Last weekend, as "superstorm" Sandy was zeroing in on New York City, I was in NYC on a field trip with a group of seven students from the Grade 12 Green Industries class. I had planned the trip to give students a glimpse of the many cutting edge projects in NYC related to urban agriculture, landscape architecture and sustainable design, and the trip was going beautifully.
On Friday morning, we got our hands dirty learning about urban agriculture while volunteering at Added Value, a 2.5 acre urban farm created by a social worker to engage youth in the Red Hook Community - an area of Brooklyn that is home to huge public housing projects that have long been isolated from the rest of the city. We processed compost and learned about the years of effort the farmers have put into developing healthy, rich soil for their plants. Our morning on the farm was followed by an incredible 7 course lunch at home/made restaurant,just around the corner from the farm. My friend, Monica Byrne, the chef and owner of home/made really outdid herself -- the students were in foodie heaven with a meal made from local ingredients from urban farms in NYC. After lunch we wandered through Brooklyn Bridge Park. Still under construction, the park is being designed by Michael van Valkenburg Associates to be one of the most sustainable sites in the city. Later in the year, we'll refer back to this site as we learn more about sustainable landscape design. That evening we went to see Fuerzabruta, a show that continued the mind-blown theme of the day.
On Saturday, we went out to Staten Island and toured the incredible ecological renewal project that is Fresh Kills Park. Once the world's largest landfill, this 2200 acre site is being transformed into NYC's largest park with the help of James Corner and Field Operations Landscape Architects. We saw first hand how the wetlands of Staten Island were slowly filled in, paved over, and turned into an accidental monumental landfill. Fresh Kills was only intended to be open for 5 years. 50 years later, there were 130 million tonnes of garbage on the site. Now, thanks to forward thinking city officials, the area is being transformed back into a wildlife oasis in the midst of the city. Later that day, we saw another project by Field Operations at the High Line, a derelict elevated railway that was transformed into a beautiful elevated park.
Sunday, while biking through Central Park, we started to realize that this approaching storm Sandy meant business. The winds were picking up and New Yorkers, normally cynical, were actually starting to take meteorologists seriously. We hightailed it back to the hotel and made our way to the airport, just before they started shutting down subways and NJ Transit. Once at Newark, we were relieved to see that our plane was still scheduled to take off on time. A couple hours later, we were landing in Toronto and hearing on the news that all airports in NY and NJ were now closed. We made it home just in time.
Now, for the past week, I have been glued to the twitter feed, watching in horror as images of a devastated city started to appear. My husband is a New Yorker, and for four years, I also called NYC home. And so it was with shock and disbelief that I saw the farm we visited destroyed. Monica's restaurant? Flooded. Staten Island is paying for all that pavement and was one of the most devastated areas in the city with 19 deaths pinned on Sandy. The west side, home to the High Line and Chelsea's million dollar art galleries was turned into a wading pool. Brooklyn Bridge Park, thanks to it's innovative salt marsh design along the water front, was flooded, but not destroyed (an unfortunate teachable moment). But the carousel may not have fared so well.
I heard stories from friends going for days with no heat, no electricity. And, I've been humbled and inspired by the of small grassroots organizations that have mobilized an army of thousands volunteers to get out and help. From delivering food and medical supplies up dozens of flights of stairs to eldery people stuck in their homes, to clearing debris from the basements of homes for complete strangers, my friends and fellow New Yorkers have joined together to recover from the storm.
All the while, I have been teaching. In Civics class, I am teaching about civic engagement and social action, encouraging my students to look for issues that they care about and to make a plan to take action to improve the situation. This weekend, after hearing about the thousands of marathon runners going to Staten Island to volunteer instead of run, I decided that I need to practice what I teach.
Next weekend, I am going to New York City. It's a trip that we take every November long weekend to visit friends. This year, it will be a little different. Instead of packing my cute new boots and meeting friends for brunch, I am packing my work boots, supplies to help with the cleanup, and a little elbow grease. I'm asking friends to meet me in Red Hook to help clean up the debris and get local businesses and residents back on their feet.
In the meantime, I have heard from several parents of children who went on the trip. In light of the media frenzy around the approaching storm, we had no parents calling us in panic during the trip -- which speaks to their calm demeanor and also about their faith in Greenwood's ability to handle a potentially risky situation. After the trip, the feedback from parents was nothing but positive:
"Thanks for doing such an amazing job on the NYC trip! [My daughter] had a great time she loved it all and was so excited telling us about it! Your knowledge of the city obviously benefited them in so many ways. I am not sure she will ever have a better burger! She loved the trip, thanks so much for all your work." - Parent
"Looks like your trip worked out very well...we had [the boys] in the car after we picked them up in the airport and they
were raving about everything you saw and did.....they especially loved the walking around NYC and seeing it from a different perspective! ...Thanks so much for all the love, time and organization you put into this trip. I hope it was as much fun for you as it was for them :-)" - Parent
To see more photos of our trip, visit our class Tumblr.
On Saturday, we went out to Staten Island and toured the incredible ecological renewal project that is Fresh Kills Park. Once the world's largest landfill, this 2200 acre site is being transformed into NYC's largest park with the help of James Corner and Field Operations Landscape Architects. We saw first hand how the wetlands of Staten Island were slowly filled in, paved over, and turned into an accidental monumental landfill. Fresh Kills was only intended to be open for 5 years. 50 years later, there were 130 million tonnes of garbage on the site. Now, thanks to forward thinking city officials, the area is being transformed back into a wildlife oasis in the midst of the city. Later that day, we saw another project by Field Operations at the High Line, a derelict elevated railway that was transformed into a beautiful elevated park.
Sunday, while biking through Central Park, we started to realize that this approaching storm Sandy meant business. The winds were picking up and New Yorkers, normally cynical, were actually starting to take meteorologists seriously. We hightailed it back to the hotel and made our way to the airport, just before they started shutting down subways and NJ Transit. Once at Newark, we were relieved to see that our plane was still scheduled to take off on time. A couple hours later, we were landing in Toronto and hearing on the news that all airports in NY and NJ were now closed. We made it home just in time.
Now, for the past week, I have been glued to the twitter feed, watching in horror as images of a devastated city started to appear. My husband is a New Yorker, and for four years, I also called NYC home. And so it was with shock and disbelief that I saw the farm we visited destroyed. Monica's restaurant? Flooded. Staten Island is paying for all that pavement and was one of the most devastated areas in the city with 19 deaths pinned on Sandy. The west side, home to the High Line and Chelsea's million dollar art galleries was turned into a wading pool. Brooklyn Bridge Park, thanks to it's innovative salt marsh design along the water front, was flooded, but not destroyed (an unfortunate teachable moment). But the carousel may not have fared so well.
I heard stories from friends going for days with no heat, no electricity. And, I've been humbled and inspired by the of small grassroots organizations that have mobilized an army of thousands volunteers to get out and help. From delivering food and medical supplies up dozens of flights of stairs to eldery people stuck in their homes, to clearing debris from the basements of homes for complete strangers, my friends and fellow New Yorkers have joined together to recover from the storm.
All the while, I have been teaching. In Civics class, I am teaching about civic engagement and social action, encouraging my students to look for issues that they care about and to make a plan to take action to improve the situation. This weekend, after hearing about the thousands of marathon runners going to Staten Island to volunteer instead of run, I decided that I need to practice what I teach.
Next weekend, I am going to New York City. It's a trip that we take every November long weekend to visit friends. This year, it will be a little different. Instead of packing my cute new boots and meeting friends for brunch, I am packing my work boots, supplies to help with the cleanup, and a little elbow grease. I'm asking friends to meet me in Red Hook to help clean up the debris and get local businesses and residents back on their feet.
In the meantime, I have heard from several parents of children who went on the trip. In light of the media frenzy around the approaching storm, we had no parents calling us in panic during the trip -- which speaks to their calm demeanor and also about their faith in Greenwood's ability to handle a potentially risky situation. After the trip, the feedback from parents was nothing but positive:
"Thanks for doing such an amazing job on the NYC trip! [My daughter] had a great time she loved it all and was so excited telling us about it! Your knowledge of the city obviously benefited them in so many ways. I am not sure she will ever have a better burger! She loved the trip, thanks so much for all your work." - Parent
"Looks like your trip worked out very well...we had [the boys] in the car after we picked them up in the airport and they
were raving about everything you saw and did.....they especially loved the walking around NYC and seeing it from a different perspective! ...Thanks so much for all the love, time and organization you put into this trip. I hope it was as much fun for you as it was for them :-)" - Parent
To see more photos of our trip, visit our class Tumblr.