Visc a South Central. Això és South Central: botigues de licors, menjar ràpid, solars buits.
I live in South Central. This is South Central: liquor stores, fast food, vacant lots.
Els urbanistes es reuneixen i decideixen que canviaràn el nom de South Central per fer que representi quelcom diferent, i el canvien per South Los Angeles, com si això arreglés el que realment va malament a la ciutat. Això és South Los Angeles. (Riure) Botigues de licors, menjar ràpid, solars buits.
So the city planners, they get together and they figure they're going to change the name South Central to make it represent something else, so they change it to South Los Angeles, like this is going to fix what's really going wrong in the city. This is South Los Angeles. (Laughter) Liquor stores, fast food, vacant lots.
Com els altres 26.5 milions d'americans, visc en un desert alimentari, South Central Los Angeles, llar dels auto-restaurants i dels tiroteigs. El més graciós és que els auto-restaurants maten més persones que els tiroteigs. La població mor de malalties curables a South Central Los Angeles. Per exemple, la taxa d'obesitat al meu barri és cinc cops més elevada que, diguem, a Beverly Hills, que és a uns 13 o 16 quilòmetres de distància.
Just like 26.5 million other Americans, I live in a food desert, South Central Los Angeles, home of the drive-thru and the drive-by. Funny thing is, the drive-thrus are killing more people than the drive-bys. People are dying from curable diseases in South Central Los Angeles. For instance, the obesity rate in my neighborhood is five times higher than, say, Beverly Hills, which is probably eight, 10 miles away.
Estic cansat de veure-ho. I em preguntava com us sentiríeu si no tinguéssiu accés a menjar sa, si cada cop que sortíssiu per la porta veiéssiu els efectes malaltissos que l'actual sistema alimentari causa a la vostra barriada? Veig com es compren i es venen cadires de rodes com si fossin cotxes de segona mà. Apareixen centres de diàlisi com Starbucks. I crec que això s'ha d'acabar. Em sembla que el problema és la solució. El menjar és el problema i el menjar és la solució. A més, ja m'he cansat de conduïr 45 minuts per aconseguir una poma que no estigui coberta de pesticides.
I got tired of seeing this happening. And I was wondering, how would you feel if you had no access to healthy food, if every time you walk out your door you see the ill effects that the present food system has on your neighborhood? I see wheelchairs bought and sold like used cars. I see dialysis centers popping up like Starbucks. And I figured, this has to stop. So I figured that the problem is the solution. Food is the problem and food is the solution. Plus I got tired of driving 45 minutes round trip to get an apple that wasn't impregnated with pesticides.
Per això, vaig plantar un bosc comestible davant de casa, a un trosset de terra al que anomenem passeig. Fa 45 metres per 3 metres. És propietat de la ciutat, però ho hem de mantenir nosaltres. Va ser com: "Mola, puc fer el que em doni la gana, ja que és responsabilitat meva i ho he de mantenir." I vaig decidir mantenir-ho així.
So what I did, I planted a food forest in front of my house. It was on a strip of land that we call a parkway. It's 150 feet by 10 feet. Thing is, it's owned by the city. But you have to maintain it. So I'm like, "Cool. I can do whatever the hell I want, since it's my responsibility and I gotta maintain it." And this is how I decided to maintain it.
El meu grup i jo, L.A Green Grounds ens vam unir i vam començar a plantar el bosc comestible, arbres fruiters, bé, de tot, verdures. Som una mena de grup de cadena de favors format per jardiners de totes les classes, de tota la ciutat, és completament voluntari, i tot el que fem és gratuit. El jardí era preciós.
So me and my group, L.A. Green Grounds, we got together and we started planting my food forest, fruit trees, you know, the whole nine, vegetables. What we do, we're a pay-it-forward kind of group, where it's composed of gardeners from all walks of life, from all over the city, and it's completely volunteer, and everything we do is free. And the garden, it was beautiful.
I algú es va queixar. La ciutat se'm va tirar a sobre, i em van enviar una citació que deia que havia de treure el jardí, i aquesta citació és va convertir en una ordre judicial. I va ser com: "No fotis, de veritat? Una ordre judicial per sembrar aliments en un tros de terra del qual ningú se'n preocupa?" (Riure) Em vaig quedar: "D'acord. Vinga." Perquè aquest cop no funcionaria. Així que l'L.A. Times se'n va assabentar. Steve Lopez va escriure un article i va parlar amb el regidor, i un dels membres de Green Grounds, va crear una petició a Change.org, i amb 900 signatures, vam ser un èxit. Teniem la victòria. Fins i tot el regidor va trucar per donar el seu suport i va dir que li encantava el que fèiem. Vull dir, vinga, com no els hi hauria d'agradar? Los Angeles és la ciutat nord-americana que poseeix més solars buits. Té uns 65 kilòmetres quadrats de solars buits. Això són 20 Central Parks. És prou espai com per sembrar-hi 725 milions de tomaqueres. Per què no ho hauríen de voler, això? Una sola planta produeix 1.000, 10.000 llavors. Un dòlar de mongetes verdes produeix 75 dòlars de producte. Dir a les persones que cultivin els seus aliments és el meu evangeli. Conrear el teu menjar és com imprimir els teus diners.
And then somebody complained. The city came down on me, and basically gave me a citation saying that I had to remove my garden, which this citation was turning into a warrant. And I'm like, "Come on, really? A warrant for planting food on a piece of land that you could care less about?" (Laughter) And I was like, "Cool. Bring it." Because this time it wasn't coming up. So L.A. Times got ahold of it. Steve Lopez did a story on it and talked to the councilman, and one of the Green Grounds members, they put up a petition on Change.org, and with 900 signatures, we were a success. We had a victory on our hands. My councilman even called in and said how they endorse and love what we're doing. I mean, come on, why wouldn't they? L.A. leads the United States in vacant lots that the city actually owns. They own 26 square miles of vacant lots. That's 20 Central Parks. That's enough space to plant 725 million tomato plants. Why in the hell would they not okay this? Growing one plant will give you 1,000, 10,000 seeds. When one dollar's worth of green beans will give you 75 dollars' worth of produce. It's my gospel, when I'm telling people, grow your own food. Growing your own food is like printing your own money.
(Aplaudiments)
(Applause)
Veieu? Hi deixo un llegat, a South Central. Hi vaig crèixer. Els meus fills hi van crèixer. I em nego a formar part d'aquesta realitat fabricada que ha estat fabricada per a mi per altres persones, i m'estic fabricant la meva pròpia realitat.
See, I have a legacy in South Central. I grew up there. I raised my sons there. And I refuse to be a part of this manufactured reality that was manufactured for me by some other people, and I'm manufacturing my own reality.
Ho veieu? Sóc un artista. La jardineria és el meu grafit. Cultivo el meu art. Com un grafiter que embelleix les parets, jo, jo embelleixo els solars, els passeigs. Empro el jardí, el sòl, com si fos un tros de tela, i les plantes i els arbres, són els embellidors d'aquesta tela. Us sorprendria què pot fer el sòl si deixes que sigui el teu llenç. No us podeu imaginar l'increïble que és un gira-sol i com afecta les persones.
See, I'm an artist. Gardening is my graffiti. I grow my art. Just like a graffiti artist, where they beautify walls, me, I beautify lawns, parkways. I use the garden, the soil, like it's a piece of cloth, and the plants and the trees, that's my embellishment for that cloth. You'd be surprised what the soil could do if you let it be your canvas. You just couldn't imagine how amazing a sunflower is and how it affects people.
¿I què va passar? He vist com el meu jardí s'ha convertit en una eina educativa, una eina per a transformar la meva barriada. Per canviar una comunitat, has de canviar la composició del sòl. Nosaltres som el sòl. Us sorprendria com això pot afectar els nens. La jardineria és l'acte més terapèutic i desafiant que pots fer, especialment al centre de la ciutat. I a més, tens maduixes.
So what happened? I have witnessed my garden become a tool for the education, a tool for the transformation of my neighborhood. To change the community, you have to change the composition of the soil. We are the soil. You'd be surprised how kids are affected by this. Gardening is the most therapeutic and defiant act you can do, especially in the inner city. Plus you get strawberries.
(Riure)
(Laughter)
Recordo una vegada, que van venir una mare i una filla, sobre les 10:30 de la nit, eren al meu jardí i les vaig enxampar, estaven tan avergonyides. I va ser com, home, que fossin allà em va fer sentir fatal, i els hi vaig dir: "No cal que ho feu així. És al carrer per algun motiu. Em feia vergonya veure com persones tan properes a mi passaven gana, i això em va motivar encara més, i la gent em preguntava: "Fin, no et preocupa que la gent et robi el menjar?" I és com, "Collons no, no em preocupa que se l'emportin. Per això és al carrer. Aquesta és la idea. Vull que se l'emportin, i, al mateix temps, vull que recuperin la seva salut".
I remember this time, there was this mother and a daughter came, it was, like, 10:30 at night, and they were in my yard, and I came out and they looked so ashamed. So I'm like, man, it made me feel bad that they were there, and I told them, you know, you don't have to do this like this. This is on the street for a reason. It made me feel ashamed to see people that were this close to me that were hungry, and this only reinforced why I do this, and people asked me, "Fin, aren't you afraid people are going to steal your food?" And I'm like, "Hell no, I ain't afraid they're gonna steal it. That's why it's on the street. That's the whole idea. I want them to take it, but at the same time, I want them to take back their health."
Un cop, vaig posar un jardí a un refugi per desamparats al centre de Los Angeles. Aquí els tenim. Em van ajudar a descarregar la camioneta. Va molar. Es van posar a compartir històries de com això els afectava i de com solien sembrar amb les seves mares i les seves àvies, i va ser genial veure com això els canviava, tot i que fos per un moment.
There's another time when I put a garden in this homeless shelter in downtown Los Angeles. These are the guys, they helped me unload the truck. It was cool, and they just shared the stories about how this affected them and how they used to plant with their mother and their grandmother, and it was just cool to see how this changed them, if it was only for that one moment.
Així que Green Grounds ha seguit sembrant potser uns 20 jardins. Han vingut unes 50 persones a cavar, a participar-hi, tots voluntaris. Si els nens cultiven col, els nens menjaran col. (Riure) Si cultiven tomàquets, menjaran tomàquets. (Aplaudiments) Però quan no se'ls presenta res de tot això, si no els ensenyem com el menjar afecta la ment i el cos, menjaran qualsevol cosa que els posis al davant.
So Green Grounds has gone on to plant maybe 20 gardens. We've had, like, 50 people come to our dig-ins and participate, and it's all volunteers. If kids grow kale, kids eat kale. (Laughter) If they grow tomatoes, they eat tomatoes. (Applause) But when none of this is presented to them, if they're not shown how food affects the mind and the body, they blindly eat whatever the hell you put in front of them.
Veig que hi ha gent jove que vol treballar, però estan atrapats... Veig que hi ha nens de color que només segueixen el camí dissenyat per a ells, un camí que no els porta enlloc. Amb la jardineria, veig l'oportunitat de preparar aquests nens per a que agafin les regnes de les seves comunitats, per a que tinguin una vida sostenible. I fent això, qui sap? Potser sortirà el proper George Washington Carver. Pero si no canviem la composició del sòl, no ho aconseguirem mai.
I see young people and they want to work, but they're in this thing where they're caught up -- I see kids of color and they're just on this track that's designed for them, that leads them to nowhere. So with gardening, I see an opportunity where we can train these kids to take over their communities, to have a sustainable life. And when we do this, who knows? We might produce the next George Washington Carver. but if we don't change the composition of the soil, we will never do this.
Ara aquest és un dels meus plans. És el que vull fer. Vull sembrar un conjunt de jardins on la gent pugui compartir el menjar. Vull agafar contenidors d'embarcament i convertir-los en cafeteries saludables. No em malinterpreteu. No parlo de coses de franc. perquè allò de franc no és sostenible. El més graciós de la sostenibilitat, és que l'has de sostenir. (Riure) (Aplaudiments) Em refereixo a posar la gent a treballar, i a treure els nens del carrer. Fer que s'adonin de l'alegria, l'orgull i l'honor que suposa conrear el propi menjar, obrir mercats de pagès.
Now this is one of my plans. This is what I want to do. I want to plant a whole block of gardens where people can share in the food in the same block. I want to take shipping containers and turn them into healthy cafes. Now don't get me wrong. I'm not talking about no free shit, because free is not sustainable. The funny thing about sustainability, you have to sustain it. (Laughter) (Applause) What I'm talking about is putting people to work, and getting kids off the street, and letting them know the joy, the pride and the honor in growing your own food, opening farmer's markets.
Doncs el que vull fer aquí... Ho hem de fer atractiu. Vull que us convertiu en revolucionaris ecològics, mafiosos, jardiners mafiosos. Hem de canviar el nostre concepte de mafiós. Si no ets un jardiner, no ets un mafiós. Sigues mafiós amb la pala, d'acord? I que aquesta sigui la teva eina d'elecció.
So what I want to do here, we gotta make this sexy. So I want us all to become ecolutionary renegades, gangstas, gangsta gardeners. We gotta flip the script on what a gangsta is. If you ain't a gardener, you ain't gangsta. Get gangsta with your shovel, okay? And let that be your weapon of choice.
(Aplaudiments)
(Applause)
Bàsicament, si em voleu conèixer, vull dir, si és el que voleu, no em truqueu per seure a cadires encoixinades i fer reunions per parlar de fer qualsevol merda... de parlar de qualsevol merda. Si em voleu conèixer, veniu al jardí amb una pala per què plantem coses.
So basically, if you want to meet with me, you know, if you want to meet, don't call me if you want to sit around in cushy chairs and have meetings where you talk about doing some shit -- where you talk about doing some shit. If you want to meet with me, come to the garden with your shovel so we can plant some shit.
Pau. Gràcies.
Peace. Thank you.
(Aplaudiments) Gràcies. (Aplaudiments)
(Applause) Thank you. (Applause)