipcc.ch/languages-2/spanish/
Este proyecto crea vivienda inteligente y transportable | Revista Líderes. (n.d.). Retrieved August 21, 2023, from https://www.revistalideres.ec/lideres/proyecto-vivienda-inteligente-transportable-desarollo.html
Post Occupancy Evaluations | WBDG – Whole Building Design Guide. (n.d.). Retrieved August 21, 2023, from https://www.wbdg.org/resources/post-occupancy-evaluations
By Anna Torres Mallma
Where is this city-initiated initiative implemented? Who are the promoters? Who are the beneficiaries?
Pantanos de Villa Wetlands is located in Los Cedros de Villa neighborhood in the Chorrillos district, in Lima, Perú.
The promoting agent of this initiative is the Municipal Authority of the Pantanos de Villa – Prohvilla. It is a decentralized public office of the Metropolitan Municipality of Lima, with legal status and administrative, economic, and technical autonomy, in charge of the management and administration of the Pantanos de Villa wetlands.
The beneficiaries are the animal species (aquatic birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and small mammals) and aquatic plants (totora and junco) of the Pantanos de Villa. Other beneficiaries are the residential neighborhoods located closer to the wetlands.
Image to the left; Panoramic view of the Pantanos de Villa wetlands by the author. Image to the right: Current extension of the Pantanos de Villa wetlands by the author
How does this initiative engage with climate? Does it tackle mitigation, adaptation, both, or other dimensions of climate change?
The cleaning campaign of solid waste that takes place in the water canals that feed the lakes of the Pantanos de Villa wetlands is crucial in the adaptation of climate change. The main goal is to recollect the disposal of construction and demolition waste; and to recycle solid waste located in the borders of the canals. These walks around the canals allow Prohvilla staff and the volunteers to monitor the quantity of garbage around the wetlands, to guard water quality, and to teach good practices in the neighbors routines that benefit the preservation of the wetlands. It is a way of restoring fragile coastal ecosystems and thus maintaining the functionality of the landscape and reducing risks from the effects of climate change using community participation through practical solutions.
What are the main objectives? What are the main values?
The general objective of Prohvilla is to initiate “a knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) process” so that citizens, companies, and institutions complete actions in favor of the conservation and rational use of the Pantanos de Villa wetlands. For this, they focus on “executing projects and campaigns aimed at various sectors of society to increase awareness, appreciation, and understanding of the ecosystem services offered by the wetlands (CECoP: Objective 6) and promoting responsible citizen participation in the Management of Los Pantanos de Villa. (CECoP: Objective 05)”. According to the annual report published in 2019 by Prohvilla, the ecosystems services identified are: “(i) Of supply or provision, are the fibers such as the junco and the totora, as well as some species that are being evaluated for their value nutritional. (ii) Regulation, there is air regulation, water regulation, bioremediation, tsunami barrier, and temperature regulation. (iii) Supportive or support, it becomes an important genetic storage center for the conservation of its biodiversity, being a habitat of 210 species of birds between migratory and resident, 47 species of flora, 13 species of fish, 08 mammals, 53 from aquatic insects and 55 from arachnid species. Finally, (iv) Of culture, which allows you to enjoy the scenic beauty, as a means of healing, a sense of identity and belonging, source of healing, education and for ecotourism”.
In this sense, campaigns/projects are focused on the residents of the area. The aims are: (1) to contribute to the conservation and care of the bodies of water that feed the Pantanos de Villa wetlands (divided into four sectors: Horticultores, Ganaderos, Vista Alegre, and Villa Baja); (2) to raise awareness of social actors in the immediate environment about the care of bodies of water and support their vigilance by promoting a good environmental practices (care of canals, knowledge of biodiversity and environmental threats and regulations); (3) and reduce the negative impacts on the water bodies of the Pantanos de Villa wetlands with to strengthen its identity with the natural space such as the canals, the beach/nesting area, etc.). The call for volunteers to participate in the cleaning campaigns value the service of the participants and their collaboration with tasks of collecting and sorting waste. Finally, their participation is recognized and documented with a certificate signed from Prohvilla.
What is the timeline?
The cleaning campaigns are part of the Communication, Education, Awareness and Participation Program of the Pantanos de Villa Municipal Authority (CECoP PROHVILLA) and are valid for five years, so the proposed period is from 2020 to 2024. The project is executed leaving a month between calls.
Are there already visible effects?
The cleaning projects allow us to observe two sides of a coin simultaneously. A positive effect is this: thanks to the training sessions before the cleaning tasks, the volunteers become more aware of the preservation of these canals. The residents involved have deeper knowledge about what type of waste affects the canals. Another positive effect is that it fosters a sense of belonging to the place at the individual and community levels. Moreover, these activities contribute to the formation of the resident’s identity. Although these areas of intervention are considered boundaries between neighborhoods, it allows volunteers to feel part of a community far beyond their district boundaries. In this direction, the cleaning tasks of these areas allow for improving the urban image and the quality of life, inviting the residents involved to create policies of care towards public spaces such as the streets or pedestrian passages that border the canals.
On the other side of the coin, we find that, by taking out the canals of waste, unscrupulous people who are not residents have more free spaces to deposit more garbage; for example, residents claim that taxi units park nearby and leave any kind of garbage. Moreover, some trucks move construction waste and find in these areas the right place to leave their “cargo” illegally. Surveillance systems must be even more rigorous to prevent this type of criminal action against environmental health.
Image 3: View of the Premio Real canal by the author
Who are the actors involved? What are their backgrounds?
The first call is for the residents who live in the Special Regulation Zone (nearby areas) that involves neighbors from the districts of Villa El Salvador, San Juan de Miraflores, Santiago de Surco, and Chorrillos. Next, educational institutions and companies which are closer to the Pantanos de Villa wetlands are also invited to participate. Other groups of participants are members of the Peruvian army and public cleaning staff from the municipalities involved. Prohvilla employees (from the director to the tour agents) participate in this campaign, showing an example of commitment to ecology and the environment. All ages are invited. Thanks to social platforms, the call is extended to any citizen who wants to collaborate with the project. There is a group on the Facebook Platform where they receive all the information to participate. The last call involved approximately two hundred sixty participants.
Which limits (institutional, physical, social, etc.) does it encounter?
Cleaning projects cannot be extended to other neighboring areas, such as those bordering the beach. For instance, every time dead birds appear on the beach adjacent to the wetlands, Prohvilla recommends avoiding this area for visitor circulation, since the cause of death of these animals is unknown. However, the responsible institution must react immediately to the removal of the birds’ bodies, so residents are able to intervene in this area and clean it.
One aspect that draws attention is that, during the collection of waste from the canals in the four sectors, the volunteers have come to find scattered human remains, which causes fear among the volunteers and indicates a high level of insecurity in which they are located: residents and the Pantanos wetlands are vulnerable too. Another limitation is that these areas do not have public lighting, so it is difficult to extend the shift during the day. For this reason, the shift starts at 8 am.
Image 4: Volunteers working during their morning shifts by the author.
Are any shortcomings or critical points visible? What other problematic issues can arise from its implementation?
What is critical is the amount of waste that is removed from the intervention areas. The tonnage of waste does not disappear. In the last project completed on May 27th, 2023, 2556.51 kg were collected between general waste, non-usable waste, and wet and dry undergrowth. This scenario shows that some sectors are in a more critical situation than others, as was the case of the Ganaderos sector. If it weren’t for these cleanup campaigns, these areas would be considered big dumpsters for both residents, and wetlands. In these vulnerable areas, more rigorous surveillance systems are required to penalize polluting actors on behalf of Prohvilla, with the support of neighboring companies and/or neighborhood associations. A 24-hour surveillance station with cameras will be useful, but it is understood it requires a considerable budget.
The canal area does not have an infrastructure that favors improving the state of protection and facilitating cleaning and maintenance tasks. For example, having lintels prevent flooding due to obstruction of waste or curbs to control invasive vegetation and facilitate gardening work, and low retaining walls that prevent landslides into the canals. Once again, it is understood that these interventions correspond to the implementation of public ornament projects executed by the district municipalities that do not take an initiative.
The calls for campaigns are not often because it does not attract many volunteers. Prohvilla needs more time to call for more volunteers to gather again. The last call brought together 260 volunteers to cover the four sectors. The use of machinery would be helpful for these tasks but the cost is not considered in the current budget of Prohvilla.
These routines of maintenance of the canals will recover the ecosystem services of the Pantanos de Villa and preserve the connection with the natural landscape in a chaotic urban environment.
How would it be potentially replicable in other settings?
The citizen participation through cleaning tasks can be applied in other vulnerable natural areas where the problem of contamination by waste is alarming. Despite having the streets cleaned by the municipalities, it is important to identify the most critical areas within the natural reserves (which are generally the borders/edges) and consider organizing cleaning brigades under legal and regulatory protection in their functions.
The example of the volunteers and their determination to do these tasks in the best way show that it is possible to invite citizens who care about natural areas collectively, seeking funds for the execution of future projects that complement cleanup campaigns, such as: “signposting, revegetation, monitoring and surveillance, and dissemination of awareness” proposed by Prohvilla.
Is this initiative conducive to broader changes (law, institutional arrangements, long-term sustainability or community preparedness, etc.)?
If we do not know the value of urban ecosystems for the city, we cannot demand to care for them. That is why awareness about the borders and areas adjacent to natural areas is the first step for the resident to connect with this space full of wildlife. Second, the current limitations reflect the fact that in order to succeed the municipalities involved in the project need specific regulations that can control the social dynamics on the edges of the Pantanos de Villa wetlands. Two fields in which new regulations should be implemented are the regularization of land use and the circulation of public and heavy transport. As happened in the past when the wetlands lost 80% of their surface (from 1,530 hectares to 263.7 hectares) due to “taking lightly” the impact of land uses that did not consider the life of other species in the wetlands.
By prioritizing its conservation, citizens are invited to eradicate all practices of speciesism that prevent us from respecting and valuing the lives of other species. Therefore, we must consider these other non-human lives (aquatic birds, reptiles, amphibians, fishes, small mammals, and aquatic plants) also deserve a place to live in balance with human society and that in the end, this coexistence allows the wetlands to be one more “living” example for the city. As long as this cleaning campaign continues, Prohvilla will be raising awareness and setting an example to future generations of the care and value of other lives that also matter to the planet. Thanks for teaching us how to take care of our communal home.
Image 5: Aquatic birds resting in the lake Marvilla wetlands by the author
References
Almanza, F. (2021). a naturaleza a merced del progreso: los Pantanos de Villa y las amenaza que representa la urbanización en el área protegida [Review of a naturaleza a merced del progreso: los Pantanos de Villa y las amenaza que representa la urbanización en el área protegida]. Conexión Ambienta; https://conexionambiental.pe/la-naturaleza-a-merced-del-progreso-los-pantanos-de-villa-y-las-amenaza-que-representa-la-urbanizacion-en-el-area-protegida/
Castañeda Lossio, L. (2005, September 22). Ordenanza N° 838 [Review of Ordenanza N° 838]. http://pantanosdevilla.pe/admin/archivospdf/ordenanza%20838.pdf
Córdova Rocca, M. T. (2023, July 3). Participación ciudadana (S. Torres Mallma & A. Torres Mallma, Interviewers) [Review of Participación ciudadana].
via zoom
Peruano, E. (n.d.). VIDA. PANTANOS DE VILLA, ÚLTIMA RESERVA DE LIMA Paraíso ecológico. https://old.sernanp.gob.pe/sernanp/archivos/imagenes/2014/notas/enero/especial%20pantanos%20de%20villa.pdf
Prohvilla. (2019). Memorial Anual. https://pantanosdevilla.pe/transparencia/Memorias/PROHVILLA-Memoria-anual-2019.pdf
(2022, August). Plan de Comunicación, Educación, Concienciación y Participación pública, de la Autoridad Municipal de los Pantanos de Villa (CECoP) [Review of Plan de Comunicación, Educación, Concienciación y Participación pública, de la Autoridad Municipal de los Pantanos de Villa ]. http://pantanosdevilla.pe/admin/archivospdf/documentos_gestion/Plan-Comunicacion-Educacion-concienciacion-Participacion-2020-2024.pdf
Sovero Delgado, C. (2019, November 9). Pantanos de Villa: un refugio verde amenazado por toneladas de basura [Review of Pantanos de Villa: un refugio verde amenazado por toneladas de basura]. El Comercio. https://elcomercio.pe/lima/sucesos/pantanos-de-villa-un-refugio-verde-amenazado-por-toneladas-de-basura-noticia/
By Clara Saglietti
Picture 1: Ta Tillbaka Framtiden youth climate movement. (Image with permission to use from Ta Tillbaka Framtiden, 2023)
Ta Tillbaka Framtiden – “Reclaim the Future” in English – is a new Swedish climate movement and radical community for young people, who “aim to be the change and claim back the future taken away by the environmental and social emergency” (Informant 1, personal communication, May 15, 2023). With such a proactive stance, this approach shows that the future of societies and nature is radically open and up for grabs (Swyngedouw, 2013).
Since April 2023, the movement has taken peaceful direct action against the fossil fuel industry. It started with a 2-week blockade of the oil terminal in Gothenburg’s harbour to obstruct fossil fuel transport (De Rosa, 2022; Hansson, 2023; Kardell, 2023; Mattsson, 2023; Persson, 2023). This has been followed by other actions, like a similar blockade of the oil harbour in Malmö in June, which was joined by many young activists including Greta Thunberg (Henley, 2023; Rannard, 2023).
In addition to these acts of civil disobedience, the group is creating an inclusive and growing community that organises meetings and fun activities to envision a different future, redistribute power, and build the desired future world without waiting for others to take responsibility. As some of the founders said, the movement fights again the two main problems affecting the lives of youth today, climate change and individualism, but also “organises to create alternatives based on the most beautiful parts of existing and being together in a hopeful and joyful way” (Informant 2, personal communication, May 16, 2023).
Picture 2: The second action of Ta Tillbaka Framtiden, blocking the oil terminal of Malmö in June 2023. (Image with permission to use from Ta Tillbaka Framtiden, 2023)
Where is this grassroots initiative implemented? Who are the promoters? Who are the
beneficiaries?
So far, there are three main local groups in Gothenburg, Malmö, Stockholm and Umeå, with other members spread out across the country. The founders describe it as “a movement for young people, by young people” (Informant 3, personal communication, May 16, 2023). The community members are between 12 and 30 years old with different levels of experience in climate activism, and they came together in Autumn 2022. The focus is on empowering the current young generations and the movement is rooted in a Swedish cultural context, but the organisers have a broader holistic take on activism. They aim also to bring about change and transition to a sustainable and just society for future generations and for all those who are affected by the socio-ecological crises.
How does this initiative engage with climate? Does it tackle mitigation,
adaptation, both, or other dimensions of climate change?
Ta Tillbaka Framtiden engages with the climate by opposing the fossil fuel industry, “the largest contributor to climate change and perpetrator of today’s injustices” (Informant 2, personal communication, May 16, 2023), and by addressing the social consequences of climate change through the creation of a space for young people to deal with the crises and the feelings it brings with it. The movement tackles mainly mitigation, by trying to dismantle the fossil fuel industry. The members are very clear on the fact that “fossil fuels cannot co-exist with the idea of a future – it is either us or them” (Informant 2, personal communication, May 16, 2023). They want to take measures so that the climate crisis doesn’t get worse.
Furthermore, the movement has recognized that “no is not enough” (Dawson et al., 2022, p.11). Since the effects of climate change are already happening and affecting many people, they are working with society and building resilient communities to promote adaptation, while addressing other societal inequalities and injustices. As they say, “even if in a thought experiment we would not have climate change, we would still like to work on the many social problems of today” (Informant 2, personal communication, May 16, 2023), by creating a more resilient and supportive community.
What are the main objectives? What are the main values?
Beyond the focus on the two pillars of (1) taking action against the fossil industry and (2) creating a community for young people in an individualised society, the movement has clear values and objectives articulated in Ta Tillbaka Framtiden’s vision. The following nine points from the movement’s vision document reflect what the members are working towards and how they behave in the community.
Pictures 3 and 4: The two pillars of the movement: (1) direct action against the fossil fuel industry in April 2023, Gothenburg, and (2) the creation of an inclusive community for the youth. (Image with permission to use from Ta Tillbaka Framtiden, 2023)
What is the timeline? Are there already visible effects?
The timeframe is not decided a priori as Ta Tillbaka Framtiden is still exploring, expanding, and evolving, but it has a long-term perspective and orientation. The movement was created from the realisation that it was time to shape something innovative, needed, and interesting for young people to start broader and deeper shifts in the long run regarding how communities are built and organised. The group is still in its starting phase of bringing in more people, getting organised, and strategizing about campaigns that will have strong impacts. According to the organisers, the fact that an increasing number of people is joining Ta Tillbaka Framtiden shows that movement speaks to the youth’s needs, that it offers an attractive and hopeful alternative, and that the community-building strategy is successful. Furthermore, the members report a shared sense of satisfaction and happiness for being part of a community that is so supportive, dares to dream, and tries to bring those dreams to life. According to them, “there are already visible effects on the lives of the people involved in the movement, but visible and measurable aren’t the same thing” (Informant 1, personal communication, May 15, 2023). They think that there are a lot of impacts which will be hard to clearly point at, for example in the reactions to the actions, or in how people change mindsets. The members expect more visible effects in relation to the disturbance caused to the fossil fuel industry as results of the non-violent direct actions against it and the upcoming campaigns.
Which limits and shortcomings does it encounter?
Although the founders think that they are doing well in building the organizing structure and getting people involved in the movement and in actions, they mostly struggle with the same problems they are trying to address. Namely, in the society they aim to transform, people are often too busy with work to meet their economic needs or isolated and struggle to get involved in activism. They claim that “this is especially difficult when trying to recruit young people in Sweden, since we’ve been raised in a hyper-individualistic society in a hyper-individualistic country, but in the long-term we believe that we’re addressing these issues in a way that will attract other young people” (Informant 3, personal communication, May 16, 2023). Moreover, as typical of movements in an early stage, they have experienced that finding funding for civil disobedience is challenging and they are working on it. A generally positive attitude prevails as these limits are not perceived as insurmountable and there is ongoing work on adjustments and improvements to address the movement’s shortcomings. They say that they are working every day on small things that can be done better, for example improving communication within each local group, between groups, as well as outside of the movement.
How would it be potentially replicable in other settings?
Ta Tillbaka Framtiden wants to scale the movement in Sweden and mass mobilise, but they want to keep pace with building a solid structure and social fabric, growing the community in a potentially slow but stable way. If this initial phase is successful and can inspire others, some ideas can be taken to another context and help other movements, but that is not a goal for Ta Tillbaka Framtiden. Exchanges can be enriching as they are aware that there are other groups with similar ideas and that there are many common themes in the global climate youth movement, such as connecting the climate crisis to social issues, and focusing on well-being and inclusion within social movements. They don’t see problematic aspects with scaling internationally some of their unique approaches, and they think that it may be possible to replicate some aspects of the movement. However, they hypothesise that “it needs to be done in a way that it is not just copy-paste, since the movement was formed in a Swedish context to address specific problems (…) and the answers to the biggest questions addressed may vary a lot also within Sweden too” (Informant 3, personal communication, May 16, 2023). Knowing that young people from other backgrounds have different viewpoints and priorities about the socio-ecological crises, they want to work on involving different types of people, especially less privileged groups, and creating more dialogues at the local level. It is from particular historical-geographical configurations and not universal approaches that a radical politics of transformation can be thought and put into practice (Swyngedouw, 2013).
Is this initiative conducive to broader changes (law, institutional arrangements,
long-term sustainability or community preparedness, etc.)? If yes, which?
Although it is at an initial stage, Ta Tillbaka Framtiden holds a lot of potential to lead to deep changes in society. The founders say that “you never know what will be the spark that turns into a big fire” (Informant 1, personal communication, May 15, 2023) but they think to be “onto something quite huge, especially with the community aspect of the movement, which has opened doors to think differently for those involved and set them up to be about big changes as well” (Informant 1, personal communication, May 15, 2023). Moreover, the flexible structure of the movement has potential to allow activists to try different things, adapt and change, using the creativity of the community.
They are also experiencing something extremely positive and rewarding with the commitment and satisfaction of the community. Differently from many other 1-week actions where people are mentally and physically tired at the end, “the action in Gothenburg was even longer but people seemed to have more energy afterwards and were really happy” (Informant 3, personal communication, May 16, 2023). They think that there is something revolutionary in a movement that employs quite radical strategies through “big and long-lasting actions way out of the norm and people comfort zone but still providing a really nice community to fall on to support each other” (Informant 1, personal communication, May 15, 2023). In this way, Ta Tillbaka Framtiden is organising to bring about change in a sustainable and resilient way.
When exploring how the transition to a sustainable society will look like, the organisers reply that they want first to dismantle the fossil fuel industry and shut it down. However, they have not talked a lot about alternatives and desirable futures yet, since it is something to decide with the emerging community. They are “focused not on specific technological solutions, but on visions and ideology to work towards a cultural shift” (Informant 2, personal communication, May 16, 2023). The movement encourages young people to engage with hopeful visions in a time of disillusionment and includes the participants in the production of new ideas rather than presenting them with ready-made alternatives. Therefore, the case of Ta Tillbaka Framtiden, among other examples of urban climate insurgency, show that climate policy is no longer the exclusive province of national governments, international bodies, or experts (Dawson et al., 2022), but that also citizens can take the future in their hands and collectively shape it.
Pictures 5: Seeds of municipalism in spaces for dialogue and fun activities during the community meetings. (Image with permission to use from Ta Tillbaka Framtiden, 2023)
References
Dawson, A., Armiero, M., Turhan, E., & Biasillo, R. (2022). Urban Climate Insurgency: An Introduction. Social Text, 40(1), 1-20.
De Rosa, S. P. (2022). Breaking Consensus, Transforming Metabolisms: Notes on Direct Action against Fossil Fuels through Urban Political Ecology. Social Text, 40(1), 135-155.
Hansson, E. (11/04/2023). Ny ungdomsrörelse blockerar fossilbränsletransporter: För andra veckan i rad blockerar ungdomar i rörelsen “Ta tillbaka framtiden” fossiltransporter. (New youth movement blocks fossil fuel transport: For the second week in a row, young people in the “Take back the future” movement block fossil transport). Natursidan. https://www.natursidan.se/nyheter/ny-ungdomsrorelse-blockerar-fossilbransletransporter/
Henley, J. (6/07/2023). Greta Thunberg charged with disobeying Swedish police during oil protest. The Guardian.
Kardell E. J. (11/04/2023). Manifestation stoppade trafiken i Göteborgs hamn. (Demonstration stopped traffic in the Port of Gothenburg). Göteborgs-Posten. https://www.gp.se/nyheter/göteborg/manifestation-stoppade-trafiken-i-göteborgs-hamn-1.96334799
Mattsson, T. (11/04/2023). Klimataktivister blockerade infart till Göteborgs hamn för sjätte dagen. (Climate activists blocked the entrance to the Port of Gothenburg for the sixth day). Sverigeradio. https://sverigesradio.se/artikel/klimataktivister-blockerar-infart-till-goteborgs-hamn-for-sjatte-dagen
Persson, F. (11/04/2023). Nio aktivister bortburna i Göteborgs hamn – misstänks för brott Göteborg: Nio demonstranter har burits bort från en infart till Göteborgs hamn, efter att ha blockerat trafiken. De misstänks nu för brott. (Nine activists carried away in the Port of Gothenburg – suspected of crimes Gothenburg: Nine protesters have been carried away from an entrance to the Port of Gothenburg, after blocking traffic. They are now suspected of crimes). Göteborgs-Posten. https://www.gp.se/nyheter/göteborg/nio-aktivister-bortburna-i-göteborgs-hamn-misstänks-för-brott-1.96737575
Rannard, G. (6/07/2023). Sweden charges Greta Thunberg for blockading oil port. BBC.
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-66120290
Swyngedouw, E. (2013). Apocalypse now! Fear and doomsday pleasures. Capitalism Nature Socialism, 24(1), 9-18.
Ta Tillbaka Framtiden, 2023. Vision. Internal document: unpublished.
Mumtaz Ahmad Numani
(Post-doctoral fellow, Moturi Satyanarayana Centre, Krea University)
Email: mumtaznumani@gmail.com
“Although, this atlas entry titled, “Srinagar in 2200: A Paradise or Paradise Lost?” explores the possible futures for Srinagar city in 2200 while exploring its past and the present ecological histories, I would like to introduce first to the readers Kashmir’s history, with a particular focus on Srinagar’s landscape gardening development culture. This, I hope, will engage readers to understand Srinagar—previously known as the city of gardens. Moreover, after reading this essay, the readers should develop a better understanding of the current landscape dynamics, and will learn about Srinagar’s inspirational ecological past in such a way that they can provide imaginative answers to the two following questions: if ideas and practices from the past were adapted, how would Srinagar look like in 2200? And, if unplanned urbanization continues apace, how differently might Srinagar look in 2200?”
1. Introducing landscape gardening culture:
Although there are several historical accounts that one might rely on to explore Srinagar’s ecological past, however, this essay mostly draws its analysis from Tarikh-i-Hassan[1] which engages its readers to think of the Kashmir’s ecological past, particularly the Srinagar’s landscape gardening culture and its various histories. With that literary substance in account, it [Tarikh-i-Hassan] provides us a lesson on, how historical knowledge can help us understand the ecological past of a city; and also help us imagine more precisely the kinds of futures that the city might have—given the present landscape view and/or unplanned urbanization.
Tarikh-i-Hassan reports that the Rajas (Kings) of Kashmir had developed gardens from the early period (Hassan Khuihami, 1954; Shamsuddin Ahmad, 2003). Therefore, the concept of garden culture in Kashmir goes back to early times before the advent of Islam in the 14th century. A variety of gardens mostly in the form of orchards created in the valley were actually influenced by the concepts of Vatikas (or wooded pleasure gardens) of early India (Mughal Gardens in Kashmir, 2010). These orchards, endowed with a variety of plants (flowers, herbs and fruit plants), were to act as refreshing visiting places for people as are the today’s gardens. For example, among the earliest of such gardens (orchards) in early Kashmir, was the Bagh-i-Toot (Mulberry Garden), first laid out by a Hindu saint Maya Swami and later developed by succeeding Muslim rulers. Maya Swami was a hardworking saintly person living in solitude on the mountain side of Takht-i Sulaiman, who laid-out a wonderful garden on the edges of canal ‘Chounti Kol’, named Takya Maya Swami. The people of the city were visiting this place for refreshment purposes. It is said that, Hazrat Mir Muhammad Hamdani purchased the aforementioned landscape area later on. The landscape area passing through the edges of river Jhelum was first maintained and then connected from Amira Bridge to Takht-i Sulaiman. Afterwards, Hazrat Mir Muhammad Hamdani grafted mulberry trees in large numbers in it, which was endowed as a pasture land for the city animals. Some trees continued to exist until the period of Durrani emperors[2] (Hassan Khuihami, 1954; Shamsuddin Ahmad, 2003). However, the gardens developed and maintained by the Hindu Rajas of Kashmir in early times extinguished over the passage of time. Given the current morphological structure of the Srinagar’s landscape, today, one cannot even locate the original places where these gardens were built in Kashmir. But one might want to know then, how the idea of landscape gardening culture flourished in Kashmir’s Srinagar with an artistic perfection?
It is an established fact that the art of landscape gardening was very much familiar to the Persian people from early times. Here, it bears to mention that, with the establishment of Muslim rule in Kashmir, some knowledgeable leaders from Persia kept coming to Kashmir to be in the court of the rulers. With the passage of time, these innovative immigrants created a great impression among the common people of Kashmir, as well as on the court of the rulers. Among other dozens of things that gradually flourished in Kashmir with the coming of Persian people, the art of landscape gardening stood out as the best.
With these creative Persian immigrants on their courts, the sultans of Kashmir had become very fond of laying beautiful gardens. For example, Sultan Zain-ul-Abideen, lovingly called Bod-Shah[3] (The Great King) among the locals, was a pioneer in creating the most notable gardens in the Valley. He is credited with developing a large beautiful garden on a four-mile square piece of land at Zainagir.[4] To the one side of it, he built towering buildings and on the other side, he planted rows of trees and flower beds; and between these buildings and plants, fountains, water canals and water-falls had been successfully set up. The environs of the garden had become so great that the king and his close aides were frequently making visits to charm themselves. Sultan Zain-ul-Abideen had also built some more beautiful gardens, one of which was built at Na’la-bal[5] (Image 1.1), of Naushera (Images 1.2 and 1.3). To the water arrangements of this garden, a royal canal was dug out from Sind-lar which flowed through the middle of this garden. Hassan informs that the garden was in stable position up to the Sikh rule.[6] (Hassan Khuihami, 1954; Shamsuddin Ahmad, 2003).
The other notable gardens during this period were built by Hussain Shah Chak and Yousuf Shah Chak. Hussain Shah Chak developed a large garden in village Nauhata, which was adjacent to the Shrine of Hazrat Khawaja Moinuddin Naqshbandi (Image 1.4). A water canal by the name of “Lachma-Kol”[7] was brought into the garden; and also, some waterfalls and fountains were built into it. Similarly, Yousuf Shah Chak on the edges of river Jhelum developed a vast garden of different flowers and plants from Fateh Kadal (bridge) to the ghat of Dal hasan yar. This garden consisted of thirteen compartments/stages; and its traces were found till the rule of Afghans in Kashmir (Hassan Khuihami, 1954; Shamsuddin Ahmad, 2003).
Image (1.1): View of the Na’la-bal (watercourse) of Naushera, Srinagar. Photograph by the author.
Image (1.2): View of Naushera Srinagar from the side of road. Photograph by the author.
Image (1.3): View of Naushera graveyard. According to the local residents, this is the place where Sultan Zain-ul-abideen had built the large garden. Photograph by the author.
Image (1.4): View of Nauhata chock (adjacent to Jamia Masjid) near Shrine of Hazrat Khawaja Moinuddin Naqshbandi, Srinagar. Photograph by the author.
Thus, the foregoing description (of the gardens built in pre-Mughal period), derived from the historical accounts, makes it clear that the art of landscape gardening with artistic perfection started with the coming of the Persian immigrants to Kashmir. Those gardens were almost similar in pattern to the Persian gardens. But, what perhaps the Mughals did later, as a report on the Mughal gardens of Kashmir remarkably observes, “was to work on a refinement of the set pattern and thus taking the art of landscape gardening to a new height” (Mughal Gardens in Kashmir, 2010). Thus, one might ask then:Did the Mughals take the art of landscape gardening in Kashmir to a new height for self-gratification only? And, what important lessons those past regional landscape gardening projects communicate to the human cultures across time and space?
Although, nature in any form has always been attractive and gardens of any type contribute, “not only to the look of our landscape, but also to the wisdom of our thinking about the [landscape ecology] and environment” (Mark Francis & Andreas Reimann, 1999). Thus, gardens, particularly in our age, act as a safeguard to the environmental crisis emerging locally and globally. Therefore, scholars wrestling with the core environmental issues consider past and present-day landscape gardening projects as a significant subject of study.
From an environmental perspective, the ruler’s (and/or emperor’s) ecological landscape engagements have been given less attention as far as intellectual wisdom is concerned. Current environmental issues have given us a reason for exploring the ecological landscape engagements in the past for our general understanding. Here, it is noteworthy that the Kashmir’s ecological landscape engagements as a cultural practice have been perceived mostly as an act of leisure and pleasure. This perception emerging from previous scholarly interpretations of the landscape gardens completely negates the richness of human intellectual wisdom shown in the past. This perception also underplays the human character involved in past sustainable development practices. The rulers in the past did not look upon the province of Kashmir just as a pleasure ground; rather their persistent ecological engagement with its landscapes provide a somewhat deeper concern with what now constitute core environmental issues.
2. Srinagar-the city of gardens, lakes and rivers:
Nowadays, “one can hardly think of a natural system that has not been considerably altered, for better or worse, by human culture” (Foltz et al; 2003). And, if one has to look at the regional level, those landscape changes had occurred in the valley of Kashmir, mostly in the urban city of Srinagar. Srinagar (See Map below), the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, an ancient city with a rich history and culture, situated in the centre of the Kashmir Valley on the banks of the Jhelum River, cannot be imagined without the lakes (For example, Dal lake. Image 2.1), rivers (Jhelum. Image 2.2), and particularly the marvellous landscape gardens (Shalimar and Nishat gardens. Images 2.3 and 2.4). These natural assets and the hundreds of other gardens were planned and commissioned by various rulers, but mostly by the Mughal emperors[8] and their governors in Kashmir. For example, according to Hassan Khuihami[9], not less than six hundred (600) gardens were developed in the Kashmir valley particularly during the Mughal period.Hassan records a short biography of not less than a hundred gardens.However, it is very unfortunate to notice that only a few landscape gardens have survived in the city of Srinagar, which begs the following questions: How did this huge transformation in the landscape of the Srinagar city happen? And/or, how were these landscape gardens extinguished?
As mentioned earlier, in the total number of gardens in Kashmir valley, the maximum number of gardens were developed in Srinagar, mostly around the Dal Lake. Therefore, much like Lahore of Punjab, Srinagar of Kashmir, too deserved an appellation of being called ‘the city of gardens.’ Hassan Khuihami, gives a strange reason for the extinction of most of the landscape gardens in Kashmir. He records: “The animosity between two opposite communities/ groups (or, individuals) often ended up in destroying the valuable properties of each other. In Kashmir, the gardens having an abundance of fruit trees, flower plants and a few beautiful inner buildings were considered the valuable properties. Unfortunately, while taking the revenge against each other, these gardens often became the main target of destruction. For example, a large beautiful garden with several arrangements built at Zainagir by Sultan Zain-ul-Abideen was set on fire during the night by the Pandow Chaks of Trehgam. With this incident, the garden of Zainagir was completely destroyed and never became a garden again” (Hassan Khuihami, 1954). A couple of more incidents of the same nature have been recorded by Hassan.
What Hassan records above might be one of the major reasons for the extinction of the landscape gardens in Kashmir. However, I would like to suggest another reason for the extinction of the landscape gardens in the Srinagar city, particularly around the Dal lake. Srinagar from the very beginning constituted an epicentre of business/trade for the local communities of Kashmir valley. The landless communities who had been temporarily living in the adjacent areas might have been the first of the communities[10] who had settled down on the peripheries of the Dal lake. Moreover, with the decline of the Sultanate, Mughal and other dynastic rulers in Kashmir, the local but comparatively rich communities—who had money and access to businesses opportunities in the city—had also started settling in Srinagar. Therefore, over time, Srinagar had started becoming more populated and urban, which had gradually become the reason for landscape encroachments, and landscape transformation into commercial and permanent residential colonies. For instance, the very nomenclature of Naseem Bagh (Images 2.5 and 2.6),[11] Nageen Bagh (Image 2.7), Aisha Bagh (Image 2.8), Kothi Bagh (Image 2.9), Ram Bagh (Image 2.10), Illahi Bagh (Image 2.11) and Badami Bagh,[12] here I only mention a few, clearly suggests that these were past landscape gardens which had been transformed into the well-established commercial and residential colonies, with large roads and markets inside in the capital city of Srinagar. Such a radical transformation over the years would be cited as an example of ‘development’. But, simultaneously such a ‘development’ has also become a process of ‘erasure’ in which the past landscape gardens have been completely extinguished. Thus, other sets of questions call our attention: What impact does such landscape transformation have on the city ecology and climate? And, what appellation the Srinagar city will deserve in 2200, a paradise or paradise lost?
Over the years, conversion of the garden landscapes along with the agricultural and wetlands around the Dal lake into residential and commercial settlements might have benefited the select communities of Kashmir; but, on a large scale, it appears that this transformation has produced a negative impact on the internal morphology, ecology, and climate of the Srinagar city. Although, the chroniclers, from ancient to early modern times, presented the valley of Kashmir as “Paradise on Earth” and/or “Switzerland of Asia”, particularly around the Dal lake which was often happily referred to by the European chroniclers as “Venice of the East”, however, it is important to note that the present morphological structure and ecological functioning of the waterscapes and landscapes of the city speak volumes against the depicted reality.
Besides, the landscapes around Dal lake (and within the reaches of Dal lake even) have been consistently coming under new unplanned residential and commercial settlements. These new settlements are the direct cause for the decreased size and volume of the city’s green and water landscapes. For example, out of the hundreds of the flourishing green spaces, only a few garden landscapes exist today across the whole of the city. Formerly and around 1200 AD, the world-famous Dal lake-(which is the lifeline of the city), “covered an area of 7500 ha. But now, the lake area was almost reduced to one-third of its size in the 1980s, and was further reduced into one-sixth of its original size in the recent past. In fact, it has lost almost 12 meters’ depth” (R. Mahapatra, 2017).
The rapid illegal encroachments on the city have given birth to unplanned urbanization, which spurred the publication of a dozen articles raising the public concern on the looming ecological crisis across the city in the foreseeable future. These scientific reports suggest that the sustainable existence of the Srinagar city (which as mentioned earlier is mostly dependent on the world-famous Dal lake) is at high risk[13]. This is clear from the fact that the continued illegal encroachments and unplanned urbanization have altered the city’s climate patterns. One such report, prepared by the Centre for Science and Environment observes: “The loss of water bodies, and green landscapes (italics added) of Srinagar has, in fact, a bearing on the microclimate of the city, as meteorological data recorded during the past century suggests a rising trend in the mean maximum temperatures during the summers[14]. On July 15, 1973, the highest temperature ever recorded in Srinagar was 35.5 ºC. On July 7, 2006, it rose to 39.5 ºC. It is suggested that the rise in mean annual temperature in the area is mainly due to loss of water bodies, and green landscapes, since a considerable amount of evapotranspiration with a cooling effect might have been taking place in the past due to these valuable ecological assets during summers. What is more, the construction boom often leads to an increase in summer temperatures due to the creation of urban heat islands” (Soma Basu, 2014).
The report quoted above suggests that the loss of green landscapes and waterscapes occurred over the years have a direct bearing on the ecological functioning of the Srinagar city, which signals that the practice of illegal city encroachments and unplanned urbanization has not stopped and, henceforth, the city which was known as the city of gardens, lakes and rivers, and deserved the appellation of “Paradise on Earth”, “Switzerland of Asia” and/or “Venice of the East”might fall in the category of a dystopian city and/or a paradise lostin 2200?
Reflection: This essay structured in two parts is a non-fictional creative story mostly derived from reliable historical knowledges. Does the historical (and/or scientific) data “quoted” in the essay authenticates us to see the Srinagar city happening without the world-famous Dal lake & the landscape gardens in the next hundreds of years? Can our wisdom afford to see that? And, what would that be called in environmental humanities, ‘development’ and/ or ‘erasure of ecological past’?
Map[15]: Indicates the topography of Srinagar, which is the summer capital city of the state of Jammu and Kashmir, India (UT after post-August 2019). The map was prepared in 1924. Source: Adopted from Department of Ecology, Environment and Remote Sensing, Bemina Srinagar-10.
Image (2.1): View of the Dal Lake, Srinagar. Photograph by the author.
Image (2.2): View of the river Jhelum from the side of Raj Bagh, Srinagar. Photograph by the author.
Image (2.3): Views of the Shalimar garden, Srinagar. Photograph by the author.
Image (2.4): Views of the Nishat garden, Srinagar. Photograph by the author.
Image (2.5): View of the Naseem Bagh (inside campus, University of Kashmir). Photograph by the author.
Image (2.6): View of the Naseem Bagh from the side of Dal lake (right side). Photograph by the author.
Image (2.7): Views of the Nageen Lake (bottom), and Nageen Bagh (top), Srinagar. Photographs by the author.
Image (2.8): View of the Aisha Bagh adjacent to Nageen Lake, Srinagar. Photograph by the author.
Image (2.9): View of the Kothi Bagh, Srinagar. Photograph by the author.
Image (2.10): Views of the Ram Bagh, Srinagar. Photograph by the author.
Image (2.11): View of the Ellahi Bagh, Srinagar. Photograph by the author.
References:
[1] Tarikh-i-Hassan of Peer Ghulam Hassan Khuihami originally written in the Persian language (in two volumes) is one of the acclaimed historical accounts that better informs us the historical ecology of the Kashmir, which includes the Srinagar’s ecological past.
[2] The Durrani rulers (Afghans) remained in power in Kashmir from 1752 to 1819 A.D.
[3] In Kashmiri language ‘Bod’ means ‘Great’ and ‘Shah’ during the medieval period was referred to ‘King’.
[4] Zainagir at present is in Sopore of Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir.
[5] Na’la means watercourse in the Urdu language.
[6] Here, it bears to mention that Mughals remained in power in Kashmir from 1586 to 1752 A.D. Thereafter started the Afghan rule which remained in power from 1752 to 1819 A.D. And Afghans were then overpowered by the Sikhs who remained in power in Kashmir from 1819 to 1846 A.D.
[7] Water canal in the Kashmiri language is called Kol.
[8] Kashmir was annexed to the Mughal rule by emperor Akbar in 1586 A.D., and Mughals remained in power in Kashmir from 1586 to 1752 A.D.
[9] Peer Ghulam Hassan Khuihami was the reputable historiographer of Kashmir. He has authored Tarikh-i-Hassan in two volumes in the Persian language. Tarikh-i-Hassan is considered one of the principal historical scholars on the political and geographical history of Kashmir.
[10] See, Tarikh-i-Hassan Vol. 2, 13th Awrang/ Chapter on the period of Afghan rule in Kashmir (especially the period of Amir Khan Jawansher), mentions, how Hanjis/ Han’z/ Fisher communities (in Urdu, Kashmiri and English languages) of Nandpur had destroyed the gardens of Dal Lake.
[11] Bagh in Kashmiri (and Urdu) languages means garden. And, Naseem Bagh means, the garden of breeze.
[12] Badami Bagh adjacent to Dal Gate Srinagar is a Cantonment town now.
[13] See, Romshoo, S.A; and I. Rashid. (2012). Assessing the Impacts of Changing Land Cover and Climate on Hokersar Wetland in Indian Himalayas. Arabian Journal of Geoscience. Wani, R. A. (2012). Impact of Areal and Demographic Changes on Urban Growth of Srinagar City. Journal of Chemical, Biological and Physical Sciences.
[14] Green landscapes refer to garden landscapes.
[15] Here it is noteworthy that Dal Lake is divided into two parts. In the Map ‘Bod Dal’ in Kashmiri language means ‘larger part of the Dal lake’ and ‘Lokut Dal’ means ‘smaller part of the Dal lake’.
Powerlessness and Empowerment in the Struggle for Lützerath.
By Achim Klüppelberg
On 14 January 2023, the international climate movement met at the lignite open pit coal mine Garzweiler II in Western Germany to protest the continuous mining business of the corporation Rheinisch-Westfälisches Elektrizitätswerk, better known as RWE. The culmination of protests took place at the village of Lützerath, which was occupied for about two years to prevent RWE’s large digging machine from destroying its houses to get the coal underground. On that day, between 30 and 39,000 people travelled to the pit known as “Mordor” – an huge moon-like desert, with coal power plants blowing their climate-destroying fumes into the air, clearly visible at the horizon.
1: Rheinisches Braunkohlerevier made by Thomas Römer with Open Street Map data. CC BY-SA 2.0.
The protesters came as individuals or grouped together in different political organisations. Among those were official parties, such as for example the Green Party, large environmental non-governmental organisations, such as Greenpeace, BUND, NAJU, NABU, campact, Fridays for Future, Students, Parents and Scientists for Future, civil society alliances such as Wald statt Asphalt, Alle Dörfer bleiben!, Lützerath lebt!, Klimaallianz Deutschlandand ADAC, queer and LGBT groups, the Christian group Die Kirche(n) im Dorf lassen, hippies, as well as left-wing initiatives from anarchists to occupiers (Kim (first name) 2023; Marlon (pseudonym) 2023; Micah (pseudonym) 2023; Maxi (pseudonym) 2023; Fabian Pieper (full name) 2023).[1] International guests also came to the event. Prominently, Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg gave a speech. All of these groups came together around the goal of defending Lützerath against RWE to keep the coal in the ground, protect local villages, and to ensure that Germany would stay committed to her 1.5 °C-climate goal as agreed upon in the Paris climate agreement. If all the coal beneath Lützerath would have been used in thermal power plants, Germany would have failed her climate commitments. Crucial in this regard were climate tipping points, which if overstepped would spiral the situation out of control (Micah 2023). For activists, the village represented the physical 1.5°C-limit: if it were to fall, so would the climate goals (Maxi 2023). Apart from this tangible aim, left-wing groups also wanted to create an alternative society in Lützerath, as had been practised in other squats for example at the protests at the Hambach Forest (“Hambi”), the Dannenröder Forest (“Danni”), and others (Marlon 2023; Maxi 2023).
If this effort would have been successful, the beneficiaries could have been found on the local, regional, federal, and European level. For the locals, the survival of their homes and their used way-of-life was at stake. For the region, the proposed stop of lignite mining at Garzweiler could have had direct positive impact on groundwater levels, pollution, loss of ecosystems, biodiversity, and agriculture. For Germany, the future of the so-called Energiewende was on the line. In Europe, Garzweiler was and is one of the largest lignite mines and thus one of the biggest sources of CO2-emissions in the energy sector. By stopping its exploitation, the overall greenhouse gas emission balance of the continent could have been reduced.
Feeling the need to become active and protest the injustice of climate destruction, I travelled to Lützerath and participated in the protests on 14 January 2023. In the weeks after, I was able to get in contact with five other participants. We conducted interviews during the spring of 2023. The information presented in this text stems from both these interviews and my own experiences on-site, as well as literature on the events. Four of the interviewees were female and one male. While being between 27 and 34 years old, they came from the regional cities of Krefeld (about 60km north of Lützerath), Darmstadt (about 140km to the Southeast), Gießen (about 150km to the Northeast) and the area around Frankfurt. All spoke German with me and had a university background. Their fields of expertise were chemistry, hydrology, biodiversity, agriculture, biology, and pedagogy. Two were not politically organised, while two others were engaged in non-governmental and left-wing political groups. One person – Fabian Pieper – was a Green Party member and elected representative in Krefeld, active in the environmental executive committee of the city.
Past – Situating the village in the rural landscape.
Lützerath was a tiny village. It went back a long way, as it was first mentioned as Lutzelenrode in 1168. The Wachtmeisterhof was run by a Cistercian monastery based in Duisburg from 1265 until 1802, to facilitate agriculture. Before eviction, eight people officially lived there in June 2022. But it used to be more as by then most people had already taken the compensation offer from RWE and moved away. Nevertheless, Lützerath became a focal point of the climate justice movement and dozens to hundreds of people squatted the old farmhouses to stop the coal mine eating away the ground the hamlet was standing on. They built new dwellings, tree houses, water pipes, tents, and other facilities for continuous settlement (Marlon 2023). All of those were technically not authorised by any provincial administrative body. But they were also not illegal, as most of these structures were built on ground that belonged to sympathetic villagers who invited activists to come and live with them. The most prominent of these villagers was Eckart Heukamp, who lived in the old Wachtmeisterhof. He was the last official resident of Lützerath (de Gregorio 2020). Therefore, up until the end in late January 2023, the place was inhabited by more people, stemming from all kinds of regions and engaged in many different activities.
2: Occupied Backsteinhof in Lützerath 2021. “1,5°C means that Lützerath stays!”; “Excavator for sale for 1,5°C”. By © Superbass CC-BY-SA-4.0 (via Wikimedia Commons).
The strategy of the climate movement regarding Lützerath was plentiful. First, an enormous effort was made to inform people about what was going on. The aim was to mobilise as many as possible for both the actual squats in Lützerath but also for the large demonstration on 14 January 2023, which became known as Tag X (“Day X”), a synonym for the day before Lützerath was supposed to be dug away and evictions were about to start. This demonstration was a cornerstone of the strategy, but by far not the only one. Numerous demonstrations throughout Germany were conducted in solidarity, information events held, posters and stickers distributed, social media campaigning included, and left-wing activists tried to revive Lützerath. They started living there and to build and grow a space in which utopia could be realised, despite or maybe even because the lignite mine got larger and larger, encroaching upon the hamlet.
Squatting Lützerath to prevent RWE from digging out the coal had the aim to postpone the day when the company could finally make profits from the resource by indefinitely dragging out the process and increasing costs. This tactic was successful in the struggle for the Hambach Forest since 2012 (Hambi bleibt!). The successful struggle in Hambach also motivated my interviewees Kim, Marlon, and Maxi to join the protests for the survival of Lützerath (Kim 2023; Marlon 2023; Maxi 2023).
Furthermore, the official story justifying the usage of coal beneath Lützerath based this climate-harmful endeavour on the procurement of arguably essentially needed energy supply for the whole country, which allegedly could have overruled climate commitments. On the one hand this was a path-dependent continuation of German energy policy from the times of industrialisation in the 19th century until today (RWE).[2] On the other, it was a stern 180° change of position for the new government around chancellor Olaf Scholz, who led a coalition between Social Democrats, the Green Party and the Liberals that presented itself as being committed to mitigating climate change during election campaigns in 2021 (cf. with Swyngedouw 2013, 10).
Ostensibly, the coalition changed its announced policy back to conventional German energy strategies because of the war between Russia and Ukraine that dramatically escalated on 24 February 2022, the following deliberate and unilateral decision by the government to stop fossil fuel imports from the aggressor, the destruction of Nord Stream I and II, as well as the intentional inability to create a sustainable change in Germany’s energy mix based on renewables now and during the last decades.[3] To add injury to insult, the Green Party both ruled the federal energy ministry and the regional environmental ministry concerned with Lützerath: Instead of fighting RWE, they embraced the company’s goals and sanctioned the destruction of the village.[4]
Contradicting this change in policy, the highest court of the country had previously decided several lawsuits in a way that practically elevated climate change mitigation policies into constitutional law (Pieper 2023; BUND 2021). The German government argued on the basis of limited scientific evidence heavily influenced by RWE and issued by the regional economy ministry that the coal beneath Lützerath would have been needed to avoid the breaking down of energy systems during the winter period of 2022-2023 (Micah 2023; Reichert 2023). To formulate a compromise, the Green Party turned in favour of digging out the coal under Lützerath and forfeiting the 1,5°C-goal, but in exchange wanted to make RWE stop at the Garzweiler lignite pit after that, protecting the villages Kuckum, Berverath, Keyenberg, Oberwestrich and Unterwestrich that lay west of Lützerath and that the company wanted to destroy next. On 04 October 2022, RWE, regional economy minister Mona Neubaur and federal economy minister Robert Habeck (both from the Green Party) publicly proclaimed this deal at a press conference. Furthermore, the federal stop of generating electricity by burning lignite was to be antedated from 2038 to 2030, which the Green Party marketed as a success (Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland 2023). In opposition to that alternative scientific reports were made, questioning the soundness of this assessment and this deal (Micah 2023). Several already existed before the decision was taken (Scientists for Future 2023). Ignoring science, RWE wanted to be fast and to go ahead before a renewed discussion of the matter could possibly change the decision.
The activists hoped that by dragging out the protests, the regional and the federal governments could have time and feel the urge to reassess, which could have given the Green Party some leverage to prevent the destruction of Lützerath (Pieper 2023, Micah 2023, Kim 2023). Especially the latter were strong motivations for Fabian Pieper, Micah and Kim to join the demonstration on 14 January 2023.
3: “Let’s go to Lützerath! Stop eviction! For Climate Justice!” – Mobilising poster of the climate protests taking place at the Garzweiler lignite mine. Provided via Fridays for Future for distribution. Co-production of the different initiatives stated at the bottom of the poster. The yellow X represents “Tag X”, which became a symbol of anti-coal protests in Germany.
According to RWE, the lignite mine Garzweiler produced up to 30 million tons of coal on an area of 35 km² by digging away 100-120 million m³ per year (RWE). During the last years, the mine was continuously expanding, eating away fertile agricultural land and rural communities on its way to Lützerath. With the climate crisis dramatically escalating during the last five years, the village became a focal point for the German and international climate movement.
4: Lützerath in Western Germany, close to the Netherlands and west of Cologne. Map made with Google Earth, DATA SIO, NOAA, U.S. Navy, NGA, GEBCO. Image Landsat/ Copernicus.
5: Lützerath and the open-pit Lignite mine Garzweiler (including the now gone village of Garzweiler) in 2003. Map made with Google Earth, image © 2023 GeoContent, image © 2023 AeroWest.
6: Lützerath and the encroaching pit (Garzweiler is gone now) in 2021. Map made with Google Earth, Image © 2023 CNES/ Airbus.
7: Zoom-in on Lützerath in 2021. Map made with Google Earth.
8: RWE’s large digging machine standing opposite of the town of Lützerath at the top-right corner, surrounded by police. The yellow-vested-people standing next to the excavator are private security guards defending the machine against squatting attempts by protesters. By the author, taken on 14 January 2023.
Events flamed up on 11 January 2023, when the police started the forceful eviction of activists from Lützerath and the surrounding area (Rheinische Post 2023, Hill 2023). While preparing for day X, activists had erected barricades out of stones, bricks, logs, concrete, and steel. They also tried to block paths and roads with the basic tools they had available. Fences that were built by the police were torn down by activists. Again and again, protestors tried to occupy eviction equipment and RWE’s digging machinery. At the same time, many demonstrations popped up around the whole republic, including protests in front and inside of the Green Party’s regional headquarters in Düsseldorf (Focus Online 2023). Activists both held out on the roofs of buildings and in tree houses, where it was very hard to evict them, and in a tunnel, two guys dug out beneath Lützerath (Micah 2023, Schönberg 2023). At the same time, protests targeted the central business building of RWE in Essen, where people chained themselves to the plant’s gates. At the fellow lignite mine in Hambach, activists squatted one of RWE’s large excavators in solidarity.
Besides the struggle to protect the climate, it was also important to show that the German state would dispossess some of its rural citizens for outdated resource extraction, even in 2023 (Marlon 2023). People had to lose their homes to fuel RWE’s profit interests. Furthermore, in many of these small villages that already were or were to be destroyed, churches were being desecrated even though the local people wanted to continue their operation (Die Kirche(n) im Dorf lassen). In this regard parts of the struggle also had a religious component to it.
The large, rainy and muddy demonstration on 14 January 2023 was the culmination point of all those activities. It was a powerful protest, certainly one of the larger climate demonstrations in Germany. Nevertheless, the amount of people attending was a contested issue for the interviewees. In the immediate aftermath of the demonstration, it became apparent that there was a large discrepancy between the number reported by the police (15,000) and the one by activists (50,000) (Pieper 2023). The actual number might have been between 30,000 and 39,000 (Maxi 2023, Düperthal 2023, Pieper 2023). This discrepancy was one of many contested issues in regard to media reporting on the demonstration that undermined enthusiasm in the political process and the independence of the media (Pieper 2023, Maxi 2023, Micah 2023). The interviewees evaluated the turnout of the demonstration differently. Maxi was disappointed. Following the mobilisation success of several Fridays for Future demonstrations in Germany and the fact that 80,000 people would go and see a football game, she hoped for 200,000 people showing up at Lützerath (Fridays for Future Germany 2021; Maxi 2023).[5] On the other hand, for Marlon and Kim the actual turnout was a success giving hope for the movement and for future protests (Marlon 2023; Kim 2023).
However, the demonstration and all the different creative actions in so many places aiming at preserving Lützerath and keeping the coal in the ground, were futile in the end – Lützerath was destroyed and the coal has been dug up, public climate commitments, the Paris climate agreement, and continuing protests notwithstanding.
Present – The village is gone, but Lützerath lives on.
Unfortunately, the protests that went on for years and culminated in the big demonstration on 14 January 2023 were unsuccessful in the sense that Lützerath did not survive. Protesters, activists, and climate enthusiasts had to realise that in this instance, the combined force of big capital in the form of RWE, a compromising regional and federal government, as well as a chancellor who took climate commitments by himself and by his own party not serious, the limits of their influence was reached. Marlon described in detail the experience of reaching physical limits on 14 January 2023. While trying to breach police barricades to get into Lützerath, she and others were forcefully stopped (Marlon 2023). At other places, people were hurt on both sides and the physical limits of being unable to reach the village became apparent.
Institutionally, the regional and federal governments had simply decided that this would happen now, ignoring the years of protests and the emergence of alternative scientific reports questioning the necessity of the whole endeavour. With their behaviour they showed clearly, where the institutional limits of the protesters were.
Limits also became tangible in a social dimension after the demonstration. The population was split in three camps: supporters of Lützerath and the protests, supporters of RWE and the police, and the broad mass that did not want to take notice of the dramatic events taking place at Garzweiler in the context of the climate crisis. Fabian Pieper described how he had mostly heard negative reports from the protests before 14 January 2023 and how afterwards the internal discussion within the Green Party was very polarised. In discussion with his local party colleagues, he wrote an official protest letter to the regional government, in which the Green Party held significant power. Unfortunately, the response was not in favour of these complaints, and the letter was ignored (Pieper 2023). To add injury to insult, he reported that the press representative of the Green Party was beaten up by the police during the demonstration while trying to reach Lützerath, adding in hindsight to a felt sense of disappointment at the rank and file of the party (Pieper 2023). Adding to this, the head of the police on-site was also a Green Party member, showing in a sense contradicting party action (Pieper 2023). Here the social limits of the protests became tangible.
After the protests, the interviewees still felt linked to the events and what had happened on-site, but they had different opinions about it. Marlon felt sad, angry and bewildered that Lützerath was evicted, although she had prepared herself for this possible outcome. She was very shocked, how fast in the end authorities evicted people from the village. Nevertheless, the large demonstration gave her hope for the future of the struggle. She said “The fight will become even more important, because Lützerath is lost” (Marlon 2023).[6] Maxi showed a more stoic assessment, as for her nothing has changed now that Lützerath is gone. If RWE was to dig up the next town, Keyenberg, she would once again be there to protest, convinced that then even more people would show up, especially the youth whose future was being robbed (Maxi 2023). Kim agrees, as she also has not lost hope for the cause as a whole, due to the fact that so many people engaged with Lützerath. These would continue the struggle and she believes that then institutional politics would have to listen (Kim 2023). Fabian Pieper disagrees, as Lützerath was a failure. Not only for him personally, but also for his party. Decisions were taken in a very non-transparent way as quickly as possible to prevent environmental organisations to react. This would have caused a tremendous loss of faith in the Green Party in particular and the government in total. For him, all of this feels bad (Pieper 2023). Micah was disappointed, too (Micah 2023). Unrelated to their testimonies, the fact that the police used transporters from the actual private company RWE for carrying the evicted activists away, showed how close the connection between capital and executive had become (Düperthal 2023). This underscores doubts opposing the soundness of the political system.
Therefore, the biggest limit, or better loss, was that the protests as a whole were not successful in this instance. Where once the village became home for many “old” citizens and climate activists, it now ultimately fell victim to the company’s excavator. Few things in the landscape still tell of its former existence, the so hard-gained spaces for creativity, freedom, and housing are gone. On the first look, this was a bitter disappointment for many (Maxi 2023).
With the demonstration back in the past and so many activities gone by, one should ask oneself what could have been done better by us climate activists to ensure that this campaign could have been successful. Marlon realistically stated that a success, such as at the Hambach Forest, was the exception not the rule (Marlon 2023). Nevertheless, the struggle for Hambach can give inspiration of what strategy had worked and which had not. One thing that became topic during many interviews was the noticeable division between protesters (Micah 2023, Kim 2023, Pieper 2023, Marlon 2023).
Basically, the dividing line went across the question of how far one should go to protect Lützerath. Most protesters went to the demonstration but had no intention to confront the police, to deliberately disregard their orders, or to squat Lützerath. This position was only taken by a minority of dedicated activists, who from their own understanding also wanted more than protecting the village: they were out to protect a space where utopia could become reality (Marlon 2023, cf. with Swyngedouw 2013, 13). Overwhelmingly left-wing and with a large portion of anarchists amongst their ranks, this group had goals that were not shared by many of the other protesters (Kim 2023, Micah 2023, Pieper 2023). They were willing to go into the confrontation with the police, risking their health and proceeding lawsuits in the aftermath (Maxi 2023).
For Kim, this did not feel well during the demonstration (Kim 2023). She reports that some anarchists went around the demonstration to get people to join heading towards the village and the police chains defending it (cf. with Pieper 2023). She also noticed that multiple people around her did not want to go. Apart from that, there were also speeches given at the rally point, like for example by Greta Thunberg. After she spoke, there was also another speech given that used very strong language that indicated that people should now turn towards Lützerath (Pieper 2023). Many did not follow, as apparently this was not a consensus amongst protesters. This divide was negatively felt by some and certainly did not strengthen the movement (Micah 2023, Pieper 2023, Kim 2023). The sour discussion in mainstream media of the protest did not help in this regard. Maxi had a more nuanced point of view. She did not notice any conflicts of this sort during 14 January 2023, but was aware of these dividing conflicts beforehand.
At the bottom of this division lies an ethical question: is it allowed to use force unsanctioned by authorities to protect the environmental basis for tomorrow (Malm 2021, 7-9)? While certainly not a young question, the climate movement and especially Fridays for Future were in the last years very successful in mobilising people for large protests on the basis of explicitly peaceful demonstrations. Initiatives such as Last Generation or Extinction Rebellion added the old anarchist principle of peaceful direct action to the mix. But in the case of the Hambach Forest, this was not enough. Only the concerted effort of left-wing protesters that squatted the forest and lived in tree houses, erected barricades and always came back once they were evicted, together in unison with all other forms of protest saved the forest. If we were to learn from Hambach, then this is the lesson: there needs to be unison amongst the protesters and both camps need to come together for the common goal. If not – and this shows Lützerath – mainstream media will polarise conflicts and divide the protests into good and bad ones, leading to a weakening of both and a silencing of the main message.
Parts of the speeches at the rally point focussed on intersectionalism, linking the struggle at Lützerath with anti-racist fights in the USA, sexism in Germany, anti-colonial indigenous struggles in South America and xenophobia in Europe (cf. with Swyngedouw 2013, 17). For Fabian Pieper, this was not a useful strategy. In his eyes, this was rather perceived as deterring, detrimental to the actual mobilisation effort. The identification of environmental protection and racism led to a logical reasoning like “if you are against protecting the environment, you are a racist” (Pieper 2023, cf. with Whyte 2017, 157-158). This would not be helpful, as it could not motivate ordinary people to join the protests. Here, different theoretical approaches became apparent. Micah later thought about this in a more neutral way, having heard for the first time of these connections at this event (Micah 2023).
Marlon noticed another important point. For her, the strategy of those activists that actually wanted to get into Lützerath was too one-dimensional. It would have been better to use multiple creative forms of protest. The simple attempt to frontally breach police chains was doomed to fail, which was in a sense a disheartening situation for her (Marlon 2023).
In the aftermath of 14 January, another downfall of the movement became obvious. Our communication strategies were inadequate. In many cases it was not possible to get based information for the general public (Pieper 2023, Kim 2023, Micah 2023). This void was filled by mainstream media such as the state’s news show Tagesschau, Springer’s right-wing newspaper Welt,and the news magazine Spiegel. All of these only presented biased information and usually not in favour of the protesters. Micah even spotted a lie in the reporting made by the police, saying that officers would have been there to protect people from falling down into the mining pit, something that definitely was not the case (Micah 2023; image 8). A generally observed strategy was to focus attention on the violence that happened between the police and activists at the side of the protests, while the peaceful demonstration of the dozens of thousands of others were largely silenced. Interviews were framed and cut in a way that it was impossible to actually get a full picture on the situation (Pieper 2023). Sadly, environmental activists failed in filling this void, often even appearing as unreliable sources themselves (Micah 2023, Pieper 2023). For Micah, it was important to present more based scientific information in a very clear manner, to at least give people a chance to form a serious opinion on this issue (Micah 2023). The movement needs unity and a better and more comprehensive, source-based communication strategy.
Many strategies employed were in themselves useful. In general one can say that the squatting of farm houses, the construction of tree houses and tripods, and creative protests including both peaceful protesting and direct action events proofed to be successful in a sense that it increased the costs for RWE and prolonged the time schedule under which the coal extraction activities were planned. It was useful that some people squatted RWE’s excavators and that others had erected barricades against being evicted. It was important to write texts and to inform both other environmental activists and the general public about what was going on. Especially also to counteract the mainstream narrative of the protests. Mobilising via diverse channels, amongst others via the messenger Telegram and through Facebook proved to be effective. Mobilisation strategies in general had shown considerable success as indeed many people across the republic and far away became aware and active in the struggle to protect Lützerath. The fact that Greta Thunberg, Luisa Neubauer, and other international figures of the climate movement came to Lützerath and protested showed considerable success for the mobilising strategy. I personally find it astounding, how the activists created logistics for the struggle on-site, in such a relatively remote area with the few resources that were available. Surely, the demonstration on 14 January 2023 was a key example for that, but also the years-long struggle before that. During the days before and at the demonstration, when the police moved into Lützerath to evict the occupiers, two strategies proved to be exceedingly successful in postponing their operation. First, by moving up to the roofs of the buildings, it became very difficult for the police to arrest the squatters and to destroy those edifices. The second one was the construction of a secret tunnel, within which two activists hid themselves, thus making elaborated groundworks above impossible (Schönberg 2023).
Ultimately, and despite the diverging interests among the group of protesters, it was a large success to mobilise so many people under one umbrella and for one purpose. This is a powerful message that gives hope for future protests (cf. with Marlon 2023). These positive strategies can be replicated at places of further struggles against lignite mining in Germany.
Future – Inspired by Lützerath, working towards an end of German coal
Unfortunately, the village is gone. It will not have a future. The people who have left, who were evicted and the ones that took the deals offered will not return. To cover their tracks and hide the hideous landscape they have created, RWE and the province plan to fill the huge mining pits with billions of litres of water from the Rhine to create several huge lakes (Sieben 2022). The realisation of this idea is highly questionable (cf. with Kim 2023). During the last summers, the region experienced droughts and the Rhine’s water levels had dropped. To continuously divert a significant part of this river will not be a sustainable solution, as everyone downstream will suffer. It will not work.
Nevertheless, Lützerath did a lot to many individual people in particular and the climate movement as well as the general discourse in general. For me, the urgency to act within the context of the ongoing climate crisis is apparent, the greediness of the coal company appalling, the complicity of large parts of the political establishment open for everyone to witness, disregarding previous announcements, climate agreements, and election programmes. People see this and the discrepancy cannot be hidden anymore. The German state does not take its own climate goals serious. Instead it promotes the usage of the dirtiest energy option there is: open-pit lignite mining.
Here Maxi elaborated on a very important issue for activists that needs to take place after the events. People have to talk with each other about their experiences, about what went right and what went wrong, in order to get over the disappointment of failure and to avoid depression. It is therefore necessary to watch out for one another, and to not silently carry these feelings home and to only deal with them alone (Maxi 2023).
On another note, Marlon said that the experience in Lützerath during the blockades gave a lot of hope and ideas on how to live to create a better future. Maybe even for how to build a new society without exploitation. Therefore, Lützerath lives on in the minds of the activists, as it became a household term describing what failed climate policy means in concrete terms. All interviewees agreed that Lützerath means a lot to them, also months after the protests had failed (Maxi 2023, Marlon 2023, Pieper 2023, Micah 2023, Kim 2023). This fundamental experience cannot be undone.
One important question to ask in this regard is whether RWE will have to stop digging coal in the area – as this was the deal with the government – or whether they will be allowed to continue. If they will be stopped, at least Lützerath’s neighbouring villages could be saved and the area preserved (Pieper 2023).
That being written, it is for me more probable that another village at the Garzweiler lignite mine will be threatened to be dug away. If that happens, people will go there again and take the spirit of Lützerath with them to continue the struggle. Then even more people will support it and the next village will be saved, as strategies evolve and divisions amongst the movement dissolve. We have one planet and only one joint future on it. Globally, Lützerath might only be one of many frontlines of the climate crisis. But the more we zoom in, the more important it becomes for the people closeby. Another world is possible, we just need to be brave enough to act outside the established norms. Lützerath has shown that change will not come from above, but that it is already here in the present, created by average people who dared to act. This gives hope to continue, hope to accept this setback, and hope to work together for a better world, in which we do not jeopardise everything for the greed of a few but powerful people. Lützerath lives on.
References
Interviews
Kim (works with water protection and dynamic in Germany). Interview on 25 April 2023 via Zoom in Stockholm. First name basis.
Marlon (Climate activist, Gießen, Germany). Interview on 22 April 2023 via Zoom in Gießen and Stockholm. Pseudonym.
Maxi (Climate activist, near Frankfurt, Germany). Interview on 24 April 2023 via Zoom in Stockholm. Pseudonym.
Micah (Climate activist, Darmstadt, Germany). Interview on 05 April 2023 via Zoom in Darmstadt and Stockholm. Pseudonym.
Pieper, Fabian (communal politician in Krefeld-Fischen, Green Party, Germany). Interview on 12 April 2023 via Zoom in Krefeld and Stockholm.
Literature
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Reichert, I. a. Puttfarcken, Lena (2023): “Was du wissen must, um die Debatte um Lützerath zu verstehen”. Quarks, 23 January 2023, https://www.quarks.de/technik/energie/luetzerath-braunkohle-energieversorgung-klimaziele/ [2023-07-12].
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[1] BUND: Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland; NAJU: Naturschutzjugend im NABU; NABU: Naturschutzbund Deutschland; ADAC: Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Club.
[2] RWE introduces the coal mine on its website by pointing out that lignite would have been dug at Garzweiler for more than 100 years.
[3] The Social Democrats were part of the federal governments from 1998 until 2009, and from 2013 until now. Olaf Scholz himself was part of the cabinet Merkel I as minister for labour and social issues from 2007-2009 and Merkel IV as minister of finance as well as vice-chancellor from 2018-2021. As such, it is to an extend his fault that the term Energiewende has continued to represent an empty phrase without material substance.
[4] This is only the view of the author.
[5] Cf. with testimony of Fabian Pieper, who himself went to Fridays for Future demonstrations in support of Lützerath before 14 January 2023.
[6] Translated by the author from “Weil Lützerath verloren ist, ist der Kampf immer wichtiger.”
Eleonora Panunzi
Casetta Rossa is a self-managed social space located in Garbatella in Rome’s Municipality VIII. It was founded in 2002 by a group of residents who, on a totally voluntary basis, took action to clean up a green space that had been abandoned for many years and asked for it to be managed for the benefit of the local population. Casetta Rossa was then established in 2011 as a social promotion association and began to promote social, cultural, and environmental initiatives.
The main beneficiaries of the activities of Casetta Rossa are the inhabitants of the neighborhood with a diffuse target group (children, adults, elderlies) who can take advantage of a redeveloped park and a space open to all. More generally, all those who decide to take advantage of the various initiatives proposed by Casetta Rossa can be beneficiaries.
In the past years, the space hosted several volunteer camps for the redevelopment of the park, so the exchange has taken place at local, national and international level.
The various activities promoted by Casetta Rossa are addressed to various individuals, both Italian and foreign, favoring inclusion and integration between micro-communities and thus enabling the growth of a culture of dialogue and knowledge exchange.
Casetta Rossa statute explicitly states that one of the aims of the APS is the promotion of initiatives to safeguard the environmental heritage. This activity is expressed in concrete actions such as the redevelopment of a green area – the Cavallo Pazzo park – wrested from neglect and abandonment, which has become an extraordinary space for the community. The park is also cared through periodic appointments for cleaning and maintenance, and for meetings and cultural and inclusion projects, dances and songs, workshops to learn about and care for the environment, and celebrations to celebrate the park. To these activities are added:
Casetta Rossa aims to promote initiatives free of charge through the commitment of activists and. in recent years, it has given rise to political, social and cultural initiatives, as well as a popular wood-fired oven that can be used by the whole community, a solidarity purchasing group, activities for children, theatre, acting or baking workshops, photography courses, excursions, walking and cycling tours in Rome and Lazio to get to know historical places and working-class neighborhoods. In addition, they self-manage the Parco Cavallo Pazzo, the park next to Casetta.
[From this interview with one of the activists of Casetta Rossa, in my opinion, it emerges that Casetta Rossa is an extraordinary example of re-appropriation and protection of a space that has been made available to citizens, and of an activity that contributes to reinvent a community, these initiatives “can contribute to unhinging the socio-ecological relations that procure profit and power to a few individuals to the detriment of the many” [Armiero, 2021].
The experience of Casetta Rossa, in my opinion, proposes an alternative model of relations in the community and with the territory, a model that promotes a more inclusive and sustainable culture and can therefore be considered a new practice of relations both vertically with the institutional context and horizontally in the relationship between citizens of the community.
Bearing in mind that “the ecological crisis is not only a crisis of the physical environment but also a crisis of the cultural and social environment” (Mapping a common ground, Bergthaller et all, 2021 Derive e Approdi), Casetta Rossa contributes to proposing a new model of relations in the community and whit the institutional structures. Casetta Rossa can offer an alternative to the system that has generated the current crisis and thus respond to the climate change we are experiencing].
Casetta Rossa was established in 2002 and the visible effects can be seen in the redevelopment of the space, the management of a shared place and the promotion of the various initiatives described above.
Casetta Rossa has signed an agreement with the Municipality of Rome VIII, for the management of the area until November 2023.
Casetta Rossa sees the involvement of different actors dealing with various issues ranging from the Casetta Solidale, which collects and distributes food and necessities to over 300 households, to the Buying Group, which promotes the purchase of quality and organically grown products, to the Reading Group. The various areas of activity see the involvement of different actors with also specific competences. In general, the common background of the people involved is that of activism, voluntary work, and solidarity.
The artifact and the park have been entrusted to APS since 2013 following a public call for tenders. Casetta Rossa has signed a convention with the Municipality VIII that will expires in December 2023, this currently represents an element of instability with respect to future prospects.
The main difficulties faced by Casetta Rossa concern the issue of financing activities and the economic management of the park and the Casetta building. The activities offered by Casetta are all free of charge, the only two forms of funding being donations and income from a refreshment point set up inside the Casetta.
The complex organization of Casetta Rossa also inevitably encounters organizational and management difficulties, given the large number of proposals for activities relating to different areas.
There is also, according to the organizers, a communication limitation; a better ability to tell people about the work of the Casetta Rossa would be desirable.
The initiative arose from the initiative of a few citizens and is certainly replicable in other contexts. There are other examples of active groups of citizens who organize themselves to redevelop and regenerate their territory. The model of Casetta Rossa is a self-management in collaboration with institutions for the care and management of common goods. In this sense, the experience is replicable even if the reconversion of untended public spaces and the long-term management of a public space is undoubtedly a complex activity that requires a concrete commitment and a major managerial and logistical effort.
In the last three electoral rounds, Casetta has seen the election of its own representatives at the Municipality of Rome VIII and at the Municipality of Rome, thus strengthening its relationship with the institutions, but above all fostering the active participation of the community, which from the experience of self-management has also moved towards a commitment within the institutions.
Casetta Rossa then formed partnerships with various associations and participated in the activities of various movements active in the area. An example of Casetta Rossa’s role in the municipality and beyond is the close collaboration with the City of Rome’s Urban Gardens movement, which saw Casetta’s active participation in the process to arrive at a municipal council resolution for the allocation of urban gardens.
This example is illustrative of Casetta’s role as a small system that operates in the local context but also promotes and participates in initiatives at a national level and acts as a stimulus and influence on institutions.
Material
The information reported was gathered through an interview with an activist involved in the activities of Casetta Rossa, Maya Vetri, who currently also holds the position of councillor for Cultural Policies, Intercultural Policies, Gender Policies, Participation, Common Goods, Memory of the Municipality VIII of Rome. The website and social pages of Casetta Rossa (http://casettarossa.org/) and the statute of the social promotion association were also analysed (http://casettarossa.org/statuto/).
Photo of Casetta Rossa – public photo taken from the Casetta Rossa Facebook page
Photo Forno Popolare Casetta Rossa – public photo taken from the Casetta Rossa Facebook page
Photo Forno Popolare Casetta Rossa – public photo taken from the Casetta Rossa Facebook page
Gaia Maronilli
The experience of the project “Nutrire Trento”
Nutrire Trento is a project that takes place in Trento, a small city in the North of Italy. Among Italian cities, Trento has a very good reputation in terms of eco-sustainability, nevertheless, for what concerns the impact of the food system on the territory, there is still a lot to do. Its province is well-known for the production of apples and wine: the territories are dominated by their intensive monocultures, causing loss of biodiversity and fertility of the soil, to this adds the impossibility of food self-sufficiency. Despite that, in the recent years, some farmers have decided to detach themselves from unsustainable mass distribution(“Grande Distribuzione Orgnanizzata”) and the agri-food industry, to embrace an alternative agriculture that can follow the rhythm of nature by diminishing its impact and anthropic action and the use of chemicals. These producers follow the principles of agroecology and biodynamic agriculture. Alongside this trend of eco-transitioning of production, Trento has known a growing request for local, healthy and organic goods that leads to the birth of numerous solidarity purchasing groups (“Gruppi di acquisto solidale”). From the literature, within the trend of then new Sustainable Community Movement Organizations (Dal Gobbo et Forno, 2020), the Alternative Food networks (AFNs) are a wide variety of small or big food supply systems, alternative to the Agro-Industrial one (Forno et Maurano, 2016, p.6), and they can be interpreted as sustainable materialism (Schlosberg, 2019). By contrasting the unfair and unsustainable logics of the industrial agriculture and the big distribution, they try to underline the importance and the specificity of the local dimension from an environmental and social point of view. These realities often try to involve all the actors involved in the process from production to consumption, to waste management (Forno et Maurano, 2016). This approach can be traced back to the glocalism current: from awareness of the global problems, alternative solutions are sought on the basis of the localism principles. If it is true that AFNs have multiple problems, such as the lack of institutionalization that hinders their stability and the possibility of having an effective impact on a major scale, support from institutions can enable them to overcome the problems linked to accessibility and sensibilization to these themes. The new Food Policy Councils can be recalled as examples (Koski et al. 2016), and the following case study of Nutrire Trento can be seen as a peculiar experience within this perspective.
In this context, Nutrire Trento was born in 2016 by the mutual collaboration of the municipality and the University of Trento with the civil society to find a dialogue among all the actors involved in the food system, to make people aware of its impact, as to create renew conscious habits of production and consumption.
Within this perspective, the interest for climate change, sustainability and the impact of the food system are perceived as a “direct consequence” of being part of Nutrire Trento: the participants see their health and wellbeing as extremely linked to the one of the ecosystem, so that they introduce a political aspect in the pursuit of a wellbeing that might otherwise appear as merely personal. The Food system is recognized as one of the most influencing factors on the environmental degradation and climate change. A critical nutrition then can be one of the first actions to counter the unsustainability and move towards a more ecological model. Nutrire Trento has the value of reuniting positive experiences where local producers have their own philosophy: for example one of the participants talks about “fruit-horticulture” centered on the concept of biodiversity to work in synergy with nature and to diminish the use of chemical products and external inputs. These experiences show how it is possible to pursue alternative ways of production capable of feeding the population without adopting high technological solutions. According to the producers, this engagement is fundamental because “nature itself is rising up”: they testify that there is significantly early entry in production of the fruits, besides extreme weather events which were way more rare once. Against the problem of the vine and apple monocultures, positive experiences like Nutrire Trento can make pressure for converting the fields towards a wider diversification of the cultures. At the same time, the transition from a conventional agriculture to an organic one is a “fundamental change”. Nevertheless, it will require some time, or at least “ a generational change”, even if the participants claim that there should be stronger commitments from institutions, which, instead, are inside the system and “have their hands tied” for some issues.
This project for those who are involved is interpreted as an “incubator of ideas”, a “democratic space” where everyone is free to share initiatives, opportunities and knowledges to reach a shared objective. All the participants underline the role of the institutions, but at the same time, they agree that it is the civic society that makes the discussion table of Nutrire Trento active and stimulating. This table meets monthly and has a variable composition, according to the interest of the issue chosen. They decided to make it informal so that they could easily change what did not work along the process. The only requirement to participate is to live in the territory of the municipality of Trento. After a first phase more theoretical and dialogical, now Nutrire Trento is concretively active. In particular, during the first Lockdown for the Pandemic, Nutrire Trento Phase 2 has begun: a project of delivering local food that connected producers and consumers directly to avoid waste and support the local businesses. After this first pilot, the Community-Supported Agriculture “Naturalmente in Trentino” was created, mostly thanks to the will and desire of the producers who have concretized it.
Sociality and solidarity are a fundamental part of the project: participants talk about “a big family” and of “a community” who puts aside differences to reach together “the common good”. Sociality is recorded in the act of purchasing and a sense of trust between the produces and the consumers develops. It can be seen as a social network among all the actors implied, where participants join for a word of mouth or for preexisting solidarities (Pilati, 2018). The network is important because it is not only internal but also external and it can connect Nutrire Trento with other similar experiences or expert figures with which debate or innovation might be established. Another fundamental function of the project is the education and sensibilization to a more aware and sustainable production and consumption. The project aims to problematize the issue of food by training through open discussions, but also through concrete practices, as the ones created in occasion of the CSA meetings. Indeed, the table helped participants to better understand certain dynamics and then to change their habits and lifestyle, for example in terms of waste reduction. Something that pushes NT participants to promote education to these themes even at school, to incorporate a habitus of simple sustainable practices from an early age. Furthermore, the direct relationship between producers and consumers – who are called “eaters” within the CSA to avoid the idea of consuming, and the passivity that this term recalls – creates a space for curiosity, information and contact with the products. In this way, they understand what is behind the simple good and they can realize that for example “in April there is no fruit”, in contrast with the false perception the supermarkets give of having everything at every moment in the year, loosing the idea of seasonality.
As such, the CSA can be a resource for ecological transitions. It is true, however, that it implies a bigger engagement in terms of both time dedicated, and economic resources: producers are supported in all their activity through a pre-financing so that they have a backup in case of adverse climate or bad harvest. Anyway, by agreeing before with the costumer on the amount needed there is no waste. The criticism is that for the moment being part of a CSA “is not for everyone” because of some hidden cost that hinders the accessibility. In this regard, the support of the institutions has been fundamental: on one side, the municipality has invested but also promoted it, by increasing the range of possible receivers, on the other, the University shared knowledge and scientific resources, facilitating relations among the parties implied. Nevertheless, if this role of guarantee is appreciated, there is also a sense in which the council’s involvement implied some rigidity and less democracy. This leads to the political dimension: the decision of being part of Nutrire Trento is recognized as political, but apart from that, what is interesting is that they give more importance to the possibility of creating an alternative, instead of demanding change from existing institutions.
Finally, coming to the critical points and future challenges of the projects, one recurrent problem that emerges from discussion with participants is the accessibility of this initiative to all citizens. If it is true that from the first data collected of the CSA, participants don’t come necessarily from the world of political consumerism, they have anyway a disposable income and a high level of education: it seems then that there are some entry barriers for some segments of the population. Institution could work to support lower income and fragile subjects, in terms of education and sensibilization to make this opportunity at least known and possible.
Concerning the spread of this initiative, the external network is fundamental to adapt this paradigm to other territories, starting from their specificities. Anyway, its effectiveness in contrasting the mass retail distribution remains an open question.
The entry is based on interviews carried out with people involved in the Nutrire Trento table, including producers, consumer-activists and local administrators.
References
Dal Gobbo, A., Forno, F. (2020). Shopping for a Sustainable Future: The Promises of a Collectively Planned Consumption in Forno, F., Weiner, R. R. (edited by), Sustainable Community Movement Organizations: Solidarity Economies and Rhizomatic Practices, Londra: Routledge, 2020, p. 72-88. – ISBN: 9780367342234
Forno, F., Maurano, S. (2016). Cibo, sostenibilità e territorio. dai sistemi di approvvigionamento alternativi ai food policy councils. Rivista Geografica Italiana. 123. 1-20.
Koski, C., Siddiki, S. et al. (2016) Representation in Collaborative Governance: A case Study of a Food Policy Council. American Review of Public Administration, 48(4) 359-373
Schlosberg, D. (2019): From postmaterialism to sustainable materialism: the environmental politics of practice-based movements, Environmental Politics, DOI: 10.1080/09644016.2019.1587215
Appendix
Image 1 Tasting at the first meeting of the CSA
Image 2 example of “fruit-horticulture”
Image 3 Children at one of the CSA meetings
Image 4 The CSA visits one of the local producers
Domingos J. Langa
Mozambique has one of Africa’s longest coastlines and communities facing climate and human-related challenges. The government has established specific ministries to coordinate environmental issues—the Ministry for Environmental Coordination, which was renamed the Ministry for Environment in 2020—as well as agencies such as the National Institute for Natural Calamities to implement emergency responses. In 2019, cyclones Kenneth and Idai hit Mozambique’s central and northern regions, igniting already ongoing debates about the country’s preparedness to deal with climate change in general and natural disasters in particular. These events have left devastation in their wake and exposed environmental and social vulnerabilities linked to climate or human- related treats.
However, in addition to government ministries and agencies, there have been community initiatives that predate the current government’s efforts to combat climate change. Communities have been displaced in the northern coastal communities of Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado Province because of a war that began in 2017 but became more visible in 2020 with more systematic attacks on civilians and intervention by other countries.
In the midst of an ongoing war, the long-term effects of natural disasters, and an influx of internally displaced people, I seek to understand how community-based organizations in the Northern Province of Cabo Delgado have dealt with climate change and what initiatives they have put in place to address natural resource management and environmental education. As a result, in order to understand local climate change initiatives, I will focus on AMA (Associação
Amigos do Meio Ambiente), a Mozambican non-governmental organization based in Cabo Delgado Province. The main questions are as follows:
Location: The Ama-Associação do Meio Ambiente initiative on climate change mitigation and adaptation is being implemented in Mecufi and Bandar, both in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado Province.
Background and promoters: Ama has been is implementing a climate change adaptation and mitigation initiative in six coastal villages in Mozambique’s Mecufi district: Muitua, Murrebue, Maueia, Ngoma, Muinde, and Natuco. One of their main sources of income is artisanal fishing; another is agriculture. The initiative is a component of the project Enhancing coastal and marine socio-ecological resilience and biodiversity conservation in the Western Indian Ocean (Ama, 2022). Ama was established on May 19, 1990, as NUMA (Núcleo do Meio Ambiente) in the City of Pemba, Province of Cabo Delgado, and was recognized and authorized to operate by the Governor of the Province on January 31, 1991. This organization was founded by a group of young people motivated by a desire to protect environmental resources harmed by erosion, indiscriminate forest clearing, and the slaughter of protected species of animals (AMA, 2016, p.3).
Beneficiaries: According to reports, the initiative aims to improve the livelihoods of coastal communities in Cabo Delgado Province that are being impacted by climate change in two ways: increased fishing challenges and challenges in developing other sources of income. As a result, fishermen, community fishing councils (CCPs), and grupos de viveiristas [nursery groups] are the primary beneficiaries of the initiatives (Ama, 2022; Ama, 2021).
Engagement with climate change:
Over time, communities have reported that marine and fishing resources have become increasingly scarce. In collaboration with community savings and loan associations, the initiative focuses on mangrove restoration and livelihoods (ACPEs). This initiative trained ACPEs members in small businesses so that they could diversify their income and improve their living conditions. During the Mangal’s restoration, a group of nurserymen in Muinde was formed with the primary goal of producing seedlings and planting mangroves in their region (Ama, 2022).
This initiative has also educated community councils on the basics of identifying protected species and the value of co-management plans in their communities. The initiative focuses on biodiversity conservation and protection, as well as community participation in coastal protection. As a result, this initiative has addressed both climate change mitigation and adaptation.
Values and objectives:
Environmental education, environmental preservation, ecosystem defense and protection, the protection of endangered species, and the enhancement of animal, plant, and microbial life for ecosystem balance are the primary values.The main objectives of the initiatives are:
Visible Effects:
Community councils and community savings and loan associations have begun to save and establish small businesses. Furthermore, they have grown and planted seedlings. Crab fattening has spread throughout communities (Ama, 2022; Ama, 2021).
The initiative has also created two co-management plans and submitted them to the Ministry of Sea, Inland Waters, and Fishing (MIMAIP) for approval (Ama, 2022).
Actors involved:
Communities, Ama, and district governments are the main actors.
Limits:
There are two major constraints to the initiative:
The initiative has two major constraints:
Critical Points:
Replicability: Organizations in the Mozambican provinces of Inhambane, Nampula, and Maputo have expressed interest in replicating the initiative. Countries interested in replicating the initiative include Seychelles, Kenya, and Tanzania.
Broader changes AMA has been advocating for the recognition of fishing rights by Community Fisheries Councils (CCPs). Two laws were revised, namely the Biodiversity Conservation Law and the Fisheries Law. These laws already include fishing rights for CCPs.
References
Domingos J. Langa
I am a cemetery in Pemba, Mozambique’s northernmost city. I was established during the colonial era. I had been the only city cemetery for more than a half-century. I consider myself a resident of the city center. Pemba is the provincial capital of Cabo Delgado. Without me, the city would not exist. If I am not present, the city will perish. At the same time, I consider myself on the outskirts. In the municipality’s strategic plans, I am virtually non-existent. When I am present, I am associated with less noble services. The locals are aware of my presence. Furthermore, they appear to understand how important I am to them. Nonetheless, everything suggests that my presence in their daily lives is fleeting; they only come to see me a few times a year. Furthermore, they are constantly gossiping about me. Nonetheless, they talk about me despite not knowing much about me.
I will begin by giving a brief overview of how I am currently organized. Beliefs, religion, urban planning, inequalities, and conflicts appear to be the elements that explain how I am organized. Within me, there are two sections: an office and a section for graves and burials. However, the burial site is further subdivided into burial sites based on religion (Christian and Muslim) and untouchables, which include the graves of soldiers from distant lands who died, I believe, in one of the great wars. Finally, there is a section for daring and mass graves. Some would say that poor souls died and were buried without being prepared! There are also trees, particularly acacias and flowers, as well as paths for people to take.
If I had to say more about myself, I would most likely emphasize more aspects. Furthermore, I am confident that I will do so. Even better, I want to do it. Where do I even begin? Being a location, I reserve the right to disregard any rigor requirements that may exist. My thoughts are racing with events from the past, present, and future. I am just going to let her roam free.
The Years of Tranquility!
“You are not permitted to make any noise in the cemetery.” So say some visitors who came to see me. At times, it makes me want to laugh, but only the trees, insects, and I can hear and understand! I will keep my mouth shut. I must always keep my cool. I believe that the silence required of those who visit me on occasion has provided me with a few years of peace. In fact, it has been a little more than a half-century of peace. People were terrified of me. Some said I was well liked because I housed long-term residents. I am not sure!
My neighbors aided in the spread of fear. Nonetheless, they were unafraid of me. They might have even done so. They were, however, one of the few people who could pay me a visit, sometimes as a matter of duty, sometimes as an imposition. They visited me on a regular basis to demonstrate their bravery and courage. They came from a primarily male institution and had to prove their masculinity and bravery. They had to see me as a brave and courageous test. Damn soldiers!
There is, indeed, a beach behind me. The name is Chibwabwary. It has a fantastic breeze. When it rains, the soil becomes extremely slippery, making access to the area nearly impossible. There were only a few trees between the beach and me. Anyone wanting to go to the beach had to walk through one of my walls. They also had to pass in silence. They could run, jump, dive, and scream once they arrived at the beach. However, scream quietly so as not to annoy me. Some claimed that only fishermen had the ability to speak loudly.
It is also worth mentioning two other neighbors who, despite their remoteness, have helped my survival: the port and the airport. Colonial officers, then the national government told me, and finally the municipality, “You cannot build houses near the port or the airport.” Again, I believe people did not build houses because they were afraid of me, but I am not certain that this was always the case.
Challenging times
Someone decided to build a cabin near the beach one day. The fishermen claimed that the area was dangerous at night. Nonetheless, the brave persisted. Then those people arrived. Fishermen asked them to keep an eye on their gear. The bathers claimed it was a possessed family who lived near a dangerous beach and a cemetery. The family would be relocated to a safer location,
according to the municipality. However, a larger number of people and families attended. More houses were constructed. Furthermore, more houses are still being built. Services, particularly electricity, arrived at the same time. The municipality renamed the new settlement “Unidade de Chibwabwary.” It was an official acknowledgement of an unofficial unit. I began to feel threatened.
I considered protesting, but it would be futile. Who would pay attention to me? Fear of me, which had been my shield for a long time, has been shattered. Although my walls remained intact, I began to receive more visitors than usual. They are also no longer tourists, but rather my neighbors. They have electricity but no running water. They come to me for help getting access to water. The guard supplemented his income by selling water. He did, however, lose his brave and courageous status. My neighbors have shown me that I had nothing to be afraid of in me, that I was simply a location. What exactly am I? My agony had only just begun.
Bidding farewell!
My visitors used to say, “Pemba is a small town with few inhabitants.” On the other hand, Unidade de Chibwabwary demonstrated otherwise. It appears to have reflected an increase in the population. If that was the case, there was no cause for concern because the unit was designed to be a peripheral. Furthermore, some politicians and elites believed that peripheral issues were not urgent. Nevertheless, as a neighbor, are my concerns also considered peripheral? I pondered.
The gravediggers, who were once thought to be far braver than the guard, the military, and my new neighbors, performed miracles: they always made room for a new burial. A sidewalk, a road for dividing graves, a road for hearses, under trees, or even exhuming abandoned graves could be used. However, space is not infinite. I am not infinite. The wonder has ended. Who, on the other hand, would say, “The cemetery is overflowing!” Was I stuffed?
The leader who authorizes the construction of a new cemetery is widely assumed the first permanent inhabitant of that new cemetery. There are not many willing volunteers to take on the role of the lamb. After much debate, conflict, and promise, the Cemitério de Muxara was built and inaugurated. I started to have a rival. More importantly, I was no longer in business.
The future of the place: what future?
Even though I am officially closed, I cannot be abandoned. My new neighbors keep me occupied. In addition, I was only closed for new burials. As a result, people continue to come to see me and take care of their loved ones. I, on the other hand, am complete. Anyone who takes care of the trees and the walls while ignoring the insects and birds takes care of me. Maybe I will be here in a few years. Maybe not.
In any case, I am scarred by rapid change, poor urban planning, rapid population growth, unplanned city expansion, unprecedented natural disasters, and accelerated erosion. Most importantly, I am proof of how the residents handled these issues and challenges. I am a bystander. My mind is packed with events. Perhaps I am nothing more than a memory. If I had to choose my fate, I would rather be a memory than a monument. Wind, rain, and sun are all visible, audible, and palpable to me. Plants, animals, and people can also be seen, heard, and felt. I keep track of and update events and phenomena. I interact with other people. I may have been inactive, but I am now more active than ever.
Bayartsetseg Terbish
Department of Sociology and Social Work
National University of Mongolia
Email: bayartsetseg@num.edu.mn
Climate change issues are at stake in Mongolia as nearly as 80 percent of its territory is under threat of desertification due to excessive use of pastureland and decreasing level of precipitation (Dorj et al, 2013). When it comes to urban areas, air and soil pollution is vividly considered the major issues among other human induced climate concerns including waste management and reduced green areas in the city (Legal Info, 2011). Rapidly growing urbanization and rural-urban migration have been considered one of the major contributing factors to such pollution as tremendous number of former pastoralist Mongolians face limited choice but to migrate to the capital city for accessing better formal resources such as education for their children and employment for themselves (Terbish et al, 2020). Extreme climate conditions of drought and cold winter with snow blizzards also pushed pastoralist herders migrating to settle (in)formally in peri-urban settlements referred to as ger areas, where many are caught up in the intersection of poverty and social inequality (International Organization for Migration, 2019).
Expansion of ger area is often targeted as problem area as these settlements are often considered the major causes of persistent social and ecological problems, as well as the main sources of air smog as ger residents burn coal throughout winter (Naranzul & Sarnai, 2018; UNICEF, 2019). Despite the fact that the Government of Mongolia and donor organizations are taking varying measures to combat air and soil pollution in Ulaanbaatar, considerable changes have not been observed to date. Nurturing positive changes through an integrated governance to reduce climatic issues is not the only controversy faced in Mongolia but it is related to an absence of an integrated approach to climate governance which has not yet developed globally as the nature of climate issues vary considerably city by city (Bulkeley & Broto, 2013). In particular, initiatives that are authentically grown from grassroots organizations and individuals are sporadic at best, particularly in Mongolia, and much is left to be done in the fight against climate change and raising awareness among communities.
Photo 1: Air pollution is apparent not only in winter. Photo by the author, fall 2021
Ger areas in Mongolia represents a balance between pastoralist historical past with the rapid urbanization and areas are legally recognized by the Government of Mongolia in terms of land entitlement and settlement development (Hamiduddin, 2021). As such, these settlements areas are not identical to ‘slums’ as some may assume. Nearly half of the total population of Mongolia (3.4 mill) reside in ger areas today where households burn coal briquettes on the stove regularly to keep warmth during the bitterly cold winter in Ulaanbaatar (Terbish et al, 2020). Population of Mongolia is relatively young with about 63 percent of total population being aged under 35 and, undoubtedly, considerable number of them live in ger areas (Policy Watch, 2019). Pollution in ger areas, especially air pollution, have an impact on educational achievement of children and youth as it detrimentally impacts the health and safety of the youngsters in Ulaanbaatar (UNICEF, 2019).
One of the policy approaches by the Government of Mongolia towards ger areas continue to be re-development by gentrifying ger areas with high rise apartments in central parts and to redesign middle and peripheral zones with detached houses (Parliament of Mongolia, 2014). Ger residents, however, find this policy approach controversial as many face affordability issues in this redevelopment process whereas some others prefer living on their land with improved management of heating, water, electricity and sanitation arrangements. A modernist approach towards urban renewal such as this may further segregate the city, creating a divide between those who are capable and less capable (Godfrey, 2019). In addition, re-making of the urban areas without understanding what locals truly want also has a danger of creating more situations of “urban space held by the administration” (Sedrez, 2014, 113).
Notwithstanding the fact of some negative climate effects associated with rural-urban migration and expansion of ger areas in Ulaanbaatar, the focus of this story is either to criticize the migrants nor the unprecedented urbanization process currently at stake. But, rather, it is to highlight one of the local initiatives driven by Public Lab Mongolia (PLM)[1]– a local non-governmental organization (NGO) that is working towards raising awareness on air quality by equipping Mongolian youth with the technology, training and resources to find the answers to questions they have about air quality. Guided by the Hannigan Air Quality and Technology Research Lab in the Mechanical Engineering Department of the University of Colorado and Department of Environment and Forest Engineering at the National University of Mongolia, this NGO has been conducting an AQIQ program that employs an STEM-based curriculum since 2020 by training 8-12 graders at three piloted high schools in Ulaanbaatar and six additional schools in Central and Western provinces, as air pollution is also apparent beyond the capital city. Equipped with the user-friendly air quality measuring devices called Y-Pods, nearly 180 adolescents were mentored to assess not only indoor and outdoor air quality, but they were also open to explore other pollutants and human practices (hair dye, nail polish, air freshener, shoe polish, washing detergent) that have some harmful effect in human and environmental health. Some projects developed by adolescents measured emissions from cars, with a recommendation for adults shifting to electric or hybrid car uses whereas other project examined pollutants from washing detergents, raising awareness on checking pollutants and emissions contained in a powdered detergents we use daily.
Photo 2: Poster developed by youth from Arkhangai province. Source: Public Lab Mongolia, 2022
Youth demonstrated greater level of aspiration in learning basic research skills and became aware of elementary knowledge in climate change and adaptation strategies through this program. It is expected that participants of this program dispatch their awareness and knowledge further to their peers and family members to start with the change at the micro scale to a greater activity towards community education for a climate justice. Starting small is significant as PLM believes, to acknowledge and to localize the climate change acts through bottom-up approach, so that we avoid the risk of cliché on climate topic among general public as many still do not believe the possibility for climate apocalypse (Swyngedouw, 2013).
Through these three years of implementation, educational bureau of the respective districts and provinces were supportive of this initiative and assisted the PLM in piloting schools for a smooth implementation of the program. Through this program, PLM hopes to prepare future air quality advocates and educators in their respective communities by instilling critical thinking and science-based reasoning skills in today’s youth.
Reference
Bulkeley, H., Broto, V.C. (2013). Government by experiment? Global cities and the governing of climate change. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 38, 361-375. doi: 10.1111/j.1475-5661.2012.00535.
Dorj, O., Enkhbold, M., Lkhamyanjin, Kh., Mijiddorj, A., Nosmoo, A., Puntsagnamjil, M., Sainjargal, U. (2013). Mongolia: Country features, the main causes of desertification and remediation efforts. In G.A Heshmati & V.R Squires (Eds.), Combating desertification in Asia, Africa and Middle East. (pp.217-229). Springer Dordrecht.
Godfrey, B. J. (2012). Urban renewal, favelas, and Guanabara bay: Environmental justice and sustainability in Rio De Janeiro. In. Vojnovic.I (Ed.). Urban Sustainability: A Global perspective. (pp.359-368). USA: Michigan University Press.
Hamiduddin, I., Fitzpatrick, D., Plueckhahn, R., Sangi, U., Batjargal, E., & Sumiyasuren, E. (2021).Social sustainability and Ulaanbaatar’s ‘ger districts’: Access and mobility issues and opportunities. Sustainability, 13, 11470. https://doi.org/10.3390/su132011470
International Organization for Migration (July, 2019). IOM, Mongolia Build Displacement Tracking Capacity to Prepare for Natural Disasters. https://www.iom.int/news/iom-mongolia-build-displacement-tracking-capacity-prepare-natural-disasters
Legal Info (2011). National program against climate change. https://legalinfo.mn/mn/detail?lawId=203357&showType=1
Naranzul, B., Sarnai, G. (2018). A Brief on air pollution. Ulaanbaatar: Admon Printing.
Parliament of Mongolia (2014) Development Strategy for Ulaanbaatar City – 2020 and development approaches for 2030. https://policy.asiapacificenergy.org/node/2723
Policy Watch. (2019). Right to education for youth in ger areas of Ulaanbaatar: Efficiency of the state service delivery. https://www.policywatch.mn/equalsociety4childrenyouth.html
Sedrez, L. (2014). Constructing and de-constructing communities: Tales of urban injustice and resistance in Brazil and South Africa. In The Edges of environmental history: Honoring Jane Carruthers. (pp. 113-116). Rachel Carson Center.
Swyngedouw, E. (2013). Apocalypse now! Fear and doomsday pleasures. Capitalism Nature Socialism, 24(1), 9-18, DOI: 10.1080/10455752.2012.7592
Terbish, B., Lietaert, I & Roets, J. (2020). Shifting senses of solidarity and belonging in the internal migration pathways of citizens in ger areas in Ulaanbaatar: A social work perspective. International Social Work. 1–14. doi.org/10.1177%2F0020872820927768
UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund, 2019). The impact of climate change on education in Mongolia. Ulaanbaatar: UNICEF Mongolia Country Office.
Thais Palermo Buti
1Landsat satellite photo (circa 2000) of Santa Catarina Island (Florianopolis). Wikimedia
For Xuakti, that was the best time of the year. Although she had been teaching in Ilha Brasil for nearly a decade, the expressions she saw on the faces of his students at the end of their first immersive geography class always moved him. She identified with them, and wondered how she would react if she could have lived that educational experience when she was only four years old. At that time, Xuakti was still living near the forest, or what remained of it, with his community, 4,000 kilometers away, in Xingu.
She would never have said that thirty years later she would be in Florianópolis island, teaching geography to children whose origins were so different from his own. She would miss his land, but she couldn’t refuse a proposal like that. The white people had called his family and some other indigenous relatives, quilombola and ribeirinhos, scattered around Brazil, and involved some biobot colonies to bring back to life a place far away in southern Brazil, which she only knew through the devices, but she knew it was a place inhabited by white people.
They had told her precisely “bring back to life “, a very serious thing, a mission of salvation. She had discussed about it with his relatives, they made some research. No one of them trusted white people; in the end, they have a very different idea of the meaning of life. However, the situation in the Xingu had become unsustainable, due to the last dam that were built, the cost of seed patents and the maintenance of the water wells. In Florianópolis, on the other hand, the investments in the “revitalization” were huge and came from foreign countries; not to mention the technology they had at their disposal, which at his home, in Xingu, would never arrive. So, they ended up accepting the proposal, as a challenge for the survival of the community, but also for the foundation of a new society.
Xuakti was a good teacher in Xingu, and so she was also in Florianópolis. She was appreciated, respected, was able to communicate with everyone, and had quickly learned to master the use of devices, as if she were born with them. The devices have solved so many problems, she thought, when a little girl reappeared on screen, and slowly they all returned to the virtual classroom. After the first moment of astonishment, the questions about the class used to be more or less the same: Xuakti, is the center of the earth really that hot? Xuakti, why is there so much noise inside the dunes? Xuakti, why couldn’t I catch the cloud?
The children knew the answers, but the hyperreal immersive experience imprinted the questions in a different way in their minds which, together with the corporeal dimension, first confused them, and then made them more deeply aware of the answers. And only after this first session they could move forward to the next ones, when the children, led by Xuakti, experienced the world as if they were plants, rocks, butterflies, birds and whales. Including the immersive empathy classes in the first-year didactic grid had been a requirement of Xuakti and his people, otherwise they would have left the Island. Because they couldn’t accept to look at the world only from the point of view of humans, as do the whites. The administration accepted, developed the necessary technology, and the classes became such a success that they were included as part of Ilha Brasil’s HighLux tour package.
Then, once the children had become familiar with immersive experience, in their second year of Geography, the teacher taught the most important lesson of that cycle, the one on extreme environmental disasters. Children were immersed in hurricanes, landslides, earthquakes, they were introduced into the most radioactive sites and into the smokestacks of the most contaminating industries of past times. Parental permission was needed for that lesson.
It was still daylight when Xuakti greeted the last child and closed the screen. Sunny Friday crept in like a memory after the last past weeks of rain, and flooded her with the urge to go out. She would go for a walk in the Park, as she called the Ilha Brasil Bio-Regenerative Reserve, where she lived together with ten thousand people from all over Brazil. But she met Ademar at the exit of the hut, and was almost forced to change his mind. After exchanging a few sentences, perceptible only by the devices, the two men got into the car, which seemed to be waiting for them.
The car flew over the Park, and as soon as it reached the exit it entered the carriageway. They didn’t have authorization to fly over the city. The risk of accidents due to the gusts of wind that increasingly hit the island – located in the Tornado Corridor of Latin America – was too high. So, outside the Park they could only use electric vehicles, whether they were two, three or four wheels. Ademar was already preparing for the meeting and were choosing from the many available skins the most suitable for the meeting.
Xuakti pretended not to notice his friend’s gaze. She preferred to enjoy the view from above, which lasted no more than a few minutes – just enough to cover the approximately one thousand hectares of the Park. During this time, she admired the many mountains in the south of Florianopolis, almost all reforested, the Peri lagoon, one of the few untouched by the wild urbanization of the past centuries, the beaches of Saquinho and Naufragados, with its buildings swallowed up by the sand that were going wild again, the bottom of Mount Matadeiro, where 90 years before a landslide buried the beach of Lagoinha do Leste, one of the most beautiful of the island.
But the place she loved most, perhaps because the farthest from his Amazonian imagination, was the beaches of Armação and Matadeiro, where hunters used to trap and kill whales two centuries earlier, before their definitive extinction in the 22nd century. She had experienced both beaches in immersive training when she was just arrived in Florianópolis. Both had escaped urbanization thanks to the historical value that the authorities of the time had assigned them, and they had been largely spared by the Monte landslide, even if there was very little beach left. But the nearby beach of Morro das Pedras had a different fate, and had slowly succumbed to the oceanic force: first the sand, then the houses facing the sea, then the shops behind the houses, and no dams, no retaining walls, could prevent the sea to rise, while people would continue to buy land, builders to build buildings, government to grant permits.
The last glimpse went to the small, still visible tip of Campeche Island, a paradise of neolithic art which, a few years after being privatized and transformed into a golf course, was embraced by the elusive veil of the waters. These were all ancient stories, which Xuakti had learned to internalize in countless debates and formative immersions, and which brought her closer to the land that she, together with his indigenous relatives, quilombola, ribeirinhos, and biobot colonies, was now helping to rebuild.
This is exactly what Xuakti was thinking when the wheels of the car touched the ground and Ademar looked at her showing off the carefully chosen skin: a striped cat superimposed on the amphibian that was so fashionable in the north of the island, where they were going for a meeting with the mayor of Florianópolis and with the representatives of the Technological Poles, who have always had their headquarters in those area. Even though Ademar was white, she liked him. Ademar was a descendant of the original peoples of the island, the manezinhos, whose ancestors had arrived in Florianópolis in the eighteenth century, from the Azores. The European archipelago was still famous for the fires that devastated some of its islands between 2057 and 2084, forcing the population, that no longer had access to water and livelihoods, into a mass exodus. Those were times when water conversion technologies were not yet available for Azores inhabitants – and would not be available to the majority of the people in the world for many years to come, including his people in Xingu.
Ademar never stopped boasting about his origins as the great-grandson of one of the last artisanal fishermen of Campeche, the ancient district in the south of the island that became part of the Park. He had ambiguous feelings about the establishment of the Reserve, which he often considered to be a prison and a bubble out of reality. For Xuakti, whose people had had to live in the Reserves since time immemorial on the threat of their total decimation, the friend was too romantic. Even his argument that the Reserve were created by a philanthropist businessman sounded to Xuakti like nonsense, because in his people’s memories the public and the private have always been mixed.
But the differences between the two friends stopped there. Mostly, they spent their time in the Park, working, playing Hunthinker – a game donated by the Technological Poles to the Park’s inhabitants – taking care of the community, walking. Xuakti liked listening to Ademar’s stories, like now, when they had to cross the almost 50 km of the island of Florianópolis to reach the headquarters of local power. While handling the device to prepare the meeting’s highlights, Ademar complained again about the lack of electric collective transport on the island, which would avoid the hours of traffic in the car, especially now that the road system in the main highway was diverted for the construction of the sixth bridge connecting Florianópolis with the mainland.
The construction works were lasting more than fifteen years, because the Government no longer had funds, and companies no longer had interest in investing on the island, after the golden age of tourism and real estate expansion had finished, about seventy years earlier. Who would come to this concrete forest, with a sewerage dump every 500 meters, almost no beaches, and the tornadoes that arrive every other day as well, everyone wondered.
It was then that Jacob Jacob, grandson of the homonymous tycoon who popularized space travel, took advantage of the collapse of the real estate market especially in the south of the island – which had resisted predatory urbanization until the end of the twentieth century – and proposed to the government an unrepeatable deal: he would have bought the 200-year concession of what was left of the public lands of the south of the island, would have made an agreement with the private ones who remained there, and would have built a gigantic Environmental Bio-Regeneration Reserve. No investment would have generated such an important enhancement, Jacob assured, because Ilha Brasil – the name chosen for the Park – build lives, regenerates systems.
The slogan turned out to be true. The project consisted in the construction of a regeneration village, called Ilha Brasil, a territory of environmental preservation and recolonization, which aimed to reconstruct the natural conditions of the island and its biodiversity. To succeed, Jacob’s team collected analyzes and opinions from scientists, humanists, experts in regeneration and even scholars of the old movement of sustainability. He counted on the opinions of bots developed with the most advanced algorithms. The common conclusion converged on the need to – in the words of bot-47235 who drafted the final opinion – “apply the most advanced technologies and make use of functional cultural systems to establish a careful and caring relationship with the mythical nature of things to bring out finally the world as the soul plenum it has always been1”.
The position paper was welcomed by all the experts and Jacob’s team engaged in the selection process throughout Brazil, to collect the support of people and small communities who met the criteria established by the final opinion. Hundreds of thousands of people were evaluated, and ten thousand were selected. Their role was to apply their knowledge in management and bi-relationality with woods, forests, mangroves, rivers, but also in traditional medicines, shamanism, regenerative culinary, technological exploration, defense, biogenetics and biorobotics, and other skills that would serve to create and make the reserve flourish, from all points of view.
At the end of the selection, nine thousand indigenous people, ribeirinhos, quilombolas belonging to small communities in the north and northeast of Brazil were chosen, while the other thousand were whites from other regions of Brazil and from other parts of the world. The investor entrusted the management to a trusted group, and following the inauguration of the Park in 2180, he never returned. He passed away a few months later, leaving his project as a shared inheritance between his daughter and a bot in his inner circle.
Public power had little to do with the project. State intervention was limited to the granting of licenses and permits, expropriations, authorization for access to some genetic banks, and the incentive for internal migration and repopulation. Once completed, the Park was completely self-sufficient. It generated and distributed energy, which was also sold to those inhabitants of the city without their own generation microsystem. It had its own education system, with schools and universities, and an economy based on biorobotics and hyperreal immersion tourism, highly technological sectors in which Jacob had a competitive advantage thanks to his grandfather’s activities, and which attracted a niche of wealthy consumers. To help to convince the city administration to close the agreement for the development of the Park, Jacob undertook to build a free drinking water conversion and supply line, thanks to the new technology he was developing and which he wanted to test in Florianópolis.
After about an hour of travel, spent watching a metamentary, Ademar and Xuakti had arrived halfway along the way, in the historical center of Florianópolis, which preserved in part the colonial architecture of the seventeenth century, in part its holograms. Only two of the three old bridges built between the 20s and 90s of the twentieth century and which opened the island to the mainland were still operating. The third one, and oldest, Ponte Hercílio Luz, was used only as a landing point for hyperreal immersive tourism – an idea that the old Jacob had pushed to the local government.
Traffic was heavy, but they had time, and they both preferred to enjoy the tranquility of the car over the agility of other electric vehicles. The journey to Canasvieiras, the extreme north of the island, would take another hour. After passing the center, Xuakti liked to disconnect to look at the landscape, characterized by an endless expanse of skyscrapers, bio-robot buildings and energy factories. The Technological Poles were the flagship of investors since ancient times, when they were conceived as innovation districts towards the end of the 20th century. There the gusts of wind and floods did not arrive with the same destructive power with which they arrived in the south of the island. But the decontracting bots had not yet managed to expel from the waters of the bay all the pollution that had deposited there in centuries of urban and technological settlement. Xuakti was reminded of the hyperreal immersive games of water, which she had played especially at the beginning of her stay on the island. It was nice to play with the waves. Who knows, she thought, what it must have been like for real. “I’ll show you,” Ademar commented, smiling.
———-
1 Viveiros de Castro, 2010
References:
Arguedas Ortiz, D. (2019). A gigantesca ‘catedral’ subterrânea que protege Tóquio de inundações. BBC Future. https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/vert-fut-46940113
Bispo, Fábio. (2019). Quarta ponte em Florianópolis depende de iniciativa da bancada federal. ND Mais. https://ndmais.com.br/infraestrutura/quarta-ponte-em-florianopolis-depende-de-iniciativa-da- bancada-federal/
Corredor dos tornados da América do Sul. (2021). Wikipedia. https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corredor_dos_tornados_da_Am%C3%A9rica_do_Sul
Da Rocha, V. (2021). Casas ficam cobertas por dunas em Florianópolis. Folha de São Paulo. https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/cotidiano/2021/07/casas-ficam-cobertas-por-dunas-em- florianopolis.shtml
Gago da Câmara, J. (2019). Açores: As mudanças climáticas também atingem este paraíso no
Atlântico. Sapo. https://visao.sapo.pt/opiniao/a/paralelo-38/2019-01-01-acores-as-mudancas-
climaticas-tambem-atingem-este-paraiso-no-atlantico/
Praia do Morro das Pedras é engolida pelo mar. (2021). Sul de Floripa. https://suldefloripa.com.br/praia-do-morro-das-pedras-e-engolida-pelo-mar/
Prefeitura de Florianópolis & BID. (2017). Relatório Final. Estudo 2 Vulnerabilidade e Riscos Ambientais Florianópolis. Iniciativa Cidades Emergentes e sustentáveis.
Tucunduva P. Cortese, T., Sotto, D. & Hernández Arriagada, C.A. (2020). Territórios frágeis em intempérie – Eventos climáticos extremos em época de pandemia: o caso de Florianópolis. IEA USP. http://www.iea.usp.br/pesquisa/projetos-institucionais/usp-cidades-globais/artigos-digitais/eventos- climaticos-extremos
Valente, E. (2021). Meio Ambiente – Maré alta derruba muros e adentra propriedades no Morro das Pedras. O Avanço do mar destruiu muros. Alamy. https://www.alamy.com/florianpolis-sc-24-05- 2021-meio-ambiente-mar-alta-derruba-muros-e-adentra-propriedades-no-morro-das-pedras-o- avano-do-mar-destruiu-muros-e-image429099419.html
Viveiros de Castro, E. (2010). Prefácio: O recado da mata. In Kopenawa, Davi e Albert, Bruce. A queda do céu, Palavras de um xamã yanomami. Companhia das Letras. pp. 11-41.
Ilha Brasil
(Italian)
Per Xuakti quello era il miglior momento dell’anno. Anche se insegnava a Ilha Brasil da quasi un decennio, le espressioni che scorgeva sui visi dei suoi alunni alla fine della prima lezione di geografia immersiva lo facevano emozionare. Si immedesimava in loro, si chiedeva come avrebbe reagito se avesse potuto vivere quella esperienza formativa a soli quattro anni. A quell’età, Xuakti viveva ancora nei pressi della foresta, o di quello che vi restava, con la sua comunità, a 4 mila chilometri di distanza, nello Xingu.
Non avrebbe mai detto che trent’anni dopo si sarebbe trovato a Florianópolis, a insegnare geografia ai bambini dalle origini così diverse dalle sue. Le mancava la sua terra, ma non aveva potuto rinunciare a una proposta come quella. I bianchi avevano chiamato la sua famiglia e alcuni altri parenti indigeni, quilombola e ribeirinhos, sparsi per il Brasile, e coinvolto alcune colonie di biobot perchè rimettessero in vita in un posto molto lontano nel sud del Brasile, che lei conosceva solo sui dispositivi, ma sapeva che era un posto di bianchi.
Le avevano detto proprio “rimettere in vita”, una cosa molto seria, una missione di salvezza. Lei aveva discusso con i suoi parenti, si erano informati, nessuno si fidava dei bianchi, che hanno un’idea di vita ben diversa dalla loro. Ma in fin dei conti la situazione nello Xingu era diventata insostenibile, per via dell’ultima diga, del costo dei brevetti per i semi e della manutenzione dei pozzi acquiferi. A Florianópolis invece gli investimenti in questa “rimessa in vita” erano enormi, tutti arrivati da fuori; senza parlare della tecnologia che avevano a disposizione, che lassù, a casa sua, non sarebbe mai arrivata. Così hanno finito per accettare, come una sfida per la sopravvivenza della sua comunità, ma anche per la fondazione di una nuova società.
Xuakti era un bravo maestro nello Xingu e così è stato anche a Florianópolis. Era apprezzato, rispettato, riusciva a comunicare con tutti, e aveva imparato velocemente a dominare l’uso dei dispositivi, come se ci fosse nato. Tanti problemi hanno risolto i dispositivi, pensava, quando una bambina si è riaffacciata allo schermo, e piano piano sono tutti tornati all’aula virtuale. Dopo il primo momento di stupore, le domande sulla lezione appena conclusa erano sempre più o meno le stesse: Xuakti, il centro della terra è davvero così caldo? Xuakti, perché dentro alle dune c’è così tanto rumore? Xuakti, perché non riuscivo a prendere la nuvola?
Non che i bambini non conoscessero le risposte, ma l’esperienza immersiva iperreale imprimeva le domande in un modo diverso nelle loro menti che, in connubio con la dimensione corporea, prima li confondeva, per poi renderli più profondamente consapevoli delle risposte. E solo allora si poteva passare alle lezioni successive, quando i bambini, guidati da Xuakti, sperimentavano il mondo come fossero piante, rocce, farfalle, uccelli e balene. Quella di inserire nella griglia didattica del primo anno le lezioni di empatia immersiva era stata un’esigenza di Xuakti e del suo popolo per rimanere nella Riserva, perché non avrebbero accettato di guardare il mondo solo dal punto di vista degli umani, come fanno i bianchi. L’amministrazione ha accettato, ha sviluppato la tecnologia necessaria, e le lezioni sono diventate un successo tale da entrare a far parte del pacchetto turistico HighLux di Ilha Brasil.
Poi, quando i bambini avevano familiarizzato con l’immersione, al secondo anno di geografia, il maestro impartiva la lezione più importante di quel ciclo, sui disastri ambientali estremi. I bambini venivano immersi negli uragani, negli smottamenti di terra, nei terremoti, venivano introdotti nei siti più radioattivi e dentro le ciminiere delle industrie più contaminanti dei tempi passati. C’era bisogno di un’autorizzazione dei genitori per quella lezione.
Era ancora giorno quando Xuakti salutò l’ultima bambina e chiuse lo schermo. Il venerdì soleggiato si insinuò come un ricordo dopo le settimane di piogge appena passate e lo inondò di voglia di uscire. Avrebbe fatto un giro a piedi nel Parco, come chiamava la Riserva Bio-Rigenerativa Ilha Brasil dove viveva insieme a diecimila persone provenienti da tutto il Brasile, ma l’incontro con Ademar all’uscita della capanna lo obbligò a cambiare idea. Dopo essersi scambiati qualche frase percettibile soltanto dai dispositivi, i due uomini salirono sulla macchina, che sembrava aspettarli.
L’auto ha sorvolato il Parco e non appena giunta all’uscita si è immessa in carreggiata. Non avevano l’autorizzazione per volare in città. Il rischio di incidenti a causa delle raffiche di vento che sempre più potentemente colpivano l’isola – collocata nel Corridoio dei Tornado dell’America Latina – era troppo alto. Quindi fuori dal Parco si potevano usare soltanto le elettriche, che fossero a due, tre o quattro ruote. Ademar si stava già preparando per l’incontro e sceglieva tra le tante skin disponibili una che fosse adatta all’occasione. Xuakti faceva finta di non avvertire lo sguardo dell’amico perché preferiva gustarsi il panorama dall’alto, che durava non più di pochi minuti – quanto bastavano per percorrere i circa mille ettari del Parco – durante i quali ammirava i tanti monti del sud dell’isola, quasi tutti riforestati, la laguna di Peri, una delle poche indenne all’urbanizzazione selvaggia dei secoli scorsi, le spiagge di Saquinho e Naufragados, con le sue costruzioni inghiottite dalla sabbia che si inselvatichivano nuovamente, i piedi del Monte Matadeiro, dove 90 anni prima uno smottamento aveva sotterrato la spiaggia di Lagoinha do Leste, una delle più belle dell’isola.
Ma il posto che le piaceva di più, forse perché il più lontano dal suo immaginario Amazzonico, erano le spiagge di Armação e Matadeiro, dove fino a due secoli prima i cacciatori intrappolavano e uccidevano le balene, prima della loro estinzione definitiva nel secolo XXII. Aveva vissuto entrambe le spiagge nel training immersivo appena arrivato a Florianópolis. Erano sfuggite all’urbanizzazione grazie al valore storico che le autorità dell’epoca avevano assegnato loro, ed erano state in gran parte risparmiate dalla frana del Monte, anche se di spiaggia ne restava ben poca. Destino diverso era toccato alla vicina spiaggia di Morro das Pedras, che lentamente soccombeva alla forza oceanica: prima la sabbia, poi le case davanti al mare, poi i negozi dietro alle case, e nessuna diga, nessun muro di contenimento, hanno potuto impedire al mare di salire, mentre le persone continuavano a comprare i terreni, i costruttori a costruire edifici, il governo a concedere permessi.
L’ultimo sguardo è andato alla piccola punta ancora visibile dell’isola del Campeche, un paradiso dell’arte rupestre che, pochi anni dopo essere stata privatizzata e trasformata in campo da golf, è stata abbracciata dal velo inafferrabile delle acque. Erano tutte storie antiche, che Xuakti aveva imparato a interiorizzare negli innumerevoli dibattiti e immersioni formative, e che la avvicinavano a quella terra che ora, insieme ai suoi parenti indigeni, quilombola, ribeirinhos, e alle colonie di biobot, stava aiutando a ricostruire. Se solo avessero iniziato prima a fare quello che dicevano da sempre.
Proprio a questo pensava Xuakti quando le ruote dell’auto hanno toccato terra e Ademar l’ha guardata sfoggiando la skin attentamente scelta: una gatta striata sovrapposta dall’anfibiotico che andava tanto di moda al nord dell’isola, dove si recavano per un incontro con il sindaco di Florianópolis e con i rappresentanti dei Poli Tecnologici che da sempre avevano le proprie sedi da quelle parti. Anche se era bianco, Ademar le piaceva. Era discendente dei popoli originari dell’isola, i manezinhos, i cui antennati erano arrivati a Florianópolis nel secolo XVIII, provenienti dalle Azzorre. L’arcipelago europeo era rimasto famoso per gli incendi che hanno devastato alcune sue isole tra il 2057 e il 2084, obbligando a un esodo di massa la popolazione, che non aveva più accesso all’acqua e ai mezzi di sussistenza, in un’epoca in cui le tecnologie di conversione dell’acqua non erano ancora disponibili – e non sarebbero state disponibili per gran parte del mondo ancora per troppo tempo, compresa la sua gente nel Xingu.
Ademar non si stancava di vantare le sue origini di bisnipote di uno degli ultimi pescatori artigianali del Campeche, l’antico quartiere del sud dell’Isola entrato a far parte del Parco. Serbava un sentimento ambiguo sull’istituzione della Riserva, che spesso considerava una prigione e una bolla fuori dalla realtà. Per Xuakti, i cui popoli avevano dovuto vivere nelle Riserve fin da tempi immemori, pena la loro totale decimazione, l’amico era troppo romantico. Anche i distinguo che faceva sul fatto che la riserva fosse stata creata da un miliardario filantropo suonavano alla maestra di geografia come discorsi che non avevano alcun senso, perché nelle memorie della sua gente, il pubblico e il privato si sono sempre mischiati.
Ma le differenze tra gli amici si fermavano lì. Per lo più, spendevano il loro tempo al Parco, lavorando, giocando a Hunthinker – gioco donato dai Poli Tecnologici agli abitanti del Parco – curando la comunità, passeggiando. A Xuakti piaceva ascoltare le storie di Ademar, sentire la proprietà con cui parlava quando camminavano nel Parco o quando, come ora, dovevano attraversare i quasi 50 km dell’isola per raggiungere la sede del potere locale. Mentre maneggiava il dispositivo per preparare i punti salienti dell’incontro, Ademar si lamentava per l’ennesima volta della mancanza di un trasporto collettivo elettrico sull’isola, che eviterebbe le ore di traffico in macchina, soprattutto ora che la viabilità nell’Autostrada principale era stata deviata per i lavori di costruzione del sesto ponte di connessione con il continente.
Lavori che duravano più di quindici anni, perché il Governo non aveva più fondi, e i privati non avevano più interesse a investire sull’isola, dopo che circa settant’anni prima l’età dell’oro dell’espansione turistica e immobiliare era finita. Chi vorrà più venire in questa selva di cemento, con una discarica fognaria a ogni 500 metri, quasi senza spiagge, e i tornado che arrivano un giorno sì e l’altro pure, si chiedevano tutti.
Fu allora che Jacob Jacob, nipote dell’omonimo magnate che rese popolare i viaggi spaziali, approfittò del crollo del mercato immobiliare soprattutto al sud dell’isola – che aveva resistito fino alla fine del XX secolo all’urbanizzazione predatoria -, e propose al governo un affare irripetibile: avrebbe comprato la concessione di 200 anni di quello che restava delle terre pubbliche del sud dell’Isola, si sarebbe accordato con i privati che vi restavano, e avrebbe costruito una gigantesca Riserva di Bio-Rigenerazione Ambientale. Nessun investimento avrebbe generato una valorizzazione così importante, assicurò Jacob, perché Ilha Brasil – il nome scelto per il parco – costruiva vite, rigenerava sistemi.
Lo slogan si rivelò veritiero. Il progetto consisteva nella realizzazione di un villaggio della rigenerabilità, un territorio di preservazione ambientale e ricolonizzazione, che puntava a ricostruire le condizioni naturali dell’isola e la sua biodiversità. Per riuscire nell’intento, il team di Jacob ha raccolto analisi e pareri di scienziati, umanisti, esperti in rigenerabilità e anche studiosi delle vecchie correnti della sostenibilità. Ha contato sui pareri dei bot sviluppati con gli algoritmi più avanzati. La conclusione comune convergeva sulla necessità di – nelle parole del bot-47235 che ha redatto il parere finale- “applicare le tecnologie più avanzate e avvalersi di sistemi culturali funzionali a stabilire una relazione attenta e di cura con la natura mitica delle cose per far emergere finalmente il mondo come plenum animico che è sempre stato”.
Il parere è stato accolto da tutti gli esperti e il team di Jacob si è impegnato nel processo di selezione in tutto il Brasile, per raccogliere l’adesione di persone e piccole comunità che rispettassero i criteri stabiliti dal parere finale. Centinaia di migliaia di persone sono state valutate, e diecimila sono state selezionate. Il loro ruolo era quello di applicare la propria conoscenza nella gestione e bi-relazionalità con boschi, foreste, mangues, fiumi, ma anche in medicine tradizionali, sciamanesimo, culinaria rigenerativa, esplorazione tecnologica, difesa, biogenetica e biorobotica, e altre competenze che sarebbero servite a creare e far fiorire la riserva, da tutti i punti di vista.
Alla fine della selezione, sono stati scelti novemila tra persone indigene, ribeirinhos, quilombolas appartenenti a piccole comunità nel nord e nordest del Brasile, mentre l’altro migliaio erano bianchi provenienti da altre regioni del Brasile e da altre parti del mondo. L’investitore ha affidato il management a un suo gruppo di fidati, e a seguito dell’inaugurazione del Parco, nel 2180, non vi ha fatto più ritorno. È deceduto pochi mesi dopo, lasciando il suo progetto in eredità condivisa tra la figlia e un bot del suo cerchio stretto.
Poco ha avuto a che fare il potere pubblico con il Parco. L’intervento dello Stato si è limitato alla concessione di licenze e permessi, agli espropri, all’autorizzazione per l’accesso ad alcune banche genetiche, e all’incentivo alle migrazioni interne e ripopolamenti. Una volta completato, il parco era completamente autosufficiente. Generava e distribuiva energia, che vendeva anche a quegli abitanti della città sprovvisti di un proprio microsistema di generazione. Contava su un proprio sistema educativo, con scuole e università, e aveva un’economia basata sulla biorobotica e sul turismo di immersione, settori altamente tecnologici in cui Jacob aveva un vantaggio competitivo grazie alle attività di suo nonno, e che attraevano una nicchia di consumatori esigenti e facoltosi. Per aiutare a convincere l’amministrazione della città a chiudere l’accordo per la realizzazione del Parco, Jacob si è impegnato a costruire una linea di conversione e rifornimento di acqua potabile gratuita, grazie alla nuova tecnologia che stava sviluppando e che voleva testare a Florianópolis.
Dopo circa un’ora di viaggio, spesa guardando un metamentario appena divulgato, Ademar e Xuakti erano arrivati a metà del cammino, nell’antico centro storico di Florianópolis, che conservava in parte l’architettura coloniale del secolo XVII, in parte i suoi ologrammi. Dei tre vecchi ponti costruiti tra gli anni ’20 e gli anni ’90 del Ventesimo secolo e che hanno aperto l’isola al continente, ne restavano soltanto due operativi, dopo importanti lavori di rinforzamento delle basi, mentre il terzo e più antico, Ponte Hercílio Luz, veniva utilizzato solo come punto di atterraggio del turismo di immersione – un’idea che il vecchio Jacob aveva fatto sottoscrivere dal governo locale.
Il traffico era intenso ma avevano tempo, ed entrambi preferivano godere la tranquillità dell’auto all’agilità degli altri veicoli elettrici. Il viaggio fino a Canasvieiras, estremo nord dell’Isola, sarebbe durato ancora un’altra ora. Superato il centro, a Xuakti piaceva disconnettersi per guardare il paesaggio, caratterizzato da una distesa interminabile di grattacieli, costruzioni biorobotiche e impianti energetici. I Poli Tecnologici erano il fiore all’occhiello degli investitori fin dai tempi remoti, quando furono concepiti come distretti dell’innovazione verso la fine del Secolo XX. Lì le raffiche di vento e le inondazioni non arrivavano con la stessa potenza distruttiva con cui giungevano nel sud dell’isola, ma i bot decontraenti non erano ancora riusciti a espellere dalle acque della baia tutto l’inquinamento che vi si era depositato in secoli di insediamento urbano e tecnologico. A Xuakti vennero in mente i giochi immersivi iperreali di acqua, che aveva fatto soprattutto all’inizio della sua permanenza sull’isola. Era bello giocare con le onde. Chissà, pensò, come sarà stato farlo per davvero. “Te lo farò vedere”, commentò Ademar, sorridendo.
Thais Palermo Buti
Introduction
Ort9 is an urban garden and public park located in Casal Brunori, a residential neighborhood in the outskirts of Rome. Before being turned into a park, the space was used as a landfill. This text tells the process that the local actors (NGO and neighborhood committee) engaged to recover a neglected urban public space and to give it back to the community.
Parco Ort9: place, characteristics, and actors involved
The initiative is implemented in the residential neighborhood Casal Brunori, in the outskirts of Rome, Italy1. Its institutional promoters are the NGO Vivere In… and the Neighborhood Committee.
The NGO was born in 2006, starting from the initiative of a group of friends who decided to commit themselves to enhance the neighborhood. As reported in a 2018 news story on Repubblica website: “From the cleaning of the green areas to the parties organized to fill the absence of moments of socialization, over the years they have created initiatives to mend the social fabric. In the neighborhood there is a lack of meeting places and while the elderly suffer from the lack of services, families move with their car to other areas of the city, in search of spaces for free time.
Sergio Albani, founding member of the association, had been looking hopefully at one of the large green fields of Casal Brunori, reduced to a landfill, since 2006: among the tall grass there were refrigerators, televisions, even safes abandoned after the thefts. Albani dreamed that instead of decay there were gardens and the Ort9 park is dedicated to him, who disappeared before seeing the idea of him become reality” (De Ghantuz, 2018).
1 The district extends immediately outside the Grande Raccordo Anulare to the south and is between via Pontina and via Cristoforo Colombo. The total inhabitants are 4,361 and the commercial activities around 50.
The process for the creation of the urban gardens and the public park was slow and gradual. Formally, it began with the sending by Vivere In to the Municipality of Rome, in 2005, of a draft of an architectural project, proposing the creation of the gardens in the space then occupied by the landfill. But it was only in 2015 that the Municipality, accepting a proposal sent by the Council of Culture of the 9th district of Rome, agreed to participate in the Sidig-med European project, which made it possible to obtain the necessary funds for the start of the works in the area, 12,000 square meters. Vivere In… NGO was the operational promoter of the project, and this association was entrusted with the management of the Ort9-Sergio Albani Park in February 2017.
Currently, Ort9 is a public park with 107 individual urban garden plots, in addition to shared plots. The park has an automated irrigation system through driplines, shared mechanical and manual tools, as well as public restrooms, barbecues, and indoor or outdoor socializing areas. The park is always open and it is considered a European Best Practice in urban regeneration (Parco Ort9, n.d.).
1 Ort9 Sergio Albani urban garden. www.viverein.org
The role of the citizenship and the local authorities
The creation of the park would not have been possible without the support of the local authorities, specifically the 9th District, which gave Vivere In NGO the concession for the management of the space, also entrusting the Association with the cleaning of the green area surrounding – service for which the NGO gets no compensation.
Other actors involved are the Council of Culture of the 9th District of Rome, the Local Health Agency (ASL), which uses part of the shared lots for the treatment of people with mental illness or former drug addicts, and some public schools in the neighborhood, which use the plots for practical educational workshops. The Council of Culture of the Rome 9th District played a crucial role especially in the launch of the initiative (see point “timeline”).
But the main actors of the whole process are the inhabitants of the neighborhood, who over the years have pursued a common project. As declared by the President of Vivere In, Filippo Cioffi, in an interview to Urlo Web, “these gardens are not the ultimate goal, but the tool to recapture the territory and enhance it. They, even if individually managed, allow people to share a common idea and the use of the spaces allows the neighborhood to be redeveloped”. Cioffi also recalled the disappearance of prostitution phenomena, in addition to the evident arrangement of the area, previously hosting an open-air landfill that the citizens themselves have reclaimed. “To speed up a too slow bureaucracy – continued Cioffi – we ourselves took away the abandoned refrigerators and had the land analyzed, two indispensable factors to be able to start the gardens” (Savelli, 2017).
The timeline and the effects of the initiative
2006 – Vivere In NGO presents a draft proposal for the accommodation of the area to the Municipal
Administration.
2015 – the Council of Culture of the 9th District presents to the Municipality of Rome, in collaboration with Vivere In and with the involvement of the Casal Brunori District Committee, a project of the Constitution of the “ORT9” Committee of the District IX, to “actively promote a network of associations present in the area, coordinated by the Deputy Presidency of the District IX, as a technical-administrative reference point, functional to the realization of future projects of urban social gardens in urban and peri-urban areas of the Municipality of Rome” (STIFINI, 2015).
The goal was to actively collaborate in the “realization of the ORT9 Pilot Urban Garden of the 9th District, as a model of excellence for the city of Rome, developed as part of the international project 4
SIDIG-MED, financed by the European Commission, with the aim of developing a model of good governance of urban and peri-urban agrarian/agricultural areas in the Mediterranean, the promotion of social and intercultural dialogue in and between the 4 urban realities involved: city of Rome (Italy), Barcelona (Spain), Mahdia (Tunisia) and Al – Balgua (Jordan)” (STIFINI, 2015).
The 2015 proposal of the Council of Culture to the Municipality of Rome was, in effect, an invitation to participate in the EU tender which would have allowed, subsequently, to obtain the necessary funds for the start of the works.
2016 – the reclamation of the area begins
2017 – inauguration of the urban garden (individual and shared plots)
2021 – expansion of the garden and creation of other facilities (plots for wheelchair users and people with visual impairments; lighting; barbecue area; squares)
The beneficiaries of the initiative
The beneficiaries of the park is the population of Casal Brunori neighborhood in general, who can access a public park that is always open, and more specifically the 110 families assigned to individual urban gardens (originally 107 families and since 2021, 3 families of wheelchair users). School pupils and people subjected to health treatment who use shared gardens are also direct beneficiaries.
The main objectives and values of the initiative
The aspirations with the creation of the park can be summarized in the sentence expressed by the District Committee in its presentation, and which is based on the creation of value for the whole territory: “to bring an example of ‘being together’, a rediscovered feeling of sharing, a way to regain possession of the territory, an area previously abandoned and returned to people, a rediscovered scent of beauty” (Il parco, 2020).
In concrete terms, the goals, which have been achieved, are to recover about 12km2 of public space that has become an illegal landfill to return it to the community.
Limits of the initiative
According to Filippo Cioffi, President of Vivere In, the institutional limits have arisen from the distrust of the Municipal Administration to formally allocate areas to social urban gardens even if regulated by the Master Plan in its Articles 75 and 85.
The physical limits are linked to the absence of specific funds for recovery, cleaning and executive planning of the community garden system. In the absence of a precise policy, the practice is to occupy the areas and self-finance its use, which creates uneven and non-homogeneous situations, instead of where the ideal situation of programming a governance model, an essential element for the correct management of spaces and the community.
A critical point mentioned by Mr. Cioffi is that the demand for urban gardens is much higher than the supply. Annual waivers between 10/15% fail to meet the continuing demand for assignments, which have exceeded 100% and continue to grow.
How the initiative engages with climate
(does it tackle mitigation, adaptation, both or other dimensions of climate change?)
From all the testimonies I have heard, and also from the interactions I have had with the people responsible for the care of the Park and the projects carried out by Vivere In NGO, I did not seem to glimpse, in the narratives, a connection between the park or only between urban gardens and initiatives to mitigate or adapt to climate change. On the part of public institutions and promoters of the initiative, there is a call for environmental sustainability, urban regeneration and commons.
The main dimensions that emerge in the stories, as positive points and reasons for the success of the initiative (which has won several prizes as a good practice of urban regeneration), are those relating to the sociality that the Park provides, and to the recovery of contact with nature, as well as the aspects of decorum of the urban space, removed from neglect to be usable again by the citizens of the neighborhood. Further positive effects of urban gardens are related to health and education, due to the partnerships with the Local Health Agency and with some schools.
Therefore, the connection between climate change and the Park can only be made in the context of analysis and interpretation, but it does not seem to emerge from the third sector organizations and from the local authorities involved or from the direct beneficiaries. The reason for this deviation, in my opinion, is that climate change is still seen as a distant concept for most people, especially those who live in urban areas not particularly prone to extreme events. Thus the same local authorities and 6
grassroots organizations of the territory do not seem to conceptually include urban regeneration initiatives focused on the creation or recovery of green areas in the spectrum of measures to mitigate climate change.
Possible broader changes thanks to the initiative
As Filippo Cioffi explains, “the experience in the management of the Ort9-Sergio Albani Park and the governance model adopted by the Vivere In NGO was recognized as a European good practice in the panel ‘Resilient urban and peri-urban agriculture’ and is now shared, through the Ru:rban EU projects. The NGO participates of several platforms and projects and is a reference point in the community”.
The governance model could be replicated, but it could be constraint by the limits and characteristics of each local community. For sure many inhabitants of Casal Brunori have changed the way to interact with their territory and among each other. The quality of their lives has improved since they have the park and the urban gardens. So I suppose that even if the main promoter actor, Vivere In NGO, suspended its activities, it would leave a more engaged community. Even if the engagement is directly related to climate change, to retake contact with the own territory through participatory activities, even to reach what could appear like small goals (such as an urban garden), could contribute, in time, to create long-term awareness about climate change and its challenges.
Potential replicability in other settings
Urban gardens are an expanding reality in many large European cities and other continents. It is certainly a facility that can be replicated, as there are many residual spaces in the suburbs that could be converted into self-managed green areas for use by the community, which could host individual or shared garden plots.
However, there is a crucial aspect in the creation and management of urban gardens, which is linked to the ownership of the land. While in Rome most of the urban gardens are located on communal lands, the same does not necessarily occur in other cities, and in other countries.
To stay in European territory, in England, it is normal that groups of people or basic organizations interested in creating an urban garden, must negotiate with private individuals, with whom to stipulate an adequate contract (ie allotment, license, lease) in order to create the garden and be adequately
protected from a legal point of view (Leases, 2020).
Rome is perhaps a city particularly full of abandoned public places which, with the stubbornness of the grassroots communities, a lot of patience and a bit of luck in identifying and maintaining dialogue with the institutional interlocutor, can be recovered and reintroduced for the benefit of community.
The first challenge, in general, is to find the land (which includes the analysis of practical issues related to the slope, the sun, the presence of water, etc.). Then there are the legal aspects of its management. Not to mention the need to analyze all aspects related to the community’s relationship with space. If we are talking about a regulated space (ie not an occupation), it will probably be necessary to set up a legal entity to manage it. The cohesion of the community and its ability to know how to deal with obstacles, to know how to dialogue with local authorities and other stakeholders in the area, is certainly a fundamental question when thinking about the replicability of an urban garden (Da Luz, 2020).
We can find still other differences in urban garden management in a metropolis such as São Paulo, Brazil, a country that presents enormous problems related to land ownership and management, and where family farming and small farmers are relegated to the second category in terms of investment in agriculture and of value perception. One great challenge is to rethink new systems of agricultural production, distribution and consumption, starting from the experiences of urban and peri-urban agriculture that have been taking place for years in the outskirts of the city.
The experience of San Paolo is different from that of Rome, where the growers of urban gardens – normally organized in non-profit associations – are not allowed to sell the crops. Thus, in Rome it remains an activity linked to self-consumption and the urban garden is conceived more like social innovation and urban/environmental regeneration activities rather than a way to overturn production systems.
There are several vulnerable areas in São Paolo where, through urban gardens, a process of recovery of green areas has been triggered, in a process that sees the suburbs at the forefront both in the production of food and in environmental preservation. But in São Paulo there are huge problems with access to land, water and an optimal logistics system for distribution.
An interesting aspect in the experiences of urban agriculture in São Paulo, reported by Fernando de Mello Franco, director of URBEM, is that due to the high cost of land, production must find underused, residual urban spaces. Areas of abandoned oil pipelines and electrical systems, industrial warehouses, empty parking lots, floors of large buildings, re-signify the residues of production and consumption of the city (De Mello, 2020).
In San Paolo as in Rome, the new dynamics bring back the old debate on the dichotomies between nature and culture, which today takes on the contours of the differentiations between countryside and city, between urban and rural, which are increasingly blurred.
Note about consensus: I declare that the President of Vivere IN NGO, Mr. Filippo Cioffi, gave me permission to publish the interview he granted me.
References:
Casal Brunori, gli orti urbani diventano un parco: “I lavori sono già partiti”. (2021, February 16). Roma Today. https://www.romatoday.it/zone/eur/spinaceto/orti-urbani-casal-brunori-parco-ort9- trasformazione.html
Da Luz Ferreira, Jaqueline (Coord.) (2020, November). Mais perto do que se imagina: os desafios da produção de alimentos na metrópole de São Paulo. Instituto Escolhas. São Paulo.
De Ghantuz Cubbe, Marina. (2018, September 05). Viaggio nei quartieri, Casal Brunori: dove c’era una discarica adesso c’è l’orto collettivo. https://roma.repubblica.it/cronaca/2018/09/05/news/dove_c_era_una_discarica_adesso_c_e_l_orto_ collettivo-300883075/
De Mello Franco, Fernando. (2020, November 27). Seminario Desafios Politicas Publicas Agricultura Urbana e Periurbana. Folha de São Paulo, Instituto Escolhas, e URBEM. Evento virtual. https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/seminariosfolha/2020/11/producao-local-e-capaz-de-abastecer-sao- paulo-afirmam-debatedores.shtml
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Grilli, F. (2018, May 03). Casal Brunori, gli orti solidali conquistano tutti: vinto anche il Best Practice Award 2018. Roma Today. https://www.romatoday.it/zone/eur/orti-urbani-casal-brunori- best-practice-award.html
Il parco ad ORTI di Casal Brunori…un VALORE per tutto il territorio. (2020, February 19). Casal Brunori. https://www.casalbrunori.org/aree-verdi/il-parco-ad-orti-di-casal-brunori-un-valore-per- tutto-il-territorio/
Leases and Licences; Negotiating Land. Community Land. (2020, October). Advisory Service Cymru. GardeniserPro. Green House Social Farms&Gardens.
Orto Inclusivo. (2020, December 8). Vivere In. https://www.viverein.org/sezioni/progetti/orto- inclusivo/
Parco Ort9 – Sergio Albani Casal Brunori. (n.d). Gardeneiser. https://gardeniser.eu/en/urban- garden/parco-ort9-sergio-albani-casal-brunori
PRG – Piano Regolatore Generale – Artt.75. e 85. Nuova Infrastruttura Cartografica (NIC). https://www.comune.roma.it/TERRITORIO/nic-gwt/
Savelli, Serena. (2017, September 21). Gli orti urbani di Casal Brunori diventano realtà. Urlo Web. https://urloweb.com/municipi/municipio-ix/gli-orti-urbani-di-casal-brunori-diventano-realta/
Stifini, Andrea. (2015, September). Progetto Ort9. Consulta della Cultura del Municipio Roma IX EUR. Cultura IX. http://www.cultura9.it/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/ORT9.pdf .
Abdelhafid Jabri
Abstract: This is a speculative flash story happening in 2100 AD in Saidia[1], a coastal city in the Northeast of Morocco. It is about the effects of the sea level rise on the region and on the local people in case the planet’s temperature goes up to four degrees celcius.
As a result of the sea level rise along the Moroccan coastlines to almost nine meters high, several coastal cities began to submerge. The economy of the country was at an alarming stage because tourism was heavily affected by this phenomenon which spared neither the rich nor the poor. Most experts thought that it was too late to find workable quick fixes since even developed countries were unable to face the crawling of the sea. One of the affected cities by this phenomenon is Saidia. Houses, hotels, and all administrative and leisure sites were beginning to go under water. Electric power plants had to shut down as drainage efforts collapsed in the face of this environmental crisis. This pushed local people to retreat to less endangered places or to neighboring cities like Berkane, Ahfir and Oujda.
Omar was one of the boys living in Saidia. He was a middle-school student in Charif Idrissi School. His family used to run a kiosk in the Cornice. Their house was situated two or three kilometers off the beach. However, the sea water had not only invaded their kiosk but had also surrounded the vicinity of their house as well as the antique Casbah whose walls were noticeably affected.[2] The soil no longer absorbed the water because many hectares of water-loving trees had been removed in the early 2000s for construction purposes by multinational companies. When Omar’s father asked the authorities about compensation, they told him that only families with a house insurance against catastrophes would be compensated.
In the early afternoon of that cold, rainy winter, Omar’s family packed their luggage and joined the long queue of families to quit Saidia on buses parked in an elevated area. The bus took a shortcut toward the crossroad of Berkane and Oujda. As soon as it reached the top of a hill, Omar jumped out of his seat to get the last view of Saidia from the rear window. He saw a flat light blue line of the sea stretching symmetrically and gracefully to the horizon from the Algerian frontiers on his right to the Spanish islands adjacent to Ras El Ma on his left. Water had already moved forward to the majority of the city’s surface, and it was almost deserted except for police patrolling zodiacs.
“Come back to your seat, son!” ordered his father.
“I will, dad. I just want to have a last glance at my birthplace,” said Omar wanderingly. “When are we going to see it again?” he then asked.
“God only knows, son” replied his clueless father.
Since that day, Saidia was declared an afflicted city and its beach became no more than an abandoned landscape. Ironically, it returned to the times when birds and fish were the only native inhabitants. As for Omar and his family, the aftermath of that natural disaster greatly touched their wellbeing. Omar could hardly find a school to pursue his studies and his father could not find a job. The only revenue was the small financial aid provided by the government to people who were in the same situation. There were many promises to find lasting solutions to this problem, but none was kept.
After years of hardship, Omar succeeded in his studies and had a scholarship to study landscaping in Europe. After a successful journey, he became a landscaper, a specialty which he considered as his favorite hobby. The first thing he did upon graduation was to get a loan and start a small landscape company. However, because his childhood memories of Saidia never left him, he applied for a call for projects funded by Morocco to rebuild the natural landscape of that afflicted city. To his joy, the proposal was selected, and his dream was made true: at last, he could do something for his homeplace.
“Father, I have finally achieved my dream, our common dream… I can now be an active member in the promotion of this afflicted land,” he said beside his father’s tomb.
[1] Saidia is situated at the Mediterranean Sea, Northward from Berkane city and Westward from the Moroccan-Algerian border.
[2] Being part of the local heritage, the ‘Casbah’ is an old fortress built by the Moroccan Sultan Hassan 1st in 1883 AD.
Made Dewi Suastini
2200 is a start for all. Global warming is happening faster than all people can imagine. Sea level rise is happening faster and sinking small islands around the world and Denpasar is one of them and it has happened in the previous 100 years. Sea level rise is a formidable threat. Everything was predictable although not quite precisely because no one knew how fast the destruction would come. There was one big initiative that saved the coastal population of Bali at that time, namely the creation of a floating city and that was realized swiftly by the government and completely changed the condition of Denpasar City in 2200. Its appearance is quite modern with a shape consisting of a collection of triangular to hexagonal platforms, this city is tough designed for Resistant to natural disasters such as floods, tsunamis and hurricanes. A city on the water that becomes the permanent residence of hundreds of thousands of people. Climate Change Preparedness that has been designed far from the 20th century has brought this city is save from the apocalypse.
This floating infrastructure provides everything human needs from clean water obtained from the discovery of seawater desalination technology in real time, plant and animal food sources from biotechnology, modern waste treatment channels that are efficiently integrated, clothing needs, business development, to places where people can live. gathering place on a large scale. People slowly began to adapt to the new environment. Rising sea levels cause coastal cities such as Denpasar to face unique demographic, environmental, economic, social and spatial challenges. Through these complex changes, it is possible for humans, nature, and technology to coexist forever. Denpasar researchers who collaborated with international researchers in 2200 are also getting crazy in developing technology. A great project is being developed from the early 2200 that is to free humanity from all kinds of misery. This project will be the largest project created by human hands based on the word Utopia World. This is the beginning of a big step.
People live their lives normally because the creation of a lifelike environmental design makes it easy for people to adapt. The land in the floating city they stepped on was no different from the land on the original island. Life goes on as usual. Those with families will live together while some people decide to live alone and determine their freedom. Government and society are more organized. The political system is still running which brings dynamics among the people but is still controlled through the opposition parties. Everything seems to be going so well even though when we look deeper and deeper, human intentions to beat each other always create upheavals. No white is truly white, there will always be imperfections. There are always people who are against and they are in the opposition team which also plays a role in regulating the running of the government. Some groups still think that they cannot achieve happiness without winning something for themselves.
Everything starts with the intention of fulfilling human happiness. So far, human life basically has 5 levels of happiness or what is commonly called the pyramid of happiness which is taken from the perspective of A.H Maslow, namely physiological/life/body needs, security needs, love needs/the need to be a part, self-esteem needs and the last need for self-actualization. Utopia is a perfect life depicted by humans. A life without suffering, without lack, full of equality, there is only abundance and happiness similar to heaven which is called in religions. Since the beginning, time after time, humans have always pursued happiness. In theory, this happiness will be achieved if the conditions are met. Starting from physical needs, security, feeling loved and recognized, to self-existence. If one of these five basic needs has not been met, it will be difficult for humans to enjoy true happiness.
Some of these elements of happiness have been fulfilled long ago when humans were first able to protect themselves from the attacks of wild animals in the past to the time when everything could be easily obtained in one hand. Back in the 21st century, Denpasar is a busy city with a very plural population. The hustle and bustle of people working and the activities of the central government are held in working weeks. There is always a lot of electricity continuously on for 24 hours in Denpasar. Mixing of cultures often occurs in densely populated areas, while in suburban and periphery areas it occurs less frequently, people will tend to be more attached to their local culture. Further examining the socio-cultural conditions in Denpasar, initially the residents of Denpasar and various areas in Bali were immigrants from Taiwan through Maritime Southeast Asia around 2000 BC while Balinese culture was strongly influenced by Indian, Chinese, and especially Hindu cultures. The culture began around the 1st century AD. Ten centuries later, nine Hindu sects began to spread, namely the Pasupata Sect, Bhairawa Sect, Shiva Shidanta Sect, Vaishnava Sect, Bodha Sect, Brahma Sect, Resi Sect, Sora Sect, and Ganapatya Sect.
The culture of the Denpasar population in 2200 was much different from the previous 200 years. Conditions that require them to always coexist with technology have made their belief in religion even more faded. Some people who still carry on their traditions, whether they are Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, Christian, or Confucian, they try to make alternative prayers where the media and location get updated versions of adjustments. In general, they have a building or prayer hall together as a sacred space and a solemn place for worship measuring 14 x 8 meters, equipped with several equipment and media used. In addition, they also install religious attributes in their homes, indicating their identity. There is a lot of lost culture and it all comes down to relevance. The more relevant the religious values, the stronger people will defend them from time to time. Despite thousands of years, the people of Denpasar have been very attached to the belief in God and the culture of worship.
On the other hand, the other biggest cause of change that shapes everything that happens in 2200 is a global agreement. The big scenario of the World Economic Forum to reset world civilization with the momentum of a pandemic through The Great Reset which was held in June 2012, almost 2 centuries ago. This organization is the same non-governmental organization that initiated the concept of The Fourth Industrial Revolution in 2011 and contains many of the most influential people and companies that run the world economy or more simply the world-class capitalists who run the wheels of civilization from this world. Agree or disagree, human civilization is always determined by the leaders of superpower countries and world capitalists who are already planning to research many sectors in the world ranging from economic, social, geopolitical, environmental, technology, business, industrial, and the last is individual reset. From this point, it starts to be rearranged how this new human world adapts more quickly to technology that is more friendly to nature because the next threat that has been expected to be more severe than a pandemic and global warming in the 21st century is a capitalist system that is more human-centric, not only profitable. power holders only.
2050 marks the beginning of a time of great change after people agreed to sit down together and agree on a pact whether it would end forever for good or otherwise. After that, the future of Denpasar City began to change starting with a more efficient food system through biotechnology which can anticipate crop failures due to increasingly unfriendly climatic conditions. A more open and transparent economic system through block chain technology which reduces the corrupt system because of its openness. With the opening of a new government system that is more transparent, it will provide new hope for equality and justice for every people in need. The new regulations in the digital world are followed by the residents of Denpasar where every human who enters this era requires a digital ID so that anyone who maneuvers in cyberspace is no longer anonymous so that it will greatly reduce the crime rate. The big deal brought Denpasar in a good direction because division, power struggles, and power have always been human nature since ancient times when their condition was improving. So that humans have been complacent for the last hundreds of years only care about satisfying their respective interests and egos. Pretending not to hear that this condition is getting worse.
Global warming as a disaster and the cause of the earth’s apocalypse has succeeded in becoming a turning point to unite mankind which is similar to the post-war scenario in the 20th century. From there, humans have hope and do not end up in a dystopia scenario because of the natural selection process that can reset our technology back to the stone age. Finally, the city of Denpasar and other cities that were able to survive continued to advance in the Utopia stage in the next few centuries until in 2200. This journey to become a Utopia world is the greatest choice because this can be achieved if humans agree on a common goal. There is no difference between social status, economy, culture, maybe even religion. Because without equality and a common goal, Utopian conditions will never occur forever in the lifetime of mankind.
Continuing the massive project that is being worked on and implemented in the city of Denpasar where all aspects will be controlled by AI. The government system is no longer run by human interests anymore but is entrusted with control of an AI computing system that is mutually agreed upon to regulate the course of a new civilization system programmed based on the principles of humanism that adheres to the principles that exist in this universe which has been proven to work harmoniously even for millions of years. The last thing to emphasize is that without humans, this earth will still be fine. That’s the difference between human-made and god-made systems, between mortal and immortal because the long history of humankind has proven to have never been successful in managing this world since humans held civilization on earth. It always ends in the destruction of each other even though humans have undergone various types of systems ranging from imperial, socialist, liberal, to democracy during the abstract human will with ego and desire as the center of its control, which is always filled with authoritarianism, power supremacy, and dynasties. political. Therefore, the government system implemented by AI will be much more relevant because it is unmotivated, impartial, and fair even to every living creature on this earth.
The 2200s should be a better time than ever. However, when all humanity agreed to unite, it would mark a new, terrifying era. At this time technology has provided everything for human needs. Thanks to nuclear fusion that provides unlimited energy to anyone who needs it for free. In this Utopia era, energy is produced very easily, cheaply, and unlimitedly. Just because of this free energy, everything in the world of Utopia becomes available for free too. Moreover, this place has all been controlled by AI and robotics that automatically produce and provide almost every basic need of mankind from food, health, proper housing, even entertainment. Because everything is very easy to obtain, humans are starting to have no thoughts of doing evil anymore and every human being has started to no longer work to get what he wants because everything is available very easily thanks to the help of AI technology with a very sophisticated quantum computer base that can run the system. in this Utopia world ranging from the economy, transportation, social needs, business, and industry very fairly.This is a time when every human being is considered equal in existence and only focuses on pursuing their own dreams and fantasies. The residents of Denpasar, who in the early 2200s still had several groups attached to religion, then began to disengage from various types of beliefs. They start chasing things as big as they want to achieve. AI has stored the entire database of mankind as well as every object in the world that can be connected to humans and all objects wirelessly, understands all the needs and even worries felt by mankind and immediately provides solutions for them instantly. It all makes humans no longer feel pain and suffering.
In this city too, treatment has been very advanced thanks to Nano technology so that cancer cells are no longer a threat. Even before humans are born, genetics with the potential for cancer can be modified like new again thanks to the help of the much more advanced Crisper technology. Likewise, with physical genetic modification starting from gender, face, hair color, and body posture so that humans can have physical conditions according to their own desires. There is no envy and envy towards other humans just because this gets a proper self-existence in the eyes of society. Because now everyone is equal. The super-advanced cell generation technology allows us to live in a youthful state that would make life and death just an option. No more dying from disease and childbirth. At this time, it is possible to give birth to a baby outside the mother’s womb. All the nutrients have been provided by technology from the embryo to the whole human being. Of course this has been genetically modified to perfection so that there are no more birth or physical defects.
In this Utopia world, Denpasar residents are only busy chasing dreams and imaginations that they have not yet experienced. But again, this sensation is very easy for them to get with the increasingly sophisticated neuroscience technology that makes it possible for every human being to feel whatever sensation he wants in his life. Enough just to consume a substance that will work in our subconscious. They will feel the sensation completely without the need to go through a long process. For example, the sensation of a peak of success, popularity, the sensation of falling in love, and connecting with the most coveted person, even feeling the sensation of being any creature in this world. Limits only as far as the imagination can think. Utopia is similar to the concept of a paradise where humans can no longer be governed by all physical limitations. Advances in quantum physics allow humans to be able to break down and manipulate the blueprints of an atom so that they become able to create various new materials in this universe, which makes humans no longer imprisoned in physical laws that enable them to create their own version of new laws. Until finally able to rewrite the new destiny of life from alpha to omega.
Until one point, the people of Denpasar City no longer even crave a hope in such flawless conditions. When they no longer even know what they want when they are easily fulfilled. Technology was originally created to make life easier and more efficient by speeding up or stopping a process. But after all the processes are taken over by him until there is nothing left for humans, then there is nothing more terrible than a human being who always gets whatever comes to his mind so easily. When they no longer even know what they want because it is easily fulfilled then everything no longer has a value. Because a value appears thanks to a process. The more difficult the process, the higher the value. The more limited a thing is, the more valuable it will be.
Even the people in the city had no idea what hope was in such flawless conditions. How can a person have hope when everything is under his control. Everything is measured, organized, no more spontaneity, no more surprises, and no more fear. When all hope and desire is no longer there, then all that remains are emptiness. Which is even more terrible than going through a long painful process but still has hope. Because that’s basically what makes humans feel alive. It is hopes and desires that are difficult for us to pursue that give us purpose in life, which ultimately makes them envious of human life in the past which was full of emotions and hopes even though they had reached the perfect stage.
An ironic turning point, the people in the city are no longer working hard just to get a bite of food but they don’t know how happy and delicious it is to get a bite of food that is obtained from the results of days of hard work. Maybe they no longer go through labor and delivery for 9 months but they don’t know how happy a mother feels when she first sees the depths of her baby’s eyes right after giving birth. They no longer felt the disease in their perfect body from birth but they did not know how happy a child was born blind to see for the first time. They have a perfect family that is never in need but they don’t know the happy feeling of a father who sees his wife and children laughing while eating together even though he has to take on 2 jobs at once in the day and night. They can live in youth as long as they want but they will never know how much every moment in life means so much in our short and ignorant life of tomorrow. The emotions that humans feel right now are the greatest real gifts. Humans in the past yearned for a Utopian life in the future and humans in the future were envious of human life in the past. So this search for happiness will find no end.
It is the ignorance of the townspeople about tomorrow that makes tomorrow more interesting to live. It’s their current discomfort that keeps them motivated. Suffering is still felt that makes happiness so much more meaningful. And the limited age makes them have more priorities so that every moment in every life becomes much more valuable. All the imperfections that exist in a person’s life now are what make life perfect. So there is no need to live another 200 years because after understanding that, everyone can achieve happiness. But because of human nature that never feels enough and feels capable of doing everything, so that they still feel alive and have a purpose. They create their own new life goals by making a new earth where happiness can still be fought with a hope and suffering with new humans who are still innocent as white as snow and without knowledge from the beginning again. Where happiness cannot be achieved in conditions of lack but also cannot be achieved even in conditions of perfect abundance. Happiness only exists in the condition of being sufficient and grateful. Therefore, these new humans can give a sincere love to their creator because that is the only thing they cannot do. But this time they take care and make sure that not all knowledge is good for consumption. Because someone who is in a state of knowing can never return to a state of not knowing. So there is no need to repeat their mistakes and end up in a reset condition again.
References:
Adnan, A. (2020). ‘Floating Cities from Concept to Creation’. Canada: University of British Columbia
Ardana, I. K. (2018). ‘Balinese Hinduism: Religion, Politics, and Multiculturalism’, International Seminar on Balinese Hinduism, Tradition, and Interreligious Studies
McLeod, S. (2018). ‘Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs’. Seen at January 23th, 2022, < https://canadacollege.edu/dreamers/docs/Maslows-Hierarchy-of-Needs.pdf>
Rahul Sharma
Part One: Journey to the Wastelands
Geolocation: Kanpur, India
Anita
She came after the suns exploded, and as the long winter began. The community elders were stupefied at her appearance: bloodshot-red eyes, spiked green hair, pale skin, brown and lead-coated nails. They knew Komal was different. The matriarchal priests would often chant mantras rooted in the lost-century eras but to no avail. The ayurvedic priests prepared several concoctions stored in glass bottles from the previous century. They brought her voice back. Yet, it sounded more coarse and husky than the other girls.
One fine morning when a glimmer of sunlight pierced through the snowing skies, Komal’s mother, Anita, took a ten-kilometre walk through the wastelands that formed part of river Ganges. On the fringes of the slippery-iced ground, mushroom pods were being neatly stacked up by a man named Bhagwan. He was breathing through a ventilator, donning dark goggles. Bhagwan was an innovator whose early experiments resulted in the regrowth of cauliflowers, carrots, wheat and potatoes. Lack of water meant that rice was still a distant dream. Anita had pinned all hopes for Koma’s cure onto him. In fact, he was a messiah for the villagers and even beyond.
In a quirky, off-handed manner, Bhagwan took Anita into a dingy and lowly lit room with candles. He was saving plant-extracted fuel for the harsher months of the year. Several handmade and previously sourced maps decorated the wall.
“This..”, he exclaimed jubilantly, “…is the future. That is where your daughter must go. In the middle over here. My sources have informed me that special herbs called cacti sea-berries grow here.”
“And will they help treat Komal?”Anita asked anxiously. Bhagwan nodded his head, although with pangs of uncertainty.
“I have researched this for the last decade. There is a slight possibility that my calculations might be wrong, but a traveller from the Global south said those in his region also inferred the same. When the suns came down and sickness began, the soil created a mutant plant from two old herbs that could wither away this strange illness many of us have. Even all of us have it, Anita. We all cough blood at midnight. According to old records, blood coughing was not common.”
A bit perplexed, Anit said, growing impatient, “I think it was always common. And I’ve had it with your tales. Last time I let Komal travel, she came back sicker than usual.”
Bhagwan pacified her and responded, “She was younger and more prone to the effects. Only alone, she can undertake this journey because she is immune to the effects. All of us will die miles before reaching the core. The core where the greatest sun exploded. She is the key to our future. To reverse the damages the elders did in fury. Maybe the rivers might even start flowing if we plant these herbs here, and the snow might go away.”
Teary eyed, Anita retorted, “Stop! Stop with all this blabbering. Many in our village don’t even trust your tales. The snow has been here since dada was born. None of us knew what went on before.”
Bhagwan repeated calmly, “It’s true, we don’t know but must find out sooner than later. Listen, you must let Komal go. She is a smart kid and will navigate her way around. She even survived those three months you were not home, picking wild berries. She can live on them. I remember when my tongue tasted even one of them, I almost found myself close to death. Had it not been for the potions..”
Anita cut him, “Okay, I understand. I know she is special. But as a mother, I am scared. After all, where will she go? And how? She can’t cross the great seas to reach the Wastelands, from the Midlands. Forget even making contact with the Northerners.”
Anita looked at the map while formulating her thoughts. Huge leaps of land submerged in the sea near the Poles and extended all the way near the equator. All of these were called the Great Islands, where the Northerners were rumoured to live in isolated tribes. Some even suggested that most of them were dead. No one in the Midlands had seen any of them before. Meanwhile, the Wastelands were uninhabited and mostly inaccessible creating a large divide between the two regions, currently populated by the last surviving humans. Bhagwan’s bizarre suggestion that only special prodigies like Komal, who had developed a sort of chemical resistance to overcome hazardous terrain of the Wastelands, seemed more like a myth than reality to Anita. But she knew Komal’s days were numbered if she didn’t get a cure in time before her 15th birthday.
Bhagwan shook Anita from her preoccupations, “Listen to me. I will give her a special hazmat suit. One of the travellers from the Tengerinfound it in a bunker.” Anita hesitated but nodded, caught in dire straits.
Tengerin were a series of mountainous terrains, located north of Midlands often ridden with harsher winters. Its survivors camped amidst a hidden labyrinth of caves praying to mutated wolves, while adhering to the old ways of shamanism. Little did even Bhagwan know that there were other unmapped and undiscovered pockets of the world, where wider secrets of humanity’s reincarnation secretly lay. But once he met a man from the Tengerins who travelled south and spoke of actual trees, the ones which existed in old recovered books. Bhagwan’s curiosity and kind mannerisms to outsiders led him to accumulate valuables, treasures and mystic objects from across the globe.
And so it came to be known that Komal’s journey towards the core of their newly established world began at Anita’s behest. It was destined to be a feat, given radically plummeting temperatures and falling skies. Some admired Anita’s selfless decision while others deemed her an unfit and reckless mother. It would only be much later when the herbs would be discovered and brought back by a traveller from the Great Islands, that she would be revered and worshipped. But Komal had a new destiny, and would come back to this part of the world only much later in her life.
Komal
A full snow cycle had passed. Clear, moonlight finally shone light at the edge of the midlands, drenched in white sheets of snow. Removing her hazmat suit, Komal checked her bag for reserves. She pulled out wildberries and stale bread, once packed by her mother one snow cycle ago.
The endless sub-zero temperatures did not deter her confidence. Along the way, the coastal villagers had been kind to her. She was almost at the end of her mission. A week-long boat ride would take her to the Wastelands. She could reach the core of the exploding suns, without feeling its ill effects. Many from her village had died from radiation sickness simply journeying towards the coast. From here on, it got harder and harder.
She opened her sledbag, and removed Bhagwan’s mechanically constructed boat which he had constructed with secretive spare parts assembled from an old nuclear station near their village. It resembled an old Shikara from the mythical land of Kashmir, according to tales and photographs passed on from her great-great grandmother.
Once Komal had finished assembling the boat and set sail, a strange melancholy led her determined heart ashtray. She could feel the water speak to her, in its strange, soulful manner. Through an invisible thread, it dragged the boat with its potent lifeforce, denying its waves to trickle its pieces asunder. Minutes turned into hours which turned into days. Melancholy turned into amazement. The end was near. Her breath was coarser. Her hands were jittery. Her legs did not stop shaking. She saw pieces of volcanic ash subdued within the water. A stranger creature, perhaps a mutant, jumped onto the boat. It half-resembled a wolf but also had fins at its back. A fish-wolf, Komal reckoned. It licked the legs of her hazmat suit. She petted him with delight. Never had she encountered an animal species other than her own.
The pair of them fell asleep only to be awoken by a buzzing sound. The core was near. The deserted area across the muck was a sight for sore eyes. Dilapidated buildings and ruins of a megacity could be seen in the distance. This was similar to the illustrations Komal had seen in her village school. The fish-wolf started barking, signalling to turn away with increasing tension. Komal let him into the water, gesturing that she would come back for him. It was her mission alone at the end.
Komal felt her head swirl as her boat rocked towards the shore of the abandoned city. The old Hindu priests from her village hypothesised that the city kept shifting its location as the core of the earth was constantly moving. Nevertheless, she managed to step foot into it, wearing long black boots carefully designed by Bhagwan. She removed a map from her bag, which would lead her to the herbs. The core was not far, as she could feel her body burning. Her time to complete her mission was limited.
She ran as fast as she could amidst buildings recaptured by nature where green moses grew. Surprisingly, an abundance of wildberries, wheatgrass and strange, new plants had sprung up around the once arid region in the course of the past few decades. Komal stopped running. She removed a plastic bag, and started collecting large samples of the myriad of herbs present all around her. Some resembled small pomegranate seeds while others looked like full grown vegetables. Suddenly, her eyes fell onto the cacti grown near an abandoned banking office.
She walked towards the once functioning banking office, where numerous accountants had toiled themselves away for hours, convincing inhabitants of mutual fund benefits amidst rising disasters. All this before the seasons changed and the suns exploded.
Suddenly, Komal heard a rumbling sound, and found a pair of human beings atop a strange scooter which was running by itself on wheels. Komal had read about this in her history lessons. She didn’t know these still existed. And how come were they here, which was close to impossible? Were they also resistant to radiation? And how on earth would people actually live here?
The scooter came to a jolting halt next to Komal. A girl, probably her age, tried to touch Komal. She lurched away from her, in fear. Walking a few paces, she hid behind a building observing them from afar. She didn’t want her life to end at the behest of other humans, so she thought it would be best to resist.
There was a garden across from her which led to a labyrinth of underground tunnels. She had learned about it in the map as one of the possible spots for cacti which would then produce the sea berries. In the hope of avoiding conflict and finding cacti elsewhere, she sped towards it. Unfortunately, she slipped in the mucky ground and ended up being dragged towards the debris. The sheer speed of the force was making her lose consciousness. She heard faint sounds of a whirling scooter. The scooter manoeuvred and picked her up just in time, averting her fall towards her demise. The last thing she remembered was a weird tingling sensation in her arm.
Epilogue
When tribes from ancient civilisation first encountered each other, there was fear. This fear almost cost Komal her life. Her saviours were the very source of her fear, just like the spot of destruction was the source of mankind’s cure.
The two strangers had erected a tent which would block all radioactive isotopes, and the heat. Inside, it was cold with the help of a generator functioning from geothermal heat.
“I am Tuuli and I come from the northernmost part of the Great Islands,” said Tuuli, speaking in the ancient language of Estonian, extending her arm to Komal.
It sounded gibberish to Komal. Only when Tuuli would draw onto an old book with the help of her father, would Komal start to comprehend her thoughts. Language was a fluid yet inconsistent notion. But soon she understood that the pair of them, father and daughter, had travelled South to collect the same herbs.
She was almost surprised to know that they already utilised the herbs in the region of the Wastelands. They even made radioactive blockers, medicines, food products and liquid soap from the herbs. There was also a way to farm them by replicating the samples elsewhere on earth.
So far, the pair of them, father Andrus and daughter Tuuli, had managed to build a scooter and a boat, but never decided to take the week-long voyage to the Midlands from the Wastelands. This was as far as they had managed to travel. However, it was Andrus’s dream to travel as far as he could, even to Tengrins, and down South into other unknown continents. They believed the world was more than Tengrins, Midlands, Wasteland and the Great Islands.
In the next few days, Tuuli’s father Andrus injected Komal with some radioactive blockers, made from crushing the roots of the cacti berries. Instantly, her hair transformed from spikes to curls, like her mother, while her red eyes turned into regular brown. She regained the haemoglobin in her blood, and her nails turned into a normal shape, simply over the next two days. She observed herself in a side-mirror which she had packed into her sledbag. She realised she had transformed into a new person. She looked like a warrior woman from older tribes, who had her own sense of identity. The scars and trauma from the burning suns evolved and instilled hybridity onto her skin. She was rejuvenated with hope.
High on confidence, Komal had to make a decision. Should she go back East towards her village into the Midlands to share the recipes with her people? Or to travel across the globe to discover new secrets? The second prospect sounded more interesting to her.
Meanwhile, Andrus pinned his hope on the East—to visit the Tengrin mountains, to build himself an armoury, adopt Shamanism and try cave delicacies. A split-decision was necessary. Over the next two weeks, Tuuli and Andrus constructed a new scooter from scratch, using elements scattered across ten sledbags. Once they had finished, they divided their luggage amidst themselves and parted ways.
Komal saw Tuuli shedding a few tears. Perhaps it would be a few years or so, when she would see her father again. Tuuli hugged Andrus tightly. Komal handed all the drawn maps to Andrus which would guide him towards Bhagwan, and her village. Meanwhile, Tuuli had marked maps, taken coordinates of all of their family and friends, as well as planned each leg of their journey back towards the Northern Tribes of the Great Islands.
Rejuvenated and born a new woman, Komal decided to go further North along with Tuuli. The secrets of humanity, and the act of plotting a new map were awaiting the few survivors.
End of Part One
Part Two: Fragmented and Divided Pieces
Geolocation: Tallinn, Estonia
Tuuli
Tuuli had never seen the fish-wolf or even heard about their existence. A snow cycle earlier, Komal had insisted they rescue it from near the shores before embarking on their journey. They named him Igor. He was terribly sick, and had to be given many radioactive blockers. But once they set out towards the Northern Islands, his health improved rapidly. He would effectively catch different species of fish for them. When he was around, food was in abundance. Reluctant at first, Tuuli was glad that Igor was now a part of their group.
The old men around them were sipping on Strellasbier made from the hops, rice and barley grown in the greenhouse of the region. Tuuli observed that Komal donated some cacti sea-berries in exchange for paella, an exquisite cuisine known from centuries ago made from rice.
“Are you drawing diagrams of the greenhouse?” Tuuli asked her.
Komal nodded while speaking in broken Estonian, a language she picked up from Tuuli, “Yes, one day I will bring this back to my people. In my village, our scientist Bhagwan made a mini-greenhouse but it was hardly as effective as this one. The Midlands will also progress like the Great Islands someday.”
Tuuli hugged and reassured her, “Ofcourse, they will.”
Komal retracted, “I feel guilty. For leaving my people.”
Tuuli sympathised and said, “No, it was necessary for you to leave, and learn secrets of the other continents. Only then can you go back and share it with them.” Komal nodded.
After leaving from the warmer shores of Spaña islands, they soon realised that their boat needed quick repairs. They were running out of resources. While they did receive generous food and shelter from Andrus’s friends, none of them had repair tools.
They had to quickly and swiftly make their way up North to Tuuli’s small island. Their travel across the region of the Great Islands, with its great diversity, abundance of culture and cuisine specialities had to wait. Some legends said it once used to be all land, in a continent called Europa. Tuuli laughed at that thought, since the ways of the sea were the only ones known to her. Land was harsh, desolate and required effort.
A few days later, they reached the shores of her village called Tallinna. “There are only five Estonians left in the world. My grandmother used to say that there were millions before the sea came to our land. I don’t know if I believe her. She was always exaggerating.”
Tallinna was one of the very few Estonian islands left in the world, the others being fragments of Saaremaa which were completely uninhabitable. Herein, the cold was dreary compared to Spaña. Komal had never seen the force of wind so quick that it could drag one to the shore if one was not careful. Igor kept getting back into the sea, although he seemed to enjoy it. The air was very fresh, being so far from the nucleus and the Wastelands. Although it was even harder to grow anything naturally. Technology was the tool for this island, fuelled by long expeditions taken by Tuuli and Andrus. The travelling duo has steered the fortune of the place.
“Most of us live indoors except for quarter of the snow-cycle where we breathe fresh” remarked Tuuli, as she gave a walking tour of the remnants of her home island.
A total of five people, including Tuuli and her father, inhabited the greenhouses and homes of Tallinna, which carefully maintained an optimum twenty and four celsius throughout the year. Marlene, a thirty year old woman, was their engineer and construction specialist whereas Eduk, her 7-year old son helped old grandma Eha, in farming. When Eduk was young, Marlene was widowed since her husband drowned in the sea. Grandma Eha lost her family decades ago. The five members formed a close-knit community and sought to develop Tallinna to its optimum potential. Tuuli took Komal by her hand, towards their village’s latest creation.
“A flying machine”, she remarked.
Komal gasped, awestruck at the magnitude of its sheer size that could fit up to 6 people.
“We’ve only been able to fly it across a few islands. But you know why father has gone to the Tengrins? Only to find more parts for this, so we can travel the world with it” remarked Tuuli, with a sense of pride.
Komal jumped with excitement, bewildered and amazed by the thought. Imagine if she came back to her village with a flying machine, wouldn’t Anita be proud? It had been almost a year and a half since she started the expedition. She had turned sixteen today, and had totally forgotten her own birthday. The duo celebrated with leftover baked goods from Spaña.
Marlene
While the children were optimistic and quibbling away about progress and humanity’s future, Marlene was bothered about other aspects. Tallinnas shared a good reputation amongst the other Estonian islands. It even formed a trade link with Spaña, that helped bring progress to both regions. But Dookins and Poolsens, the leftover fragments had intentions of declaring a war on them, in order to pillage their resources and technology. If they would lay hands on their flying machine, it would be used destructively in order to capture all of the Great Islands. The leaders of Dookins and Poolsens were fragile, old men with fragile egos. They had not learned from the past but were likely to repeat the destructive path their ancestors had chosen. To avert a possible crisis, Marlene had constructed barriers along the islands and was bolstering up defence plans in case of possible attacks. She had even constructed radioactive hand-bombs to kill and maim any invaders immediately. However, she wished she never had to use these gruesome measures.
The coming of Komal brought her a slight sense of hope, amidst the most forlorn and desolate ideas that often brimmed her mind. Maybe the little one could convince the Great Islands to not fight amongst themselves like the Midlands once did. It had only brought misery to the place and probably also to Komal’s ancestors.
Once Komal and Tuuli were separated, she approached her cautiously and carefully. Komal jovially spoke about her village, her mother, Anita and engineer, Bhagwan who was akin to God for her people. Smiling, she asked her about history lessons in her classes. Much to Marlene’s surprise, Komal didn’t even know about the war in Midlands. Their lessons only focused on the season changes and the sun explosions. Marlene thought pensively.
Over the next few weeks, Marlene gave her a comprehensive understanding of the history of Midlands, the Great Islands, Tengrins and the Wasteland. After the suns exploded and seasons changed, some survived. Yet, the establishment of colonies took time in all that had prevailed. Marlene taught Komal about the evil generals, the revered messiahs, the bloodthirsty hound soldiers and the desolate common folk amidst the vast stretches of mountains, land and islands. Greed was a repetitive pattern in all of these stories.
Marlene was secretly preparing Komal for a mission. She would become an ambassador of peace in the coming years. Her lessons in the most spoken languages of the Great Islands continued. She took a keen interest in this young girl from Midlands. After all, she did not want the knowledge of her community of five only to be decimated by a thousand from Dookins and Poolsens.
“What if there is greater life beyond the Great Islands? Have you sailed further to the West or the South?”, Komal asked Marlene. She shivered at the thought, clutching at her son, Eduk.
“Many-a-great sailors perished trying to go west and south. The waters are too choppy and dangerous. My husband drowned in his attempt to go west. The winds caught up with my daughter-in-law as she went south.”, she said, with a regretful look.
Komal said, “But what if we were to use the flying machine?”
Marlene had a feeling Komal was right, although she did not want her to leave anytime soon. Somehow, she convinced her to stay and meet the generals of Dookins and Poolsens. Once the situation would be pacified, travelling west or south could become sustainable.
Komal
A few snow cycles later by her 18th birthday, Komal was well versed in all the languages of the Great Islands. She was also well read in history, geography and political sciences. Marlene was her mentor and tutor, and ensured she grasped everything as quickly as possible.
Furthermore, grandma Eha had taught her valuable farming skills. She could not only grow her own food but also create medicinal products from locally sourced herbs. She once prepared cauliflower curry, one of her own recipes, using leftover spices and herbs from her midland village. On the weekends, she would take trips with the Flying Machine along with Tuuli. The two of them were often inseparable, forming a lifelong bond. These two years were one of the happiest in Komal’s life.
Out of the blue and much sooner than Marlene had anticipated, Dookins and Poolsens invaded the Estonian islands. Tallinnas was further away but news of the invasions reached fast amidst them. The greenhouse now housed around fifty refugees. Owing to effective communication systems amidst the islands, no one had died so far. Theor defence system was almost impenetrable, although if their boats would be capsized, their connection to the outside world would be hindered.
“It is time,” Marlene told Komal one morning, “You must go South! West has rougher seas, and would take longer to cross perhaps! South is out hope. Take Tuuli with you! We have enough among us and our greenhouse can sustain everyone of us for over a year. Get help for us to stop the war!”
Komal replied to her, “Are you sure there are people in the South?” Marlene nodded, “There are. I’m certain of it, and perhaps more technologically or advanced. They can help stop this war.” Komal thought pensively, “I feel technology leads to more war. I wish the world could use it the right way.” Marlene hugged Komal.
Tuuli and Marlene spent over an hour crying and laughing, talking, discussing logistics and casually discussing the future. Meanwhile, Komal prepared the engine of the flying machine for a long expedition. Andrus had come back last year with loads of new parts, enough for them to circle around the globe. However, much to Marlene and Tuuli’s dismay, he had gone back with the Tengrins to meditate and become a shaman. Komal missed his technical guidance at times but she was indeed in charge of the flying machine—a vehicle for their future.
Epilogue
Once both of them were ready, Komal geared up the engine as they lifted into the air. Those in the greenhouses waved goodbye to them, as its shutters immediately closed with the flying machine’s exit. The generals of Poolsens and Dookins retreated a few steps, anticipating an attack. Much to their relief, the planes went south.
“Hah—another suicide mission”, remarked the general commanding the Dookins army. However, the general of Poolsens remarked, “Their greenhouse cannot be penetrated. Maybe if we invested in science and not war, we could go further. I think they will reach to the South for help.” The general of Dookins sniggered away, taking a sip of a local flowery sap, which intoxicated him. “Let’s call a truce”, said the Poolsens general. The general of Dookins replied, “What nonsense! Never.” Little did they know this banter would cause their entire army to give up their arms and overthrow the drunk general, little by little.
The commandeering image of two young women in a flying machine, exiting a modern greenhouse generated fear and awe in an army of thousands. Finally, seeds of peace were strewn across the lands of the Great Islands.
Meanwhile, Komal and Tuuli would find new places across the globe starting from the Great Ibiz, the Dragon’s Nectar, the Giant Tree in the South until they would fly westwards to chance upon the largest mass of land: Cherookes, inhabited by very ancient tribes.These two geographers would change the course of history. Little did they know about that, yet.
*The End*
Summary and Reflection of the Exercises
Since the final entries of my research were focused on creative writing, my research exercises were aimed at imagining Estonian society, hundred years from now. They focused on creative brainstorming sessions, character sketches, photographs of villages around Tallinn and interactions with locals. Estonia is a very modern and progressive society, relying heavily on e-communications while promoting organic produce and preserving nature. It is also a sparsely populated country. I wanted to instil these aspects into my final entries while imagining the scenario when the sea levels would drastically rise and people would be forced to function as small, cohesive units on fragmented islands. I also understood that my final creative entries can also form the premise of a larger work if my characters were sketched out effectively.
Meanwhile, I contacted my grandparents and used archives to research more about the geographic region around Kanpur, which is polluting the Ganges and rife with tanneries. Imagining the dreadful scenario in case of climate change and nuclear disasters, a snowy winter although uncommon for the region, would not be a distant dream. The region is abundant with Hindu temples, priests and society functions at a collective level. Adding that culture background to my final submissions was also integral to preserve the current originality of the cities.
Overall, the exercises helped me in character development, storytelling and also in revisiting cultural contexts of the two chosen cities for my final entries.
Dian Indrawati
General
After the 1800s, the grassroots community’s environmental movement is blooming under a new ideology: conservation (Prize, 2022). As the public becomes more aware and concerned about water and its problems, conservation has become a new spirit for the grassroots movement, especially seeking to harvest the rainfall efficiently.
The euphoria of the conservation idea, which resulted in rainwater harvesting through grassroots activities, also occurred in Indonesia. As a result, a people’s movement aimed to keep water as long as possible became popular. One of the primary organizations which promoted this idea is Indonesia Rain Harvesting Movement (GMHI). Next, GMHI resulted in “Saleuwi” and additional rain harvesting movements in Indonesia.
Implemented area of movement
Rainwater harvesting has uncomplicated technology which can be applied in numerous countries, in both developed and developing ones (Velasco-Muñoz, Aznar-Sánchez, Batlles-delaFuente, & Fidelibus, 2019) (Sadia Rahman, Din, Biswas, & Shirazi, 2014) (Dwivedi, Patil, & Karankal, 2013) (Awawdeh, Al-Shraideh, Al-Qudah, & Jaradat, 2012). Along with the scarcity hazard due to intensifying climate, rainwater harvesting has become a favorable option because it can be executed even in communities with low technological and institutional capacity.
After more than a decade, GMHI has spread almost all over Indonesia, even scattered. Recently, this movement has grown to include more than 10 (ten) cities, namely: Sleman, Klaten, Sukoharjo, Purwokerto, Brebes and Semarang (Central Java); Malang and Jombang (East Java); Cimahi (West Java); Padang (West Sumatera); Buton (South East Sulawesi); Ternate (North Maluku); and Manokwari (West Papua).
Promoters and beneficiaries
Dr-Ing. Ir. Agus Maryono, a lecturer from Gadjah Mada University (UGM), became the man behind the Rain Harvesting Movement for Indonesia (GMHI). Even though sporadic, this activity was successfully implemented and developed in more than 25 communities due to rain harvesting technology and allied fields.
GMHI is very beneficial for both users and their environment and downstream area. This community successfully provided clean water for households and reduced the runoff.
People used clean water for drinking water, garden watering, toilet flushing, laundry usage, replenishing domestic pools or spas, car washing, supplying the hot water system, thermal buffers to insulate houses, ventilation for building, and protecting homes from bushfires (Tanks, 2022). In addition, reducing runoff from upstream will defer the amount of water and directly reduce peak discharge downstream.
Climate change engagement
Based on an interview with Dr. Agus Maryono, the founder of GMHI, the project was born because he was concerned about the drainage systems in Indonesia. At that time, Indonesia’s drainage approach mostly drained the water from inundating locations as soon as possible. This concept addressed two significant problems.
First, the downstream area collected large sums of water from the upstream. Therefore, it leads to expensive infrastructures and maintenance, especially for urban areas such as Jakarta, Semarang, Surabaya, and Palembang, because a large amount of water downstream needs high-cost and complex technologies for management. Unfortunately, the Government of the Republic of Indonesia, especially the Ministry of Public Works and Housing, has a limited budget due to drainage system development.
Second, runoff water did not have enough time to infiltrate upstream during the rainy season. This action causes upstream areas to suffer from water scarcity during the dry season.
Furthermore, as Indonesian development increases, multiple factors have decreased water quality both on the surface and sub-surface. People tend to consume clean water provided by the government or private companies instead of using water directly from its sources.
Due to those problems, Dr-Ing. Ir. Agus Maryono introduced a new system called rainwater harvesting. The system has been applied in developed countries, such as the US, Canada, Australia, and Germany, and successfully managed the rainfall and runoff in the river basin.
Along with climate change, when rainfall intensifies, runoff becomes a new monster because of the large amounts of water in the system. This monster haunted every rainfall occurrence and is not explicitly associated with the rainy season. Another problem due to climate change phenomena is that the dry season sometimes becomes more prolonged than usual. Taken together, GMHI provided an excellent wave to manage rainwater carefully.
Therefore, this movement not only deals with drainage systems in normal conditions but is also very engaged with climate change phenomena.
What are the main objectives?
The main objectives of GMHI are reducing the runoff from the minor scale: household and other roof building; and providing clean water for households, as previously mentioned.
What are the main values?
The central values of GMHI are scaling up people’s awareness regarding water treatment and management, especially rainfall, and tackling climate change through simple but reliable actions.
What is the timeline?
GMHI started conceptually in 2005 but first was developed in 2010 at Gadjah Mada University (UGM), Indonesia, especially at Engineering System Building (MST) building at Gadjah Mada University. In 2014, Dr. Agus and his colleagues in the water harvesting community created a WhatsApp group, and by 2018 the first congress of GMHI was held. Lastly, the 4th congress had carried out on 5-6 March 2022.
Source : courtesy Dr-Ing. Agus Maryono, 2022
Figure 1 The #4 congress of GMHI
In 2022, GMHI has more than 25 communities scattered across Indonesia, i.e: Komunitas Sedekah Air Hujan Sleman, Komunitas Banyu Bening Sleman, Komunitas Kandang Hujan Klaten, Komunitas Tahta Air Langit Jakarta, Komunitas Air Hujan Jombang, Komunitas Air Hujan Buton, Komunitas Air Hujan Padang, Komunitas Air Makmur Sukoharjo, Komunitas Air Hujan Banjarmasin, Komunitas Banyu Bening Puspo Sukoharjo, etc. This organization has been formed and will be inaugurated soon in Purwokerto, Ternate, Manokwari, Malang, Brebes, and Semarang.
Are there already visible effects?
The GMHI successfully offers great benefits for Indonesia, which can be divided into short, medium, and long terms. GMHI successfully provides fresh water for applicant households and their neighborhood in the short term. For the medium one, they promote their success stories to their relatives, colleagues, and the media. And for a long time, GMHI has hoped to be able to escalate awareness among people in Indonesia about water resources, especially rainwater.
Who are the actors involved? What is their background?
One of the exciting parts of GMHI is that everybody who is involved becomes an actor. This scheme gives government officers, lecturers, and private company employees equal positions. So educational background isn’t a severe problem, as long as they are committed to the movement and can spend some personal time on organizational campaigns.
So far, 34 (thirty-four) water resources agencies (BWS/BBWS) from the Ministry of Public Works and Housing have participated in and applied the rainwater harvesting system. In addition, the Watershed Agency from the Ministry of Forestry (BPDAS) has distributed more than 100 tanks for people who live in the upstream areas.
In the educational sector, Universitas Jenderal Achmad Yani (UNJANI), Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM), and Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) have become pioneers at each location and consistently spread the values of rainwater harvesting through their community service agendas.
Aside from them, more than 25 communities are involved, as previously mentioned. They come from various backgrounds, such as farmers, entrepreneurs, teachers, private employees, doctors, engineers, etc.
Limitation of the movement
Even before becoming a mainstream movement, the grassroots movements usually deal with several problems, such as local-specific yet widely-applicable; appropriate to yet transforming situations; project-based solutions yet seeking structural change; grassroots ingenuity; empowering inclusion; structural critique; and spaces for reflexive pluralities. (Smith, Fressoli, & Thomas, 2012).
Yet, GMHI also struggled with those kinds of problems. First, the technology of rainwater harvesting became very specific and must vary because of the environmental conditions of each area. Each location has its technology, which sometimes is not applicable in other places. For example, in Papua, the rainwater harvesting system only has a tank without any treatment activities. So, they have poor minerals compared with the system in Java.
Second, the implications and perspectives of the movement are also linear with the background and situation of the user. Some movements think they have different versions of GMHI, though they are also harvesting the rainfall. We believe many other movements have similar ideas to GMHI but refused to join and act personally.
Third, as with other grassroots movements in Indonesia, GMHI is generally sensitive to budgeting. People tend to refuse to spend money on developing rainwater harvesting systems in their communities. Only a few people are willing to invest money to build their rainwater harvesting. Based on a discussion with Dr. Agus regarding this issue, nowadays, we are waiting for a critical mass due to this program so that it will spread throughout Indonesia. In developed countries, there is an application for tax amnesty for the house or building which uses this system. That policy has been a critical point for a developing country like Indonesia.
Are any shortcomings or critical points visible?
One limitation regarding grassroots movements is that we tend to ignore any newest innovation which can improve the technology. It also happened in the GMHI movement. So, most of the rainwater harvesting technology in Indonesia today was similar to the systems in place twenty years ago. Significant research needs to be conducted about this technology as happened in other countries, such as the US, India, China, South Africa, and the Netherlands (Velasco-Muñoz, Aznar-Sánchez, Batlles-delaFuente, & Fidelibus, 2019).
What other problematic issues can arise from its implementation?
Both Mr. Agus and I experienced no other problems with rainwater harvesting implementation.
How would it be potentially replicable in other settings?
Indonesia has more than 17,000 islands, most of which are small islands with scarce water from rivers and groundwater but has an annual rainfall of about 3000-4000 mm per year. Therefore, Indonesia needs a system that can provide clean water with a minimum budget, mainly from rainwater. In addition, with our success stories from different environments, this system has the ultimate potential to be replicated and installed in other locations in Indonesia and around the globe.
However, the engineer should adjust the technology based on the natural characteristics and conditions of the specific location.
Conduciveness GMHI to broader changes in Indonesia
Nowadays, the GMHI becomes a machine to develop and combine similar actions due to rainwater harvesting as a people’s movement in Indonesia. Therefore, the project has an open-boundary system without formal bureaucracy, which is partially beneficial instead of limited.
For example, my colleagues and I in Universitas Jenderal Achmad Yani developed “Saleuwi” in the Cimahi area. This movement is part of an extension of GMHI like other similar communities, as mentioned previously.
The first time I had an intense discussion with GMHI’s initiator, Dr-Ing. Ir. Agus Maryono, was in about 2011 when I was a research assistant in Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB), Indonesia. At that time, Dr. Agus explained that rainwater harvesting technologies were already broadly applied in Germany, Australia, the US, and other developed countries and how this low-tech system successfully reduced runoff.
He also mentioned that he had successfully developed three rainwater harvesting systems at Gadjah Mada University (UGM), Indonesia. I remember that I was amazed at how the simple technology could provide fresh water and reduce runoff simultaneously.
At that point, I realized we needed to improve this technology to capture more rainfall and reduce runoff. On the one hand, rainwater harvesting needs a tank to keep rainwater, and it will require a larger tank for capturing heavy precipitation. But, on the other hand, the capacity of the tank is limited by area. Therefore, we need “something” to capture rainfall directly as well as to minimize the amount of runoff. I remember that I asked Dr. Agus about those issues, and he suggested using the bio pore, a hole or small tunnel formed underground resulting from the activities of organisms such as worms, termites, plant roots, etc. However, I think bio pores will only be effective for sand or granule soil. It will not work on clay or alluvium.
At that moment, I considered infiltration as well. I thought that before the water becomes runoff, we could capture it using a combination of rainwater harvesting and an infiltration well. And finally, we called it “Saleuwi”.
Saleuwi combines Sundanese collocation of “sa” and “leuwi”. “Sa” means one, and “leuwi” means water. So, saleuwi means capturing water with rainwater harvesting and its allies. Saleuwi not only captures rainfall for daily households but also recharges groundwater and reduces runoff. This technology resulted in many benefits for the users who implemented it and their neighbors with the same groundwater system.
In 2018, on behalf of the Universitas Jenderal Achmad Yani community service program, “Saleuwi” was successfully applied in a buffer area. The success story of “Saleulwi” is available on the youtube channel, especially https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EX97nMZ1vSo&t=7s.
Figure 2 Saleuwi system
References
Awawdeh, M., Al-Shraideh, S., Al-Qudah, K., & Jaradat, R. (2012). Rainwater harvesting assessment for a small size urban area in Jordan. International Journal of Water Resources and Environmental Engineering.
Dwivedi, D. A., Patil, V. B., & Karankal, A. B. (2013). Rooftop Rain Water Harvesting for Groundwater Recharge in an Educational Complex. Global Journal of Researches in Engineering Civil and Structural Engineering.
Prize, T. G. (2022). How Grassroots Environmental Activism Has Changed the Course of History. Retrieved from https://www.goldmanprize.org: https://www.goldmanprize.org/blog/grassroots-environmental-activism/
Sadia Rahman, 1. ,., Din, N. B., Biswas, S. K., & Shirazi, S. M. (2014). Sustainability of Rainwater Harvesting System in terms of Water Quality. ScientificWorldJournal.
Smith, A., Fressoli, M., & Thomas, H. (2012). Grassroots innovation movements: challenges and contributions. Journal of Cleaner Production, 1-11.
Tanks, S. W. (2022). Rainwater Harvesting Australia. Retrieved from https://www.selectwatertanks.com.au: https://www.selectwatertanks.com.au/rainwater-harvesting-australia/
Velasco-Muñoz, J. F., Aznar-Sánchez, J. A., Batlles-delaFuente, A., & Fidelibus, M. D. (2019). Rainwater Harvesting for Agricultural Irrigation: An Analysis of Global Research. Water, 1-18.
Virgínia Pereira
Regenerating and rehabilitating the urban space
Once someone said that the city of Braga is the city of concrete. The historical buildings, some over fifty years old, have been left behind, and new ones are being built. And a detail that must be taken into account is that the incessant construction of new buildings takes over viable green spaces. This is happening in the city of Braga. If the reader decides, one day, to visit this city, they will find degraded, abandoned buildings, in particular in the city center. For instance, the reader will find ghostly shopping malls or barely used buildings. Nevertheless, that can change.
The new program of the City Council of Braga is the regeneration and rehabilitation of urban space, starting in the center of the city. This is and must be a priority of intervention to avoid damaging the urban landscape and reuse the buildings. Such a program involves a three-pronged intervention strategy for territorial development: technical-scientific, the real estate market, and the construction industry.
The Confiança Factory
The building of Confiança illustrates a place where urban regeneration and rehabilitation come to the top of the discussion. The future reuse of the building of Confiança has been discussed for a long time. Since production ceased, discussions intensified when the City Council of Braga acquired it in 2011. The Building of Confiança is the old headquarters of the Soap Factory and Perfumery Confiança, once a well-known factory with an impressive reputation (Guimarães, 2014). Founded in 1894, this factory remains active today and it is one of the oldest manufacturing facilities in Portugal, although it moved in 2005 to the industrial park. Located in Rua Nova Santa Cruz, in the parish of São Vítor, close to center of the city, the factory was envisioned and founded by Rosalvo da Silva Almeida and Manuel dos Santos Pereira, two residents of the city. The factory became a significant piece of people’s life. Its construction responded to an emergent situation and, consequently, conquered the society of Braga, as well as Portuguese society and later other foreign societies. Introducing a new consumer good, which no one was familiar with, the new factory produced hygiene products before the institutionalization of hygiene.
Even though it was the third largest city in Portugal, at the end of the nineteenth century, Braga was not an industrial hub. This was a rural city, traditional, conservative, and with a strong religious culture. The industrialization process in Braga was lengthy. It started with the installation of small family workshops and reached its height with the settling building of the Confiança Factory.
The building stands as a remarkable example of industrial architecture from the beginning of the twentieth century and symbolizes a close relation between society, the industrialization process, and urbanization. That’s why this building deserves to be preserved.
Figure 1 Confiança Factory in 1928. Source: Jornal Arquitectos
The Confiança Factory: a damaged building
Today, the Building of Confiança is a damaged edifice. Its original structure is still preserved and its original parts can be identified, despite the many changes that the building suffered throughout time. However, the building has some damage due to environmental effects and anthropogenic interference, such as pollution and graffiti.
The materials that constitute the building are timber, stone, iron, and concrete. So, its constitution is diversified and complex. Restoring this building is a difficult process, still worthwhile. The success of its restoration might depend on the reconnaissance of the damage and decay, which could reveal an advantageous strategy of treatment and intervention.
The damages observed in the building are the natural aging of the materials and the natural environmental effects, including areas damaged by waters caused by rain or rising humidity. Stains on the surface of the material are detected, as well as dirt from the outside. Graffiti is observed on the outside walls of the building, creating the impression of decay. Botanical growth can be found in the building’s biological annexation such as algae, plants, and moss. Concerning the mechanical elements, there is a loss of cohesion: some materials are being reduced to small pieces, and perforations and cracks can be found all over the building (Guimarães, 2014).
Figure 2 Building of Confiança, today. Source: (Guimarães, 2014)
Confiança is not for sale
The Building of Confiança is not for sale, in particular, to a private individual. Preventing the sale of the building to private individuals is the main objective of citizens, institutions and cultural agents of the city of Braga. These are those who already expressed their support: Academia de Teatro Tin.Bra, Arte Total, ASPA, Neighborhood Alegria Association, Braga+ CEA, Cidade Curiosa, Cineclub Aurélio da Paz dos Reis Civitas, Encontros da Imagem, Fotograma, JovemCoop, Parish Council of São Vítor, Krizo, Nova Comédia Bracarense, O cão Danado e Companhia, PIF’H, Quercus, Velha-a-Branca Estaleiro Cultural. A platform https://salvarafabricaconfianca.org/ was created to defend the building from sale and a petition was written:
The Perfumaria e Saboaria Confiança property was acquired by the City Council of Braga in 2011/2012 through a process of expropriation for public utility with the express purpose of being rehabilitated and within the scope of a broad consensus regarding the safeguarding of this landmark of Braga’s and Portuguese industry.
The investment in this industrial building has been fully paid for, not constituting any charge for the City Council, beyond the mere maintenance of the property (which, in this case, has not even occurred).
Considering that the City Council did not decide to allocate funds for its rehabilitation and that simultaneously there are several public and private entities committed to the safeguard and that together they may start a process of recovery of the property for cultural/social purposes at the service of the entire community if it is established as a priority to find an alternative solution to the hasty alienation and without public discussion.
The sale to private individuals is an irreversible act, it will represent an inestimable loss for the Parish, the city, and the Country and will mean an automatic demotion of Braga’s candidacy for the European Capital of Culture 2027.
The undersigned citizens,
Studies and news about the future reuse of the factory since the appropriation by the City Council have been disclosed, more and more often. Why the building must be well-maintained is no longer the main question, rather, it is about how it must be preserved and how to reuse the building. The City Council of Braga bought the building firstly to protect it as an industrial symbol of progress in the city. However, nothing has been done, and now, as mentioned, citizens fear that the sale of the building would signify the loss of that symbol. The City Council is taking too long to come up with a decision about the future of the factory. It was revealed that the City Council, together with the University of Minho, was working on a project to reuse the building to construct a new student residence.
Allowing the building’s deterioration, abandoning it, emptying it, brings with it environmental complications. This building degenerates over time, accumulating garbage, as a result of human activity, and as an environmental effect. Its degradation contributes to rundown urban landscapes and reduced air quality and, therefore, fragile human health.
Engaging with climate change
Urban rehabilitation and regeneration engage with the problem of climate change. Picturing the consequences of degraded buildings and responding to them can be a mitigation or adaptation strategy for climate change if cities consider how to “recycle” buildings, instead of building new ones. So, tackling climate change through rehabilitation and regeneration of urban space is possible, however alone this might not be effective and have to be applied along with other measures.
Figure 3 Aerial view of the factory (red rectangle), 1955, representing the feature of industrialization and houses and fields surrounding the large building. Source: Jornal Arquitectos
The shortcomings, the limitations, and problems
The rehabilitation and the regeneration of the Building of Confiança may effectively result in improving the urban landscape. However, shortcomings, issues, and limits can be pointed out. There are no visible effects since the City Council has not come up with a final decision about the reuse of the building and this is a major critical point, as well. The increasing deterioration of the building and the ongoing disposal of garbage limits its renewal even as the sale of the building becomes likely, and this last represents a problem for the most industrial icon of the city. Another limit is the budget available to pursue the project and the real cost of the edifice’s rehabilitation.
The physical position of the building, which is the parish of São Vítor, must be taken into consideration for its reuse due to its proximity to the city center and the existing residential buildings, the university, the mall, and small businesses nearby.
A problematic issue that might arise along with the building revitalization is conflicts of interest: that is, what is the best choice that benefits the population, and what is the real choice of the City Council?
Restoring the Confiança Building leads to broader changes
This initiative to revitalize and rehabilitate the urban space leads unequivocally to broader changes. To restore the historical city center, environmental laws must be decreed, and even in the case that the urban regeneration and rehabilitation project is recognized, there is no guarantee that environmental laws are being applied. The application of this initiative, envisioning environmental conservation, permits identifying those entities responsible to intervene in the domain of environmental quality. Still, these entities must ensure that the population, in general, participates in conserving nature, so providing access to information is a crucial point. The population can be more thoroughly prepared to reflect on issues that arise with climate and urban environment.
This initiative also promotes sustainability, that is, this project envisions improving people’s lives not by spending money on other buildings and letting existing buildings rot. It involves safeguarding a place that has a significant value to the city. This is in line with sustainable proposals, preserving the urban environment and submitting economic and industrial activities to ecological principles, satisfying the current generation, so that future generations appreciate their urban space as much as the previous ones did. Also, restoring this building, in particular, might bring more visitors to the city.
A replicable project
This initiative for the rehabilitation and regeneration of a specific urban space is replicable all over the city. The Building of Confiança is the most urgent case for intervention and is a suitable starting point to pursue this strategy. There are more buildings in the city center and its surroundings that need to be added to the project proposed by the City Council. Nevertheless, is difficult to know if those buildings are owned by the City Council, as the Building of Confiança is.
References
Braga, C. M. (s.d.). Braga, uma porta aberta para a Reabilitação Urbana. Got from Portal da Reabilitação Urbana: https://ru.cm-braga.pt/0301/reabilitacao-urbana/apresentacao
Coelho, N. (2019). A Confiança perdida é difícil de recuperar. Got from Jornal de Arquitetos: http://www.jornalarquitectos.pt/pt/forum/cronicas/a-confianca-perdida-e-dificil-de-recuperar
Coelho, N. M. (2013). O Design de Embalagem em Portugal no Século XX -do Funcional ao Simbólico – o Estudo de Caso da Saboaria e Perfumaria Confiança. Got from Repositório científico da UC: http://hdl.handle.net/10316/23803
ComUM: https://www.comumonline.com/etiqueta/fabrica-confianca/
Ferreira, A. D. (2017). A Confiança já tem uma biografia. E os seus sabonetes dão aulas de História e de Design. Got from Observador: https://observador.pt/2017/05/12/a-confianca-ja-tem-uma-biografia-e-os-seus-sabonetes-dao-aulas-de-historia-e-de-design/
Ferreira, R. (2013). A antiga Saboaria e Perfumaria Confiança. Got from Braga+: http://bragamais.blogspot.com/2013/01/a-antiga-saboaria-e-perfumaria-confianca.html
Fonseca, R. (2018). Após 100 anos de História, alienação da fábrica Confiança é decidida esta quarta-feira. Got from TSF: https://www.tsf.pt/sociedade/apos-100-anos-de-historia-alienacao-da-fabrica-confianca-e-decidida-esta-quarta-feira-9872922.html
Gomes, N. R. (2021). Cidadãos acusam Câmara de Braga de transformar a Fábrica Confiança “numa lixeira a céu aberto”. Got fom Público: https://www.publico.pt/2021/05/10/local/noticia/cidadaos-acusam-camara-braga-transformar-fabrica-confianca-lixeira-ceu-aberto-1961954
Guimarães, M. I. (2014). Industrial heritage in Northern Portugal: the example of Fábrica Confiança. Got from RepositoriUM: http://repositorium.sdum.uminho.pt/handle/1822/30613
Hasta pública da Fábrica Confiança em Braga ficou deserta. (2020). Got from Diário Imobiliário: https://www.diarioimobiliario.pt/Actualidade/Hasta-publica-da-Fabrica-Confianca-em-Braga-ficou-deserta
Parlamento defende que a Fábrica Confiança não deve ser vendida. (2019). Got from Diário Imobiliário: https://www.diarioimobiliario.pt/Actualidade/Parlamento-defende-que-a-Fabrica-Confianca-nao-deve-ser-vendida
Pereira, A. P. (2018). Fábrica Confiança: a venda que está a agitar Braga. Got from Diário de Notícias: https://www.dn.pt/edicao-do-dia/19-set-2018/fabrica-confianca-a-venda-que-esta-a-agitar-braga-9871346.html
Sethunarayanan Nagarajan
Where is this grassroots initiative implemented? Who are the promoters? Who are the beneficiaries?
Tamil Nadu, one of the highly industrialized states in India, holds agriculture as its predominant occupation and it is considered an important coastal state in India with a coastline of 1,076 kilometers. Among the thirty-eight districts in the state, fourteen districts that share the coastline are Thiruvallur, Chennai, Chengalpattu, Villupuram, Cuddalore, Mayiladuthurai, Nagapattinam, Tiruvarur, Thanjavur, Pudukkottai, Ramanathapuram, Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli, and Kanyakumari. All these districts vary in several aspects like landscape, climate, flora and fauna, socio-economic development, business, and so on.
From Left to Right: Maps of India and Tamil Nadu (Image Credits: Google Maps)
Among these aspects, climatic change poses a great challenge and threat for the stakeholders at different timescales. It heavily impacts the lives and livelihoods of the people, who reside in the places and pushes them to transform their pattern of life at regular intervals. At present, the inhabitants of these places experience the visible consequences of climate change like intense drought, storms, heatwaves, and extreme flash floods. In this regard, the Government of Tamil Nadu (India) proposed three significant missions to combat climate change: (a) Green Tamil Nadu Mission, (b) Tamil Nadu Wetlands Mission, and (c) Tamil Nadu Climate Change Mission.The proposed missions are going to be implemented in different districts based on the landscape, challenges encountered by humans and non-human others, resources, and various other closely-related factors.
To implement the missions successfully in various parts of the state, the government has set up a special purpose vehicle named Tamil Nadu Green Climate Company (TNGCC). The TNGCC, with the support of the Tamil Nadu Infrastructure Fund Management Corporation Limited (TNIFMC), is given the responsibility to coordinate and monitor the proposed missions for the successful implementation. Some of the above-mentioned missions are furthered by multiple government departments, and private entities like educational institutions, industries, NGOs like Care Earth Trust and the Nature Conservancy India, along with the locals. Though beneficiaries, by and large, would include both humans and non-human others belonging to particular geographical locations and neighboring regions, it is difficult to evaluate their outcomes since all of these missions are in the initial stages and will take at least a decade to measure their results. Also, it would be important to include the inhabitants to identify the feasibility of the proposed missions, but there is no such sign as the missions are conceptualized and consulted largely with a team of educated individuals in governmental departments and NGOs. Neither the opinions of the locals nor their participation is considered critical for this establishment of the project. The insights of the educated individuals are heavily influenced by modern sciences rather than indigenous knowledge. Therefore, the outcomes of these initiatives are highly doubtful.
How does this initiative engage with climate? Does it tackle mitigation, adaptation, both or other dimensions of climate change?
Since there are three different initiatives, all of these initiatives cannot be viewed from a homogenized perspective but from a compartmentalized framework, based on the unique features and feasibilities that they can offer to tackle climate change. For example, the Green Tamil Nadu Mission, whichcombines both adaptation and mitigation measures, focuses on two major activities like restoration of degraded forest lands, planting trees species in places like farmlands, industrial areas, educational institutions, temple lands, public lands, and defense establishments to increase the green cover and to reduce the deforestation and land degradation. Whereas,the Tamilnadu Climate Change Missionis keen on introducing new technologies to build energy-efficient homes, develop electric vehicles, and create alternative sources of energy, which are apparent steps toward mitigating the Green House Gases. Such energy measures reduce energy waste and are cost-effective. Another initiative, the Tamil Nadu Wetlands Mission is an adaptive measure to grapple with climate change by restoring the wetlands, which can not only capture and store the carbon but reduce floods and relieve droughts. Plus, it supports biodiversity during extreme weather conditions as it serves as a habitat for birds, fishes, turtles, and other organisms besides stabilizing the shorelines and stream banks. The missions mentioned above, hence, carry both adaptation and mitigation dimensions to tackle climate change through various ways and means. The impacts of these missions can be understood holistically only when all of these missions are planned meticulously and executed within a short span of time coupled with empirical analysis of outcomes at periodic intervals. Also, the scale on which these missions are going to be executed is not only unpredictable but also a matter of concern; in other words, the qualitative and quantitative aspects of these initiatives in averting climate change have to be introspected from various perspectives. Apart from these, all of these initiatives share the responsibilities equally in engaging with climate change and addressing the issues with a wider and collaborative vision.
What are the main objectives? What are the main values?
Though all the three missions have exclusive objectives, in a larger aspect, all these objectives are intricately connected with one another to combat climate change. First, the objective of the Green Tamil Nadu Mission is to enhance the forest and tree cover from the existing 23.7 % to 33 % by organizing massive tree plantation programs of indigenous and diverse species to enhance the carbon sequestration potential on an average of 8 Mt every year. It may also reduce the risks that arise due to floods, droughts, landslides, and outbreaks of pests. Second, the aim of the Tamil Nadu Climate Change Mission is to create a smart infrastructure system to handle natural disasters, enhance the efficacy of public transport systems, develop educational courses, and encourage research related to climate change. Also, the important information to be noted is that all these missions are implemented in collaboration with private players like educational institutions, NGOs, and so on. Third, the Tamil Nadu Wetlands Mission plans to identify and map 100 wetlands in the state and ecologically restore them to serve as a natural sponge during flood and drought, and to protect the coastlines. All these objectives are collective and holistic to combat climate change. Though the objectives are different, their focus is to keep the emission of carbon under control.
What is the timeline? Are there already visible effects?
All these initiatives were proposed, recently, on 03.11.2021, during the Tamil Nadu budget session by the state finance minister. According to the Govt. Order No. 101, the timeline given for Green Tamil Nadu Mission and the Tamil Nadu Wetlands Mission are ten and five years respectively. There is no timeline given for the Tamil Nadu Climate Change Mission. Overall, most of these initiatives are only in the initial stages and a lot of discussion and planning should go into it before and during the implementation. In short, there are no visible effects till the present time.
Who are the actors involved? What is their background?
Major actors involved in these projects are private and public departments like Environment, Climate and Forest Department, Municipal Administration and Water Supply Department, Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Department, Public Works and Water Resources Department, academia, private sectors like industries, and NGOs, which foster a transition to climate-friendly platforms. Since NGOs, educational institutes, and many other organizations come under private sectors, they will be forced to work under political influence. Also, another significant problem typically faced in India is caste. The influence of caste can be witnessed in every aspect of governance, decision-making, planning, and so on. The members of the legislative assembly are mostly from the major caste group of the particular district and state. Although people who work in the government offices and laborers are from different castes and communities, the decisions are taken only by these representatives (MLAs) elected by the people, which mostly favors the people belonging to those castes. Sanction of loans, distribution of resources, subsidiaries, and offering of adequate facilities are challenged by the prevalence of the caste systems and caste politics. It is crucial to monitor both the distribution and utilization of resources for the successful implementation of these initiatives. Landlords may influence the local officials and get the resources required, especially monetary benefits, and later fail to meet the expectations and their level of awareness about climate change is also highly questionable. Therefore, the govt. should take necessary steps to identify the right people and educate them about the importance of these missions and empower them periodically.
Which limits does it encounter?
All these initiatives have some limitations in terms of infrastructure, financial support, feasibility, and socio-political influences. For instance, under the Green Tamil Nadu Mission, the Govt. of Tamil Nadu has planned to give materials for agroforestry to farmers to help them get additional revenue, which is believed to reduce the rate of deforestation and forest degradation. The challenge lies in how the govt. will identify the dedicated farmers and demarcate the boundaries of all those lands and monitor them closely. And to what extent does the govt. will extend support to those farmers apart from distributing the required materials like water will be a concern. Also, it has planned to increase the green cover on public lands for a ten-year duration. Now, the govt. has named educational institutes, temple lands, industrial areas, tank foreshore, and defense establishments for increasing the green cover. Excepting government-run organizations, all the other institutions are profit-oriented ones. The insufficiency of laborers to maintain those trees and places can affect the efficiency and outcome. Also, most of the family members of the landlords, and educational institutions run several other businesses. Therefore, the participation of such private players may hinder meeting the expected outcome of the missions. On the other side, some of the initiatives mentioned are already in action. But their rate of impact in tackling the challenge is highly skeptical as multiple factors play a crucial role, especially in helping people understand the urgency and required action to address the larger concerns. In short, it will have limitations at different levels – like functional, social, economic, and spatial.
Are any shortcomings or critical points visible? What other problematic issues can arise from its implementation?
Yes. The major shortcoming is the way these initiatives are going to be taken to the public attention and consciousness and seek their support as these initiatives are at the fundamental level with clear and detailed long-term vision and planning. Also, the pace of implementation is critical as already we have started experiencing the impacts of climate change, but still, these initiatives are only in the planning and conceptual stage. The class and caste structures are widely prevalent and they dominate almost all sectors in a country like India. Another side, corporate mafias will show influence not only on the policies but on every decision made by the government. In addition, the nexus between the knowledge partners, policymakers, politicians, and the public is another great challenge because each of these stakeholders will have equal responsibility and challenge.
How would it be potentially replicable in other settings?
Some of these initiatives can be implemented at any geographical location with some basic research about the spatial and temporal aspects of a place coupled with practical problems in terms of implementation and inside stories about the place. For example, before initiating tree plantation drives, it is important to examine the native species suitable for the specific location considering its geographical specificities like climate pattern, soil characteristics, and well-being of flora and fauna of the region. Also, it is important to understand and address the sustainability level of such projects in the given location and to conduct an impact level of those projects for a shorter and longer duration. In some contexts, better solutions may be feasible depending on the land, livelihood, and people, therefore, it is crucial to identify the functional and feasible solutions rather than adopting the initiative without any customization.
Is this initiative conducive to broader changes? If yes, which?
No. First, the timeline of these projects spans about ten years and all these projects are only in the initial stages. Not only the outcomes and sustainability but the practicalities of these projects are unpredictable because other ongoing developmental projects and other proposed projects may challenge the new initiatives. For instance, wetlands are to be protected from encroachers, especially real estate mafias and industrialists, who will have planned to use the space for commercial purposes in collaboration with different MNCs. The state is also ready with plans to encourage rapid industrialization to generate income and improve the economy of the state, therefore to what extent these projects will be implemented considering the economic situation, and industrialization is debatable. Also how the government officials and public are going to be educated in terms of establishment, enhancement, and maintenance for a longer duration is doubtful.
| References: “Tamil Nadu: TN to Restore 100 Wetlands in Five-Year Period: Chennai News – Times of India.” The Times of India, TOI, https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/tn-to-restore-100-wetlands-in-five-year-period/articleshow/89979669.cms. Accessed on 25 April 2022. “Tamil Nadu to Set up Climate-Smart Villages and Rehabilitate Coastal Districts as Part of Its Climate Action Initiative: The Weather Channel – Articles from The Weather Channel.” The Weather Channel, https://weather.com/en-IN/india/climate-change/news/2022-05-20-tamil-nadu-to-set-up-climate-smart-villages-for-its-cimate. Accessed on 11 April 2022. TN Govt, Orders: https://cms.tn.gov.in/sites/default/files/go/envfor_e_100_2021_Ms.pdf. Accessed on 28 March 2022. Google Maps: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Tamil+Nadu/@10.3149371,75.7168686,6.44z/data=!4 m5!3m4!1s0x3b00c582b1189633:0x559475cc463361f0!8m2!3d11.1271225!4d78.6568942. Accessed on 29 March 2022. |
Marina Salgado Pinto
@nosetor
@jardimnosetor
One simple action can be sufficient to change a situation that has been going on for a long time. That is the case of an urban garden in the Brazilian capital, Brasília, that is changing the lives of many unhoused people in the city. It was a beautiful sunny day when I arrived at the urban garden. I already knew the place, even before the beginning of the project. I used to work right in front of the area where they now plant crops. I remember it was an abandoned place, all cemented, some dirty earth in the middle.
It was very windy that day, and my long dress kept flowing around. I was a bit worried that the wind would disturb the interview. I looked inside the urban garden and saw two guys sitting there, with a soda bottle between them, chatting and having a snack. I noticed the colorful gate and the stalk of a papaya tree wrapping one of the gate’s sticks, like a snake, growing up. A few moments later, Aretha arrived, the woman I was waiting for. We said hi and started our chatting. First, I wanted to know who was responsible for that idea? How was that possible? Well, it wasn’t about just one person because the Jardim das Flores was a collective action. And that was the essential aspect of the entire project.
The project Jardim das Flores belongs to great collective action, the Nosetor Institute. Further, their implemented action, which contemplates cultural activities, the urban garden, and a Sunday fair is responsible for considerable changes in the unhoused lives. As I chatted with Aretha it became clear that the project matches environmental action by greening the city and aspects of social justice as well. Above all, urban gardens have a tremendous effect on the lives of everybody in a city. It changes the way people perceive their city, which leads to a bigger transformation in the city.
Where is this grassroots initiative implemented? Who are the promoters? Who are the beneficiaries?
The project Jardim de Flores – Nosetor was implemented at the South Commercial Center (SCS) in the Brazilian capital, Brasília, and belongs to the cultural and social institute called Nosetor. The purpose of the Nosetor Institute is to bring life back to the Commercial Center, an area long marginalized and forgotten by the local government. Local young people first imagined the Nosetor Institute, and their first action was organizing Carnival parties named Setor Carnavalesco Sul on the streets to attract people to the area. Then, the Nosetor Institute started to organize local actions to offer help to unhoused people, that is, people who were in a very vulnerable situation. In this sense, the first beneficiaries of the urban garden are the unhoused people who can count on the urban vegetable/herb garden as a source of organic and healthy food. In addition, as a space where they feel welcome. As key workers, among the volunteers, in the urban garden, they restore their sense of value through therapeutic activities, like gardening, and, above all, see themselves as valuable community members.
The sign indicating the space designated for the garden. Image by Marina Salgado.
How does this initiative engage with climate? Does it tackle mitigation, adaptation, both or other dimensions of climate change?
The Jardim das Flores goes straight to undermining the massive presence of concrete in urban areas. The project works as a relevant tool against environmental destruction and towards a more sustainable human and nature relationship. Physically, among many other benefits, the presence of urban green areas helps mitigate the effect of atmospheric pollution, enhancing the rainwater absorption in the soil, which helps avoid floods, particularly in less wealthy areas. Furthermore, as many studies have shown, human society benefits substantially from contact with nature. Finally, nature areas can help humans with many issues associated with people who live in urban spaces, such as anxiety and depression.
What are the main objectives? What are the main values?
The main goal of the project, not only the urban garden but the work undertaken by the Nosetor Institute is to offer support to the unhoused people and those in noticeably vulnerable situations. One of the institute members, Areta Monteiro, says that contact with unhoused people enriches life as a way to help us to see beyond our bubble. The urban garden department at Nosetor Institute is composed of three people with different academic backgrounds. Areta has a degree in Environmental Science, Bruno is an environmental manager, and José Grossi is an environmental scientist. But, Areta highlighted they learn a lot from the unhoused people who volunteer at the garden: “We learn many things from people on the street (…) many of them teach us how to plant, about the usefulness of plants. Having a degree is not everything”.
Detail of a Taioba (Xanthosoma saggitifolium (L.) Schott), an example of a PANC (unconventional food plant) growing in the urban garden Jardim das Flores. Behind, detail of a building in the South Commercial Center (SCS). Image by Marina Salgado.
What is the timeline? Are there already visible effects?
In 2018, as a collective action, Brasília’s local young residents organized Carnaval parties as an alternative to stimulate cultural activities in a marginalized area of the town, the Brazília’s Commercial Center. The creation of the project happened between the years 2018 and 2019 through the Verdejando project, an action involving another local urban garden, Aroeiras, and the Brazilian television channel Rede Globo. Together, they undertook the urban garden in the area where it’s still operating. In 2020, the Covid pandemic affected the urban garden’s activities. In August of the year 2020, they restarted the activities.
The effects of the project are observable in many different ways. As it concerns climate change, the urban garden helps alter the area’s landscape, bringing green to the profusion of cement that characterizes the Commercial Center. Additionally, it is a grassroots action mobilizes the community through donations and volunteer work. Furthermore, the urban garden helps spread knowledge about growing crops and information about plants. To the unhoused inhabitants of the Commercial Center, the project offers them a space to recover their faith in themselves. In the end, they are intelligent and capable people who suffer from violence and are made invisible by this “crazy society” in the words of Areta.
In the future, the people responsible for the urban garden want to expand the project towards an educative approach to the area. They want the urban vegetable garden to be a place for environmental education. They intend to turn the urban vegetable garden into a laboratory. That is a space where people and student classes could visit to learn about gardening, plants, insects (the urban vegetable garden also counts with small beekeeping), and the unhoused would be the teacher guides.
Detail of beekeeping. Image by Marina Salgado.
Who are the actors involved? What is their background?
The Nosetor Institute is composed of local young people. Most of them began as volunteers in the different projects and then were absorbed to work in the departments as the project grew. They also count on the help of many local artists that donated artwork in one of their manners to finance their activities. The key workers of the project are the unhoused people due to the primary initiative’s objective, which is to offer them a tool of emancipation. The local community is another source of help through their donations of, for instance, plant seedlings and gardening tools.
Despite many conflict situations with the Federal District Government, the Nosetor Institute also counts on the support offered by some local political figures, such as Plano Piloto’s Administrator Ilka Teodoro.
Some of the guys who work at the urban garden, in the back, enjoying a snack. Image by Marina Salgado.
Which limits does it encounter?
The principal limitation faced by the urban vegetable gardens responsibles is institutional. The Commercial Center struggles with a few problems, like violence, and shows a high risk for robbery, for instance. That is because of the government’s negligence. On the other hand, since the beginning of cultural activities organized by local community members, like Samba parties and Carnaval, robbery cases have decreased.
Another South Commercial Center (SCS) problem is the drug abuse in the area. The police approach to this problem is frequently using violence to repress. Still, the cultural activities organized by the local community have shown better results in tackling drug abuse in the area and helping people in vulnerable situations.
Nevertheless, the first and principal limitation faced by the Jardim das Flores is the conflicts with the local police. They accuse the place of being a potential hiding place for drugs and weapons. Another source of conflict is the Federal District Government. They use hygienist policies to evict people from the area. For instance, on November 19th, 2020, Novacap (Brasília’s administration) took away the unhoused’s properties. They also threatened to destroy the Jardim das Flores.
Finally, the place constantly struggles with night-invasion situations (sometimes by dogs that cave the area) and plant seedlings robbery. But, the people responsible say the unfortunate events they face are part of the process.
The new front gate, a way to avoid invasion. Image by Marina Salgado.
Are any shortcomings or critical points visible? What other problematic issues can
arise from its implementation?
The Jardim das Flores is in a small area, which limits its expansion.
How would it be potentially replicable in other settings?
The concept of an urban vegetable and herb garden is not original to the Nosetor Institute, and there are different examples of this grassroots initiative all over the world. Their particularity is to involve vulnerable people as the key project subjects. The goal is to articulate unhoused people with the community through environmental activities that mitigate the effects of climate change.
The Jardim das Flores organizers are developing a manual offering help to people who desire to replicate the project in other places in Brasília and in other cities.
Is this initiative conducive to broader changes?
Yes, this initiative mobilizes popular participation and builds bridges between city dwellers and homeless people. Currently, the Nosetor Institute organizes a Sunday fair, and they were responsible for establishing legal measures that guarantee the permanence of unhoused people in the region. Their goal is to expand the project to other parts of the city and the country.
Due to the conflicts with the police, the Nosetor members are more and more involved with political issues. They are constantly sharing in their social media when they participate in political plenary. The truth is that everything started with a group of young people who wanted to party but didn’t have a place to do so. When occupying the abandoned South Commercial Center area, they broke the separation between them and the unhoused who lived there. The project then expanded to help mitigate the effects of other urgent issues, such as climate change. Finally, the urban garden changed the life of many people, not just the unhoused but anyone who goes through the area, including me. The ugly abandoned place in front of the place I used to work is now a beautiful garden, and the unhoused people of the area, so close to us and so far away at the same time, became someone we know, we say hi, we chat, we share a snack, a coffee, a smile.
Bruno Azevedo Prado
Where is this grassroots initiative implemented? Who are the promoters? Who are the beneficiaries?
The Borborema Territory is located in the Brazilian semiarid region, particularly in the Agreste region of the state of Paraíba. The Brazilian semiarid is one of the largest semiarid regions on the planet. It covers a geographical area of 970,000 Km2, concentrated in states of Northeast Brazil, and is home to a population of 22.5 million inhabitants (12% of the national population) with 44% living in rural areas, making it the least urbanized region of the country (Petersen, 2015). Polo da Borborema (Borborema Pole) was established in 1996 in partnership with NGO AS-PTA. It is presented as a family farming organization that gathers 14 rural workers’ unions, about 150 community associations, a regional association of ecological farmers, and informal groups of women and young people. Organizations affiliated to Polo da Borborema accounts to approximately 6,000 families from 15 municipalities in the hinterland of Paraíba. Since it was established, it has developed actions aimed at the economic, social, and political strengthening of family farming in the region. To this end, it implements a program of technical training and dissemination of agroecological innovations based on the principles of living with the semi-arid and agroecology, and works to influence public policies, particularly those aimed at promoting food and nutrition security and income generation for families.
The map below depicts the 15 municipalities covered in the area where Polo da Borborema implements its actions.
Source: AS-PTA
How does this initiative engage with climate?
By proposing an alternative development for agriculture in the territory, Polo da Borborema has refused a model of neo-extractivism that permeates the complex geographies of Latin America. Working as political actor engaged in environmental justice issues, Polo has, for about twenty years, engaged with another network of civil society organizations – the Brazilian Semi-arid Articulation (ASA). Together in this macro regional project, they developed the idea that farmers, social organizations, and government agencies should change the paradigm that historically mobilized rural development in the region. Instead of “combatting the drought”, a political and institutional practice based on large infrastructure projects and the maintenance of regional oligarchies’ interests, this network of civil society proposed, based on local and traditional peasant knowledge, the idea of “living with the semi-arid” [convivência com o semiárido]. The proposal of “living with the semiarid”, taken as a paradigm of development distinct from the modernization of agriculture based on “fighting the drought” in northeastern Brazil, implies the revitalization and mobilization of locally available resources that guarantee resilience to agroecosystems. It led to the formulation of public programs for the construction of one million cisterns through new institutional arrangements involving the State and civil society. This idea re-situates agroecological transition processes based on living with the semiarid as situated technical projects that offer alternatives to the logics of modernization and to the view, based on environmental and geographical determinism, of the semiarid region as “problematic”.
This proposal is well summarized by Medeiros (2022):
In recent decades, peasant networks have flourished, encouraged by the broad macro-regional movement called Convivência com o Semiárido. They are forming communities with the unique feature of not being territorially contiguous — intensive communities whose strength lies in the recovery and reinvention of agroecological practices, and in the constant exchange of experienced knowledge. Through rainwater harvesting, the recovery of water springs, the reforestation of the Caatinga, the implementation of agroforestry systems, fair forms of animal husbandry and forest extraction, the cessation of burnings and poisoning, the gathering, exchanging, protecting, and selecting native seeds, and many other molecular and pervasive actions, these collectives directly confront the hydro-agribusiness model that has been creating desertification for centuries, and whose non-fruits are there for all to see: in the history of the genocides called droughts, in the wandering lives of landless Indigenous peoples and peasants, in the increasingly accentuated heat, in the increasingly sporadic rains, in the increasingly sandy and stony ground, and in the consequent difficulty for pioneer plants to recover the soil and the microclimate.
The idea of coexisting with the semiarid is, thus, a situated technical project, based on local knowledge and scaled-up in intensive communities across the region. It tells possibilities to occupy climate change narratives with stories that go against external solutions imposed by mainstream development.
What are the main objectives? What are the main values?
As the Declaration of the International Forum of Agroecology (2015) states
Agroecology is a way of life and the language of Nature, that we learn as her children. It is not a mere set of technologies or production practices. It cannot be implemented the same way in all territories. Rather it is based on principles that, while they may be similar across the diversity of our territories, can and are practiced in many different ways, with each sector contributing their own colors of their local reality and culture, while always respecting Mother Earth and our common, shared values.
This refers to core values that Polo da Borborema holds in its understanding of how agroecology is to be implemented in its actions. It also takes into account the idea that agroecology is understood as a science, as a practice and as a social movement. The establishment of the Pole has been the result of a renewal of the rural workers’ unionism in the territory and it has the political perspective of acting collectively, in networks and on a regional scale, to overcome the isolation represented by sole action restricted to the municipal level.
This strategy of acting collectively as a network, on a regional scale, accounts for an accumulation of learning and experience for the union movement and to participate and influence a territorial approach.
What is the timeline?
Polo da Borborema was created in 1996 and formally established as an organization in 2004, as a result of the aforementioned renewal of rural workers’ unions in the territory. As Petersen (2015) argues, the movement for a new unionism has been the result of decades of unions’ strategy focused on the national level with a generic agenda. The change of focus was largely stimulated, in the early 1990s, by a partnership with AS-PTA, a non-governmental organization promoting patterns of sustainable rural development and the strengthening of family farming in Brazil based on agroecology.
Who are the actors involved?
Taking agroecological values seriously means being able to put farmers’ knowledge at the center and providing opportunities for their interchange. This has also implications for agronomical science, which can – and should – learn from their methods of cultivation and ingenious systems of water management under challenging ecological conditions (even if the dialogue of knowledges is not always symmetrical, not to mention the existing conflicts and power asymmetries). The protagonists of this movement, then, are the farmers-experimenters, as the peasants call themselves in this network also involving NGOs and civil society organizations. Exchange knowledge activities stimulated by Polo da Borborema enhance not only technical, organizational, and political capacities, but also the identity of farmer-experimenters.
The agroecological movement in the territory also has an important focus on women and youth. Women in general face strong obstacles to participating in the management of production systems and income access. Despite successes in developing several agroecological innovations, a patriarchal culture has remained dominant both within the family and in organizations. The inequality between men and women has been a barrier for the full implementation of agroecology across the region, although a women’s movement for autonomy has been growing stronger over the last 15 years. This movement carries out regional demonstrations annually, known as the Marches for the Women’s Lives and for Agroecology.
How would it be potentially replicable in other settings?
As with many environmental initiatives, the experience of the Polo da Borborema responds to local cultural influences and demands that are unique in the territory. But the experience of the ‘living with semi-arid’ and its macro regional scale accounts for how it can reach different areas. Above all, any replication would have to take into account the diversity of the territories, and the principle of exchange of knowledge is an important factor which enhances the possibility of replication.
Is this initiative conducive to broader changes? If yes, which?
Some results have been documented and account for transformations in the enhancement of water management, with impacts on national policies such as the One Million Cisterns Program and the One Land Two Waters Program, with the construction of decentralized infrastructure to capture, store and transport water. In terms of access to market, more than 210 farmer families are regularly marketing ecological food at eight municipal fairs, while 176 families have supplied schools and nurseries with ecological food via public policies such as the National School Feeding Program (PNAE) and the Food Acquisition Program (PAA). The Pole has also established a regional network comprising 60 community seed banks and directly reaching 1,500 families has been organized that provides advocacy for the government policy for seed distribution and the Food Acquisition Program. Political crises and the rise of a national right-wing government over the last years have led, though, to the dismantling of many public programs addressing agroecology. This has led to direct impacts for family farmers and civil society agroecological networks. But they remain strong in their commitment to accountability, a rights-based State and citizenship – for it is only under such circumstances that agroecology and democratization of food systems can achieve better results.
References:
Declaration Of The International Forum For Agroecology, Nyéléni, Mali: 27 February 2015. Development 58, 163–168 (2015). Https://Doi.Org/10.1057/S41301-016-0014-4
Haraway, Donna. Staying With The Trouble: Making Kin In The Chthulucene. Duke University Press, 2016.
Medeiros, R. Seridoão (Part I) Or There And Back Again, Or A Terran Testimony. In Https://Aperfectstorm.Net/Seridoao-Part-I/
Petersen, P. “Hidden Treasures: Reconnecting Culture And Nature In Rural Development Dynamics” In Constructing A New Framework For Rural Development. Published Online: 09 Mar 2015; 157-194. Http://Dx.Doi.Org/10.1108/S1057-192220150000022006
Rockström, J., Steffen, W., Noone, K. Et Al. “A Safe Operating Space For Humanity.” Nature 461, 472–475 (2009). Https://Doi.Org/10.1038/461472a
Virgínia Pereira
When planning a community urban garden, certain issues must be considered. The first one to consider is the reason for its investment, and this involves asking about the social, economic, and environmental problems that must be faced. Then one must select the place that exhibits the most urgency in setting up a community urban garden. Defining the goals that must be achieved is a significant step for the project’s success. Another crucial point is to describe how the project engages with the climate change problem. Is this a mitigation or an adaptation strategy? Or both? Preparing urban gardening also involves financial and resource management issues, which raise a different set of questions. Who funds the urban gardening project? Who cedes the land to cultivate? For how long can beneficiaries cultivate the land provided? What kind of plants should be cultivated? What resources should be available? Who manages the garden?
The urban gardening project in Andorinhas Neighborhood, Braga
The urban gardening project in the city of Braga is an initiative of the City Council of Braga and the Environmental Fund, which is an institution that supports environmental policies and sustainable development and ensures compliance with environmental objectives and commitments. In the words of Rui Rio, Mayor of the City Council of Braga, this represents the encounter between urban reality and sustainability. The urban gardening project in the city of Braga began in 2016 and since then community urban gardens have been inaugurated in several neighborhoods in the city, such as Andorinhas Neighborhood, which was set up in 2019. The setting up of a community urban garden in the Andorinhas Neighborhood is also promoted by the Parish Council of São Vicente and the Resident’s Association of Andorinhas Neighborhood. The beneficiaries of this project are the residents of this neighborhood.
The Andorinhas Neighborhood is a social-housing neighborhood situated in São Vicente parish in Braga, Portugal. This neighborhood was built over three years, between 1983 and 1986, and comprises thirty-two residential edifices, inhabited by around two thousand people. In addition to the residential spaces, there are six shops, a multi-sport rink, a children’s playground, a workout park, and a community urban garden. The neighborhood is located in the northwest section of the city and is delimited to the south and east by Rua Fernando Castiço, to the west by Rua Dr. Pereira Caldas, and Rua Dr. Manuel Braga da Cruz, to the north and west by the uncultivated land. This is not a place that other residents of the city pass through or visit. The urban ring road, which is an important road traffic channel, composes a physical barrier between the neighborhood and the central area of the city. Crossing into the neighborhood is done through the streets below this highway, which makes it a gloomy place because of its darkness. This contributes to the characterization of this neighborhood as a marginal place. Near the neighborhood, there is no equipment or service that justifies a visit from an outside visitor. The general opinion – of inhabitants from other zones of the city – is that this neighborhood is not attractive and when visiting it, not even its green spaces are pleasant.
This project envisions social inclusion through inequality attenuation. Since the Andorinhas Neighborhood was built to provide shelter to those who face financial and economic difficulties, and most people who live in this neighborhood earn low wages, in some cases lower than the national minimum wage, this urban project supports an alternative to food provision. This project also promotes biological agriculture and a healthy lifestyle and encourages the conservation of biodiversity and urban nature. Besides, it aims to produce pleasant urban landscapes from an urbanistic viewpoint. Together, these goals envision the revitalization of unused spaces to benefit the population, potentiating a wider usage and also instigating a sense of community, as well as, providing environmental and ecological education.
The Andorinhas Neighborhood reveals a particularly interesting example of urban gardening due to its peripheral features and being a working-class neighborhood. The garden has an entrance and a delimited area. Its usage agreement is renewable every year and this reveals to be one of the project’s shortcomings – further clarified. One must apply to the Resident’s Association of Andorinhas Neighborhood to get a plot. The applicant must fulfill some conditions, which are: the applicant must reside in the geographical area of the parish and the proximity of her/his residence in relation to the garden is taken into account. The economic situation is essential for assessing the allocation of the land. If the application satisfies these conditions is given a plot that measures between 15 and 25 square meters. And each gardener can share a common waterpoint and a shank to keep small tools. When assigned the plot, the occupant is given a card that identifies the number of the patch and is also allowed to attend training in agriculture.
Figure 2 Community urban garden in Andorinhas Neighborhood viewed from Rua Senhora do Monte. Photo by Ana Nogueira.
A resident from the neighborhood described it as “the neighborhood of the poor, of the laborer”, the precarious neighborhood, and revealed that, in the beginning, instead of a community garden, it would be another building, perhaps a residential building. Nevertheless, between the two, as the inhabitant said, the garden was the best choice and that empty space is no longer “a pile of rubbish”. The inhabitant also confessed that “at least we have a piece of land to work and put the soup on the table” and affirmed that the community urban garden improves the urban way of life and “when there is land to cultivate there are a few vegetables to feed the family”.
Figure 3 Community urban garden in Andorinhas Neighborhood viewed between Rua Fernando Castiço and Rua Senhora do Monte. The garden is delimited by trunks and wire and behind there is uncultivated and wasted (green) space. Photo by Ana Nogueira.
A project with shortcomings
There are shortcomings and a few critical points about the execution of this project. Starting with the cession of the space, that is, the period of time that inhabitants benefit from this project and the amount of land available. Despite the land use agreement being renewed every year, this project turns out to be ineffective to attenuate the financial and economic inequality because the dwellers are not given any certainty that they will continue to have land available to cultivate to obtain food next year. We cannot forget that plants need their own time to grow and harvest. The amount of land ceded to the community might not be enough to satisfy all population and this also fails when attempting to reduce the financial and economic inequality. The plot distribution among the beneficiaries of this initiative seems dissimilar, that is, the plots were not assigned in equal parts. However, that can be a small detail. The distribution of plots is still in progress, and this remains a problem. Either the organization and criteria of distribution are unsuitable, or the population doesn’t have the interest to cultivate the land. That is, the population hasn’t achieved yet an environmental consciousness and the entities mentioned haven’t done anything to address this issue.
Another shortcoming is garden maintenance. Despite the dwellers’ efforts, the garden is not preserved properly. At its margins, garbage can be seen. The City and the Parish Councils, together with the resident’s association, must ensure that the garden is kept clean, decreeing proper care for this space.
The usage of biofertilizers and composting must be encouraged when implementing such an urban project. The dwellers are not inspired to use biowaste or composting as a fertilizer, instead they use chemicals to grow their plants.
Considering the aesthetic point of view, the garden’s frame does not highlight any kind of beauty but rather illustrates decay. Even if the garden is no longer seen as a pleasant structure but as an alternative to obtaining food, the embellishment of the urban landscape must be taken into account.
Community resilience is a major shortcoming of this project. The same resident from the community said that everyone does according to their abilities to maintain the space. Nevertheless, “each one” seems to refer to an individual and not a member belonging to the community. This means, that the members of the community don’t come up together to maintain a clean space or elaborate an irrigation system.
The garden does not have any irrigation system. The dwellers only have a faucet and a hose to water the plants, which they share among themselves. There is no sustainable and efficient irrigation system that discharges essential amounts of water for irrigation. Also, there is no evidence of dwellers’ intentions to create one, since there are no monetary resources or they simply do not want to.
There is no evidence of continuous participation of the City Council and the Parish Council. Their participation was possibly limited only to ceding the land. The City Council and the Parish Council should continuously intervene to support the community.
Adaptation or mitigation strategy?
Due to the climate change problem, new alternatives for a living have been arranged, like installing a garden in an urban space. These alternatives are mitigation or adaptation strategies. Installing a garden in an urban space stand for an adaptation strategy by adopting a new alternative to obtain food or a mitigation strategy by being aware of food waste and consumption.
Urban gardening might be the new farming. An important lesson taken by both strategies is «take what the land gives, harvest what the land produces». This means that, although the goal is to satisfy the population, the land productivity must be taken into account, and is crucial to be alert to food consumption and waste, and overproduction because this may wash out the land and its reduction.
The urban gardening project engages with the climate change problem as a promotion of sustainability that meets urban life and stands for a resilient search for new ways to get food. The gardens give urban space a better quality of life, create more fresh air, sensibilize to food overproduction and, consequently, stimulate environmental consciousness.
A project with limitations
Some limitations interfere with the effective execution of this project. The garden’s placement constitutes a physical limit. The garden places nearby only one building and that might discourage the residents to cultivate. Another limitation might be the resident’s education level, the most did not attend compulsory education, and, therefore, may not be susceptible to learning new topics, for instance, environmental issues. The pollution around the garden hampers land conservation. So, this urban project still has no visible effects and that obfuscates the neighborhood image to the outsiders and it contributes even more to a marginal picture.
A project leading to broader changes
This initiative can lead to broader changes. It purchases the sense of community with dwellers coming up together to preserve their living urban space and work on their resilience, creating effective ways to protect their garden and urban landscape.
The urban gardening project contributes to environmental education being the keyword awareness, firstly, about the issues that have been emerging due to the problem of climate change and then in what ways that changes have impacted people’s lives.
A wider broader change is the implementation of an urban garden for all over the city adjusting to the necessities of each community.
A replicable project
This urban project is replicable, mainly in concept. This means that the implementation of urban gardens should be, unceasingly, a way of intervening in urban space due to the problem of climate change and enhancing urban landscapes. In the Andorinhas Neighborhood case, more work must be done in its design, organization, and environmental education.
References
Abertas as candidaturas para Hortas Comunitárias do Bairro das Andorinhas. (s.d.). Got from Associação dos Moradores do Bairro das Andorinhas: http://ambandorinhas.blogspot.com/
Anonymous. (February de 2022). The Community Urban Garden in the Andorinhas Neighborhood. (V. Pereira, Interviewer)
Economia Circular em Freguesias (JUNTAr+). (s.d.). Got from Fundo Ambiental: https://www.fundoambiental.pt/avisos-anteriores/avisos-2019/residuos-e-economia-circular/economia-circular-em-freguesias-juntar.aspx
Martins, S. F. (2017). Segregação socio-espacial em Braga: o caso de estudo do Bairro das Andorinhas. Repositorium: http://repositorium.sdum.uminho.pt/bitstream/1822/54435/1/Sara%20Filipa%20Lopes%20Martins.pdf
Município de Braga reforça aposta na criação de hortas urbanas. (2016). Got from de Câmara Municipal de Braga: https://www.cm-braga.pt/pt/0201/home/noticias/item/item-1-4102
Silva, J. P. (s.d.). Hortas urbanas nas freguesias de Gualtar e S. Vicente disponíveis até ao final do ano. Got from Correio do Minho: https://correiodominho.pt/noticias/hortas-urbanas-nas-freguesias-de-gualtar-e-s-vicente-disponveis-at-ao-final-do-ano/120599
Walter Molinaro
Rising temperatures and the resulting heat waves in urban areas are just one of the effects of climate change. Although rising temperatures do not bring to our mind disastrous events such as hurricanes or floods, it can have serious consequences on human health.
In Europe, extreme heat appears to be a major cause of death in relation to the effects of climate change. Heat waves cause serious damage to people’s health, and the elderly and children are those who suffer mostly from extreme heat events.
Heat waves don’t seem to be “democratic”. Indeed, they do not affect different areas of the city and the populutation in the same way. If the heat waves are mitigated by the presence of green areas, we immediately understand why they are not so democratic. The green areas in cities are not equally distributed throughout the texture of the cities. In most of the cities around the world is possible to notice how the greatest quantity are present in the wealthy neighborhoods.
Consequently, are the poorest neighborhoods that suffer mostly from this effect, further aggravating the situation of the inhabited areas which, often, have less access to green areas and air conditioning.
Many cities are trying to mitigate the urban heats waves through adaptation and mitigation measures. Some local authorities, thanks to a strong institutional support, are able to build innovative solutions capable of answering to several questions at the same time. The city of Barcelona offers a virtuous case with the project “GBG_AS2C – Blue, Green & Gray_Adapting Schools to Climate Change”, which in 2009 won the European urban innovative action (UIA) project to transform eleven schoolyards into climate shelters. The schools adaptation project aims to mitigate the urban microclimate by transforming schoolyards into climate shelters through the implementation of adaptation actions. The new climate shelters in school courtyards will then be opened to the entire population during school closing hours, and in particular in summer months, as neighborhood parks, where anyone can find shelter from urban heat waves but in particular the most vulnerable people identified in the Climate plan of the city as elderly, children and chronically ill.
In the Barcelona case, the innovation is to intervene on schoolyards with a lens on climate adaptation and transform them into climatically comfortable places, generating both a lowering of the urban micro-climate and new public spaces accessible to all.
The possibility of intervening on public schools was introduced with the Climate Plan, approved in 2018, which declares the need to identify and transform public spaces into climate shelters to tackle urban heat waves. The Climate Plan, also, takes in account the theme of climate justice, promoting actions based on a fair distribution of urban quality in the different areas of the city, creating a “climatically just” Barcelona.
In order to understand the different aspects of the project, an analysis was conducted on various official documents in relation to the Barcelona schools adaptation project and the Climate Plan but also through articles on the themes of urban greening and climate justice.
GBG_AS2C – Blue, Green & Gray_Adapting Schools to Climate Change Project
Location: Barcelona, Catalunya, Spain.
Promoters
To tackle heat waves, the Barcelona climate plan, in line of action three–prevent excessive heat–identifies the need to transform public spaces into climate shelters. Schools and their open spaces have been selected as possible spaces of intervention. Based on this indication, the municipality of Barcelona, in collaboration with various local and territorial authorities, builds an innovative solution based on adaptation and mitigation measures.
In 2019, the project was candidate for the European UIA call with the project “GBG_AS2C – Blue, Green & Gray_Adapting Schools to Climate Change “. The project won the competition and was founded by the European project Urban Innovative Action (UIA).
Beneficiaries
The project “GBG_AS2C – Blue, Green & Gray_Adapting Schools to Climate Change”, in accordance with the objectives and visions of the Climate Plan, identifies all citizens as beneficiaries, but with particular reference to the most fragile people who suffer most from the effect of heat waves.
The project, however, also has direct beneficiaries in the school communities, which most experience the spaces of the school. In fact, children, teachers and school staff in general will receive the greatest benefits.
Engagements with climate change
• Adaptation: creation of green areas and points of water in the schoolyards
• Mitigation: renovation of the energy system of the schools
• Climate Justice: the most vulnerable are placed at the center of the initiative
The GBG_AS2C project is based on the implementation of two measures, two adaptation actions carried out in the open spaces of the schools, and one of mitigation, implemented on the school building.
The adaptation measures are classified into blue and green actions and are intended to create water points, shaded areas, green coats and new gardens that will allow lowering the micro-climate of the area ensuring a greater climatic comfort.
Mitigation initiatives are identified as gray actions and concern the modernization of energy systems with a view to lower consumption and better performance. Although mitigation actions are equally important in contrasting climate change, the adaptation actions will intervene not only on the urban micro-climate but will also have wider repercussions, such as on sociality, when the schoolyards will opened to the entire population.
The Barcelona project, in line with the objectives of the Climate Plan, also takes in account the aspect of climate justice. In order to establish which areas of cities are most affected by extreme heat, various climate analyzes were conducted. The analysis carried out by the Barcelona Region between 2015 and 2017 show how the coolest areas are those located along the coast, while the hottest neighborhoods are those of Les Corts, Eixample Esquerra, Nou Barris and Ciutat Vella. To answer the issue of climate justice, the GBG_AS2C project has developed well-defined criteria to select the pilot schools on which to intervene. In fact, the various criteria include environmental ones aimed at identifying schools located in places most affected by high temperatures, high concentrations of pollution and a lack of green areas. Finally, eleven schools were selected, one for each district.
Figure 1: “Selected schools per Barcelona district” by UIA Project “https://uia-initiative.eu/en/news/adapting-barcelona-climate-change-multicriteria-approach-selection-schools-be-converted”
Objectives
The main objective of the Barcelona project is so described by the proponents: “schools playgrounds will be transformed into climate shelters and be open to the wider public in non-school period” (Uia project, 2020). The general objective of the project is to reduce the effect of heat waves by transforming schoolyards into climatic shelters. Thanks to this transformation, new green areas and new water points will be created that will help lower the urban micro-climate. Once the transformation is complete, the courtyards will be included in the list of climatic shelters in the city and open to the entire population during the closing hours of the school.
The project also has secondary objectives such as promoting a new approach to foster children’s cognitive, social and behavioral development, rising the awareness about environmental problems and organizing course in open spaces of the school. In addition, various meetings have been provided in schools with the aim of informing, communicating and involving not only school users but also the resident population in the neighboring areas. These events aim to raise awareness on climate change, but also to inform the population about the importance of producing adaptation and mitigation actions.
In accordance with the indications of the Climate Plan, the project aims to increase climate justice by implementing actions based on equity.
Finally, there is the goal of further optimizing the participatory process and co-production of the interventions to be implemented. Despite the problems caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, and the impossibility of holding events in person, the co-production meetings were held remotely using the Zoom platform. Net of the opening of the school courtyards, we can say that the structure put in place has led to the desired effects, considering that the school staff, children and parents responded optimally and got involved.
Values
The fundamental aspect of the project is certainly the participation and co-production of the actions. Several participatory events were organized with the aim of motivating and involving the school community in the project. Pupils, teachers and parents were able to inform designers about the needs of each school and promote ideas and suggestions.
One of the added values of the project is communication. The objective of the communication plan was to inform about four fundamental aspects of the project: 1) to convey the need to adopt adaptation strategies to climate change, 2) to inform the residents of the areas surrounding the schools on the adaptation of schoolyards, 3) to raise awareness of the school community, 4) to inform about the technical and scientific aspects of the project.
As well as participation and communication, replicability and scaling are two other qualitative aspects of the project. The project proved its potential through the achievement of the goals and the opening of the first eleven adapted school courtyards. Given the potential that emerged, it was decided to intervene on other schools; specifically, the aim is to adapt another 29 schools by 2023.
It is possible to notice a scalarity beyond local borders; in fact “the Province of Barcelona has also recognized the potential of the project and has been promoting the conversion of two schools into small cities in the region, to Climate Shelters” (Cartalis, 2021, p.17)
To broaden the social effects, the project aims to give the population, especially the fragile ones, new green areas where they can find shelter from heat waves. In order to allow the opening of the courtyards to the entire population, the project was included in the “Schoolyards Open to the Neighborhood Program” which allows: “the school grounds open to the neighborhood are school spaces that open to public use for citizenship outside school hours, both at the weekend and during school holidays”. (Ajuntament Barcelona, 2020)
Timeline
The project began in the 2019-2020 school year. During the first months of 2020, a preliminary study was carried out for the selection of pilot schools, and mandatory criteria were established in order to decide “the number of schools per district of Barcelona, the type of school and the educational level” (Cartalis, 2020 p.14). As priority criteria, the study considered “the state of environment in the area of the school, the building, the patio and the risk for social exclusion” (ibidem).
Once the preliminary analysis was completed, online meetings were held for each school involving the school community in the co-production of the actions. The works began in June of the same year and finished in three months. The works were scheduled during the summer break so they would not interfere with the school activities.
In 2021, the scale-up phase began aiming to integrate the Climate Shelters project into the wider program “Let’s transform the school yards”. This program aims to transform at least 10 schoolyards per year (Cartalis, 2021).
Visible effects:
The project has brought visible effects in spatial terms by transforming over 1000m2 of cemented soil into permeable areas. The objectives set by the green and blue measures envisaged by the project were achieved through the planting of several trees and the installation of over 20 water points. According to the Ajuntament de Barcelona, “As a result, 1,000 square meters of natural space was regained, with vegetation in playgrounds and the creation of 2,213 square meters of new shade using pergolas and awnings. In addition, 74 trees were planted and 26 new water sources were installed” (Ajuntament de Barcelona, 2020)
The photos below show some of the first eleven schoolyards transformed.
Figure 2: “Plantation of trees at the school yard” by “Uia Project” “https://uia-initiative.eu/en/news/barcelona-city-climate-action”
Figure 3: “Barcelona Schoolyard” by Cristina Visconti
As for the social consequences, the project has had greater impacts in the poorest neighborhoods, where clearly the most vulnerable groups suffer the most from heat waves and have less chance of finding shaded areas to shelter. This view is confirmed by Amorim-Maia, Anguelovski, Chu, et al. which declare “adaptation projects are shown to have a greater social impact on poorer neighborhoods, where residents are generally more vulnerable to heat” (2021).
Actors involved:
• Public Health Agency of Barcelona – sectoral agency
• Barcelona Consortium of Education, Barcelona Cycle of Water
• Public Service Provider
• Barcelona Institute for Global Health
• Higher Education and Research Institute
• Institute for Environmental Science and Technology UAB – Higher Education and Research
Institute
The project for the adaptation of first eleven Barcelona schools was conceived thanks to a strong collaboration between various local and territorial bodies. The municipality of Barcelona was the project leader because of the “extensive experience of the City Council of Barcelona in urban projects (also of environmental and climatic character)” (Cartalis, 2020 p.8) and for the “tradition and experience of the City of Barcelona in participatory processes as developed from other projects” (Ibidem, p.10).
Critical points:
Despite the great value of the climate change adaptation actions proposed by the project and the value of fair distribution, it would have been even more productive to select schools only in neighborhoods where there was a greater need to install the new climate shelters.
Figure 1 shows that two of the eleven selected pilot schools are located in privileged neighborhoods. This consideration does not jeopardize the value of the project; nonetheless, the criteria for selecting schools could be better re-designed, concentrating all the resources on the most vulnerable and marginalized neighborhoods.
Another criticality is linked to the high technical dimension of the proposed interventions. One of the greatest risks is that it is not possible to maintain the technical solutions implemented, both due to the lack of skills of the schoolyards managers and the high costs to be incurred. An example could be that relating to blue solutions, which, as Cartalis (2021) states, require “high maintenance costs”.
Finally, there is a critical point relate to the specifics of the selection announcement for schools. In the first call only primary schools were allowed. But with the upscaling project the inclusiveness of the project has increased since the new call has been opened to all schoollevels.
Replicability
The initiative responds to the proposed objectives and it is replicable, creating more and more climate shelters in schoolyards, thereby making schools one of the engines for adapting to climate change in the city. Intervening on schools to implement adaptation and mitigation to climate change has proved to be an innovative solution. Several cities are thinking about the transformation of schoolyards into neighborhood parks at the service of the entire population.
Schools become important for their distribution and capillarity on the urban texture, which appears to be similar in all European cities. This means that the reasoning on schools as the new green areas of the neighborhood can be replicated and implemented in different cities. With this statement, however, we do not want to propose a “one size fits all” solution. It is known that there are no actions that can be applied in same manner everywhere and there will always be a need to contextualize the intervention based on the context of the place.
Various scholars have argued that schools can play a key role in contrasting the negative effects of climate change. Barò et al. (2021) state that “tree cover in schoolyards or the number of street trees around schools are directly related to urban cooling benefits.” Palestino et al. (2020) declare that “schools can therefore be strengthened and networked to collaborate in the rebalancing of urban metabolism and the quality of neighborhood life”1 (Author’s translation)
Conclusions
The “GBG_AS2C” initiative is a good example of planning to tackle the effects of urban heat waves. There are several added values of the project that make it worthy of attention. The major added values of the project are the participatory and co-production processes leading to the actions and the replicability and scalability of the project.
The implementation of the project was made possible thanks to the good management of the municipality, with a strong tradition of participatory actions and community involvement.
The initiative has led to the creation of new open spaces accessible to all, which bring benefits not only to the school communities that most experience the new climate shelters, but also to the population as a whole, paying attention to the most disadvantaged.
The initiative implemented by the municipality of Barcelona led to think about the importance of involving schools in climate planning processes, expanding the range of possible solutions to tackle the negative effects of climate change. When the scale-up phase is over, it will be possible to further analyze the role of the new climate shelters in relation to the mitigation of the urban micro-climate. It will be interesting to analyze the results achieved in the new “Let’s transform the school yards” program.
Given the effectiveness of adapting schoolyards, the question to ask could be: what will be the next public space where to intervene for tackling climate change and create new climate shelters?
References
1. “Climate Plan”, Ajuntament de Barcelona, 2018, Area of Urban Ecology, Barcelona City Council, at:https://www.barcelona.cat/barcelona-pel-clima/sites/default/files/documents/climate_plan_maig.pdf, [last accessed date: 24 February 2022].
2. “School greening: Right or privilege? Examining urban nature within and around primary schools through an equity lens”, Barò et al., (2021), Landscape and Urban Planning, Volume 208, 104019, ISSN 0169-2046.
3. “Reinventare le scuole come hub di rigenerazione socio-ecologica. Una ricognizione sulle potenzialita’ degli spazi aperti degli istituti superiori di Napoli”, Palestino M. F., Amore M. P., Cuntò S., & Molinaro W., (2020), Bollettino Del Centro Calza Bini, 20(1), 181-196. https://doi.org/10.6092/2284-4732/7550
4. “The Climate Shelters project Journal N° 1”, Cartalis C, (2020), Urban Innovative Action, https://www.uia-initiative.eu/sites/default/files/2020-05/Barcelona_GBGAS2C_Journal.pdf, [last accessed date: 17 February 2022].
5. “The Climate Shelters project Journal N° 2”, Cartalis C, (2021), Urban Innovative Action, https://uia-initiative.eu/en/news/climate-shelters-journal-2-update-barcelonas-project, [last accessed date: 19 February 2022].
6. “The social return of the school yards open to the neighborhood and of the school roads is evaluated”, Ajuntament de Barcelona, https://ajuntament.barcelona.cat/tempsicures/en/noticia/the-social-return-of-the-school-yards-open-to-the-neighborhood-and-of-the-school-roads-is-evaluated, [last accessed date: 20 February 2022].
7. “Upscaling with a vision – The school yard as a school”, Cartalis C, (2021), Urban Innovative Actions, https://uia-initiative.eu/en/news/upscaling-vision-school-yard-school, [last accessed date: 21 February 2022].
8. “Eleven schools turned into climate shelters”, Ajuntament de Barcelona, (2020), https://ajuntament.barcelona.cat/relacionsinternacionalsicooperacio/en/noticia/eleven-schools-turned-into-climate-shelters_988451, [last accessed date: 24 February 2022].
9. ”Intersectional climate justice: A conceptual pathway for bridging adaptation planning, transformative action, and social equity”, Amorim-Maia A. T., Anguelovski I., Chu E., Connolly J., (2022), Urban Climate, Volume 41, 101053, ISSN 2212-0955, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.uclim.2021.101053
10. “Journal No. 3 The “final mile” of the Climate Shelters project: communication, evaluation and replication”, Cartalis C., (2021), Urban Innovative Actions, “https://www.uia-initiative.eu/en/news/journal-no-3-final-mile-climate-shelters-project-communication-evaluation-and-replication#5-summing-up-the-main-aspects, [last accessed date: 17 April 2022].
Flavia Manieri
Washed up toxic litter on a beach in Wales by Beth Jnr licensed under the Unsplash License https://unsplash.com/photos/70e440rPW9g
Where is this grassroots initiative implemented?
Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) is a grassroot movement set up in 1990 that has grown into one of the UK’s leading marine conservation and campaigning charities. It was founded in Porthtowan, a small village in Cornwall, South-West England, and today it has its main headquarters in St Agnes, Cornwall. It was originally set up by Chris Hines and a group of surfers to tackle the single issue of sewage pollution in the British seas and particularly in areas where people were surfing. SAS has been working on water quality since then but over the past decade, it has evolved its campaigns in all sorts of areas and they now work on four key themes: water quality, plastic pollution, ocean and climate change, and marine protection (particularly towards the rewilding of British seas).
While SAS is physically located in Cornwall, they work with volunteers and regional representatives in hundreds of villages, towns, and cities all over the country.
Who are the promoters? Who are the beneficiaries?
Chris Hines is the founder and original director of Surfers Against Sewage. In the late 80s and early 90s, Chris Hines and other surfers decided to take a stand against the sewage that was flowing freely into the sea and spoiling surfing at their local beach in Cornwall.
Today Chris Hines is not only a surfer and an activist, but also one of the most successful communicators in British environmentalism.
While Surfers Against Sewage began as a response by the surfing community to the dreadful state of British beaches, today SAS members, supporters and volunteers are found among swimmers, dog walkers, paddleboarders, beach cleaners, kite surfers, sun bathers and more. It is a very inclusive organisation, and in fact, their website reads “Not just surfers, not just sewage” (Surfers Against Sewage, n.d.). Everyone is welcome to join and support SAS actions.
What are the main values? What are the main objectives?
As Surfers Against Sewage states on their website, they love their oceans and wish to see them better protected for the future. They value their deep connection with water, and they are fighting for cleaner coastlines, free of sewage and plastic. At the core of the organisation there has always been the wish to build a community of like-minded people and together create positive change for the ocean through education, volunteering, beach cleans, campaigns, parliamentary events and advocacy.
Surfers Against Sewage main objectives are to reduce sewage and plastic pollution in British waters, but broadly speaking SAS also advocates for action on climate change. They aim at empowering communities across the UK to take action to protect oceans, beaches, and wildlife. Furthermore, they want the UK government to recognise the importance of a thriving ocean, for the planet and for the people, and to utilise its capacity as a solution to the climate crisis.
How does this initiative engage with climate?
For the first decade, Surfers Against Sewage was a single-issue campaign, advocating for sewage-free and cleaner seas. Whilst water quality issues still run strongly in the organization, SAS has grown to take on increasingly diverse, complex, and challenging conservation issues, such as marine plastic pollution, the climate crisis and ocean recovery. The organisation has had to adapt to tackle these global threats by developing new environmental initiatives, partnerships, and projects to safeguard surfing habitats.
As they state on their website, today “Surfers Against Sewage”, a name and a message the team loves and stands by, does not fully reflect the range of issues the organisation currently works on or the diversity of the community it represents.
Surfers Against Sewage works towards mitigating and adapting to climate change through several campaigning activities, such as demonstrations, petitions, beach cleans and public engagement programs, to name a few. Their campaign to end plastic pollution on UK beaches is one of the most successful in the country. SAS has been “mobilising and empowering a nationwide network of ocean activists to take actions from the beach front to the front beaches of Parliament” (Surfers Against Sewage, n.d.)
The organization is promoting a range of ways through which people can be involved in the fight against plastic pollution. For example, anyone can join or run a beach clean on any UK beach with SAS support. One of their projects is called Million Mile Clean, which is possibly the biggest beach clean campaign in the country. It is open to everyone, people can clean any location, at any time, and they just need to track their distance, submit the results, and use the hashtag #MillionMileClean when posting on social media. Since the campaign took off, around 4,200 cleans have taken place all over the UK with the help of over 142,400 volunteers who have collected nearly 400,000 kilos of rubbish.
Surfers Against Sewage aims at highlighting the root cause of the plastic crisis we are facing today, which is the systemic over-production and over-consumption of non-essential single-use and polluting plastic. Along with their commitment to promote actions wishing to see UK beaches plastic-free by 2030, they also set up educational programs to inform communities of the danger of plastic, e.g., how greenhouse gas emissions from plastic are accelerating climate breakdown and threatening our ability to maintain a survivable climate. They encourage schools, businesses, and communities to join the plastic-free movement: to date, over 3000 UK schools have signed up and have become plastic free accredited schools, as well as 856 communities and over 4000 businesses, thanks to SAS committed team.
The charity has also been the promoter of a friendly, non-confrontational and high-impact action called Mass Unwrap which sees customers simply doing their shopping and paying as usual but unwrapping their food and collecting the plastic in empty trollies to show how much waste their shopping generates. It is a great way to visually show the sheer scale of plastic packaging and a unique opportunity for customers to raise awareness of excess packaging.
Surfers Against Sewage wishes to create a plastic-free community network to free the places we live and love from single-use plastic. They wish to unite communities in the fight against plastic pollution and it is not about removing all plastic from people’s lives, but to reduce and avoid single-use plastic, one plastic bottle at a time.
Furthermore, SAS raises awareness of the effects that climate change is having on the ocean and champions the oceans’ role as a key tool in tackling climate change. Together with their network of ocean activists, they make sure the voice of the ocean is heard within the climate crisis. They have been doing so by, for example, setting up an Ocean and Climate petition, calling on the UK government to ensure the ocean was at the centre of climate conversations at COP26. SAS also published an Ocean & Climate Report in January 2021 and a Youth Ocean & Climate Manifesto: their ambition is for the UK to be net zero carbon by 2030. They are calling for changes in legislation and government policy and for climate change to be at the centre of decision making across every government department; they are calling for ocean rewilding to remove carbon from the atmosphere and for a blue circular economy which actively regenerates the ocean.
Surfer participating in a SAS beach clean on Croyde Beach in North Devon, UK by Surfing Croyde Bay licensed under the Unsplash License https://unsplash.com/photos/YuI8wTqBpsA
What is the timeline? Are there already visible effects? Is this initiative conducive to broader changes?
As mentioned above, SAS started off in 1990 as a grassroot movement, driven by a group of passionate surfers in a small village in South-West England, and today it is a very successful and well-respected marine conservation charity in the UK. Described by the BBC as being among the British government’s most sophisticated environmental critics, Surfers Against Sewage has helped to bring about enormous environmental change in the country.
Their high-impact campaign against sewage early on was one of SAS biggest achievements and probably what made them one of the leading UK marine conservation charities today. In the early 90s, SAS challenged the EU Bathing Water Directive and the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive 1991 and campaigned to secure higher water quality standards at all UK bathing waters. They soon became high profile eco-activists and, clad in wetsuits and gasmasks, carried surfboards into boardrooms and political meetings, advocating for cleaner waters. As a result of their work, the UK has seen massive investment in the sewerage infrastructure and much higher bathing water standards protecting the health of surfers, swimmers, and all other recreational water users all over the UK. In 2016, 98.5% of England’s bathing water passed the Bathing Water Directive’s minimum standards, compared to what would have been only 27% in 1990 when Surfers Against Sewage started campaigning.
In 2013, Surfers Against Sewage delivered the biggest petition in enviro-surf history at 10 Downing Street, calling for better recognition and protection of Sites of Special Surfing Interest in the UK. The Protect Our Waves petition was supported by over 55,000 people and it has led to the formation of SAS’s own All Party Parliamentary Group. This is an extraordinary platform for SAS to raise its coastal conservation concerns with politicians in Parliament.
Today SAS runs one of the UK’s biggest campaigns to tackle marine litter, mobilising thousands of community volunteers every year, lobbying government and industry for more urgent action to reduce the tide of plastic on UK beaches and highlighting the issue in the mainstream media.
2021 was a crucial year for the organisation, built on a foundation of many years of campaigning. SAS managed to make water quality and sewage pollution a priority issue in the Environmental Act. They were successful in calling for the legal obligations on real-time sewage pollution information from water companies and a commitment to Parliament reporting on a new plan to tackle sewage pollution in 2022. The amendments that were passed would help drive a progressive reduction in the amount of sewage pollution in the UK.
Which limits does it encounter?
As most grassroots organisations advocating for changes in environmental legislations, Surfers Against Sewage are no different in finding challenges when dealing with politicians and water companies. In a recent interview Hugo Tagholm, CEO of Surfers Against Sewage, points out that after their successful campaign against sewage started in the 1990s, which drove to an important decade of investment to tackle sewage pollution, “water companies have become complacent as they tend to put profits before the environment” (Our Shared Seas, 2022).
Holding politicians and water companies accountable is one of the difficult tasks of the organisation, but SAS is committed to drive change, and they believe it is fundamental to pressure the government and the water industry into prioritising the ocean’s needs. While the system in place can somehow limit their work, SAS greatest strength is the millions of people they inspire, engage, and mobilize to care and act every day.
Are any shortcomings or critical points visible? What other problematic issues can arise from its implementation?
Surfers Against Sewage are a hugely proactive organization and their aim of building more resilient communities in the UK has proven very successful over the years. SAS has been inspiring thousands of people nationwide to rethink plastic consumption and to act against climate change. They bring communities of ocean lovers together using a varied range of tools which allow their actions to be accessible and available to most people. Their website is easy to navigate and it is the best way to find out how to get involved. They have a great social media presence and promote action via Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. However, I am not sure whether finding information about SAS and their activities can prove challenging for digitally excluded people. People living by the water, particularly in coastal towns, would probably know SAS for their beach cleans and many actions of civil disobedience over the years. On the contrary, others who do not have direct and frequent access to the sea, may not be aware of SAS unless they are on social media and/or intentionally look for activities that SAS would be promoting. Perhaps organising more public engagement activities through regional representatives and ambassadors around the UK would help reaching out those people who are digitally excluded. According to a study conducted by the Office for National Statistics, in 2018 there were still 5.3 million adults in the UK who never used internet or had not used it in the previous 3 months (ONS 2019).
Surfers Against Sewage offers a number of ways through which people can take action and support their work. Yet, some of their events are not fully accessible to everyone as, for example, beach cleans and some acts of civil disobedience cannot be always accessed by elderly or people with disability. This is not unique to SAS and I think it is a problematic issue for many grassroots organizations, mostly because our cities, towns and villages are not truly disabled-accessible and all-ages-friendly. It would be great to have SAS ensure that all their events are age-friendly and with disabled access. Although, I fully understand that accessibility is a much bigger issue that in some cases would be beyond SAS capacities.
How would it be potentially replicable in other settings?
Surfers Against Sewage started in a small coastal village in Cornwall but over the years it has created a nationwide network of ocean activists, and today supports villages, towns, and cities all over the UK. In view of that, SAS can very easily be replicated in other settings and other countries.
A similar organisation has, in fact, recently been set up in Australia with the name Surfers for Climate. The movement was started in October 2019 by surfers Johnny Abegg and Belinda Baggs, and it became a registered charity in 2020 with its headquarters in Byron Bay, a popular coastal town in New South Wales, Australia. Surfers for Climate seems to share very similar values with their partner organisation Surfers Against Sewage: they love and respect the ocean; they welcome surfers and ocean lovers of all abilities, from all identities, backgrounds, and beliefs; they wish to connect and collaborate with like-minded communities, businesses and organisations to make change happen. Both organisations also share similar goals, although while Surfers for Climate seems to be more oriented towards campaigning against coastal and offshore fossil fuel development, SAS prioritizes the fight against plastic and sewage. Surfers for Climate is a much recent organisation, but they seem to be off to a great start as they have already caught the attention of thousands of people from the surfing community across Australia.
As many of us around the world love the ocean, I believe that Surfers Against Sewage can and should be used as a model for great change and replicated worldwide.
References
Office for National Statistics. (2019). Exploring the UK’s digital divide.
Our Shared Seas. (2022). Turning the Tide on Sewage Pollution in the UK: An Interview with Surfers Against Sewage, https://oursharedseas.com/interview-surfers-against-sewage/
Pullman, E., Slack, A. and Tagholm, H. (2021). Ocean & Climate Report. Surfers Against Sewage,
https://www.sas.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/SAS-Ocean-Climate-Report-2020-Digital.pdf
Surfers Against Sewage. (n.d.). Youth Ocean & Climate Manifesto. Accessed February 15, 2022, https://www.sas.org.uk/youthoceanclimatesummit/
Surfers Against Sewage. (n.d.). About us. Accessed February 10, 2022,
https://www.sas.org.uk/about-us/
Surfers Against Sewage. (n.d.). Mission & Vision. Accessed February 10, 2022,
https://www.sas.org.uk/about-us/mission-vision/
Surfers Against Sewage. (n.d.). Mass Unwrap. Accessed February 13, 2022,
https://www.sas.org.uk/organise-a-mass-unwrap/
Surfers Against Sewage. (n.d.). Million Mile Clean. Accessed February 13, 2022,
Surfers Against Sewage. (n.d.). News. Accessed February 13, 2022,
https://www.sas.org.uk/latest-news/
Surfers for Climate. (n.d.). Our Story. Accessed February 19, 2022,
https://surfersforclimate.org.au/our-story
Waldron, B. (2018). Agents of Change: Surfers Against Sewage. Surfer.
https://www.surfer.com/blogs/agents-of-change/surfers-against-sewage-hugo-tagholm-interview/
The Case of Food Cooperative ‘Hansalim’ in South Korea
Joohee Lee
With the growing concerns over the ongoing global sustainability crises such as climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic, social movement-based momentum for change is needed more than ever. Indeed, top-down, country-level efforts to achieve sustainable development goals (SDGs) have exposed a clear level of political limitations and inertia over the years. Non-governmental and local-level SDG action, on the contrary, has seen significant growth thanks to the flexibility and locality embedded in their unconventional ideas and innovations. Cooperatives are one of those innovators on the front lines of SDGs. This entry sheds light on the unique role of food cooperatives, defined as consumer-owned food distribution organizations, in enhancing climate awareness and action among customers by promoting healthy food, fair trade, and grassroots movements.
Background on the Hansalim Movement
As a case study, I investigated a South Korean food cooperative called Hansalim (or 한살림 in Korean), which means ‘saving all living beings’ and also ‘living in unity.’ Hansalim began as a small local rice shop in Seoul, South Korea in 1986, and is now one of the oldest and largest food cooperatives in the country. Its initial goal as a community-serving food network was to connect rural and urban areas for fair exchange of fresh and organic food. This agricultural and food innovation quickly appealed to customers in urban areas, who were interested in healthy eating and mutual growth with rural communities. In 2017, Hansalim supplied $423 million worth of ethically produced and traded food items from 2,000 individual farms to approximately 644,000 families (Hansalim, 2016). As of 2022, the cooperative is running 240 local stores across Korea (See Figure 1). They continue to evolve not only in terms of numbers, but also in terms of creativity that can alter the unjust and unsustainable food-climate-energy system with grassroots power.
In 2014, Hansalim received the One World Award, which honors experiments that exhibit positive and creative examples of globalization based on sustainability, for its accomplishments and inspirations (One World Award, n.d.). Hansalim’s approach to food-energy-climate justice has also been recognized and discussed in academic work (Kim, Lee, Shin & Jang, 2020; Pak and Kim, 2016; Choi, 2009). One study positively evaluated the co-op by showing that Hansalim illustrates a successful and practical example of an intellectual movement based on ecophilosophy and bio-regionalism. (Pak and Kim, 2016; Suh, 2015). The concept of Hasalism was also viewed as a trust-based social economy that brings urban and rural communities together in a globalized market environment (Choi, 2009). In the following sections, I explore the philosophical and organizational drivers behind the Hansalim movement.
Figure 1: A local Hansalim store in Seoul, South Korea. Image by Joohee Lee.
Hansalim’s Organizational Values and Principles
According to Hansalim, their movement is based on five core principles: 1) respect for life, 2) respect for Mother Earth, 3) respect for community, 4) respect for ecosystems, and 5) the spirit of ‘change begins from me’ (Hansalim, n.d.a). These principles have guided the food cooperative’s three focus areas. The first and foremost focus area is to save people’s tables. To fulfill this goal, Hansalim connects producers and consumers directly (75% of total sales revenues go to the contract farmers), organizes educational programs and campaigns to promote food sustainability, and gets involved in policy-making processes to enhance the country’s food production and distribution systems. Secondly, to save our agriculture, Hansalim supports farmers who produce safe and organic food, creates funds to protect ecologically sound local farms, and organizes activities between rural and urban communities. Last but not least, Hansalim is committed to saving our life and planet by promoting the value of our life and planet through research, education, publication activities, and practicing alternative ways of living in harmony with nature and neighbors. Hansalim’s principles of everyday sustainability and well-being show the potential in cooperative-led food-climate-energy justice action as a bottom-up movement for sustainable consumerism and climate activism. As seen in Figure 2, Hansalim local stores serve not only as food stores but also as small, local learning commons for grassroots-based sustainability movements.
Figure 2: Hansalim stores offer and recommend books concerning food sovereignty and environmental justice. Image by Joohee Lee.
Hansalim’s Efforts in Local Climate Action
In the face of the rapidly growing threat of the climate crisis, Hansalim’s passion for agricultural sustainability has naturally extended to the issue of food-climate-energy justice due to the inseparable linkage between the three areas for sustainable living. While their core organizational goal is most relevant to food and agriculture-related SDGs (e.g., SDG 2 “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture” and SDG 12 “Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns”), their activities and programs for members also cover other SDGs related to energy, climate, and social justice.
For example, the cooperative recently launched a program called ‘Climate Conversation at the Dining Table,’ which invites members to end ‘climate silence’ and share ideas and experiences about the topic of climate change with friends and family, as a way of normalizing and routinizing these conversations. Talking about the climate crisis more frequently can remind us of the severity and prevalence of the issue. In a similar vein, the cooperative encourages members to consider introducing more vegetarian dishes to their dining tables for healthy eating and a reduced carbon footprint. They feature Hansalim members’ simple and creative vegetarian recipes in their newsletter, blog, and social media. Also, the cooperative collects and recycles used containers of its products (e.g., glass jars and milk paper cartons) and incentivizes participants of this program with gifts or store credit for future use at local stores. The cooperative provides clear directions for how to clean and return used containers, for example, via its YouTube channel or social media platforms to promote these customer-engaging programs (Hansalim, 2015). As shown in Figure 3, its recent introduction of the ‘Bring Your Own Container’ section for grains is another effort to encourage customers to use fewer disposables and contribute to sustainable consumerism.
Figure 3: Hansalim stores offer less-packaging options with which customers can use their own containers for items sold by weight (e.g., grains). Image by Joohee Lee.
As part of its mission to provide customers with environmentally and socially sustainable products, the organization also supports grassroots activities like anti-GMO and anti-nuclear power generation movements. For instance, the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident strongly motivated the cooperative to introduce a rigorous self-inspection system for the radiation level of their items and to oppose the Korean government’s expansion of nuclear power generation. Instead, the organization advocates for localized and small-scale energy projects that promote energy conservation and replacement of carbon-intensive and high-risk energy systems with renewable ones. In 2012, the Hansalim community created a solar energy cooperative, called Hansalim Sunlight Generation Cooperative, separately to fund the installation of solar PV systems on Hansalim’s facilities. This energy cooperative also provides energy-related educational programs to local communities and sends sustainable energy items, like solar lanterns, to energy-vulnerable communities abroad.
Another interesting project of Hansalim beyond food-related issues is clothing recycling for socio-environmental causes. Every year, they resell used clothing donated by customers and redirect the sales revenue to at-risk neighborhoods in Korea and beyond (e.g., financial support for local schools in Karachi, Pakistan). Since the launch of this program in 2017, the cooperative has collected 560 tons of clothing in total, which is equivalent to reducing greenhouse gases by 3,500 tons (Hansalim, n.d.b).
Limits and Future Opportunities
Hansalim programs could be further developed and promoted for broader participation of the public living in urban areas. An especially important problem is that not all customers are fully aware of Hansalim’s grassroots activities and projects for food-climate-energy sustainability. In the future, the cooperative can consider increasing the visibility of these efforts by implementing creative advertisement strategies and learning from best practices done by similar cooperatives in other countries. In addition, Hansalim should continue its support program for visitors from other countries, especially developing economies, who visit them to learn successful programs and organizational strategies for application in their cultural and societal contexts.
In 2021, the cooperative’s research unit, the Moshim and Salim Institute, published a book about the Hansalim movement in English for those interested in the organization’s history and vision beyond the boundaries of South Korea (Hansalim, 2021). Hansalim Manifesto is an English translation of the book originally released in 1989 in the Korean language that invited readers to rethink the long-term effects of industrial civilization and technological society on humanity and ecosystems. Continued endeavors to connect with global communities by sharing the organization’s experiments and lessons are highly suggested. In the same vein, interacting and collaborating with similar organizations in other countries can allow Hansalim to learn different perspectives on food sustainability and continue to expand its vision for everyday food-climate-energy justice.
References
Choi, H. (2009). Institutionalization of trust as response to globalization: The case of consumer cooperatives in South Korea. Transition Studies Review, 16(2), 450-461. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11300-009-0082-1.
Hansalim (2021). Hansalim Manifesto (In English). Available at http://www.mosim.or.kr/arc_list/3946?ckattempt=1.
Hansalim. (2018). Hansalim Story: Together Again and Fresher (In English). Available at https://issuu.com/7307/docs/2018______________-______.
Hansalim. (2015). YouTube Video on “How to Recycle Hansalim Glass Jars” (In Korean). Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwy_6i1yfaE&t=2s.
Hansalim. (n.d.a) About Hansalim (In Korean). https://shop.hansalim.or.kr/shopping/worldmeal/introduce.do.
Hansalim. (n.d.b). Hansalim Clothing Recycling: Achievements (In Korean). Available at https://hansalimotsalim.modoo.at/?link=eoi0ud2q.
Hansalim. (2016). The 30th anniversary of Hansalim: Growth from 1,500 to 600,000 member households (In Korean). Available at https://m.blog.naver.com/PostView.naver?isHttpsRedirect=true&blogId=hansalim&logNo=220880021217.
Kim, S., Lee, Y., Shin, H., & Jang, S. (2020). Chapter 20: Korea’s consumer cooperatives and civil society: the cases of iCOOP and Hansalim. In Waking the Asian Pacific Co-Operative Potential (pp. 225-233). Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-816666-6.00020-3.
One World Award. (n.d.). The Korean Hansalim Federation One World Award Gold 2014 (In English). Available at https://www.one-world-award.com/hansalim-korea.html.
Pak, M. S., & Kim, J. (2016). Ecophilosophy in modern East Asia: The case of Hansalim in South Korea. Problemy Ekorozwoju–Problems of Sustainable Development, 11(1), 15-22. https://ssrn.com/abstract=2830453.
Suh, J. (2015). Communitarian cooperative organic rice farming in Hongdong District, South Korea. Journal of Rural Studies, 37, 29-37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2014.11.009.
Anna Kryukova
The green bonds initiative
In April 2021, the Moscow government adopted a new concept of the city’s green bonds. All the funds received from their placement were supposed to be spent on construction of the new metro stations and purchase of electric buses [1] [2]. The bonds worth 70 billion rubles were issued by the city government on the Moscow Exchange in May 2021 and later in September were presented on the list of securities of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange [3]. The issue was carried out in accordance with the Green Bond Principles (GBP) of the International Capital Market Association that also confirmed that the project met Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) [4] [5]. Thus, it became a part of international sustainable finance community.
In this entry, I explore the specifics and possible impacts of this initiative and challenges that it faces. In particular, I reflect on the project’s engagement with climate change, its objectives, values, feasibility, and limits.
Moscow’s background
In this section, I briefly outline the environmental issues that city faces, as they have determined the features of the green bonds initiative. Moscow’s 2021 population was 12,6 million people. It is the largest Russian city with developed industry, services, and urban infrastructure. Accordingly, the emission issues are relevant. Moscow is one of the worst polluters among the world cities: annually it emits more than 110 million tons of CO2 equivalent into the atmosphere [6]. Although the main source of emissions in Moscow is the energy sector, the popularity of cars powered by internal combustion engine also worsens the situation, additionally affecting air quality and contributing to heavy traffic. Several ratings on the traffic situation in the world cities contain very different data and results, however, according to TomTom traffic index, as of 2021, the Moscow region has taken the second place in the traffic index with congestion level of 61% [7]. According to INRIX 2021 Global Traffic Scorecard, Moscow is the 4th most congested city in the world with 108 hours lost in congestion annually [8].
Environmental, climate, and social relevance of the initiative
The Moscow administration considers the initiative to be a part of city’s efforts to achieve the following Sustainable Development Goals: Goal 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) and Goal 13 (Climate Action) [9]. This project is one of the city’s tools to reduce GHG emissions by 30% by 2030, improve air quality and thus public health. As the project is completed, Moscow has to become a healthier and more accessible place to live in.
Although the main reason for issuing the bonds is directly to addresses climate change, the project also greatly affects the city’s infrastructure and improves mobility. According to the mayor Sergey Sobyanin, the metro will become more accessible for ~800 thousand of Moscow residents. Travel time from one area to another will be reduced approximately by 20 percent, so all the residents using metro will benefit at some point [10]. The administration experts claim that more than thirteen thousand people will switch from personal cars to public transport when Bolshaya Koltsevaya line (also known as Big Circle Line) is completed. Moreover, some areas around the new stations are planned to be landscaped and arranged with greenery, so that local residents get a chance to have a better rest outside. This measure will contribute to climate adaptation as well, as the heat waves are relevant for Moscow. The total zone of such improvements should make up to approximately 44 hectares. Also the local government plans to construct bicycle parking stations near the metro, so the residents who use bikes as a transportation source, will also benefit [11]. It is not clear, whether such improvements will be done only with funds collected under the green bonds, however, these projects are interconnected at any rate.
According to officials, the proposed transport infrastructure will lead to the following greenhouse gas emissions reduction: carbon dioxide by 20,900 tons per year, and other pollutants by 885,5 tons per year (starting from 2023). For illustration, CO2 emissions from one diesel bus and one electric bus are estimated at 64.9 and 4.4 t / year on average, respectively [12]. Replacing just one diesel bus with an electric one allows to reduce the air pollutant emissions by 190-260 kg per year [13].
The initiative has one more impact that is not so obvious and that is related to citizens’ financial literacy. The administration is willing to involve the residents in financing the city’s green projects and thus increase their financial awareness. In late 2021, the representatives of local government claimed that the bonds exclusively for private investors were going to be issued. However, it is unclear for the author at this point if such initiative has been fulfilled yet.
Implementation status and challenges
Now I outline the progress that has already been made and criticism that the initiative faces.
Maturity date for the Moscow green bonds is May 18, 2028. The low-carbon transport project will be completed by the end of 2023, and it is not clear at the moment what kind of measures will be taken after that. As for now, the authorities have already made a particular progress, for instance, ten metro stations were opened in December 2021 [14]. In general, the Big Circle Line has to be completed by the end of 2023 [15] with 18 new stations built and 3 stations reconstructed. About 48 kilometers of the metro lines are going to be built or reconstructed.
According to the plan, the electric buses have to be purchased in 2021-2023. In total, the administration plans to buy approximately 1675 of them on the funds collected from the green bonds issue. As of November 2021, 800 electric buses have already been purchased. The Moscow city government plans to procure another 500 in 2022 [16].
The bonds turned out to be quite popular: demand exceeded supply by 1.2 times. The authorities have stated that the citizens in particular showed a high demand for green bonds. They have already invested about 700 million rubles in the project – that is the main reason for the local government to issue the bonds for individual investors [17].
Despite the existing success of the project and its ambitious goals, it is still being criticized. I have outlined three groups of disaffection:
A critical reflection and a future of the initiative
As the Moscow administration claims, the authorities of other Russian regions and cities have already expressed their interest in issuing their own green bonds, for instance, Saint Petersburg, Moscow Oblast,[1] and Krasnodar Krai [24]. It is a very important fact for the environmental protection, but I see even a greater potential in this. The power of regions in Russia is limited by many issues. Moscow’s attempt to take action in tackling climate change could encourage other regions not only to become more ambitious non-state actors in the global climate regime, but also to truly strengthen the federalism in the country. However, I had made such a suggestion before the war against Ukraine began. Now the Russian people face the mobilization times: free speech and anti-war movement are being prosecuted, unprecedented sanctions make the federal government limit both green agenda (many federal programs are being postponed) and regions’ opportunities to decide their development directions.
As of March 2022, due to Russian’s invasion of Ukraine and the sanctions imposed, the Moscow bonds were suspended from the Luxembourg Stock Exchange. Also the International Capital Market Association (ICMA), being an influential center for sustainable development initiative, suspended all Russian members [25]. With no doubt, the project of Moscow administration and the green agenda in general will be greatly affected in Russia from now on.
The project has the following joint co-organizers (investment banks engaged in Bond issuance): Alfa Bank, BCS Global Markets, VTB Capital, Gazprombank, Credit Bank of Moscow, Otkritie Bank, Promsvyazbank, Raiffeizenbank, Rosbank, Region Broker, Russian Agricultural Bank, Sber CIB, Sovkombank. Due to the war, the sanctions were imposed on many of them. Moreover, the foreign investors probably will not be interested in Russian state bonds in the nearest future, even the green ones. The author doubts that domestic investors will be able to cover the whole project now, although at the very beginning the Moscow administration expected the demand of Russian investors to be sufficient.
Despite all this, I consider the green bonds to be an effective instrument that could boost the changes and contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation. The financial mechanisms have a great potential of accelerating the voluntary transformation and raising ambition.
Although the validity of some decisions made in the green bonds project is questionable, for example, the choice of certain models of electric buses, the general approach of promoting green mobility is promising. The initiative does not only improve the environmental state of Moscow, but also takes into account the social part of the transformation related to climate change. Such transition has to be a part of sustainable development in a broader sense. Also, although the decentralization in Russia will obviously be delayed, the accumulated experience and acquired skills can be used in the future. The transformation is still possible.
References
[1] Moscow and Moscow Oblast are different independent regions. While Moscow Oblast has several cities and other kinds of settlements and it’s a standard region according to Russian law, Moscow has a special status, being both a region and city. The same goes to St. Petersburg.
By Angelina Grelle
Ponticelli is a district in the eastern outskirts of the metropolitan city of Naples. It is a complex neighborhood, mostly born after the ’80 earthquake, with an emergency plan. For this reason, it assumes a complex identity: It is a neighborhood with its historic centre, and its suburb recently built. This space’s conformation brings a different perception of the district between old and new habitants. Moreover, Ponticelli in the past had been a swampland that was reclaimed in the ‘700-‘800. Today in Ponticelli there are frequent floods that cause a lot of damage. Frequent flooding is caused, not only by the orographic conformation of the land but also by the numerous impermeable soils or soils that have lost their quality in terms of drainage due to waste abandonment and frequent fires. Furthermore, the neighborhood is at the mercy of organized crime.
Following the 1980 earthquake, Ponticelli was interested by a massive urban intervention that included the creation of a large park, dedicated to Fratelli de Filippo (De Filippo’s Brothers). It’s 122k square meters between paved area, green areas, playground, and artificial hills. After the construction, this park has been abandoned and vandalized. In 2015, an area inside the park was entrusted by the municipality to a center dedicated to the treatment and support for drug addicted people, part of the local public health office (Lilliput center, ASL Napoli 1) in collaboration with a social cooperative (ERA GESCO). The entrusted area was dedicated to the creation of urban gardens. Slowly the gardens have grown and from a few plots of land came in 2019 to 145 cultivated terraces with a waiting list of 200 people interested to be included in the project. Last year it expanded further, involving another 50 terraces in the central area of De Filippo Park. To take care of the gardens are associations, parishes, schools, but also ordinary citizens, from different social classes. The strength of the gardens of Ponticelli is not only that the project has recovered an abandoned area but also it has created a community in which people support and help each other.
From the environmental point of view, no pesticides are employed in the gardens. Biodiversity is respected by respecting the natural cycle of the seasons. The gardens today represent an example of sustainable environmental, social and economic development. Many initiatives take place in the gardens. Schools and associations often use the gardens as a venue for various events.
Figure 1– Urban gardens plan. Photo by the author.
The urban garden of Ponticelli can be considered an adaptation strategy if we look at the drainage system built in collaboration with the University Federico II of Naples, Department of Architecture. Through a network of canals and cisterns, that system helped to avoid any waste of water. On the other hand, the urban garden responds to the needs of mitigation as it reduces CO2 emissions, lowering the cost of transport by promoting the km0 consumption and reducing waste related to packaging. The urban garden of Ponticelli brings into play actions that address several objectives of the European Agenda such as: ensuring health and well-being, ending hunger, making cities inclusive and sustainable, ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns, and ensuring peace justice.
Currently, gardens are facing a complicated period. Recently they have been increasingly vandalized: irrigation systems have been tampered with, trees uprooted, tools stolen, and crops ruined. Because of the socio-economic structure of the neighborhood small vandalism events have always occurred in the gardens, but recently these accidents have increased, to the point of requiring the intervention of public forces. The association Sepofà has become the spokesperson for these requests that hopefully will not go unheard. In a fragile neighborhood like Ponticelli, initiatives such as the social garden are often targeted by mafia. Clearly, when the most disadvantaged social classes are marginalized and their neighborhood transformed into a ghetto, they can easily be subjugated by criminal organizations, as they often become the only “presence” on the territory. For this reason, initiatives such as the social garden represent an alternative to show citizens that there are virtuous realities and a different way of life. It emphasizes how sometimes systems of injustice and inequity are not related to legal and “linear” dynamics, but rather, in certain contexts, are perpetrated by social and cultural conditions that arise from deep-seated social discomfort, leading those who most need change to be the first enemies of change. How does this cycle thicken? If it is true that climate change adaptation entails social transformations that contribute to more just and sustainable political, social, and economic systems, it is necessary that institutions support initiatives like communitarian gardens so they can thrive and play a key environmental and social role.
Figure 2- One of the terraces. We can see how well these are cared for and maintained.
Photo by the author.
This system is replicable elsewhere. There are numerous examples of urban gardens around the world that take their cue from the most distinct initiatives, some implemented from below as in the case of Ponticelli, but often also driven by institutional initiatives. Is there any certainty that these always work? No, as we have seen in the case of Ponticelli even when all goes well unexpected things can happen. This does not mean that it should not be an initiative supported and implemented, rather it means that we need more commitment from both institutions and citizens to protect these initiatives.
References
Alessandro Bottone on “Il Mattino”, (18 giugno 2021) ‘Ponticelli altre 50 terrazze nell’orto sociale’https://www.ilmattino.it/napoli/citta/ponticelli_altre_cinquanta_terrazze_nell_orto_sociale-6030459.html
Alessandro Bottone on “Il Mattino” (3 febbraio 2022) ‘Orto di Ponticelli, raccolta fondi per riparare ai danni dei vandali’ https://www.ilmattino.it/napoli/cronaca/orto_di_ponticelli_raccolta_fondi_riparare_danni_vandali_napoli-6481010.html
Jenkins, K. “Setting energy justice apart from the crowd: Lessons from environmental and climate justice.” Energy Research & Social Science, 39, 117–121. (2018). doi: 10.1016/j.erss.2017.11.015
A Visit to the Museum of Conviviality
By Shayan Shokrgozar
A tall Persian man wearing a matte red tie turned to his audience of 20 bright-eyed bachelor’s students. His eyes shone as he surveyed the smiles in the crowd.
Welcome to the Museum of Conviviality. My name is Arash Kamangir and I have been a guide here for about five years. Today, I have the pleasure of showing you around this historic building. As you all may know, we were established 50 years ago on the 200th anniversary of Limits to Growth. A report that urged human societies to limit growth on population increase, agricultural production, non-renewable resource depletion, industrial output, and pollution generation. Its central message being that the earth cannot support the rates of economic and population growth much beyond the year 2100, if that long, even with advanced technology. Though Limits to Growth had strengths and weaknesses of its own, in retrospect it is difficult not to see it as a course-altering document, the effects of which one can see even today. Although Limits was a historic report, we must not forget that the 1970s was a decade that promised a different and rich future full of possibilities. There was the Stockholm Declaration of 1972 that sought to advance “intellectual, moral, social and spiritual growth.” The rise of ecological economics through the likes of Georgescu-Roegen, deep ecology through Arne Næss, and a growing critique of development and industrialization coming from Ivan Illich among others. So, the museum is a celebration of many of those ideas, and much of what you will see here are the principles and actions that can be seen as coming from the same pluriverse as the ones inspired by it.
A college student of perhaps 22 years stepped forward. “Hi, I’m Mehran and I was wondering if you can tell us how the museum acquired its name?”
Good question. The name Conviviality is inspired by and is an homage to Ivan Illich and his book, Tools for Conviviality. In that book, Illich argued for a reorientation of the use of tools and the role of institutions. He called for a new type of research that is oriented toward alternatives to the dominant forms of production, which were at the time dominated by industrial forms. His hope was for these to then lead to new forms of organizing life and society, away from industrialization and towards conviviality. Thanks for the question, just let me know if something doesn’t make sense.
Adjusting his suspender – with its paisley pattern – Arash points to the first exhibition: a wall decorated with images of David Ricardo, Jean Baptiste Say, Karl Marx, John Maynard Keynes, Friedrich August Hayek, Karl Polanyi, Nicholas Georgescu Roegen, Thomas Piketty, among many others. Filled with carefully curated graphs from some of the most prominent institutes of the late 20th-mid 21st century – the World Bank, UN Reports, trade treaties, and so forth.
Given the centrality of economics and scarcity, we will begin today’s tour with an exploration of ecological economics that holds the core premise that finite resources and ecology make the continued growth of the economy unsustainable. This ecological and scientific understanding of the world made the scholar Joan Martinez Alier write about attaining a concrete utopia through radical social change. In many ways, the ideas about a Pluriverse – or universe of universes – were very much inspired by how to make a concrete or feasible utopia. The Pluriverse brought all these different ideas of organizing societies together, right. Based on, for example, Queer Love, Ubuntu, Buen Vivir, Deep Ecology, Ecofeminism, and many other thoughts, the Pluriversal thinking, especially starting in the 2030s, brought many of these worlds in conversation together. Through their collective strength, these movements managed to confront what was at the time a conception of modernity as universal – through which humans were expected to live in a single, globalized world with science as the only reliable truth and harbinger of progress. It followed with the certainty of Victorian rectitude that advanced societies had an obligation to assist the “backward”. Which conveniently, continued to play well for the needs of the wealthiest nations and entities. Any questions so far?
Arshiya, a second-year Bachelor’s student wearing a rose-colored shawl, wandered away from the group to inspect the next exhibit. It was a miniature model of the city in which they stood – Tehran, Persia. But instead of fields of rye, carrot, lettuce, intermixing with forests and cabin communities like she was used to, the city was defined by wide roads, big cars that pedestrians had to wait for. “Could you explain how it benefited the wealthiest nations and entities?”
In short, a lot of the labor-intensive work and extraction of raw materials was carried out in countries and communities that were largely not benefiting from the exchange. They had their air and water polluted and often even contaminated in the name of development – which were well-documented by initiatives such as the Environmental Justice Atlas – and this often led to losing customary access to lands that people used for subsistence-based lives. Hope that clarifies my point a bit? So yeah, despite devastating climate disasters and a long struggle of living in the ruins of the dark days of modernity and industrialization, it took a lot for small pockets of peoples to create the thriving ecosystems based on a need-based economy that today seem normal. For example, the idea that nation-states can be abandoned in favor of bioregions and consensus-based societies – informed by local ecological dynamics – was a lengthy effort. In Tehran, today, we see people practicing permaculture and organizing themselves within grassroots communities, but in the top-down societies of the past it was very hard to imagine organizing society is this way, which some would argue sprouted from the transition town network movement of the centuries past.
In the midst of the tour, Arvin, a young and bright lecturer in history, glances around the hall with its low-energy intensive materials, passive cooling features, gardens, and analog displays. Thinking about how the site of the museum, once a steel plant, shows the role of sociotechnical ideologies on placemaking.
Okay, now we come to the contemplation section of the museum, displaying items that were once fetishized – cars, planes, mockups of infrastructural megaprojects, and airports – which had vast energy needs, leading to the extinction of millions of our earthlings. These items were heavily reliant on a life philosophy around Extractivism. Whether it was minerals, harnessing vital flows like the sun and the wind for reasons that had nothing to do with decent living, or serving the planetary conditions. Since we now organize our societies in ways that allow us to live our lives and attain what we need without mass logistics, and there is rarely a need for fast transportation, our cities are organized around pedestrians, but it was far from this in the vast megacities of days long gone. People lived and worked in circumstances that locked them into a car-dependent life. Because of the dominant discourses around growth and development, which were dictated by the North Atlantic countries, this model spread across the world like wildfire. And infrastructures are incredibly difficult and time-consuming to reverse because an entire chain of other elements in society then become dependent upon them. Questions?
Mehrdad, an exchange student from the bioregion of Harat raised their hand as they began to talk: In class, Arvin told us about an agenda called “green” growth or sustainable development, and many people including prominent researchers and institutes worked on bringing it about. How does that fit in these stories?
Good question. When the ecological and climate crisis was deteriorating, a watered-down version of the Limits debates made it to a document known as Our Common Futures. Sadly it became the defining document of what superseded it for decades to come, whether it was the Rio conference or Kyoto that solidified it into international conventions or many of the following UNFCCs. This warrants a long discussion, but even today eco-modernists argue if just given a little more time humans would have accomplished absolute decoupling. They are not shy about their efforts to revive industrialization. They blame degrowth and its spread for preventing a technological utopia that would have succeeded in decoupling growth from development. I would suggest going back to the exhibit on limits and scarcity, there you will find some rich materials for how the imperative of saving capitalism led to decades of discussion on ineffectual policies like carbon trading, negative emission technologies, and false energy transitions discourses. These false promises were based on reassuring citizenry that while the present and future might look dystopian, the political and economic elite can adjust policy to adequately respond to them without there being any need to alter neoliberal capitalism.
Okay, now I know you all have various projects of interest for your course essay. So, with this background, I will let you go explore the rest of the museum, but I will be around if you have any questions or comments. I would highly recommend visiting our most recent addition, the singularity exhibition. It explores how some humans were trying to make themselves immortal through biotechnoscience and visions of transhumanism.
Some of the works mentioned
Asafu-Adjaye, John, Linus Blomqvist, Stewart Brand, Barry Brook, Ruth DeFries, Erle Ellis, Christopher Foreman, et al. 2015. “An Ecomodernist Manifesto.” https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.1.1974.0646.
Illich, Ivan. 1997. “Development as Planned Poverty.” In The Post-Development Reader, edited by Majid Rahnema and Victoria Bawtree, 94–104. London: Zed Books.
Illich, Ivan. 2009 [1973]. Tools for Conviviality. London: Marion Boyars.
Kothari, Ashish, Ariel Salleh, Arturo Escobar, Federico Demaria, and Alberto Acosta, eds. 2019. Pluriverse: A Post-Development Dictionary. New Delhi: Tulika Books and Authorsupfront.
Meadows, Donella, Dannis Meadows, Jørgen Randers, and William Behrens. 1973. The Limits to Growth: A Report for the Club of Rome’s Project on the Predicament of Mankind. New York: Universe Books.
Naess, Arne. 1973. The Shallow and the Deep, Long-Range Ecology Movement. A Summary. Inquiry, no. 16: 95–100.
UN. 1987. “Our Common Future.” A/42/427. World Commission on Environment and Development. https://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/42/427&Lang=E.
Andrew Craig
Where is this grassroots initiative implemented?
Throughout metropolitan Atlanta. This area includes downtown Atlanta, as well as the surrounding counties of Clayton, Cobb, Coweta, Dekalb, Douglas, Gwinnett, Henry, Fayette, & Fulton. The initiative has expanded to include the partner cities of Avondale Estates, Brookhaven, Chamblee, Decatur, Doraville, Dunwoody, East Point, Hapeville, Lawrenceville, and Sandy Springs (Trees Atlanta, Annual Report, 2020).
Who are the promoters? Who are the actors involved? What is their background?
The grassroots initiative is called Trees Atlanta. It was founded in 1985 by a group of largely middle-class citizens who joined with other non-profit organizations, such as the Junior League of Atlanta, Central Atlanta Progress, as well as municipal agencies like the Commissioner of Parks to address growing concerns over urban deforestation (Trees Atlanta, Who We Are, 2022). Since its founding, Trees Atlanta has worked to improve Atlanta’s urban environment by planting and conserving trees along streets and in other public areas throughout the city.
In the years since it was founded, the organization has worked to build partnerships with local government officials and businesses. As the initiative has grown in recent years, it has been supported by large financial contributions from corporate sponsors such as Georgia Power, The Home Depot Foundation, UPS Foundation, Bank of America, AT&T, and Microsoft. It has also received financial support from national non-profit organizations like the Arbor Day Foundation, Southeastern Nurseryman’s Association, and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (Trees Atlanta, Sponsors 2022).
The organization hired its first executive director, Marcia Bansley, in 1985. Bansley served as executive director of the organization until 2011. Though Trees Atlanta started as a grassroots organization, it has grown significantly and now boasts a forty-six member staff (Trees Atlanta, Staff & Board, 2022).
How this initiative engages with climate? Does it tackle mitigation, adaptation, both or other dimensions of climate change?
Trees Atlanta engages with climate change by tackling mitigation. In 1986, Trees Atlanta planted 46 trees in the city (Trees Atlanta, History, 2022). The initiative has expanded and in 2020 reported that it planted 7,063 throughout metropolitan Atlanta. The initiative’s tree planting campaign helps mitigate rising urban heat factors with rising summer temperatures. The initiative also promotes its tree planting campaign as a way to mitigate air pollution.
What are the main objectives? What are the main values?
The initiative’s main objects are to promote and conserve Atlanta’s urban forest and to educate the public regarding the benefits of the urban forest. The initiative is primarily focused on promoting and protecting the reputation of Atlanta as the “city in the forest.”
Atlanta gained its reputation as the city in the forest in part because of its history of development. Before the land was ceded to the United States government by the indigenous Creek nation in 1821, the area that became Atlanta was virgin old-growth forest. Though much of the land was eventually clear cut by white settlers to build the city and plant cash crops like cotton, portions of the old-growth forest remained untouched by urban and agricultural development in the late twentieth century. Since its founding, Trees Atlanta, in partnership with other environmental organizations like EcoAddendum and the Old Growth Forest Network, have worked to preserve these pockets of old growth forest and promote the expansion of new urban forests (Seabrook, 2017).
It accomplishes its mission through a number of programs including youth and adult urban forestry education programs, tree planting throughout the city, and the facilitation of community tree care to help maintain the urban forest (Trees Atlanta, Our Programs, 2022). Trees Atlanta also works to clear the urban forest of invasive species like English ivy and kudzu that threaten the health of native trees (Atlanta Magazine, 2019).
Trees Atlanta coordinates a number of programs to accomplish its goals. It currently manages 85 acres of greenspace along the Atlanta Beltline corridor. This urban forested space is known as the Atlanta Beltline Arboretum. The site serves as an ecological corridor, providing habitat for wildlife and pollution reduction for areas adjacent to the highway. It also serves as a site for community science programs. Trees Atlanta frequently hosts educational urban forest protection and revitalization programs for youth and adults in the arboretum
(Trees Atlanta, Atlanta Beltline Arboretum, 2022).
The program also lobbies the municipal city government to make zoning laws that protect and encourage the development of urban forest (Nobles 2021).
Increasingly, Trees Atlanta has worked to highlight the lack of urban forest in communities of color and is working to build urban forest in communities of color. In particular, Trees Atlanta has used data from the Tree Equity Score to show that communities in Atlanta with fewer trees have more heat-related deaths, more air pollution, and property values are lower (Hutchins 2021).
Which limits does it encounter?
In the past, the Trees Atlanta has encounter problems with the city’s zoning laws protecting the city’s urban forest. Much of Atlanta’s tree canopy is unprotected because it is privately owned. (Saporta, 2020).
Trees Atlanta also frequently has to navigate the challenges of working with private property owners of single-family residential land. Seventy-seven percent of the city’s urban forest is located on private property, and the city’s zoning ordinances make it easy for property owners to take down trees. (Atlanta Magazine, 2019).
Are any shortcomings or critical points visible? What other problematic issues can arise from its implementation?
The initiative’s focus on beautification proves to be a shortcoming as it can potentially distract from the problems of climate change it seeks to address in communities of color. Because much of the initiative’s rhetoric centers around the issue of protecting the city’s reputation as the “city in the forest,” and educating citizens about the importance of urban forest, it potentially misses the opportunity to address other connected issues that contribute to climate change might affect the regions communities (Trees Atlanta, 2016).
How would it be potentially replicable in other settings?
Trees Atlanta’s urban forest conservation and protection agenda could be potentially replicated in other urban settings. The initiative could be replicated in other settings should citizens start to build a coalition with other local organizations and municipal governments to coordinate with citizen volunteers to plant trees through the city and maintain urban forests. Other initiatives can also follow Trees Atlanta’s example by working to educate private property owners on the importance of urban forest and working with them to preserve and care for urban forest in their possession.
In other cities, initiatives could work with urban planners, as Trees Atlanta did in 2020, to help develop city-wide urban planning initiatives like Atlanta City Design: Nature that are structured around protecting the city’s ecology by expanding tree canopies in publicly owned spaces. Future initiatives can help ensure trees are planted near waterways that run through the city to act as vegetative buffer zone, providing “greater flood protection, wildlife habitat, and pollution reduction.” (Saporta, 2020).
Is this initiative conducive to broader changes (law, institutional arrangements, long-term sustainability or community preparedness, etc.)? If yes, which?
This initiative is conducive to broader changes through the advocacy work it does to protect and create urban forest in the municipal government. Trees Atlanta has lobbied the City of Atlanta to protect the city’s tree canopy through zoning ordinances since its founding in the 1980s. These zoning ordinances have protected the city’s urban forest from being overdeveloped and have created strict ordinances ensuring that developers cannot remove too many trees throughout the city (Usdansky, 1988).
References
Atlanta Magazine. (2019, November). How Much longer can Atlanta be a City in the Forest? https://www.atlantamagazine.com/list/you-asked-we-answered-34-things-you-probably-dont-know-about-atlanta/how-much-longer-can-atlanta-be-a-city-in-the-forest/.
Hutchins, T. (2021, July 26). Tree equity points to disparity among Atlanta neighborhoods. CBS 46 News. https://www.cbs46.com/2022/02/16/tree-equity-points-disparity-among-atlanta-neighborhoods/.
Nobles III, W. P. (2021, June 7). Residents eagerly await progress in Atlanta’s tree ordiance overhaul. Atlanta Journal Constitution. https://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta-news/residents-eagerly-await-progress-in-atlantas-tree-ordinance-overhaul/KYNUHOHFKVCZJOA4VQNE6SRPVY/.
Saporta, M. (2020, November 2). City of Atlanta seeking to protect nature while the urban area grows. Saporta Report. https://saportareport.com/city-of-atlanta-seeking-to-protect-nature-while-the-urban-area-grows/columnists/maria_saporta/.
Seabrook, C. (2017, May 5). Atlanta’s Old-Growth Forests gain national recognition. Atlanta Journal Constitution. https://www.ajc.com/lifestyles/home–garden/atlanta-old-growth-forests-gain-national-recognition/6CdZwvHyEtEU21aPOARGtI/.
Trees Atlanta. (2020). Annual Report. https://www.treesatlanta.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Annual-Report-FY2020-FINAL-9.1.2020.pdf
Trees Atlanta. (2022, April 29). About. https://www.treesatlanta.org/who-we-are/.
Trees Atlanta. (2022, April 29). Sponsors. https://www.treesatlanta.org/who-we-are/sponsors/.
Trees Atlanta. (2022, April 29). Staff & Board. https://www.treesatlanta.org/who-we-are/staff-board/.
Trees Atlanta. (2022, April 29). History. https://www.treesatlanta.org/who-we-are/history/.
Trees Atlanta. (2022, April 29). Our Programs. https://www.treesatlanta.org/our-programs/.
Trees Atlanta. (2022, April 29). Atlanta Beltline Arboretum. https://www.treesatlanta.org/programs/atlanta-beltline-arboretum/.
Trees Atlanta. (2016, April 29). Trees Atlanta is Branching Out [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn4vxBhvhJk&t=121s
Usdansky, M. J. (1988, September 1988). Tree Protection Is Taking Root In Metro Laws. Atlanta Journal Constitution.
By Andrew Craig
Where is this grassroot initiative implemented?
This initiative is headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana, but operates throughout the Gulf Coast Region of the United States.
Who are the promoters? Who are the actors involved? What is their background?
The Deep South Center for Environmental Justice (DSCEJ) was founded in 1992 by Dr. Beverly Wright with support from other community organizations, like the United Church of Christ Environmental Ministries and regional universities like Texas Southern University. Dr. Wright won the 2008 EPA Environmental Justice Achievement Award in 2008 and was selected to serve on President Joe Biden’s White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council in 2021 (Parker, 2021).
The Center has partnered with New Orleans area community-based organizations to coordinate Climate Action Equity Project. The Climate Action Equity Project is a partnership with Partners for Places, the City of New Orleans and the Greater New Orleans Foundation (Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, Climate Action Equity Project, 2022).
Since 2011, the DSCEJ has partnered with Dr. Robert Bullard at Texas Southern University; the Center also organizes the annual HBCU-CBO Gulf Coast Equity Consortium Project which brings together Historically Black College and Universities (HBCUs) and community-based organizations from the Gulf Coast region to find solutions to climate justice. The community-based organizations include: Achieving Community Tasks Successfully (ACTS), Clean Health Educated Sage and Sustainable (CHESS), and the Lower Nine Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development. The HBCU’s associated with the consortium include: Alabama A&M University, Dillard University, Florida A&M University, Jackson State University, Texas Southern University, and Tennessee State University (Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, HBCU-CBO Gulf Equity Consortium, 2022).
In 2021, the DSCEJ received a $4 million grant from the Bezos Earth Fund to support its Activating Justice 40 project (Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, 2021).
How this initiative engages with climate? Does it tackle mitigation, adaptation, both or other dimensions of climate change?
The initiative engages with climate by tackling both mitigation and adaptation. The Center works with communities of color that have been disproportionately affected by pollution and climate vulnerabilities to build the capacity of communities like those found throughout Louisiana to prepare and respond to environmental threats and hazards.
Partnering with academic institutions, the Center trains citizens to monitor hazards in their neighborhoods, understand the risk of toxic exposure, find environmental data online, and develop strategic advocacy for policies to remedy unsafe environmental conditions. The Center also provides technical assistance through its partnerships with universities to prepare environmental justice analyses and reports on proposed or existing urban and industrial development projects requiring environmental permits. In partnership with citizen-scientists, the DSCEJ collects toxicological and epidemiological data, advises communities on effective environmental remediation, assists in community relocation when necessary, provides expert testimony in legal cases, and conducts community health surveys, community mapping using Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and community environmental health profiles (Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, Community Engagement, 2021).
Since 1995, DSCEJ has run an Environmental Career Worker Training Program to identify, train, and mobilize citizens to facilitate the clean-up of hazardous materials and assist with disaster recovery both locally and nationally. The training program provides instruction in construction, weatherization, lead abatement, asbestos abatement, hazardous waste worker training, mold remediation, and OSHA certification (Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, Worker Health and Safety Training, 2022).
What are the main objectives? What are the main values?
The DSCEJ’s main objective is to provide opportunities for citizens, scientific researchers, and decision makers to collaborate on projects that address the health, jobs, housing, education, and a general quality of life of communities of color that are disproportionately affected by climate change and environmental pollution. It works to develop leaders in communities of color throughout the Guld region that are disproportionately harmed by pollution and climate change: communities that are capable of promoting their right to be free from environmental hazards.
The Center applies the Communiversity Model in preparing residents of communities to have a voice on critical issues, which begins with listening to community concerns first and then providing research, education and training on identified issues. (Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, Worker Health and Safety Training, 2022).
The Center operates on a “communiversity” model developed by Dr. Wright that emphasizes a collaborative partnership between universities and community-based organizations. The Center’s communiversity” has been put into action through the formation of its Community Advisory Board which consists of grassroots community leaders, non-profit organizations, academics, and government officials from municipalities along Louisiana’s Mississippi River Chemical Corridor. (Wright, 2007).
Which limits does it encounter?
In the past, the DSCEJ was an affiliate program of Xavier University, and later Dillard University. In recent years, the center has become an independent non-profit and removed itself from the umbrella of university systems. According to their website, the DSCEJ saw its association with academic bureaucracies as a limiting factor in its activism. Recently, the DSCEJ became an independent nonprofit in order to better tackle the challenges of climate injustice in the American South. (Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, Our Story, 2022).
Are any shortcomings or critical points visible? What other problematic issues can arise from its implementation?
The DSCEJ’s worker training program can be seen as one of the problematic issues arising from its implementation. Instead of putting the responsibility of cleaning up hazardous waste and reducing pollution in communities of color in Louisiana on the corporations that produce these environmental injustices, the worker training program places the responsibility on the communities affected. While this provides economic opportunity for these marginalized communities, these jobs might further marginalize some of the population and does not address larger systemic issues associated with climate change. Through the worker training program, members of marginalized communities are still put directly in contact with the hazardous waste that has to the potential to harm their health.
How would it be potentially replicable in other settings?
This initiative could be replicated in other settings by implementing the DSCEJ’s “communiversity” model. In urban settings across the globe, the opportunity exists for activists and community-based organizations to partner and collaborate with local or regional universities to train citizens to monitor their local environments and other citizen science projects as well as strategically plan and respond to the climate change.
Is this initiative conducive to broader changes (law, institutional arrangements, long-term sustainability or community preparedness, etc.)? If yes, which?
This initiative is conducive to broader institutional changes. Not only does this initiative specifically work to foster collaboration with HBCUs and community-based organizations to develop a new institutional arrangement to address climate justice in the Mississippi River Chemical Corridor, the DSCEJ also helps the communities of color in this region prepare to deal with effects of climate change and trains them to mitigate the effects of hazardous pollution in their communities.
References
Parker, H. (2021, March 31). This New Orleans-based activist is now a White House environmental justice adviser. The New Orleans Advocate. https://www.nola.com/news/environment/article_39895a52-919e-11eb-8d5e-5bc9f4af414c.html.
Deep South Center for Environmental Justice. (2021, September 8). Deep South Center for Environmental Justice Receives $4 Million From Bezos Earth Fund to Support Justice40 Initiative. https://www.dscej.org/the-latest/deep-south-center-for-environmental-justice-receives-4-million-from-bezos-earth-fund-to-support-justice40-initiative
Deep South Center for Environmental Justice. (2022, April 29). Community Engagement. https://www.dscej.org/our-work/community-engagement
Deep South Center for Environmental Justice. (2022, April 29). Climate Action Equity Project. https://www.dscej.org/our-work/community-engagement
Deep South Center for Environmental Justice. (2022, April 29). HBCU-CBO Gulf Equity Consortium. https://www.dscej.org/our-work/hbcu-cbo-gulf-equity-consortium.
Deep South Center for Environmental Justice. (2022, April 29). Worker Health and Safety Training. https://www.dscej.org/our-work/worker-health-and-safety-training.
Deep South Center for Environmental Justice. (2022, April 29). Our Story. (https://www.dscej.org/our-story)
Wright, B. (2007, July 25). Testimony of Beverly Wright, Ph.D. Director of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice at Dillard University before the Subcommittee on Superfund and Environmental Health of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee regarding Environmental Justice. https://www.epw.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/9/2/92ff035f-3a58-4baa-a5f8-4923f2597176/01AFD79733D77F24A71FEF9DAFCCB056.drbeverlywrighttestimony.pdf
Franz Rothschild.
The Lima hills (Lomas de Lima), in the Peruvian capital, is one of the most extended ecosystems of the city. It consists of 19 hill sites in 19 of the 52 districts of the city, occupying between 7% and up to 24% of the territory every winter, when El Niño event occurs (MLM, 2014). When that happens, all sites are connected by wide stripes of vegetation that turn a grey and brown city into a green space that contain a vast natural and cultural heritage: This ecosystem shelters a rich biodiversity of plants and animals, supplies the city with several ecosystem services such as soil retention that stops it from land sliding on the sides that is so risky for the closest inhabitants, tourism supports the local economic development, and strengths the weak limeñan identity linked to the appearance of the Amancaes flower greatly mentioned in several cultural traditions. Other services provided are related to pollination, supply of atmospheric water, air cleaning food supply (LEL, 2014; MLM, 2014; PNUD, 2018). The geographical distribution of the hills can be seen on Figure 1 below.
Fig. 1. Lima hills. At the bottom, Cicazos hills in San Bartolo (source: periferia.pe).
The hills are open spaces and represent an opportunity to rethink their relationships with a desertic city that has a differentiated district access to green areas based on economic aspects (Mamani & Nieuwland, 2017; MLM, 2014), and with the potential to overcome some environmental challenges related to biodiversity, water access, and climate change. Despite their importance, the informal urban growth, that can go up even to a 90% as consequence for the lack of public policy in urban development and of efficient programs for social housing, has already degraded the soil and affected the ecosystems services. This lack for proper urban planning has increased the vulnerability for many people that cannot access to own a property, providing an opportunity to illegal land Traficant that have links to public authorities. The hills have been systematically decreasing in a context in which urban pressures on them are growing, not only because of urban occupation, but also for their use as landfill and for exploitation through construction aggregates mining (Mamani & Nieuwland, 2017).
Since 2011, after pressure exercised by local communities surrounding the hills usually led by environmentalists (Venegoni, n.d.), Public sector has initiated an action plan to face the different challenges on the hills through the Lima Hills program (Programa Lomas de Lima) with 4 action lines: The first one was the creation of the Área de Conservación Regional Sistema de Lomas de Lima (Lima Hills System Regional Conservation Area) that gave official recognition to the most of the sites as fragile ecosystems supported by the legal frame of two municipal ordinances (environmental policy N°1628-2012-MML and environmental agenda N° 1640-2012-MML) boosting different municipal policy in conservation issues to protect and preserve vulnerable ecological units through their controlled access and maintenance, characterization/ profile studies for further territorial organization. The other three actions lines are the development of eco-touristic circuits for sustainable economic growth of local inhabitants, ecosystem restauration with native species, and the construction of hill-parcs as open spaces for integrating the human activities within the natural environment (MLM, 2014; LEL, 2014).
As mentioned, several local organizations and enterprises have risen up to protect them all. By instance, the “Frente de Defensa Ecológica del Valle de Lurín – Fredecol” (Lurín Valley Ecological Defense Front) has included the Cicasos Hills as part of the group of vulnerable ecosystems they try to protect. The Cicasos hills are located in the southern district of San Bartolo, about forty-five minutes outside the metropolitan area of Lima. I interviewed Fredecol´s current president Jaime Chipana, an all-time environmentalist neighbor of the Lurin district, who gave us an overall view on the association´s organization, objectives, successes and challenges
Fredecol was formed towards the end of 2008 to fight against the pollution of the Lurin river by Lima’s drinking water and sewerage service (Sedapal) and several production plants located along the river, affecting the water table of the locality. It started with only 6 neighbors who invited Jaime to support them with his experience, and now it assembles around 300 people working on it ah-honorem and as required depending on the urgency of the several project they are involved in. Many specialists, including several renowned professionals in biology, environmental sciences, geography, history and law have made themselves available to cooperate when needed with the locals in order to protect the “small-south” (sur chico) of Lima. Some politicians are also included, required to be able to connect the organization with the political power and have higher chances to promote their cause and obtain results.
In the beginning, Jaime was invited due to its participation as civil representative in the Lurín district municipality for the local projects participative budget control, in charge of the project’s inspection and communication to the local inhabitants. As a result of their first actions, Fredecol obtained a municipal ordinance forbidding industrial activity in the “trapecio de Lurín” area, with the intention to benefit the protection of vulnerable areas in the vicinity. Protection was directed to the ecosystems and the living conditions of the inhabitants affected by the production plants established there. A few years after the first meetings and the convoking neighbors, Jaime became the participative budget representative at the wider “departamento” level, including all the Lima “distritos”.
In 2014, the Lima Cement Company presented a project to expand its operation to the El Manzano hills. Cementos Lima was already operating in Pachacamac, another district that shared boundaries with the northern part of Lurin, where they completely degraded the soil of the Pucará hills after non-metalurgic mining activities to exploit a high-quality clay. Their next objective was El Manzano. In 2015, and due to Fredecol´s small size and weight when facing the interest of one of the biggest clay companies in Southamerica, many other local organizations defending hills are convoked to form the Red de Lomas de Lima (Lima hills network), and later on the Red de Lomas del Perú (Peru hills network) formed in 2018. The Lima hills network presented a file proving that the technical solutions proposed by Cementos Lima were not viable. Finally, in 2020, the authorities denied the opening of the “Cristina” quarry in El Manzano hills. This was settling a precedent on grootgrass initiatives facing a company with great power and political reach.
In 2018, Jaime met the San Bartolo major, with the idea of recognizing the Cicasos hills as part of the network of vulnerable ecosystems of Lima. As explained before, the hills permit the current conditions of the water cycle in a desertic city. They provide remedy to short term issues derived from climate change, as a form of adaptation through the water cycle regulation, the presence of vegetation coping with carbon dioxide emissions, and the transfer of water to wetlands located close to them. That year, the hills were officially recognized as a vulnerable ecosystem by legal norm RDE 153-2018-MINAGRI-SERFOR-DE. Moreover, their soil allow the percolation of humidity into the water table, avoiding the disappearance of wells required for human consumption. The hills also shelter several insects required for pollination. More information can be found on the Storymap presented at the end of this document.
According to Jaime, the objectives of the recognition of the Lima hills as a vulnerable ecosystem are two. Firstly, to create a municipality-citizen element to protect vulnerable ecosystems. Secondly, to include the hills on the Lima Hills System Regional Conservation Area. The replicability of the model followed by other hills conservation organization would provide stronger background and probably more resources to protect Cicasos from its main dangers: Cementos Lima on their quest for more high-quality clay present in the hills soil, and real state companies interested in developing projects in a growing city. However, the development of a strategic plan presents several complications, including that there are several views on what this plan should look like with different views that could even be opposite one to another.
Many limitations of the protection of Cicasos hills, as for most of these projects, are related to the established corruption on private and public sectors, confirming the thesis that the State is the main booster of informality and loss of biodiversity (Venegoni, n.d.). Many economic interests besides the protection of ecosystems play different roles and exercise different levels of stress, most of them benefiting from the ignorance and disinterest of big part of local population in regards of ecological preservation and ecological services. This reflects on several municipal ordinances not being followed by citizens and companies, legal protections supporting polluting industrial activities, a police force not acting according to existing protocols for land enclosure, for example. The lack of resources also plays a big role on the lack of action to achieve the goals. There is no budget item at San Bartolo municipality to create the file for Cicasos and enter the formal hills protection system, reason why the municipality has started to plan eco-tourism activities to raise necessary funds.
| Preliminary research |
| 1) City: Lima |
| 2) Initiative: Ecosystem protection |
| Selection case |
| 3) Case: Cicasos hills (San Bartolo) |
| 5) Organization: Fredecol |
| Collection of information |
| 6) Internet: Scientific literature |
| 7) Projects reports |
| 8) Facebook |
| 9) E-mail contact |
| 10) Phone pre-interview |
| 11) Zoom interview with Fredecol President |
| Production of the entry |
| Submission of the entry |
1. Invitation to Cicasos eco-trekking.
2. A group of people standing on the dirt.
3. Fredecol team leading the eko-trekking at Cicasos hill.
Bibliography
Lomeros en Lima (LEL). 2014. Proyecto Lomas: Pacto politico Lomas de Lima. [Online]. Available at: http://proyectolomas.weebly.com/uploads/1/0/6/3/10637077/pacto_poltico_por_las_lomas_de_lima_i.pdf
Mamani, J.M., Nieuwland, B. 2017. Las lomas de Lima: Enfocando ecosistemas desérticos como espacios abiertos en Lima metropolitana. Espacio y Desarrollo, [Online], 29, pp. 109-133. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317143928
Municipalidad de Lima Metropolitana (MLM). 2014. Lomas de lima: Futuros parques de la ciudad. Servicio de parques de Lima, [Online]. Available at: https://periferia.pe/assets/uploads/2020/06/Lomas-de-Lima_compressed.pdf
Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo (PNUD). 2018. Proyecto EbA Lomas: Retos y oportunidades en la conservación de las lomas de Lima Metropolitana. PNUD, [Online]. Available at: https://www.undp.org/content/dam/peru/docs/Publicaciones%20medio%20ambiente/Brochure_24PP_FINAL.pdf
Venegoni, Luisa. N.d. Justice for invaders? Urbanization-Conservation Conflict in Lima, Peru´s Lomas Ecosystems, [Online]. Available at: http://stonecenter.tulane.edu/uploads/Venegoni_Upload-1498770155.pdf
Storymap
Contact
Tova Billstein
The grassroots initiative is implemented in the city of Lysekil, Sweden. It was initiated by the network Stoppa Preemraff (“Stop Preemraff”), which is a politically independent network that was created in 2018 by a small group of citizens with the purpose of stopping the expansion of Preemraff. It has since then grown to a huge movement with many involved actors different from environmental organizations, youth parties and private individuals from different origins such as Fridays for Future, Extinction Rebellion, Fältbiologerna and Jordens Vänner. The promoters of the initiative all live in or nearby Lysekil, Mölndal or Gothenburg. They state that the beneficiaries of the initiative are Earth itself, their children and grandchildren, as well as the countries who will be the most affected by future climate change (Boman and Maloney, 2020).
Other NGOs, such as the local Naturskyddsföreningen of Lysekil-Munkedal, have also joined the cause later on (Boman and Maloney, 2020). Both Stoppa Preemraff and Naturskyddsföreningen Lysekil-Munkedal are politically independent (Stoppa Preemraff, 2020b; Hagström, 2020), and one could therefore argue that they have nothing to gain on the cancellation of the Preemraff other than to help above mentioned beneficiaries, while helping Sweden fulfill its environmental goals.
The grassroots initiative sought to stop the expansion of the refinery Preemraff, built 1975 by Preem, which is currently the biggest oil refinery in the Nordic region. In 2019, Preem decided to implement a project named “ROCC”, in an attempt to shorten the residue of oil conversion complex by converting heavy oil residues to diesel and petrol by processing them with hydrogen gas. To succeed, Preem needed to expand their operation base and therefore applied for a permit for both existing and additional operations. If Preemraff expanded, the facility would have an annual throughput of 13 million tonnes of oil raw materials with 11.4 million tonnes of fossil oil. It would also have increased its yearly carbon emissions by 1 million tonnes, making it the single biggest carbon emitter in Sweden. The grassroots initiative therefore tried to hinder global warming, by lessening the impact on the environment by hindering more emissions from being released (Naturskyddsföreningen, n.d.).
Stoppa Preemraff has stated that they value the transition to a fossil free society and therefore cannot allow expansions of infrastructure which will allow more fossil fuels. They have three main objectives which are published on their website: stop the expansion of Preemraff, start the decommissioning of the fossil fuel industry and to support the development of sustainable work. The organization has also stated that they want Sweden to fulfill the agreement made in Paris and therefore seek to help in enabling a fair transition to a sustainable society (Stoppa Preemraff, 2020c).
The expansion of Preemraff was publicly announced in 2018 and was later approved by the Swedish Land and Environment Court that same year. After this occurrence, in December 2018, a citizen living in Lysekil contacted the NGO Jordens Vänner and asked for help to demonstrate against the decision. This was the starting point of the group Stoppa Preemraff, as the citizens shortly after started the local group. The approval by the Swedish Land and Environment Court was appealed by over a hundred private actors as well as organisations. In March 2019, Stoppa Preemraff had grown in size quite a bit and held a large gathering where they planned actions such as demonstrations, debates etc. In June 2019, the appeal finally had an effect and the Swedish Supreme Land and Environment Supreme Court decided to retry the decision of allowing Preem to expand the refinery in Lysekil. Shortly afterwards, in September 2019, the Swedish government got involved and stated that they would have the final say (Boman and Maloney, 2020).
In January 2020, Stoppa Preemraff started planning a huge manifestation which was to be held at the same time as the public court proceedings in Lysekil in March 2020. Organisations such as Grön Ungdom, Fältbiologerna, the local Naturskyddsföreningen Lysekil-Munkedal, Jordens Vänner, Protect our Winters etc. were contacted beforehand and encouraged to join the protest, and a contact network including over 100 persons from different geographical origins with diverse backgrounds was created with representants from the different groups. Greenpeace was also contacted and their Swedish leader Isadora Rolski joined one of Stoppa Preemraff’s bigger meetings, where she decided that hindering the expansion of Preemraff would be their highest priority for a short period of time within the near future. The court proceedings in Lysekil in March 2020 lasted for three days, and Naturskyddsföreningen Lysekil-Munkedal also attended court with several lawyers and experts who testified. After the court proceedings, Stoppa Preemraff continued to hold smaller actions continuously but the demonstrations became noticeably harder to plan and carry out due to Covid-19 (Boman and Maloney, 2020).
In June 2020, the Swedish Supreme Land and Environment Court published a statement declaring that the expansion of Lysekil did not break any laws and that the company was legally allowed to proceed, but that the final decision would be up to the government. Stoppa Preemraff then planned and held a two-week protest week in August, where they e.g. organized and sent over 2000 postcards to the government (Boman and Maloney, 2020). At the same time, in August 2020, activists from Greenpeace swam to the refinery by sea as a way of protesting against the expansion (Greenpeace Sverige, 2020a). On the 10th of September 2020, their ship Rainbow Warrior and 40 other sailboats also arrived at the port located at Lysekil in an attempt to block the passing-by sea traffic. The Swedish Maritime Administration closed all sea traffic due to the blockade, which lasted 62 hours before Rainbow Warrior and the other boats decided to leave (Greenpeace Sverige, 2020b). On the 13th of August, activists broke inside the refinery and chained themselves to the cranes to stop the workers from pursuing their day-to-day work at Preemraff (Tillman, 2020).
On the 28th of August 2020, Preem themselves decided to withdraw their application and no longer sought to expand their refinery at Lysekil (Naturskyddsföreningen, n.d.). The company itself stated that it was due to economic reasons (Stoppa Preemraff, 2020d).
The actors involved in the initiative created by Stoppa Preemraff are all citizens from different backgrounds. The founder lives in Lysekil, while others involved live nearby in Mölndal or Gothenburg. One of the actors involved since the beginning has worked as a librarian her whole life. Other actors, who became involved later on as a result of Stoppa Preemraff’s encouragement, include people with different ages and backgrounds, some who are also engaged in other NGOs such as Fältbiologerna, the local Naturskyddsföreningen Lysekil-Munkedal, Jordens Vänner, Protect our Winters, Greenpeace etc. (Boman and Maloney, 2020).
The biggest setback to the initiative was caused by Covid-19. The restrictions made it hard to meet in real life and plan actions together. The actors behind the initiative could not meet in person and build strong bonds, neither could they attract as many new people to their cause as many were uncomfortable with online platforms. Another limitation that the promoters of Stoppa Preemraff also experienced was that newspapers were reluctant to publish their articles, which they felt was a result of their agenda not matching that of the newspapers’. A counter-protest was also organized by Preem’s followers, and the company published advertisements with designs that were similar to regular articles. This was deemed a limit by the actors behind Stoppa Preemraff, as it confused the readers (Boman and Maloney, 2020).
The expansion of the oil refinery in Lysekil would have created 250 new jobs, increasing the local workforce in the city which Lysekil really needed. Without the expansion, these job opportunities would be lost (Stoppa Preemraff, 2020c). Stoppa Preemraff replied by questioning how one could lose job opportunities that never have existed (Boman and Maloney, 2020). There is also a risk that the refinery will be closed down permanently with the loss of its expansion, resulting in even fewer job opportunities in Lysekil, making it a more unattractive place to live. Whether it will close down is not decided as of yet, and will not happen any time soon (Stoppa Preemraff, 2020c). Another relevant observation in hindsight was that it was difficult for the initiative to grow so fast in size in the beginning. To go from zero to a hundred under a short period of time is bound to bring administrative consequences and it was hard to keep up (Boman and Maloney, 2020).
The initiative could potentially be replicable anywhere in the world where people feel the need to protest against corporate decisions which might have a negative impact on the environment. For example,if a new oil refinery were to be built, people could take inspiration from Stoppa Preemraff’s measures and replicate their actions to better demonstrate their position.
Stoppa Preemraff have three main objectives: stop the expansion of Preemraff, start the decommissioning of the fossil fuel industry and to support the development of sustainable work (Stoppa Preemraff, 2020c). The organisation has had continuous meetings during the autumn of 2020 where the objectives have been discussed. The actors also mention that they in the future would like to help develop the legislation in the Environmental Code, as they argue that it is obsolete and not adapted for the current situation in society today (Boman and Maloney, 2020).
Boman, M., and Maloney, L., (2020). Stoppa Preemraff – An Interview. Interviewed by Tova Billstein for the KTH course “AK2210 Political Ecology”, 14 October.
Greenpeace Sverige, 2020.
a Efter 62 timmars blockad av Preemraff – nu är det Stefan Löfvens tur. [online] Available at: https://www.greenpeace.org/sweden/pressmeddelanden/12501/efter-62-timmars-blockad-av-preemraff-nu-ar-det-stefan-lofvens-tur/ [Accessed 2020-10-15]
b Greenpeace-aktivister simmar till oljerigg för att protestera mot ny olja i Nordsjön. [online] Available at: https://www.greenpeace.org/sweden/pressmeddelanden/12274/greenpeace-aktivister-simmar-till-oljerigg-for-att-protestera-mot-ny-olja-i-nordsjon/ [Accessed 2020-10-15]
Hagström, T. (2020). Om kretsen uppdaterad 2020-09-24 – Lysekil-Munkedals Naturskyddsförening: från kust till skog. [online] Available at: https://lysekil-munkedal.naturskyddsforeningen.se/om-kretsen-2/ [Accessed 2020-10-15]
Naturskyddsföreningen. (2020). Striden om Preemraff – det här har hänt. [online] Available at: https://www.naturskyddsforeningen.se/klimat/preemraff-overklagan [Accessed 2020-10-08]
Stoppa Preemraff. (2020).
a Presskit. [online] Available at: https://stoppapreemraff.org/press-kit [Accessed 2020-10-15]
b Om oss. [online] Available at: https://stoppapreemraff.org/om-oss [Accessed 2020-10-15]
c Faktabank. [online] Available at: https://stoppapreemraff.org/faktabank [Accessed 2020-10-15]
d Preem drar tillbaka sin ansökan! [online] Available at: https://stoppapreemraff.org/ [Accessed 2020-10-15]
In 2023 OCC! expanded its scope and encouraged students to explore local initiatives in their city, resulting in entries from various locations. Here below you find the entries from Lysekil, Sweden
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Tova Billstein
The grassroots initiative is implemented in the city of Lysekil, Sweden. It was initiated by the network Stoppa Preemraff (“Stop Preemraff”), which is a politically independent network that was created in 2018 by a small group of citizens with the purpose of stopping the expansion of Preemraff. It has since then grown to a huge movement with many involved actors different from environmental organizations, youth parties and private individuals from different origins such as Fridays for Future, Extinction Rebellion, Fältbiologerna and Jordens Vänner. The promoters of the initiative all live in or nearby Lysekil, Mölndal or Gothenburg. They state that the beneficiaries of the initiative are Earth itself, their children and grandchildren, as well as the countries who will be the most affected by future climate change (Boman and Maloney, 2020).
Other NGOs, such as the local Naturskyddsföreningen of Lysekil-Munkedal, have also joined the cause later on (Boman and Maloney, 2020). Both Stoppa Preemraff and Naturskyddsföreningen Lysekil-Munkedal are politically independent (Stoppa Preemraff, 2020b; Hagström, 2020), and one could therefore argue that they have nothing to gain on the cancellation of the Preemraff other than to help above mentioned beneficiaries, while helping Sweden fulfill its environmental goals.
The grassroots initiative sought to stop the expansion of the refinery Preemraff, built 1975 by Preem, which is currently the biggest oil refinery in the Nordic region. In 2019, Preem decided to implement a project named “ROCC”, in an attempt to shorten the residue of oil conversion complex by converting heavy oil residues to diesel and petrol by processing them with hydrogen gas. To succeed, Preem needed to expand their operation base and therefore applied for a permit for both existing and additional operations. If Preemraff expanded, the facility would have an annual throughput of 13 million tonnes of oil raw materials with 11.4 million tonnes of fossil oil. It would also have increased its yearly carbon emissions by 1 million tonnes, making it the single biggest carbon emitter in Sweden. The grassroots initiative therefore tried to hinder global warming, by lessening the impact on the environment by hindering more emissions from being released (Naturskyddsföreningen, n.d.).
Stoppa Preemraff has stated that they value the transition to a fossil free society and therefore cannot allow expansions of infrastructure which will allow more fossil fuels. They have three main objectives which are published on their website: stop the expansion of Preemraff, start the decommissioning of the fossil fuel industry and to support the development of sustainable work. The organization has also stated that they want Sweden to fulfill the agreement made in Paris and therefore seek to help in enabling a fair transition to a sustainable society (Stoppa Preemraff, 2020c).
The expansion of Preemraff was publicly announced in 2018 and was later approved by the Swedish Land and Environment Court that same year. After this occurrence, in December 2018, a citizen living in Lysekil contacted the NGO Jordens Vänner and asked for help to demonstrate against the decision. This was the starting point of the group Stoppa Preemraff, as the citizens shortly after started the local group. The approval by the Swedish Land and Environment Court was appealed by over a hundred private actors as well as organisations. In March 2019, Stoppa Preemraff had grown in size quite a bit and held a large gathering where they planned actions such as demonstrations, debates etc. In June 2019, the appeal finally had an effect and the Swedish Supreme Land and Environment Supreme Court decided to retry the decision of allowing Preem to expand the refinery in Lysekil. Shortly afterwards, in September 2019, the Swedish government got involved and stated that they would have the final say (Boman and Maloney, 2020).
In January 2020, Stoppa Preemraff started planning a huge manifestation which was to be held at the same time as the public court proceedings in Lysekil in March 2020. Organisations such as Grön Ungdom, Fältbiologerna, the local Naturskyddsföreningen Lysekil-Munkedal, Jordens Vänner, Protect our Winters etc. were contacted beforehand and encouraged to join the protest, and a contact network including over 100 persons from different geographical origins with diverse backgrounds was created with representants from the different groups. Greenpeace was also contacted and their Swedish leader Isadora Rolski joined one of Stoppa Preemraff’s bigger meetings, where she decided that hindering the expansion of Preemraff would be their highest priority for a short period of time within the near future. The court proceedings in Lysekil in March 2020 lasted for three days, and Naturskyddsföreningen Lysekil-Munkedal also attended court with several lawyers and experts who testified. After the court proceedings, Stoppa Preemraff continued to hold smaller actions continuously but the demonstrations became noticeably harder to plan and carry out due to Covid-19 (Boman and Maloney, 2020).
In June 2020, the Swedish Supreme Land and Environment Court published a statement declaring that the expansion of Lysekil did not break any laws and that the company was legally allowed to proceed, but that the final decision would be up to the government. Stoppa Preemraff then planned and held a two-week protest week in August, where they e.g. organized and sent over 2000 postcards to the government (Boman and Maloney, 2020). At the same time, in August 2020, activists from Greenpeace swam to the refinery by sea as a way of protesting against the expansion (Greenpeace Sverige, 2020a). On the 10th of September 2020, their ship Rainbow Warrior and 40 other sailboats also arrived at the port located at Lysekil in an attempt to block the passing-by sea traffic. The Swedish Maritime Administration closed all sea traffic due to the blockade, which lasted 62 hours before Rainbow Warrior and the other boats decided to leave (Greenpeace Sverige, 2020b). On the 13th of August, activists broke inside the refinery and chained themselves to the cranes to stop the workers from pursuing their day-to-day work at Preemraff (Tillman, 2020).
On the 28th of August 2020, Preem themselves decided to withdraw their application and no longer sought to expand their refinery at Lysekil (Naturskyddsföreningen, n.d.). The company itself stated that it was due to economic reasons (Stoppa Preemraff, 2020d).
The actors involved in the initiative created by Stoppa Preemraff are all citizens from different backgrounds. The founder lives in Lysekil, while others involved live nearby in Mölndal or Gothenburg. One of the actors involved since the beginning has worked as a librarian her whole life. Other actors, who became involved later on as a result of Stoppa Preemraff’s encouragement, include people with different ages and backgrounds, some who are also engaged in other NGOs such as Fältbiologerna, the local Naturskyddsföreningen Lysekil-Munkedal, Jordens Vänner, Protect our Winters, Greenpeace etc. (Boman and Maloney, 2020).
The biggest setback to the initiative was caused by Covid-19. The restrictions made it hard to meet in real life and plan actions together. The actors behind the initiative could not meet in person and build strong bonds, neither could they attract as many new people to their cause as many were uncomfortable with online platforms. Another limitation that the promoters of Stoppa Preemraff also experienced was that newspapers were reluctant to publish their articles, which they felt was a result of their agenda not matching that of the newspapers’. A counter-protest was also organized by Preem’s followers, and the company published advertisements with designs that were similar to regular articles. This was deemed a limit by the actors behind Stoppa Preemraff, as it confused the readers (Boman and Maloney, 2020).
The expansion of the oil refinery in Lysekil would have created 250 new jobs, increasing the local workforce in the city which Lysekil really needed. Without the expansion, these job opportunities would be lost (Stoppa Preemraff, 2020c). Stoppa Preemraff replied by questioning how one could lose job opportunities that never have existed (Boman and Maloney, 2020). There is also a risk that the refinery will be closed down permanently with the loss of its expansion, resulting in even fewer job opportunities in Lysekil, making it a more unattractive place to live. Whether it will close down is not decided as of yet, and will not happen any time soon (Stoppa Preemraff, 2020c). Another relevant observation in hindsight was that it was difficult for the initiative to grow so fast in size in the beginning. To go from zero to a hundred under a short period of time is bound to bring administrative consequences and it was hard to keep up (Boman and Maloney, 2020).
The initiative could potentially be replicable anywhere in the world where people feel the need to protest against corporate decisions which might have a negative impact on the environment. For example,if a new oil refinery were to be built, people could take inspiration from Stoppa Preemraff’s measures and replicate their actions to better demonstrate their position.
Stoppa Preemraff have three main objectives: stop the expansion of Preemraff, start the decommissioning of the fossil fuel industry and to support the development of sustainable work (Stoppa Preemraff, 2020c). The organisation has had continuous meetings during the autumn of 2020 where the objectives have been discussed. The actors also mention that they in the future would like to help develop the legislation in the Environmental Code, as they argue that it is obsolete and not adapted for the current situation in society today (Boman and Maloney, 2020).
Boman, M., and Maloney, L., (2020). Stoppa Preemraff – An Interview. Interviewed by Tova Billstein for the KTH course “AK2210 Political Ecology”, 14 October.
Greenpeace Sverige, 2020.
a Efter 62 timmars blockad av Preemraff – nu är det Stefan Löfvens tur. [online] Available at: https://www.greenpeace.org/sweden/pressmeddelanden/12501/efter-62-timmars-blockad-av-preemraff-nu-ar-det-stefan-lofvens-tur/ [Accessed 2020-10-15]
b Greenpeace-aktivister simmar till oljerigg för att protestera mot ny olja i Nordsjön. [online] Available at: https://www.greenpeace.org/sweden/pressmeddelanden/12274/greenpeace-aktivister-simmar-till-oljerigg-for-att-protestera-mot-ny-olja-i-nordsjon/ [Accessed 2020-10-15]
Hagström, T. (2020). Om kretsen uppdaterad 2020-09-24 – Lysekil-Munkedals Naturskyddsförening: från kust till skog. [online] Available at: https://lysekil-munkedal.naturskyddsforeningen.se/om-kretsen-2/ [Accessed 2020-10-15]
Naturskyddsföreningen. (2020). Striden om Preemraff – det här har hänt. [online] Available at: https://www.naturskyddsforeningen.se/klimat/preemraff-overklagan [Accessed 2020-10-08]
Stoppa Preemraff. (2020).
a Presskit. [online] Available at: https://stoppapreemraff.org/press-kit [Accessed 2020-10-15]
b Om oss. [online] Available at: https://stoppapreemraff.org/om-oss [Accessed 2020-10-15]
c Faktabank. [online] Available at: https://stoppapreemraff.org/faktabank [Accessed 2020-10-15]
d Preem drar tillbaka sin ansökan! [online] Available at: https://stoppapreemraff.org/ [Accessed 2020-10-15]
Enkhmend Altansukh
Golden rays shone through the curtains, with speckles of dust floating along gently. Light breeze filtered through the crack in the window, bringing in smells of freshly cut grass. The chirping of birds could be heard. And in this serene scene sat a man, his physical appearance indicating he was no older than 20. In front of him was a letter, explaining what had happened, what his purpose was. As the letter explains, he was one of the few survivors from the cryo-sleep experiments the government had initiated. While the science behind it was sounds, too many complications within the body had rendered 94 of the 100 participants dead. The world he woke up in, it was different from all he had seen before. Unbelievable events occurred almost daily in this age of science, but this was a miracle. Picking up the letter, he gave it a read once more:
“Dear Mr. Dashdelger,
As you have been notified by our agents, you are one of the six surviving members of our cryo-chamber experiment. Currently, it is the year 2237 and from your perspective, you’ve been travelled 200 years into the future. Your memories are a bit foggy due to the lack of brain activity in cryo-stasis, but rest assured, as you do about your day like you usually would, your memories will return. After sunset, our agents will come collect you and we will listen in on your observations. I look forward to listening in on the thoughts of one of our predecessors.
-Dr. Miller”
It was a surreal experience. But, with his memories all jumbled up from his 200 year-long ice bath, he had no way of truly taking it all in. So, he did as the letter instructed, and walked out to enjoy his city. As he walked along the streets of Ulaanbaatar, Dashdelger could see many things different from what he’d known. He’d walked this route many times in his own era but it was unrecognizable now. The tall walls that had been soundproofing between his villa and the railroad was gone, and so was the railroad. In its place stood buildings made of seemingly pure silver, taller than most in his time. The streets that used to buzz with car alarms, traffic, and people shuffling about their day was now nearly empty of cars, roads that used to be dangerous transformed to platforms for pedestrians. Nearly everyone was walking, the sun ‘s bright shine illuminating a bright way that seemed impossible outside of old people’s villas in the US at his time. Baffled and overwhelmed, Dashdelger just went along with his routine, taking every small thing he could in. The skies were no longer gray with smog, not a single car in sight, everyone had smiles on their faces and the streets were colored green with the number of trees and vegetation. Nearly every 5 meters stood a tree, providing shade for the denizens of a peaceful city.
Almost all day was he like this. Overwhelmed. He managed to run into one of his fellow survivors and learned what exactly had happened. His companion has explained that Ulaanbaatar has changed to become one of the hallmarks of harmony between human and nature. They both knew that wasn’t the case in their time and resolved to find out exactly how it happened, and what a fruitful journey it was. While they hit a few setbacks at first with the libraries they knew being museums now, but they managed to find out that it all started with a “Save our park” movement in 2021. They were there when it had just started, but it was nothing but a few posts on Facebook back then. Apparently, after they’d gone into the induced sleep, people who were in possession of lots of money funded the “Save our parks” project by buying the entire land and turning it back into its former glory. The process had been to buy all of the land, cultivate it from the near wasteland it had become and make it available for the general public but not allowing people to litter and desecrate. Many common citizens saw how effective it was, and so did the rest of the financially endowed. With a lot more people taking interest in saving our city from becoming a gray and black wasteland, it was only a matter of time before all unused or misused specks of land were transformed into beautiful parks. But change takes time, and Ulaanbaatar had far worse problems than lands with dead grass. The air pollution was a one of the biggest in the world and such a problem was trying to be fixed even before they’d been in cryo-sleep. However, help from the west had been exactly what they’d needed. A timely project and invention had ushered our world into a new era of sustainable energy, leading the charge to purge out all pollution and remedying what humanity had done to nature. With the proper leadership, mankind was once again becoming one with nature. They were still the apex predators, not as destructive god-children, but as benevolent beneficiaries.
Too soon had the evening come, and sure enough, the agents Dr. Miller told them of arrived and showed them to their meeting spot where they were hoping to get some answers regarding the drastic changes Ulaanbaatar had gone through. And as soon as they saw the faces of the other four, they knew they weren’t the only ones. Dr. Miller arrived not too long after and questions began to fly. Answers with as much detail had been given in kind. From their 200 year-long absence from the world, it seemed all of them had realized being in a hurry never truly means anything. So, they all took their sweet time, taking a break from the massive dumps of information when the first rays of red indicated the sun was rising. Dashdelger struggled to function with the massive headache as his thoughts tried to wrap around what Dr. Millers had disclosed. He said that after the “Save our parks” project had made official; the government had been looking to do further ventures into saving the environment but they didn’t need to take the initiative. Citizens, particularly those born in early 2000’s and lower were participating and contributing very actively. From what he guessed; it was due to their generation being able to see the first signs of their predecessor’s actions’ consequences but being early enough to stop it. And it wasn’t just them, with various genius inventions, social/economical/environmental shifts meant that humanity was a whole were heading towards a new era.
Dashdelger was baffled. It was the next day and his brain had finally sorted enough for him to fully understand the implications of all he’d heard. The world was a better place now, and Ulaanbaatar was just a small glimpse into what kind of future he’d arrived in. The current globe-wide project all countries worked towards was removing the pollution from the sea. Just that statement alone boggled the mind. The things the future (past?) generations had accomplished made him feel awfully inadequate and shameful about his own. It would be justified, seeing his children’s generations went down as the saviors while his own generation were the ones who ruined the environment in the history books. It was humbling. Then he looked up and all his worries became insignifact. He realized his own feelings held no value in the grand scheme of things. Maybe that what they failed to realize and their children succeeded in. They’d known to put something else before their own feelings, ambitions, and wants. The sky was blue, not gray, and Dashdelger knew that even if what the current generation was doing failed or backfired, the next would stop in and fix it. Nature has a way of persevering like that. But for now, he had much smaller things to do. Like enjoying his new city, still Ulaanbaatar, but in the year 2237.
References:
Children park in 1983
How the park was planned in 2004
Recent situation in 2021
Social movement in April, 2021
Rafael Palermo Buti
Where is this grassroots initiative implemented?
Baía de Todos os Santos, State of Bahia, Northeast Region of Brazil.
Who are the promoters? Who are the beneficiaries?
The initiatives have been engaged by the quilombola fishing communities of Ilha de Maré, Boca do Rio and Dom João, located in different portions of the Baía de Todos os Santos, in State of Bahia, Northeast Region of Brazil (Image 1). In Brazil, quilombola communities are ethnic-racial groups with a history linked to the slavery past, with specific territoriality and black ancestry related to resistance to the historical oppression suffered. There are more than 5 thousand quilombola communities spread across Brazilian territory. Of these, less than 7% have their territories regularized by the Brazilian State. This is the case of the quilombola communities of Ilha de Maré, Boca do Rio and Dom João.
These communities inhabit the coastal area of Baía de Todos os Santos, and practice artisanal fishing. Their modes of existence depend on the preservation of mangroves and the tide, so they establish relationships of care and respect with these environments. For this reason, they are known as “quilombola fishing communities”. They are part of the Artisanal Fishermen Movement of Bahia. They fight for environmental protection and acquisition of formal property rights by the Brazilian State.
The Baía de Todos os Santos is the second largest bay in the world. It is formed by a set of beaches, coral reefs, estuaries, and mangroves with a naturally navigable inlet channel, as well as two inland bays and deep internal channels. Its contours comprise fourteen municipalities located in the insular portion and surroundings, which house a total population of 2,783.73 inhabitants (IBGE; Census 2010). Of these, 87.76% live in the city of Salvador, capital of the State of Bahia and the fourth largest city in Brazil.
Image 1: Location of the Dom João, Ilha de Maré and Boca do Rio quilombos in the Baía de Todos os Santos. Source: Google Earth
Linked to the history of Portuguese colonialism as the main American sugar cane producer and recipient of enslaved African workers, the Baía de Todos os Santos inaugurated the oil extraction chain in Brazil in the 1940s. From these economic activities unfolded the implementation of the Landulpho Alves refinery in 1950, and the industrial and petrochemical complexes of Aratu in the 1960s. Inaugurated in 1975 to enable the Aratu Industrial Complex, the port of Aratu is one of the largest outlets for chemical and petrochemical production in Brazil.
The territories of traditional fishing and quilombola communities in the northern and northeastern portion of the Baía de Todos os Santos are shaped by infrastructure for extracting and moving commodities of this petro and petrochemical enclave. Oil and industrial infrastructures on land and sea radically impact the territories and livelihoods of the region’s fishing communities. They are responsible for landfills, suppression of mangroves and the Atlantic Forest, contamination by hydrocarbons and heavy metals, and restriction of access to territories of traditional use by artisanal fishermen (HATGE et all 2009; ZAGATTO e SOUZA 2020; BUTI 2020).
These are the cases of the quilombo Dom João, located in the ruins of the first extraction oil field in Brazil; the quilombo Boca do Rio, located in the Port of Aratu; and the quilombo Ilha de Maré, located in an island opposite the Landulpho Alves Refinery and Port of Aratu. The images 2 and 3 show the location of the communities of Ilha de Maré and Boca do Rio in relation to these petro-industrial infrastructures.
Image 2: Location of the Landulpho Alves Refinery in relation to Ilha de Maré. Source: Google Earth
Image 3: Location of the Port of Aratu in relation to the communities of Ilha de Maré and Boca do Rio. Source: Google Earth
These communities are implementing resistance strategies based on a network of intercommunity and international mobilizations, linking the struggle for territorial rights and racial justice to socio-environmental and climate change issues. The industrial pollutants have caused irreparable damage to the entire way of life in different parts of the Baía de Todos os Santos (HATGE et al 2009). Therefore, coping strategies also have an interspecies dimension, as they aim to protect all forms of life in the coastal zone.
Who are the actors involved? What is their background?
The collective actors involved are the associations of the quilombos of Ilha de Maré, Boca do Rio and Dom João. These communities live mainly from artisanal fishing and have a centuries-old history of occupation in the Baía de Todos os Santos. The Artisanal Fishermen’s Movement of Bahia allows for collective articulation for the rights of quilombola fishing communities. Some groups linked to social movements provide legal and environmental advice, such as the Conselho Pastoral da Pesca (Pastoral Council for Fisheries), the Associação dos Advogados dos Trabalhadores Rurais (Association of Lawyers for Rural Workers) and the Grupo Ambientalista da Bahia (Environmentalist Group of Bahia). Collaborative research carried out by universities in the region has contributed to the production of knowledge in favor of community rights, especially Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), Federal University of Recôncavo Baiano (UFRB), Estate University of Feira de Santana (UEFS) and University for the International Integration of Afro-Brazilian Lusophony (Unilab).
How does this initiative engage with climate? Does it tackle mitigation, adaptation, both or other dimensions of climate change?
I propose to think about two dimensions of the relationship between the quilombola initiatives in Baía de Todos os Santos and the debate on climate change. First of all, this initiative can be included among the many grassroots initiatives that are not directly framed in terms of climate change actions. Nonetheless, I frame those initiatives in terms of climate action because they contribute to think about the mitigation of some crucial aspects of the new climate regime: especially the effects of oil extraction and petro-industry infrastructure on the environment and the way of life of traditional communities. The quilombola fishers have a specific perspective on transformations landscapes and precariousness of their territory in long term. The actions taken by the communities in the last 15 years include land and sea claim, onboard demonstrations, occupations in oil bases, public civil actions, and letters of complaint against leaks, contamination, and deforestation in the coastal zone.
Image 4: Artisanal fishermen prepare a demonstration at sea. On the flag the words: “Stop Environmental Crimes Without Punishment”.
Source: https://www.brasildefatoba.com.br/2019/11/20/artigo-or-pescadores-marisqueiras-e-quilombolas-de-ilha-de-mare-um-povo-lutador
In other instances, those grassroots organizations are explicitly framing their initiatives in relationship to climate change. In this dimension, some local quilombola leaders in Baía de Todos os Santos engage the climate change debate in the public arena because of the unequal exposure to environmental and climate risks to which their communities are subjected. One event is of special relevance: the publication, in July 2020, of an official document by the Municipality of Salvador called Plan for Mitigation and Adaptation to Climate Change in Salvador (PMAMC, 2020). This document establishes the Salvador Climate Risk Index and analyzes the level of local vulnerability. The document shows that the places inhabited by the black population are more exposed to the different risks of the new climate regime, including the quilombo Ilha de Maré. The Climate Risk Index projects the impact of sea level rise on the island up to 2030.
Image 5 shows the projection of the threat of sea level rise in Salvador for the years 2030, 2050 and 2100 (PMAMC, 2020). In blue are the threatened areas. The community of Ilha de Maré is in blue at the top of the maps.
Image 5 – Threat of Sea Level Rise in Salvador Climate Risk Index. Source: Plano de Mitigação e Adaptação às Mudanças Climáticas do Clima em Salvador, Prefeitura Municipal de Salvador, 2020.
For these two different dimensions of impacts (precariousness and contamination of territories in long-term and sea level rise) some quilombola leaders engage the discussion about environmental racism and climate injustice, including their presence at the 26th United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP 26) held in Glasgow in November 2021.
What are the main objectives? What are the main values?
The quilombola fishing communities of Baía de Todos os Santos connect three types of agendas: land claims, anti-racist movement, and socio-environmental debate. The communities understand that only after the regularization and recognition of their property rights on land and sea territories by the State they will they have autonomy to live, protect their living environments and guarantee food security.
The lack of territorial recognition contributes to the precariousness of their territories and ways of life, increasing the pressure of extractive corporations linked to the extraction and movement of commodities. For this reason, most of the complaints about environmental crimes have been voiced by the communities themselves. They denounce the public authorities’ non-compliance with environmental legislation in relation to control over contamination and demand their presence in decision-making spaces on megaprojects that may affect their lives and territories.
An important dimension brought by grassroots associations is the relationship between the environmental crimes suffered and the notion of “environmental racism”. This is a term used by quilombola fishers in public debate, since black and poor people inhabit the most precarious territories of the region. In this sense, quilombola men and women have positioned themselves as “guardians” of the nature, mangrove, and the tide against environmental racism, claiming their perspectives in socio-environmental care and recovery policies.
Due to this long-term relationship with their territories and the consistent engagement with environmental racism, some leaders have started to be involved in the debate on climate injustice. One of the main leaders of the quilombo Ilha de Maré, Eliete Paraguaçu, is a member of a Brazilian collective of black activists called Coalização Negra por Direitos (Black Coalition for Rights). This collective was present at the 26th United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP26) held in Glasgow in November 2021.
Some aspects of the proposal are present in the preparatory debate for COP26 held by the group. Titled “No Racial Justice, No Climate Justice”, the debate can be accessed at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6e3_pqX-0E. The main message of this collective is the importance of intersectionalizing the discussion of environmental racism in the climate debate. During demonstrations in the streets of Glasgow, they showed a poster with the following sentence: “CLIMATE JUSTICE WITHOUT RACIAL JUSTICE IS THE NEW COLONIALISM”.
The poster image can be seen at this link: https://oeco.org.br/analises/justica-climatica-sem-combate-as-desigualdades-raciais-e-colonialismo/.
What is the timeline? Are there already visible effects?
An important milestone was the Manifesto launched by the quilombo Ilha de Maré and Artisanal Fishers Movement against the explosion of the foreign vessel Golden Miller in December 2013. Moored in the port of Aratu, the vessel was carrying butadiene and propylene gases from the company Braskem/SA, contaminating the fishing territories of the region. Since then, quilombola communities have been engaging in strategies to denounce and resist environmental racism through a network of inter-community juridical actions and public mobilizations.
Image 7: Artisanal Fishers Movement protest against impunity over the Golden Miller Ship. Source: https://www.brasildefato.com.br/2020/05/23/que-desenvolvimento-e-esse-que-traz-morte-questiona-pescadora-e-lider-quilombola
One of these took place on July 2018, with the publication of an open letter written by the Quilombo Dom João and signed by partner entities and groups denouncing an oil spill that occurred in May of the same year (ASSOCIAÇÃO QUILOMBOLA PORTO DOM JOÃO 2018; BUTI 2020). At the time, a Petrobras pipeline had ruptured in the vicinity of the community, contaminating residential areas and mangrove.
Launched on the day of commemoration of the independence of Bahia, that document claimed the community’s independence from contamination. In doing so, the quilombola denounced the negligence of environmental agencies. One of the results of the mobilization was the opening of the legal process against Petrobras for compensation of fishers who work in areas affected by oil spill.
Image 8: Mangrove swamp killed by oil spill near Dom João. Source, BUTI 2020
The other took place in September 2020, when the quilombo Boca do Rio held an act in defense of mangroves and the Aratu River. At the time, some residents denounced extensive deforestation in the community’s mangroves, as a result of actions taken by Bahia Terminais to build a port terminal.
Image 9: Complaint by the Environmentalist Group of Bahia against the deforestation of mangroves in the quilombo Boca do Rio. The poster informs that “Bahia Terminais terrorizes quilombo Boca do Rio with an explosion of dynamite”, and that the “Company has already deforested 5 hectares of mangroves within the quilombola territory”.
Image 10: Mangrove of the quilombo Boca do Rio devastated for construction of the port of Bahia Terminais in an area of Environmental Preservation, 11/3/2021. Source: http://www.cppnacional.org.br/noticia/o-quilombo-boca-do-rio-continua-sendo-violentado-pela-empresa-bahia-terminais-controlada
This action triggered the launch of a campaign in defense of the territory of Boca do Rio in March 2021 (ASSOCIAÇÃO QUILOMBOLA BOCA DO RIO, 2021). At the time of this campaign, the association denounced a “chemical warfare” operated by Braskem against families through the release of toxic products. The complaint included the history of devastation operated by the industrial infrastructures of Volpak, Braskem, GDK, Mendes Jr, Ford, and Dow Química, leading to the devastation of forests and mangroves, the removal of hills, the restriction of access, the expulsion of families, the filling of the sea, rivers and water sources, and finally the contamination of the environment and residents. One of the results of the mobilization was the stoppage of the port works by the Public Ministry of Bahia.
Which limits (institutional, physical, social, etc.) does it encounter?
To reflect about the “limits” encountered by quilombola communities in the environmental and climate injustice debate, I will cite the speech of a quilombola leader from Ilha de Maré, Eliete Paraguaçu. This speech is present in the documentary “Invisible Killer: industrial waste on the island of Maré reaches deadly levels”, released in 2019 by the collective Midia Ninja.
It’s a very unequal fight, it’s one thing for you to fight with an enterprise, it’s one thing for you to fight with a world of enterprise, it’s one thing for you to fight with chemical pollution that you don’t feel, you don’t touch, you can’t punch, this is very uneven, this is very perverse, what we have been experiencing here in Bahia is this. And the criminalization of the movements that we face, because we have to defend the mangrove, for us to defend the crowns and the areas that we fish, we are criminalized, with police at the door, with the right to be arrested, because you defended the right to survive, you defended the right of your community, you defended the right of a class that has always lived exclusively on what does, which is the fishing, the fish, the food that we produce, that we move this Bay with what we do.
According to Eliete, the quilombola and fishing communities are in an unequal and perverse struggle because it is not possible to “feel”, “touch” and “punch” the enemy, in this case, the “chemical pollution” released by the “world of enterprises” in Baía de Todos os Santos. This is something similar to what Nixon (2011) calls “slow violence”, as a form of structural and lasting destruction dispersed in time and space inherent to predatory extractivism. In slow violence, it is difficult to map and prove the causative agent of environmental crimes.
Image 11: Documentary poster “Invisible Killer: industrial waste on the island of Maré reaches deadly levels”. Source: https://midianinja.org/news/assassino-invisivel-lixo-industrial-na-ilha-de-mare-chega-a-niveis-mortais/
Added to this, oil and petro-industrial corporations tend to deny the occurrence and severity of their effects on territories and on the health of the population. Large extractive corporations are protected by the Brazilian state, where regulatory institutions have been complacent with crimes. It can be said, therefore, that the limit for the actions of communities lies in the institutional and structural racism that marks the relations of power in Brazilian society. Some places and people need to be sacrificed for the benefit of capitalist projects. These places and bodies are predominantly black.
Another point raised by Eliete concerns the criminalization of quilombola leaders. Some leaders have responded individually to lawsuits brought against them by corporations and other agents contrary to the interests of quilombola communities. Pressures on community leaders have increased in Brazil after President Jair Bolsonaro took power in 2018. A report by the NGO Global Witness lists Brazil as the fourth country in the world for number of environmental and land rights leaders killed in 2021. This created a more hostile context for socio-environmental agendas in the country, including Baía de Todos os Santos. For this reason, some quilombola leaders have engaged with international networks of mobilization. The participation of quilombola leaders in the climate debate promoted by COP 26 is a way of engaging new global perspectives in historical local problems.
How would it be potentially replicable in other settings?
The environmental and climate activism to which quilombola leaders from Baía de Todos os Santos are involved is part of a larger movement engaged by indigenous and traditional communities from different parts of the world. COP26 is proof of this, as for the first time it brought together indigenous leaders and traditional peoples from different countries engaged in occupy the climate debate. One of the groups active at COP26 was the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities (GATC), a coalition of organizations from Latin America, Africa and Asia representing traditional communities in 24 countries. The participation of Brazilian indigenous peoples and quilombola is part of this movement where communities claim a place in the fight against the climate crisis. To a certain extent, the climate debate has become a common language for communities to formulate an agenda of planetary commitments based on their local realities. By intersecting the racial debate in the climate debate, Brazilian quilombola communities offer the world the message from the tide.
References
ASSOCIAÇÃO QUILOMBOLA BOCA DO RIO, 2021. International Campaign in Defense of the Quilombo Boca do Rio. Candeias, 18 de Março de 2021. http://www.cppnacional.org.br/sites/default/files/Note%20from%20Community%20Boca%20do%20Rio.pdf
ASSOCIAÇÃO QUILOMBOLA PORTO DOM JOÃO, 2018. Quilombo Dom João em Defesa do Meio Ambiente e contra o Derramamento e Contaminação de Petróleo – Carta Aberta da Comunidade Quilombola Dom João sobre o derramamento de petróleo ocorrido no dia 16 de maio de 2018. São Francisco do Conde, 02 de Julho de 2018.
BUTI, Rafael Palermo. Imagens do petroceno: habitabilidade e resistência quilombola em infraestruturas petrolíferas em manguezais do Recôncavo Baiano. Amazônica – Revista de Antropologia, [S.l.], v. 12, no. 1, pág. 277-301, outubro de 2020. ISSN 2176-0675. Disponível em: https://periodicos.ufpa.br/index.php/amazonica/article/view/8504.
HATJE V.; BÍCEGO, Márcia; CARVALHO, Gilson; ANDRADE Jailson. 2009, Contaminação Química. In Baía de todos os santos: aspectos oceanográficos. Editado por V. Hatje e J Andrade. Salvador: EDUFBA.
NIXON, Rob (2011), Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor. Cambridge, MA/London, England: Harvard University Press, 353 pp.
Plano de Mitigação e Adaptação às Mudanças Climáticas do Clima em Salvador, Prefeitura Municipal de Salvador, 2020. In: http://sustentabilidade.salvador.ba.gov.br/wp-content/uploads/2020-/12/Versao_Completa_PMAMC.pdf
ZAGATTO, Bruna P; SOUZA, Luiz E. A necropolítica ambiental nos quilombos de Ilha de Maré, Bahia, Brasil. 2020 Amazônica – Revista de Antropologia, Belém, v. 12, n. 1.
Newspaper Referencie
ASSOCIAÇÃO QUILOMBOLA BOCA DO RIO, 2021. INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN IN DEFENSE OF THE QUILOMBO BOCA DO RIO. Candeias, 18 de Março de 2021. http://www.cppnacional.org.br/sites/default/files/Note%20from%20Community%20Boca%20do%20Rio.pdf
Justiça Climática sem Combate às Desigualdades Raciais é Colonialismo. In: https://oeco.org.br/analises/justica-climatica-sem-combate-as-desigualdades-raciais-e-colonialismo/
Manifesto do Movimento de Pescadores e Pescadoras Artesanais sobre a explosão do navio no Porto de Aratu. In: http://www.cppnacional.org.br/noticia/manifesto-do-mpp-sobre-explos%C3%A3o-de-navio-no-porto-de-aratu-%E2%80%93-salvadorba.
Menos de 7% das áreas quilombolas foram tituladas no Brasil. In: https://agenciabrasil.ebc.com.br/direitos-humanos/noticia/2018-05/menos-de-7-das-areas-quilombolas-no-brasil-foram-tituladas
O Quilombo Boca do Rio Continua Sendo Violentado pela Empresa Bahia Terminais. In: http://www.cppnacional.org.br/noticia/o-quilombo-boca-do-rio-continua-sendo-violentado-pela-empresa-bahia-terminais-controlada
Pescadores e marisqueiras quilombolas de Ilha de Maré: um povo lutador. In: https://www.brasildefatoba.com.br/2019/11/20/artigo-or-pescadores-marisqueiras-e-quilombolas-de-ilha-de-mare-um-povo-lutador
Que desenvolvimento é esse que traz morte?, questiona pescadora e líder quilombola. In: https://www.brasildefato.com.br/2020/05/23/que-desenvolvimento-e-esse-que-traz-morte-questiona-pescadora-e-lider-quilombola
Relatório Aponta Brasil como o Quarto País em Assassinatos de Líderes Ambientais. In: https://noticias.uol.com.br/meio-ambiente/ultimas-noticias/redacao/2021/09/12/relatorio-aponta-brasil-como-4-pais-em-assassinatos-de-lideres-ambientais.htm
Sem Justiça Racial não há Justiça Climática. In: https://itr.ufrrj.br/determinacaoverde/sem-justica-racial-nao-ha-justica-climatica/
Um acordo histórico para indígenas na COP26: 10 bilhões de reais para proteger as florestas. In: https://brasil.elpais.com/sociedade/2021-11-02/um-acordo-historico-para-os-indigenas-na-cop26-10-bilhoes-de-reais-para-proteger-as-florestas.html#:~:text=A%20COP26%20n%C3%A3o%20%C3%A9%20o,Conserva%C3%A7%C3%A3o%20da%20Natureza%20(IUCN).
Jorinde Bosma
Where is this grassroots initiative implemented?
Approximately seven percent of all Dutch households live in so-called energy poverty (TNO, 2021), meaning that they spend ten percent or more of their disposable income on energy costs each month and have trouble affording their energy bills. In the city of Leiden this problem is biggest in the district Noord (North). In the past years, Leiden-Noord has become an area with multiple faces. On the west side, one can find affluent new neighborhoods, while in the northern neighborhoods there is less prosperity. As a result, the threat of a dichotomized neighborhood with increasingly more energy poverty is looming.
The grassroots project “Energie voor Energie” (energy for energy) aims to combat this dichotomy through a small-scale, neighborhood-oriented approach, by creating possibilities for residents in “De Prinsessenbuurt” and “De Hoven” – two small neighborhoods in Leiden-Noord – to join the energy transition (the transition to a new system where sustainable energy replaces fossil fuels and much attention is paid to energy conservation and storage).
“Energie voor Energie” is a collaboration between inhabitants of various neighborhoods in the district, different neighborhood organizations and energy ambassadors from the municipality of Leiden. The project’s ultimate goal is to collectively generate solar energy on suitable roofs in Leiden Noord and give people who live in affordable rental homes and have little money to spare the opportunity to participate. By volunteering with a local public organization of their own choice, participants are able to “save up” for certificates in the collective solar park, or for other sustainable measures such as LED-lighting and insulation. In the Netherlands, volunteers can receive a compensation of up to €5,- per hour. De Leidse Uitdaging, a local independently operating residents’ company by and for resident of Leiden-Noord, would save up this compensation until participants would have earned enough money for a certificate to partake in the solar panel roof. A certificate for a solar panel is expected to cost around €300,-, equal to 60 hours of volunteering (although this amount is not yet final). This way, the project aims to empower active residents to participate in the energy transition by volunteering for an organization of their own choice, to reduce their cost of living and contribute to the quality of life and social cohesion in the neighborhood.
Who are the promoters?
Energie voor Energie was initiated by “De Leidse Uitdaging”, a local residents’ organization whose goal it is to make the neighborhood a pleasant, safe, accessible and attractive space for everyone who lives there. De Leidse Uitdaging promotes and organizes activities that contribute to social cohesion in Leiden-Noord, by involving (vulnerable) groups and volunteers from the neighborhood. In this project, De Leidse Uitdaging works together with residents from the neighborhoods De Hoven and De Prinsessenbuurt, residents’ association “Zwijgers van Noord”, citizens’ initiative “Zon op Leiden” (sun on Leiden) and the energy coaches and neighborhood ambassadors of the municipality of Leiden.
Who are the actors involved? What is their background?
As a residents’ association, Zwijgers van Noord coordinates a meeting center in the Leiden-Noord district, intended for local residents. Here, they give courses and provide a meeting place for people from the neighborhood.
Zon op Leiden is a local residents’ cooperative whose aim it is to offer inhabitants of Leiden the opportunity to generate their own solar power on large roofs in the city. Members of the cooperative can buy certificates for solar energy generated from nearby rooftops.
The energy coaches are volunteers working with the municipality of Leiden. These are local residents who have themselves made their houses more sustainable, and now help others in their neighborhood to do this too. After receiving training on saving energy, they visit their neighbors to not only give tips and advice on how to live more sustainably, but also to immediately introduce small measures such as radiator foil or LED-lights.
Neighborhood ambassadors are paid by the Leiden municipality out of a budget for energy initiatives, and give advice on sustainability too. In addition, they organize information meetings, set up campaigns, maintain a newsletter, and are more in involved with the municipal government. Some neighborhood ambassadors are energy coaches as well.
Who are the beneficiaries?
Energie voor Energie focuses on the neighborhoods of De Hoven and De Prinsessenbuurt. In these neighborhoods, 70 percent of the homes are rentals, of which more than three quarters are social housing. (Gemeente Leiden, n.d.) More than 20 percent of people living in De Hoven and De Prinsessenbuurt have trouble making ends meet. A relatively large percentage of the residents here are non-western immigrants and many locals are dependent on social benefits. (Gemeente Leiden, n.d.)
Although there have been various initiatives in Leiden aimed at increasing the sustainability of owner-occupied houses, there has been less attention for rental homes. Not all social housing associations try to improve their homes in a similar fashion (and with similar speed). With gas prices on the rise, the people living in De Hoven and Prinsessenbuurt are especially vulnerable to energy poverty. Energie voor Energie aims to help this group specifically.
How does this initiative engage with climate?
One of the main aims of Energie voor Energie is to limit global warming and its related effects, by helping citizens increase the sustainability of their rental homes – a type of housing that as of now is still lagging behind in the sustainability transition.
However, Energie voor Energie does not just focus on the energy transition. Initiator De Leidse Uitdaging is a residents’ company, which focuses on economic activity in the neighborhood, by the neighborhood and for the neighborhood. For example, the organization has set up a local tearoom, of which all generated income is distributed and invested locally to increase the livability of the neighborhood.
This ambition is key to Energie voor Energie too: besides aiding people in living more sustainably and through that, limiting the emission of CO2, the project also aims to create value for the neighborhood by motivating people to volunteer for public organizations, and tries to help tackle issues of energy poverty. By considering what the specific group of inhabitants of De Hoven and De Prinsessenbuurt needs and is capable of contributing, and by providing people with the chance to volunteer in return for shares in a communal solar roof, Energie voor Energie tries to make sustainability attainable for all inhabitants of the neighborhood. In addition, through volunteering for local organizations and projects, the project tries to increase social cohesion and contribute to the livability of the neighborhood – not just for those participating in Energie voor Energie, but also for other citizens living there.
What are the main objectives? What are the main values?
“The energy transition isn’t just a technical issue. It’s also a social issue. You want people to be able to participate. That means you also have to work on completely different things than just making everything possible technically. For this group, it’s difficult to participate in the energy transition because they don’t have money to invest. They don’t own their homes and can’t install solar panels.” (M. de Loos, project leader of Energie voor Energie, interview, February 18, 2022.)
For Energie voor Energie, the energy transition is not just about technology – it is about people. The project’s focus, then, is mainly on the social dimensions of sustainability, such as every day behavior and choices in food, mobility and living. Energie voor Energie believes that small-scale, neighborhood-oriented approaches where local parties collaborate are vital for a successful energy transition.
By aiming to help people who are at risk of suffering from energy poverty transition to a more sustainable way of living, not just through access to solar energy, but also through providing them with small, practical solutions for their homes, Energie voor Energie aims to create an inclusive and socially just energy transition. In doing so, Energie voor Energie takes an intersectional approach, paying attention to how the obstacles to participate in the energy transition differ between social groups. For example, where for native Dutch people who rely on social welfare, financial issues could be the biggest obstacle to overcome, for elderly Moroccan-Dutch people there may be issues with language barriers or accessibility of information.
What is the timeline? Are there already visible effects?
“We have the impression that people are very hesitant. There is real energy poverty – and poverty in general – in this neighborhood, more than in the rest of Leiden. These are people who have little confidence in the government and institutions. So if you want to get people on board, they have to trust you. That’s why we’re having these conversations now.” (M. de Loos, project leader of Energie voor Energie, interview, February 18, 2022.)
Energie voor Energie was conceived of in 2019, and the plan was put into action in July 2021. Although the end goal of the project is to connect as many people in the neighborhood as possible to the communal solar roof, it soon became clear that the creation of the solar roof should not be the first step. First, it was important to help people understand the relevance of this solar roof and get them excited to participate. In the first stages of the project, the focus is on starting to help people save energy, giving advice, getting to know them and making sure that the inhabitants of the neighborhood became familiar with the project.
Starting in October 2021, representatives of the project reached out to people through a local soup kitchen, putting up flyers (see image 1) and posters and an exhibition about sustainability measures in the local tearoom. Representatives also went door to door in the neighborhood to invite inhabitants to so-called “energy conversations”, the concept for which was developed together with the GOED-neighborhood ambassador in Leiden-North. In these conversations, a small group of inhabitants and energy coaches will get together to discuss ways to save energy when renting a home. Afterwards, participants receive a package with products that can help increase the sustainability of their homes (e.g. radiator foil, water-saving showerhead, LED-lights). Participants can choose for themselves which products they want to take with them, as to make sure that everyone receives the help that is most useful to them.
The method for the energy conversations is specifically aimed at keeping the conversations accessible for people with low literacy or who aren’t fluent in Dutch. For example, it incorporates cards written in various languages and visual aids to explain energy usage (see image 2). The method is designed so that it can be used in different ways, depending on what works best with a specific group, and the municipality of Leiden has shown interest in working with it on a larger scale.
Which limits (institutional, physical, social, etc.) does it encounter?
“These people living at the subsistence minimum are very difficult to reach. Partly, that’s an issue of trust. When you spend more time in the neighborhood and are more active, people will sooner join, because they know you. Another reason is that people have financial and other problems. That limits their mental space to think about saving energy – even if it would benefit them.” (M. de Loos, project leader of Energie voor Energie, interview, February 18, 2022.)
There is little use in installing a solar panel roof, when no one is interested in participating. For neighborhoods such as De Hoven and De Prinsessenbuurt, increasing the sustainability of their homes is often not top of mind for the people living there, who might be more concerned with making ends meet.
The energy conversations are intended as a means to start to help people think about sustainability and to create awareness of the added value of making homes more sustainable. However, convincing people to join these conversations proved to be easier said than done. The organizers of Energie voor Energie put up posters and went door to door to explain the project and invite people to join their conversations. Of the circa 200 homes visited, around half of the residents showed interest in participating. However, few would sign up for the energy conversations, and in the end, only 13 people actually showed up to them. This is congruent with the experience of neighborhood ambassadors in these areas: it is notoriously difficult to convince people to get involved.
Another reason the inhabitants of De Hoven and De Prinsessenbuurt are hard to reach, has got to do with cultural and ethnic differences. For example, several inhabitants are elderly people of Moroccan descent, and speak little to no Dutch. Although De Leidse Uitdaging has provided posters and flyers in multiple languages and has tried to reach specific ethnic and religious groups through the Islamic center in the neighborhood, this has not been successful yet. Clearly, more time is needed to make contact with all groups in the neighborhood.
Other issues concern the effect of the solar panel certificate on social benefits and taxes, and practical concerns regarding the saving system for volunteers and the coupling between the solar panel roof and the individual participant’s energy bills. Currently, it is anticipated that participants who will have a certificate for one solar panel would pay their regular monthly energy bills, and for a period of 15 years would receive €40,- at the end of every year. This way, participants would invest the equivalent of €300,- in time volunteered, and receive €600,- in return in total. However, a monthly discount on the energy bill would be preferred, as this would limit the chance that the €40,- is taxed as extra income.
Are any shortcomings or critical points visible? What other problematic issues can arise from its implementation?
Energie voor Energie aims to help people save money on their energy bills in two ways: by using less energy through adapting more sustainable behavior, and through earning certificates in a communal solar roof. However, there is only so much that inhabitants in De Hoven and De Prinsessenbuurt can do to save on energy. Of course, small adjustments such as using radiator foil or LED-lights can definitely decrease energy bills. However, many of the residents in these neighborhoods have extremely low incomes and will already be living fairly frugally and – in that sense – sustainably. The largest energy sink, then, is not the behavior of inhabitants, but the buildings they live in.
Most buildings in De Hoven and De Prinsessenbuurt were built in the 1950s and have thin facades, poorly insulating windows and uninsulated attics, which means that more energy is needed to heat them. To really help people save money on their energy spendings, energy conversations, solar energy certificates and small adjustments will not be enough. Structural improvements to these homes are necessary, which is the responsibility of the housing association. In De Prinsessenbuurt, for example, some of the homes have recently been made more sustainable by the housing association. However, as of now, the housing associations in De Hoven and De Prinsessenbuurt have not been involved in Energie voor Energie, although the organization has tried to get into contact with them.
In general, the amount of money that people will be able to save through participating in Energie voor Energie, is relatively small. Even for people living on the subsistence minimum, €40,- per year will not make a great difference. On top of that, a commitment of 15 years might be difficult to oversee for people who have more pressing financial matters on their minds. Possibly, monthly returns or discounts on energy bills, instead of end-of-year payments, could give people more incentive to join, as the result would be more immediate.
Another question to consider for Energie voor Energie, is the location of the solar roof. Although solar panels are not as invasive as some other types of energy generation, they do reflect the sun and might cause a nuisance for people living in buildings looking out over the roof. This is something Energie voor Energie keeps into account as well. Although the location for the solar roof is not yet definitive, the organization considers placing them on the roof of a nearby cultural workshop just outside of De Hoven. Whereas the people living on this street would not immediately benefit from the solar roof being placed here, it is Energie voor Energie’s ambition to extend the project to these areas eventually.
How would it be potentially replicable in other settings?
Energie voor Energie is fairly easily replicable in different settings. In Leiden alone, there are several communal solar roofs already. However, the focus on low-income renters is uncommon and, as has become clear from the current project, does pose specific challenges, which ask for a large time investment and deep involvement from people working within this project.
Is this initiative conducive to broader changes?
Although Energie voor Energie is a sustainability project aimed at helping people save energy, its focus is mainly on community awareness and community involvement. By letting people pay for their share in the solar roof through volunteer work for local, public organizations, and getting a group of people who are notoriously difficult to reach more involved in their own neighborhoods, Energie voor Energie tries to contribute to social cohesion in Leiden-Noord. On top of that, the fact that people are free to choose where they want to volunteer (as long as it is with a local, public organization) could contribute to a feeling of empowerment for a disadvantaged group of people.
References
De Leidse Uitdaging. (n.d.). Project Energie voor Energie. Theehuis Noord. Retrieved February 15, 2022, from https://www.theehuisnoord.nl/energie-voor-energie.
Gemeente Leiden. (n.d.). WoonZorgwijzer Sterke Sociale Basis Leiden. WoonZorgwijzer Leiden. Retrieved February 10, 2022, from https://leiden.wzwkaart.nl/.
TNO. (2021, September). Hoe voorkomen we energiearmoede? Retrieved November 15, 2021, from https://www.tno.nl/nl/aandachtsgebieden/energietransitie/roadmaps/systeemtransitie/de-sociale-aspecten-van-de-energietransitie/energiearmoede/.
By Nasreddine EL Guezar
CONFERENCE
“Have a good day, love! I hope you like it out there, I hear that Morocco is a warm and welcoming place!”
I read the message my husband left me as I was heading to the conference room at the University Campus of Technology and Expertise in Oujda, Morocco. It was only seconds before an usher welcomed and guided me to the main conference room. I entered the place and found my way through to my seat next to a young blonde woman, who was scanning a pamphlet of the conference. I sat and observed calmly the spacious room. I could easily distinguish the languages and accents I heard around me.
The young woman next to me seemed restless.
“I am not usually a whiner, but isn’t it way too hot in this country,” she said to me, longing for a conversation. “I was boiling outside!”
I smiled and nodded in agreement.
“It is not what I expected; there are no green spaces in here; besides, everything seems artificial and phony.” She continued. “When I go back to my town in Switzerland, I will hug the trees in my yard.”
“I guess we are living in the Wall-E world,” I responded in a humorous tone.
She looked puzzled for a moment but acted like she understood my analogy. Perhaps she was not familiar with classic environmental movies. Nobody watches movies these days. I wanted to lighten the atmosphere with a relevant fact.
“I learned that the city of Oujda has become one of the hottest cities in the Mediterranean.” I sensed that I did not express the degree of discomfort she felt, but I went on and introduced myself to her: “I’m Márcia Amaral, an environmental photographer and artist from Brazil, but my husband and I have been settling in Sweden.”
“Interesting, I never understood why real people are still doing photography jobs these days, to be honest,” she said. “AI Drones have been taking care of that for ages now!”
I felt a little offended, and I wanted to give her an idea about my art project, but she continued:
“Kate Reber from Switzerland, you can tell I’m the youngest here,” she said proudly. “I was invited here after leading a protest group in my high school about a tree they cut down in the schoolyard.” She chuckled. “People who saw my protest video called me names like the future environmental activist. Oh, look, the screen is changing!”
OUJDA
The large screen displayed a video about the host city, Oujda. The North-Eastern Moroccan city was chosen to hold the Mediterranean Climate Conference for the 2190 edition. Every year, the conference organizers selected an environmentally vulnerable city from the Mediterranean region to host the meetings. The conference had been home to politicians, policymakers, engineers, scientists, activists, artists, and scholars from different parts of the world. They came together to converse and reflect on the environmental situation of the Mediterranean region, which had warmed 30% faster than the global average.
Besides its vulnerable ecosystem, the cultural diversity and Mediterranean closeness of Oujda made it an ideal city to hold the MCC conference this particular year. The city is less than 60 km away from the Mediterranean basin, and it has been characterized mainly by its border position. The video put on view several sites that used to be the landmarks of the city, namely the old medina, the great mosque, Lalla Aicha Park, and Sidi Maafa Forest. The video then focused on the last site, Sidi Maafa Forest.
Moments later, the screen changed again. This time it showed two short videos with two dates, 2020 and 2190. Both dates were for the forest of Sidi Maafa, and the videos that were shown next were staggering. Some people in the audience chattered audibly after seeing them. Along with the first date, the video showed a woody green forest, rich red soils, and flocks of birds chirping on a variety of trees and plants. The second video revealed a completely lifeless desert.
The display was then followed by an IPCC report about the climate in Oujda. In 2020, the climate was generally influenced by the interior Mediterranean climate, mild with dry, hot summers. The hottest month was July, when the max temperature was about 35℃. Things, however, changed in the last century as the report demonstrated. The inhabitants of the region experienced episodes of drought coupled with a phenomenon of desertification. Rain did not fall for the last six decades in the whole oriental region of Morocco, which made Oujda and its peripheries look deserted. The report concluded that Oujda had become the hottest city in Morocco, hitting its highest temperature ever recorded: 50.8°C.
Following other videos, images, and reports, the audience participants were invited to a field excursion at Sidi Maafa to see with their own eyes the changes that had occurred in the place.
“An excursion to the Sidi Maafa Desert? They must be kidding!” Kate Reber shook her head in disbelief. “I am heading back to the hotel,” she added before she slowly disappeared among the moving crowd.
SIDI MAAFA
We boarded big, hydrogen-powered tour buses. The buses were obviously new; I wondered if they had even been used before. The passenger who sat next to me was a local resident. I learned from him that the Oujdi community did not appreciate the introduction of ecobuses. Water scarcity made them resentful towards governmental initiatives. Through the massive windows of the bus, I could see many WaterForAll signs on the walls of the buildings we passed by.
On the excursion, we were given juice and water. I put a bottle of water in my pocket and started taking photographs of the sites we passed by in Sidi Maafa. I was immersed in a photograph that captures all the visible features of the land until someone nearby asked me:
“There isn’t much here to take photographs for, is there?”
Turning to my right side, I stood up in curiosity to meet a bald, middle-aged man with a badge that said Smith Beard, a British environmental scientist. I felt the name was familiar.
“Uh, well, the extinction of a whole forest is a thing after all, isn’t it?” I replied in a friendly manner.
“Right! As scientists, I wonder what more we could give as proof of the gravity of climate change effects.” He seemed upset. “I have researched the past climate of this city; Rainfall was at least 400 mm per year. After 170 years, look what we have here, arid land with scorching temperatures and no rainfall.”
“I like your recent work on the climate of the region, Dr. Beard,” interrupted a man in a gray suit, with a self-assured smile. “Sean Harddy, with double d, a US AI investor. Friends call me Hux.”
I introduced myself in exchange, but Dr. Beard did not. He did not seem comfortable in the presence of Harddy. The two seemed to have met before.
“You like science, Mrs. Márcia?” Harddy asked me with unquestionable confidence.
“It gives us the data!” I answered in short giggles.
“Data isn’t doing anything nowadays.” Harddy reacted with a smirk. “We are on the threshold of a new century, and the environmental changes are still taking place.” He noticed a slight annoyance appearing on the face of Dr. Beard. “Science has been giving us data and facts, but data were just numbers, and facts were misled by people’s emotions and anxieties. Confirmed information that climate scientists give is nothing but climate fright to people.”
“And of course, you AI investors pursue the profit, wherever it is,” Dr. Beard responded. “I saw your company’s last ad about that app that claims its users can instantly feel environmentally optimistic and less anxious about world problems.”
“That’s how it works, Dr. Beard, don’t blame the investors! Look, I love trees and clean air, with pleasant weather too, but scientists in recent decades did nothing but scare people about the Earth’s climate. They fed the thirst of environmental activists, politicians, and even us, the investors.”
“Are you saying we need a new approach, Mr. Harddy?” I intervened.
“I don’t think we can do anything about it,” replied Harddy. “It is those folks who think we can change that are deluded. Humans aren’t responsible for climate changes and even if they were, they could do nothing about it. What humans can do is maybe prevent pollution, rethink resource consumption, and improve recycling. Controlling the climate opposes a true environmental sense!”
“Okay,” Dr. Beard commented. “So, every climate scientist is nothing but a scaremonger, according to Mr. Harddy, with double d.”
“Do you wanna know how many ‘the world is ending’ meetings I had to take up?” Harddy said calmly, looking at me. “I have been hearing those alarming calls backed up with numbers and reports from scientists that the signs of ecological collapse are so imminent. The warnings were basically the same in the last two centuries. Nothing happened, humanity, my friends, has been adjusting to environmental changes.”
“Harddy, or as your friends call you, Hux, aren’t you simply speaking from the playbook that the climate change deniers spoke from two centuries ago?” asked Dr. Beard with minor agitation. “While many cities in the world are having the worst summer storms in decades, wildfires destroy land on three continents and islands are being swallowed by the ocean, you say we just sit there and watch? I think you got it all wrong. You speak as if science spread environmental fear and terror, yet it is people’s ignorance and uncontrolled emotions that were behind that!”
“You are a photographer, right?” Harddy turned to me, ignoring Dr. Beard’s last statement. “Why don’t you take a photograph for us to commemorate the date. Beard and I have different views, but we like debating with each other, just like siblings, right, Smith?”
Dr. Beard did not respond but reluctantly agreed to take the picture. I took the photograph and promised to send them a copy.
The groups dispersed as we headed back to the hotel.
HOTEL
I sat in the lobby of the hotel. It was a delight to listen to the soothing music that was mixed with the quiet murmurs of the people in the background. I sensed it was a convenient moment to type a text to my husband about all the details of my encounters today. Right after I sent the message, notifications from Kate Reber were popping up on my phone screen. She posted several shorts expressing her support for the misfortunes of the Oujdi people who protest every day for equal water distribution.
I turned off my phone and felt a deep need to reflect on everything that happened in my day. I reviewed the data shared in the morning presentations. Then I looked at the photos I took, examined them carefully, and pondered the forest that was drastically transformed into a desert. I also thought about my conversation with Reber and the one between Beard and Harddy. The local protests came to my mind too. Unhurriedly, I tried to put it all together and connect it to see what I could learn from it all.
My moment of reflection was then interrupted when my husband called.
by Saloni Sharma
The Dark Beauty, 21 May 2017 by “Pushpeshpant.10”, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
The first time I went to Sanjay Van, a ridge forest along the foothills of Aravali Range in the heart of South Delhi, was on a field trip for a course on Ecosophy taught by Dr.
Aseem Srivastava at Ashoka University. As I, along with my classmates gasped in awe at this nature’s paradise — in the middle of the congested metropolis, our teacher shared with us the story of Vinod Rawat, the founder, who made the restoration of this forest his life’s mission after the death of his beloved wife.
I have visited Sanjay Van many times since. In fact, I believe it was Sanjay Van that has inspired me to follow a research career in the field of Ecological Humanities. I was humbled to share this fact with Devika Rawat, daughter-in-law of the Late Vinod Rawat, when I approached her for an interview for the present assignment. The answers to the following questions are based on my conversation with her who now leads Working with Nature (WWN), a citizen-led organisation founded by her late father-in-law.
Where is this grassroots initiative implemented?
The initiative has been implemented at Sanjay Van, a city forest that is part of Delhi’s South Central Ridge formed by the world’s oldest fold mountains, the Aravali Range. It is surrounded by densely populated areas of Mehrauli and Vasant Kunj.
Who are the promoters? Who are the actors involved? What is their background?
The promoters are Working With Nature (WWN) — a citizen-led group, and the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) under whose jurisdiction the ridge forest falls. WWN was founded by Air Vice Marshal Vinod Rawat and led under the direction and patronage of HE Tejendra Khanna, Lt. Governor of Delhi. The group has worked closely with DDA for Sanjay Van’s restoration. Ecologists, Prof. P.S. Ramakrishnan and Prof K.S. Rao, and Bird watcher, Dr. Surya Prakash, have also been part of the team along with volunteers from local areas and villages around the forest. WWN is now led by Ms. Devika Rawat, who continues the Work with Nature at Sanjay Van.
Who are the beneficiaries?
The initiative has made space for the city dwellers around to reconnect with nature and rekindle their ecological consciousness. What used to be famous as a degraded land with rumours of ghosts residing in and being a den of thugs, WWN reclaimed the city forest and restored it to its original glory. Because of the efforts of DDA and WWN, the forest now welcomes nature enthusiasts, cyclists, local residents along with everyday visitors who come for respite from the city life and engage in nature walks, yoga, and sightseeing. WWN has partnered with many local schools to carry out awareness drives and sensitise children about nature and their environment.
Importantly, the beneficiaries are also the local flora and fauna that reside inside the forest. The native Aravali trees which were almost extinct because of the plantation of Vilayati Kikar, an invasive tree species, are also one of the prime beneficiaries. The forest provides a natural habitat for many butterflies, blue bulls, a variety of snakes, small and big lizards like the monitor, golden jackals etc. Owing to the efforts by DDA and WWN, over 150 species of birds and rare migratory birds have been documented.
Sanjay Van is part of Delhi’s Ridge which is known as the lungs of the city. All the residents of the city, who might have lost a city forest to encroachment and real estate but now can celebrate the restoration of the city’s ecological heritage also benefit from this project.
How does this initiative engage with climate? Does it tackle mitigation, adaptation, both or other dimensions of climate change?
The project tackles both — mitigation as well as adaptation. The forest helps with the heavy pollution that Delhi faces every year. The tree cover cleanses the air and provides oxygen.
Additionally, Sanjay Van has a medicinal forest which consists of traditional medicinal trees. These trees are specifically good for improving the air quality.
The forest trees are resilient and adapting to the heat as the climate is getting warmer. These are native Aravali trees which belong to the Acacia family. These trees are thorny and not very tall, therefore, they do not require much water. However, they are rich with properties that benefit us and the environment.
What are the main objectives? What are the main values?
The primary objective of the initiative has been to restore Sanjay Van. Once the forest is restored, the other objective is to preserve it.
Within the restoration work, the goal was to restore Aravali vegetation. The native Aravali vegetation had become extinct from Sanjay Van because it was overrun by the invasive tree, Vilayati Kikar. In Hindi, Vilayati means foreign and Kikar refers to Acacia tree type. Vilayati Kikar is a foreign species which was planted in the 1990s along the periphery of Delhi. This was done to stop the arid soil from Rajasthan desert towards Delhi and to also restrict pollution from increased construction activities. In a slight oversight by the committee who was appointed for the resolution of this problem, a tree was identified which grows very fast — in about 5 years time — to provide the city with tree cover. This tree was Vilayati Kikar. It’s roots go very deep drinking away ground water and banishing other trees to take roots. Gradually, the native trees began disappearing while Vilayati Kikar proliferated.
Therefore, the objective of the project was to plant trees without uprooting Vilayati Kikar.
This year the decision to uproot these invasive trees has been passed. However, when this initiative was implemented, the challenge was to restore native Aravali vegetation without uprooting Vilayati Kikar. This was done by continuously eradicating its seed pots, uprooting young saplings and filling of open areas and extending forest cover with the native trees.
Next, the project also had the objective of making inexpensive water harvesting structures in order to recharge underground water which could provide a fertile land for rapid generation and restoration of natural biodiversity. It also arrested erosion of soil and gradually created large water bodies in the forest. Under the advisory of Dr Rajendra Singh who is known as the Waterman of Rajasthan, check dams were created and abandoned water bodies were replenished with recycled waste water. The forest now boasts 5 lakes which attract more birds. However, the upkeep and care of the water bodies is an ongoing mission.
Furthermore, the vision of WWN also posits making a bird sanctuary inside
the forest. For this, selective planting of fauna friendly vegetation has been implemented. Furthermore, regular checks to maintain sufficiently clean water at the five lakes inside the forest are undertaken so that biological life can be sustained and bird friendly fish in the ponds could be introduced. Because of these efforts, several rare birds have spotted in Sanjay van after many years of absence.
Lastly, replicating the restoration model of Sanjay Van to other ridges of Delhi is also in the vision of WWN.
The restoration work is presently in its last leg with supplementary plantation conducted annually during monsoon.
The preservation and maintainance is an ongoing drill and the role of WWN is to engage citizens in the management of their forest while also liasoning with DDA.
The real estate in Delhi is very expensive and ecroachment of land was a looming threat. The best way to overcome this challenge was to connect people to the land, get more people to come to the forest and become its guardians.
WWN connects people to the forest, raises sensitisation and awareness drives, arranges painting competitions for school children, coordinates nature walks, gather volunteers for the upkeep, engages in plantation work etc.
The main value that has guided the work of WWN is to create awareness and build a reconnection with nature. Oneness with nature is part of the traditional Indian value system and the goal of this initiative has been to rekindle these values — making people to connect with nature and care for their environment.
What is the timeline? Are there already visible effects?
The duration of the project was foreseen to be between ten and twelve years to see visible changes as trees take 8-10 years time to grow. During this period, rigorous efforts by DDA with the support from WWN were undertaken for the plantation which resulted in the survival rate of the trees at 75-80% .
The land area of Sanjay Van is 783 acres. To carry out the restoration, little pockets of land were selected to start the work. The forest has 4 layers: the taller
trees which are called the emergents, the canopy trees which provide a cover to the forest, the bushes and the creepers. The plantation therefore, had to have a balance of the four layers and the plantation was organized accordingly.
The water bodies took approximately 5 years to come up and now require regular maintenance.
Therefore, the project has taken 12 years to complete restoration and preservation efforts are endlessly going on.
Which limits does it encounter?
Since the water bodies were created with treated waste water, every now and then the untreated sewage water is pumped in the system from unauthorised colonies in the area. This can have massive repercussions for the health of the ecosystem.
This challenge is mitigated by identifying the source of untreated water. Grass is grown that separates the heavy particles. The water bodies are in step formation at different heights, and as the water goes down, it becomes cleaner. The lakes are also cleaned and oxygenated annually. Furthermore, grass that can separate chemical impurities in the water is also planted.
The second issue that was faced during restoration was the sourcing of native trees. In order to source the native saplings, volunteers travelled to Rajasthan to source the saplings of Aravali trees.
However, there are nurseries within the forest now from where the saplings can be procured for plantation.
Thirdly, encroachment and construction was a challenge, however, with more people coming in the forest, these concerns are diminishing as such activities are difficult to carry out with more people watching.
However, with more and more people coming the fourth issue arises — problem of plastic waste. Daily cleaning and picking of plastic waste is carried out, dustbin pairs have been installed throughout the forest and cleaning drives
are organised. It is however an encouraging reminder that before the restoration, the forest was a dumping ground but now with the collaborative efforts of government and citizens — DDA and WWN — the forest has come a long way.
Fifthly, the nilgai or the blue bulls in the forest are scavengers to the young plants. Pigs and cattle owned by locals in the adjacent areas sometimes graze and forage in the forest. This has negative repercussions on the ecology but such sensitive issues require solutions that promote mutual coexistence. Human tampering with plantation — deliberate or otherwise, is also an issue.
In order to check this, tree guards have been installed and when the sapling attains sufficient height, they are removed. WWN has also pushed DDA to build a boundary wall around the forest which is under construction.
Finally, there are 45 religious shrines in the 783 acres of the forest and owing to the court order which states that anything built before the 1990s cannot be demolished, the forest has to coexist with these shrines. Some of them can often interfere with the preservation and disturb the forest. However, these topics require careful treading so that such riddles of conservation are solved in a manner beneficial to ecology and local populace.
Are any shortcomings or critical points visible? What other problematic issues can arise from its implementation?
The project’s main goal was to plant native Aravali vegetation, however, during the course, it was learnt that a rigid approach is not serving well and flexibility is crucial. A native tree called Dhak, known as ‘the flame of the forest’ — owing to its big red flowers in spring — had disappeared due to Vilayati Kikar. Because it couldn’t adapt as well as hoped, an understanding towards adaptation was realised and the absolute resolution to plant native trees was revisited.
As a result, some non native trees were planted; flexibility was incorporated to include different trees — as long as they were not invasive but friendly to the environment and good for the birds and bees. These trees adapted well to environment as opposed to the native species.
Additionally, maintenance of water has been a critical point. Because of poor water quality, a lot of migratory birds are lessening in number. Clean water invites more birds and the challenge to keep water clean is an ongoing mission.
How would it be potentially replicable in other settings?
The model worked out by WWN and DDA at Sanjay Van is already being replicated in other ridge forests of Delhi. And, it can also be replicated anywhere in the world.
To revive a forest, trees are the most important element. Identification of the local flora is the first step because local trees adapt best to the environment and require lesser nurturing.
Secondly, revival of water sources is crucial for the sustenance of the newly restored vegetation. Check dams are already being created in many parts of the world. These dams ensure that the rain water goes into the ground and builds groundwater reserves. Additionally, it is important to make sure the soil isn’t eroded.
Is this initiative conducive to broader changes (law, institutional arrangements, long-term sustainability or community preparedness, etc.)? If yes, which sustainability or community preparedness, etc.)?
This initiative is undoubtedly conducive to broader change as it has inspired many such initiatives being carried out across Delhi. It has fostered a sense of community with nature and promoted goodwill amongst the people it has touched.
Mainly, it has demonstrated the success of government-citizen partnership and also showcased how empowered citizens can bring positive changes to their natural environment.
Nature brings out the best in people and the restoration of Sanjay Van is one such product of this idea.
Sanjay Van was Devika’s father-in-law’s life’s purpose and mission. His ashes are dispersed there.
By Farzana Bashiri
The Case of a Grassroots Initiative in Iran
The Nature Schools
By Farzana Bashiri
What’s the problem?
A million-years evolutionary journey has dedicated humans the chance to sustain life on the planet and flourish as a species in concert with Earth’s other inhabitants. However, the perceived and actual separation between human and nature created by the current state of developments in our modern paradigms of living, has many obvious detrimental consequences for humans themselves as individuals and as a society. Within the spectrum of living conditions, perhaps urban dwelling is the most alienating to nature for humans and other species. As we have increasingly become an urban population in the world, some ecologists fear the future of a species dissociated with its natural origins from early childhood (Kahn & Kellert, 2002; Vahabzadeh, 2020; Behruz & Zarghami, 2018). Scientific studies on early childhood developments that show the crucial role of contact with nature in a healthy multi-dimensional childhood flourishing, are not few (Kahn & Kellert, 2002; Wilson, 2007). Although the mindset of domination over nature is found responsible for various ecological crises we face today, a reconnection with nature is proposed as a healing for the aching soul of a biophilic creature in sunder.
The Story of Nature Schools in Iran
One effort to show a way forward for connection and rooting in nature from early childhood has been the Nature School initiative. The idea has been simple yet challenging; nature is an enriching environment for children’s learning and development, so just let children play freely in nature. Forging on this simple assumption, the activists of Nature Schools try to create an enriching natural environment for children, chiefly mimicking a traditional rural life of their own region. The main issue that creates a lack of enriching natural environment for children is the modernization and rapid urbanization paradigm and the demographic shift from large families to smaller families (Burns & Manouchehri, 2020). Perhaps the image of a child, alone in their apartment, whose views are blocked by walls, without playmate, without outdoor access, playing out their imagination through video games, is of the kinds that Nature School is painting as problematic. M, a Nature School activist frames the problem as:
Imagine the nomad, the rural and the urban life. The Nomad life has the deepest form of connection to nature and then the rural life and the last is the urban life. What we see as nature in the cities is an artificial and poor condition of natural landscape. Those urban children with little to no access to a rich natural habitat are of concern for Nature School.
The story of Nature Schools in Iran began with Vahabzadeh, an Iranian ecologist and professor, who lost hope in academia as a space for changes towards sustainability. After forty years of hard work, he left university and turned to children who are still in the rooting stage and there is hope for their biophilic growth. The first Nature School founded was Kavikonj in Mashhad;
In Mashhad, Iran, for example, kids, teenagers, and other volunteers founded the Kavikonj Nature School—the first of its kind in the country—where urban youth, who otherwise have little access to nature and wildlife, plant trees, manage a small farm, and learn to care for the environment. (Burns & Manouchehri, 2020)
Over a few years, more and more activists whose hearts were with children and nature, joined the community that spread rapidly around the country. This became a movement opposing the formal education in Iran which is authorative and ideologically informed, leaves little room for creativity, critical thinking, and individualized personal development, as well as no space for outdoor learning (Paivandi, 2012; Safari & Pourhashemi, 2012). More than eighty Nature Schools were established between 2014 and 2017 and the discourse was gradually gaining popularity and governmental permission from the Department of Environment facilitated the spread of the idea. In some cities local governments were lending land to the activists or allowing them to use parts of the botanical gardens and other kinds of public spaces.
What is it like in a Nature School?
Is Nature Schools still running in Iran?
Unfortunately, as the initiative was growing, a concurrent resistance against it was forming from the authorities’ side. The reasons for opposition from the government and specially the Ministry of Education can be theorized extensively and can be explored within the mainly hegemonic politics of governance in Iran and the importance of formal schooling for the estate to keep integrity as a homogenous Islamic country (See Burns & Manouchehri, 2020 and Bashiri, 2020).
Nature Schools were constrained legally and a few of them exist today (an estimation of 30 by Bashiri, 2020). Albeit, for those activists who kept the idea and the practice of Nature School to heart and witnessed the astonishing impacts on children, abandoning the work was not an option. Activists found their own local solutions to keep working in one way or another.
A Bonfire Conversation
M, is one of the Nature School activists who established their Nature School in a village amidst the peak of the tensions with the government in 2017. They kept the school running and welcomed children even through the pandemic. M had to close the school due to some conflicts with the landowner in 2021, however, they believe the Nature School is still alive in the hearts and minds of those who had deep exchanges with this space. Nature School exists, in spirit, within the practices of those whom it inspired. The rest of this entry is in parts based on a conversation M and I had by a bonfire about the story of Nature Schools.
What is the purpose? What are the values?
Nature Schools, based on biophilia hypothesis and theories of outdoor learning and education in early childhood (Vahabzadeh, 2016), place a central value on the role of natural outdoor environment as the bed for learning and early childhood development. Playing in the natural environment and interaction with nature not only has proven to improve children’s mental and physical health and develop their social skills like teamwork and collaboration, but also it is more likely that the children can form environmentally-friendly worldview (Molania & Arman, 2018; Tillmann et al., 2018; Turtle et al., 2015). If children can have meaningful interactions with nature in their childhood and form fond memories of natural landscapes, animals, and trees, these memories potentially give a sense of belonging to nature so that in their adulthood they might be more likely to react to natural destructions (Vahabzadeh, 2016).
For M it is not easy to guarantee anything about how Nature School can shape the future because of the many factors involved and given the political instability in the region and the world. But they say:
The main concern for us is to strengthen the relationship with nature. If we lose connection with anything it is difficult to understand its injuries and problems. It is important for the child to have a childhood memory of nature if they are to feel its loss in the future. On the other hand, I think this relationship in the childhood cannot guarantee anything per se, but Nature School can be an opportunity for adults to learn from the children how to authentically connect with nature. My hope is that by preparing this bed for human-nature connection, adults and the families who also have the need for nature, join this ‘celebration’ that we have thrown.
Another value that is central to Nature School pedagogy is the autonomy of the child in deciding their own way of playing and interacting with nature and other children (Azimi, 2020). They are not forced to learn “even to plant a tree” (Burns & Manouchehri, 2020). There is basically no teaching unless the child develops interest in learning a certain skill or topic more deeply, then the idea is to provide the facilities needed to such fulfill the learning need of the child. The idea is that only by allowing for child’s own curiosity and interest for learning, their own capabilities would develop in unique and creative ways. That would as well mean the least intervention from adults/facilitators in their playing and learning process.
However, the dominant hegemonic educational approaches, religious and political ideologies, and cultural norms hold a strong stance on children’s early childhood skill-gaining and learning (Paivandi, 2012; Safari & Pourhashemi, 2012). Consequently, promoting this non-authoritive and emancipatory approach has not been without legal and cultural constraints. Thus, making room for the discourse on Nature Schools pedagogical view within the dominant educational discourses, has become an activist agenda for the pedagogues. For M as well “spreading the idea, in families, in neighborhoods and in every corner is the main important goal”. They added:
It is crucial to recognize childhood’s needs and especially the need for free play. Recognizing the child as an independent person with their needs for interaction, space, and time. These are the main motivations behind my efforts. The problem is that there is no space left for childhood and people are deprived of the chance to live their childhood fully. Education is working as a means for transferring knowledge into a container and we do not value learning from experiences. Therefore, Nature School for me gave space to practice, support, and value creativity, lived experiences, observing, attention, problem solving, freedom of children to make choices and to lead their own learning process, and giving childhood the right to existence.
What about climate change?
Although nature School appears to be more leaning towards an educational praxis, there are several reasons that highlight this initiative as a form of radical environmental movement. First, the very founder of the initiative is a prominent ecologist with deep care for the dying nature. In his own words, Nature Schools have a radical view on connection with nature as a source of affection and belonging that hopefully keeps alive a sense of care and protection for nature in the future. Secondly, most of the activists that joined the initiative were previously active in environmental campaigns and NGOs (Bashiri, 2020). The third is the strong environmental framing of the Nature Schools as an essential environmental education model which allowed for its licencing from the DoE (Burns & Manouchehri, 2020).
However, I have noticed lately that the Nature School activists are not keen on prioritizing the environmental aspect of their work. I asked M about the distancing from environmental rhetoric and they responded:
When encountering many obstacles by the government and after being delicenced by the Department of Environment, our only audience and supporter were the families to whom we speak directly about their concerns.The parents’ main concern is their child’s growth rather than the environment. So, we focus on those narratives. This is more meaningful since in Iran an idea cannot be supported and developed among authorities, but it can among people.
When seeing Nature School within the landscape of climate change, M framed Nature Schools contributions in terms of mitigation and adaptation. In terms of mitigation, they mentioned the radical deep learnings for children in Nature School such as “limits to our resources” as well as “finding meaningful personal life-philosophies”. In terms of adaptation, “personal development of tolerance and resilience in hardship” and “developing creativity” are some of the traits that allows for sustaining life in a climatically harsher planet. In his own words:
In Nature School we are not looking after training elites or we are not after ‘success’ as a stereotypical set of criteria for achievements in life. We want for the child to be able to find their own life philosophy, to make life enjoyable with their capabilities, talents, and the available resources, to be able to be content to what exists and to be able to optimize consumption. There is no abundance in Nature School, there is limit! In the school, there is limited amount of wood, for example, and if we burn all of them today, we must freeze tomorrow, and we would deeply feel the scarcity.
With climatic changes we cannot go about doing agriculture and other practices as before. A child who has practiced creativity every day, can be more adaptable with the need for inventiveness during climate change. Some changes are inevitable such as drought, pandemic, war, etc. And our hope is that there will exist a generation that has the ability to tolerate suffering, like any other pains that the child encounters while playing in the Nature School and we don’t deny them. We acknowledge pain in life. The child has learned that life can be a suffering and surviving/getting over the pain can be the child’s success story.
What’s missing? What needs to be improved?
What is obvious is the lack of institutional support from Nature Schools and even worse the ban against the spread of the initiative. This has led to a broken network of activists, lack of possibility to formally hold conferences and gatherings, and to enable research and educational possibilities to generate new knowledge about this alternative pedagogical approach. Therefore, the initiative is more vulnerable and faces more barriers to grow. M shares their view on such governmental support as:
From the institutional and legal aspect, I don’t see any hope for this kind of discourse within the current governmental agencies. The essence of our discourse are some foundational concepts that are in contrast with the government’s fundamental values.
To M, there is also another fundamental limit which is on the activist and on the people’s side. They think:
We have enough resources, but very few believers who can understand that they can run Nature Schools regardless of spatial conditions. Nature School can be a concept or a mindset that flows and takes shape within any physical boundaries. You can practice Nature School at your grandma’s house, just by living up to the fundamental values and objectives. Just by allowing the child free to play and fulfil their curiosity. Due to the lack of such deep and firm understanding of this idea, most people leave their projects halfway. For M the meaning of life is the survival of this idea wherever possible.
M continues with the shortcoming of Nature Schools that appeared important to him in his experience:
The very basic idea in Nature School is to embrace challenges and to enjoy problem-solving. However, we need to actively review and reflect on our progress and challenges in Nature Schools in an organized manner. We need to change the mindsets of the Nature School activists. Due to the load of the work and the tiredness of the activists, when an issue emerges it would be the end of the world.
There is little work done on the relation between facilitators and with parents. The relationship between facilitators and the children are highly attended to and activists have a lot of experience with children but not with adults who are the audience of the Nature School and with their own colleagues. The Nature Schools don’t have constructive and synergic relations with one another.
Replicating Nature Schools elsewhere?
What we know is that over time, especially after the legal constraints, the discursive aspect of Nature Schools has gained more weight and relevance than the physical dimensions (e.g. the land requirements and certain facilities) (Bashiri, 2020). The initiative has become partly informalized and diverse local strategies have been developed by activists based on the core values of the Nature School. As I have concluded in my research on Nature Schools (Bashiri, 2020):
Nature School was no longer treated as a place that children should go to for receiving service, but a concept that can flow in any space in society (households, yards, schools, neighborhoods) and based on capacities of people and spaces anyone can live up to the principles of Nature School and provide such services to children in any context.
In this regard, M adds:
This idea can be practices in every context with any resources. And this idea is already being naturally practiced by many people knowingly or unknowingly. We could either promote the idea, or just be a supporter of the idea wherever some aspects of it are communicated or lived up. Sometimes we see other initiatives that have similar values and practices, we could see, reinforce, and empower them as well.
Any hope for grand impacts?!
Based on my analysis of Nature School as a micro level initiative that aimed to create a transformation within the dominant regime of education and culture regarding children’s early childhood learning, there are several reasons to say yes and no to this question. As a micro-level initiative, this initiative is benefiting from creative diverse strategies and a demand from the society for alternative educational models. However, the initiative, within its intricated contentious political context, has some big challenges to overcome. For instance, one is the broken network to be healed, and another is the learning exchange and knowledge production among activists to be addressed. These elements are deemed crucial for any initiative that wants to advance to higher levels of structural resilience.
For M it is difficult to tell anything about large-scale changes whether spatial or temporal. They ended our conversation with:
The macro politics create unexpected conditions for the world that any foreseeing is rendered impossible. This discourse, this idea, this initiative, to my belief, can calm and soothe people, can reduce competition and aggression. Childhood is an important period that can inform the social health in the future and if childhood is not cared for, it can create tensions in the family and society. If today’s aggressive adults, who destroy and demolish, had a better childhood in a more enriched and cared for environment, maybe, they could find other meanings in their lives.
If the Nature School can only calm people, that would be good enough for me.
Nature School seems to remind me of a lower tempo that is in tune with nature. Like the difference between tempo of life in the village and in the city. The closer one travels to a city the speeds increase and consequently the stress, competition, take overs. Even Nature School, with its promising message of a more peaceful world, is entangled in its larger rapidly-growing globalized context. And in this entanglement slowing down to reflect and review is not productive and of value for some Nature School activists. Entanglement does not mean to stop trying, but to acknowledge and work for transformation from within the system (See the Entangled Activist by Lawson, 2021).
References
Azimi, M. (2020). مدرسه ی طبیعت، چگونگی آغاز فعالیت مدرسه ی طبیعت در ایران. [Nature School, how the activity of Nature School started in Iran]. نشریه صنوبر [Senobar Magazine], 3 (9), 28-33. Available in Persian on https://www.jaaar.com/kiosk/archives/Senobar
Bashiri, F. (2020). Walking a tightrope towards sustainability: a multi-level transition analysis of Iranian Nature Schools as an alternative educational initiative (unpublished master’s thesis). Lund University, Sweden.
Behruz, S.M., & Zarghami, E. (2018). یادگیری طبیعی، مطالعهای بر مبنای مشاهدۀ رفتار کودکان در مدرسۀ طبیعت کاویکنج مشهد [Natural learning, a study based on observation of children’s behaviour in Mashhad Kavikonj Nature School]. فناوری آموزش [Education technology]. 13 (3), 387-401. https://doi.org/10.22061/jte.2018.3953.1962
Burns, E. A., & Manouchehri, B. (2020). Context is Everything: Environment and Education Intersections in the Rise and Fall of Iran’s Nature Schools. Journal of Education for Sustainable Development, 14(2), 156–173. https://doi.org/10.1177/0973408220978829
Kahn, P. H., & Kellert, S. R. (2002). Children and Nature: Psychological, Sociocultural, and Evolutionary Investigations. MIT Press.
Lawson, A. (2021). The Entangled Activist: Learning to Recognise the Master’s Tools. Perspectiva Press.
Molania, S. & Arman, S. (2018). مدرسۀ سبز: مدیریت استفاده از گیاهان در مدارس و نقش آن در انسان گرا کردن مدارس مدرن [Green school: managing the use of plants in schools and their role in humanizing modern schools]. journal of school Administration, 6(1), 121-134. Retrieved on April 14, 2020 from http://jsa.uok.ac.ir/article_58080.html
Paivandi, S. (2012). Education in the Islamic Republic of Iran and Perspectives on Democratic Reforms. Retrieved from https://www.li.com/docs/default-source/future-of-iran/iran_ed_paivandi.pdf
Safari, P., & Pourhashemi, M. R. (2012). Toward an Empowering Pedagogy : Is There Room for Critical Pedagogy in Educational System of Iran? Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 2(12), 2548– 2555. https://doi.org/10.4304/tpls.2.12.2548-2555
Tillmann, S., Clark, A., & Gilliland, J. (2018). Children and Nature: Linking Accessibility of Natural Environments and Children’s Health-Related Quality of Life. International journal of environmental research and public health, 15(6), 1072. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15061072
Turtle, C., Convery, I., & Convery, K. (2015). Forest Schools and environmental attitudes: A case study of children aged 8–11 years. Cogent Education, 2(1), 1100103. https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2015.1100103
Vahabzadeh, A. (2016). Preface In Kahn & Kellert, کودک و طبیعت (درسنامه ی مدرسه طبیعت) [Children and Nature: Psychological, Sociocultural, and Evolutionary Investigations] (3 ed., pp. 9).
Wilson, R. (2007). Nature and Young Children: Encouraging Creative Play and Learning in Natural Environments (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203940723
Ossigeno Bene Comune (Oxygen: a commons) is a multifaceted program promoted by the Metropolitan City of Naples (including around 100 municipalities and 3 million inhabitants) to mitigate and adapt to climate change. The program has 12 objectives and an almost 15 million budget. Among those objectives, Ossigeno Bene Comune promotes the planting of trees in urban spaces, the greening of public schools, the promotion of measures to reduce CO2 emissions, and of educational programs.
The NGO New York City Environmental Justice Alliance has produced the NYC CLIMATE JUSTICE AGENDA. As they write in the introduction, this report reviews “several City and State climate efforts along four priorities: (1) Extreme Heat and Community Preparedness, (2) Air Quality, (3) Green Infrastructure Equity, and (4) Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy”. While evaliuating the results of these efforts, this report gathers the solutions developed by grassroots organizations. The main message to the policy-makers is “to move New York City toward a Just Transition, a process based in justice and equity that builds economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy”.
The NGO WE ACT has produced the WE ACT’s Northern Manhattan Climate Action (NMCA) Manual. A plan to create resilience in the face of the disproportionate impacts of climate change on poor and working class communities. The plan is the result of a community-based planning process held from January through July of 2015. The process included seven public workshops, hundreds of community members, dozens of meetings with partners and city agencies, and countless other conversations and correspondences. Accessible at: https://www.weact.org/campaigns/nmca/
Saloni Sharma
Hybrid Technology offers mirroring and reprogramming of the natural gametes enabling single organism production of offsprings via external fertilization in our state-of-the-art-laboratories set in all major rehabilitation facilities. Originated at Chengdu’s Science City, the technology is now adopted by all major sovereignties. In the 4th phase of restoration of the third 10-year plan (2120-2130), Hybrid technology will be implemented in animals, both human and non-human after the succesful results in plant hybrids. Hybrid plants have ensured food safety for the implementation and generation of more hybrid species. The present plan aims to reinstate the ecological balance with the production of human and non-human hybrids and restore social order.
(Manual for Social Restoration, published in 2120)
Why would have they accepted me? I am not accepted here, how could I expect otherwise on the opposite side of the border? Have I not got any place in this world?What is my business really? Who am I? I’m a vagrant, a migrant, a hybrid…
These thoughts kept haunting Aasha as she lay on the floor of her facility unit.
It was time for strength training and she couldn’t even conjure enough strength to get up off the floor. But in an instant she erected her limbs and stood upright parallel to the wall. The thought of missing her food pills instantly charged her up with energy. Her stomach growled in anticipation as she made her way towards her meal. She swiped her card in the common pantry to dispense her pills. Today’s menu included Schezwan Potatoes and Sour Cream Onions. She swallowed two pills of each. The third one — Gulab Jamun, she sneaked in her pocket to plant outside.
This is not even remotely close to the actual sichuan flavour.
Aasha couldn’t help recall the first time she tasted the sichuan flavour — in wholefood rice form — at a rickety shack in Chengdu. Rice crops were banned in all tropical sectors many years ago when water was over. That is when hybrid fruit production was accelerated. In China, there’s water prosperity and even the poor can eat rice. When Aasha took the first bite, she smelled and tasted multitude of fragrances in a single bite — garlic, pepper, lemongrass, ginger. She can never forget the overwhelm. Excited and hungry, she gulped down three wholefood bowls. But the food couldn’t sit in her stomach for long. She experienced excruciating bowel movements that expelled the feces immediately after.
Wholefoods are unhealthy. They cause polarity in the system.
*
At the gym, she stood in the digestion position for exactly five minutes for her food to expand. She was already beginning to feel full and felt better about showing up for the strength training today. If not anything, it’d keep her guilt and shame at bay — at least for a while. She turned on the floating visual and connected with the Sportzone channel. Others were already there. She sent apologies to the e-captain and quickly began her static running.
After 5 minutes. Her sugar levels began depleting. Limbs were losing coordination. Something was wrong.
A message popped open in front of Aasha. EC: Aside
Aasha immediately logged out of the Sportzone and connected in a Direct Meeting with the Captain.
“You called for DM, Captain?”
“Your functions aren’t optimal.” “I’m sorry captain.”
“Psychic stability! Now!” “Yes, Captain”
Aasha swiped off the floating screen and wiped off her sweat. Then, she scanned her pulse and oxygen. The numbers didn’t feel accurate. She made her way back to her unit and scurried to change herself into comfortwear. She looked herself in the mirror. A pale reflection stared back at her. Their eyes were locked and tears began welling up. Aasha lowered her glance to read the tattoo on her reflection’s right arm. It read 真.
“Truth”, she muttered.
***
“There’s a storm approaching again. The power might be out for sometime. Let’s wrap up quickly. Tell me, Aasha. Your e-captain states FUNCTIONS NOT OPTIMAL.”
Aasha enlarged the floating screen to get a close look at Dr Shantaram. He had a black mole in the crevice between his left nostril and cheek — the size of a chickpea, Aasha estimated.
“You cannot serve the nation with an unhealthy mind, you know. Do you remember your goals?”
Aasha kept silent. She knew the drill. It wasn’t her first session in psychic stability. There had been multiple such sessions with the previous facilitator before her relapse over a year ago. However, this was her first encounter with Dr Shantaram.
“State your goals!” the voice was sterner this time.
Aasha surrendered, “Perform the tasks, provide for the facility, prepare for the calamity, protect the sovereignty.”
“System spots dissonance in your voice.” Aasha was silent again.
“I see in your file that you’ve been rehabilitated thrice?” “I relapsed, then re-registered.”
“You left the facility! Thrice?!” Aasha did not respond.
“So I see. You were last rehabilitated on 16.07.2201. So you’ve just returned it seems. That explains why your performance isn’t so… let’s say desirable.”
Before Aasha could respond, the screen vanished — power cut.
*
“My parent’s name was Aasha too.”
Aasha tried to study the expression on Dr Shantaram’s face. This time he seemed more candid and relaxed. The session ran on backup power and the lights in each of their background was very dim.
“Do you know the meaning of your name?”
Aasha didn’t have to respond. Dr Shantaram would respond anyway.
“Hope. And my parent did have a lot of hope I tell you. That’s why they had me in the first place. Otherwise why subject a poor spirit to the miseries of this world by conceiving them in a beaker! Perhaps, they didn’t know that the moment I’d be born, I’d be the property of North-East Indian sovereignty.
Anyway, I digress.”
He’s a hybrid!
Dr Shantaram read the expression on Aasha’s face and softly uttered, “Ya, I’m a hybrid.”
Aasha was not sure how to respond to this; she didn’t have to as Dr Shantaram continued.
“I’m a hybrid, a fortunate one at that! Fortunate to be serving this facility, the nation and inspiring young misguided hybrids like you! Do you know how I got to this position?”
Aasha was getting used to his style of communication.
“I was transferred to so many units in far off facilities… But I was determined to prove myself and be useful… So many challenges… I was tested for not just physical but mental stealth…”
Aasha zoned out and began painting her own picture of Dr Shantaram in her mind.
Perhaps, he doesn’t have any mind at all. For the mindless, it’s a smooth-sail — mindless does not resist. Head of the psychic stability — Hah!
As he was nearing the end of his soliloquy, Dr Shantaram interrupted himself to ask Aasha with a keen look, “Why did you go to China? You could go to Upper Europe, or Antarctica. Although I know UE and Antarctica haven’t taken
any migrants for many years and trafficking is also impossible via sea and air now. But why dare flee to another sovereignty? You know you wouldn’t have been accepted anyway.”
“There exists a history as old as 6000 years. And we don’t have any history at all — we’re fighting for the sovereignty of individual sectors that we don’t even belong to. And I wanted to find a community of my likes.”
“Community!” Dr Shantaram chuckled. “Child, you’re so naïve! We hybrids do not have any community! Our community is our service. That’s our survival.”
Aasha felt unsettled. She could feel the rage taking over her mind, but she was determined to not let him win over. With an exhale, she lowered her blood pressure. Dr Shantaram must have noticed the shift in her mood measurements.
“Did you go via the land route?”
Aasha fixed her gaze at his image on the screen and blurted. “I walked the path of my ancestors.”
*
“These powercuts make operations so difficult! No wonder the facilities in
N.E. sector are underperforming,” Dr Shantaram complained.
“So tell me quickly why did you relapse and go to China? You were seeking hope too, let me guess?”
“Seeking truth!”
“Ironic, I’d say. Hope seeks truth!”sneering he continued, “Hope is living in falsehood!”
Then in an instant his eyes looked away, as if in recollection from a past life, then with a raised eyebrow questioned — as if to himself, “Or is hope in the truth?”
Aasha’s eyes lit up.
***
The blaring siren shook Aasha off her sleep. She checked her wrist. It read 1600 hrs SUN EXPOSURE. Dr Shantaram prescribed a two hour sleep session and she was grateful to him for that at least as she didn’t have to toil in the production today.
Slipping into her hazmat suit, Aasha made her way towards EXIT A which opened in a wide landscape with hundreds of trees erected in straight lines alongside the long walking track leading to the Dietary Lab.
Rays of light disoriented Aasha’s vision. She felt the heat in her body radiating through her shining body suit. Queasy and unsure of the way, she found fellow trainees in the distance ahead. They were all teenage hybrids, like her — but younger and immature.
A dozen or so hybrids had gathered in clusters of two or three. It had only been ten days since Aasha was rehabilitated again to the N.E. facility. All the fellow inhabitants were new to Aasha. Old compatriots were already stationed in Environment Security Bureau. Some might have also joined the Protection Forces. She had very limited recollection of the past. However, this was not the cause of her present uneasiness. She was consumed by thoughts on another matter — a matter reverberating in another space and time.
Shaking herself out of the daze, she began treading forward.
Fellow inhabitants were walking ahead of her on a bricked path laid out in a
an uneven herringbone configuration. Aasha followed, looking down. She amused herself by stepping on every third intersection of the bricks below her feet. In her mind, she rewound the conversation with Dr Shantaram.
How can service be a community to anyone! Community builds on a place with people sharing the same context. And I don’t have a place to call my own. I don’t have people that I could say are mine. And I don’t have purpose to belong anywhere.
Anywhere but here, perhaps — back to NE Rehabilitation Facility.
She felt the urge to swipe open the floating screen and go through the transcript to corroborate her self-judgement about the performance she gave out at psychic stability. However, she could only do so after returning to the unit when surveillance was lower.
After continuous walking in peripheral compound for half an hour, tired, thirsty, Aasha paused to catch her breath. As she looked around to find fellow trainees, her gaze fell on a tree in some distance from the turn of the track.
Was it here before?
All the trees around the N.E. Facility were hybrid — producing artificially flavoured fruits which were harvested and sent to dietary labs for synthesising food pills. N.E. Facility was known for its sweet and spicy flavourings. Their Masala Tomatoes and Pickle Mangoes were exported to all the habitable continents left. Aasha’s parent worked as a harvester and this is how she knew where her food came from. In fact, it was her parent, her mother, who nurtured her interest and curiosity in non-human hybrids.
This tree before Aasha however, looked different. It had a slender trunk and an unnatural, but a natural, bend towards the solar sky. As she walked closer, Aasha observed that its trunk was slightly grazed and charred at the edges below. She went and stood under its foliage. Then, took one step closer and reached her hand out to touch the grainy bark with her gloves. Lowering herself, she examined the charred edges and stroked them gently.
This tree was a non-hybrid non-human.
***
As soon as she was back in her unit cell, Aasha read the transcript of her session with Dr Shantaram. She scanned through the bottom of the page almost immediately because apart from her vital signs and goals, the entirety of the conversation was redacted.
She again rewound the conversation in her mind.
“Hope is in the truth!” She ascertained after deep thought.
It was time for supper but Aasha chose to ignore the alarm. Instead, she ducked under her bed and reached out for her bag. An olive-green vegan- leathered diary fell on the floor.
She picked it up with a deep sigh and began flipping the pages.
*
Guanghan, Deyang, CN
18.07.2200
19:37:43
City of the 22nd century — Chengdu.
I’m here in Chengdu — the city of miracles — almost here. It was a tumultuous journey but, I made it. Spirit of my parent would be so proud. I will recreate my life here, as promised.
Seeing her radiating smile next to this diary entry, Aasha couldn’t help but smile back into the page. So very excited she was to learn the truth about her existence. Chengdu is the epitome of Hybrid Science and Spirit, and the genes of her ancestors were created right there.
Guanghan, Deyang, CN 23.07.2200
21:30:15
I ate Sichuan curry with rice today in whole food form! It was very hot and very heavy. I felt polarity in my body right after though. Nonetheless, it was an experience worth remembering.
Migrant hybrids are stationed outside the city at the subarban altitudes. This is where I live.
Next to this entry was the picture of Aasha’s in her bedspace unit. Her neighbours came to Chengdu with the same intent as hers — to find a space for themselves. Living there was temporary until years passed and they could not get the permit to enter the city.
Guanghan, Deyang, CN
7.08.2200
23:41:03
I’m recruited as a handyman to collect twigs for fire generator. This is a temporary arrangement which will assure shelter and diet. A girl next door has got the pass to the city. I might get mine soon.
That girl’s pass was stolen, Aasha recollected. There were countless migrants living in peripheries, trying to gain entry.
Moving to a new place and making adjustments in alignment with the new environment is very difficult.
So is coming back.
Aasha kept her diary aside only to pick it up right after.
*
Guanghan, Deyang, CN 31.03.2201
00:38:19
I’m here for 8+ months now. I work and sleep. My only interaction is with human- bots. They are not kind.
Guanghan, Deyang, CN
05.04.2201
01:06:45
I collect twigs from the trees for my food. I give my water to them in return — in secrecy, of course. Water is gold and hybrid trees are efficient. They do not require water, they say. But I know that they do. The human-bot doesn’t understand that this earth is depleted of water.
Guanghan, Deyang, CN 06.04.2201
00:55:19
A human bot came and said, I cannot plant my seed here. I cannot water the trees. It’s their trees. The earth is theirs. The sky is theirs. I do not belong here.
Was it the human-bot or a huMan who said this?
Guanghan, Deyang, CN 07.05.2201
02:14:57
I was placed in detention camp for planting my seed. I’m back now. I came here to find my truth and realise my potential — to trace back the footsteps of my ancestors. I think, they were not real. Nothing is real.
A bright moon hangs on moonless nights. This moon does remind me of my family when I look up in the face of this moon — and long for my family that doesn’t exist.
The trees are artificial, the moon is artificial, the earth is artificial. And if it is so, huMan made it. It belongs to them. Not me. So where do I belong? What belongs to me?
Am I artificial too?
Chenghua, Chengdu, CN 10.05.2201
01:45:43
I got the tourist pass today to enter the city. My tokens are over but I’m going back. I went to the Panda Retreat instead of the Science City. Something in me said, that I wouldn’t belong there. So, I chose to visit pandas.
I looked at many. All of them had traces of life — preserved and survived by huMan. We cannot survive without our body suit. Countless non-humans died. Panda lives — victory of culture.
Aasha could relate to the panda, she too lived in a cage, closely monitored. She too was preserved for her gene. Looking at the panda, she felt a desperate urge to return back to the cage she’d come from.
***
A yellow-white leaf fell out in Aasha’s lap as she closed the flap of her hard bound diary. A buddhist monk had handed this leaf on her journey in the silk
route tunnel at Jibin. It was a brief encounter, but she remembered it vividly.
She stared at the leaf and saw in it the dingy tunnel that she spent twelve days walking in.
The journey was tiring and Aasha did not have the strength to go on, yet she persisted. There were hundreds of others moving along on foot with her. Without proper sources of hydration and sun exposure everyone just kept walking like zombies. There were people from all corners of the subcontinent — trafficking themselves collectively in small groups to avoid any kind of suspicion or threat. Some had lost their lands and livelihood to the sea, some were hybrids or other lesser minorities hoping to rebuild their identity, some were fleeing the new strain of viruses, but all were migrating with the same hope.
At a junction which branched out in all directions, her group was made to stop at a threat signal. Some were panicking and some were too exhausted to resist. Amidst the congestion, they decided to climb out into a connecting village that was on the border of Tibet and Sichuan — to rest and refuel their spirits.
The place was alive and everyone in Aasha’s group suddenly felt alive themselves as they walked past it. Aasha was walking on a street unknown, towards an unknown destination with people she barely knew. She was nervous but excited with anticipation.
Then, Aasha spotted a tattoo parlour on the way. She was determined to go inside and commemorate this moment on her body. A renewed Aasha who will rebuild a new life henceforth, she ended up spending all her tokens to get a permanent imprint that would remind her to keep going.
As she came out of the parlour, everyone in her group turned to look at the hybrid’s tattoo. At that moment, Aasha met the eyes of a buddhist monk who was travelling in the preceding group — that had to cross the tunnel a day
earlier; however, because of a landslide, the exit was blocked and they were stuck with the same lot as Aasha’s.
The monk walked over to Aasha and expressed admiration for her spirit. He gave her the leaf as a symbol of luck and said — remember who you are.
Soon after, they parted ways to go in separate tunnels.
There was nothing on the leaf, nothing written. It was an old dried leaf of a rare non-hybrid tree or plant.
Aasha looked at the leaf and recalled his words “Remember who you are…” Then she repeated the same words in a question to herself.
***
It was the middle of the night. She needed to oxygenate her mind. Aasha climbed out of her bed and slipped into her body suit.
She had escaped the facility check countless times, although in the records, she had only absconded thrice, which couldn’t have been left undetected as they were longer than simple overnight escapes. Aasha was masterful at cracking the security checks of the facility — a useful skill passed down by her hybrid parent. And tonight was yet another night to flee into the open sky.
*
Aasha ran out of the facility from EXIT C and circled her way around the periphery towards EXIT A.
It was dark, but she had worn her night glasses to navigate her way forward.
She was going back to meet the tree she had discovered in the afternoon.
When she got there, she took the Gulab Jamun pill she had dispensed for breakfast and in a small hole in the earth that she made with the heel of her shoe, carefully sowed it. This would become a hybrid tree of a rose flavoured jamun.
Hopefully.
She looked up at the non-hybrid tree from where she was still squatting. She rose and walked up closer. In an impulse she hugged the tree, feeling the uneven bark touch against her chest through her body suit. She took off her gloves, and once again caressed the charred edges of the tree. And as she did, she whispered, “You are my hope.”
And I am yours.
***
The Hanging Gardens of Morro da Babilônia
By Natasha Augusto Barbosa
Universidade Federal Do Rio De Janeiro
Laboratório História E Natureza Labhen Ufrj
English version (Portuguese below)
The Mutirão Reflorestamento project is an initiative of the city of Rio de Janeiro implemented in the late 1980s. This project is an offshoot of a previous project, Mutirão, which aimed to urbanize favelas with the help of the residents’ workforce. of the communities served. Reforestation becomes part of this main project with the purpose of recovering and maintaining the vegetation cover of the city’s slopes, contributing to the promotion of biodiversity, in addition to controlling the expansion of slums.
One of the favelas covered by the project was Morro da Babilônia, located in the Leme neighborhood, close to Copacabana, which during the 17th century housed fortifications to prevent invasions of the city. The intensification of the occupation of this region and the recognition of the hill as a favela dates back to the beginning of the 20th century, a period of great urban transformations in the city of Rio de Janeiro. During the process of occupation of the hill, the Atlantic forest gave way to the colony grass, and the instability of the soil, associated with heavy rains, caused the community to experience tragic episodes, with human and material losses, in this way, the relationship of the favela with a biophysical environment for a long time was crossed by fear.
In 1995 the reforestation project was installed in the favela of Morro da Babilônia. The basis of the reforestation project in slums is the cooperation of the residents of the areas served, both for the knowledge of the region, of the people, as well as for the subsequent support for the maintenance of the plantations. There were attempts at reforestation carried out by private companies, however, in slum areas it did not prove to be a viable option for decoupling from the space. Even so, this is an alternative for regions where reforestation cannot be implemented with local participation. The preparation of the soil and planting of tree seedlings carried out by the Mutirão Reflorestamento in Morro da Babilônia was completed in 2000, and then maintenance of the reforestation began.
The residents who participated in this work together with forestry engineers, agronomists and biologists from the city of Rio de Janeiro did not have employment relationships, and to remedy this instability the Municipal Environment Department (SMAC) and the Labor and Employment Department encouraged the creation of a reforestation cooperative, thus, the Cooperative of Workers in Reforestation and Provision of Services of Babilônia Ltda, COOPBABILÔNIA was born. From that moment on, reforestation was the responsibility of the cooperative, formed and managed by the residents of the favela, with technical support from SMAC and with private partnerships and incentives.
Mutirão Reflorestamento remains active, protecting and planting throughout the city of Rio de Janeiro. The project reconciled social and environmental initiatives, helped to strengthen and create a new vision of local identity, in the face of the complex interaction between favela and city.
Residents of the Morro da Babilônia favela are proud of the project, its success has become a tool for defending the plantations. They recognize the improvements in the environment, which has become safer in the face of the impacts of rains, reduced the occurrence of landslides, improved the microclimate, and gradually restores the Atlantic Forest ecosystem, but even with the success of the project and the resurgence of this forest urban, the opposition between favela and city does not end.
Reforestation in Morro da Babilônia is a successful model that can be improved and replicated according to other local needs and realities. The Reforestation Mutirão is a way of reflecting and acting on the urban space in dialogue with the environment, recognizing the positive interaction between communities and public authorities.
Mutirão Reflorestamento obtained national and international recognition, such as selection in the UN Megacities Project in 1990, composing the publication Environmental Innovation for Sustainable Mega-Cities: Sharing approaches that work, and the Projeto Modelo award by the Society for Ecological Restoration in 1999, among others. In more than thirty years of reforestation, the project was reproduced in 92 neighborhoods, more than 10 million seedlings were planted on hills and slopes in the city of Rio de Janeiro.
Portuguese:
O projeto Mutirão Reflorestamento é uma iniciativa da prefeitura da cidade do Rio de Janeiro implementada no final da década de 1980. Este projeto é um desdobramento de um projeto anterior, o Mutirão, que objetivava a urbanização de favelas com auxílio da força de trabalho dos moradores das comunidades atendidas. O reflorestamento passa a integrar este projeto principal com o propósito de recuperação e manutenção da cobertura vegetal das encostas da cidade, contribuindo para promoção da biodiversidade, além de controlar a expansão das favelas.
Uma das favelas contempladas pelo projeto foi o Morro da Babilônia, localizado no bairro do Leme, próximo à Copacabana, e que durante o século XVII abrigou fortificações para impedir invasões à cidade. A intensificação da ocupação desta região e o reconhecimento do morro como uma favela, remonta ao início do século XX, período de grandes transformações urbanas na cidade do Rio de Janeiro. Ao longo do processo de ocupação do morro a mata atlântica deu lugar ao capim-colonião, e a instabilidade do solo, associada as fortes chuvas, fizeram com que a comunidade vivesse episódios trágicos, com perdas humanas e materiais, desta forma, a relação da favela com meio biofísico durante muito tempo foi atravessada pelo medo.
Em 1995 o projeto de reflorestamento foi instalado na favela do Morro da Babilônia. A base do projeto de reflorestamento em favelas é a cooperação dos moradores das áreas atendidas, tanto pelo conhecimento da região, das pessoas, bem como, pelo posterior apoio a manutenção dos plantios. Houve tentativas de reflorestamento realizado por empresas privadas, porém, em áreas de favelas não se mostrou uma opção viável pela desvinculação com o espaço. Ainda sim, esta é uma alternativa para regiões onde o reflorestamento não pode ser implementado com participação local. O preparo do solo e plantio das mudas de árvores feitos pelo Mutirão Reflorestamento no Morro da Babilônia foi concluído no ano de 2000, e em seguida foi iniciada a manutenção do reflorestamento.
Os moradores que participaram deste trabalho em conjunto com engenheiros florestais, agrônomos e biólogos da prefeitura do Rio de Janeiro, não possuíam vínculos empregatícios, e para sanar esta instabilidade a Secretaria Municipal de Meio Ambiente (SMAC) e a Secretaria de Trabalho e Emprego, incentivaram a criação de uma cooperativa de reflorestamento, assim, nasceu a Cooperativa de Trabalhadores em Reflorestamento e Prestação de Serviços da Babilônia Ltda, COOPBABILÔNIA. A partir deste momento o reflorestamento estava a cargo da cooperativa, formada e gerida pelos moradores da favela, com apoio técnico da SMAC e, com parceria e incentivos privados.
O Mutirão Reflorestamento continua ativo, protegendo e realizando plantios por toda a cidade do Rio de Janeiro. O projeto conciliou iniciativa social e ambiental, colaborou para o fortalecimento e uma nova visão da identidade local, frente a complexa interação entre favela e cidade.
Os moradores da favela do Morro da Babilônia têm orgulho do projeto, o seu sucesso se tornou ferramenta para defesa dos plantios. Eles reconhecem as melhorias no ambiente, que se tornou mais seguro diante aos impactos das chuvas, minorou a ocorrência de deslizamentos, propiciou a melhora do microclima, e gradualmente recompõe o ecossistema da mata atlântica, mas mesmo com o êxito do projeto e ressurgimento desta floresta urbana, a oposição favela e cidade não se encerra.
O reflorestamento no Morro da Babilônia é um modelo exitoso que pode ser aprimorado e replicado de acordo com outras necessidades e realidades locais. O Mutirão Reflorestamento é uma forma de refletir e agir sobre o espaço urbano em diálogo com o ambiente, reconhecendo a positiva interação entre comunidades e o poder público.
O Mutirão Reflorestamento obteve reconhecimento nacional e internacional, como a seleção no Projeto Megacidades da ONU em 1990, compondo a publicação Environmental Innovation for Sustainable Mega-Cities: Sharing approaches that work, e o prêmio Projeto Modelo pelo Society for Ecological Restoration em 1999, dentre outros. Em mais de trinta anos de reflorestamento o projeto foi reproduzido em 92 bairros, mais de 10 milhões de mudas foram plantadas em morros e encostas da cidade do Rio de Janeiro.
Sources
Sedrez, Lise; Barbosa, Natasha Augusto. Narrativas na Babilônia: Uma experiência de história oral e história ambiental, reflorestamento e comunidade (1985-2015). In: MAIA, Andréa Casa Nova. (org.). História Oral e Direito à cidade: Paisagens urbanas, narrativas e memória social. São Paulo: Letra e Voz, 2019. p. 79-99.
Barbosa, Natasha Augusto. Os jardins suspensos do Morro da Babilônia: o mutirão reflorestamento na perspectiva da história ambiental urbana (1985-2015)130 f. Dissertação (Mestrado em História) – Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Instituto de História, Programa de Pós-Graduação em História Social, 2020.
Mutirão de Reflorestamento celebra 33 anos com mais de dez milhões de mudas plantadas em morros e encostas. Prefeitura do Rio de Janeiro. Rio de Janeiro, 20 de junho de 2021. Disponível em:< https://prefeitura.rio/meio-ambiente/mutirao-de-reflorestamento-celebra-33-anos-com-mais-de-dez-milhoes-de-mudas-plantadas-em-morros-e-encostas/>. Acesso em: 20 de agosto de 2021.
Secretaria Municipal de Meio Ambiente. Refloresta Rio: Programa de Reflorestamento do Município do Rio de Janeiro. Disponível em: <https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/7afa6040cd4e46b48720e280b7238434>. Acesso em: 20 de agosto de 2021.
It is common knowledge that our planet is getting warmer and that it risks having serious consequences globally. But how does the changing climate affect the Swedish population, our cities and towns?
SKL has, based on data from SMHI and three selected municipalities, commissioned this report which shows what concrete effects climate change can have at the local level. SMHI reports climate scenarios depending on whether carbon dioxide emissions continue to increase as they do today or if they decrease sharply.
The hope with the report is that it will be a useful basis in the work of stopping carbon dioxide emissions and making Sweden equipped for the effects that climate change is having here and now.
2020 is an important year for climate policy, both globally and nationally. The UN Member States will present new national climate plans with enhanced ambitions for COP26; the EU is poised to implement the European Green Deal; and in Sweden, the Government is tasked with turning more than 100 items in the Climate policy action plan into concrete actions.
This report is the Climate Policy Council’s annual assessment of the Government’s overall work to achieve Sweden’s climate targets. It includes an update of developments in Sweden over the past year and an assessment of the Government’s Climate policy action plan, as required of the Council under our terms of reference.
Climate Action Lab (CAL) brings together activists, researchers, and artists to reimagine climate politics through the lens of the city as both the frontline impact-zone and the potential source of grassroots alternatives informed by the principles of climate justice. The Climate Action Lab is developed through a collaboration between the Art, Activism, and the Environment research group from the Seminar on Public Engagement and Collaborative Research at the Center for the Humanities (CUNY Graduate Center), the Occupy Climate Change! Project of the Environmental Humanities Lab at the Royal Technology Institute of Sweden, and the Climate Action Research Cluster of the Social Text Collective.
On September 20, 2019, The Climate Action Lab released its ” A People’s Climate Action Plan” (see document by clicking on the document icon above). The People’s Climate Action Plan crystallizes a year-long series of workshops during the Fall of 2018 and Spring of 2019 with activists, researchers, and artists intended to reimagine climate politics through the lens of the city as both the frontline impact zone and the potential source of grassroots alternatives informed by the principles of climate justice.
See also interview with Ashley Dawson and Aurash Khawarzad on January 19, 2021 where they explain how to make a People’s plan
Nicolás Cuvi
From the silent cockpit of the aircraft, with a 360-degree view, Francisco the peacemaker watched as the Quito plateau slipped away. Directly ahead it was clear, with no signs of rain, at least as far as he could see. Neither did the ship announce any storm alerts, so he decided to relax. After a verbal instruction, the machine confirmed the autopilot connection. He snorted twice, his particular way of ending something.
He glimpsed the mountainous landscape. Some of the colossi had a small white hat, a result of the previous night’s snowfall. They were ephemeral covers, which would last just a few hours until the snow melted and the typically arid landscape of the XXIII century Andes returned. It was pretty, no doubt. But neither that beauty, nor the prospects of a pleasant climate for the trip, alleviated his recurring uncomfortable thoughts: the certainty that he was fulfilling, perhaps, his last official mission to the islands. In the lower cell, he was transporting who was, possibly, one of the last rapists in his city. Maybe the last one, he thought. “It’s not bad, maybe just for me.” He called out loudly for two coffee pills and blackberries, then moved his burly six feet to the hot water station, dissolved the tablets in a thermos, and snorted again three times.
A month hence would be his seventieth birthday. It was impossible to postpone his retirement any longer, much to his regret. He didn’t feel old, but he was. His shaggy hair, disappearing in places, had turned gray a few years ago. But with a minimum life expectancy of 100 years, what would he do in the next 30 years? He hadn’t made plans, perhaps because he perceived that the moment would never come. He liked to capture the bad guys, but also had to accept that each day it was harder to do so. His muscles were toned; it was his speed that was diminished. That had become clear countless times, like the day before, during community workouts in the park, when he had finished among the last places of the two-kilometer race. It used to be he arrived first, and with a considerable lead. He snorted upward twice, waving a rebellious gray curl that fell on his forehead. He inserted the frozen blackberries in his mouth, and felt his teeth explode.
Below, the city, or what was sensed of it, was getting lost. From the continuous lining of the surface emerged some modern buildings, covered in vegetable green and yellow, distinguishable by their pointed shapes and sharp corners. Also, some ruinous masses of concrete and iron, abandoned for a long time because they were uninhabitable. Once luxurious apartments with views, they were now properties heavily exposed to intense daytime radiation. The buildings suffered from more than 100 years of human neglect, ever since outdoor activities had been limited to dawn and dusk, or walks and work at night. Some ruins had been covered, a few years before, with modern bio-solar panels, an ingenious way of reusing the obsolete infrastructure. Others were occupied by condors or birds of prey that, like humans, had adapted to twilight and nocturnal life.
The extensive vegetation was uninterrupted towards the wild areas. It was made up of trees such as pumamaqui, cedar, and hundreds of other species. Several showed leafy tops and were over 100 years old. They were called “guardians” because they protected the people from radiation and pollution. Francisco felt identified with these forms of life; he was also a guardian who protected the cities and their people. But most people were unaware of these elder green guardians. They preferred to stay underground, with artificial light and stable temperatures, in rooms, community centers, or recreational sites located two or three levels below the ground. “Cities of moles” they were called, alluding to an extinct species, with tiny eyes, which used to build and inhabit extensive underground galleries.
Among the outdoor structures, Francisco preferred churches, sites of spiritual worship in the past. He went alone, as his two daughters, like their mothers, preferred the virtual reality scenarios underground. When he suggested they go outdoors for a while, they called it old-fashioned. He assured them that these historical places helped people to relax, meditate, find themselves, recharge for community life. Sometimes groups were formed to share doubts, fears, insecurities, projects. There was a time when he reproached those important women in his life for being hooked on fantasies, ignoring the outside world, so different from the underground. “They haven’t even taken the few opportunities to fly a hovercraft,” he sighed. For them, the other cities and regions, not to mention the islands of plastic, formed by the accumulation of these materials over almost three centuries in certain points of the sea, were places to which it was unnecessary to move. When it came to reproductive sex, it was the men who traveled, although most women preferred their couples to be from the same city. It was not worth traveling, sometimes for long weeks on foot, facing the risks of bad weather or rural robbers, lawless people, bandits, who attacked the walkers. They preferred to know of other cities through virtual reality boxes, and from the tales told by people from other places when they arrived in Quito. They argued that encounters in virtual reality boxes, where you could have three-dimensional views and experiences with multiple speakers, were less expensive in terms of energy and less risky for the spread of epidemics. Those looking for adventure and long journeys could embark on cruises to other planets, asteroids, or megacities floating in the void of space, or travel the world on foot and by boat.
Eventually, he stopped complaining. They were a product of their time and the past. The Great Disconnection, characterized by energy shortages caused by the unique and strong solar pulses of the mid-21st century, together with the Era of Epidemics, promoted isolation, and autarkic urban processes. When the satellites fell to the ground and all electronics stopped working, there was chaos. Not even the countries with the largest reserves dared to go beyond their borders. When electronic communications were restored and power generation, always limited, was improved a couple of decades later, travel was resumed on a limited basis, mainly to maintain the spirit of planetary cooperation. Some individuals voyaged more: peacekeepers, diplomats, and students. Each citizen was also allowed to travel once every five years by collective aircraft to a nearby city, or every eight years to a distant city. And whoever wanted to could move at will on foot or in sailboats of different sizes. Many young people organized groups to see the world in this way. Several never returned, fascinated by other places. Francisco had used each of his trips to visit nearby cities. His goal was to walk and strengthen ties with fellow peacemakers in Lima, Cusco, Trujillo, Cuenca, Guayaquil, Cali, Bogotá, Medellin, Cartagena … He had studied his career mainly in virtual reality boxes and had trained martial arts in local dojos. He took exams for five years, and then spent a similar time training with several master peacemakers. Many things had passed in front of his eyes, but the women in his life did not even want to go to Guayaquil. He wanted to snort but held back.
Francisco left the cockpit and headed for the cargo area. He stood in front of his partner and apprentice of the last three years, the peacemaker Selena. She gazed absently toward the energized cell with translucent bars, where the prisoner seemed half asleep and lost. “At least the man doesn’t scream or cry.”
The anguish that this would be his last trip between Quito and the plastic islands, where the aggressors from all cities were sent, uncomfortably returned. A fundamental part of his life was moving in an aircraft over cities, mountains, and seas. He had undertaken more than 100 of the five-hour journeys between Quito and the vortexes of the Pacific Ocean, where the plastic islands floated. What would happen to his position? Urban peacekeepers had been a very important guild, but today it was a profession headed towards extinction, like fossil fuels or intercontinental travel. Capturing and transporting violent types, forest or plantation arsonists, animal torturers, and above all femicides and rapists, was less and less necessary. “These days, rural robbers give more work,” he said. “But they are not a priority, dispersed as they are, and because they limit themselves to stealing batteries and food, never raping or murdering. For now.”
Every so often the so-called “anomalies” appeared, people who were violent towards women in cities, known as such because cases were rare. They were mostly men who, for reasons unclear to him and much of the public, used force as a mechanism to get what they wanted. Why didn’t they go to the public rings to bring out that fierce energy, desire for blood and domination? The dynamics of the rings were similar to the ancient Mayan ball games, although the losers were not sacrificed. They revived the jousts of the Roman coliseums, whose stories of gladiators continued to be successful in virtual reality boxes. But they weren’t fighting to the death. Why did the anomalies not use those spaces? They wanted to dominate without consent. More than one influencer with millions of followers in the virtual reality boxes claimed that the anomalies had been driven mad by watching too much aggressive content produced until the beginning of the 21st century. They saw women, other species, minors, and elders, as objects. Several influencers, good communicators and journalists, clamored to restrict access to certain contents of the Pluriversal Library, although everyone knew it was impossible. There were Library mirrors all over the Earth, on inhabited planets and on space stations, everywhere. Most people, Francisco included, considered them in bad taste. But they were there and had regular consumers. “I hated reviewing those videos in my peacemaker courses.” He snorted twice.
-The world has changed fast. Too fast for my liking- he heard himself speaking towards Selena, who barely twisted her face a little.
He liked this apprentice. She was really big, something unusual and intimidating, ideal for chases and captures. And attractive, although he wouldn’t have the slightest chance of her choosing him to date. Selena was staring at the prisoner while chewing lavender pills. Her neutral look could mean anything. Francisco appreciated that neutrality, the scent of lavender, and the silence. It helped him to avoid the waste of useless conversations. The few moments in which they had talked served, from the first day, to make clear that she cared little about the whys of the work. Selena wanted, above all, action. Persecutions, arrests, inquiries, even false alarms. They had not stopped a real rape attempt in Quito for three years, which seemed eternal to him. In other cities, it had been like this for more than 30 years. The last real rape in Quito occurred 50 years earlier, when Francisco was an apprentice. The last femicide happened a hundred years ago; the subject was alluded to as savagery before the Age Shift. Maybe that’s why Selena was a statue before the prisoner, her first actual transfer and capture. “Do you hate it or do you feel compassion?”
Francisco returned to the upper cabin and monitored the weather. Meteorologists were not to trust; weather was more complex than a series of measurements, and experience had taught him to be vigilant.
The aircraft maintained its cruise elevation, two kilometers high. They flew over the city of Manta and headed out to sea. Yellow and dry, this coastal area was less inhabited than the highlands. Below, some ruins looked like old 21st-century periferal neighborhoods. These dystopian territories were of interest to him. In Quito, they had been made up of thousands of fragile rooms built with cement blocks and thin, rusty iron rods. Population decline after the Era of Epidemics and the later Age Shift had led to the abandonment of these precarious homes. A few families had stayed on, rebuilding some spaces as the facades of entrances leading to underground rooms. Houses built on slopes, previously abundant and always affected by landslides, were not even good for that, so they had been completely reclaimed by the Andean and opportunistic vegetation coming from the lowlands due to increased temperatures. Why had people built such insecure houses?
Many flat parts of the Quito plateau, previously covered with asphalt and cement, were regenerated as orchards. Farmworkers took turns at night, under artificial light, inside greenhouses or outdoors, sometimes supported by fans and heaters to ward off frost. In the orchards, animals, vegetables, and mushrooms flourished. Their main promoters, the urban agropops, argued that in addition to good food the orchards provided a way to cool the planet and create carbon sinks. Their biggest detractors, the robopops, argued that machines could do it. Agropops also pointed out that it was harmful to people to spend long times in the virtual reality boxes, that this way of living was dangerous for their own subsistence. They remembered that those kinds of disconnections, when people believed that food grew in markets or vending machines, or that it magically arrived in aircraft to cities, had accelerated epidemics and the Age Shift. The agropop movement emphasized that eggs were laid by chickens, that those chickens controlled pests in crops, that bees fed on real flowers, and that all this helped to have healthy food. Repeatedly, they alluded to the brutal impact of pesticides, known above all from a 20th-century book, Silent Spring. “No one wants to use poisons as in the past”.
He called out for an updated weather forecast. Storms obsessed him, especially over the ocean. Those sudden and intense curtains of white water, in the form of very strong waterspouts, fell without warning. In the mountains they did not at all help the aircraft and could disrupt communications, thus many rapists took advantage of them to act. But at sea they were deadly. A map unfolded before him. Zero rain. He headed back to the lower deck, where Selena continued in the same position. Was she analyzing the prisoner or just watching over him? Now the anomaly was drooling a little and muttering. He wanted to go over and ask him about his musings, but quickly regretted it, and instead decided to entertain himself for an hour. Back in the cockpit, he put on his helmet and searched one of his favorite repositories: “The Age Shift.”
Francisco´s ability to understand history was limited, and he always had doubts regarding the interpretations of documentaries and influencers. There was too much information and at times he felt lacking in filters to select it. He understood more about persecutions, arrests, and violent anomalies. There were some things that, however, were quite clear, such as the role of epidemics and solar pulses. The epidemics of the 21st century were crucial. Viruses first appeared in Asia and then from almost everywhere. Some said it was the revenge of nature, because people treated domestic animals badly, especially those that were useful for food, fiber, vaccines, or medical experimentation. Wild animals were being eaten everywhere and deforestation accelerated, taking away their places to live. Cows, chickens, pigs, and other animals lived huddled and stuffed with hormones on farms. “How unpleasant to eat a chicken with hormones, almost as much as a tomato with pesticides”. The first great pandemic was the Covid in 2019. It spread quickly. The resulting mourning and confinement left behind all kinds of consequences. The worst came years later, however: a deadly virus that was transmitted through water and air. The survivors began to think more locally and to subsist under more peaceful contracts. New epidemics arose, some contained at continental levels. Traveling became difficult, as entire countries closed their borders for years. They let you out, but do not re-enter. The stories of people trapped far from their homes were dramatic and no one dared to go far. If you left, it could be forever.
Then came the solar pulses and the Great Disconnection, the end of communications. It seemed somewhat metaphysical and strengthened the appeal of whatever was local. The first cities to make radical changes were those with lesser violence and corruption indicators in the 21st century. Populations, fed up with states and politicians who did nothing but give flowery speeches, took the reins. They were not violent, although some things did require a certain use of force, particularly in the face of those who continued to applaud the cult of violence and domination. One of the first actions was imprisonment for femicides. As more urban territories were transformed, there were fewer femicides and rapists. In order not to waste efforts, it was decided to create a few global spaces to bring together the anomalies and, incidentally, improve the situation of the oceans somewhat. Since the 20th-century, various ocean vortices had concentrated vast spaces where the debris of fossil fuel civilization floated: the “plastic islands”. These degraded and released undetectable and toxic microplastics. In each vortex, huge machines gathered these plastics into large, compact islands, several meters high, floating like gigantic, multicolored rafts. The anomalies were banished there, condemned for life to collect the floating plastics around them, using collected flotsam to build-up the island they lived on. Food and water were regularly sent, and social organization left to their discretion, albeit with certain limits. Stories about those places were a mixture of myth and legend, even for recurring visitors like the peacemakers. It was said that at first they were chaotic systems located nowhere. Unable to reproduce, the populations of those islands slowly declined, and in some cases became peaceful. Those floating jails, the potential banishment for life, functioned as deterrents. Corrupt practices and, more slowly, rapes, ceased.
The peacemaker Francisco decided to view one of the documentaries on the change in relations between men and women. It was called “Cities of Free Women.” Before, urban areas were dominated by men, in a system called patriarchy. But his grandmother had been free to choose, as were his mother, couples and daughters. His granddaughters would be as well. They had chosen whether or not to have children, how many, when. No one had forced them to be mothers using physical or social violence. Before they had been raped, from a very young age, or forced for metaphysical or religious reasons or, simply, due to an abuse of power. Raped in their homes, in churches, on the streets, on the roads, even in educational centers. Raped on television and in art. “Being a woman was living at risk” Francisco thought. The Age Shift left those ideas and practices behind, in good measure with the aid of peacekeepers and the sending of violent anomalies to the islands of plastic.
In the documentary, it was explained that among the first people opposed to women’s free will, were those at that time self-defined as “socialists” or “progressives.” They were concerned that this would undermine their chances to decide the fate of many based upon the State´s authoritarianism. In Quito and other places, this group needed vast poor populations to dominate, and it was essential to control women, to make them reproduce sadness and submission. And it worked. Some women even publicly declared themselves submissive to their male leaders. As the Age Shift came about, those who called themselves “capitalists” were happy to see such futile and desperate resistance from their longtime opponents. They speculated that, as on other occasions, markets would finally adapt and impose themselves. But they did not count on the powerful inertia that the Age Shift had brought about. As the socialists fell, the capitalists went with them, since both were sustained by the domination of others. They all practiced obsessive violence against nature, which they called “a resource”. “It was a world too confused, manipulated by a few and settled into sterile, dichotomous thoughts.”
Others who opposed the end of patriarchy, aligned with socialists and capitalists alike, were the Catholics and their preachers. Francisco found it difficult to understand the religious practices in so-called churches. There was a kind of psychological collective control, based on fear, that allowed for the accumulation of land and money for at least two thousand years. Some historical videos from the Pluriversal Library showed their rites: people moving up and down, singing in unison, kneeling, making huge lines to receive a very thin cookie, sometimes flagellating themselves. According to the influencers and other less famous communicators, their ideology was more patriarchal than socialism and capitalism. In their books, women were punished, pointed to as inferiors, accused of human misfortunes for something called the original sin, incapable of leading spiritually, and, above all, exhorted to have many children.
According to some documentaries, societies of the past had opted for numerous populations that grew at an exponential rate. To a large extent, this was due to recurrent and socially accepted sexual abuse, the rape of girls and adolescents. Dark times when they weren’t even allowed to have an abortion; if they did, they were even held criminally liable. The video ended with exciting phrases about the present and the future. Still distracted by the information, Francisco removed the helmet, checked the meteorological information, glimpsed around without much conviction, decided that there was no risk, and went back to the repository. The repository had that ability to transport him and even dangerously distract him from his obligations. He chose an archive on the history of new martial arts and rings, sites that, according to influencers and other documentaries, were decisive in the transition to a postpatriarchal society.
As images of fights from the beginning of the 21st century passed, a thick voice-over slowly recounted: “Violence, blood, conflicts, adrenaline… Common for a long time, they still are, but now accepted by the parties involved. No one is hit or assaulted without wanting to. All thanks to … The rings!” The video was of course sponsored by the ring managers, in almost all cases, city governments financed by selling tickets, broadcasts, and multifaceted paraphernalia of objects and associated products. The blood and collective euphoria, the passionate and hysterical shouting, the dazzling advertisements, had replaced other coliseum, stadium, and track sports that were ultra-popular in the 20th and 21st centuries. Fights between men, between women, mixed. Anyone could participate from the age of 20, under very clear agreements. But they also confounded some people, who were content to go to the dojo to train, sometimes with simulators, without blood or noise. A minority.
Combats and conflicts were limited to the rings, under the acceptance of the participants. Never before had so many people been trained in martial arts. Academies and dojos offering courses in karate, taekwondo, kung fu, aikido, and judo, abounded. The rings were even more visited than the underground virtual reality boxes. People loved to see, hear and participate in fights without deaths. The recently invented fu-ta-ya included ingredients of ancient wrestling and had to be quickly regulated by the many accidents at home during unsupervised practices. Francisco was an expert in ancient and modern martial arts. When he felt the desire to hit someone, he approached the local ring, chose the soft mode with protectors, and ended up hugging his rival and a beer in silence. The video ended by emphasizing that, since it was not happening against the will of anyone, rings had become a good way to prevent the appearance of anomalies.
In a neutral voice the ship announced the arrival at the oceanic airport in 30 minutes. Already flying over the huge plastic island, in the distance Francisco could see the mountain of accumulated materials and the many structures built by the residents. Although new plastics were no longer being produced in the world, they continued to arrive from everywhere, compacted and placed as additional blocks on the mountain.
He switched off the automatic pilot and maneuvered to cross, at a height of 500 meters, the threatening electric fence that isolated the runway. In previous years there had been attempts by exiles to capture ships, and although they had been quickly prevented by the protocols for using aircraft, the fence was reminiscent of potential problems. Only one-way tickets were obtained to the islands. Human rights groups considered it cruel, but no city was open to receiving such people back.
The aircraft unfolded three wheels and landed vertically. Selena deactivated the cell and raised the prisoner, who remained crestfallen and silent. Francisco didn’t care who he was; his curiosity about anomalies had long since disappeared. Before, he had tried to help them, being empathetic to their state of shock. Some were repentant, asking for forgiveness, claiming that they had watched too many videos and gone mad from experiencing domination. They started by destroying trees, then clandestinely killing animals, finally women. The sequence usually repeated itself. This anomaly, about 50 years old, had tried to rape a woman in an abandoned area of a metropolitan park, attacking her while exercising at dawn. The young woman activated the help button on her watch and in less than five minutes ten drones had arrived to make noises, film, and disperse some stun gas. The man was prepared and managed to take down five, but more arrived. Everything helped buy time. The victim had studied martial arts and liked the ring, so was able to defend herself. Fifteen minutes later Selena and Francisco were chasing the anomaly through the vegetation. She caught up and subdued him. Francisco arrived a minute later.
A concrete fortress was the only structure on the electric fence. There a door was opened that allowed a glimpse of a long tunnel through which the prisoner walked. In the background, another door opened and he entered the territory of anomalies on the floating plastic island.
Gabriel Redín
Among green bushes and reddish myconias, hundreds of small flattened mounds, side by side, move slowly. They are the shells of Galápagos tortoises, the giant tortoises of these equatorial islands. A deep heat that announces rain pushes the Galápagos tortoises toward the mud puddles to cool off. Alejandro counts, again, the more than 200 tortoises that he herds. It is the fourth time he’s lost count, between images and questions that haunt his mind over an event the island can’t stop talking about.
It is the year 2222. The Galápagos Islands, as they are still called, hardly receive visitors from the outside world, in part because there are no ports at which to arrive. Humans live in the highlands of three islands, where they have fresh water and fertile land to farm. Those who seek to become “friars,” or local priests, practice the type of “herding” for which these islanders are known: in Cristóbal, the easternmost island of the archipelago, Galápagos tortoises are herded. On the other islands, friars herd sea lions and mockingbirds.
Alejandro has been herding tortoises for six years. This consists of caring for and accompanying Galápagos tortoises’ movements between the dry and rainy seasons–of course, without himself approaching the coasts, which is forbidden. The exercise of accompanying tortoises is considered a form of meditation, a way to connect with the origin of the families of Cristóbal, who are said to be linked to the tortoise. Those of Cristóbal are known for their quiet gaze, their slow speech, and, in general, for their serenity, which they consider their greatest virtue.
—
It has not been a day of contemplation or serenity today. With his long legs and quick breath, Alejandro walks across the grazing plain in the same untidy meander of his thoughts, which ponder what the event that has just occurred might mean. Finally, an aroma of freshly roasted coffee tells him he is arriving at Tres Palos, the town where most of Cristóbal’s families are concentrated. Every household is debating: is this a premonition of some untold thing about to transpire? Is it only a simple sea turtle?
What has happened is this: a few days ago, Raquel, another shepherd, went to town to spread the news that a Galápagos tortoise had gone into the sea. Quickly, the news spread throughout the island. Everyone knew the old story of the tortoise that hundreds of years ago submerged herself in the sea and, in so doing, flooded the coasts. It was one of those legends that grandparents told children, and that, although respected as a sacred story, most doubted could actually happen. It just seemed unlikely–that a ground giant like a 300-pound Galápagos tortoise, with a large shell and fat legs, could swim in the sea.
There was also the matter of who had recounted the event. Raquel, restless and disheveled, had abandoned the friar’s training, though not herding tortoises. Contrary to local norms, she even continued accompanying the Galápagos tortoises to the coasts, which according to strict tradition should only be done by the most prestigious friars. After the great rise in sea level that started some two hundred years ago, traveling to the island coasts, except on special days, was treated as a taboo–a provocation to the ocean. Raquel, in her stubbornness and frankness, considered it aberrant that islanders did not approach the sea. She insisted that the tortoise’s idle way of being – el estar de la tortuga – replicated itself in the rise and flow of the sea, that it was natural for humans to spend time at its shore. Because of these positions, Raquel was expelled from the community, which did not prevent her from sneaking out to visit her friends on certain nights.
—
Alejandro wanted to see it with his own eyes. He could not satisfy himself with the rumor of people who built the walls of their houses with their backs to the sea. Why would a Galapagos tortoise dive into the forbidden sea now?
As children, Alejandro and Raquel fantasized about what could be beyond the sea. It was a secret game, because just naming the sea was frowned upon in the town. As they grew, Alejandro kept a careful distance from these ponderings, while Raquel became more and more intrigued with the relationship between the tortoise and the sea. In reality, Alejandro often found himself wondering about the wide blue of the ocean that he caught glimpses of while herding the Galápagos. But no one could know that.
“I have to go to the coast, but I can’t do it alone,” he thought. “I need to talk to him.”
Elderly, with a speckled white beard and tanned skin, Julio was another friar, and the mentor to whom Alejandro went with his doubts. He had also been Raquel’s mentor, and it was even rumored that he secretly agreed with several of her positions. Julio certainly went against the tide many times, but he did it so peaceably that he was rarely blamed for it.
“Today, in the contemplation of the Galápagos tortoise that I was teaching to the children, they asked me again to tell them the story of Sister Tortuga,” said the old friar, tying the Franciscan cord around his waist while receiving Alejandro on his wooden porch. “It was like telling it for the first time.”
Although he appeared stoic in character, Alejandro thought Julio seemed troubled. Sister Tortuga, as the legend was known, marked the turning point in the history of all the families of Cristóbal and, indeed, the entire archipelago. About ten generations ago, when there were only a few Galápagos tortoises on the island, one of them had landed on a beach and plunged into the sea.
“It was at that point that the sea began to rise, and with it, people began to leave the island and not return. It was then that we stopped inhabiting the coast,” Julio said, with a look of nostalgia for something that he had not experienced but had thought about thousands of times.
“They say that Sister Tortuga was so big she caused all the waters to rise,” Alejandro said.
“Yes, and, well, it has been told in so many ways. What my grandfather told me, that his grandfather told him, is that it was actually all slow, very slow. There was no big wave. It was imperceptible. The sea began to rise little by little, inch by inch, day by day. And suddenly the town’s old boardwalk was no longer walkable. It was all quieter than what is usually said. But no less painful for that.”
The silence that ensued was immediately interrupted:
“So, Alejo, will you come down with me to see the tortoise?” the old man proposed, with the mischievous look that had distinguished him since childhood, and the certainty of knowing what Alejandro wanted to hear.
—
An enveloping nightly drizzle made it easier to leave the town unnoticed. Crossing a small forest of scalesias, with their rhizomatic branches loaded with mosses, they came to an overlook where they could sense the immensity of the ocean, and the dark profile of the island. Julio specified with authority the route they would take: “We stop, first, at Cristóbal Viejo. Then we continue to Playa Baquerizo, where Raquel is.”
Alejandro completed: “Raquel and the tortoise.” They both smiled like children.
At a leisurely pace, near dawn, an old path led them to the rubble of the abandoned city, Cristóbal Viejo. Dozens of rusty columns could barely be seen amid the swaying of the sea. Alejandro and Julio walked down a street that still stood between the outlines of old rooms covered in matazarnos, black rocks and small dry bushes. Cristóbal Viejo was a holy place, to which a pilgrimage was made once a year from Tres Palos and other hamlets in the highlands. One of the arrival points of the pilgrimage was La Concha, an esplanade on the shores of the sea that filled and emptied with shallow water in accordance with the tide. It was known for being the place where “the last assembly” had taken place, the one in which the people decided to leave Cristóbal Viejo.
“I believe what my grandfather told me. Right here, those who did not want to go to the island highlands took the last boat to the mainland and did not return again. The few that remained, our ancestors, went up. That last goodbye was so sad that people grew suspicious of coming back down to the coast. It was painful to leave families and friends, but so was leaving this place behind. In the highlands, with those giant tortoises, we found consolation,” said Julio, looking at La Concha.
They took a break in the rubble of la Catedral, another of the pilgrimage stops, very close to La Concha. It was said that the rubble of the Cathedral’s columns depicted the skeleton of a tortoise, and it was considered the original church of the friars. Indeed, the religious men who originally came to these islands were known as Franciscans. With the grief caused by the abandonment of the island, a few friars stayed and accompanied those who decided to inhabit the upper part. From that insularity that disconnected them from the rest of the globe, a new type of spirituality structured around the question of how to relate to the non-human. New meanings of “reuniting” with the transcendental began to emerge from a conception of brotherhood with the rest of the creature world: the sister tortoises, brother bat, brother mockingbirds, sister sea lion, sister finches and others. In those centuries, each island seemed to have turned that fraternal understanding toward the contemplation of specific species through herding. Thus, in these islands a different relationship with nature had been built, or, rather, a relationship between all those who inhabited the islands, be they humans, plants, animals, stars and even objects.
All this did not cease to captivate the lost or curious mainlanders who rarely came to the archipelago. Certainly, things had changed in the Andean continent after the rise of the sea, but there was an archaic prevailing premise of fragmenting everything between those with spirit, the humans, and that which they considered to lack tremendous quality. Some Andeans branded the islanders totemists; others, more sensitive, said that it was an ontological matter.
From this new spirituality, in addition to meditative herding with animals, the friars also carried out contemplative exercises with holy places, such as the rubble of the Cathedral. It was said that it was a sacred place and that the materiality of the rubble could vibrate and reveal meaning. Julio and Alejandro contemplated the rubble of that church facing the sea. Alejandro’s anxious nature, however, hampered his meditation efforts. Finally, he said:
“But then, did the Sister Tortuga exist or not? Is it a real or a figurative story? How is it possible that all this we see now destroyed was inhabited once?”
“Of course, the Sister Tortuga existed,” Julio answered with forceful calm. “What I do not believe is that she caused the ‘great wave’ that is often talked about. It was more of a sign, a message that things could change more than one thinks. Even if you spend 4 lives and you never see a Galápagos tortoise go into the sea, it doesn’t mean it can’t happen. Sister Tortuga existed. I believe it. And more deeply now that this other giant tortoise has come down to the sea.
“But if so, what can happen now? What relationship did Sister Tortuga have with the abandonment of Cristóbal Viejo?”
“I’m not sure. But we know two things: one, Sister Tortuga existed, just as our grandparents have told us. And, two, as we see these ruins, this city got under water and was abandoned. What can we learn from these two things?” The friar paused, caressing the rust of an old iron between his fingers. “That unimaginable things can happen. It can happen that a giant tortoise goes down to the coast and swims in the sea. It may happen that the largest city on the planet gets abandoned. It can happen that the sea rises and falls. It can happen, as we have been told, that the Galápagos tortoise almost disappeared before; and it can happen, as we see before our eyes, that there are hundreds and thousands of them today.”
“Then, it could be that simply, at the time of Sister Tortuga, people were starting to notice something that could have been happening for a long time: the rising of the sea. Remember, also, what grandparents told us: in the past, the people of the city lived in a hurry, busy, without stopping. They said they couldn’t be alone in a room, that they couldn’t stand themselves, that they couldn’t… be. Some say that those of the mainland, even today, continue like this. Remember why we contemplate, why we do all this now. Because we learned from the Galapagos tortoise that it is necessary to stop, walk slowly, contemplate. If we value something now, it is to be able to be, estar. As you say, perhaps long before Sister Tortuga, the sea was already rising, but people didn’t even notice it. And perhaps Sister Tortuga’s message was that the extraordinary can happen slowly, it may even be happening right now, if you look closely, if you just observe, if you feel.”
—
They returned to the road to Playa Baquerizo. The conversation with Julio felt like a revelation to Alejandro, but his long and hurried steps betrayed his haste to reach Raquel’s mysterious beach. Together, since childhood, they had been unified in their vocation to become friars, with Julio’s mentoring. Alejandro could not forgive the path she had taken by leaving, almost without hesitation, the formality of community life. They had not spoken to each other since.
A slight salty smell announced a small white sand beach. There was Raquel, with her characteristic sun-tanned skin, sitting near a mangrove. And there, too, it was: an adult Galapagos tortoise submerged in water. As on land, he was calm.
Julio greeted Raquel affectionately, and without saying anything, he walked away to the other end of the beach where he observed the tortoise swimming. Alejandro and Raquel were alone for the first time in several years. Raquel’s brand-new smile undid the tension with which Alejandro initially approached her.
“So you came down to the coast? You had to see it by yourself, huh? Man of little faith.”
“So this is where you have come to live?” Alejandro replied with a certain masculine awkwardness, neutralized by Raquel’s response:
“I was waiting for you.”
Raquel began to walk, showing Alejandro part of the beach as if it were her house. They did not approach Julio; they understood he wanted to be alone with the Galápagos tortoise.
“Well, yes, I had to see it, I had to see it.” Alejandro shuddered, and restless, as always, he asked: “And what is the tortoise doing?”
“Nada,” Raquel replied with a nostalgic laugh of the old humor of friends, but she continued more seriously: “He is simply there. The tortoise has gone out to the beach, but reentered the sea. Maybe he wanted to cool off. Alejo, do you want to go for a walk to Tijeretas to catch up?”
“And if the tortoise comes out of the sea?”
“Hey, we’re not here to watch over him, but to accompany him. Also, Julio will be here and will want to be alone.”
Alejandro had forgotten these random twists while talking with Raquel; he recalled that internal voice, driven by social norms, that had judged Raquel for her unpredictable behavior. Still, he followed her, wondering if it made sense to have gone to see the tortoise and to now leave him so soon.
They took a path towards the cove that they called “Tijeretas.” It was a clear day. The fresh green of the coast, which opened with the drizzle of recent days, contrasted with the deep blue of the ocean. From the cove you could see small heads of sea turtles coming out to breathe. Young sea lions played chasing each other. The frigates flew overhead, wagging their scissor tails. Raquel and Alejandro approached a shore. She sat up and stretched her feet out into the water.
“The water is already starting to get cool,” Raquel began.
“Hey, you have no respect for anything. How can you not mind touching the sea?”
“Why? Don’t we believe in acting like the Galapagos tortoise? Well, right now there is one nearby swimming in the sea.”
Alejandro blushed. He knew Raquel well enough to know that she wasn’t looking for a fight. She was just being serious.
“Ok, I’m sorry. I don’t mean to complain. But I don’t understand why we came here and left the tortoise. What happened is not trivial. Didn’t friar Zarathustra once say to the sun: What would your happiness be reduced to if you did not have those to whom you shine!?”
“Hmm. You’re still the same, Alejo. You have something of the Andean people who think that their immense mountains exist only to be admired. My grandma used to say, ‘Flowers do not bloom to please others, they bloom for themselves, for their own joy.’ And, well, yes, we have decided to herd Galápagos tortoises, contemplate them, learn from them. Certainly, they should be happy, as we are, for that company. But it is very different than their reason for being is to be the admiration of others.”
“Well, but then what is the revelation of the Galapagos tortoise in the sea?” Alejandro insisted.
“If there were a revelation, it’d be the fortune to share the joy of that flower that blooms or, now, to be able to share this exceptional happening of a giant tortoise swimming in the sea.”
“But we’re not there sharing this fortune with the tortoise. We must return.”
“You know, before, people moved without observing. Now, let’s not observe without moving,” said Raquel, shaking her feet in the water. “Look, if Sister Tortuga taught us to observe that the sea could rise, how could it mean that we stay locked up there in the highlands fearing the sea that surrounds us? Please, do not force me to get stuck.”
Alejandro sighed, torn between the discomfort of returning to a straightforward Raquel, and the sweet suspicion of making sense of what she was saying.
“The sea that surrounds us,” he repeated timidly, with a short step towards the shore. “Without being afraid of the sea? But it is immense, unpredictable!”
Raquel answered with a smile.
“So” continued Alejandro, “what you say is that if people from the past never stopped to contemplate because they were busy all the time, we should be careful not to stagnate in contemplating without moving?
“Just like the Galapagos,” she answered.
They both paused. Alejandro took a step closer to the shore. He sat up and stretched his legs towards the water with the strangeness of a thing done for the first time.
“It’s cold, huh?”
“Now I understand why the tortoise has gotten into the sea,” Alejandro answered in a low-childish voice.
“Exactly! Now do it with all of your body. Come on, the sea is calm.”
Suddenly, Raquel got up, took off her old Franciscan habit and, naked, jumped into the water. She called Alejandro.
“You know I can’t swim. How did you learn, Raquel?”
“It took me a while, but I learned by watching the marine iguanas. I suppose that is what the tortoise saw. The question is how these iguanas learned to swim.” They both laughed.
The hours had passed, and the sun was just over the ocean, plunging towards the sea. So did Alejandro. With suspicion, held by the rocks on the shore, he slowly introduced his body. The cold of the water was transformed into an internal heat that seemed to be enlivened by the movements of his feet. He took a deep breath, while feeling the penetrating taste of the sea splashing on his face. “The sea that surrounds us”, he whispered, letting himself be enveloped by this enormous being.
By Gabriel Redín
Where is this grassroots initiative implemented?
On the Pacific Coast of South America, within the Ecuadorian city of Portoviejo, in the parish of San Pablo, the group “Guardianes de la Colina” was created. San Pablo is located next to the urban center of Portoviejo, extending towards the hills that surround the city. More precisely, the parish of San Pablo is made up of four sectors, of which the sectors known as “Cumbres, Cañonazos y Rocío” and “Los Ceibos” have been the most affected by landslides from the hills in times of heavy rains. It is precisely these sectors that present the greatest gaps in access to basic services and exercise of rights. Their inhabitants are the main integrants of the “Guardians of the Hill” organization. (See Image 1).
What are the main objectives and values?
“Guardianes de la Colina” is a neighborhood organization that has been formed around the strengthening of local capacities and collaboration with external actors, for the protection and intervention of the hills of the parish, as a way to reduce the risk of landslides, recover public space, and improve the quality of life.
This has unfolded in a variety of interventions, in which a set of actors, mentioned below, have participated. Among them, we can highlight: the collaboration for the design of the Comic “Guardianes de la Colina”, for informative purposes, to collect memory and highlight disaster preparedness (see Image 2); the inclusion of children in the processes of caring for green areas and reforestation; the recovery of streams, waste management, and positioning of the relationship of caring for the environment with the right to inhabit safe areas; local capacity development processes such as “Sustainable Endogenous Development Managers”; among other actions. (APGRE & GIZ 2021).
Who are the promoters and beneficiaries?
Initially, in 2019 the group consisted of 10 members, going on to have up to 40 “guardians” from all sectors of the parish. The participation of women in the leadership and support of the group stands out. (See Image 3).
One element that characterizes these territorial interventions has been the ability to articulate capacities of different actors, both internal and external to the community. In particular, stands out the Ecuadorian Association of Professionals for Risk Management (APGRE) and the German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ-Ecuador). Other key actors have participated in different interventions, such as the Autonomous Government of Portoviejo and several Universities.
How does this initiative engage with climate?
In a broad sense, the social understanding of risk, as well as actions to reduce it, account for ways of adaptation and mitigation of the occurrence of extreme weather events. In San Pablo, along with a higher frequency of severe weather events during the last years, different actors responded from a greater willingness to address risks as a public matter. This means a comprehensive approach which involves understanding risk to disasters from both natural hazards and social construction of vulnerability.
Within this approach, Climate Change has meant a platform from which to engage with different actors, resources and initiatives. For example, many of the interventions in San Pablo have been possible from the “Urban Laboratory” of Portoviejo, on the theme of “Resilience, risk management and adaptation to climate change”, promoted by GIZ-Ecuador. Several actors involved have found resonance and possibilities for financing and action in the field that has been generated around climate change. (GIZ & APGRE 2021)
What is the timeline? Are there already visible effects?
The first settlements of what would later become San Pablo occurred in the 1950s. An unplanned and disordered growth led the populations with greater social vulnerability to settle in the hills, which triggered, especially in the rainy season, different events of landslides, registered since the 80’s. However, in the five years after the 2016 earthquake that shook the Ecuadorian provinces of Manabí and Esmeraldas, actors and political wills have begun to meet for risk reduction at the local level. The inhabitants of San Pablo began to get involved with the efforts to achieve better urban planning by the Municipality, with the support of civil society and international cooperation. These efforts allowed a more comprehensive approach, beyond the eviction of homes in risk areas, which had characterized previous periods.
Together with other instances of political government of the parish, the formation of the group “Guardianes de la Colina” expresses a form of local organization that raised as its own matter, while open to collaboration with other actors, the reduction of risk of landslides through mitigation actions, recovery of public space and, broadly, the exercise of rights.
Based on a sense of belonging to the territory, San Pablo has been able to modify an imaginary that reduced this parish to elements of danger, to position themselves as an organized community, with commitment to the public. One example is the recovery of spaces in the upper parts of the hills that have now been designed as viewpoints of the city, generating common public spaces, while protecting the protective areas against landslides.
Which limits does it encounter? Are any shortcomings or critical points visible? What other problematic issues can arise from its implementation?
The interventions have involved the encounter of different actors, with their senses, sensitivities, interests and knowledges, not free of tensions inherent to their different positions. An important challenge can be found in the efforts of recognizing different types of knowledges, experts and non-experts, in understanding risk reduction. For example, misunderstandings can emerge when getting together academics and local dwellers in defining risk and interventions of a territory. Another relevant element has to do with financial support, that allows the risk reduction efforts to continue, while promoting actions that enhance and install durable capacities for local management of the territory. Finally, as part of the organizational processes, we can mention the rotation of the actors and leaders of these initiatives, due to administrative or political changes, which restrict the continuity or scope of several actions.
Is this initiative conducive to broader changes?
Many of the actions in San Pablo have been linked to broader municipal policies that account for both a greater institutional framework for territorial risk management, and the political will of the latest administrations. This has been evidenced in a set of instruments, among which the Ordinance that regulates the Decentralized Cantonal Risk Management System (2019), as well as its management model, designed with the technical support of the APGRE, stand out. As a result, at the specific level of San Pablo, it can be mentioned how, in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Neighborhood Risks and Emergencies Committees (CREB) functioned as key actors in the identification, management and response to reduce the risk of contagions at the local level.
How would it be potentially replicable in other settings?
The actions carried out in San Pablo, many of them with the leading role of the local group “Guardianes de la Colina”, may be replicated in other urban sectors exposed to disaster risks. It is important to highlight how, for example, GIZ-Ecuador has generated several disclosure documents that collect and systematize the actions, in order to identify good practices that can be replicable in other urban contexts. Of this, we can mention the concrete experience of a varied and diverse network of actors, both from the territory, municipalities, civil society, cooperation and academia. All this allows us to recognize the potential of collaborative efforts, as well as the rectifiable difficulties that emerge from these encounters. Precisely, it is important to highlight the coincidence of the actors to achieve both comprehensive understandings and responses, in which risk reduction is articulated with other areas of rights. This approach to rights, which includes living in safe areas, has made it possible to include concrete mechanisms on the public agenda and institutions that emphasize risk reduction rather than response to post-disaster emergencies. (APGRE & GIZ 2021).
References
APGRE & GIZ (2021). Transformación social del espacio para la reducción de riesgos. Caso San Pablo, Portoviejo. Quito, Ecuador. https://www.bivica.org/file/view/id/5978
CEEP & GIZ. (2019). Acción Ciudadana Guardianes de las colinas de San Pablo. Sistematización del proceso de implementación de la estrategia de fortalecimiento de capacidades para la acción ciudadana y resultados del monitoreo y evaluación del piloto, y modelo replicable. Quito, Ecuador.
GIZ & APGRE. (2021). “La Agenda 2030 en acción: Mujeres liderando la resiliencia climática para transformar barrios vulnerables en la ciudad de Portoviejo”. Quito, Ecuador. https://www.bivica.org/file/view/id/5984
GIZ. (2019). Diagnóstico territorial integral para la transformación del espacio a escala de barrio. Unidad de intervención territorial San Pablo. Portoviejo, Ecuador.
Pamela Salome Chavez
Where is this grassroots initiative implemented? Who are the promoters? Who are the beneficiaries?
Bicivilizados Ibarra began with the heat of the pandemic in June 2020. This initiative began with a group of friends, who decided to promote a bike ride in the city of Ibarra to vindicate the fight for the implementation of bike paths. Being the first time these paths were established within the urban area, this action caused an important public debate.
The main promoters of this initiative were Karen Sarabia, Esteban Berborich, and Rosalía Suarez. They were the first to meet and talk about the possibility of organizing the first cycle ride. Juan Arias is also one of the promoters, although he has not been there since the founding of Bicivilizados, his presence has been key in the development and planning of the following events.
The beneficiaries are Ibarra citizens. This initiative was born to be accessible for everyone; from children to the elderly, large and small families, groups of friends, adolescents, young people and adults who have the interest to promote biking as an environmental, economic and social alternative.
How does this initiative engage with climate? Does it tackle mitigation, adaptation, both or other dimensions of climate change?
This initiative promotes the use of the bicycle as an alternative means of transport within the city, thus inviting citizens to reduce the use of automobiles. Its objective is to change Ibarra inhabitants’ behaviour in order to contribute to the construction of a more sustainable and clean city, which is friendly to pedestrians and cyclists.
This initiative tackles mitigation and adaptation dimensions of climate change. The mitigation mechanisms applied by this movement can be evidenced in vehicles’ emissions reduction to the environment. These emissions are made up of highly polluting gases for the atmosphere, such as carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrogen oxide (NO2), which accelerate global warming.
Since the collective encourages a behavioral change in people from an early age, we can also categorize it as an adaptation measure. One of the programs promoted by Bicivilizados is Wolf Kids. For this program, children are accompanied by a bicycle caravan with adults behind them, so that they can feel secure biking in the urban area.
What are the main objectives? What are the main values?
The main objective of Bicivilizados is to engage more people who use the bicycle as an alternative means of transport in order to change the environmental, economic, and social dynamics that exist around the use of cars and other fuel-based vehicles.
Another fundamental objective is to promote friendlier and more sustainable cities, where pedestrians and cyclists have greater access to public space, to the streets, and to the city roads. It is also intended to demand greater safety when biking, and promote bike activism as a resistance mechanism against climate change and its consequences on the environment.
The main value that sustains its mission is the firm conviction of seeing the bicycle as a tool for change and therefore as its fight banner to build more socially, economically, and environmentally friendly cities.
What is the timeline? Are there already visible effects?
Bicivilizados Ibarra was born in June 2020 with the organization of the first bike ride. Since then, the main events that the group has organized are massive bike rides, in the form of critical mass. Generally, one or two cycle rides are organized per month since the continuous call for these events allows to lay the foundations for maintaining the group’s visibility.
In addition, they also organize forums and conversations around topics related to biking (climate change, bicycle-based ventures, etc.). To carry out these activities during the pandemic, digital platforms were of great support for spreading the initiative in other cities around Ecuador.
In the future, the frequency of the rides is expected to increase, perhaps becoming one cycle a week as occurs in cities like Quito. In the long term, it is also expected to help in the promotion of micro enterprises related to biking.
The most important visible effects have undoubtedly been the cycle rides in which 150 to 180 people have been summoned. The smaller cycles generally have an average of 50 to 80 people.
Who are the actors involved? What is their background?
The key actors of this initiative are the founders and five more members who work as coordinators inside the collective. Bicivilizados does not have a vertical structure, it could be said that the only thing that directs the movement is to love biking. Decisions in the movement are made based on initiatives, that is, one of the coordinators proposes something and then everyone takes the decision as a group. The coordinators work under the motto that anyone supports the cause as they can, whether from time, from space, economically, etc.
The actors behind are young people and adults between the ages of 25 and 40. They are people connected with issues of climate change, with artistic and cultural processes, etc. They have different backgrounds but all of them share the love for biking and for building fairer and more sustainable cities.
Which limits (institutional, physical, social, etc.) does it encounter?
The movement has faced certain social and institutional limits. Regarding the social limits, once the bicycle lanes began to be consolidated, a group of citizens criticized the initiative arguing that the new bike paths create more traffic in the city. This position reflected a political issue with the clear objective of attacking and delegitimizing the movement.
Regarding the institutional limits, the group does not have the municipality or other public institutions’ support that guarantee the cyclist safety, or that promote public policies in favor of biking. Evidence of the lack of interest of political authorities on this particular issue, is the state of the city’s 4 km bike paths. This infrastructure has not been properly maintained and no investment has been made to fix the sections that are already deteriorated.
Are any shortcomings or critical points visible? What other problematic issues can arise from its implementation?
One of the problems that has arisen from the implementation of the initiative, is the fact that not all coordinators are in complete agreement with the fact of including a political vision to the activities that the movement organizes. So, this is an issue they are still tackling. Although all the coordinators agree to see the bicycle as their fighting horse, not all agree that this is a political act. However, for some members of the collective, the activities promoted by the movement constitute a political act by themselves.
Some members argue that bigger changes will only come from promoting public policies in favor of biking. For these members, the best strategy would be for the group to start thinking about changes related with legal and political opportunities, that is, to fight for the approval of a law or ordinance.
How would it be potentially replicable in other settings?
Definitely, the initiative could be implemented in other cities of Ecuador and the world. The movement has had considerable recognition and opportunities to grow. Through the use of online platforms, the collective had the opportunity to form networks with other movements in other cities of the country. This has made it easier to develop face-to-face events in the future.
Is this initiative conducive to broader changes (law, institutional arrangements, long-term sustainability, or community preparedness, etc.)? If yes, which?
Yes, this initiative can lead to broader changes in the city. As mentioned, an important group of coordinators consider as a future objective, to promote the creation of an ordinance or a regulation that could promote two main things: the use of bicycles within the city as an alternative means of transport, and the security and infrastructure necessary to make biking safe. However, in order to achieve this political goal, it is vital that all the team embraces a vision of political activism. In the words of Juan Arias, coordinator of the group: “Only from political power can radical changes be made. The changes come when you manage to touch the fibers of power and from there, you create transformations. Transforming the city in favor of pedestrians and bicycles is a political act and as a collective, we should have the ability to understand it and work for it ”.
Links for knowing more about Bicivilizados Ibarra:
Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/bicivilizadosibarra/
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/groups/1945996255533377
References:
Interview withs members of Bicivilizados Ibarra
Google. s.f. Google Maps location of Ibarra. Retrieved October 15, 2021 from https://goo.gl/maps/JytRkixc3psZCMoB7
Pamela Salome Chavez Calapaqui
Where is this grassroots initiative implemented? Who are the promoters? Who are the beneficiaries?
This grassroots initiative is being implemented in the city of Quito, Ecuador. The main neighborhoods that Yanapana is working with are in the Chillogallo parish. This is in the peri-urban area, where the houses are constructed on the hillside (which means they are located in a zone prone to risk). Their population doesn’t have full access to basic services and equipment. These neighborhoods are: La Dolores and Cumbres del Sur.
Yanapana´s promoters are four young people who launched this initiative in July 2020. They work together with 60 volunteers approximately, plus the allies that support the cause with donations. One of its allies, the De Base organization, works in the field closely with these neighborhoods. Other allies that Yanapana works with are the civil organization Love is Giving and the AMS club Ecuadorian Students Association (ESA) of the University of British Columbia.
The beneficiaries are the families who live in La Dolores and Cumbres del Sur. Currently, Yanapana is working in a tailored plan with only 2 families of these neighborhoods.
The Name Yanapana comes from the Ecuadorian language kichwa, and means “to help a friend”. Yana means help and pana means friend.
How does this initiative engage with climate? Does it tackle mitigation, adaptation, both or other dimensions of climate change?
Yanapana’s aim to construct urban orchards in the neighborhoods of La Dolores and Cumbres del Sur constitutesa mitigation practice against climate change, as well as an adaptation practice.
It is a mitigation practice in the sense that the implementation of urban orchards will permit the reduction of greenhouse gases emission through different methods. The harvest of organic products obtained from the community orchard will reduce the consumption habits of inhabitants and therefore the amount of plastic they use. There will also be a significant reduction in the commute distances to supply themselves with food. In addition, urban orchards help reduce the accumulation of C02 and heat in cities, allowing to alleviate the consequences of heat islands. Moreover, urban orchards promote the production of compost from organic household waste, which also helps in the reduction of greenhouse gases.
Yanapana also embraces adaptation practices in order to tackle climate change. It seeks to adapt human behaviour through the change in consumption and feeding practices. This grassroots movement tries to offer people the opportunity and the resources to empower themselves and change the consumer dynamics of the modern world. By adjusting their ways of food production and consumption, this organization is opening the possibility for other neighborhoods to adapt these practices to their daily lives.
What are the main objectives? What are the main values?
Yanapana originates from values of love and solidarity with the purpose of providing the foundational nourishment for the body and mind of children. Its main values are solidarity, honesty, cooperation, responsibility and service. Its mission is to tackle the malnutrition problem within vulnerable groups of Ecuador through education, solidarity, and international cooperation; so that every person gets the opportunity to nurture their body, mind and spirit.
The main objective of this initiative is to combat malnutrition in vulnerable groups living in poverty. Yanapana’s target group are families with children under the age of five, as well as families with pregnant women or in lactation period. However, their work is not limited to these groups. The organization delivers food baskets to the beneficiary families and works closely with them to empower their abilities and improve their living conditions and feeding habits in a sustainable and self-sustaining way.
The organization provides the necessary tools and resources for the urban gardens to be built, including educating the population with workshops and specialised training in urban agriculture. To make this possible, the initiative is planning to make alliances with organizations like Agrupar- Conquito andthe Guardianes de las Semillas.
Once the urban orchards are built, families will be taught about healthy nutrition habits based on nutritional plans that will include the orchards’ products. This movement also aspires to involve children and adolescents in the urban orchards activities, with the purpose of letting them explore agriculture as in a farm school. Finally, the long term purpose is to generate micro-enterprises (owned and managed by the families) from the harvested products.
What is the timeline? Are there already visible effects?
Yanapana was born on the 26th of July 2020. This grassroots movement was created in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. After one year and a month of operation, it has achieved important steps towards its final objective. In this period of time, alliances were established with the organization De Base and the civil group Love is Giving. During this time, food baskets have been delivered to the most vulnerable families.
Together with the movement De Base, Yanapana is working on the first communitary orchard in La Dolores neighborhood. The first sowing was the 10th of October 2021. In the long term, Yanapana is looking to construct a second urban orchard in Cumbres del Sur neighborhood. In addition, in one or two years, Yanapana aspires to develop micro-enterprises owned by the beneficiary families.
Who are the actors involved? What is their background?
The founders have just graduated from university in the midst of the pandemic. Amid all the chaos, they saw an opportunity to use the resources everyone had available as recent graduates to create positive change in their community.Then, as a group, they came up with this project.
Which limits (institutional, physical, social, etc.) does it encounter?
The movement’s principal limits have been economical. Because this grassroot movement began almost one year ago, it has been really difficult for their founders to obtain the necessary monetary funds for the construction of urban gardens. At the beginning, it was also difficult to capture visibility, that is, to be known by other movements or organizations with more experience and extensive contact networks in the city and the country. Yanapana has not yet achieved such visibility. However, it seeks to achieve greater recognition and therefore more opportunities to expand the project’s cause.
Are any shortcomings or critical points visible? What other problematic issues can arise from its implementation?
One of the main shortcomings faced by the initiative is the dependence it has on donations and alliances for the implementation of the initiative. This is a bit problematic since it does not have yet the capacity to self-finance its work, risking to lose part of their income in the process, and thus altering the continuation of the orchards project. Furthermore, another shortcoming is the fact that it is highly difficult to produce a permanent impact on people’s behaviour, which means that the work with beneficiaries should be comprehensive enough to inspire them in a new lifestyle.
How would it be potentially replicable in other settings?
Quito is a city with a great number of precarious neighborhoods situated in the peripheries. There are similar neighborhoods to La Dolores and Cumbres del Sur in the south and north of Quito that have enough space to manage the construction of urban orchards. Even next to La Dolores, there is another neighborhood with similar conditions, the 9 de Diciembre neighborhood. Therefore, the possibility to replicate this initiative is achievable.
Is this initiative conducive to broader changes (law, institutional arrangements, long-term sustainability or community preparedness, etc.)? If yes, which?
This initiative seeks to lead to broader changes. The project aspires to produce long term sustainability through the work made in close relationship with beneficiaries. This close relationship permits to provide the beneficiaries with the necessary tools for acquiring more sustainable feeding habits, less consumer practices and a greater desire to live in community. In general, the initiative plans to prepare the community to live in a more sustainable and self-sustaining way, in harmony with people and nature.
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Links for knowing more about Yanapana Project:
Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/yanapana_project/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/YanapanaProject
Website:https://es.yanapanaproject.org/
References:
Interview with member of Yanapana Project Foundation
Google. s.f. Google Maps location of Quito. Retrieved October 15, 2021 from https://goo.gl/maps/JytRkixc3psZCMoB7
Google. s.f. Google Maps location of La Dolores and Cumbres del Sur neighborhoods. Retrieved October 15, 2021 from https://goo.gl/maps/GksmPqVEZegGz3RYA
Yanapana Project Foundation s.f. Retrieved October 15, 2021 from https://es.yanapanaproject.org/
Kyra Torres
Where has this grassroots initiative been implemented? Who are the promoters? Who are the beneficiaries?
The organization arises as a personal initiative in the San José de Ayora parish, Cayambe canton, Pichincha province, Ecuador. Vida y Semilla works closely with people from Quito, the country’s capital, and different parishes within Pichincha. Its founder is Isabel Sánchez, and her family is her support and inspiration in this endeavor that currently includes the participation of 12 people (Sánchez, interview, 2021).
The association has several undertakings, including training and provisioning to produce and consume food in a local, healthy and responsible way (Quito Informa 2017). Relevant work has been carried out in the recovery of traditional knowledge and the training of seed guardians. Urban and rural populations in the province have significantly been influenced. They have gained access to diverse organic seeds, including edible, medicinal and ornamental plants, and knowledge of their cultivation, harvesting, and consumption.
How does this initiative engage with climate? Does it tackle mitigation, adaptation, both or other dimensions of climate change?
Food increasingly travels greater distances from its origin to the consumer. Agroindustrial production processes, processing cycles, packaging, upkeep, distribution costs, and the waste generated require large amounts of energy that come primarily from fossil fuels (Mediavilla 2013, Crippa et al. 2021).
As Mediavilla points out, “the case of food is paradigmatic since it is estimated that it travels an average of 4,000 kilometers before reaching our table, when a large part of it can be produced nearby”[Translated from Spanish] (2013, 206). Thus, a third of global energy consumption and consequent carbon emissions are caused by the current agribusiness model that has shown to have lower energy efficiency per calorie produced when compared to the previous century (Mediavilla 2013).
Human influence on the recent alterations of the climate system is unequivocal, and greenhouse gases have been recognized as part of the main anthropic factors of climate change at a global level (IPCC 2021). The agri-food industry has become one of the biggest polluters, with solid contributions to the emission of greenhouse gases.
In 2015, GHG emissions (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, fluorinated gases, amongst others) from the agri-food system represented 34% of total global emissions (Crippa et al., 2021). As Crippa and his colleagues note, “the largest contribution came from agriculture and land use/land-use change activities (71%), with the remaining were from supply chain activities: retail, transport, consumption, fuel production, waste management, industrial processes and packaging” (2021, sn).
Climate change, in addition to the increase in global temperature, represents a series of risks for food production, such as the intensification of extreme climatic events, droughts, frosts, heat waves, floods-, alteration of rainfall cycles, increase in sea level, loss of glaciers, impact on freshwater sources, amongst others (IPCC 2015, 2021).
The production and quality of food, livelihoods, and public health in Latin America are especially vulnerable to the impacts of climate change (IPCC 2014). Similarly, the global south countries are increasingly exporting better quality calories at low cost and importing expensive poorer calories, which have hurt the diet quality of the most vulnerable Ecuadorian households (Falconí 2002) and have influenced the persistence of distributive conflicts and inequity.
The organization encourages sustainable food production, promoting local, ecological, circular, and healthy production and consumption through the education and distribution of organic seeds. This, if replicated on a larger scale, would increase the energy efficiency of the agricultural output and reduce GHG emissions resulting from the agri-food system production chain.
It is also relevant that the recovery of native plant seeds has a more efficient production, and also protects the diversity of Andean plant species and favors wild pollinator’s reproduction. Since the species are adapted to local climates and realities, less energy is invested in their production, and the consumption of resources, such as water, fertilizers, and pesticides, is reduced.
What are the main objectives? What are the fundamental values?
Isabel (personal comments, 2021) states that Vida y Semilla has the following aims:
-Rescue native seeds together with ancestral knowledge and agricultural practices that entail their management and reproduction;
-Educate people and groups about circular economies, 0 km production, food sovereignty, nutrition, among other related topics;
-Work with children, understanding their potential and the need to adapt to the potential challenges of the future ecological and climatic crises that lie ahead;
-Motivate people to produce their own food and consume locally, efficiently and responsibly.
What is the timeline? Are there any visible effects already?
In 2008 Vida y Semilla was born commercially. In 2010 the initiative joined the Red de Guardianes de Semillas (Seed Guardians Network), a group of organizations that aim to protect agrobiodiversity and promote regenerative life systems in Ecuador, emphasizing the social and educational part of food production. In 2017 Isabel was the winner of the “Successful Entrepreneurship” Program promoted by ConQuito (Quito Informa 2017). With this, the association expanded to include 12 people who seek, in addition to the production of seeds, to educate and train new guardians.
Currently, the association continues to work with more than a hundred native species of organic seeds for food production, ecosystem recovery and reforestation, diffusion of plant species for pollinators, production of seeds for sprouts, citizen education and training processes, amongst other actions that has become their alternative of life and economic sustenance. Additionally, it should be remarked that they protect 80 types of cultivated native seeds (Sánchez, interview, 2021).
What advocates are involved? What is their background?
The key stakeholder in this initiative is Isabel Sánchez, who, as a child, helped her grandmother, Isabel Calderón, in the collection, classification, and handling of seeds for agriculture. Her grandmother instilled this interest and transmitted the traditional knowledge orally, as a part of everyday life, to her family.
Later, the organization’s founder studied biology and continued to work in seed production, establishing a dialogue between ancestral and formal-academic knowledge. Her family members participate in the initiative, with exceptional support from her husband, Ricardo Cabezas, and her cousin, Natalia Lascano.
The work has slowly spread and gained the recognition of entities such as the Municipality of the Metropolitan District of Quito and ConQuito. Due to the restrictions placed under the COVID 19 Pandemic, many people in the city of Quito and surrounding valleys realized the importance of local food production, which has driven the work of the last year and has expanded its influence in urban areas (Sánchez, interview, 2021).
What limiting factors (institutional, physical, social, etc.) does it encounter? ∙ Are any shortcomings or critical points highlighted? What other problematic issues can arise from its implementation?
Isabel would say that the toughest challenge is to compete in the market with hybrid and transgenic seeds, whose production costs are lower, in a socioeconomic reality where the price can make local and responsible projects challenging to access for the most vulnerable communities.
The reduced number of opportunities for the commercialization and exchange of this type of products and little space for the socialization of these initiatives, which bring producers and consumers closer together, is also precise.
Finally, there is evidence of a lack of education and recognition that prevents more significant support and dissemination of the principles that move Vida y Semilla.
How could it conceivably be reproduced in other settings?
The initiative can be replicated at different scales and geographic spaces. It is considered of particular relevance in those places where there is traditional agricultural knowledge that must be recovered and transmitted to future generations. Similarly, it could be replicated in those places where the cultivation of native species is being lost due to the use of GM seeds.
Education is a fundamental pillar for the construction and dissemination of alternative models of local production and consumption by being more energy-efficient, which in turn reduces pollution throughout the production chain.
Another way to replicate the proposal is through the creation of networks, not only at the local level but also regionally and even globally, where experiences and knowledge can be shared, actions made visible, external funds can be obtained to potentiate ventures and thus counter the agroindustrial model that is outcompeting small producers.
Is this initiative conducive to broader changes (law, institutional arrangements, long-term sustainability or community preparedness, etc.)? If yes, which?
By achieving a greater scale and dissemination, this initiative proposes giving rise to a more sustainable food production and consumption model. In countries like Ecuador, which, due to their biophysical characteristics, allow a rich and varied local production, the risk posed by climate change for food sovereignty and security could be mitigated, improving nutrition and quality of diet.
The consumption of local products and even the organization and mobilization in favor of urban cultivation would also help reduce GHG emissions associated with the very high levels of energy consumption required by industrial food production and the great distances they travel to consumer tables.
References
Crippa, Monica, Efisio Solazzo, Diego Guizzardi, Fabio Monforti, Francesco Tubiello, Adrian Leip. 2021. “Food systems are responsible for a third of global anthropogenic GHG emissions.” Nature Food 2: 1-12. Doi: 10.1038/s43016-021-00225-9.
Falconí, Fander. 2002. Economía y Desarrollo Sostenible ¿Matrimonio feliz o divorcio anunciado? El caso de Ecuador. Quito: FLACSO Ecuador.
IPCC, Grupo Intergubernamental de Expertos sobre el Cambio Climático. 2014. El Quinto Reporte de Evaluación del IPCC ¿Qué implica para Latinoamérica? Resumen Ejecutivo. Alianza Clima y Desarrollo.
IPCC, Grupo Intergubernamental de Expertos sobre el Cambio Climático. 2021. Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGI_Full_Report.pdf
Mediavilla, Margarita. 2013. “¿Cómo ha de producirse la transición a un modelo energético sostenible?”. Documentación social 167: 191-211.
Quito Informa. 2017. Emprendedores en la agenda internacional: A un año de Hábitat III. Disponible en: http://www.quitoinforma.gob.ec/2017/10/20/emprendedores-en-la-agenda-internacional-a-un-ano-de-habitat-iii/. Consultado el: 3 de junio de 2021.
Sánchez, Isabel. 21 de junio de 2021. Entrevista virtual. [Plataforma Google Meets]. Quito.
Social Networks:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Vida-y-Semilla-253067625121807
By Katia Paola Barros Esquivel
Where this grassroots initiative is implemented? Who are the promoters? Who are the beneficiaries?
Tiendas Amigas is a network for the commercialization of peasant products. This project is promoted by the Higher Technological Institute Crecermas (ISTEC), the German cooperation GIZ and the Union of Affected by the Petroleum Operations of Texaco (UDAPT).
This project, constituted as a commercialization network of peasant products, is at the cantonal level, located in Lago Agrio, Sucumbíos province, Ecuador. Tiendas Amigas consists of the distribution of organic crops typical of the area, these products are marketed through peripheral stores of the city called “Tiendas Amigas” that benefit a total of 1780 people in the town. The beneficiaries belong both to the families of the productive farms, as well as to the owners of the stores in the peripheral areas of Lago Agrio.
How this initiative engages with climate? Does it tackle mitigation, adaptation, both or other dimensions of climate change?
The Tienda Amigas initiative addresses both adaptation and mitigation to climate change. The adaptation is approached from the communication, awareness and education measures of the small producers, who supply local and organic products to the peripheral stores called “Tiendas amigas”, who have to adapt to the unfavorable conditions of the environment such as intermittent income, Accelerated urbanization processes, depletion of natural resources and others (Vivas Viachica 2016, 55). In this context, the small producers of Tiendas Amigas have adapted to the new natural conditions of the environment and have even been trained so that their products are organic.
Similarly, in terms of mitigating climate change, this initiative promotes the inner dynamism of neighborhoods, so that internal commerce is strengthened, as well as the local economy and people can make their purchases of daily supplies within their close area in the peripheral stores located (84 so far). Thus, this initiative promotes compact neighborhoods where people can access everything they need on foot or by bicycle.
What are the main objectives? What are the main values?
The main objective is to create a marketing network of small producers that do not compete with each other, but that is a exclusively system to promote their actions. This objective has already been achieved with the implementation of 84 stores located in the peripheral areas of the city of Lago Agrio.
The purpose of the activities of Tiendas Amigas is also to offer fresh organic products (such as: tomatoes, lettuce, potatoes, etc.) to the people of the city, in an accessible way since they are located in neighborhood stores and therefore reduce the distance of mobilization of people to buy basic necessities. In this context, the project’s actions are aimed, on the one hand, at small producers who benefit by selling their products; and, on the other hand, to the population that buys the products in spaces located near their neighborhood.
Indeed, it seeks to improve the population’s diet by offering fresh and organic products accessible by distance to people.
What is the timeline? Are there already visible effects?
“Tiendas Amigas” began its operation in January 2020; taking as a starting point the actions undertaken by ISTEC, an institution that periodically promotes community outreach projects. Thus, it began with the training of producers in terms of prices, construction of orchards, local arable products, organic technification of product cultivation, adaptation to climatic conditions, and others.
Subsequently, the articulation with the peripheral local stores was carried out so that they are the ones that sell these natural and organic products; at the moment they already have a total of 84 neighborhood stores implemented.
With this background, the project stands out since more actors have been added. One of them is the Tarabita Foundation, who help migrants by granting them purchase quotas. Prior to the knowledge of the Tiendas Amigas project, the Tarabita Foundation granted the quota only for a supermarket located in the center of Lago Agrio, so the beneficiaries of this quota had to go to the supermarket. Now, together with the Tiendas Amigas project, stores near migrant neighborhoods have been located so that purchases of basic necessities are made in neighborhood stores, promoting local commerce and reducing large mobilizations for the purchase.
The already visible effects are: the incorporation of new actors to the project, such as the Tarabita Foundation; the strengthening of the internal commerce of the locality; the decrease in daily mobility to make purchases, then non-motorized mobility is strengthened.
Who are the actors involved? What is their background?
Tiendas Amigas is a project that was born from three institutions ISTEC, GIZ and UDAPT
ISTEC is the Crecermas Higher Technological Institute whose mission is “the consolidation of an educational service of excellence that guarantees the training of professionals with the capacity for ethical, moral, cultural, social, humanistic, scientific and technical performance; solidly prepared to respond, with human, scientific and technological quality, to the challenges and demands of a world in permanent change and transformation, in such a way that a comprehensive and sustainable Human Development model is generated in the Ecuadorian Amazon region and specifically in the province of Sucumbíos ”(ISTEC s / f).
The German cooperation GIZ has been working in Ecuador since 1962. Their vision is to “work to shape a future worth living around the world”. Their values are focus on the principles of sustainability ”(GIZ s / f).
Finally, the UDAPT is a non-profit organization that bears its acronym referring to the Union of Persons Affected and Affected by Texaco Petroleum Operations (UDAPT). This organization represents people affected by oil pollution since 1993 and is made up of 6 communities of different indigenous nationalities of Ecuador The Waorani, Siekopaai, Siona, A´I Kofán, Shuar and Kichwa and around 80 peasant communities settled in the area contaminated. It is located mainly in the provinces of Sucumbíos and Orellana in northeastern Ecuador. Its objective is “the repair of the northern Ecuadorian Amazon.”
Are any shortcomings or critical points visible? What other problematic issues can arise from its implementation?
The main difficulty that arose at the time of project implementation lies in the need to educate small producers. First, in terms of their insertion into the market and that they stop producing only for self-consumption, which required an education in the ways of growing in larger quantities, market prices, project benefits, etc.
In this context, a process of socialization and teaching of the farmers was necessary in which they had a transition to go from thinking about producing only for their own consumption, to producing in a way that this action is profitable for them and that they can live by carrying out these activities. This point is highlighted since each teaching process was different, considering that there were farmers with more experience than others.
Finally, another of the drawbacks has been that it has not yet been possible to implement the technological tool that consists of a mobile application to place orders and that allows stores to optimize direct contact with the Tiendas Amigas project; however, the store owners, as mentioned by Rosa (project manager) prefer direct, personalized and order contact.
How would it be potentially replicable in other settings?
The Tienda Amigas initiative is easily replicable in other places as long as coordination and articulation between the three main actors that influence the effectiveness of the project is ensured:
1. Those who provide the service, in this case local stores that sell local products
2. Those who receive the service, people interested in buying local products in stores
3. Those who supply the products, farmers and producers
However, it is pertinent to point out that each sector may have its drawbacks, with respect to the area in which the city is located and the nearby rural area where basic necessities are grown, this due to the fact that the harvest times are different according to the products that are grown.
Is this initiative conducive to broader changes (law, institutional arrangements, long-term sustainability or community preparedness, etc.)? If yes, which?
The project promotes great changes within the city’s neighborhoods. On the one hand, it strengthens farmers, who for a long time in Ecuador have been the sector least served by the technical side. In effect, this future initiative seeks a change in the conception of self-nutrition of families, both farmers and those who benefit from having these products in stores near their neighborhood.
Regarding peripheral stores, in the future, it is expected to create joint work ties with cooperators, strengthening local marketing to (1) reduce travel when buying; and, (2) reduce the mobilization of products that come from other areas, especially Lago Agrio because it is a border city with Colombia, shows a lot of product mobilization, so strengthening the internal marketing and products of the area will reduce the consumption of external products.
References
C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group s/f). Guidance to Design a Green and Thriving City Neighbourhood. ARUP
(ISTEC) InstitutoSuperior Tecnológico “CRECER-MAS”. s/f. Misión y visión. https://istec.edu.ec/istec/mision-vision
GIZ. s/f. Identity. https://www.giz.de/en/aboutgiz/identity.html
(UDAPT) Unión de Afectados y Afectadas por las Operaciones Petroleras de Texaco. s/f. Inicio – UDAPT. http://www.udapt.org/
Vivas Viachica, Elgin. 2016. “Factores que inciden en la sostenibilidad de la pequeña producción agropecuaria en el contexto de Cambio Climático”. En Agricultura sostenible para enfrentar los efectos del cambio climático en Nicaragua. Managua: Diseños Gráficos CG.
Katia Paola Barros Esquivel
Where is this grassroots initiative implemented? Who are the promoters? Who are the beneficiaries?
La Asociación de recicladoras de El Valle (AREV, Association of women recyclers of El Valle), is an association that have been operating since 1996. They are located in the El Valle parish, where the sanitary landfill of the city of Cuenca, Ecuador was located until 2001. AREV is made up of six members, all female, and most of them heads of household. It is part of a much larger network at the cantonal level. This network is made up of eleven associations as well as independent persons. In this context, recycling spaces are arranged so that most of the cantonal land is covered. AREV currently works in different locations in Cuenca, including El Valle parish. In the long term, this initiative aims to make the entire population of Cuenca and its peripheries aware of the benefits of these activities, in addition to educating the population to carry out this activity properly so that people begin to make a correct classification from the homes and make work easier for AREV.
How does this initiative engage with climate? Does it tackle mitigation, adaptation, both or other dimensions of climate change?
Annually, between 2.5 to 4 billion metric tons of waste are generated in the world, not counting those from construction, mining and agriculture (Delgado 2016). This is the result of the urban metabolism of cities, where urban spaces are open systems that take resources and energy outside the city system, from a geographical dimension, and discard dissipated energy and degraded materials (Delgado et al. 2016).
AREV’s initiative addresses both adaptation and mitigation to climate change. The adaptation is approached from the communication, awareness, and education measures of the waste management, since one of the fundamental tasks of AREV is to educate the families to recycle in a conscious way. The work of separating the types of waste is suitable for the new uses that can be given to the waste. In this context, AREV is constantly giving personalized talks to families who wish to integrate into a conscious way of recycling.
Similarly, in terms of mitigating climate change, this initiative contributes with actions of selective collection, composting and recycling of materials for their recovery and reuse. These actions allow the usual treatment of waste, collection – final disposal, change and give a new use to the waste.
In this context, the initiative allows the reduction of the energy consumption of solid waste treatment, if we compare it to the final energy flows of non-recycled waste with respect to the consumption of this treatment; in addition to the direct reduction of greenhouse gases by reducing the waste that is not deposited in the sanitary landfill, which would generate higher CH4 productions (Graziani 2018).
What are the main objectives? What are the main values?
AREV sets its main goals in consciously recycling solid waste, so that the selected materials serve a 100% new function. In this sense, the task has as one of its objectives to educate the population to be able to properly separate materials from those that cannot be recycled. In this way, AREV promotes that this activity becomes a habit for families and with it a fundamental and conscious part of acting so that even this environmental awareness is transmitted even without the need for the presence of AREV.
This organization currently has six members, and they try to ensure their actions allow them to recuperate a minimum of 1800 kilos of solid waste per month.
What is the timeline? Are there already visible effects?
In 1996, AREV started operations directly at the sanitary landfill, at that time, located in the “El Valle” parish, Cuenca; when the recyclers carried out their work directly in the space where solid waste was disposed of, salvaging materials such as cardboard, paper, plastics, and glass; in addition to organic waste for the manufacture of compost.
Once they were consolidated as associated waste pickers and in coordination with CARE (NGO that seeks social justice for the most vulnerable populations) they sought to form a network of waste pickers at the cantonal level. This project was started with two recyclers’ associations (one of them AREV) until now reaching eleven associations at the Cuenca canton level; this with the aim of covering the entire territory of the city. However, is this grassroots initiative, partner of AREV, their work was discriminated against by citizens and there was no regulation that endorses their work until the validity of the “Ordinance that regulates the integral management of waste and solid waste in the Cuenca canton” On April 1, 2003. As of this date, its actions have been boosted since citizens are obliged to store and dispose of waste differently in accordance with the principles of recycling.
The recyclers work is between two and four times a week. AREV recollect a minimum 300 kilos per month. In this way, the effects are not directly visible, since the recycled material is delivered to companies that can reuse it. However, it is pertinent to point out that the sanitary landfill of the city of Cuenca receives an average of 18,000 kilos less solid waste per month thanks to the work of the recyclers.
Who are the actors involved? What is their background?
AREV, being part of a comprehensive network of recyclers, covers the Cuenca canton for the most part. To consolidate this network, a coordinated action was established between various institutions. One of them was CARE, an NGO that promoted the collective action of the network at the cantonal level and its articulation with the national level. In addition, the local State through the Municipal Public Cleaning Company of Cuenca (EMAC EP), even though the recyclers do not have a dependency relationship with the EMAC, the company contributes to the training of waste pickers in general in medical matters, accounting, computing, crafts, and others.
In addition, according to Bertha Chalco, the EMAC grants the recyclers a kind of food voucher for their families and provides a nursery for those mothers who want to carry out this activity. Similarly, this network of recyclers at the cantonal level is articulated with a national network that provides implements and uniforms for recyclers.
Which limits (institutional, physical, social, etc.) does it encounter?
Because this is a local initiative, there are no institutional limitations. Regarding the physical limitations, it is important to highlight that the AREV requires a space where its recycling work is facilitated and where the recyclers can store their work implements.
Previously, AREV had a recycling plant located in the El Valle parish; However, now their task is carried out in different streets of the city of Cuenca, carrying out daily recycling tasks and sending the recycled material at the end of the day to intermediaries, who are in charge of selling these recycled materials to companies.
Are any shortcomings or critical points visible? What other problematic issues can arise from its implementation?
A visible critical point in the implementation of this initiative was going from recycling directly in a recycling plant, where they had a fixed space, to recycling directly on the streets passing house to house. As Bertha tells us, in this transition there was a time when recyclers had to store recyclable waste in their homes, in makeshift spaces, causing discomfort to their families and in a way to the neighborhood. That is why, currently, all recycled material is not stored in warehouses or in their homes but passes directly into the hands of intermediaries who are in charge of selling this recycled material to processing companies.
How would it be potentially replicable in other settings?
This initiative, being local, is easily replicable in other places, obviously it depends on the legal regulations that allow people to carry out recycling activities in cities. In addition, it is important to mention that AREV stands out because it expands its action space and provides training to companies and to households that want to recycle their solid waste, educating people to make a good separation of recyclable and non-recyclable waste. In this context, this initiative can even continue to expand in terms of the number of people who belong to the association and the number of households that want to be part of the people who take advantage of used materials or waste.
Is this initiative conducive to broader changes (law, institutional arrangements, long-term sustainability or community preparedness, etc.)? If yes, which?
The development of this initiative allows to show a form of social organization in network, not only of an association as such, but the way in which people can join the task of recycling and generate collective improvements and social responsibility with the environment.
Changing people’s non-recycling habit is a medium and long-term task, since first they must educate families to recollect materials that allow a new use and, on the other hand, this habit is maintained over time and do not be something temporary. Once the habits of the families have changed, Bertha mentions, it is easier for these habits to be shared even within the same family circle and the task of educating is no longer solely the task of the recyclers but becomes a part of essential education of each family.
References
Delgado, Gian Carlo. 2016. “Residuos sólidos municipales, minería urbana y cambio climático. El Cotidiano 195: 75-84.
Delgado, Gian Carlo, Cristina Campos y Patricia Tentería. 2016. “Cambio climático y el metabolismo urbano de las megaurbes latinoamericanas”. Hábitat Sustentable 2(1): 2-25.
Graziani, Pietro. 2018. Economía circular e innovación tecnológica en residuos sólidos: Oportunidades en América Latina. Buenos Aires: Corporación Andina de Fomento.
Grace López Realpe
Natura Insurrecta (NI) is a self-managed ecological organization located in Quito. It belongs to Bloque Proletario, which is a Popular Front Movement that brings together various organizations of workers, peasants, students, women, artists, popular neighborhoods, and aims to develop a new revolutionary current in Ecuador. NI was formed in 2016 to face social and environmental issues from a materialistic position through ecological, social, and economic analysis. Given the strong impact generated by the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2020 they built three urban community orchards in the peri-urban area of Quito, at Zabala-Calderón, the Commune of Sorialoma in Guangopolo, and San Francisco de Miravalle (Figure 1). In cooperation with local communities, they have opened spaces to work the land with two objectives:
NI works together with other organizations from Bloque Proletario such as Luna Roja, which defends women’s rights; ASOTRAB, which organizes non-regulated street vendors and sexual workers; and La Pobla, which works at neighborhoods and helps with the coordination of “community pots” at marginalized areas from Quito. The “community pots” is an initiative that consists of the collective preparation of food to face hunger in popular areas of Quito (Figure 2).
Urban farming activities play a mitigation role in climate change since they are green spaces in cities that act as carbon sinks.In addition, NI’s urban community orchards are managed in an agroecological manner, promoting sustainable agriculture that supports changes in food consumption patterns and enables the reduction of food transportation and storage, allowing a decrease in the use of fossil fuels. Composting practices are also developed, contributing to better management of organic waste.
Community orchards are also adaptation practices to climate change because they improve resilience by reducing the exposure and vulnerability to the lack of food, faced by people living in poor neighborhoods. Besides, through collective action to produce food, the community develops self-sufficiency and control over agricultural systems, allowing localized appropriation of production spaces, but also practices linked to caring for the environment at the local level, health care; all this outside of transnational companies or public policies as bodies that organize food production and consumption.
NI’s main principles are self-management, collective action, class independence, and free transfer of knowledge. They consider that nature problems are exacerbated by capitalism, thus to protect nature and the environment it is necessary to organize and come together between different oppressed sectors. NI acts from a radically popular view; their causes include the women’s rights movement, the fight against power and oppression, and the importance to develop a project free of institutions such as political parties and NGOs. Its purpose is to develop new paths of organizing to reach social and environmental justice. Community orchards are a means and not an end, to promote agency, political activation, understanding of reality, and raising awareness.
The processes developed at the orchards show that the changes and repairs to reduce the precariousness of life in the cities, and the destruction of nature, must take place at a collective level, not at an individual one.
Since its formation in 2016, it has carried out several initiatives such as annual political training schools, study circles, forums in universities, discussions, among others. The creation of urban orchards is a project framed in the work in neighborhoods that took shape in 2020, in the context of the global pandemic. In one year of operation, they have managed to harvest radishes, squash, tomatoes, corn, and more products that have been used in the cooking of “community pots”, aimed mainly at street vendors and other vulnerable populations. Moreover, at the Sorialoma Commune gardens, art workshops have been held with neighborhood children, guitar classes, painting, and welding (Figure 3). Between August and September 2021, an Ecological Political School was held on problems of nature and society. In the future, it is proposed to continue with work in neighborhoods and create programs to promote food sovereignty and improve the nutrition of the inhabitants of popular neighborhoods in Quito.
The actors involved in the organization are diverse, including students, workers, artists, researchers, teachers, and residents of the neighborhoods. In short, they are activists and an organized community that seek to combine their knowledge, between traditional and technical, to work the land in the orchards and generate necessary political reflections in these times. In Ecuador, national unemployment reached 13.3% of the Economically Active Population between May and June 2020, compared with 3.8% in December of 2019 (INEC 2020). The situation gets even worse for people living at the urban peripheries (Vega Solis & Bermúdez 2019). The orchards and “community pots” are a concrete response to face this difficult reality.
The two main limitations for the development of NI’s projects are funding and the levels of participation. Being a self-managed activity, the construction of community orchards has been sustained by volunteers’ work, such as minga[1], and by campaigns for the donation of tools and supplies done in social networks. Another way to collect funds is by preparing and selling food, and also offering paid workshops, for example, a Geographic Information Systems course was recently held. The orchards require constant work and unfortunately, participation is still sporadic. Of the 33 people registered as volunteers in the orchards, approximately half attend every weekend to work.
The activity is replicable, the orchards have expanded to three different areas of the city, and the work of the popular pots has spread among 10 peripheral neighborhoods in the north and south of Quito. As there are several vulnerable peri-urban areas in the city, work can continue to grow. However, to achieve this goal it is necessary to convene a greater number of participants committed to working on the land and promoting social transformation.
Natura Insurrecta has built community gardens from an environmental and social conscience, seeing them as a means for social transformation. As established by the founder of the organization:
(…) What we want to promote with the popular pots is to meet the needs of the people (…) But that is not the only purpose, we want to demonstrate to the people who are in the neighborhood, in the field, that by organizing ourselves collectively we can help each other” (Carlos, interview, 2021).
The urban community orchards developed by Natura Insurrecta in Quito are a demonstration that it is possible to generate broader changes at an urban scale regarding climate action and social justice. The sum of political action with collective work based on reciprocity practices becomes an organizational mechanism that improves people’s quality of life and support in the fight for the right to the city.
References
INEC – Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas y Censos. 2020. “Encuesta Nacional de Empleo, Desempleo y Subempleo (ENEMDU)” Indicadores laborales mayo-junio 2020, 1-49.
Testori, G., & d’Auria, V. 2018. Autonomía and Cultural Co-Design. Exploring the Andean minga practice as a basis for enabling design processes. Strategic Design Research Journal, 11(2): 92-102. May-August. doi: 10.4013/sdrj.2018.112.05.
Vega Solis, C., & Bermúdez Lenis, H. F. 2019. Informalidad, emprendimiento y empoderamiento femenino. Economía popular y paradojas de la venta directa en el sur de Quito (Ecuador). Revista De Antropología Social, 28(2), 345-370. https://doi.org/10.5209/raso.65618.
For this entry, an in-depth interview was conducted with the founder of Natura Insurrecta, Carlos Realpe. Also, participatory action research was carried out in the different gardens created by NI.
Finally, information was collected from social networks of the organizations analyzed. And a documentary video on the orchard’s initiative was reviewed, found at the following link: https://www.facebook.com/1573339092681322/videos/2109568965845500
Facebook Frente Ecológico Natura Insurrecta:https://www.facebook.com/Frente-Ecol%C3%B3gico-Natura-Insurrecta-1573339092681322
Facebook La Pobla: https://www.facebook.com/lapoblaresiste
[1] It is a communal work practice from the Andean Region that is traditionally used for agricultural purposes between indigenous peoples. It has also spread among other social groups as a form of social, economic, and political organization. The minga is one of many systems of community work and reciprocity where people do not expect anything in return apart from collective benefit (Testori & d’Auria 2018).
Grace López Realpe, Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO)
“We conserve and recover the water sources of the Metropolitan District of Quito”
The Fund for the Protection of Water (FONAG) is “an alliance of people, institutions, and communities committed to the conservation and restoration of the water sources of the Metropolitan District of Quito (DMQ)” (FONAG 2019). It was created in 2000 through a Constitution Agreement between the Empresa Pública Municipal de Agua Potable (EPMAPS, the Municipal Sewer and Potable Water Company of Quito) and The Nature Conservancy (TNC), as a private commercial trust with a useful life of 80 years and which is regulated by Ecuador’s Securities Market Law (FLACSO-PNUMA 2011).
FONAG’s mission is to protect the watersheds that supply water to the DMQ, working together with local stakeholders. In order to achieve its objective, it executes programs and projects of conservation, ecological restoration, and environmental education through a financial mechanism. In summary, the fund seeks to create “a new culture of water and integrated management of water resources” (FONAG, 2019). Other constituents of the trust, which subsequently joined, are Empresa Eléctrica Quito (EEQ, Electric Company), Cervecería Nacional (CN, National Brewery), Tesalia Springs CBC, and Consorcio de Capacitación en el Manejo de Los Recursos Naturales Renovables (CAMAREN, Renewable Natural Resources Management Training Consortium), which is part of the constituents of FONAG since 2010, because the Swiss Cooperation (COSUDE), a partner since 2005, transferred its contributions to the Consortium (FONAG 2019) (Figure 1).
The trust works as an endowment fund which gets contributions from citizens through their payments to public companies and contributions from public and private institutions (FLACSO-PNUMA 2011). Currently, the contribution represents 2% of the fixed amount from sales of potable water and sewerage of the EPMAPS. This was established through Ordinance 213 (Concejo Metropolitano de Quito 2007). The remaining equity of the trust corresponds to annual fixed amounts paid by the other constituents. The equity returns are used for investment in projects for the conservation, restoration, and maintenance of the water basins from which the DMQ is supplied (FLACSO-PNUMA 2011). FONAG’s actions are located in the provinces of Pichincha and Napo, in nine areas: Pisque, Papallacta, Antisana, Pita, San Pedro, Pichincha – Atacazo, Mindo, Nororiente (Northeast), and Noroccidente (Northwest) (Figure 2).
FONAG divides its activities into four programs: Water Management, Vegetation Cover Recovery, Sustainable Water Conservation Areas, and Environmental Education (FONAG 2019). Concerning climate change, its initiatives are mainly related to the adaptive management of water, through the protection of conservation areas that allow the “reduction of risk in the face of climate change through the integrated management of water resources and promoting nature-based solutions when appropriate” (PACQ 2020). FONAG’s main scope of action is that of Water Source Areas (WSAs), where awareness-raising and education strategies are carried out for key actors; generation of technical, environmental, and social information; restoration of vegetation and soil cover; and conservation of wetlands, páramo, forests, and scrublands (Coronel 2019). Regarding mitigation, there is an important job made by the Vegetation Cover Recovery Program and Sustainable Water Conservation Areas, that allow the protection of relevant ecosystems for carbon capture and storage (wetlands, páramo, and forests).
FONAG’s vision is “to be recognized by Quito inhabitants and internationally as a benchmark in the conservation of water source ecosystems” (FONAG 2019) through the development of projects with a technical, social equity, and sustainability approach. These projects and programs are executed with the creation of alliances based on trust, will, and commitment, for which sustainability agreements are reached with communities and private actors, formalized, and put into practice through comprehensive action plans that include conservation and sustainability commitments.
Some of the private companies involved are the National Brewery (CN) and Tesalia CBC, with whom awareness campaigns are carried out on the origin of water as they are large users of it. Environmental education campaigns are conducted with teachers from schools located in areas of water interest that link art and education (Figure 3), involving professional artists (theater, music, puppets, etc.). In the field of environmental communication, awareness-raising tours are carried out with key actors (for example, boys and girls in the fifth year of basic education, the media, authorities, constituents of the fund, among others). Likewise, FONAG led the formation of the Environmental Education Network (REA Quito) in 2013, “a proactive network that seeks to promote and articulate environmental education in the Metropolitan District of Quito” (FONAG 2019).
In its 21 years of operation, FONAG has registered several important achievements such as: establishing a body of 23 páramo guardians that manage 19,870 acres of “own” lands bought by EPMAPS or FONAG itself; signing of 18 conservation agreements with private and community owners for 6,593 acres; restoration of 15,374.51 acres of degraded and historically overgrazed páramo; establishment of 4 monitoring sites that generate relevant information for decision-making; 46,725 participants in education and awareness-raising processes on the importance of water source ecosystems; establishment of the Agua y Páramo Scientific Station that links researchers with decision-makers and monitoring the impact of their interventions that have generated an average annual yield of 7.5% (Coronel 2019, FONAG 2019).
FONAG is led by a Technical Secretary and has a working team of 21 technicians, 23 páramo guardians, 7 educators, 3 communicators, 3 operational/logistics, and 6 administrative. Team members come from various professional areas such as hydrology, biology, ecology, geography, sociology, finance, education, and more. The páramo guardians are the core team in the surveillance and monitoring of water sources because they sustain the community work since they are women and men natives of the communities and nearby towns of these ecosystems who are connected with their environment and work directly with FONAG.
The trust structure provides FONAG with two vital features to be successful: financial resources and time (Coronel 2019). One of the challenges is to keep building synergies with its constituents and strategic allies in order to articulate efforts around water. Another critical point regarding water sources in Quito is the high consumption of drinking water, mainly in the urban areas, while the rural areas are scarce. According to EPMAPS (2015), a family from Quito uses an average of 24 thousand liters of drinking water monthly which represents an endowment of 200 liters by a person daily, approximately. And although this does not represent FONAG’s scope of action but EPMAPS’ one, it is necessary to work in a coordinated manner in awareness programs to promote co-responsibility between citizens.
Another challenge is to improve pedagogical planning and the evaluation system to transcend traditional behaviorist education and change perspectives to a constructivist environmental education according to Fernanda Olmedo (FONAG’s Environmental Education Coordinator). She also mentioned that it is necessary to strengthen the gender and ethnic approach in FONAG’s programs. Additionally, work is being done to expand the work to other water supply areas for the city, such as the Chocó Andino, where FONAG does not have a major impact at the moment.
The trust model lets FONAG have permanent income that has helped to maintain programs within the years, bringing good results. This is a model that could serve as a reference to expanding in other latitudes. As a remarkable fact, FONAG got to declare the Reserve Ponce-Paluguillo as the first Water Protection Area (APH) for the country, and South America, in 2018. This was feasible due to the joint work between FONAG, Secretaría Nacional del Agua (SENAGUA, National Water Secretariat), the contribution of the private landowner, Camilo Ponce Gangotena, and the users from Junta Administradora de Agua Potable San José del Tablón (Potable Water Administration Community Board), Junta de Riego de San José del Tablón (Irrigation Community Board) and Asociación de Pequeños Productores y Comercializadores de Hortalizas y Animales Menores el Tablón (Association from Small Vegetable Producers and Small Animals Vendors) (Ministerio del Ambiente 2018). Located in the way Pifo-Papallacta, this reserve comprises 4,260.63 acres and it is an important area for water catchment for Quito as well as a refuge for animals such as the spectacled bear, the Andean tapir, the condor, among others (Diario La Hora 2018). In this area, an Interpretation Center was built where environmental education activities are performed for diverse stakeholders.
FONAG has managed to work in a coordinated manner with the National Parks and Protected Areas (PANE), such as the Ilinizas, the Cotopaxi, the Antisana, and the Cayambe-Coca. It also manages the Water Conservation Areas: Antisana (Figure 4), Atacazo, and Alto Pita which are important in the provision of water for Quito. Ultimately, FONAG plays a key role to maintain a sustainable water cycle and water security in Quito since it has developed the power to convene different stakeholders around a common goal through long-term planning.
References
Concejo Metropolitano de Quito. 2007. Ordenanza Municipal Nº 213: Ordenanza Sustitutiva del Título V “Del Medio Ambiente” Protección de las Cuencas Hidrográficas que abastecen al Municipio del Distrito Metropolitano de Quito.
Coronel, Lorena (FONAG). 2019. Los Caminos Del Agua – FONAG: Trabajos y Aprendizajes.
Diario La Hora. «Ponce-Paluguillo, primera reserva hídrica ecuatoriana.». 03 de diciembre de 2018. https://lahora.com.ec/noticia/1102205316/ponce-paluguillo-primera-reserva-hidrica-ecuatoriana (último acceso: 30 de julio de 2021).
EPMAPS – Empresa Pública Metropolitana de Agua Potable y Saneamiento del Distrito Metropolitano de Quito. 2015. Memoria de Sostenibilidad.
FLACSO-PNUMA. 2011. Perspectivas Del Ambiente y Cambio Climático En El Medio Urbano Quito: ECCO DMQ. Programa de Las Naciones Unidas Para El Medio Ambiente PNUMA. www.flacso.org.ec
FONAG. Fondo para la Protección del Agua, Conócenos, Qué hacemos. 2019. http://www.fonag.org.ec/web/conocenos-2/ (último acceso: 15 de julio de 2021).
FONAG. Fondo para la Protección del Agua, Programas, Educación Ambiental. 2019. http://www.fonag.org.ec/web/programas/educacion-ambiental/ (último acceso: 20 de julio de 2021).
Ministerio del Ambiente. Ponce-Paluguillo es declarada la primer Área de Protección Hídrica del Ecuador y de la región. 03 de diciembre de 2018. https://www.ambiente.gob.ec/ponce-paluguillo-es-declarada-la-primer-area-de-proteccion-hidrica-del-ecuador-y-de-la-region/ (último acceso: 25 de julio de 2021).
Secretaría de Ambiente del Distrito Metropolitano de Quito y C40. 2020. Plan de Acción de Cambio Climático de Quito 2020. Primera edición. Quito, Ecuador: Municipio del Distrito Metropolitano de Quito.
For this entry, an in-depth interview was conducted with the Coordinator of the Environmental Education Program of FONAG, Fernanda Olmedo. Also, documentary research was done. Finally, information was collected from FONAG’s webpage: http://www.fonag.org.ec/web/
The Let the Onça Drink Clean Water Movement is engaged in the collective construction of a socio-environmental requalification project in the lower course of the Onça Stream watershed, in Belo Horizonte. This watershed, densely populated, is today the largest polluter of the Velhas’s river. In this region, human occupation has uncharacterized the local vegetation, affected the water body and the entire water dynamic. The waters and surrounding areas of this portion of the watershed have received most of the diffuse pollution from upstream processes, becoming the focus of disease, poverty, flooding, and death. Its borders, considered to be extremely risky, are the stage for many structural and social problems (disorderly occupation, incorrect garbage disposal, irregular sewage disposal, lack of public facilities, etc.). On the other hand, this is the only part of the hydrographic basin where Onça Stream runs in a natural bed. Important environmental attractions are also concentrated there (waterfalls, rapids, beaches, islands, forests and springs), which constitute territories of great potential.
For the Let the Onça Drink Clean Water Movement, the challenge of improving water quality is linked to the improvement of the living conditions of the riverside populations, who are the main beneficiaries of its work. The history of this Movement is related to groups of residents who became aware of the problems and potentialities of the region and, in 2001, created the Communitary Council Unidos pelo Ribeiro de Abreu (COMUPRA). This organization does not seek attention and recognition for a specific neighborhood but discusses what matters to all neighborhoods and inhabitants of the northern and northeastern regions of Belo Horizonte, all located in this basin. That is, this Council tried to adequate itself to what the modern Brazilian water law recommends: planning by watershed.
COMUPRA’s actions – which are not based on welfares, but on socio-environmental action and on the incentive to people’s agency – have benefited the local population and natural heritage and promoted a transformation in the lower Onça region.
COMUPRA has brought together other people and institutions that share the same interests for the socio-environmental requalification of the region, giving rise to the Let the Onça Drink Clean Water Movement, an organization that centralizes the discussions, practices, knowledge, and expertise of several partners: the Rio das Velhas Watershed Committee (CBHVelhas), the Onça Subcommittee (SCBHOnça), the Manuelzão Project (UFMG), the Minas Gerais Sanitation Company (COPASA), the Belo Horizonte Urbanizing and Housing Company (URBEL), universities, schools, among others.
Initially, the actions developed in the lower Onça region aimed at improving the living conditions of local populations and, consequently, their environment. These were, therefore, immediate demands that in principle were not climate-related. The awareness that such actions can be related to climate change has been built little by little.
We understand that climate change mitigation implies actions that consciously aim to reduce greenhouse effect gas emissions. Climate change adaptation focuses on the consequences of global warming and “focuses on initiatives and measures to reduce the vulnerability of natural and human systems to the current and expected effects of climate change”. Thus, although the emissions are global, the impact of climate change is local. Therefore, it seems to us that the actions
developed in the lower Onça – especially in its aspects of health, water resources, human settlements, natural ecosystems, education and environmental citizenship – relate more to the line of adaptation to climate change.
According to the study Analysis of Vulnerability to Climate Change in the Municipality of Belo Horizonte, the northern axis of the capital has a trend of greater vulnerability to temperature rise and flood risk. This study proposed climate change adaptation measures that in practice are being implemented in the lower Onça region, as a result of discussions coordinated by COMUPRA and the Let the Onça Drink Clean Water Movement (implementation of the Onça Stream Communitary Ciliary Park, improvement of drainage infrastructure, improvement of housing quality; intelligent use of green areas; accessibility to open public areas; socio-educational campaigns, among others).
Furthermore, in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals, the actions developed in the lower Onça are linked to ODS 2 – Zero Hunger and sustainable agriculture (courses, workshops, and community projects related to family agro-industry and the installation of collective gardens and agroforests); to ODS 6 – Drinking water and sanitation (actions for the requalification of river springs and support to their caretakers, and pressure for COPASA to intercept sewage discharged in natura into the Onça river); to ODS 11 – Sustainable cities and communities (coordination of actions for the implementation of the Onça Stream Communitary Ciliary Park). Thus, this whole process is linked to ODS 13 – Action against global climate change.
Currently, the main goals of the Movement Let the Onça Drink Clean Water are contained in its 2025 GOAL: Swim, Fish and Play in the Onça Stream. To achieve this goal, the Movement Let the Onça Drink Clean Water considers the following measures as indispensable:
The Let the Onça Drink Clean Water Movement holds debates, meetings, periodic events, training courses/workshops, joint efforts for environmental recovery and communitarian construction of leisure and living spaces, planting of trees and vegetables, and protection of river springs. These actions are organized in a meeting, always on the second Tuesday of each month, and in other meetings that may be necessary.
The socio-environmental actions developed in the region of the lower Onça have already generated numerous conquests for the region, such as the duplication and lighting of the MG 20 highway and the relocation of 700 families that inhabited risk areas, as well as another 400 families that lived in very high-risk areas and were transferred to decent housing nearby. Another important achievement has been the collective occupation of the borders of the Onça Stream (construction, in joint efforts by the residents themselves, of leisure and living areas, a soccer field, a community garden, and agro-forestry production), especially in places where houses were demolished.
Additionally, the Movement Let the Onça Drink Clean Water presented to the Belo Horizonte City Hall the demand for the creation and construction of the Onça Stream Communitary Ciliary Park. The project for this park was built after a long process of popular consultation and technical elaboration. About 5.5 km long, the park will pass through eleven neighborhoods in the northern and northeastern regions of the state capital. Along the way will be installed spaces for socialization, walking trails, bike lanes, courts, playgrounds, gyms, community gardens, among others. The idea is that the residents help build this space, even though this is a responsibility of the City Hall, and feel that the Park is a project that also belongs to them.
Another collective achievement was the cession of the Capitão Eduardo farm and the oldest Manor house in Belo Horizonte to house COMUPRA’s headquarters. Today, free workshops that generate income for the community are held there.
The Let the Onça Drink Clean Water Movement is an organization that involves several partners. Therefore, the actors are diverse and their backgrounds are diverse. In its ranks we find people with academic backgrounds (masters and doctors), teachers, liberal professionals, civil servants, students, and people with no specific background.
Thus, we can identify different actors in the region: the governments (state and municipal) and their public policy actions (relocation of families, sewage interception, urbanization, equipment maintenance, etc); the science, supported in the action of universities ( planning intervention in spaces, organization of joint efforts, actions regarding collective memory, etc); the education, through schools that have learned to identify and reveal in their school communities knowhow and doings, knowledge and daily social practices, used to carry out the reading and the intervention in the local reality; the civil society organizations, that help to confer protagonism to the local communities in the search for the solution of their problems.
Despite the many advances and achievements there are several challenges in the path of the Let the Onça Drink Clean Water Movement. Among them we can highlight:
The main contribution of the Let the Onça Drink Clean Water Movement is perhaps to demonstrate that the experience of social mobilization, the search for partnerships, and decentralized management can be applied in any context. The main point is to create a feeling of belonging to the socio-environmental theme, and in this way empower the community to be the protagonists. Among many (because the region’s achievements are the result of a long process of intersectoral discussions) we can highlight the changes brought about in schools by the processes experienced in the region. There are schools, which are partners of the Let the Onça Drink Clean Water Movement, which have introduced in their curricula socio-environmental discussions and initiatives as support for the contents of several subjects. The experiences of this region have been bringing schools and the community together in a common effort to learn about the local reality.
Furthermore, these schools have opened themselves up to the creation of spaces for dialogue, learning, and participatory methodologies – in partnership with local social movements.
The COONATURA (Cooperativa de Produtores e Consumidores de Ideias, Alimentos e Soluções Naturais – Cooperative of Producers and Consumers of Ideas, Food and Natural Solutions) is a cooperative of natural food producers and consumers that originated in the city of Rio de Janeiro. The initiative began in 1979, through a proposal written in a letter to the readers of ‘Jornal do Brasil’ written by the couple Joaquim Moura and Ligia Lara, entitled “Food withou Poison”. Those interested should get in touch with the couple who would articulate the next steps. Hundreds of people who lived in the city of Rio de Janeiro responded to the letter and, thus, a meeting was scheduled at Lage’s Park in the city.
A group of people who shared the same ideas got together and debated about food and production alternatives, promoting, a few months later, the creation of the Cooperative of Producers and Consumers of Ideas, Food and Natural Solutions – Coonatura.
It can be understood that the beneficiaries of this initial movement were the members and supporters of the group that was formed to create and maintain the Coonatura. These corresponded to people who sought to feed themselves without pesticides, who sought to plant and feed on natural agriculture, and also people who provided land and spaces for planting and who benefited from receiving products free of pesticides produced by the cooperative. Over time, this configuration changed and other promoters and beneficiaries joined this network, such as schools, nursing homes, hospitals and producers in one of the rural areas of Petrópolis/RJ, where Coonatura leased land for organic agricultural production.
The Coonatura initially worked in urban areas, implementing gardens in schools, orphanages, nursing homes and other arable areas, the first garden being carried out at the Santa Monica boarding school. The cooperative promoted other ecological activities such as lectures, cultural events with an environmental content and protests, such as cycling from Rio de Janeiro to Angra dos Reis against the installation of nuclear power plants in Brazil, being the bicycle chosen to demonstrate human energy and to be example of a solution for pollutants emitted by cars. In agriculture, in addition to installing urban gardens, Coonatura also launched itself in the rural area of Petrópolis and, with the example of organic production and production flow in the city, encouraged neighboring producers – who adopted the chemical use of conventional agriculture – to make the agroecological transition in their crops and to sell their products without poison directly to consumers in the city, at Coonatura’s headquarters. In this way, producers would preserve their health and the environment, which they were exposed to strong chemical products, would promote their autonomy and would have economic and social benefits. Today, agroecology is the scientific basis for environmental and socioeconomic transformations, social movement and agricultural practice in promoting food sovereignty.
In addition to Coonatura, during this period the Alternative Technologies Project – PTA was created, which later became AS-PTA (Advice and Service in Alternative Technology Projects), still active today and contributing to environmental transformations, whether in the field of agriculture or other technologies. AS-PTA is associated with the work of the Brazilian Association of Agroecology and the National Articulation of Agroecology.
Agricultural transformation directly impacts the climate issue and society’s environmental awareness, as it values a non-poisonous agriculture that promotes social, economic and environmental well-being. It is understood that awareness of the impact of food and agricultural production, consequently, generates an interest in environmental causes and the impact of human actions on nature over time and how this affects human health.
Coonatura’s actions, whether through agroecological production or environmental protests, such as pedaling, contributed to an example of transformation in the mentality of those who had access to its food-free movement and its manifestations in defense of environmental changes. The Coonatura movement was involved with other groups that sought to implement alternative technologies such as solar heaters, fruit dryers using solar energy, mini-hydroelectric power plants, among others. The intention of the cooperative was to set an example that we could live well without negatively impacting the
environment we are part of.
The main values of Coonatura and, later, of the PTA were centered on the agricultural field, however, their actions also extended to other environmental issues, as mentioned above.
Coonatura’s initial agroecological movement created connections with other groups and founded, in 1994, the first fair of organic products in Rio de Janeiro, located in a central region, in the district of Glória. In 2010 the fair became part of the city’s of Organic Fairs Circuit. Another major transformative effect was that, when Coonatura started producing organics on a leased site in the district of Brejal, rural Petrópolis, it encouraged neighboring farmers to carry out an agroecological transition, in which producers started to plant without pesticides and sell their productions together with the cooperative. Currently, the region has become a reference in the production of agroecological and organic food, which has contributed to Petrópolis consolidating itself as the state capital of organic food (State Law nº 8118), which is certainly related to Coonatura’s activities.
Among the actors involved are agronomists, ecologists, students, teachers and many other people from different professions. The actors and their backgrounds are still being researched, but we can say, in advance, that the main actors are part of what we understand as the middle class.
In relation to Coonatura, it is possible to critically point out that the cooperative’s articulation could have been consolidated in a broader way, joining other cooperatives and groups from its own or from other states. However, this view is still too premature to affirm, therefore a deeper investigation is needed, which will be carried out in the course of the research.
The work of the agroecological movement in Rio de Janeiro can, and should, be applicable in other situations. Agro-ecological production can be carried out on small plots of land, in urban or rural areas, on vacant plots of land throughout the cities, and it provides transformations in the political, ecological, technical-productive, sociocultural and economic dimensions. It is possible to form groups and cooperatives for agroecological work in search of food sovereignty and environmental change.
The agroecological movement in the early years provided changes by offering the population access to pesticide-free food in the city of Rio de Janeiro. In addition, it influenced and contributed to the agroecological transition of producers in the rural area of Petrópolis, initiating the changes that, a few years later, made the city the Official Capital of Organics.
Siri Ranung
Where is this grassroots initiative implemented? Who are the promoters? Who are the beneficiaries?
The phenomenon ‘Dumpster diving’ is occurring all over the world where people use webpages and Facebook groups to inspire new people and to gather people who dumpster dives in different countries. In Sweden, there are Facebook groups for different areas or big cities where people can show their findings, places to dumpster dive at or just to get to know other people. The two Facebook groups with the most members are in the bigger cities, Stockholm and Gothenburg, both having more than five thousand members, but also one main group which is not location-based with 16 thousand members.
The promoters are the group of citizens who do dumpster diving, in Sweden there are also some influencers doing dumpster diving which could be seen as main promoters. For example, Andreas Jakobsson, who could be seen as the face out for the movement in Sweden, he has written a book about his history of dumpster diving and how it is done but do also blog about his experience of Dumpster diving. Also, there is an Instagram profile “Dumpsterdivan” who shows her findings on her Instagram with over 8 000 followers.
How this initiative engages with climate? Does it tackle mitigation, adaptation, both or other dimensions of climate change?
The initiative can be seen as a mitigation strategy of climate change since the people practicing dumpster diving aims to minimize the waste in the society which are reducing the pressure on the earth’s resources. Furthermore, it is a reaction to the unsustainable consumption of food and production of food waste in society and many dumpster divers, like Andreas Jakobsson aims to inform citizens and stores about the large amount of waste they contribute to (Jakobsson, 2015).
What are the main objectives? What are the main values?
Dumpster diving is a protest on the discourse about food, waste and consumption. Where the people who dumpster dive challenge norms in society by avoiding them (Larsson & Rosengren, 2012). Larsson & Rosengren also states that dumpster divers are both conducting an unorganized, individual everyday resistance, but is at the same time a social movement. The main objectives of the movement are to illuminate the problems with a consumption-based society and the large amount of waste which are produced in this kind of society.
What is the timeline? Are there already visible effects?
As long as there has been waste, there have been people diving in the trash to find usable things, this early kind of dumpster diving was on the other hand based on the economy of the diver rather than making a statement. The connection to a political movement came in the mid-90s when the freeganism movement started, where people aimed to reduce their contribution to the consumption-based society, this by living on free things, for example society’s waste (Larsson & Rosengren, 2012).
Who are the actors involved? What is their background?
The actors involved in this movement is mostly the people doing the dumpster diving, but of course also the people working in food stores and store managers. According to Andreas Jakobsson, the store managers often have a clue if their containers are being dived in. In some cases, the store has had locks on their containers which have been vandalized by dumpster divers, where the store manager has lost their patience and have let the container be open. As Andreas Jakobsson points out, these stores and store managers do not loose on their container being searched, at least if the divers leave the place in a good condition. But one store manager interviewed by Andreas Jakobsson (2015) had problems with the dumpster divers since they kept the bags open, where food from the bags got out in the container. Whereas the company managing the trash got to handle very dirty containers. In this case, the store managers had to forfeit and got a warning from the garbage company which resulted in that the store manager had to close their container.
Which limits (institutional, physical, social, etc.) does it encounter?
The laws related to dumpster diving is discussed in many articles, since the activity is challenging the social norms, there are many people questioning the legality of diving in others garbage. There are no laws directly limiting people to dumpster dive since it is not illegal to take other people’s garbage. But on the other hand, there are other laws which may be broken. For example, if the dumpster diver does harm on the container or if the container is locked or in an enclosure and the person break the lock or go in this enclosure. Another law that can be applied on dumpster diving is littering, since store owners often see that the divers do not clean up when they are done (Jakobsson, 2015).
There are also social limits for dumpster divers, where people not familiar with the concept may be skeptical to people going through others garbage. Often this skepticism comes from unawareness of the condition of the food and things that is in the garbage and they may be surprised when they become enlightened of the situation. This skepticism is something Andreas Jakobsson writes about in his book ‘Svinnlandet’ (2015) both for people in his vicinity but also himself before he started dumpster diving.
Are any shortcomings or critical points visible? What other problematic issues can arise from its implementation?
Except for the discussion about the legality and the skepticism of dumpster diving, there is also need for a discussion of class regarding this phenomenon. Many of the articles which have been gone through have been interviewing people in the upper middle-class areas of Stockholm, and there are many people dumpster diving who do not do it for the economic benefit it comes with, but do it more as an environmental act. This shows the altruistic dilemma which comes with the activity of dumpster diving, that people who are not in need for free food go through these containers with food that could benefit people in vulnerable groups in society who would actually need free food for their survival. Jakobsson (2015) points out this problem where the people dumpster diving has a good economy and safety net and people in vulnerable groups such as immigrants, addicts or homeless do not. One solution for this gap could be to introduce these people to the activity, or by give this free food to people who are in more need of it. This is done to some degree by the initiative called “Food sharing Stockholm” a Facebook page who are holding events where they share food that is collected from restaurants and stores, even though they do not only restrict this sharing to people in need, but everyone is welcome to collect food from this event. One shortcoming with this initiative is that it is located in an area where people in the middle class mostly live, and not people with limited economy.
How would it be potentially replicable in other settings?
Since dumpster diving is a broad phenomenon happening all over the world, it is applicable to many other settings. One thing that could be further applied in this activity is to make sure that the people who would benefit from the free food would access it, for example by having events like Food sharing Stockholm have, but in locations where people who are in need of it are located.
Is this initiative conducive to broader changes (law, institutional arrangements, long-term sustainability, or community preparedness, etc.)? If yes, which?
The concept of dumpster diving has not yet affected more than on an individual level, even though the phenomenon has enlightened the problem of food waste and that more people have been given awareness of how much food is wasted every day. Especially since the official statistics of food waste in Sweden have been excluding many aspects of food waste in retail, resulting in statistics where food stores seem to have much less waste than they actually do.
References
Dumpsterdivan [@dumpsterdivan]. (n.d.). Posts [Instagram profile]. Instagram.
Jakobsson, Andreas. 2015. Svinnlandet – Min resa genom en värld av slöseri – och hur den gav mig ett liv i överflöd. Offside Press.
Larsson & Rosengren. 2012. Vad blir det för mat idag? – En kvalitativ studie om dumpstring. Högskolan Halmstad. Bachelor thesis. Available at: <https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:532369/FULLTEXT01.pdf>
Emile Lemaitre
As a response to insufficient climate action from national and international governance levels, grassroot initiatives are emerging to address the climate crisis. Most Swedish politicians acknowledge the necessity to act, but the actions and strategies are not aligned to the magnitude of what has started, and what lays ahead. In 2018, Greta Thunberg began her weekly school strikes for the climate (Skolstrejk för klimatet) outside the Swedish parliament demanding the government to reduce emissions in accordance with the Paris Agreement (Fridays for Future, 2020). The movement rise with Friday’s for Future, and during the global climate strikes in September 2019 around 4500 strikes spanned over 150 countries across the world (Milman, 2019).
Simultaneously as children strike for their future, students are organizing sustainability and climate networks at universities, from Stockholm School of Economics’ SSE Students for Climate Action, Karolinska Institute’s Klimatföreningen, to Royal Institute of Technology’s KTH Students for Sustainability. Universities are role models for society where knowledge and science for sustainable development flourish, but their internal work to reduce carbon emissions lack behind. In 2019, the engineering school of Stockholm, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, was ranked as one of the top ten leading universities regarding the United Nations’ Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs). For SDG 9, Industry, innovation, and infrastructure, the university ranked in 3rd place. But in the eyes of students the simple waste infrastructure at the main KTH campus on Valhallavägen has sometimes, quite honestly, been horrible (see figure 2). Regarding SDG 13, Climate action, KTH is ranked 9th (Gummeson, 2019) and the university has recently set ambitious climate goals. Until 2022, KTH aims to become climate neutral regarding their scope 1 emissions and by 2025 regarding their scope 2 emissions (KTH, 2019). Nevertheless, it stays unclear whether universities such as KTH, or stakeholders at all levels, from governments to enterprises, understand the real urgency and magnitude of the climate issue, and the required magnitude of necessary actions.
At KTH, students have since 2018 organized KTH Students for Sustainability (SforS) (SforS, 2020a). The group states that their purpose is “to bring people together, to empower KTH students engaging with sustainability issues and to create an environment of collaboration among sustainability initiatives. We work in unison with Klimatstudenterna KTH”. SforS raises climate and environmental awareness amongst students, mobilizes KTH students for climate strikes and pressures KTH to lead the way in sustainability, climate action, and to really “practice what they preach” (KTH Students for sustainability, 2020; Nießner, 2020a; KTH Students for sustainability, n.d.). The organization is so far based on KTH’s main Campus Valhallavägen in central Stockholm, but initiatives have existed to expand to KTH’s other campuses in Kista, Solna, Flemingsberg, and Södertälje (Nießner, 2020a). Currently, the organization has around 15 active members consisting of the board and the teams. Additionally, roughly 50-60 passive members either want to become active or are only interested to stay updated on what is going on (Nießner, 2020b).
SforS works in three main ways: by encouraging collaboration, educating students on sustainability topics, and conducting own initiatives and projects. The organization collaborates closely with Klimatstudenterna KTH (KTH Climate Students) and it is sometimes impossible to distinct where to draw the line between the two organizations at KTH (Nießner, 2020a). SforS consists of five main teams: collaboration, celebration, campus, climate, and communication. The Student Sustainability Forum nurtures ideas and solutions through collaboration with various stakeholders and students with diverse backgrounds by organizing events and workshops. The celebration team aims to build a strong internal community. The campus team strives to make KTH Campus more sustainable and the communication team promotes events, raises awareness, and supports the other teams. The climate team promotes climate action, organizes lectures, and raises awareness (Nießner, 2020c).
Essentially, Klimatstudenterna KTH is representing the climate team (Nießner, 2020a; SforS, 2020d). Klimatstudenterna is a student movement with local groups across primarily Swedish universities that aims to bend emissions to stay below 1.5 °C average global warming (Klimatstudenterna, n.d.). SforS in contrast are larger in their scope and works with sustainability in general, with a focus on environmental issues and solutions. Nevertheless, climate change remains a center of attention for the organization. Work is conducted that tackle the issue both directly and indirectly through other sustainability projects (Nießner, 2020a).
One of SforS’ biggest tangible achievements is improving the waste management on Campus Valhallavägen. Students realised the campus is not as sustainable as they thought, and they were disappointed by the improper waste sorting. By collecting a petition of 470 student signatures and collaborating with the KTH Sustainability Office and the KTH Library, a test run has been implemented in the library with 9 different sorting bins (see figure 2 and 3 for comparison). The aim is to enlarge waste sorting to become the new status-quo on campus (SforS, 2020c).
It is a fact that students drink a lot of coffee, and unfortunately this generates waste. To tackle this problem and encourage a circular economy, SforS has implemented reusable coffee cups together with Loop-it, the Swedish Environmental Research Institute (IVL), and three restaurants and cafés on Campus (see figure 4) (SforS, 2020c; Loop-it, 2020). The reuse infrastructure is implemented, but cafés were forced to close during the COVID-19 epidemic in spring 2020, and currently only a few are using it. Thus, it is a success but requires more progress and promotion, which SforS is currently working on (Nießner, 2020a).
With Klimatstudenterna KTH, SforS have organized KTH students for several climate strikes and by these raised public awareness on the climate crisis. The biggest gathering occurred on the 27th of September 2019, where more than 500 KTH students came together to join the global climate strike (see figure 1) (SforS, 2020d).
Moreover, SforS have had some collaborative workshops internally on Campus with the student chapters. The Student Sustainability Forum is planning to collectively with all chapters develop a sustainability policy for the chapters. The campus team aims to “reduce the environmental impact of food consumed at KTH” and propose KTH to set plant-based food as the default option, while still keeping animal based food as an option (SforS, 2020e). The campus team is working on creating a smart map for KTH, similar to Smarta Kartan in Gothenburg. According to SforS “this map will collate all the relevant sharing-projects and activities on campus as well as around our neighborhoods and provide students with useful information about where and how they can find shared resources easily” (Göteborgs Stad, n.d.; Nießner, 2019; SforS, 2020f). Furthermore, the organization is providing and collecting useful information to students on their website on waste reduction, as where to rescue food in Stockholm; secondhand goods; and traveling, with maps on biking pump stations in Stockholm and a sustainable travel guide (SforS, 2020g).
KTH Sustainability Office works with integrating environmental concerns and sustainable development in KTH’s education, research, and cooperation. They are responsible for environmental sustainability on Campus and KTH’s environmental management system (KTH, 2020). One of SforS’s key tasks is to collaborate, attend meetings, and give input to the office to improve the sustainability work on Campus (Nießner, 2020a). In return KTH Sustainability Office helps finance certain projects for SforS (Nießner, 2020c). The organization work as a node between the students and the KTH Sustainability Office. In an interview with SforS’s current president Silvio Nießner (2020a) he mentions his personal view on KTH Sustainability Office and their collaboration. He pinpoints that at most universities there are one, maximum two persons that does not even work full time with sustainability. At KTH Sustainability Office, there are 10 people (where at least some) work full time with it – this is unique (Nießner, 2020a; KTH Sustainability Office, 2020). Additionally, he explains how the office welcomes everyone for discussion, from professors and researchers, to students and staff (Nießner, 2020a).
In the interview with Silvio (2020a), he mentioned how it is sometimes hard for SforS to ensure constant communication with the office so that “we know what they do, and they know what we do”. This is partly because all active members work with the organization aside of their university studies and must balance time and effort with school and other activities (Nießner, 2020c). Currently, the office does not use any communicational platform or social media channels; he explains that “if they do good stuff, they cannot show it”. Thus, they rely on SforS to show progress to the students (Nießner, 2020a). By attending meetings with the office on KTH’s strategic sustainability goals, Silvio (2020a) describes how the discussions were often based on negotiations rather than scientific evidence.
While observing actions taken today Silvio thinks more will be needed by KTH and other universities in order to be aligned with the 1.5 °C target. In Germany, Fridays for Future has demanded a study on what practical actions are required right now to stay below the threshold. Similar studies could guide KTH, other universities, and governments. Nevertheless, firstly, science-based targets must be set that are aligned with the 1.5 °C target. Secondly, he thinks that KTH should focus on reducing staff’s flight emissions. Students representing Klimatstudenterna from four universities in Stockholm, including Björn Nordin from KTH recently published a debate article in the sustainability news journal Aktuell Hållbarhet (in English; “Topical Sustainability”) demanding universities to reduce their flight travels. Carbon budgets, which encourage alternatives to flying are already used by some working groups at KTH but is not generally implemented throughout the university (Nießner, 2020a).
While SforS’s focus stays at KTH, the organization does together with Klimatstudenterna KTH have external contact with other local Klimatstudenterna associations throughout Swedish universities, from Malmö University and Lund University in the south to Uppsala University, and Luleå University of Technology in the north (to name a few) (Nießner, 2020a; Klimatstudenterna, n.d.). In Stockholm, SforS are in contact with local university student associations that work with climate and sustainability. Many ideas for collaboration projects exist such as creating a Stockholm sustainability guide (Nießner, 2020a).
Silvio (2020a) believes that SforS’s main strength is that they practically manage the organization. They have a basic setting, some funding for projects, and an office place. They are recognized by KTH and asked for their input on sustainability. The organization’s biggest current challenge is that they are understaffed, and this restrict them to develop and expand projects (ibid.). As abovementioned, the organization currently has around 15 active members spread throughout the board and the different teams (Nießner, 2020b). As for many organizations, the current epidemic does not make it easier to recruit people, neither to engage people online. “Maybe we do it wrong” he says pinpointing that it as a challenge. Furthermore, since the organization mostly consist of international students’, members usually stay no longer than two years. As Silvio (2020a) explains “you need half a year to on-board them, they work half a year, and then they hand over half a year. Basically, you are always in the process of handing over and never getting into the working stuff.”
While asking Silvio (2020a) on politics and SforS he replies that he do think the organization takes a political stance. “We support Fridays for Future; we are also going on the street to protest.” When it comes to tendencies of left or right-side politics, he tells me that “we are politically independent and do not accept any form of discrimination or racism”, (Nießner, 2020c) “we are mostly international students that are not active in Swedish politics”. To summarize, he explains, “we are fighting for a purpose, and with that purpose comes a political direction, not a political party, but a direction”.
Climate activists and some journals such as The Guardian have started to incorporate alternative terms to climate change such as ‘climate breakdown’ and ‘climate crisis’ to highlight the urgency and importance of the issue (The Guardian, 2019; Extinction Rebellion, 2020; Fridays for Future, 2020). In contrast, according to Silvio (2020a) the tendency of SforS is towards a positive approach and to be solution oriented. This is something he has noticed while designing the signs for the climate strikes.
He describes the importance of “not getting captured in the loop of what is the problem and we have so many problems but what could be a way out of that?”.
To summarize, multiple stakeholders on different spatial and temporal levels benefit from SforS’s work while some might also indirectly lose. Silvio (2020a) mention how the organization’s activities are linked to consumption and travel, and this is always a trade-off. This consumption is linked to the current configuration of the economy, and indirectly, people and planet gets negatively affected. Nevertheless, the organization has almost certainly a net positive impact. For KTH they are practically a free workforce, and visual effects are already emerging on Campus Valhallavägen. By bringing people together they have built a forum for sustainability interested students. The organization raises awareness and encourage students to take environmental action through different events, workshops and lectures and drive students toward more sustainable practices. As Silvio says, they have been able to create a sense of community for the people of the organization and say “hey, there are other mindlike people who care as well!”.
KTH and other Swedish universities are role models for Sweden, and SforS steer KTH a step in the right direction. Subsequently, Sweden is internationally a role model for sustainable development and in 2020, the country ranked at 8th place in the Environmental Performance Index (To put things in perspective, WWF’s Living Planet Report 2016 concluded that if the world followed an average Swedish lifestyle with its related ecological footprint, we would require 4.2 globes (von Zeipel, 2016))
Collectively, the youth, the striking school children, and university students abroad and in Sweden such as Stockholm School of Economics’ SSE Students for Climate Action, Karolinska Institute’s Klimatföreningen, and KTH Students for Sustainability are rising. They demand their universities to lead the way and to practice what they preach (Klimatstudenterna KTH, n.d.). The young generation are the future lawyers, engineers, and politicians. But we know well that the future cannot wait and that the climate crisis requires action now. So, while sea levels are rising so are we students.
Contact KTH Students for Sustainability
References
Environmental Performance Index, 2020. 2020 EPI Results. Available at: https://epi.yale.edu/epi- results/2020/component/epi [Accessed 2020-11-08].
Extinction Rebellion, 2020. Tell the truth. Available at: https://extinctionrebellion.uk/the-truth/ [Accessed 2020-11-08].
Fridays for Future, 2020. [Home page]. Available at: https://fridaysforfuture.org/ [Accessed 2020-11-08].
Gummeson, Christer, 2019. KTH ranked near top in impact on sustainability. April 3, KTH. Available at: https://www.kth.se/en/aktuellt/nyheter/kth-ranked-near-top-in-impact-on-sustainability-1.893625 [Accessed 2020-11-07].
Göteborgs Stad, n.d. Smarta Kartan. Available at: https://goteborg.se/wps/portal/start/miljo/det-gor- goteborgs-stad/dela-och-lana/smarta-kartan?uri=gbglnk%3A201791694216985 [Accessed 2020-11-07].
KF – Klimatföreningen, 2020. [Official Facebook group]. Available at: https://www.facebook.com/klimatforeningenpakarolinskainstitutet/ [Accessed 2020-11-07].
Klimatstudenterna, n.d. Gå med lokalt. Available at: https://klimatstudenterna.se/ga-med/ [Accessed 2020-11- 07].
Klimatstudenterna, n.d. #levsomnilär. Available at: https://klimatstudenterna.se/ [Accessed 2020-11-07].
KTH, 2020. KTH Sustainability Office. Available at: https://www.kth.se/en/om/miljo-hallbar- utveckling/kontakt/kth-sustainability-office-1.424825 [Accessed 2020-11-07].
KTH, 2019. Overall objectives and measures for KTH’s implementation of the Climate Framework for Universities. Available at: https://www.kth.se/en/om/miljo-hallbar-utveckling/klimatramverk/kth-s-klimatmal- 1.926003
KTH Students for Sustainability, 2020a. [Official Facebook group]. Available at: https://www.facebook.com/KTHSforS/?ref=page_internal [Accessed 2020-11-07].
KTH Students for Sustainability, 2020b. Our Teams. Available at: https://sites.google.com/view/kthsfors/sfors- teams [Accessed 2020-11-07].
KTH Students for Sustainability, 2020c. Waste. Available at: https://sites.google.com/view/kthsfors/sfors- teams/campus/waste [Accessed 2020-11-07].
KTH Students for Sustainability, 2020d. Klimatstudenterna KTH. Available at: https://sites.google.com/view/kthsfors/sfors-teams/climate/klimatstudenterna [Accessed 2020-11-08].
KTH Students for Sustainability, 2020e. Sustainable Food. Available at: https://sites.google.com/view/kthsfors/sfors-teams/campus/sustainable-food [Accessed 2020-11-08].
KTH Students for Sustainability, 2020f. Resource Sharing. Available at: https://sites.google.com/view/kthsfors/sfors-teams/campus/resource-sharing [Accessed 2020-11-07].
KTH Students for Sustainability, 2020g. New at KTH. Available at: https://sites.google.com/view/kthsfors/new- at-kth [Accessed 2020-11-07].
loop-it, 2020. ett bättre sätt att konsumera take-away. Available at: https://loop-it.se/ [Accessed 2020-11-07].
Milman, Oliver. 2019. US to stage its largest ever climate strike: ‘Somebody must sound the alarm’. 20 September, The Guardian.
Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/20/climate-strikes-us-students-greta-thunberg [Accessed 2020-11-07].
Nießner, Silvio, 2020a. [Interview by videotelephony (Zoom)]. October 15. Nießner, Silvio, 2020c. [Personal communication by email]. November 8. Nießner, Silvio. 2020b. [Personal communication by chat (Signal)]. November 8.
Nordin, Björn; Bane, Jonas; Swartling, Sandra & Andersson, Klas from Klimatstudenterna, 2020. Stockholmsstudenter kräver färre flygresor på högskolorna. October 23, Aktuell Hållbarhet. Available at: https://www.aktuellhallbarhet.se/alla-nyheter/debatt/stockholmsstudenter-kraver-farre-flygresor-pa- hogskolorna/ [Accessed 2020-11-08].
SSSCA – SSE Students for Climate Action. [Official Facebook group], 2020. Available at: https://www.facebook.com/SSEStudentsforClimateAction/ [Accessed 2020-11-07].
The Guardian, 31 July 2019. The Guardian view on climate breakdown: an emergency for all, but especially the poor. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jul/31/the-guardian-view-on-climate- breakdown-an-emergency-for-all-but-especially-the-poor [Accessed 2020-11-08].
von Zeipel, Marie, 2016. Living Planet Report 2016: Två tredjedelar av planetens ryggradsdjur riskerar att försvinna till 2020. October 27. Available at: https://www.mynewsdesk.com/se/varldsnaturfonden_wwf/pressreleases/living-planet-report-2016-tvaa- tredjedelar-av-planetens-ryggradsdjur-riskerar-att-foersvinna-till-2020-1625490 [Accessed 2020-11-08].
Figure 1. KTH students on Campus preparing to join the Global Climate Strike. From KTH Innovation, September 27, 2019. Reprinted with permission by Lisa Bäckman at KTH Innovation. Available at: https://www.facebook.com/events/2921515534544573/?active_tab=discussion
Figure 2. Waste handling in the library before implementation. From KTH Students for Sustainability, 2018. Reprinted with permission by SforS (Silvio Nießner). Available at: https://sites.google.com/view/kthsfors/sfors- teams/campus/waste [Accessed 2020-11-07].
Figure 3. New sorting modules in the library. From KTH Students for Sustainability, Mars 2020. Reprinted with permission by SforS (Silvio Nießner). Available at: https://sites.google.com/view/kthsfors/sfors- teams/campus/waste [Accessed 2020-11-07].
Figure 4. How the reusable cup system works. From loop-it, n.d. Reprinted with permission by loop-it. Available at: https://sites.google.com/view/kthsfors/sfors-teams/campus/waste [Accessed 2020-11-07].
Jayanth Venkatachala
30th October 2200
Well, this is my first ever diary entry of my life. I’ve lived for 205 years now, although the last 105 years have been in silica form. They installed me into a new robot, sophisticated like a human. I am still getting used to it. For some reason I finally decided to do this and in the old-fashioned way of typing on a laptop. I don’t think these people even know what a laptop is. I it found yesterday in the carton with all my other human memories. It feels weird to feel like a human again after being in a mechanical robot for over a century. It still amazes me that I’m alive, thanks to science. I had lost my complete touch with typing, but the software allowed me to improve my proficiency. It feels like cheating, but hell, works for me. I feel lucky and grateful to be one the few who still gets to live this way. I didn’t buy this, they put me in it as an honour for the work I did for the environment. I can’t thank them enough. I’d like to start by writing about these past years as a summary in a few pages. This doesn’t do it justice, but this the first entry, so I’ll keep the details to another day. Let me today talk about this amazing town, Mysore. This is where I grew up as a kid and did most of my work. They like me here I think, and I owe everything to this city.
The city of Mysore, also now famously known as the “model city” wasn’t the same about 200 years ago in 2018. We didn’t have these transportation pods, hyperloops and trees everywhere. It was simple, people now won’t even be able imagine what it even looked like. We had tar roads, petrol and diesel cars, two wheeled bikes, trains that ran on diesel that took days to go to the capital, there was air and water pollution, there was traffic jams and people died in vehicular accidents, and that was normal. Life moved at a much faster pace. Adults were busy with their jobs. Students had home works (yeah, they had to study at home too). Kids from this age, must hold candles to those kids from the past. We had cash for money which we used to keep in wallets and purses. Each country had its own currency. The world and the city have changed significantly now. To appreciate the current state of this city, I must explain how the city looked way back then. I’ll talk about what my role was in changing the city to as it is now, in this entry.
Mysore, was exactly where it is now, well the tectonic plates don’t move that fast. The weather was relatively good compared to other cities, considering that global warming had started to show its effects. It was one of the cleanest cities in India. It was known for the Royal palace that has now survived the time. It stands out now more than ever compared to these modern buildings with glass windows with solar panels. The Chamundi hill had a temple on top, which thousands of people visited every day. Hardly anybody goes there, now that religion has lost its prominence to science, ever since the multiverse theory was proven. The hill was losing its flora and fauna to deforestation. The forest ecology was under threat. There even used to be forest fires on the slopes. The two lakes, Kukkarahalli lake and Karangi lake were the home for migratory birds every year. But their numbers were declining every year. People also used to jog along the perimeter of these lakes. There were environmental activism going on around these two issues for decades, but nothing was done about it.
The city was well planned for that day and age. The economic hub was in the centre with the academic areas, residential areas and finally the outskirts surrounded it in that order. The city
had much less people as it did not have as many industries, like in Banglore which was then then the Economic centre of the state. But now we are it. Ever since we starter cleaning up our act in Mysore with regards to sustainability, it attracted the attention of the multi- national companies to shift their country head- quarters to here. Banglore became too crowded and polluted. Locals even migrated to Mysore, bringing their knowledge and expertise. I saw both positives and negatives in this shift in the early years. The city was bound for a rapid “environmental” change. With us not being able to meet the 1.5 degree celsius mark, thanks to all the sceptics and so called “leaders” who did not understand how science worked, the problem of coping with the changes in Mysore compounded. There was chaos in the beginning. People needed direction and guidance to move forward. This is when I came back to Mysore, quitting a well- paying job in Sweden, which was all peaceful and living life at its own pace.
I was a product designer back then, who had immense interest in the impact of climate change in the future. Most of the work I did, was to design products to attain sustainable development. People knew me for that in Mysore and respected me as their local hero, even though I wasn’t even there. As I kept a close eye on the situation back home, I decided that the city needed me more than I need that job I had, so I decided to come back home. It looked, bad. The city was not the same anymore. The kind and peaceful citizens of the city were agitated due to all the changes happening around them all of a sudden. One can understand that. This is when I saw the need for guidance to the people of Mysore, and to most major cities undergoing the same situation. I started a podcast in English, which now most people understood in India, talking to experts from around the world almost every day about the possible solutions. By now, the academics had projected what would come ahead of us and how to resolve the situation. My aim was to disseminate the information objectively to the masses. The major news channels in India were busy covering the petty antics of politics in India and they didn’t do a good job with that either. Number of podcast listeners grew rapidly, and by the end of few months at least one person from every family listened to it.
The first thing I made sure with the podcast was that I pressed the need for cooperation among people of all kinds of background and differences. This was the toughest job as the previous governments had made sure to play identity politics, creating a wide gap and hatred among various sects of people. I stressed every day on the need for cooperation and that it was the only way going forward to live peacefully. It took time, but people realised it. The random floods, and landslides as a result, in the neighbouring districts in the Western Ghats took its toll killing thousands of people over years, but this brought people together. People shared their resources with the affected, knowing someday there will be others who would have their backs. Also, the long-lasting, inter- state conflict over the outlet of river Cauvery into Tamil Nadu was resolved due to heavy rains. Now Karnataka had excess to even store it in dams. So, those two goods came out directly from this grave situation. I brought in experts, activists, environmentalists, geographers and scientists from India and abroad, who had predicted these flooding decades ago. They systematically laid down the story of how corruption and political agendas supressed the necessary actions to prevent the future catastrophe. People realised their lives were disregarded by the system and their elected representatives. They had lost hope in their leadership. What could one expect from the uneducated leaders who each had folders full of criminal records. It was all money and fame they wanted. Now more than ever, the facts hit people hard and they took the ownership of the mistake of electing them. Afterall India was and is still a democratic nation.
This is when the great “Party of the Future” then, now known as “People’s Party” was assembled in the state of Karnataka. I was invited to join the party. I had my reservations in the beginning but having seen that it was comprised of just experts and highly knowledgeable people who knew what they were doing in their field, I decided to join it. We first laid out an objective system of self- regulation within the party to keep in check the personal goals of its members. Everybody in the party was motivated to do the right thing collectively no matter what, for the first time in the history of the world. Our main aim was to create a sustainable future in every which way. We didn’t play identity politics but rather stressed on the action plan on how we would solve the current distress. People finally had hope. In the elections we cleanly swept all the other old parties winning by 98% majority. That was some election. It showed people cared about their future and were ready to do whatever it took to fix the current problems. I was made the minister of the Environmental Protection and I was honoured and was ready to take authority over the situation.
The first thing I did, was assembled a board of members which included senior environmentalists, activists, academics, graduate and post graduate students from various engineering fields, scientists, people’s representatives, state environmental historians and political ecologists to discuss and take decisions collectively based on science and objective data. I hired an objective mass media house who shared our principles to cover each decision and meeting we had about the environmental issues so that public was up- to- date with what was going on. We maintained transparency with the public as they had trusted their future in our hands. Two cities in particular had most of our attention. Banglore and Mysore as they were changing rapidly. Like I mentioned earlier Banglore was losing its charm and Mysore was gaining all of it. Both had their environmental issues and I’ll talk about Banglore another time, but for now I’ll stick with Mysore. I laid down the two major environmental issues with the city earlier.
I deployed local students and academics, committed to our cause to study each issue in depth. They conducted deep studies about the issues by studying historical records, talking to people around the hills and people who exercised and lived near the lake who had observed the changes in the lake’s ecosystem. The activists readily jumped in to help with the information they knew. The problem turned out to be a corrupt system which was lethargic to take actions. In case of the hill, the older parties took bribes to ignore the encroachment of the hill slopes by local timber companies. The forest fires were not due to natural causes, but due to uncontrolled burning of the left-over trunks by them to create easy paths to encroach more forest. The lakes saw the decline in migratory birds due to eutrophication of the lakes. The sewage water from nearby localities were disposed into the lakes. The lack of food for these birds made them to go elsewhere. The lakes also did not have constant inlet of fresh water.
These issues were easy to solve with our committed and aspiring youth, who were the majority of the population then, whose human resource was wasted due to high rates of unemployment. They got a job now, so we took care of that aspect of sustainability. We banned the timber companies near the hills, as a matter of fact, we banned illegal deforestation for good. Locals who observed illegal activities readily informed us pro bono, about those nefarious activities out of their new-found respect for their environment. Some even tried to catch loggers and sometimes successfully did, before our team even showed up, putting themselves at risk. We reforested large areas of the hill, the city and the Western Ghats with the help of locals and school students. The Western Ghats (not part of the city) recovered over time and floods were
mitigated. For the kids it was a game to see who planted more trees. For the future of Mysore and the state of Karnataka, it was new hopes. I tired to involve locals in every possible step for it was a matter of their own future.
The lakes were cleaned over a couple of years. The sewage water was re- routed to the new sewage treatment plants around the city. We used the then available technology to produce biogas from the sewage and biodegradable wastes to be used for cooking and powering vehicles. We planned a network of underground canals to collect and feed rainwater from around the city to the lakes to replenish it with fresh water. The excess water from the lake was sent to the nearest agricultural areas around the city. Thus, a constant flow of fresh water was maintained. The migratory birds slowly started reappearing. Waste treatment plants were setup outside the city to recycle the non- biodegradable wastes. We already had good waste collection system, hence was named among the cleanest cities back then, but the treatment plants needed attention and improvement, which we did. People helped the cause by doing their basic duty of separating thrash and using recycled products and avoiding food wastes in many ways, enthusiastically.
Our party grew in the national level rapidly. The system worked very well, and we were elected into power in the centre. They recognised my achievements in resolving environmental issues in the city of Mysore and in the state and appointed me as the Central Minister of Environmental Protection. I gladly accepted the new challenge and did my best. You can see the results of that now I guess. That story is for another day. Mysore drew attention from all around the world. The people’s enthusiasm and dedication to take care of their local environment inspired people around the world. The environmentalism and the new cosmopolitanism instilled in the people of the city through mainly the two issues above, sustained, resulting in the shift of the centre of economics to Mysore from Banglore in just two decades. People felt rewarded for their good deeds. The growth felt natural and people adjusted to it smoothly now that they knew how to. The new migrants adopted our way of living and everybody lived happily here. The city still is growing, and I am happy that I played a small part in this process, after all it was the will and action of the people that was paramount in this development.
I’ll end it here for today, it’s almost time for the cricket world cup finals between India and Pakistan. Somethings never get old, like me since I was installed in this robot. Haha! Anyway, I’m glad our countries resolved our personal relationships. I liked typing out this diary, no wonder why people did this. I’ll be doing this more, but see you for now.
Jayanth
Photo by Akshat Vats on Unsplash
Olga Rouchouze
Where is this grassroots initiative implemented? Who are the promoters? Who are the beneficiaries?
The Chronovélo project is a new network of bicycle paths structuring the Grenoble metropolitan area by linking 11 communes to the city center of Grenoble, a city located in the southeast of France. This large-scale project brings together the entire Grenoble conurbation (cities and towns), called the Métropole, and was initiated by the Grenoble municipality in 2016 and more specifically by its mayor Eric Piolle (from Europe Ecology – The Greens party). The development of this extensive network of bicycle paths will benefit all citizens using their bicycles (whether for leisure, work, or as a simple means of transport), as it will facilitate their itineraries, improve their safety, and also encourage novices to consider the bicycle as a valuable and obvious alternative to the private car. In the longer term, the development of the Chronovélo network will prove beneficial to all the inhabitants of the Grenoble valley. Indeed, air pollution, a worrying problem in the valley, and CO2 emissions will be significantly reduced if the objectives for the use of bicycle paths are met.
How this initiative engages with climate? Does it tackle mitigation, adaptation, both or other dimensions of climate change?
Transportation is the sector of activity that contributes the most to France’s greenhouse gas emissions: in 2017, transportation accounts for 30% (no less than 134 Mt CO2 eq) of French emissions, an increase in the sector’s emissions of 13% compared to 1990. This share of emissions is mainly due to the movement of people by private car (32.5 million vehicles in France). The private car is thus responsible for 53% of the transport sector’s emissions, which corresponds to 16% of all national emissions. Transportation therefore appears to be a sector with high stakes that needs to be reformed as part of the fight against global warming.
In the Alps, the mountainous massif surrounding the city of Grenoble, global warming is twice as fast, and its consequences are twice as marked as in the rest of France. In this context, Grenoble was the first French local authority to set up a Climate Plan in 2005 with a view to combating climate change and limiting its immediate effects on the population and the environment. Grenoble is a city embedded between 3 mountain ranges, which limits its urban sprawl. As a result, it is a city with a high population density (3rd densest city in France outside the Ile-de-France region with 8,861 inhabitants per km²), and the metropolis has been forced to establish a mobility and urban travel plan. The mobility plan policy aims to optimize travel, reduce the use of private cars in favor of alternative modes of travel (public transportation, carpooling, cycling, etc.) in order to improve air quality (pollution and fine particles overall), reduce noise pollution, and reduce transport-related CO2 emissions. But Grenoble is also the flattest city in France, which is an asset when it comes to cycling. It’s in this privileged environment that the Chronovélo project is part of a strategy to mitigate climate change by limiting the sources of greenhouse gases.
A citizen who takes his or her bike to work from home, 8 km on average in the Grenoble metropolis, 320 days a year, avoids the emission of 0.6 tons of CO2 into the air, the equivalent of a one-way plane trip to New York for a single passenger. If only 10% of all city trips in the world were made by bicycle, CO2 emissions from transportation would be reduced by 7%, a not insignificant reduction in greenhouse gases when you consider the urgency of the situation.
A bike rented from the Metrovélo on one of Chronovélo’s traffic routes, the bike paths are distinguished by their important visual markings (to warn of directions, intersections, crosswalks) and by their width: 4m here (to be able to overtake safely).
Photo credit: Grenoble-Alpes Métropole https://www.grenoblealpesmetropole.fr/actualite/306/104-chronovelo-un-nouvel-itineraire-entre-meylan-et-grenoble.htm
What are the main objectives? What are the main values?
The city of Grenoble and the Grenoble-Alpes Métropole, both carriers of the Chronovélo project, have set the ambitious goal of reducing fine particles in the air by 40% and greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2022. The two institutions hope to achieve these goals by making cycling an integral part of the Grenoble inhabitants’ lifestyle by “transforming occasional practices into daily habits to triple the modal share of cycling by 2022,” says Christophe Ferrari, President of Grenoble-Alpes Métropole (interview with Sébastien Marrec for Gre.mag, May 2020). As for the values behind the Chronovélo project, the Metropolis says it wants to make bicycles accessible to all, and in particular to develop their use in the city’s working-class neighborhoods in order to initiate good ecological practices and already start raising awareness among future generations. According to a study by CEREMA (Center for Study and Expertise on Risks, the Environment, Mobility and Development in English), two-thirds of trips in urban areas are less than 3 km long and 60% of trips between 1 and 3 km are made by car. The mayor of Grenoble, Éric Piolle, personally maintains that the bicycle as a means of daily transportation has only advantages: “A non-negligible time saving, less exposure to pollution compared to a trip by car or even on foot, daily physical activity, cheaper because there is no insurance or fuel, there are only positive benefits, and that’s what makes the bicycle an excellent alternative and a serious competitor to the private car, while remaining a means of travel that complements public transit. “he said in 2019.
The objectives of Chronovélo are to democratize, facilitate, encourage and secure cycling in all circumstances (Chronovélo report by Grenoble-Alpes Métropole, 2018). To achieve this, Chronovélo offers cyclists direct, long-distance routes linking the communes of neighboring valleys to the city center, thereby optimizing travel times. The Chronovélo bicycle network thus includes more than 350 km of comfortable bicycle paths (separated from the roadway from motorized transport and sidewalks, bicycle paths up to 4 m wide) and secured by very important visual road markings (including direction indications, color coding, road intersection and crosswalk signs). Chronovélo has also inaugurated less than 12,000 secure parking spaces for bicycles and some 50 service areas dedicated to bicycles throughout the network (including a map of the bicycle network, a rest area, a bicycle pump). To attract a new public (seniors, families with young children), the municipality has bet on the 30km/h speed limit that will be generalized on more than 80% of the traffic lanes since 2017. This project directly gave birth to the Métrovélo service: an agency offering 7,000 bicycles for rent (long and short term, subscriptions available) and which takes care of the maintenance and repair of its bike fleet, as well as personal bikes. The city has also built 4 park-and-ride facilities at the entrance to the city for people who live too far away but work in Grenoble to come exclusively by bike to facilitate intermodality between individual transportation, public transportation and cycling. Regular maintenance of the cycling facilities is carried out by the Métropole’s staff.
What is the timeline? Are there already visible effects?
In 2014, when Mayor Eric Piolle was elected mayor, the city of Grenoble already had bicycle lanes, on the roadway shared with other motorized vehicles. This arrangement was poorly adapted to intensive and popular use, and above all reserved exclusively for the inhabitants of Grenoble itself, as the city was not easily accessible to neighboring municipalities by bicycle. It is in this context that the Chronovélo project was born in 2016 and has been in the development phase since 2014. The development work is spread over 4 years and should be completed by 2020 with the full commissioning of the network, which includes 350km of cycle paths throughout the Grenoble metropolis.
In France, in 2017, 1.9% of the working population will cycle to work. In the Grenoble metropolitan area, the rate is 5%, and in Grenoble itself it is no less than 15.2%, a score that now makes Grenoble the second-biggest city in France for commuting by bike. In 2014, cycling in Grenoble was far from reaching such a large proportion of the population, since at the time only 7% of home-to-work trips were made by bike. In the Grenoble metropolitan area, nearly 70,000 daily cycle journeys will be recorded in 2019 thanks to meters placed along the Chronovélo cycle paths. Cycling trips increased by 30% between 2018 and 2019, the year corresponding to the inauguration of a major section of the Chronovélo network linking four additional municipalities to downtown Grenoble. The positive effects of Chronovélo on the population are therefore directly visible, over the last 3 years at least. Other measures such as the 50% reimbursement of bicycle rental costs by employers must have contributed to the rapid development of cycling among the population. Through its measures taken on transportation, the city of Grenoble (3rd densest city in France) proves that the reduction of road traffic can be decoupled from population growth. As for CO2 emissions, the city estimates that it has already reduced them by 25% between 2005 and 2017, thus getting closer to the announced objective of a 50% reduction by 2030, a stricter regulation than that imposed by the government at the national level.
Map of cycling routes (320 km) linking the 3 neighboring valleys and the 11 communes.
Plan from Grenoble-Alpes Métropole
Who are the actors involved? What is their background?
Chronovélo brings together the city of Grenoble and several neighboring municipalities in the 3 valleys surrounding Grenoble. To carry out such a project, a dialogue was established between several institutions. First, the municipality of Grenoble, which is at the origin of this project, and the Métropole Grenoble-Alpes, has managed to bring together different actors to collaborate and achieve Chronovélo. The following are therefore involved as Chronovélo actors: the joint union for public transportation (SMTC in French), which organizes the mobilities of the Grenoble metropolis, the Métrovélo agency, which offers bike rentals for everyone, and the municipalities of the neighboring communes concerned to plan urban development and the development of “soft mobilities” throughout the region. The main actors are therefore administrative institutions (executive or legislative), but we must not forget the users of the Chronovélo network: they are regularly consulted for their opinions and feedback on the infrastructures made available, on the state of the network, on new developments and on possible improvements to be made to perfect the Chronovélo result. As users are all invited to respond to public surveys or are drawn at random for consultation at project meetings, they come from diverse and varied social backgrounds and no one profile is favored. Accessibility is also one of the important points, underlined by Eric Piolle as crucial for integrating the entire population of the agglomeration without excluding the popular districts of the city from cycling.
Which limits (institutional, physical, social, etc.) does it encounter?
As this project was initiated by municipalities, there is almost no institutional restraint. The main obstacle is to be found among the citizens of the Grenoble metropolis, who still appreciate the selfish comfort of the individual car. The Chronovélo project is intended to be accessible to all citizens, regardless of their social background. However, it will be necessary to go through a phase of raising awareness about cycling to really attract new users, as is already being done in some of the city’s working-class neighborhoods. There is also an urgent need for work on the enforcement of the traffic regulations code and on the sharing of the road among cyclists: they are users who can ride at the same speed as motorized vehicles in city centers, and their cohabitation with pedestrians and scooters is not yet rooted in the habits and mentalities of cyclists. Nor should it be forgotten that cyclists remain vulnerable road users, with relatively little protection from cars, buses and streetcars.
A service area on the Chronovélo network, which includes a map of the bicycle network, a bicycle pump and a bench to rest on.
Photo credit: Sébastien Marrec
Are any shortcomings or critical points visible? What other problematic issues can arise from its implementation?
On the other hand, not all citizens can ride a bicycle. Person with reduced mobility and disabled citizens do not have access to this mode of transportation. To compensate for this shortcoming, the SMTC (joint union for public transportation) has made it mandatory to make all public transit systems accessible to wheelchairs, walkers and blind people. They have also decided to set up shuttles available on request to carry out complex journeys for people with disabilities (connections between buses, streetcars, poorly served neighborhoods, etc.).
One of the critical points frequently raised by citizens opposed to the Chronovélo project is the drop in traffic in the downtown area. In fact, the downtown cycling facilities have drastically reduced car traffic and merchants complain that their clientele has almost halved since the start of the development work. The decline in commercial attractiveness in the city center is worrying some people because it could gradually kill off independent shops in favor of the large supermarkets on the outskirts of the city.
Another problem concerning the Chronovélo project that deserves to be raised concerns excessive overurbanization under concrete. Numerous routes have been laid out and paved since 2016 in Grenoble and its surroundings, and the massive overbuilding is altering the absorption capacity of the soil, thus increasing flooding and also harming biodiversity, making the ecosystems of the Alps fragile, despite the fact that they are vulnerable to the accelerated global warming they are undergoing. Moreover, overurbanization leads to a reduction in the share of nature (vegetation and soils) which act as carbon sinks, absorbing large quantities of CO2, an indispensable asset for improving air quality in urban areas.
How would it be potentially replicable in other settings?
Grenoble has just been awarded the title of European Green Capital for 2022, a distinction that shows its commitment to fighting global warming and wishes to highlight its ecological initiatives by setting an example and inspiring other cities to invest in an ecological and sustainable policy. The Chronovélo project is specific to Grenoble (flat city, dense population…) but some initiatives and ideas can be transposed to other urban settings, while considering the specificities of each environment. Investment and public awareness are also struggling to be adopted and implemented because it is the citizens who elect and choose policies on a larger scale.
Is this initiative conducive to broader changes (law, institutional arrangements, long-term sustainability or community preparedness, etc.)? If yes, which?
The development of the Chronovélo project throughout the metropolis has led to effective measures to support cycling and the use of public transportation: monthly season tickets (public transportation, bicycle) are 50% paid for by employers (or even up to 100% in some companies), and the same goes for carpooling services, which are now 100% paid for. Another emblematic measure is the traffic speed, which has been increased to 30km/h in the city.
On a broader scale, the “Loi des Mobilités Orientées” (law of oriented mobility in English), passed in 2019, aims to increase the proportion of trips by bicycle from 3% to 9%, by increasing intermodality between different means of transportation (bicycles allowed on trains, buses, light rail, etc.), by offering a sustainable mobility bonus (up to €400 per year), by introducing symbolic recognition of the right to active mobility, and by providing a generalized bicycle learning program starting in middle school.
Changing the habits of citizens is, in the long term, what will be most conducive to changing mentalities over the generations. Raising public awareness of issues such as “soft mobility” means that mentalities are changing, and that citizens are more sensitive and inclined to ecology and environmental protection approaches.
Documents used:
Plan Climat Air Energie Métropolitain 2020 – 2030 (Metropolitan Air Energy Climate Plan in English), Grenoble-Alpes Métropole, February 2020
Plan de déplacements et de mobilité urbaine 2030 (Transportation and Urban Mobility Plan 2030 in English), SMTC, November 2019
Rapport du projet Chronovélo (Chronovélo Project report in English), Grenoble-Alpes Métropole & Ville de Grenoble, December 2018
Visited sites:
Ministère de la Transition Ecologique et Solidaire – MTES (Ministry of Ecological and Solidarity Transition in English): https://www.ecologie.gouv.fr/
Agence de l’environnement et de la maîtrise de l’énergie – ADEME (Agency for Environment and Energy Management in English): https://www.ademe.fr/
Centre interprofessionnel technique d’études de la pollution atmosphérique – CITEPA (Interprofessional Technical Centre for Air Pollution Studies in English): https://www.citepa.org/fr/
Bruno Venditto
It was the dawn of a new day, etango rose slowly from behind the mahangu field. The sun was particularly rosy, as if his high frequency waves had to travel an even longer distance. It has been like that since the member countries of the Reformed United Nations (RUN) signed the Global Pact on climate change.
Meme Hope had just woken up and was ready to go weeding the field. It seemed that life was going on as nothing had changed in Onangholo. Gestures that were handed down from generation to generation were repeated tiredly. She had learned how to look after the mahangu field from her mother, who had passed down the family knowledge to her. But now there was no reason to hand over this skill to the family’s youths; from tomorrow Onangholo would be part of the Great Outapi Dome 2121, (GOD) and life would not be the same. Besides, she did not have children of her own, and her only grandchild, Ndakalako, soon will go to varsity in Chile.
Meekulu’s mother, Kashibimbwa, and grandmother Ndinelao? were part of the Y generation and Meekulu remembered when she explained to grandmother MeeKulu Ndinelao how climate change would have, in the end, transformed Onangholo, as it had already started to impact small islands in the Pacific Ocean. Those big words, however, were alien to her mother’s mother, grand Ma had seldom left the homestead and the mahangu field; but she was wise and did acknowledge that raining season was not the same anymore, and droughts were longer and frequent than before.
Then in the year 2002 Onangholo was not even a proper village. Yes, electricity had just arrived, there was a combined school, few shebeens selling basic foods and drinks, and a church, but for all the rest one had to go to town, which was still at least an one-hour journey away, although it was only 15 km away. Meme Hope of course, had never seen all that. She was born in the year 2032, when Onangholo was a posh suburb of the regional capital Outapi, 5 minutes away from the car-airport. Her mother Meme Kashibimbwa was a social media addict and a journalist. She had terabytes of data, plenty of pictures that were passed from mother to daughter as a treasury to maintain. Meme Hope had downloaded all the relevant data on a microchip which could be slot in the wrist media-port and by a blink of the eye could be scrolled. It was like going back to a fantasy world, where cows and oikonbo were freely grazing in the now dry and disappeared oshana.
Today was an important day for Ndakalako as well, she was turning 17, the 5th generation of the Oryx clan. Having completed the second level of technological education, she was supposed to spend 3 weeks in what remained of the Etosha conservancy wild area, because of the Olufuku, the rite of passage for the youths. The ancestral purposes of Olufuko, as girls’ initiation to womanhood, had long been lost and transformed to an adulthood’s test for boys and girls. Three weeks in the veld without the assistance of any Artificial Intelligence (AI), to experience animals augmented virtual reality and help the Rob-Range to trace and track the few wild creatures that remained in the conservancy. That is why she had to go and see Meekulu Hope. Grand Ma was a scientist, a renowned professor, she had taught in many Universities around the world, but was one of the few remaining in the Land of the Brave, who remembered how to do things in the old way. She was not against AI, and in fact she did use CP Robots to help her cataloguing, but as a field historian she believed that no AI could ever substitute the human brain.
“Apo Meekulu” Ndakalako greeted her using the now disused Oshimbaanhu greeting. She knew Meekulu loved to hear the ancestors’ words, as so few nowadays used them, “How is the mahangu growing?”. “Apo ngheaange” answered Meekulu smiling, “Eewa, mahangu do not look promising this year, it is like in the old, old time, when the elders were looking at the sky to understand if the rain would have been enough to understand if they had been blessed or had to go begging for government handout. Water quotas have been further reduced, so I only planted a few lines, and the governor has declared open farming in our zone as recreational activity, so it is now impossible to cultivate crops. Besides, from tomorrow Onangholo will be fully included into the Great Outapi Dome 2121, so nothing will be the same”.
Dome 2121 was the latest apparatus developed to protect humans from land aridification which materialized in full force by the end of 20th century. It began slowly, in the late 1990s when the days with temperature above 50 degrees had increased from a few weeks in the year, to more than thirty days alone in 2021. Since then, the number of extremely hot days had increased exponentially. Globally days above 50 degrees now averaged to 130 per year, but in many Southern African countries their number had reached even 200 in a year. Here the Kalahari and the Namib had merged in what the geographers renamed the KalaNam, virtually creating a huge desert that divided the North from the South of the country.
The Domes 2100 were introduced just before Meme Hope was born. They were the latest evolution of the first domes conceived in the year 2030 to protect people working mostly in the Central Business Districts (CBDs) and those living in the elite residential areas, from extreme heat stress and for this reason strongly opposed by the World Climate Action Now, (WCAN) of which Meme Hope mother, Meme Kashibibwa was an activist. The idea was simple in principle, to create in the countries mostly affected by extreme heat stress, a network of self-sufficient artificial bubbles, the domes, empowered with stellarator fusion energy performer, to harness solar power without any nuclear waste. Connection between the different domes was made possible thank to the car-fly transport system, which had virtually reduced distance of 100s of miles just to a few minutes’ drive. However, the domes created an exclusive protection system mostly for the elites; access to them was policed and only allowed for working reasons. For that reasons WCAN fought against the bubbles and their global popular mobilisation led to the transformation of the UN into the RUN and ultimately to the new dome 2100.
“Tomorrow I am going to travel to Etosha” said Ndakalako, holding grandma Hope’s hand tightly, “I am scared”. “Why ngheeange?” answered Meekulu, softly patting her back. “I have never seen a live wild elephant” she said “But thinking of it, I have never seen a live chicken as well” and both laughed to that last observation.
“There is nothing to be scared of, dear, and do not forget, … your great, great grandfathers were hunters”. She led Ndakalako in the library-cum studio; Ndakalako knew that now she would have an adult, woman to woman conversation with grandma Hope. The studio was where all family vital issues were discussed.
“Do you remember what our family totem is?”. “It is the Oryx”, retorted Ndakalako, she had been told that so many times, but she failed to figured out what that could have to do with her going in the wild tomorrow. “There were plenty still, before the last heatwave, now only few remain in the wild, and that is because they could live easily even in the desert scorching heat… this if …water was available. The Oryx symbolizes our nature, the capacity of facing even the most difficult challenges, beside you will have loads of water at the camp. You can even get a full bath twice a week. That is one of the advantages of turning 17 and going to the Olufuku”. Ndakalako smiled, she did not remember when was the last time she bathed in water. That was an extravagance only few could indulge, and often a treat child got at their birthday.
Meekulu asked CPR1 to fetch Volume 1 of the Etosha collection edited by van Zely. It was a very rare copy, the first combining text reading with tact-sensorial experience. Of each animal the reader could touch the body and smell the scent, as if it was there in front of the person. Meekulu indicated the animals she would have found in Etosha and those who were now extinct, explaining how to recognize the different spoors. It was a mesmerizing experience, the right induction for what Ndakalako was going to experience tomorrow.
“Grandma, what will happen tomorrow to Onangholo?” enquired abruptly Ndakalako. It was long since she wanted to ask, but she had always been hesitant knowing that it was a very sensitive argument. It was because of the dome that Grandma had stopped speaking with her mother, great grandmother Kashibibwa, who she accused to have been a sell-out. She could, however, not forgive herself of failing to reconcile before her mother passed away.
“Tomorrow Onangholo will be connected to the 2100 domes’ system and be part of the Great Outapi Dome 2121. I do not know if your great-grandmother Kashibibwa would have been happy or depressed” replied Meekulu. “As you know, being part of GOD 2121 means that we will spend even less time in the open sky” Meekulu, started explaining. “People will also be less free to move since entry controls will reach level 8 but yes, now even the little villages have been included and will be protected from both extreme heat and excess radiation, but is this really what my mother had campaigned for?”.
When the domes were introduced, Kashibibwa was 28, one of the founders of WCAN Namibia; she had always been an environmentalist. Just when completing her MA in investigative journalism, she was busy probing the rational of the domes’ idea. What puzzled her was that the oil giant corporations were both the initiators and the implementers of the domes. She was disturbed by the fact the domes were ultimately thought to maintain the system of production’s status quo. A modern revisitation of Tomasi di Lampedusa’s quote, “everything has to change if we want things to stay as they are”. But ultimately it was the proposed introduction of the Entry Pass (EP) which she fought the most for. The domes were leaving out more than 80 % of the population, those in the rural areas and in urban suburbia, practically protecting, and basically isolating, the rich from the other citizens. A reintroduction, only 40 years after independence, of an apartheid system based on wealth and not directly on race. But why a government who had fought for the country’s freedom, had agreed to such a scheme, was what she was investigating.
“Grandma, why did you clash with Meekulu Kashibibwa?” asked Ndakalako out of the blue. “My mother was very stubborn, me as well. Neither her nor I wanted to admit that we were both wrong”.
After the approval of the domes’ programme by the regional authority, WCAN mobilized the youth, who represented the majority of the country’s population, against it. The battle lasted two years, the police made a large use of the newly introduced RobCops and often the demonstrations led to violent clashes. Kashibibwa, as many other leaders of the movement, was often arrested. Just before giving birth to Meekulu, Kashibibwa’s opposition campaign against the domes almost stopped. Few WCAN requests were accepted, mainly on the right of free movements in and out of the domes, and the abolition of the EP. Oddly Kashibibwa also agreed not to publish the investigative report on the link between the government and the corporation behind the dome project, and, more relevant for the prosecution of the battle, she resigned as WCAN Executive officer. It was a shock, a blow for the movement. Few days after the birth of her daughter, named Hope, on the 6 of August 2032, Kashibibwa left the country, leaving Hope, Ndakalako grandmother, to the in-laws. WCAN ceased its activities.
“Grandma Hope, why did great-grandma leave you?” enquired Ndakalako? “She said it was for my own sake. She returned in the country when I was almost your age. Even if in that period we did communicate a bit, she never revealed where she was, and we never spoke of the domes. When I saw her for the first time, I was happy and distressed at the same time, she was a stranger to me”.
By 2032 the construction of the domes had started, aiming to cover the commercial and residential parts of the main regional capital cities. Movement passes were scrapped for accessing the CBDs but were maintained to access the residential areas. The reason was simple: the size of the dome, in order to ensure internal stability, had to be proportional to the number of people living under it. More people meant bigger size and hence higher costs. WCAN’s principles of equality was forgotten. Alongside introducing the domes, following the global trend in innovative food production, the government had launched the Food Thermo-stabilised (FooT) programme, spearheaded by one of the major producers of genetically modified seeds (GMS). The idea was to artificially produce nutriments for human consumption, reducing to the bare minimum use of water, which by 2030 had officially declared an extremwly scarce resource. Agriculture production had drastically changed, and the impact on rural areas such as Onangholo was devastating. Subsistence agriculture almost disappeared and influx of people to the urban areas skyrocketed. The movement was, however instrumental to the construction of the domes and their maintenance which was a very labor-intensive activity.
Volume 1 of the sense-reading Etosha collection was published in 2032, the same year Meekulu was born. Her mother bought the book and kept it with her until Meekulu turned 17, when she sent it to her with a note: “In this book you will find all your answers”. Meekulu never had the chance to ask her mother the meaning of the note, she died in a strange car accident a few months after her birthday. The book was one of the few things left to her by her mother and was very precious.
“Can you sense the smoothness of hippo skin? It is funny how the hippo was always underrated in terms of danger, maybe the sleepy face” said Meekulu, “They were even more deadly to human than the crocs. Now both are only visible in the few protected areas, I am sure you will be able to have a glimpse to them tomorrow”. After completing her Olufuko, Ndakalako was taking six months leap as a RUN volunteer at the Preventing Artic Meltdown project, to then enroll at the Ice Regeneration Institute in Santiago, so she didn’t know when she would have seen Meekulu after today, and she wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to get to know as much as possible of her great grandmother.
All of sudden Meekulu’s wrist chip started flashing, she had completely forgotten that the city governor had invited her for dinner to discuss tomorrow’s Dome 2121 inaugural ceremony. Meekulu was asked to give the introductory speech. “Oh dam!, I am supposed to have dinner with the Honorable governor Tate Levi, he asked me to give an historical presentation on the domes” Meekulu said apologetically, “In reality what he really wants from me, is to give a eulogy of the programme and what we have achieved as human race. I do not think he would be happy to listen to what I have to say”,they both laughed, “It will be a surprise, I am not a sell-out like my mother…You can take the book with you, consider it as my birthday present, we can continue our conversation after Olufuku” concluded the overthinking Meekulu, while kissing Ndakalako on the cheek and leaving the studio.
Ndakalako was left alone, she would have loved to continue speaking with grandma Hope, she felt that this time she was going to open up about great grandma Kashibibwa, but no… this would have to wait to the next time they meet again. With the book tight in her hands she asked CPR1 to call a taxi for her. “It will not take me much to pack up for tomorrow, if I hurry up, I can arrive to Etosha Park before dinner is served”, thought Ndakalako while waiting for the taxi.
“But your mother agreed with the government’s idea about the domes” Tate Levi was saying nervously, “Actually I do not know what made my mother change position on the domes, but… Tate… I am not my mother. You cannot ask me to say something in which I do not believe and against the way history went. Do not worry, my speech will only put in the right perspective what we have done to make earth a hostile environment for the future generations” restated with a sarcastic smile Meme Hope. “And now, if you excuse me it is time for me to leave, I want to be fresh for tomorrow’s show”.
The moment she received the invitation for the inaugural speech from the office of the Governor, Meme Hope knew what she would have said. That was in her eyes the opportunity to rehabilitate her mother work to the world. Great Outapi, had been chosen among the 10,000,000 cities in the world which would have been connected to the dome 2121 system. She was one of the few African female experts on the history of climate change, so even if her views were very unorthodoxy they had to invite her. That were Professor Hope Endada’s last thoughts before falling asleep.
The beeping on the under skin wristwatch was getting louder, Meme Hope did not want to get up yet, but she had to prepare for the ceremony. She got a special permission on water usage to bathe even if she had already used her monthly quota that could not be missed. She felt bad having ended sharply the conversation with her niece, but on the other hand, she was asking too many questions. She was not yet ready to open the wounds of her past. Time to get ready and most of all to enjoy a bath in warm water.
Ndakalako was woken up of birds’ chirping, it was a recorded sound but the setting made it as if it was real. Virtual reality at Etosha camp was one of the most advanced in the world, those few who had experienced the real natural setting, argued that it was even more real than the real McCoy.
She had driven straight home after last night’s meeting with grandma. She was a bit disappointed, since she had longed to know something more about great grandmother, and she was sure that if they had kept talking, grandma Hope would have opened up, but it least she had the book.
Grandma was right, it was a precious and valuable book, even more since it belonged to great-grandma Kashibibwa. She was her role model, Ndankalako had gone through all the available archives to find information on her life. She could not understand how, after all she had done and all the fights to change the dome programme, on the last mile she had capitulated, and disappeared for so many years. That was not the great-grandmother she had learned to know from the records.
Ndakalako was sensorially going through the book’s pages once again. Suddenly she stopped at the Oryx, the family clan. On the skin there was an odd little bulge which seemed out of place, interrupting the smoothness of the touch, she scratched it and there it was, … a little microchip.
How could grandma not have noticed. Ndakalako slots the chip into her internal wristwatch and there she was… great-grandma Kashibibua. She was lying in a hospital bed, she had just given birth because grandma Hope was at her breast. “My dear daughter, if you are looking at this clip, it is because I am no more and for one reason or another, we did not have the chance to express our feelings. I could not explain to you what really happened and why I had to quit WCAN. It is not as it may appear, or how they may have told you in my absence. I am going to name you Hope, because I am sure you will see the truth and will continue my fight.
I was forced to choose: either continue to struggle for a sustainable planet or not to give birth to you. They knew I would have chosen you”.
She is not a sell-out, she is not a sell-out shouted Ndakalako.
“It is with great pleasure I am calling Prof. Hope Endada, to give her remarks on this particular occasion, the inauguration of Dome 2121, another testimony of the genius of mankind capability to overcome in this past 2100 years all difficulties nature has set in front of us”, silence felt in the auditorium. Grandma’s wrist phone vibrated, she looked at it and could see Ndakalako’s face, automatically she activated the hear-phone and she heard a loud shout “Grandma, I know the truth Kashibibwa was not a sell-out, she did it to keep you alive”.
With tears descending from her face grandma Hope started her speech: “Contrary to what Mr. President has just said, Dome 2121 is not a testimony of mankind genius, rather the proof of our stupidity…..”
——-
——-
Glossary of Oshiwambo names
Etango= Sun
Mahangu = Millet
Shebeen = Liquor shop
Oikombo = Goat
Oshana = Flooded field
Olufuku = Rite of passage to womanhood
Neheaange = Last born
Eewa = Yes
Apo Meekulu = Greeting for elderly women
Tate = Suffix used to indicate an adult man followed by his first name
Meme = Suffix used to indicate an adult woman followed by her name
Etosha = Namibian Wildlife Natural Reserve
——-
Family Tree
| Name | Family link | Character Name | Born in | |
| Ndinelao | Ndakalako great great grand mother | Ndinelao | 1978 | In 2002 gives birth to Kashibibwa |
| Kashibibiwa | Ndakalako great grand mother | Meekulu Kashibibiwa/ (Hope/Meekul’s mother) | 2002 | In 2032 gives birth to Hope |
| Hope/Meekulu | Ndakalako grand mother | Hope/Meekulu, Endada’s mother, main character 2 | 2032 | In 2032 gives birth to Endada |
| Endada | Ndakalako mother | Endada | 2066 | In 2066 gives birth to Ndakalako |
| Ndakalako | main character 1 | 2104 | In 2121 she is 17 |
Aditya Singh
Where is this grassroots initiative implemented? Who are the promoters? Who are the beneficiaries?
Biome Environmental Trust is a non-profit organization led by Vishwanath Srikantaiah (a water conservation expert), which launched the ‘A Million Wells for Bengaluru’ movement in the city of Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. This movement aims to have one million functioning open recharge wells in the city, allowing the recharge of aquifers and raising the underground water table.
A majority of the water requirements of Bengaluru are currently supplied by the Cauvery River flowing 100km south of the city. Cauvery water is pumped up about 300m (984ft) to reach the city, requiring large amounts of energy. The borewells in the city (although there are no official measures) provide 600-700 million litres of groundwater, making up about 35- 40% of the city’s water requirement.
Historically, open and shallow recharge wells (presently, only about 20,000 to 30,000) that access higher aquifers were the providers of water to the citizens. However, they have now slowly been replaced by borewells (presently, about 500,000), which are narrow boreholes that exploit and drain the lower aquifers (now gone down to about 1,800 feet).
In terms of rainfall, only about 3-10% of the city’s rains percolates into underground aquifers naturally based on hydrological patterns. However, land begins to ‘crust’ upon urban development and construction, bringing down the percolation to 0-1%. Precious rainwater flows down buildings and tarred roads as surface run-off, choking sewers and inundating low-lying areas (leading to urban flooding). Moreover, these problems have worsened over several decades due to climate change.
‘A Million Wells for Bengaluru’ aims to provide a solution to these problems, and in the process, secure livelihoods for the ‘Mannu Vaddars,’ a local well-digging community native to the region. The overall percolation rate of rainwater can be increased (up to 50-60%) using open recharge wells. Vishwanath calculates that 1 million wells will be enough to solve issues of water shortage in the city. If even a portion of the 3.5 million litres that falls onto each acre of land in the city as rainfall percolates into the ground, water requirements would be met without supply from the Cauvery River. Additionally, water from open recharge wells is more affordable (around 1% of the price of Cauvery water) than from borewells and the Cauvery, only being pumped up a mere 6m (20ft) to the surface, as opposed to a 100km length and 300m height.
‘A Million Wells for Bengaluru’ has been supported and promoted by native and local communities, institutions, citizen groups, and governmental agencies, given the wide-ranging benefits of the movement that can be observed by all citizens of the city.
Open recharge well in the city
Image courtesy of Mr. Vishwanath Srikantaiah
How does this initiative engage with climate? Does it tackle mitigation, adaptation, both, or other dimensions of climate change?
The movement is directly mitigating the impacts of climate change. Vishwanath explains that rainfall patterns in Bengaluru, like many other cities, have changed dramatically over time with intense showers within short durations, leading to larger volumes of water being dumped over the city very quickly, and in unexpected months.
The Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC) has set up about 100 weather stations across every other ward in the city. Biome Trust, along with the KSNDMC, has been tracking the change in rainfall patterns due to climate change and has found an increase in the intensity of rainfall from 60mm per hour to about 180mm per hour. Additionally, the pockets of the city that were previously not getting enough rain are getting higher amounts now.
With recharge wells, rainwater can be routed into the shallow aquifers more efficiently, enhancing the groundwater levels gradually by mimicking the natural patterns observed decades ago. The recharge wells capture the high intensity of rainfall instead of allowing it to flood. The collected water then percolates into the ground and recharges aquifers, which are water-bearing formations that exist 10-100 ft underground, and are naturally replenished during rains.
Water from an open well requires 0.1 units of energy for every thousand litres of water supplied, in relation to the 1.5 – 1.8 units from deep bore wells and 2 units for Cauvery water. Therefore, recharge wells provide water that is 20 times more efficient compared to Cauvery water, with their carbon emissions being 20 times less.
Hence, the movement is engaging directly with the climate, responding to the vagaries of rainfall, and mitigating urban flooding, both consequences of climate change. It is recharging the groundwater table and lakes of the city through increased percolation to solve issues of water scarcity. Finally, open wells also reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions in providing water to the city, both important facets of climate change.
What are the main objectives? What are the main values?
For ease of understanding, the main objectives of this movement could be categorized into social and practical ones. Vishwanath explains that one of the larger social objectives is to provide and secure livelihoods for the well digging Mannu Vaddar community, native to Karnataka. This would allow higher rates of education within the community, giving the future generations the power to decide whether they would want to pursue well digging, or another field of their choosing.
According to Vishwanath, an important social objective is to raise awareness about the presence of open recharge wells in the city, the potential of shallow aquifers to sustain water requirements of the city, and the role of local communities in their revival. Within this, the hope is to build a water culture in the city where local citizens take collective responsibility for managing groundwater through community participation and the mainstreaming of bottom-up and traditional water harvesting practices.
Old stone-lined well recharged with rainwater
Image courtesy of Mr. Vishwanath Srikantaiah
A practical objective of the movement, Vishwanath describes, is to bring up the water table in the city, where open recharge wells (and borewells) would then be able to supplement water requirements. With this, it was also important to ensure the productive use of rainwater and to bring awareness to the importance of rainwater harvesting practices to capture rainwater.
Another practical objective of the movement is to engage with the climate and mitigate the impacts of climate change. As explained previously, through recharging of shallow aquifers, open recharge wells will be able to prevent flooding, reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions, and solve issues of water shortage in the city, by ensuring water security.
Rooftop rainwater recharging a well
Image courtesy of Mr. Vishwanath Srikantaiah
What is the timeline? Are there already visible effects?
Understood as a movement instead of a project, ‘A Million Wells for Bengaluru’ was launched in 2015. As it is providing livelihoods, it does not follow a regular project timeline and is more open-ended in its scope. Since it is not possible to track every well that has come up in the city, there cannot be a definite start time to the larger process, given that well diggers have been digging wells for centuries. One million wells are an aspirational goal that has been set for the city and is not the end goal since the movement should continue to grow with urban growth and rising populations. However, the hope is to reach one million wells by 2025.
There are several instances at an individual, institutional and public level that highlight the visible effects of the increased awareness about the open recharge wells. Institutions have taken the initiative to set up recharge wells themselves. Through the restoration of 4 open recharge wells within the Wheel and Axle Railway Plant campus in the city, the wetlands around the wells were revived. With a variety of birds coming to the wetlands, one can observe larger environmental impacts of engagement with the wells. Most importantly, the wells now provide the plant with 300,000 litres of water, and they no longer require water from the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB). Similarly, in Cubbon Park, one of Bengaluru’s largest open spaces, defunct open recharge wells on restoration provide 100,000 litres of water to the park.
Who are the actors involved? What is their background?
As per the Memorandum of Understanding signed for the movement, Biome Environmental Trust provides the technical support for it through consultations with architects, civil and mechanical engineers, and urban planners; Friends of Lakes is the implementation partner that organises voluntary community engagements to clean the city’s lakes; India Cares Foundation is the enabler taking care of fundraising. All investments made within this movement are by individuals, institutions, and communities across the city, all crucial actors for the success of the movement.
Vishwanath Srikantaiah (of the Biome Environmental Trust) has been working in the water sector in Bengaluru for 34 years. He has travelled all across the world (to Iran, China, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Brazil, Chile, Sweden, Finland, Latvia, etc.) to study wells. He explains that large governmental infrastructural projects provide one type of solution for the water shortage, which occurs in the city every 20 years since the 1850s, due to its expansion. The other way is for the local citizens to participate in the solution through community involvement and action.
The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) offer policy support to the movement. Vishwanath, who has been a proponent of rooftop rainwater harvesting (RWH), has been working with BWSSB, helping them write the bylaws (based on the rainfall patterns in the city) to make rainwater harvesting compulsory in the region. Water from RWH can be filtered and supplied into open wells, which would then recharge the aquifers, supplementing the piped water supply of the city.
Mannu Vaddars digging a recharge well
Image courtesy of Mr. Vishwanath Srikantaiah
The Mannu Vaddars (a sub-caste of the Bhovi community) have been historically digging tanks, lakes, and wells across the country for over 1000 years. They have traditionally found work given their knowledge of digging and maintaining wells. However, they are now running short of livelihoods since people have started drilling borewells instead of open wells. Biome began seeking out the traditional well diggers that constitute 750 families living in and around the city. Their skills and knowledge of the region’s hydrogeology (aquifers, pre-existing wells, soil types, presence of rocky layers) have been pivotal in achieving the goals for this movement.
Which limits (institutional, physical, social, etc.) does it encounter?
There are a few limitations that the movement encounters. The first social limitation would be the resistance towards understanding the impacts of climate change on the ecosystem. There can also be a lack of responsibility among citizens towards recognizing the importance of rainwater harvesting and open recharge wells as required infrastructure systems.
Topographically, certain areas in the city may not be conducive for recharge wells because of hard layers of rock and clay, creating an ecological limitation in specific locations. Additionally, appropriate mapping techniques like Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing are required to understand geological features to decide the areas where open wells could be feasible. However, these technologies are not available with civic and administrative agencies, constituting a severe institutional limitation.
Are any shortcomings or critical points visible? What other problematic issues can arise from its implementation?
Since the recharge wells utilize bio-mimicry to imitate natural ecological processes, no negative effects have been observed since they are holding the water that would have been held by an un-built site.
One crucial point for the entire movement is that native well-digger communities must be provided with employment opportunities within these projects. It would be antithetical to employ modern technological methods, and people that do not belong to the Mannu Vaddar community for digging wells.
Mannu Vaddars cleaning and desilting a recharge well
Image courtesy of Mr. Vishwanath Srikantaiah
How would it be potentially replicable in other settings?
The movement can and has been replicated in several other locations based on the specific needs and context of the region. Open wells, if recharged, can provide arsenic- and fluoride- free water to the regions where contaminated water is currently being consumed.
Vishwanath mentions that the aim of the movement is that it should not matter if the Biome Trust is involved in its continuation. Biome does not claim credit for the movement and considers their responsibility to provide an aspirational goal, and to bring awareness, encouraging individuals, communities, and institutions to dig wells within their localities, and share their stories with the Biome Trust, if they wish to do so.
Several cities such as Hyderabad, Belgaum, Sangli, Tiruchirappalli, Chennai, have launched their own movements or similar initiatives. Additionally, The Ministry of Urban Development has been in correspondence with Biome to officially incorporate this movement into the Jal Shakti Program under the Smart Cities Project for 500 cities across the country.
The revival of the shallow aquifer is being replicated – leading to an all-India movement, where the open well, as a representative of the shallow aquifer is reaching every village, town, and city in India.
Is this initiative conducive to broader changes (law, institutional arrangements, long term sustainability or community preparedness, etc.)? If yes, which?
The movement has highlighted the importance of engaging with local contexts and features, talking to people whose livelihoods depend on the water (farmers, fishers, well-diggers), learning from their experiences, and involving them within the solution. The mainstreaming of this practice leads to better community preparedness for mitigating the effects of the climate crisis.
Individuals, institutions, large and small establishments, gated communities, have all taken up initiatives without the involvement of Biome. The movement has enabled individual citizens and communities to take action, brought larger awareness to how they can be involved within climate change action, which need not necessarily be at an administrative level through large infrastructure projects.
MLAs and Corporators (elected officials) across the city have started planning and making recharge wells in their respective constituencies and zones. The Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka, C.N. Ashwath Narayan, initiated the digging of 100 recharge wells in the Malleshwaram constituency. The State Horticultural Department has taken this initiative to all the parks in the city including Lalbagh Botanical Gardens, which now has 500 recharge wells. The Bellandur Development Forum has planned to dig 2,500 wells in low-lying areas around Bellandur Lake that get inundated with rainwater during the monsoon.
A crucial part of the movement has been the mandating of climate change action by the government through the rainwater harvesting bylaws, highlighting how sustainable practices could be institutionalized through legislation and policy.
References
Interview conducted with Mr. Vishwanath Srikantaiah
Coushik, R. (2020). The Indian megacity digging a million wells. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20201006-india-why-bangalore-is-digging-a-million- wells
Gatty, H.R. (2020). Two years, one lakh wells: Can “Million Wells” movement help sove Bengaluru’s water crisis. Retrieved from https://bengaluru.citizenmatters.in/million-recharge-wells-biome- friends-of-lakes-rainwater-harvesting-43978
N.A (2018). Urban Waters Bengaluru: Million Wells. Retrieved from http://bengaluru.urbanwaters.in/million-wells/
Padre, I. (2019). A million wells for Bengaluru. Retrieved from https://www.civilsocietyonline.com/cover-story/a-million-wells-for-bengaluru/
Priya, L. (2019). One Million Wells for Bengalurur: Meet The Group Saving The City from Day Zero! Retrieved from https://www.thebetterindia.com/173853/bengaluru-ground-water-crisis-well- digging-day-zero-zenrainman/
Ramchandran, S. (2019). TEDdxBangalore: The Answer to India’s Water Crisis: Community. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxlKrJcg8KU&t=22s
Srikantaiah, V. (2020). TEDxMBSITM: A city and its waters. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=velaVjFWv1A&t=48s
Taha Mama
“The Green (CCU-2200)” by Taha Mama
Start with Silence.
The phrase bounced around Shahid’s head. He had contemplated maintaining a journal for over a year now. Shahid kept finding reasons to push the initiation. A month later – he’d tell himself – after he’s thoroughly honed his handwriting skills. Just a few days later: after he finishes the last chapter of the critically acclaimed novel around the Covid’19 pandemic. (A seminal text really, if one wants to seriously take up journaling) A week into working on his typing speed. Or after he gets his hands on the latest typing tech. Little did he know, his great-great grandfather in the summer of 2021 was faced with a similar journaling debacle.
Panic, Panic, Hope!
He’d fixed upon his ‘writing mantra,’ going back and forth between stages of panic without making the leap of fate into realm of Hope. Writer’s Hope. He flirted with fragmented ideas but saw no ink flowing on his screen. A cursor kept blinking at him from the first page of his blank book. Why should one journal? Cash? He’d turned twenty at his parent’s house a week ago. It seemed only yesterday when could he stop worrying about math homework and finishing the greens on his plate. It was too soon to be worrying about green numbers. Craft? He was told by teachers he had a distinct style of writing, “Write more!” said some “Write every day!” said the others. But he’d said enough, Silence was his spectacle now. Career? The world where he finds himself has moved beyond (or back to) the need for creating careers out of their lives, living was enough. The prestigious Calcutta Colleges had hung their English hats, dawned during the British Raj. Calcutta then was a bustling capital city where social customs were challenged to allow fresh ideas to flow. Now, one followed the path their parents had set out on or they would be left behind. Forward meant following. Choice became the unspoken C-word of the times. Coffee? Coffee!
Caffeine, Kaf · feen?Ka· faa · een?
Shahid struggled. Coffee could momentarily lift his spirits, till this C-word somehow got the better of him. Once again, on a gloomy Sunday morning his duel ended with defeat. Humbled, he waddled up to the Machine with three blinking lights. Red meant it Lives. Green said it was ready to Give. The third light, he was not quite sure. In fact, this was the first time he had even noticed it. Blue-black, blue-black, blue-black, it flickered. Red stayed stable; Green caved in as he pressed the button that spawns the warm beverage he craves. He pays the Machine a closer look. Its pockets were filled with coffee beans, it was adequately fed with milk. It seems like the poor old Machine had a classic case of being ‘simply thirsty.’ Shahid had nothing to offer, the Taps stayed stiff as the Machine mourned. He looks out of the window, in search of Life, that would sympathise, in search of Red. A decaying Green blinks back at him. He sees no humans, just malfunctioning Machines. It was 2200, and his kind had run out of water.
There was a War of sorts. A Water War. There were no guns or bullets, or sturdy looking tanks involved. A few men in suits called each other unpleasant names in a fancy room and suddenly all the pipes went dry. All that was now spoken about was: how to turn Sea water into Fresh water. To Shahid it seemed like a Salt crisis but his nephew on the other side of the world was taught Water Crisis instead. He did not protest, he remained silent.
Violence is a culture found in playgrounds,
Cities fall to let their children breathe
The lines ringed in his head when the Lake (Calcutta had many lakes, but only one Lake), after being saturated with that same Green for days caught fire on a Tuesday afternoon. It echoed in his sleep for weeks after he witnessed a building (not Building) ignite in flames without provocation. A group of people blamed another group of people, while some suspected the Green was the culprit. And the same lines filled his ears today. But no matter. For the Fire Crisis was over. The lines were now useless to him. He’d picked it out from a Collection of Poems along with other little bits and pieces he’d found from his Great Great Grandfather’s box.
The Box!
He summons the ladder and makes his way up the bathroom door to the attic. To where the Box sits. He empties it out, sprawling the same items again hoping one would pique his interest today a little more than the others. He picks out a Portable Air Quality monitor first. It didn’t really work, but its scale was visible. It assigned a word each for a range of values. It started with ‘Good’ and went till ‘Severe.’ Green to Red. He knew very little about Air Quality or Good and Bad, but he had spent many an evening with his math homework. He knew a set of numbers when he saw them. He was certain the Monitors today started where this one ended.
Shahid finds a couple of old photographs too. There wasn’t much to talk about them. Photography was a summer fad for the old man. He recognised some of the places. Only the chai shops with colourful tarpaulin roofs were replaced by Buildings. Yellow Hindustan Motor’s Ambassadors which operated as taxi’s were replaced by grey Council Cars. And you don’t see cycles, birds, dogs or any people on the street anymore. Surely Green cannot be behind this, perhaps the Salt has made its way to the air too, seeping into Water, making all Monitors flicker in Red.
Shahid then got his hands on a book, was it a journal? He couldn’t tell. It didn’t speak; the pencil marks have faded. Could he make it his journal? It already started with Silence. But the pages were on the brink of turning to powder. The photograph’s plight was similar. Is this how pages die or had the Box been unkind?
He was terribly partial to handmade paper.
Was all that was spoken about his Great Great Grandfather to Shahid. As he packed up the box it occurred to him: He was terribly partial to paper too!
Shops
Now, luxury items such as notepads and pens and protractors are only issued by the Calcutta Council, available only at Calcutta Council authorised stores, run by Calcutta Council employees. But you can also get them at Stationary Shops. There aren’t very many of them these days. Fortunately, Shahid’s house is directly across one. They had somehow unlocked the secrets of time travel years ago, for they were always outdated. Before the Council’s Takeover, before the Crisis, when everyone around them used calculators and Computer-generated receipts, they stuck to a pen and a notepad. Slowly writing the price of each item in a column. Before adding a neat plus sign beside at. A line struck below it would signify the Addition would now begin. Only a shaky hand of the aged shopkeeper could handle the phenomenon. Young blood would be overwhelmed by the pace of this craft. This was the game of the old folk. Even the Council couldn’t faze them, and it had some seriously old folks. The Shops stuck to their ways
Silent Streets
Shahid stepped out on the Street to see everyone around him with (along with half a dozen masks) a device. A Noiseless Mic. It looked like a lapel and cancelled out all the surrounding sound for the wearer. It could catch the softest of whispers, you’d just about had to think out loud and it would pick it up. The messages were transmitted to a fellow Noiseless Mic flaunter with the actual sound being lost. The receiver would hear a monotonous hum as the messages. One could obviously select from a wide array of emotions to flavour to your messages. Let alone noise, the Demonic Device had cancelled out all sounds. Everything but Silence. But Shahid’s Silence was different.
Father’s Son
He noticed he was being watched. Watched as his ‘Father’s son.’ It was his Mother’s colleague, across the street. He’d seen that scowl before. They must have picked it up from his Mother, who reserved it for the times she spoke of her Father. So, this Father of his, somehow makes tonnes of Money by selling Salt. He owns big Machines that do all the work for him. Sea Water becomes Fresh Water, leaving Salt and Money. To his Father this was Service, to his Mother it was Inhuman in times of a Crisis. To Shahid this was Routine. As a child his Father, would hold him down to unleash the Tickle Monster, only to let go if he admitted he was his Father’s son. An innocent activity?
Mother’s Son
He left their gaze only to run into a suited man at the Shop. He could smell the smirk on them through the layers of masks. A smirk he’d seen slapped on his Father’s face while his Mother would spend her days speaking at length about Ecology to whoever gave her a hear. All his Father would say, whenever he stopped smirking that was, “We live in a Silent World.”
My Silence
But Shahid believes his Silence is different. He just couldn’t quite point out what exactly was so novel about it. He buys a book. He buys a Pen. The shopkeeper begins the Addition. On his way out he is stopped, not by silence, but by sound.
“My name is Zariya and yours?” The raspy, sing-song speech, Human speech, is a carnival to his ears.
“Sh, Shahid” he squeaks. His throat numb, his mouth dry.
“Why were you named Shahid?” speech flows easily through little Zariya. Just as easy as the little fountain of hair gushing above her head, clipped in place by a deep Blue scrunchy.
He dusts off his vocal cords, the clouds around his conscious part. He feels lighter. His eyes are fixed on that Blue, glistening under the lonely bulb of the Shop. He is reminded he was named after his Great Great Grandfather.
“Listen,” his voice lingers, filling up the room. It catches the shopkeeper’s attention. Little Zariya’s mother lifts her eyes from a vintage book to that vintage young man, “It means beloved in Persian, Witness in Arabic”
Shahid rushes back to his room, the Machine still blinking. Shahid’s new book isn’t blank anymore.
Tu Zariya, hoon main Zariya,
Aur uski Kripa, Dariya Dariya.
(You are the medium, I am the medium
And their blessings are like the Sea, like the Sea)
__
References
[Text]
The first few pages of A Language Than Older than words Derrick Jensen.ISBN:9780285636248
The introduction of The Last Jet Engine Laugh by Ruchir Joshi. ISBN: 9780002570893
Agha Shahid Ali’s Call Me Ishamael Tonight. ISBN: 9780393051957
A bit of the style and humour from Andre Sean Greer’s Less. ISBN: 9780316316125
Adil Jussawala’s Land’s End. ISBN: 9788192923062
[Picture]
Cover Image by Taha Mama
[Video]
A Phoebe Waller Bridge Interview for the Writing Mantra (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3mmqLVi_QQ&t=423s&ab_channel=Vogue)
Zariya by Coke Studio and AR Rahman
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlaZSx6tqRo&ab_channel=CokeStudioIndia)
[Other]
Shahid’s Great Great Grandfather’s box, all of it.
Maazen Ahmed ( author & illustrator)
I – PLACE /pleɪs/
wʌn I believe an island is what it was called back then.
tuː Yeah, a land mass completely surrounded by water – but smaller than a continent. And ˈeɪʒə-saʊθ would _______classify as artificial. Man-made. It was made to be a perfect circle.
θriː I see. A circle was probably to cut costs, no?
tuː Right. Isolating the entire coast would have been much more expensive.
θriː Good move. There would be too much empty space if we had done that.
tuː Well maybe now it would be. But our population doesn’t fluctuate like it did before the 22nd century. I’d _______skimmed through some records in the Archiving Department the other day. Back then there was so little _______space, they’d start building vertically. Towers they were called. And sky…scrapers? Yeah, sky-scrapers.
θriː Like… to scrape skies?
tuː Who knows.
wʌn They didn’t have enclosures back then. I’m sure buildings could be as tall as they wanted them to be.
θriː Right, right. Everything was open. I’m pretty sure people used to travel on air to get everywhere because _______of that. The museum had an “aeronautics” exhibit last week. They seemed really dangerous to me. Hard _______to believe hundreds of people would be in them at once.
wʌn No, no, they didn’t always use planes. That was for when they had to transport large groups of people ______from one sector to another. Like ˈeɪʒə-saʊθ to əˈmɛrɪkə-nɔːθ. Or whatever they used to call those places ______back then.
θriː Transport… people? To different sectors? For what?
wʌn Ask the expert.
tuː The old sectors – ‘countries’ they were called – used to be very different from each other. And there _______were a lot more of them. We have 15 sectors now, but there were hundreds of countries. They all had _______different leaders, different languages, different currencies, different climates, everything. Some were _______probably better off than others, so people would tend to move around. Planes were just the quickest _______way for them to do so.
wʌn Guess they hadn’t come up with their ocean-lines yet. Or would they travel above water?
tuː They’d use the ocean for transport sometimes. On things called “ships”. But yeah, normally above the _______surface, not underwater for the most part. Mostly for moving goods – cargo – from one place to another.
wʌn Well then, at least that’s the same.
tuː Eh, people would travel on ships too sometimes.
wʌn What, why?
tuː Before the 20th century, that was the only way to get people across the ocean. After the 20th century…_______they traveled on them for leisure, I guess. Neither ships or planes were a clean way to get around _______though.
wʌn Hah. And people still wonder why we’re in these little bubbles of ours.
II – LIVING /ˈlɪvɪŋ/
“And now, on to the weather! We’ve been seeing quite the downpour for the past few days from six fifteen p.m. to nine forty-five p.m. – as per the Ministry of Agriculture’s schedule. But good news is, tomorrow’s marks the last evening of rainfall for the year! Starting Monday, these quiet greys are going to be turning a clear blu-
…
“It seems we have breaking news. There has been a minor road accident on H-14, leading to significant traffic pileup till the H-23 intersection. We have ˈoʊməɹ at the scene to provide a detailed description of the incident. Over to you ˈoʊməɹ.
Thanks ʤuːn. For those of you just joining in, I’m here at H-14 where there seems to have been a single-vehicle collision on the road. The officers inspecting the incident are reporting that the driver of said vehicle has no visible injuries. It seems the driver had lost control of his car and had crashed into the guard rail on the left side of the road. We will be able to provide more details on the victim shortly.
Furthermore, this accident has created a significant traffic jam all the way until H-23. Since this route is exclusively used by employees from the Ministry of Health, individuals that were scheduled to leave their homes at any time past 8:36 a.m. will be caught in this congestion, and will be facing delays in their reporting time at the Ministry.
We have just received notice that the Ministry of Health has carried out the relevant calculations, and are providing nine minutes of relaxation for each employee’s reporting time. This is to accommodate the necessary adjustments to each vehicles speed, and potential rubbernecking. Any delays beyond that will be added on to the end of the concerned employees shift.
And… we have just received an update on the victim of the car crash. It seems that the police are facing delays in identifying the driver. This has led authorities to assume that this individual has refrained from consuming his daily supplements as per the Ministry of Health’s instructions, and is therefore not visible on today’s census records. This is further demonstrated by the driver’s ‘sickly appearance’ – to quote the police report – and a lack of attention on the road. The number of days that the victim has avoided his supplements is also unclear, but considering the driver’s condition, authorities claim that it has likely been weeks. The police are now investigating the reason as to why the victim avoided his daily supplements.
And that brings us to the end of our report. We will now return to our regularly scheduled news. Back to you ʤuːn!
III – CONDUCT /ˈkɒndʌkt/
Identification Code: AS – 072 378
Welcome to your Annual Abidance & Regularity Examination. During the A.R.E we will be documenting your pulse and respiration rate for each of your responses. The testing will end if there are noticeable oddities in your vitals.
As directed by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, we will begin the testing by reviewing your consumption of the supplements provided to you by the Ministry. Please respond to each of these prompts in as succinct a manner as possible.
-click-
Have you been receiving your daily supplements at 7:04 AM each morning?
Yes.
And have you been consuming said supplements as per direction from the Ministry of Health and Welfare?
Yes.
Have you experienced any negative reactions to the supplements provided, that may have led to failure or inhibition in consuming said supplements?
No.
Are you aware of any individuals within your household, neighbourhood or workplace that have failed to regularly consume the supplements provided to them?
No.
-click-
Thank you. We will now move on to occupation-centric questions. The testing will end if you fail to answer any questions in regards and in relation to your position. Please state your place of work.
Ministry of Health. Department of Biotechnology, Pharmaceutical Division.
-click-
Thank you. It seems that your respective Board have had some concerns in regards to a group of employees within your department. Your responses for this portion of the examination will be recorded and forwarded to the relevant authorities. Once again, the testing will end if there are noticeable oddities in your vitals.
Please provide a brief report of your divisions progress over the last quarter.
“Um… we had received records of people in ˈjʊərəp-wɛst and ˈjʊərəp-nɔːθ having a sort of allergic reaction to the supplements we’ve developed. We’ve made the necessary modifications, so it shouldn’t be an issue anymore.
Oh we’ve also worked with the Ministry of Housing and Home Affairs in əˈmɛrɪkə-saʊθ to rework the Population Control Scheme for each sector. Our sector is now going to have four natal dates instead of three from now on. They’ve now been set on the fifteenth of January, April, July and October. We’ve adjusted the supplements accordingly. We will see effects by the October period.
There was also discussion on whether or not people reaching the age of seventy should…pass away on the same days – as in the fifteenth of those same four months. The initial plan was to carry out the passing and the necessary procedures at the end of those same months. But in the end, they – we, decided that there’s no need to set aside a different day for those that are passing away.
This way we won’t have to worry about the effects of a population spike for those fifteen to sixteen days.”
Have you completed your report? The Board of Directors also mentioned completion on the ‘Five-Stages’ project. Please continue your report.
“Oh…yes. The five stages have been decided. We’re still yet to modify the supplements further. But it is almost complete. The body should adhere to the appropriate stages, as long as one takes the supplements as directed. These changes will also likely come about by the October period.”
A notable number of employees within the Department of Biotechnology have failed to recall each of the five stages and the corresponding ages correctly. Please dictate the five stages. The testing will end if you provide an incorrect response.
“Right… the stages are: birth to five for ‘preliminary development’; five to twenty for ‘education’; twenty to fifty- five for ‘employment’; Fifty-five to sixty-five, education – or ‘mentorship’ rather; and sixty-five to seventy for ‘retirement’.”
.
.
.
-click-
Thank you. The relevant authorities are satisfied with your responses. We will now move on to a series of question regarding your ‘home-life’. Once again, the testing will end if there are noticeable oddities in your vitals.
-click
Anamika Sarker
Where is this grassroots initiative implemented? Who are the promoters? Who are the beneficiaries?
Veditum India Foundation is a not-for-profit research and media organization based out of Kolkata, India. Their work is at the intersection of environment, culture, and society, and is currently centered around Indian rivers, and life in and around these rivers. Their aim is to create publicly accessible records, which range from ecological, anthropogenic, hydrological, social, and more contextual layers of these spaces and of people’s stories.
The City Water Walks project by Veditum is a pan-India, multi-city project. It has taken off in multiple cities in the country, such as in Ahmedabad, Mumbai, and Chennai. It is also presently underway in other cities such as Kolkata. Recognizing that they are not the first, neither the only organization to map urban commons, they simply wish to provide a platform for people to host their information on after some basic vetting. When people from various cities are interested in conducting these walks, Veditum can provide them with a basic framework for it, should they ask for it. The City Water Walks project is entirely volunteer driven by curious citizens who are generally enthusiastic about learning about the urban realm that they inhabit. As such, the promoters would be the same individuals and groups who conduct the walks.
In terms of the dissemination of information and a growing awareness, the direct beneficiaries of the program are the common citizens. Yet, realizing that just a couple of guided walks are not sufficient to drive impactful change, the founder of Veditum India Foundation, Siddharth Agarwal believes that the persistence of these projects is the key to success. In allowing for the information to be open-source and accessible by people all over the web, citizens become more aware of the water infrastructure in their cities as a short-term objective. And in the long-term, in the presence of persevering demands from the citizens, they become the direct recipients of any administrative and development changes made in the city. Additionally, the global audience is also a beneficiary of this project, who can then use a similar framework to conduct similar studies and projects in their own cities.
How does this initiative engage with climate? Does it tackle mitigation, adaptation, both or other dimensions of climate change?
It is indisputable that climate change is real and very much upon us. But the changes which have been observed in recent years do not stay bounded within the geopolitical boundaries of any one country or region. Any changes to the local weather and climate of any area in the form of extreme weather events is bound to have global significance.
According to Pathak et al. (2014), “the hydrological cycle is intimately linked with changes in atmospheric temperature and radiation balance. A warmer climate may lead to an intensification of the hydrological cycle, resulting in higher rates of evaporation and increase of liquid precipitation. These processes, in association with a shifting pattern of precipitation, may affect the spatial and temporal distribution of runoff, soil moisture, groundwater reserves etc. and may increase the frequency of droughts and floods.” The director-general of the India Meteorological Department confirmed to Mongabay-India, a conservation and environmental science news platform, that the seasonal reliability of the annual monsoons in India has been changing. What used to be a steady combination of rains and sun is giving way to long periods of inadequate rainfall followed by intense rain; in short — drought and floods.
Reports from various parts of the country, for instance inadequate rains in Kerala and Karnataka followed by intense storms, bouts of strong rainfall of more than 900mm in Tamil Nadu in one day, weeks of flooding in cities such as Mumbai and in parts of Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Assam, and drinking water reserves running dry in Chennai have made it clear that these unanticipated patterns are a result of climate change. Such extreme weather events are expected to become commonplace in coming years, with an impending water crisis which is nearly upon us. Vast areas and populations living in them are being starved of water as the average temperature rises, worsening the number of people suffering from water stress. In addition to variable rainfall patterns, open areas which acted as major drainage points or forests in the past are being overrun by expanding cities. So, when there are excessive rains, cities are not able to drain the water, leading to widespread inundation.
For cities to expand in manners which are environmentally directed and sustainable, it is important to study the already existing infrastructure and patterns of distribution (of water). This is where we believe the City Water Walks projects fits in to the picture. By documenting water in the urban realm, including where the water comes from, how (and where) it travels within and city, and where it ultimately goes, it makes available a near-holistic understanding of urban water. An essential part of this process is to study the development of this network, which then makes it possible to map the changes which have taken place. Such research is carried out by often undertaking these walks in person, where citizens can see for themselves the route that the water they use and dispose on a regular basis, travels to and from. In addition to this, referring to academic and research projects, government archives, oral histories, narratives, and even literature from the region can add to the different layers of information one can gather for the program. In doing so, and by making educated estimates of what the upcoming years will look like for the city, the City Water Walks project will allow elected municipal and government officials to implement more efficient policies. Additionally, the walks which are a part of the City Water Walks project are different from regular walking tours which have become common in many cities today. This project urges us to be more mindful of the environment that we are in and is done from the perspective of record keeping and record making. In that sense, we believe that the City Water Walks project seeks to engage with climate change by helping Indian cities to better adapt to changing environmental conditions and preparing them to stay resilient against future extreme weather events.
What are the main objectives? What are the main values?
According to the Veditum India Foundation, the City Water Walks project was “born out the desire to understand how the urban [water] commons function and how are they affected by constant changes in governance and development.” In an interview with us, Siddharth spoke of the objective of the project as multifold- before the walk(s) is conducted, it is about building an idea to understand the context of where we as citizens and a society are situated. During the walk, the objective changes to a building a relationship with the landscape and with the water commons, which otherwise does not exist for us since it often remains hidden from view. This is especially important because citizen engagement is what triggers a mechanism towards accountability. The eventual goal is to contribute to smarter administrative and development decision making through their work. Their intent to amplify the voices of young Indians and push for collective action wherever required. The overall objective of the project can be understood as creating and revealing multiple reference points to understand and measure the changes in our cities, and to push for more comprehensive record-keeping.
What is the timeline? Are there already visible effects?
The timeline for the project differs from city to city. But a part of the birth of the project was driven by the smaller temporal scale of it. The founder of Veditum India Foundation was already walking along the river Ganga and mapping it, which was a 6-month long commitment. Around the same time, questions about how other people could get involved in similar projects within more localized contexts came up. That is when the idea of the City Water Walks came to be- as a one-day long commitment made by citizens who were interested in questions of the relationship between their cities and the water which quenches its thirst.
Who are the actors involved? What is their background?
Veditum, as an organization, is open to have individuals or other organizations approach them with proposals to conduct similar water walks in their respective cities. As such, the City Water Walks project is not a centrally led project, with a fixed team working on it. It is, in essence, led by curious citizens who want to know more about the cities they inhabit and want to make that information available to others. While speaking with Siddharth, we were told that most people who choose to get involved in the project are those who are interested in urban studies, working within issues of environmental and policy accountability, students, general enthusiasts, and citizen scientists.
Which limits (institutional, physical, social, etc.) does it encounter?
As independent researchers, often there is a physical restriction of access to spaces, regardless of whether these are publicly or privately owned, and can lead to policing of these spaces by those who implement and enforce laws. Additionally, in the absence of an education institutional affiliation, a lot of information in the form of city-level records and other records, is often withheld. In such cases, it becomes necessary to rely on citizen records to fill in the missing gaps. It can also often be difficult to ensure the involvement of the local communities at different levels.
Are any shortcomings or critical points visible? What other problematic issues can arise from its implementation?
Currently, the main shortcoming of the project is the limited number of partners that it has. Strength and collective action are more likely to build up and be effective only when there are larger numbers and more long-term partners for the same. As for implementation, since this is primarily a research-based project, there are no foreseeable issues which may arise because of the findings from the project.
How would it be potentially replicable in other settings?
The City Water Walks is a project that is flexible, both in terms of who all are involved in it, but also where it may be implemented. Since the project was first started in the city of Mumbai along the Mithi river, it has already travelled to other parts and cities in India, where the project has transformed to contextualize itself within the respective cities.
Is this initiative conducive to broader changes (law, institutional arrangements, long term sustainability or community preparedness, etc.)? If yes, which?
The project is carried out with a lot of hope in the hearts of those conducting these walks- hope that more people from various cities will become interested. Given that people from various backgrounds are, and can be, involved with the City Water Walks project, the dissemination of information within different communities is faster. And as the network and bandwidth increases, the framework to carry out these walks and projects can become directly workable. The City Water Walks project especially looks at questions and infrastructure related to water supply and drainage. These are essential components which need to be addressed, at institutional, policy, and community levels, to make our cities more sustainable and prepared for the climate crisis.
Explain which materials you have used for your entry and eventually add links.
Arcanjo, M. (2019). The Future of Water in India. Retrieved from http://climate.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/The-Future-of-Water-in-India.pdf
Gopikrishna Warrier, S. (2019, September 19). As climate change disrupts the annual monsoon, India must prepare. Retrieved from https://news.mongabay.com/2019/09/as-climate-change-disrupts-the-annual-monsoon-india-must-prepare-commentary/
N.A (2021). Veditum India Foundation. Retrieved from https://veditum.org/
N.A (2021). City Water Walks. Retrieved from: https://veditum.org/citywaterwalks/
Pathak, H., Pramanik, P., Khanna, M., & Kumar, A. (2014). Climate change and water availability in Indian agriculture: impacts and adaptation. Indian J Agr Sci, 84, 671-679.
Prakas, A. & Goswami, A. (2020, August 29). Indian cities get drowned every monsoon. Here’s what can be done about it. Retrieved from https://scroll.in/article/971519/indian-cities-get-drowned-every-monsoon-heres-what-can-be-done-about-it
Sarker, A. & Agarwal, S. (2021, September 23). Where does Kolkata get its water from? Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvK6UQfaO3c
Greta Gustafsson
Gamla Göta landsväg på Årstafältet, september 2012 by ”Jssfrk”, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0.
Where is this grassroots initiative implemented?
In the borough Årsta, in the southern part of Stockholm.
Who are the promoters? Who are the actors involved? What is their background?
The grassroot initiative is called Bevara Årstaskogen, in this text translated by the author to Preserve the Årsta forest. The initiative was founded by a group of citizens who were living in Årsta or had a clear connection to the Årsta forest, such as an allotment garden in the surrounding area. However, as the work has progressed, the support from nearby communities has been clear in terms of petitions. Preserve the Årsta forest has a main workgroup consisting of around 15 people, which can be seen as the core of the network. They all have other professions; among them one can find environmental consultants, lawyers, biologists, kindergarten teachers, architects, and graphic designers, therefore everyone works with the grassroot initiative in their free time. Furthermore, the initiative can be seen as a network that this workgroup mobilises from time to time. The Facebook group has 2 215 members, however, Eva Emell and Eva Lindahl could not say how many of them that are actually active, but guessed that it is around 50 people (Emell and Lindahl 2020).
The movement is a reaction of the municipality of Stockholm’s suggestion of building 800-1000 new apartments in the Årsta Forest (Olesund 2017). The ruling parties of the municipality at the time of the proposal were the Labour Party, the Green Party, the Left Party and the Feminist initiative (Nilsson 2018). In the election of 2018, the Centre Party made the issue with the Årsta forest one of the elections main questions. The party said that they would work against the building of houses in the area and at the same time expand the borders of the nature reserve. This led to the party getting 20 percent of the votes in Årsta. At the time of writing, the party has fulfilled their promise of stopping the building of the houses, however broadening the borders is yet to be done (Fagerström 2018).
Who are the beneficiaries?
In the early 2018 the forest became a protected natural area and is now a nature preserve, due to its role as a recreation area for the inhabitants of Stockholm and importance in the Swedish history of culture (Miljöbarometern 2018). Further on, the forest serves as home for a number of rare species in different stages of their lives (Länsstyrelsen 2018), which according to the author of this text makes it an important area for the local environment of Stockholm.
According to Emell and Lindahl the beneficiaries are themselves, but also their families that use the forest. They also highlight the importance of the forest for people that are not able to leave the city to access nature. Since it is a forest in an urban environment, it is easy to access for a lot of people, not demanding a car or a lot of free time. Furthermore, the forest works as a dissemination corridor for several species, it lowers the local temperature, it is a popular recreation area as well as playground for local kindergartens and schools. Moreover, the conflict shows how important the local democracy is, according to Emell and Lindahl. It has shown how substantial the forest is to a lot of people, for different reasons. If the politicians were to ignore that, the social contract is lost (Emell and Lindahl 2020).
How this initiative engages with climate? Does it tackle mitigation, adaptation, both or other dimensions of climate change?
The reason for the movement is to stop a proposal from the municipality. The proposal is a suggestion on the building of houses in the outskirt of the Årsta forest, however, it would still be in the nature preservation area. As a consequence of the rollout, the borders of the forest would decrease. Saving the forest can be seen as a way of mitigating the climate change, since it serves as a carbon sink and lowers the local temperature. It would also save the lives of many rare species and with that maintain the biodiversity. It could therefore be argued that the forest mostly works as a way to diminish climate change and preserve nature in the area.
What are the main objectives? What are the main values?
Emell and Lindahl say that the main value of the movement is to spread facts and information about the forest to politicians and the locals. They want to have a serious and respectful dialog with the stakeholders involved, and not promoting or supporting hearsay. They continue with saying that they do not accept disrespectful or unpleasant comments either on Facebook or in physical meetings. The information is spread through social media, handing out pamphlets and inviting stakeholders and locals to different types of gatherings regarding the forest (Emell and Lindahl 2020).
What is the timeline? Are there already visible effects?
In June 2017 the municipality of Stockholm decided to start the planning of building 800-1000 new apartments, as well as determining the borders of what would become the nature preserve (Olesund 2017). This would also be the starting point of Preserve the Årsta forest-movement (Emell and Lindahl 2020).
On the 4th of September 2019 the local newspaper Mitt I Söderort wrote that the plans of building new houses were cancelled (Göransson and Bonnichsen 2019). This is one of the main aims with the movement, hence one could say that there have been visible effects. On the 22nd of September 2020 Preserve the Årsta forest wrote on their webpage that the municipality’s new plan was to extend the area of the nature preserve (Bevara Årstaskogen 2020). However, the movement wants the borders of the preserve to cover the whole forest, thus still having one of their main objectives unfulfilled.
At the moment of writing, Preserve the Årsta forest is not very active. A few members are having a dialog with the politicians about what will happen with the forest, and how the work with extending the borders of the natural preserve is going, furthermore their collaboration with the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation is still ongoing. When asked if their work can ever be finished, Emell and Lindahl answer that they are not sure. The group has talked about becoming more of a creative group that arranges gatherings where knowledge about the forest can be spread as well as enjoying the forest together (Emell and Lindahl 2020).
Which limits does it encounter?
When asked about limits that have prevented the work of Preserve the Årsta forest, Emell and Lindahl cannot come up with any obstacles that might have hindered their work. Although, if they were to have had more money, they might have done things differently. However, they have never felt limited by the resources they did have. On the contrary they have felt very privileged to have a group of people educated in different areas, all of them very important to reach their aim. Emell and Lindahl especially highlight the benefits of having several layers within their group, as well as a biologist, someone that has worked a lot as a project leader, and a graphic designer. These competences have been crucial since the group wants to be based on facts and not feelings (Emell and Lindahl 2020).
Are any shortcomings or critical points visible? What other problematic issues can arise from its implementation?
The issue about building apartments in the forest can be seen as one of the ways the house crisis in Stockholm is shown. The demand for houses is critical. By trying to stop this, the crisis is consequently ongoing. On the other hand, there are other areas where new houses can be built. It can be argued that it is a matter of where the municipality decides to build them. Which areas that are prioritised to stay green, and which are not. According to the author of this text, there are probably more suitable places than a forest that serves many purposes for the locals. Both humans and animals.
How would it be potentially replicable in other settings?
Since the group focuses on spreading facts about the forest and the surrounding area, the way of working can probably be adjusted to other issue. Although the group has benefited from having members with insight in how these processes are done, the core value is to have well-researched argument and deliver facts to the stakeholders. That does not necessarily have to demand a certain job or education.
Is this initiative conducive to broader changes (law, institutional arrangements, long-term sustainability or community preparedness, etc.)? If yes, which?
It is hard to say if this movement can lead to broader changes.
References
Bevara Årstaskogen. 2020. Senaste Nytt:. [Online] Available at:
https://bevaraarstaskogen.wordpress.com [Accessed 23 October 2020].
Emell, E. and Lindahl, E.; Members of Preserve the Årsta Forest. 2020. Interview on the 23rd
of October.
Fagerström, P. 2018. Seger för C: Inga bostäder i Årstaskogen. [online] Available at: https://www.mitti.se/nyheter/seger-for-c-inga-bostader-i arstaskogen/lmrjl!4693123/ [Accessed 23 October 2020]
Göransson, A. and Bonnichsen, L., 2019. Borgarrådet: ”Vi Ska Inte Bygga I Årstaskogen”.
[online] Available at: https://www.mitti.se/nyheter/borgarradet-vi-
ska-inte-bygga-i-arstaskogen/lmsid!6683071/ [Accessed 23 October 2020].
Lansstyrelsen.se. 2018. Årstaskogen Och Årsta Holmar. [online] Available at:
https://www.lansstyrelsen.se/stockholm/besoksmal/naturreservat/arstaskogen-’
och-arsta-holmar.html [Accessed 15 October 2020].
Miljöbarometern. 2018. Naturreservatsbildning För Årstaskogen Och Årsta Holmar –
Stockholms Miljöbarometer. [online] Available at: http://miljobarometern.stockholm.se/natur/naturskydd/naturreservatsbildning-
for-arstaskogen-och-arsta-holmar/ [Accessed 15 October 2020].
Nilsson, L. 2018. Val 2018: Det här vill partierna. [online] expressen.se. Available at: https://www.expressen.se/nyheter/val-2018/val-2018-det-har-vill-partierna-i-stockholm/ [Accessed 23 October 2020].
Olesund, H., 2017. Naturreservat För Årsta Skog Och Årsta Holmar. Lägesrapport. [online]
Available at: https://insynsverige.se/documentHandler.ashx?did=1893604 [Accessed 15 October 2020].
In the middle of the desert landscape of the coast of Peru and its neighbor Chile, the Lomas stand out as islands of vegetation. With many endemic species, the ecosystem resists aridity by capturing the cold maritime humidity of the Pacific Ocean that enters the continent, the garúa. The millenary relationship between vegetation and ocean humidity ensured the safety of the water in the surroundings, especially in large cities. With the destruction of hills for pasture, agriculture, and mining, desertification has increased severely in recent decades. The Red de Lomas del Peru (Peru’s Lomas network) is a non-profit citizen association that centralizes the activities of other social groups, with the objective of conserving these coastal hills in Peru. Although its activities are concentrated in Lima, a megalopolis of 8.5 million inhabitants, the network articulates actions at the national level. The entry of water from the Garúa due to the presence of hills in the vicinity of the urban territory promotes local environmental improvements in the quality of air, rivers and groundwater.
At the same time that the hills are ecosystems sensitive to climate change, especially to changes in the duration and intensity of the El Niño phenomenon, they act in the water management of the local climate in the midst of complex processes of desertification. Thus, the activities of the Red de Lomas del Peru have ensured the lomas as conservation areas, and have sought to restore previously degraded areas. This is more present in the city of Lima, which has a history marked by water scarcity and water supply problems for its inhabitants.
The main objective of the network is to build sustainable communities through the conservation, protection, management and improvement of the ecosystems of the Peruvian lomero. In their vision, they want to be a network of reference and recognized as a generator of awareness and environmental responsibility for their capacity for action and proposals for the protection and defense of the hills and their sustainable management by citizens, communities, social organizations, the State and private companies. Behind these activities are three values: commitment to the environment, especially the hills; solidarity with environmental defenders; and the culture of caring for the community. For years, different associations have faced environmental conflicts such as land invasions and informal mining to ensure the protection of the lomas ecosystem throughout Peru. The Red de Lomas del Peru arises in 2018 from the need to articulate these parties into a unit that can have a greater presence in the nation, exchange experiences and collaborate with each other, in order to have a greater involvement with government authorities. In addition to giving voice to the members of the network and their allies, the network has also listened to governmental and scientific institutions, and to civil society as a whole.
Today, many of those involved in the activities of the Red de Lomas del Peru were, or still are, linked to the associations that make up the network. The president of the Asociación Ecológica Lomas de Primavera (Lomas de Primavera Ecological Association) in Carabaylo, Ascencio Vásquez, is president of the Network. Vicepresident Yovita Barzola acts as President of the Asociación Ecoturística Lomas de Mangomarca (Lomas de Mangomarca Ecotourism Association). The same occurs with other members such as: Gerónimo Huayhua, former president and current member of the “Circuito Ecoturístico Lomas de Paraíso” (Lomas de Paraíso Ecotourism Circuit) in Villa María del Triunfo; Trinidad Pérez, member of the association “Protectores Ambientales de la Flor y Lomas de Amancaes (PAFLA)” (Environmental Protectors of the Flower and Hills of Amancaes)” in the district of Rímac; Jorman Cabello, president of “Haz Tu Mundo Verde”; Yrma Peralta, president of the “Apu Ikiri Warmi Association”; Julieta de la Torre, leader of the “Comunidad Campesina de Atiquipa” (“Atiquipa Peasant
Community”).
With the communication facilities of the digital age, the initiative to organize networks of knowledge and actions is easily replicable. More than the sum of the strengths of the associations already formed, the networks allow a greater scope of activities and a new organizational identity that encompasses new challenges and new objectives.
Thanks to these joint efforts, they have already managed to make important decisions for the conservation of hills legitimized by documents, such as: the declaration of hills as fragile ecosystems, in 2018; Supreme Decree 011-2019-MINAM establishing the Regional Conservation Area “Sistema Lomas de Lima”, in December 2019; Supreme Decree 007-2020-MINAGRI, which establishes the “Inter-institutional Protocol to protect fragile ecosystems” and allows action against illegal and informal activities in the hills, in August 2020.
The Hortas Cariocas Program is a project of the City of Rio de Janeiro in partnership with dozens of local leaders from the city’s favelas, for the realization of community urban gardens. According to the 2010 census, more than 1.3 million people live in favelas in the municipality or 22% of the total population (6.2 million). Favelas are residential communities in which many are in a situation of socio-environmental vulnerability due to landslides, food, and financial insecurity, low self-esteem, situations of risk of urban social violence, etc.
In seeking to associate income generation and healthy food production, local community leaders (residents’ association presidents, school principals, etc.) contact the Rio de Janeiro Municipal Environment Secretariat to join the program. With adherence, the government guarantees financial aid for more than 200 local gardeners, in addition to tools, uniforms, individual protective equipment, seeds and seedlings, organic fertilizers, and the technical knowledge of agronomists. With labor and local knowledge, community work generates food and income. Of the total agricultural production (82 tonnes in 2020), half is destined for commercialization at subsidized prices, and the other half is dedicated to donations to the community itself – for daycare centers, nursing homes, shelters, orphanages, families in
situations of food vulnerability indicated by the residents’ association. Only in the community garden of Manguinhos, the largest community garden in Latin America, thousands are benefited.
In addition to generating income and food, another great advantage of the program is the interaction with the land. The creator and executor of the project, Julio Cesar Barros, comments that many go to the gardens to do “mental hygiene”, to clear the bush and interact with the land. According to him, “the carioca lost his rural reference, and we needed to restore in the children. [Nowadays] half of the gardens are in schools ”. There, hundreds of children take practical classes in the garden, in addition to curriculum classes such as math and even history. And of course, they eat vegetables without pesticides that they themselves planted, cared for, and watched grow. Although daily work is not mandatory, children love it. When they get home, these children encourage their parents to eat better, to have a healthier relationship with the land, and to rescue the rural reference for them. The production complements school meals, part of which is donated to the neediest families. Teachers are also benefited because in the gardens they have medicinal herbs such as chamomile and lemon balm that they “need to be able to hold their nerves”, jokes Julio Cesar.
The success of Hortas Cariocas is when the community garden asks for its emancipation from the program itself. Although they lose financial aid, they have the freedom to trade all their production and not just half. Generating income and producing food locally is an efficient way to generate a local economy, reduce the consumption of fossil fuels, encourage healthy eating, and other results directly linked to mitigating climate change.
The spaces occupied by the community gardens were marked by strong socioenvironmental vulnerability, especially in old dumps (areas of irregular garbage disposal) and landslide areas. With the occupation, residents now have access to these green areas and the dignity of being able to work for their own livelihood. It is in this way that the Hortas Cariocas Program structures its main objectives: to popularize the consumption of organic food, to prevent the occupation of vulnerable areas such as the ones above, to generate local income in the communities served, to stimulate agroecological agriculture in the city, to disseminate healthy eating habits and rural education in schools, reduce food security.
The project’s history goes back to a landslide event after heavy rain in 2006, where many were displaced. Instead of following the constant confrontation between public authorities and residents about the use of these risk areas, the Municipal Secretariat for the Environment bet on the project formulated by its agronomist Julio Cesar Barros. Thus, the first vegetable garden emerged in the same year, a collective social area of the community, where people support and protect. In 2021, there are already 49 vegetable gardens around the city, some of which have already been emancipated and commercialize all their production. Along with Julio Cesar, a huge contingent of association presidents, school directors, gardeners, supervisors, and many other partners work directly in the production of vegetables.
A mark of success is the emancipation of the vegetable garden, as said before. And a sad mark is leaving a garden for lack of results, whether due to lack of adherence or other reasons, the fact is interpreted as a reflection of the fact that you invested wrongly. Internally, as a program of the municipal government of a large city, such as Rio de Janeiro, Hortas Cariocas experienced some adversities. With the entry and exit of mayors in municipal administrations, things can get complicated. However, the biggest complications are now with the delay in renewing support contracts, an unprecedented crisis. The support of agronomists, cars, trucks, administrative assistants are essential for the program to work, data generation, seedling flows, assistance to gardeners, and the implementation of innovations such as a drip system that saves water resources and an aquaponics system combining fish and vegetable gardens with a capacity of 2 tons of tilapia in the first year.
The initiative is easily replicable in other cities around the world. The main criterion is to already have a local initiative, a mobilized group where the need to build a community garden in the community is already discussed. The partnership with the city hall or other public or private institution is carried out with financial assistance for those involved, technical training for planting and management of gardens, provision of equipment and material, etc. The social return is immeasurable.
The Rediacción Grassroot movement is a metropolitan regional research and action network, whose organizers act politically in the Sabana de Bogotá. The region located in the geographic center of Colombia has more than 4 thousand km² with very different socio-environmental aspects, such as high altitudes (average of 2,600m) and steep topography that facilitate the capture of humidity from the air and act in the creation of lakes and wetlands; and a large urban population in the fifth most populous city in the Americas: Bogotá.
By dedicating itself to advocacy on land use planning, based on respect for the main ecological structure, the Rediacción involves knowledge and proposals for adaptation to climate change that includes everything from participation in public policies to governance processes, environmental education, planting and ecological restorations. Thus benefiting natural environments, the local population and public entities that manage socio-environmental conflicts.
In the midst of so many social actors, the collective’s objectives are centered on mediating between them in order to influence the formulation of municipal and regional policies, plans and projects; forge alliances with different social and institutional actors in favor of the resolution of socio-environmental conflicts; and disseminate information related to the Sabana de Bogotá to qualify the debate on land use planning and public policies.
Non-profit making, nor governmental or party ties, the members of Rediacción believe that urban planning and land use planning are suitable instruments to guide the development of the region and should be used for the benefit of the population, always above the interests of real estate capital. They perceive the surroundings of Bogotá as a set of living beings, physical elements and their ecological processes that need to be protected and used in a sustainable way. These assumptions were suggested by Thomas van der Hammen in his Main Ecological Structure concept in the 1990s. One of Rediacción’s areas of action is the Thomas van der Hammen North Bogota Producing Regional Forest Reserve, in honor of the scientist.
For them, the vision of regional and municipal development cannot be economically based and must respond to the particularities and needs of the local level in coordination, but not subject to the agendas of Bogotá or of corporate actors. For that, they understand internet social networks as a fundamental instrument for the dissemination of knowledge, high-level debate and the construction of relationships of solidarity and collaboration. Therefore, they are interested in participating in an informed and argued way in the local and regional public debate, without partisan interests, as citizens.
The movement was born in February 2020, from the interest in the analysis and understanding of the territorial dynamics of the municipalities of the Sabana de Bogotá, especially those that have metropolitan relations with the capital. In this process, they seek to position themselves as a representative actor, capable of qualifying the public debate and influencing the processes of public policy formulation related to different aspects in the region. Some examples were the technical suggestions in the process of creation of the Metropolitan Region, Bogotá Cundinamarca, the Multitemporal Study as a basis for discussion on the change of route of the trunk of the Andes on its site (https://rediaccion.wixsite.com/ rediaccion) and the dissemination of academic research for the general public on a YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCm-3sPqZYrzpjLIgbgpIEYA).
The actors involved have a strong interdisciplinary perspective of the humanities and natural sciences centralized in the city. Luz Marina Rincón is a sociologist and has a master’s degree in Regional Development Planning. She is interested in the analysis of the creation of the Bogotá – Cundinamarca Metropolitan Region and the territorial and environmental planning of Chía and the region, she is currently a member of the Chía Territorial Council (2008 – 2016). Javier Muñoz Reyes is an architect with a master’s degree in Urban Design, a master’s degree in Territorial Planning and Environmental Management. He has experience in Design, Consultant of urban projects, Advisor in projects of Land Management. Giselle Andrea Osorio Ardila is an anthropologist, doctor in urban and regional planning. Johanna González Calderón is an environmental administrator, audiovisual and plastic artist, and farmer, with experience in participatory ecological restoration, environmental education, processes of social appropriation of strategic ecosystems and socio-environmental research. Sergio Burgos is an environmental engineer with a master’s degree in Regional Urban Planning. Iris Laverde Bohórquez is an environmental administrator and a master’s student in Environment and Development. Nixon Eduardo Mora Caicedo is an admirer and caregiver of nature, and a student at the University of Cundinamarca. Ana Milena Sastoque Herrera is a sociologist, interested in rural, labor, environment and gender issues, and is doing her master’s degree in Environment and Development.
While Rediacción’s work is bearing fruit, its ideas, resolutions and proposals are held back by social groups with conflicting interests. The greatest difficulty experienced is the reluctance of decision makers to effectively incorporate contributions and suggestions into public policies and planning instruments.
Still, they realize that their actions can be replicable in other contexts. According to Giselle Osorio: “It is replicable because we act within the framework of national norms for citizen participation, using the tools they provide us with. Our group is made up of professionals who contribute to common objectives from their fields of knowledge, so similar initiatives can arise anywhere there is a will”.
In the short-medium term, Rediacción plans to have its actions in projects and documents such as the Organic Law of the Bogotá-Cundinamarca Metropolitan Region; the Formulation of Municipal Land Use Plans; the creation and consolidation of a green belt to contain the Bogotá-Sabana conurbation; future actions for the ecological restoration of the Bogotá River ring road; and the constitution of a Natural Reserve for civil society in the Los Andes wetland.
Ellen Ahlgren
Rena Mälaren is an initiative located in Sweden, primarily doing their sustainability work within the city centre of Stockholm. Stockholm, which is the capital of Sweden, claimed the nickname “the Venice of the North”, since the city stretches across fourteen islands where Lake Mälaren flows into the Baltic Sea. This consequently generates a lot of boat-traffic within the city, with many small marinas scattered throughout the larger city centred islands. A significant human induced problem, especially in the marinas but also throughout the lake near the islands, is waste dumping by individuals. The non-profit organisation Rena Mälaren therefore aims to both engage and motivate locals in the protection of the already fragile water body, but also to actually remove waste with the help of divers and non-divers.
The pick-up truck of Rena Mälaren that goes to the recycling centre (Olsson, 2020)
Rena Mälaren was created by Fredrik Johansson and today the organisation has over 50 voluntary locals who help with clean-up of Lake Mälaren. The organisation is non-profit, and the promoters are the voluntary individuals who spread the message through social media and verbally to their friends and family. Since the work of the organisation is in public locations, Rena Mälaren also gets recognition when doing their environmental clean-up since people pass and wonder about the work. Fredrik Johansson started the organisation when diving for fun around Stockholm city centre and realised that there were tons of waste that existed on the bottom. Lake Mälaren is a water source for around 1.5 million people, to pollute the water with both waste and especially toxic waste, means that the 1.5 million people would need a new non-polluted source of water, which is both energy demanding and rare to come by because of water scarcity.
The main objectives of the organisation are to remove toxic chemicals from the lake – primarily from lead batteries, electric scooters, and other hazardous objects. This is the main communication of the organisation, however, along with the positive environmental work that Rena Mälaren does, climate positive outcomes are a result that the organisation is very much aware of and also brings up when discussing the positivity of the initiative. This is for example in case of all of the collected waste of Rena Mälaren being recycled, which in turns saves both energy production and carbon emissions, when comparing recycled materials with producing new materials from raw materials. This is important, since the amount of waste collected is vast, and a lot of the collected materials are from metals, glass, and hard plastic from tires. These are all very energy demanding to create, hence, to recycle these products would save a lot of energy and be a climate mitigation action.
Some of the waste that Rena Mälaren has picked up from Norrmälarstrand in Stockholm with volunteers in the background (Olsson, 2020)
As previously mentioned, another of the objectives of Rena Mälaren is also to create a reaction and acknowledgment of the large waste problem that the city has, that is not easily noticed because of the lack of visibility of the garbage. This objective is in turns also a climate mitigation one, since the initiative creates additional engagement of locals to recycle already produced materials.
Rena Mälaren started 2018 and since then they have had at least one waste pick-up per week. Since the start they have picked up 14,3 ton lead batteries, 489 electric scooters (around 14 ton), 1 car, 1 motorcycle and around 40,3 ton of other waste. The organisation is involved with several actors and affiliate partners who are supportive of the work of Rena Mälaren. Among these are some dive centres, but also two Swedish construction companies and four electric-scooter companies. These companies are helping the initiative and supporting the cause, but not gaining any additional profit from it.
The municipality of Stockholm are not opposed to the work that Rena Mälaren does, however they are not assisting them either. Rena Mälaren has for example asked if the municipality could help with the administration of bins, but the municipality declined. If the municipality would help with this, the sorting and recycling part of the initiative would be easier, but now instead Rena Mälaren have to use their own sorting ways. Another limitation Rena Mälaren has met is that the recycling centres in Stockholm only lets private persons recycle 4 tires at a time. This makes it very hard for Rena Mälaren to do their work and recycle the tires, since per waste pick-up there is usually more than that. Problematic issues that can arise from the initiative is that there could be dangers with picking up toxins that are in a closed container, both for the diver but also for the environment. This is why the divers who are picking up the waste should be certified and have proper knowledge regarding on how to take precautionary measures.
Fredrik Johansson, the founder of the initiative (Olsson, 2020)
Since the only thing that is needed for an initiative like Rena Mälaren is divers and volunteers to be on land and pull up waste, similar initiatives around water bodies could definitely be implemented. There are probably already similar projects around the world, but it is perhaps not as common to do a project like this in the city centre of a capital. However, cities with similar structure could implement similar initiatives and this is encouraged by Rena Mälaren.
Hopefully, Rena Mälaren will make a greater impact and get the municipality of Stockholm to understand the immensity of this problem and get them to implement stricter laws, especially in the marinas of Stockholm. This could for example be that the marinas themselves should be responsible for the disposed waste within their marinas. Such an implementation would lead to less work needed by private initiatives and also it would make the marinas aware of the waste that the boat-owners dump in their marina. To spread knowledge regarding what gets dumped in the water body of the city is also very important and is one of the greater impacts that the initiative have on the municipality and its residents.
The references used in this entry is information regarding Rena Mälaren which can be found on their website linked in references. Also, some information was from the creator of the initiative Fredrik Johansson. The photos used in this entry is with the consent of and by Oscar Olsson, who owns the rights to the photographs.
RenaMalaren. 2020. [online] Available at: https://www.renamalaren.com/ [Accessed 23 October 2020].
Oscar Olsson, 2020. [photographs] (Oscar Olsson’s own private collection)
Vittorio Giordano
‘This is not a drill – Climate emergency declaration’. Frame from the video ‘This is not a drill’ – author: Barcelona City Council. Licence CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 ES.
Location:
Barcelona, Catalunya, Spain
Promoters:
In 2015the network ‘for a more sustainable Barcelona’, with the citizen-led initiative ‘Barcelona’s Commitment to Climate Change’1, promoted the drafting of a comprehensive initiative to face the climate breakdown. The process of development was driven by the Citizen Council for Sustainability, with an open, participatory process. The document was coproduced with the City Council and the network ‘for a more sustainable Barcelona’, while members of the public also contributed through the online platform Decidim.
The Climate Plan was approved on 26 October 2018.
On 15 January 2020, the city of Barcelona declared the climate emergency to step up the actions developed in the climate plan. The content of the declaration was produced by the Climate Emergency Committee, together with the City Council, the Citizen Council for Sustainability, and many citizens from different organizations.
Video: ‘This is not a drill – Climate emergency declaration’– author: Barcelona City Council – available at: https://www.barcelona.cat/emergenciaclimatica/en/this-is-not-a-drill (Licence CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 ES.)
Beneficiaries:
The plan claims to prioritize people and their well-being, it acknowledges the unequal vulnerability and distribution of hazards across the population and the fact the most vulnerable subjects are expected to increase due to climate change. The climate justice perspective adopted puts such people at the centre of the initiative and make them the first beneficiaries by addressing their socio-economic situation in order to improve life standards in the face of the climate crisis. The plan guarantees energy rights for all, preventing cuts of supplies. It recognizes the right to decent housing and sets subsidies and grants for house renovation, it strengthens the care services for vulnerable people and helps providing employment. In addition, clean air, green public spaces, shadow shelters, access to water, improved mobility services and a more resilient city to hazards such as floods, heat waves, droughts or fires will be beneficial for every citizen. Biodiversity in the city will benefit as well from the expansion green areas and corridors.
Engagement with climate change:
The initiative is built around for pillars:
Values
As it can be read in the Climate Plan, the values of the initiative focus on a sustainable city, which is envisaged to be:
The Emergency Declaration shifts the focus to the urgency and complexity of the challenge to face. It advocates for an ambitious and drastic rethinking of every aspect of the city and of the production-consumption systemto transform an unsustainable and unfair economic model. It emphasizes values such as ‘shared care work and fraternal or sisterly relations with other human beings, other living beings and ecosystems, in private, public and community spaces.’2. The city is recognized as a major contributor to the crises, but also as a place where big opportunities to face it rise.
Climate justice is the fundamental perspective of the initiative. It acknowledges that the vulnerability to climate change is not equally spread across the city, but it follows age, gender and income disparities which are correlated with higher energy and food poverty, lower life expectancy and health results. Given that social inequalities are enhanced by climate emergency, the call for more effort is addressed towards those more responsible for the crises, in order not to burden those who already suffer from the unfair distribution of negative impacts.
Finally, the declaration asks to other cities, states and every economic sector to be more ambitious in the targets set, it invites to form alliances and it demands for political coherence, while keeping at its centre the inclusion of city residents through processes of co-production.
City Hall facade illuminated in green with the slogan “Walk, pedal, bus, subway towards the city we want” Author: Clara Soler Chopo. License CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Objectives:
The Climate Plan establishes measures to achieve the following targets by 2030:
In addition, Barcelona intends to become carbon neutral by 2050.
The climate emergency declaration steps up the action by setting a more ambitious target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 50%, compared to the levels of 1992, by 2030. Accordingly, the initiative proposes seven model changes:
Each of these has specific lines of action that can be found in the respective document2,3.
Timeline:
The climate plan was established in 2018 and the climate emergency declaration became effective in 2020. They both set targets for 2030 on the path for Barcelona to become carbon neutral by 2050.
Visible Effects:
Since the approval of the initiative, a series of actions have been developed by the City Council and residents, among these:
Forum Photovoltaic panel – Author: AL PHT Air Picture TAVISA. Can Cadena Urban Garden – Author: Equip Audiovisuals. Licence: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Monitoring measures are applied to see the progresses towards each target. Unfortunately, the results have been updated before 2018, when the plan was not drafted yet. The only available are:
(A special Climate Emergency Monitoring report from July 2020 is available only in Catalan8).
Actors involved:
The main body involved is the City Council: its composition and members can be found at: https://ajuntament.barcelona.cat/en/municipal-organisation/
The ‘Ecology, Urban planning, Infrastructure and Mobility’ area of the City Council, which organisation chart can be accessed here: https://ajuntament.barcelona.cat/ecologiaurbana/en/about-us/organisation-chart#
The main bodies involved are the Network ‘For a More Sustainable Barcelona’ and the Citizen Council for Sustainability. The first includes many organizations such as schools, universities, citizens and professionals associations, companies and businesses; the City Council is also a member.
The second is a consultative and participatory city body working on sustainability-related projects, its members can be found at: https://ajuntament.barcelona.cat/ecologiaurbana/en/bodies-involved/citizen-council-for-sustainability/members
Citizen are active participants as well.
Limits:
By being partly a municipal initiative, it is subject to institutional limits. New priorities could move it to background (e.g. the pandemic), or political conflicts and power relations could affect the process. To give an example, in 2019 the Spanish Constitutional Court ruled that the Climate law set by the Government of Catalonia, in 2017, was unconstitutional. It declared that Catalonia does not have the power to project the energy transition or to set emission reduction targets, it overturned the ban on fracking and opposed the goal to close nuclear power plants.
In addition, the initiative could be opposed by who may see such changes as economically inconvenient, such as companies working in the sectors of tourism, agribusiness, real estate, vehicles, flights or fossil fuels. Lobbying action could limit, slow down or even stop the process as such entities are powerful and very influential on economy and politics.
Critical Points:
The project is at its early stages so there are no visible shortcomings yet. Critical points can arise from the actions projected, even though it is not clear how these will be implemented. If not planned appropriately with a systemic view, they could simply lead to burden shifting and externalization of hazards, instead of an effective change. Processes as gentrification and green fixes could also occur, producing exclusion and marginalisation. Such a profound transition will affect the entire society, it could face popular opposition and it could foster inequalities. The focus on people and the climate justice perspective adopted, however, could be effective in preventing such outcomes.
Furthermore, resources will be needed to achieve such transformation, and this could even lead to increasing consumption and emissions in the early stages of the process.
Replicability
Every municipality, city, region, or state can adopt plans like Barcelona’s. Even if this is already happening on different scales, a lot more can be done. The process is even slower for Emergency Declarations since these implicate profound commitment to the cause.
Is this initiative conducive to broader changes?
The initiative modifies institutional arrangements, urban and social paradigms. Some of the actions includes aims to change existing laws or write new ones to reach the targets set.
Materials:
The report was released by New York City Environmental Justice Alliance (NYC-EJA) in 2016; it is a critical analysis of the Major’s One NYC.
The purpose of the document is to: (a) assess whether or not efforts from City government, as laid out in the City’s sustainability and resiliency blueprints, can begin to reduce the vulnerabilities of low-income communities and black communities to climate change impacts; and (b) propose recommendations to broaden and strengthen such protections.
The document focuses on five main themes aimed at achieving different environmental justice, climate justice and equity goals.
The document points out the principles of the grassroots movement FTP DecolonizeThisPlace based and active in New York and lists three of its Communique and the organizing actions calendar. FTP has always sided with all those indigenous peoples whose lands have been stolen and raped by colonialist policies. The FTP movement fights for territorial justice policies and against gentrification, economic inequality and police violence; it is independent by any political logic. The movement carries out different actions: resistance, awareness, political education, mutual aid, fundraising, jail support and documentary evidence productions. It does not tolerate any form of racism and discrimination of gender, religion, sex, income. Since it represents a disturbing reality, it has been shadow-banned by the main social networks.
Here you have a list of principles:
1: NY’s subway lines “owners” are Wall Street’s banks, which make their own profit and not of the community. It is necessary to evade the fare in mass to force the end of Wall Street’s theft.
2: Police has been created to crush all voices of dissent contrary to the Big Brother’s directives. The police look more like mercenaries than peace officers and the color of your skin doesn’t help.
3: Many of NY’s roads and subway lines burrow through springs, swamps and streams that were once part of indigenous peoples landscape just for settler profits. Only when the subways leak and flood, they are being decolonized.
Finally, in case of arrest, you can find here your rights!
This document introduces the objectives of the upcoming development of Naples over the period 2019-2030. The envisioned urban transformation should allow and entail a factual and inclusive right to the city, meaning a just and equal access to the common pool of resources available in the city of Naples.
This document describes in details the concrete actions targeting and implementing a “urban regeneration” based on a just and sustainable transition.
The main actor and user of this planning strategy is the community and the several communities acting within the urban space, thus it represents a collective project rather than a top-down elaborated plan.
Actions against environmental contamination, pollution and injustice play a major role in this city project and the Municipality calls for fossil-free energy supply, reclamation of landfills and contaminated sites, green areas and urban forests, environmental friendly economic activities, sustainable mobility and access to public housing.
Come viene affrontato il cambiamento climatico: adaptation strategy behind the two documents.
The general vision of the City Urban Plan aims to read urban planning not as a program but as a collective project, which binds the city to the dynamics traversing the urban space, to the implementation of processes that find the primary reference in the community, and as a tool for the construction of the contemporary city. A city that today is continuous urban environment, a heterogeneous space, with a relational scale that goes beyond the municipal boundaries; a fragile ecosystem when compared to the strength of the ongoing climate changes, still a dynamic, attractive, but still unprepared community in regard to new social requests for hospitality and the right to housing. Finally, a space deeply redrawn in its geographies as a result of new landscapes and new natures that silently act in it.
The document is in Italian
The Atlas of the Other Worlds is a map documenting city initiatives and local grassroots initiatives that tackle climate change. The Atlas also consists of Occupy Climate Stories that are creative explorations and imaginations of cities in the year 2200. Explore the Atlas by clicking on any of the map locations. You can also choose the categories below the map to see entries of just city initiatives, grassroots initiatives, or creative stories. You can also access all the entries through the menu bar on top. Click “Case Studies” to access entries from our main case study cities, click “OCC! Goes Global” to access all the other cities we have entries from, and click “OCC Stories” to see all our creative entries.
OCC! started as a research project funded by the Swedish Council for Sustainable Development FORMAS in 2019. Our aim was to research two themes that were quite understudied at that time: the issue of Loss and Damage (L&D) and the impact of climate change on cities. In particular, OCC! wanted to focus on the practices and experiments of grassroots organizations across different cases in order to identify how their diverse, dynamic, self-organized responses to loss try to undo or embrace the damage. OCC!’s team has delved into the practices of self-organization and solidarity experimented by grassroots groups, researching which kind of knowledge is being produced and whether these practices can be scaled up beyond “militant particularism” (Harvey & Williams 1995) and the specificities of the single case. The project’s main output is a digital Atlas collecting entries on grassroots and municipal initiatives tackling climate change. The idea is to show that climate change is not only addressed on a global or individual level. The Atlas makes visible the many collective climate actions that are already happening. In the Atlas we have also created a space for people to foster their imagination and share their creative exploration of what an urban future can entail. Since 2022 we have been expanding the Atlas by holding an OCC! winter school dedicated to climate action, climate justice, climate adaptation, and mitigation. So far, we had two editions of the school involving almost 80 students and 40 teachers from all over the world. Why an Atlas of the other worlds? Because we need to see the many new worlds that are born within and against the current socio-ecological crisis. Ours is an invitation to open your ears and eyes and notice the many grassroots social innovations that too often remain completely invisible. The Atlas is a living archive of creativity, resistance, and resilience, but also an invitation to see the present and imagine the future.
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Cases of grassroots initiatives that tackle climate change and an in-depth case study analysis on urban experiments from Europe (Malmö, Naples, Istanbul), the US (New York City),and Latin America (Rio De Janeiro).
Istanbul today is a giant urban metabolism that lives on ever-interconnected flows, connections, people, spaces and matter. At the periphery of this urban metabolism, the northern forests of Istanbul are providing the much needed breath and ecosystem services.
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Mapping the interactions between grassroots climate activism and municipal climate action The city of Malmö brands itself as a leader of urban sustainability and climate adaptation. However, its flagship policies and projects have been problematized for their top-down approach, for ignoring issues of scale and for the overt focus on attracting capital investments to the benefit of real estate development.
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Naples has often been defined as a rebel city. A coalition of radical leftist parties and grassroots organizations, deeply involved with the anti-toxic struggles in the region, won the last two municipal elections.
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OCC! will research the grassroots initiatives implemented to cope with the consequences of Hurricane Sandy in 2016. In particular, our team will study the Occupy Sandy movement, the LES Ready!
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The case study focus on the community of Morro Babilônia, a small but traditional favelas in Rio de Janeiro, and how it has developed strategies and dynamics to respond to changes in its urban ecosystem.
Read more“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Mead
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