Growing Justice

Session Objective: to reduce recidivism and violence through an eco-centric enterprise that challenges ideas of ‘waste’

So far in Unit 4, we have considered formal mechanisms for public participation in environmental governance through legal rights to information and consultation. But Public Participation also involves unofficial channels and non-governmental initiatives. During the next few asynchronous Learning Logs, we will learn about some of those projects. As we explore, we will reflect on how people are frequently disenfranchised by formal institutions...but can be enfranchised through collective action.

  • Meet: our teachers today, Abiodun Henderson and Anamarie Shreeves.

Abiodun Henderson

Abiodun Henderson is a community organiser and founder of The Come Up Project. The Come Up Project’s flagship program is Gangstas to Growers, a holistic agribusiness training program for formerly incarcerated young adults. The Come Up Project is also developing the Sweet Sol Hot Sauce Cooperative.

Sweet Sol grows their ingredients with Black farmers, slanging their sauce on the way to liberation. Infused with turmeric and lavender, “you could just literally spoon it into your mouth” according to Chris Morocco. They partner with the South West Atlanta Growers Cooperative (SWAG Co-op), a farmer-based membership cooperative aiming to develop and maintain a healthy and secure food system that is environmentally and economically sustainable.

Abiodun has been a community organiser in the westside of Atlanta for over nine years. Under her leadership, the Westview Community Garden is now community-owned. Abiodun is a native Brooklynite who represents for the Kru Liberians. She enjoyed when her six-year-old son yelled, “Free Black People” every morning when they used to pass the Atlanta City Jail before COVID.

Anamarie Shreeves

Anamarie “Ree” Shreeves is a cooperative founder, program coordinator and geographer who works closely with environmentally-driven organizations to support and promote their mission.

Ree started her zero waste life in 2013, and since has grown an affinity for trash, dedicating her research to waste behaviour and its connection to climate change. Ree is a founding member of FortNegrita, a definitive source for zero waste, self-reliance, conscious consumerism and eco-tourism. Through Fort Negrita, Ree hosts bi-monthly reusable menstrual pads workshops, organises an annual Earth Day festival in Atlanta, teaches zero waste workshops around the US, and consults for local businesses on zero waste operations and accommodations. She has worked with many local organisations, including West Atlanta Watershed Alliance, Food Well Alliance, Seed Life Skills, Sevananda Co-op, Dunwoody Nature Center, Ladyfest Atlanta, MURMUR Gallery, and Red Bike & Green, to name a few, and has also developed the “Atl Zero Waste Guide”.

In 2020, Ree published her master’s thesis on “The significance of the informal waste sector in a minority world country: A Case-Study of Metropolitan Atlanta”. Today, she continues to make Fort Negrita an inclusive platform and cooperative in the environmental space.

Anamarie Shreeves, FortNegrita
(pronouns: she/her/hers)

  • Learn: about the Gangstas to Growers model through the materials below. As you read and watch, focus on the multiple ways in which young Black men are disenfranchised by formal institutions but empowered by the locally led initiative.

  • Read: Ree’s thesis, which takes a critical race theory perspective on Atanta’s informal waste sector. You are not required to read the full thesis, but please at least cover pages 10-16 examining trash, power, modernity, global mobility, and collection.

The Significance of the Informal Waste Sector in A Minority World.pdf

  • Watch: the conversation Abiodun and Anamarie held with the Spring 2021 cohort. Ree presents on waste and trash violence from timestamp 16:00-38:33, which is a good review and expansion of her thesis work. The ending conversation with students during Q&A about gentrification will also be of interest to several of you!

  • Imagine: urban spaces taken over by rooftop gardens and homegrown food, instead of tar, McDonald’s, and poor nutrition found in convenience stores...

Daniel Chang Christensen's illustration. In this illustration the viewer sees several rooftop gardens in a city. Emerging from the left a person stands at the edge of the building smiling and waving to a neighbor emerging from the bottom right corner.
“When we say ‘food apartheid,’ the real conversation can begin”

Daniel Chang Christensen (ANOBELISK) is a young artist from Virginia attending the Rhode Island School of Design. Daniel is in love with culture, and revels in the study and practice of almost any form of art to be found. Christensen also values social awareness and involvement as essential to any individual or society seeking to better itself. Next to visual arts, Daniel spends time listening to and poorly playing music, exploring the world, and skateboarding.

This piece illustrates a special article in The Guardian investigating “Food apartheid: the root of the problem with America’s groceries”, in which “Food justice activist Karen Washington wants us to move away from the term ‘food desert’”, arguing that it “doesn’t take into account the systemic racism permeating America’s food system”.

  • Complete: your Learning Log for this session via the form below.