Orientation and Tour of Hunts Point Community

The first day at GreenFab we met all 60 students that will be participating in the program. We introduced the staff and heard each student describe their interests and explain their reasons for taking the classes. Almost all the students seemed to have some interest in design and/or technology. Which is great.

Juan from Outward Bound guided the kids through an exercise where they chose positive words and formed sentences with them. Then they had to design a social contract that included those words. The students chose to draw a flower growing from the ground. The five petals each contain one positive code of conduct. I forget them all; but it's phrases like "respect for others" and "positive attitude". The rain drops that are watering the flower contain the positive words that they came up with in the previous exercise. They are all going to tag the ground under the flower as their social agreement between each other and the staff. I think it's a pretty strong and appropriate metaphor. I'll post a picture once it's done.

After a one hour lunch break we went on a tour of all the unsustainable activities that plague the Hunts Point community. Led by Marta from Sustainable South Bronx (SSBX), it was very informative.

Some of these facts might be wrong. I did not take notes; so I'll do my best from memory.

60% of the food eaten in New York City comes through either the Terminal Produce Market, the Hunts Point Meat Market or the Fulton Fish Market (I like how they kept the old name).

Because of these three markets and all the other manufacturing and waste disposal places in the neighborhood, 16,000 trucks barrel down the potholed streets every day.

Because of all the pollution in the neighborhood 1 in 4 children develop asthma, often severe.

Marta claimed that it is the poorest congressional district in the country.

There are four prisons in the area and the city is going to build a fifth. SSBX is fighting best they can to stop it.

The city is always promising that these projects will create jobs in the area. But local residents are not getting jobs at prisons or fish markets.

We saw where most of New York City's waste gets sent by truck and barge to an incinerator where it is turned into fertilizer. Nasty stuff. Thankfully a blessed breeze saved us from being assaulted by the odor.

Ironically, across from the fertilizer factory there is a bird sanctuary on North Brothers Island.

From the park at the tip of Hunts Point we had a great view of the Floating Pool Lady and Rikers. But my pictures did not come out all that great.

Marta told us a story about Majora Carter, who started SSBX. Some city politician had asked her how they could invite community access to the Bronx River waterway. While jogging in the neighborhood, her dog turned into a dump. Majora felt that her dog was guiding her, so she followed. They discovered the river at the back of the dump. She had found the access. So she cleaned up the dump with $60,000 dollars! Then the city gave $3 million to finish the park. It's nice. There is a concrete canoe fountain and a dock for boats or fishing. Yikes.

The tour stopped there. Next week we start class. We will discuss where the power in the area comes from and talk about sustainable energy creation. We are going to build dynamos out of legos and power up some lamps. We will talk about gear chains, ratios and turbines. Can't wait!