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| Govans Urban Forest |
The Urban Forest Renewal class, co-taught by Jessica Garman and Josh Carlin, sends a group of Upper School students out to local parks and forests. They've submitted proposals for art projects at Robert E. Lee Park, visited urban green spaces, and read a lot about the challenges and opportunities regarding urban forestry and lumber. There's much more on their blog, Urban Forest Renewal, entirely written by students in the class. You can also read more of their reflections after the jump.
Recently they've begun a new project in coordination with Andy Cook in the Baltimore City Office of Sustainability. David Gann (Class of 2015) describes it like this:
We are about to embark on another project where we will work with Andy Cook, an urban planner for Baltimore City. Mr. Cook works to repurpose old buildings and areas in the city, usually built many decades ago, and make them available for efficient use by the public. His specific focus at the moment has been advocating to turn vacant lots into green spaces and community gardens. This is where our class comes in. He has asked us to explore around the city and photograph various vacant lots, ultimately compiling a list of viable sites for community garden projects in the future. At every location, as well as including a photo, we'll include a description of the area such as type of terrain, neighboring infrastructures, etc. All of the sites will be added to a website he is creating, and will be open for anyone to see.
Rachel Kehoe (Class of 2015) expands on that idea:
The tasks that we decided on are as follows:
- We will publicize and promote for awareness on social media including Instagram and Tumblr using the hashtag, #vacantindustrial.
- We will interview local sawmills over the phone to acquire information about where their materials come from, what type of products they use, and what they do with their waste to see if there are more effective and efficient ways to use these products to be more sustainable in each and every day.
- We will obtain a list of people who use recycled wood to determine what they do with the wood, what types and sizes of wood in order to learn more about what people are doing to reach sustainability.
- We will help Mr. Cook in mapping vacant lots and industrial zoned spaces by documenting these locations with pictures labeled by the hashtag listed above. We will also obtain addresses, take notes, and note truck accessibility to assist Mr. Cook and his company in planning ways to create sustainability with trees, which are great resources to human health, the cost of living, and many more significant things.
Here are their complete posts about the class; you can also read all about the class and track their progress on their own Tumblr blog, Urban Forest Renewal
Jared Becker
So far this year, we have participated in a multitude of activities as a class. We started by visiting local parks such as Wyman and Robert E Lee. Ultimately, our connection led us to focus on Robert E. Lee. As a class, we composed a proposal for a peace sign that would hang in the park. The proposal consisted of the way that we would go about making it to where it would be located in the park. Ultimately, it was turned down. While this was a disappointment, we did not let it get to us. We immediately came up with new plans for new activities that could take place in the park. The idea of hopscotch was very well received. Most recently, we had Andy Cook come speak with us. It was extremely interesting to hear how he molded his passions into one profession. During the talk, he gave us some ideas that would help make a difference in the community. One of the ideas he gave us was to interview local saw mills and find out what they do with their waste. He also talked about people that he knew who could make furniture with wood waste. An idea he had for us on this topic would be to interview and find out the different people that specialize in this rare profession. Recently, Mr. Cook has been looking at industrially zoned land. Our next steps moving forward are to interview local saw mills in addition to taking pictures of different preservation techniques along with what they do with their waste, and then putting them on Instagram. I look forward for what is to come in the future.
Jack Dolina
In our nation sustainability is a growing issue. As populations rise and production of products increases there is an ever growing strain of our resources. To be a sustainable society we have to meet our economic and environmental goals while making sure we have enough resources to fulfill the needs of future generations. We often hear about sustainability in agriculture. We must make sure we have enough to provide food to all that need it and have some excess in case of climate change, a natural disaster, or some other incident that could reduce the yield of our crops. The government and farmers must also work together to make sure that our land remains fertile for future growth. Urban sustainability is just as important to each communities well being. Sustainability can be a tricky issue to handle, cities need just enough excess to supply goods in case of an emergency without depleting our resources for the future. Sustainability in urban settings covers a wide range of topics from transportation to urban planning to climate control. Our Urban Forest Preservation class has recently started working with Andy Cook who works in Baltimore City's urban planning department on increasing Baltimore's sustainability. Mr. Cook's urban lot renovation project is a fantastic initiative to increase the sustainability of Baltimore City. Our role in our Urban Forest class is to interview local saw mills to receive information about where they get their materials, collect data on vacant lots using Instagram to map them, and find uses of scrap wood. A city has many things that need to work cohesively in order to remain sustainable. Lots must be appropriately apportioned for different purposes without the city. Landfills must be developed with proper space and location in order to hold all the cities trash without bothering surrounding residents. Vacant lots can also be used to house scrap wood before it is divided up and sent off to be reused. Another job that Mr. Cook assigned our class is to find people who reuse scrap wood. Many artists use scrap wood to create create sustainable art and furnishings. If we can maximize the efficiency in which we use our urban lots we can create a more sustainable city.
David Gann
A major portion of our Urban Forest Preservation class has been devoted to trying to help our community become sustainable. Our main focus so far has been to raise awareness about the beauty and role Robert E Lee park plays in Baltimore. We have written many posts on our tumblr page to spread the word. But we are about to embark on another project where we will work with Andy Cook, an urban planner for Baltimore City. Mr. Cook works to repurpose old buildings and areas in the city, usually built many decades ago, and make them available for efficient use by the public. His specific focus at the moment has been advocating to turn vacant lots into green spaces and community gardens. This is where our class comes in. He has asked us to explore around the city and photograph various vacant lots, ultimately compiling a list of viable sites for community garden projects in the future. At every location, as well as including a photo, we'll include a description of the area such as type of terrain, neighboring infrastructures, etc. All of the sites will be added to a website he is creating, and will be open for anyone to see. This collaboration with Andy Cook is a perfect task for our class to take on, as we will be helping to raise awareness for the need and usefulness of greenspaces all throughout Baltimore City.
Rachel Kehoe
As a 5-person Urban Forest Preservation class at Friends
School of Baltimore, we have experienced and overcome many challenges and
setbacks. After rejection, we have persevered into an art project, Art on the
Trail, at Robert E. Lee Park and in assisting Mr. Andy Cook with his project.
As an Urban Planner for the Office of Sustainability, he works to obtain and
maintain sustainability in our city, Baltimore. Currently, he is underway in
multiple projects to create and promote sustainability in the city. After our
meeting with Mr. Cook we came up with a list of tasks we would complete to
assist Mr. Cook, which would expose us and help us learn more about
sustainability. When Mr. Cook came and spoke to us during our class he stated
that Baltimore City was built with the intention of housing one million people.
We are sixty percent there with about 600,000 residents.
The tasks that we decided on are as follows:
- We will publicize and promote for awareness on social media including Instagram and Tumblr using the hashtag, #vacantindustrial.
- We will interview local sawmills over the phone to acquire information about where their materials come from, what type of products they use, and what they do with their waste to see if there are more effective and efficient ways to use these products to be more sustainable in each and every day.
- We will obtain a list of people who use recycled wood to determine what they do with the wood, what types and sizes of wood in order to learn more about what people are doing to reach sustainability.
- We will help Mr. Cook in mapping vacant lots and industrial zoned spaces by documenting these locations with pictures labeled by the hashtag listed above. We will also obtain addresses, take notes, and note truck accessibility to assist Mr. Cook and his company in planning ways to create sustainability with trees, which are great resources to human health, the cost of living, and many more significant things.
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