by In one of our latest collaborations we talked to Ron Finley, LA’s Gangsta Gardner, about Gardening as a tool to transform your community.
If you’re a fan of Gardening(or watch a lot of TED Talks), you’ve probably come across Ron Finley, the South-Central LA based “Gangsta Gardner”. Finley’s activism is focused on the harm that so-called food deserts, urban areas where it is difficult to buy affordable good quality food, can inflict on the already over-looked areas of major cities.
Taking the road verge in front of his house as a starting point, Finley and some local activists planted “food forest” in front of their homes, providing their community much-needed local produce. Although the city would eventually fight this, the impact Finley had made on his community would gain him the support he needed to successfully fight the city.
Since then, Ron has done plenty in the way of educating his community, from school-aged kids to the homeless. About a week ago, Vresh dropped by Ron’s garden so we could learn more about his gardening ethos in 360º. We hope hearing Ron talk about his views on the environment while walking around his garden and seeing it in full 360º is as inspiring to you as it was to us.
Check it out here: