Full Transcript

INTRO 

This is The Climate Story Project— where we share real stories about how climate change is shaping our lives. Stories that connect us. Stories that move us to act. This is a project of the New York Climate Exchange, a non-profit organization that’s accelerating climate solutions through a unique partnership model and climate campus on Governors Island. In each episode, you’ll hear voices from different places and walks of life in our growing archive of personal climate stories, so that we can remember, reflect, and respond together.

The story you’re about to hear is from Devante Haynes. Devante is the Service Coordinator at Green City Force, a partner of the New York Climate Exchange. 

DEVANTE

When I was younger, I lived in East New York. You gotta take a train or a bus to get to anywhere to get any produce, 'cause there weren't any good stores around. My mom back then would take us to like BJ's or Shop Rite or something. That'd be a day trip, almost. My mom was really smart about that. Like she always traveled far to get her produce.

Uh, when we moved to Bayview, that changed a little bit. The BJ's and stuff was like still far 'cause we didn't have a car, so it was still traveling far to get the produce. Me, I was just lazy. I'm like, “Could we just go to Key Food and get the same thing? If it's not as good, we could just spice it up with seasoning or something.” But she was like, “No, no. You gotta get the right produce. They don't give the right produce to the type of people that live in these areas” is what she was telling me but, I was like, I didn't really pay no mind to it.

During Green City Force, they were explaining like food deserts and whatnot. Like how people can get the produce. If they can't get it, they get what they can get easily. Something I realize about most people, they go with the path of least resistance. So whatever's easier for you to do, you just do it. Healthy is like a secondary thing, it’s not a main thing. Like most people are worrying about rent and all that other stuff.

Green City Force is a nonprofit organization. Uh, we're mostly focused on youth development and growing produce in food deserts and NYCHA developments. I actually live in one of those developments at Bayview Houses, which is a nice NYCHA development in Brooklyn. When I saw the flyer for Green City Force around my apartment, I was like, ah, I don't know about the farm work 'cause I don't think I could handle that kind of strain. I didn't even notice that farm site over there. I live right behind it. But my mom kind of pushed me. They offered free metro cards and trainings. So I was like, I'll just go for the trainings, see how it is.

The first day on the farm. I learned how to harvest collard greens. Uh, did some weeding, like maintaining a farm site. This season's been a little bit rough 'cause our high tunnel kind of got ruined a little bit. I'm just focusing on stuff that grows fast, like mustard greens and arugula. But I also have to make sure I get what the residents want, which are like collard greens, cucumbers, which aren't doing well, but I'll make it work somehow. Tomatoes, which are doing well, they're just not like ripe yet. But residents can like slice that and fry that. I know some residents are super hype for that. We have mint and almost every day, they take water with the mint. There's a couple members that take some of the herbs that we have, like the chives, the garlic. Another member made garlic bread.

The vegetables, like I'm still learning. I'm adapting myself, vegetable wise. That's why I like to grow the herbs, 'cause those, I do take. It's like the only vegetable I think I would take… Probably just the kale. Or no, no, mustard greens. I like those a lot. I like to put that on my hamburgers. Give it a little kick. 

And our site's kind of open, so like residents can come in and out. Giving out food to the residents on Saturdays is usually how we end off the day. We give a lot of produce to the elderly 'cause they can't get it easily from other places, 'cause like the good produce is like way out in gentrified neighborhoods. They'd have to travel out of the way. Easier for them to get it from here where they could get the nutrients they need.

I had some other jobs and then Green City Force offered me a position as a tree analyst, so like analyzing trees around other developments. So during the tree inventory, you really learn like some NYCHA developments, they got so little trees and it increases so much heat around the area. A lot of trees covers the sidewalk, and those take in a lot of heat. The heat stays inside the concrete, so it makes the area way hotter than it needs to be. Like some sites, you notice it'd be like a couple hundred trees and then it'd be like a cooler area 'cause the amount of trees in certain areas keep the area cool. I noticed that effect helps residents, uh, a lot of older residents live in areas like that. And I learned about, like, different types of trees around the neighborhoods. 

To analyze the tree, we had to do like a couple of steps. We have something, the DBH tape, diameter by height. It was hard 'cause I was the tall one, so I kind of had someone else do it sometimes. So they just wrap it around and then we have DBH tape to know how big the tree is. Then we noticed like anything going on with the bark, leaf foliage. Like if it’s not close to Fall and most of the leaves are gone, it is already damaged. Uh, the branches broken off. Decoloration of the leaf.

At the end of it, with the data we collected, we did try to talk to supervisor of grounds in NYCHA developments, who maintain the site. Some NYCHA developments don't really have a supervisor of grounds to manage that, so that did make it kind of hard. And we talked to them about like how they maintain the trees and whatnot. We did talk about a supervisor about potentially like switching out the concrete in the ground. Switching it to, like, a better substance that can take heat or repel heat out so the area would be less hot. 

People really just felt it. Like, “Oh yeah, like, my mom can’t even leave the house  'cause it's super hot. We have to keep the AC on 24/7.” I think NYCHA made some steps. Not really preventative measures, but they kind of gave residents ACs for free. So that kind of mitigated it. But like the main solutions would probably put some more trees.

I think a lot of things are adaptable. We solve one problem, we can solve another problem, and then solve this problem, this problem. We should always be striving to be better than we were before. Joining the program helped me develop confidence, a great work ethic and an appreciation for green infrastructure and green jobs. The reason I really joined that job is 'cause my mom had passed away. I take that as inspiration. I'm confident I'm good at what I do here and I know that helps– I'm not gonna say a lot of people, but it helps people and I like that. So that's what motivates me right now.

OUTRO 

This story is part of The Climate Story Project. To find more stories and learn more about The New York Climate Exchange, visit nyclimateexchange.org and follow us on LinkedIn and Instagram. This episode was produced by Kylie Miller. Thanks for listening.