A teacher growing green in the South Bronx
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0:00 - 0:02Good afternoon.
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0:02 - 0:05I am not a farmer.
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0:05 - 0:06(Laughter)
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0:06 - 0:09I'm not. I'm a parent, I'm a resident and I'm a teacher.
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0:09 - 0:11And this is my world.
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0:11 - 0:12And along the way I've started noticing --
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0:12 - 0:14I'm on my third generation of kids --
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0:14 - 0:15that they're getting bigger.
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0:15 - 0:16They're getting sicker.
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0:16 - 0:18In addition to these complexities,
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0:18 - 0:20I just learned that 70 percent of the kids that I see
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0:20 - 0:22who are labeled learning disabled would not have been
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0:22 - 0:24had they had proper prenatal nutrition.
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0:24 - 0:28The realities of my community are simple. They look like this.
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0:28 - 0:31Kids should not have to grow up and look at things like this.
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0:31 - 0:33And as jobs continue to leave my community,
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0:33 - 0:36and energy continues to come in, be exported in,
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0:36 - 0:41it's no wonder that really some people refer to the South Bronx as a desert.
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0:41 - 0:44But I'm the oldest sixth grader you'll ever meet,
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0:44 - 0:47so I get up every day with this tremendous amount of enthusiasm
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0:47 - 0:49that I'm hoping to share with you all today.
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0:49 - 0:52And with that note, I come to you with this belief
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0:52 - 0:55that kids should not have to leave their communities
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0:55 - 0:56to live, learn and earn in a better one.
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0:56 - 0:58So I'm here to tell you a story about me
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0:58 - 1:01and this wall that I met outside, which I'm now bringing inside.
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1:01 - 1:03And it starts with three people.
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1:03 - 1:05The crazy teacher -- that's me on the left,
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1:05 - 1:09I dress up pretty, thank you, my wife, I love you for getting a good suit --
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1:09 - 1:10my passionate borough president
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1:10 - 1:13and a guy named George Irwin from Green Living Technologies
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1:13 - 1:14who helped me with my class
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1:14 - 1:17and helped me get involved with this patented technology.
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1:17 - 1:19But it all starts with seeds in classrooms,
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1:19 - 1:22in my place, which looks like this.
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1:22 - 1:28And I'm here today hoping that my reach will exceed my grasp.
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1:28 - 1:29And that's really what this is all about.
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1:29 - 1:31And it starts with incredible kids like this,
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1:31 - 1:33who come early and stay late.
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1:33 - 1:36All of my kids are either IEP or ELL learners,
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1:36 - 1:38most come with a lot of handicaps,
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1:38 - 1:40most are homeless and many are in foster care.
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1:40 - 1:42Almost all of my kids live below poverty.
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1:42 - 1:46But with those seeds, from day one, we are growing in my classroom,
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1:46 - 1:48and this is what it looks like in my classroom.
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1:48 - 1:51And you see how attentive these kids are to these seeds.
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1:51 - 1:55And then you notice that those seeds become farms across the Bronx that look like this.
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1:55 - 1:59But again, I am not a farmer. I'm a teacher.
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1:59 - 2:02And I don't like weeding, and I don't like back-breaking labor.
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2:02 - 2:04So I wanted to figure out how I could get this kind of success
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2:04 - 2:06into something small, like this,
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2:06 - 2:09and bring it into my classroom so that handicapped kids could do it,
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2:09 - 2:11kids who didn't want to be outside could do it,
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2:11 - 2:12and everyone could have access.
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2:12 - 2:14So I called George Irwin, and what do you know?
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2:14 - 2:18He came to my class and we built an indoor edible wall.
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2:18 - 2:21And what we do is we partner it with authentic learning experiences,
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2:21 - 2:23private-based learning.
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2:23 - 2:26And lo and behold, we gave birth to
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2:26 - 2:28the first edible wall in New York City.
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2:28 - 2:29So if you're hungry, get up and eat.
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2:29 - 2:31You can do it right now. My kids play cow all the time.
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2:31 - 2:34Okay? But we were just getting started,
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2:34 - 2:36the kids loved the technology,
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2:36 - 2:38so we called up George and we said, "We gotta learn more!"
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2:38 - 2:41Now, Mayor Bloomberg, thank you very much, we no longer need work permits,
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2:41 - 2:44which comes with slices and bonded contractors -- we're available for you --
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2:44 - 2:46We decided to go to Boston.
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2:46 - 2:48And my kids, from the poorest congressional district in America,
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2:48 - 2:51became the first to install a green wall,
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2:51 - 2:54designed by a computer, with real-live learning tools,
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2:54 - 2:5521 stories up -- if you're going to go visit it,
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2:55 - 2:57it's on top of the John Hancock building.
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2:57 - 3:00But closer to home, we started installing these walls in schools
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3:00 - 3:02that look like this with lighting like that,
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3:02 - 3:05real LED stuff, 21st-century technology.
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3:05 - 3:07And what do you know? We made 21st century money,
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3:07 - 3:10and that was groundbreaking. Wow!
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3:10 - 3:13This is my harvest, people.
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3:13 - 3:16And what do you do with this food? You cook it!
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3:16 - 3:19And those are my heirloom students making heirloom sauce,
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3:19 - 3:21with plastic forks, and we get it into the cafeteria,
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3:21 - 3:23and we grow stuff and we feed our teachers.
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3:23 - 3:26And that is the youngest nationally certified
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3:26 - 3:28workforce in America with our Bronx Borough President.
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3:28 - 3:31And what'd we do then? Well, I met nice people like you,
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3:31 - 3:33and they invited us to the Hamptons.
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3:33 - 3:35So I call this "from South Bronx to Southampton."
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3:35 - 3:38And we started putting in roofs that look like this,
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3:38 - 3:40and we came in from destitute neighborhoods
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3:40 - 3:44to start building landscape like this, wow! People noticed.
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3:44 - 3:46And so we got invited back this past summer,
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3:46 - 3:47and we actually moved into the Hamptons,
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3:47 - 3:50payed 3,500 dollars a week for a house, and we learned how to surf.
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3:50 - 3:53And when you can do stuff like this --
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3:53 - 3:56These are my kids putting in this technology,
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3:56 - 3:59and when you can build a roof that looks like that
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3:59 - 4:01on a house that looks like that
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4:01 - 4:04with sedum that looks like this,
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4:04 - 4:07this is the new green graffiti.
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4:07 - 4:10So, you may wonder what does a wall like this
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4:10 - 4:13really do for kids, besides changing landscapes and mindsets?
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4:13 - 4:15Okay, I'm going to tell you what it does.
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4:15 - 4:17It gets me to meet incredible contractors like this,
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4:17 - 4:19Jim Ellenberger from Ellenberger Services.
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4:19 - 4:22And this is where it becomes true triple bottom line.
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4:22 - 4:25Because Jim realized that these kids, my future farmers,
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4:25 - 4:28really had the skills he needed to build affordable housing
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4:28 - 4:30for New Yorkers, right in their own neighborhood.
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4:30 - 4:33And this is what my kids are doing, making living wage.
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4:33 - 4:36Now, if you're like me, you live in a building, there are seven guys
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4:36 - 4:38out of work looking to manage a million dollars.
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4:38 - 4:40I don't have it. But if you need a toilet fixed
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4:40 - 4:42or, you know, some shelving, I gotta wait six months
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4:42 - 4:44for an appointment with someone who drives a much nicer car than me.
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4:44 - 4:46That's the beauty of this economy.
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4:46 - 4:50But my kids are now licensed and bonded in trade.
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4:50 - 4:53And that's my first student to open up, the first in his family to have a bank account.
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4:53 - 4:56This immigrant student is the first one in his family to use an ATM.
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4:56 - 4:58And this is the true triple bottom line,
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4:58 - 5:01because we can take neighborhoods that were abandoned and destitute
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5:01 - 5:04and turn them into something like this with interiors like this.
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5:04 - 5:06Wow! People noticed. And notice they did.
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5:06 - 5:09So CNN called, and we were delighted to have them come to our farmer's market.
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5:09 - 5:12And then when Rockefeller Center said, NBC,
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5:12 - 5:14could you put this thing up on the walls? We were delighted.
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5:14 - 5:18But this, I show you, when kids from the poorest congressional district in America
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5:18 - 5:20can build a 30-foot by 15-foot wall,
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5:20 - 5:23design it, plant it and install it in the heart of New York City,
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5:23 - 5:25that's a true "sí se puede" moment.
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5:25 - 5:28Really scholastic, if you ask me.
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5:28 - 5:30But this is not a Getty image.
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5:30 - 5:33That's a picture I took of my Bronx Borough President,
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5:33 - 5:36addressing my kids in his house, not the jailhouse,
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5:36 - 5:37making them feel a part of it.
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5:37 - 5:40That's our State Senator Gustavo Rivera and Bob Bieder,
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5:40 - 5:42coming to my classroom to make my kids feel important.
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5:42 - 5:44And when the Bronx Borough President shows up
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5:44 - 5:46and the State Senator comes to our class,
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5:46 - 5:50believe you me, the Bronx can change attitudes now.
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5:50 - 5:52We are poised, ready, willing and able
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5:52 - 5:55to export our talent and diversity in ways we've never even imagined.
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5:55 - 5:57And when the local senator gets on the scale in public
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5:57 - 6:00and says he's got to lose weight, so do I!
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6:00 - 6:03And I tell you what, I'm doing it and so are the kids.
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6:03 - 6:05Okay? And then celebrities started.
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6:05 - 6:07Produce Pete can't believe what we grow.
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6:07 - 6:09Lorna Sass came and donated books.
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6:09 - 6:11Okay? We're feeding seniors.
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6:11 - 6:15And when we realized that we were growing for food justice in the South Bronx,
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6:15 - 6:17so did the international community.
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6:17 - 6:19And my kids in the South Bronx were repped in
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6:19 - 6:21the first international green roof conference.
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6:21 - 6:22And that's just great.
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6:22 - 6:24Except what about locally?
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6:24 - 6:27Well, we met this woman, Avis Richards, with the Ground Up Campaign.
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6:27 - 6:29Unbelievable! Through her, my kids,
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6:29 - 6:31the most disenfranchised and marginalized,
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6:31 - 6:35were able to roll out 100 gardens to New York City public schools.
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6:35 - 6:38That's triple bottom line! Okay?
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6:38 - 6:41A year ago today, I was invited to the New York Academy of Medicine.
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6:41 - 6:44I thought this concept of designing a strong and healthy New York
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6:44 - 6:47made sense, especially when the resources were free.
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6:47 - 6:49So thank you all and I love them.
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6:49 - 6:52They introduced me to the New York City Strategic Alliance for Health,
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6:52 - 6:55again, free resources, don't waste them.
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6:55 - 6:57And what do you know? Six months later,
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6:57 - 7:00my school and my kids were awarded the first ever
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7:00 - 7:04high school award of excellence for creating a healthy school environment.
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7:04 - 7:06The greenest class in New York City.
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7:06 - 7:08But more importantly is my kids learned to get,
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7:08 - 7:10they learned to give.
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7:10 - 7:12And we took the money that we made from our farmer's market,
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7:12 - 7:14and started buying gifts for the homeless
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7:14 - 7:15and for needy around the world.
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7:15 - 7:17So we started giving back.
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7:17 - 7:19And that's when I realized that the greening of America
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7:19 - 7:22starts first with the pockets, then with the heart
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7:22 - 7:24and then with the mind.
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7:24 - 7:26So we were onto something, and we're still onto something.
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7:26 - 7:28And thank God Trinity Wall Street noticed,
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7:28 - 7:31because they gave us the birth of Green Bronx Machine.
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7:31 - 7:33We're 3,000 strong right now.
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7:33 - 7:34And what does it really do?
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7:34 - 7:36It teaches kids to re-vision their communities,
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7:36 - 7:39so when they grow up in places like this, they can imagine it like this.
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7:39 - 7:41And my kids, trained and certified --
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7:41 - 7:43Ma, you get the tax abatement. Thank you, Mayor Bloomberg --
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7:43 - 7:47can take communities that look like this and convert them into things that look like that,
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7:47 - 7:50and that to me, people, is another true "sí se puede" moment.
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7:50 - 7:53Now, how does it start? It starts in schools.
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7:53 - 7:54No more little Knicks and little Nets.
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7:54 - 7:58Group by broccoli, group by your favorite vegetable,
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7:58 - 7:59something you can aspire to.
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7:59 - 8:01Okay? And these are my future farmers of America,
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8:01 - 8:04growing up in Brook Park on 141st Street,
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8:04 - 8:06the most migrant community in America.
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8:06 - 8:08When tenacious little ones learn how to garden like this,
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8:08 - 8:10it's no wonder we get fruit like that.
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8:10 - 8:12And I love it! And so do they.
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8:12 - 8:15And we're building teepees in neighborhoods that were burning down.
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8:15 - 8:17And that's a true "sí se puede" moment.
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8:17 - 8:21And again, Brook Park feeds hundreds of people
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8:21 - 8:23without a food stamp or a fingerprint.
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8:23 - 8:25The poorest congressional district in America,
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8:25 - 8:28the most migratory community in America, we can do this.
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8:28 - 8:32Bissel Gardens is cranking out food in epic proportions,
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8:32 - 8:34moving kids into an economy they never imagined.
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8:34 - 8:37Now, somewhere over the rainbow, my friends,
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8:37 - 8:41is the South Bronx of America. And we're doing it.
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8:41 - 8:43How does it start? Well, look at Jose's attention to detail.
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8:43 - 8:46Thank God Omar knows that carrots come from the ground,
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8:46 - 8:48and not aisle 9 at the supermarket
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8:48 - 8:50or through a bullet-proof window or through a piece of styrofoam.
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8:50 - 8:53And when Henry knows that green is good, so do I.
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8:53 - 8:56And when you expand their palates, you expand their vocabulary.
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8:56 - 9:00And most importantly, when you put big kids together with little kids,
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9:00 - 9:02you get the big fat white guy out of the middle, which is cool,
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9:02 - 9:06and you create this kind of accountability amongst peers, which is incredible.
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9:06 - 9:08God, I'm going to run out of time, so I've gotta keep it moving.
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9:08 - 9:11But this is my weekly paycheck for kids; that's our green graffiti.
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9:11 - 9:13This is what we're doing.
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9:13 - 9:17And behold the glory and bounty that is Bronx County.
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9:17 - 9:21Nothing thrills me more than to see kids pollinating plants instead of each other.
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9:21 - 9:23I gotta tell you, I'm a protective parent.
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9:23 - 9:25But those kids are the kids who are now putting
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9:25 - 9:26pumpkin patches on top of trains.
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9:26 - 9:29We're also designing coin ponds for the rich and affluent.
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9:29 - 9:31We're also becoming children of the corn,
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9:31 - 9:34creating farms in the middle of Fordham Road for awareness
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9:34 - 9:35and window bottles out of garbage.
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9:35 - 9:37Now I don't expect every kid to be a farmer,
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9:37 - 9:40but I expect you to read about it, write about it, blog about it, offer outstanding customer service.
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9:40 - 9:43I expect them to be engaged, and man, are they!
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9:43 - 9:45So that's my incredible classroom, that's the food.
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9:45 - 9:49Where does it go? Zero miles to plate, right down into the cafeteria.
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9:49 - 9:51Or more importantly, to local shelters,
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9:51 - 9:53where most of our kids are getting one to two meals a day.
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9:53 - 9:55And we're stepping it up.
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9:55 - 9:58No Air Jordans were ever ruined on my farm.
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9:58 - 10:01And in his day, a million dollar gardens and incredible installations.
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10:01 - 10:03Let me tell you something, people.
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10:03 - 10:06This is a beautiful moment.
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10:06 - 10:10Black field, brown field, toxic waste field, battlefield --
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10:10 - 10:12we're proving in the Bronx that you can grow anywhere, on cement.
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10:12 - 10:16And we take orders for flowers. I'm putting the bake sale to shame.
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10:16 - 10:18We take orders now. I'm booking for the spring.
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10:18 - 10:22And these were all grown from seeds. We're learning everything.
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10:22 - 10:25And again, when you can take kids from backgrounds as diverse
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10:25 - 10:27as this to do something as special as this,
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10:27 - 10:28we're really creating a moment.
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10:28 - 10:31Now, you may ask about these kids.
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10:31 - 10:34Forty percent attendance to 93 percent attendance.
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10:34 - 10:37All start overage and under-credit.
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10:37 - 10:41They are now, my first cohort is all in college, earning a living wage.
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10:41 - 10:43The rest are scheduled to graduate this June.
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10:43 - 10:46Happy kids, happy families, happy colleagues.
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10:46 - 10:51Amazed people. The glory and bounty that is Bronx County.
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10:51 - 10:53Let's talk about mint. Where is my mint?
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10:53 - 10:55I grow seven kinds of mint in my class.
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10:55 - 10:57Mojitos, anybody? I'll be at Telepan later.
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10:57 - 11:00But, understand this is my intellectual Viagra.
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11:00 - 11:04Ladies and gentlemen, I gotta move quick, but understand this:
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11:04 - 11:06The borough that gave us baggy pants and funky fresh beats
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11:06 - 11:08is becoming home to the organic ones.
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11:08 - 11:11My green [unclear] 25,000 pounds of vegetables,
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11:11 - 11:15I'm growing organic citizens, engaged kids.
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11:15 - 11:17So help us go from this to this.
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11:17 - 11:21Self-sustaining entities, 18 months return on investment,
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11:21 - 11:23plus we're paying people living wage and health benefits,
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11:23 - 11:25while feeding people for pennies on the dollar.
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11:25 - 11:28Martin Luther King said that people need to be uplifted with dignity.
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11:28 - 11:32So here in New York, I urge you, my fellow Americans,
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11:32 - 11:34to help us make America great again.
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11:34 - 11:36It's simple. Share your passion.
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11:36 - 11:39It's real easy. Go see these two videos, please.
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11:39 - 11:42One got us invited to the White House, one's a recent incarnation.
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11:42 - 11:44And most importantly, get the biggest bully out of schools.
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11:44 - 11:46This has got to go tomorrow.
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11:46 - 11:48People, you can all do that.
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11:48 - 11:52Keep kids out of stores that look like this.
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11:52 - 11:53Make them a healthy plate,
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11:53 - 11:56especially if you can pick it off the wall in your own classroom -- delicioso!
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11:56 - 11:59Model good behavior. Get them to a green cart.
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11:59 - 12:02Big kids love strawberries and bananas.
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12:02 - 12:05Teach them entrepreneurship. Thank God for GrowNYC.
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12:05 - 12:08Let them cook. Great lunch today, let them do culinary things.
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12:08 - 12:10But most importantly, just love them.
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12:10 - 12:12Nothing works like unconditional love.
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12:12 - 12:15So, my good friend Kermit said it's not easy being green.
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12:15 - 12:18It's not. I come from a place where kids can buy
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12:18 - 12:2135 flavors of blunt wrap at any day of the moment,
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12:21 - 12:24where ice cream freezers are filled with slushy malt liquor.
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12:24 - 12:28Okay? My dear friend Majora Carter once told me,
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12:28 - 12:31we have everything to gain and nothing to lose.
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12:31 - 12:34So here, and at a time when we've gone from
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12:34 - 12:36the audacity to hope to hope for some audacity,
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12:36 - 12:38I urge you to do something.
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12:38 - 12:39I urge you to do something.
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12:39 - 12:41Right now, we're all tadpoles,
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12:41 - 12:44but I urge you to become a big frog and take that big, green leap.
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12:44 - 12:48I don't care if you're on the left, on the right, up the middle, wherever.
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12:48 - 12:52Join me. Use -- I've got a lot of energy. Help me use it.
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12:52 - 12:54We can do something here.
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12:54 - 12:57And along the way, please take time to smell the flowers,
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12:57 - 12:58especially if you and your students grew them.
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12:58 - 13:01I'm Steve Ritz, this is Green Bronx Machine.
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13:01 - 13:04I've got to say thank you to my wife and family, for my kids,
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13:04 - 13:06thank you for coming every day, and for my colleagues,
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13:06 - 13:08believing and supporting me.
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13:08 - 13:10We are growing our way into a new economy.
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13:10 - 13:13Thank you, God bless you and enjoy the day. I'm Steve Ritz.
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13:13 - 13:15Sí se puede!
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13:15 - 13:20(Applause)
- Title:
- A teacher growing green in the South Bronx
- Speaker:
- Stephen Ritz
- Description:
-
A whirlwind of energy and ideas, Stephen Ritz is a teacher in New York's tough South Bronx, where he and his kids grow lush gardens for food, greenery -- and jobs. Just try to keep up with this New York treasure as he spins through the many, many ways there are to grow hope in a neighborhood many have written off, or in your own.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 13:59
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for A teacher growing green in the South Bronx | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for A teacher growing green in the South Bronx | ||
Thu-Huong Ha approved English subtitles for A teacher growing green in the South Bronx | ||
Thu-Huong Ha accepted English subtitles for A teacher growing green in the South Bronx | ||
Thu-Huong Ha edited English subtitles for A teacher growing green in the South Bronx | ||
Morton Bast added a translation |