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This collection shows us that environmental justice can begin with one footstep into the world, at the table, and within your imagination. In this forthcoming book written by students at Manual Arts High School, they explore four different environmental issues: water quality, food access, green spaces, and waste management. Through personal narratives, students show us how these issues impact their lives and the community of South Central. Their stories are a call to action and a testament to the work already being done to combat food deserts, lead in water, and waste management. By illustrating the gardens they tend to at home and at school, students draw a map of their community where persistence blooms within the streets of a concrete city.

Through an initiative called Chicas Verdes, students tackle issues of sustainability, maintain the school garden, upcycle, and educate their peers on environmental issues. Other authors show us why it is imperative to fight for resources like shade and clean water. It is under the shade that Coles can imagine his future, safe from the beating Los Angeles sun. It is among the passion fruit leaves and chipilin blossoms, that Giselle finds peace and calm. Abigail takes us on a journey that begins with a running faucet and ends in the ocean. It is in the transformation of their community that students cultivate the roots of justice, and help us envision a world where hope can grow movement and change.

 

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Shade to Think

Coles Chaleston

Trees are really important to me and my family, but it’s not the first thing I see or smell when I walk out of my house each morning.

When I first walk out of the house I smell cigarettes and weed from people smoking nearby. The smoke smells really bad. It always makes me cough and the smell is bad. It makes me feel like these people need help. I hear cars passing by. There’s a middle school, a recycling company, and a parking lot with lots of cool cars in it, including a Lamborghini. The cars look cool. They’re blue and sometimes red. The color of the Lamborghini is yellow. I feel happy because I really love cars, especially the Lamborghini. I feel excited whenever I see it.

But the most important thing to me and my family is not a luxury car but the big tree next to my house. It was planted by my mom and step dad when they moved in three years ago. The tree looks big and beautiful. The color of the tree is green and it smells like nature. It does not look different in different seasons, and it looks the same at night just like in the day.

I feel satisfied when I look around because I see the beautiful sun and the big tree that gives shade to my home. The sun looks beautiful. It feels like I’m in paradise. We like this tree because it’s big and tall. It goes with the house, and without it the neighborhood would be dry. There would be no shade.

Because we have shade it keeps me and my family fresh and relaxed. Sometimes when I’m having a bad day, I’ll go sit under the tree and think about life.

It’s easier to picture my future when I’m relaxed under the shade. I imagine going to college, getting a job, and buying a house for my fine wife and kids. I imagine when I grow up I will have a little garden in my house. I will grow beautiful flowers and some fruits like oranges, mangos, and bananas. It will smell like nature and it will look beautiful. I imagine my house with a pool in the back and a soccer field. The flowers will look green and beautiful. It will smell like nature and the fruits will taste delicious. The color of the fruits will be beautiful, and I will share it with my family and friends.

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My Green Frame

Giselle Guevara

When I step outside my house to my left I see a garden. A garden full of greenery. I see a tall passion fruit vine, aloe vera plants, a small apple tree, and scattered chipilin bushes. I smell the fresh soil, the chipilin blossoms as I breathe the fresh, cold air. I hear the birds chirping, the leaves rattle as the wind flows through them, the bees buzz on the small yellow blossoms. I feel the stems of the dandelions I pull out, the richness of the soil, the pebbles and the green grass in the soil. As I look up, I see the passion fruit vine slowly grow over the wood roof, giving me a nice big lump of cool shade. There are palm trees on the side with birds nests up top and clouds floating gently through the sky. When I take a moment to look all around me, it seems peaceful and looks very alive.

I feel calm and relaxed when I’m in the garden because it is not like in the public where it’s so crowded. It’s just me by myself. When I’m alone in the garden, I appreciate everything much more. I appreciate the greenery, the people who planted this garden. They are now part of something I cherish and love. Plants help people feel calm because they give out oxygen so there is more fresh air near plants. When I look at a plant it looks pretty and it kind of looks like art, but this art is all natural, it starts small and grows slowly, but it ends up big and graceful once it takes in the sun’s energy and water.

Plants differ from each other just like I differ from you. They are unique. They have many different shapes and smells. Some plants bring beauty and color to the garden like a bush of roses or spring blossoms, while others grow tall up to the sky and provide shade, shelter, and sometimes fresh food like apple trees. Plants can be carnivorous and get their food from insects. Plants can be made into medicine or meals like my mother’s chipilin tamales. Plants are very important. They are our base, without them we wouldn’t exist. They are what holds this planet together to this day. Nature is incredible and it’s necessary for humanity and all living things although it might not always seem so. Just stop for a second or two and explore or just admire the beauty we have around us. It might just be right in front of you.

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My Green Space Life

Juliana Angeles

When I get out of the house I see the aloe right next to the stairs. I hear cars passing by my house. I see the lemon tree, nopal, chili, and sabila. Right next to the fence, the nopales stand tall, taller than me, my family, and my neighbors. The tunas on the nopales are round and spiky, not like the ones at the tienda that are cleaned already. The color of the tunas are like a beautiful sunset. They taste sweet, sweeter than a sandia.

There’s nothing else to describe the taste of the tuna. My mom used to cut them up and I’d take them to school and eat them in class. My classmates were curious and would always ask “What is that? Does it taste good?” I’d say, “They’re very sweet, you want to try it?” They would try them and they’d say they liked them, too.

My mom usually cleans the nopales and tunas. Sometimes I do. The nopales from the yard are very fresh. They taste different from the ones from the lata. When my mom is cooking caldo or preparing fruit she tells me, “Ve a buscarme tres limones.” When it’s dark I get my flashlight and I go out and I pick the big lemons. The big lemons have more juice. I check them and make sure they’re squishy. That’s how you know. Sometimes it takes two hands to squeeze the juice out of the lemon. The lemon tree has been there since we moved in. I have to stretch my neck up to see it and stretch my hand up to pick lemons. It’s as tall as the house.

My mom does everything. She’s a gardener, teacher’s assistant, and housekeeper. She can take care of elderly people. Every job she’s come across, she’s made friends with people who have beautiful plants. Every now and then she’ll bring a plant home for our garden. She’s been bringing plants home since I was a baby.
When I was born, my mom and I lived with her friend Marilynn. She had a garden and would take me outside to play in it. There is a photo of me with the shovel. I was two years old and the shovel was taller than me. I would try to pull the carrots from the ground at that age. Marilynn would also take me to parks. The garden I have now reminds me of the parks and of Marilynn’s garden where I first learned how to care for plants. Now each time I step outside my house, I see a beautiful garden I helped create.

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Cultivating L.A.

Isaac Antonio

It is our responsibility to learn how to provide hope for other members in our community. Each person holds a torch that carries our hopes, dreams, and our motivations. As that torch gets passed down from one community member to the next, it cultivates power and should continue to grow.

Moving to Los Angeles was a shock. I used to live in a quiet peaceful area and now I live in a busy zone. I have adjusted and when I get back from soccer practice after school, I am welcomed by the aroma of sweet ginger and that unique smell that only you would know if your favorite meal was Norma’s empanadas de pollo. I see my mother’s love in her food. She makes fantastic Mexican food such as Molé, enchiladas, and chicken quesadillas. She gets ingredients from the grocery store Vallarta. I enjoy watching the chemical reactions of the ingredients when they are applied to heat. I see all of the colors of the rainbow reflected in the meals prepared at home. Her food tastes so amazing, it leaves you with an extraordinary flavor in your mouth like no other food. It will satisfy your taste buds.

For some ingredients we go to a market in Lancaster. We go almost every month with my family. Each time we go it’s like an one hour and 20 minute drive, but that’s where the best meat is. The meat is fresh and affordable.

When I’m in the mood to cook, I enjoy making chicken quesadillas for myself. I serve them on my plate, sit at the table, and pour myself a cup of orange juice. I watch anime if I am alone. Each meal that I eat helps fuel me for my next activity. When I get back from soccer practice, I’m usually hungry and choose between cereal or home cooked meals.

It is better to eat homemade food than fast food because when we cook our own food we know what ingredients are put in. The frijoles are healthier than the McDonald’s you want to eat. A bonus tip: it’s also cheaper! My mom was teaching me how to cook before I started getting busier with sports so I had to start teaching myself.

This year, I joined Chicas Verdes, a club dedicated to creating green space, ensuring water quality, and food access. I heard my teacher Ms. Applebaum had this Chicas Verdes program and I asked if I could get involved. It was a call to action. A gut feeling told me to join because I wanted to help my community. This club has taught me how to think about others’ needs and how to give hope to my community in Los Angeles. We tackle important environmental issues and go out to the school garden during Homeroom. I help Ms. Applebaum plant or sometimes play soccer with friends in the garden. We come up with ideas to improve our environment at school, like getting water filters at the school or hosting farmers’ markets. In Chicas Verdes meetings we all get along and have fun. We work together to get informed and educate others on better ways to recycle. Our mission is to help those in school who don’t have access to food. We collect clothes donations for people who can’t buy new clothes. The garden in the back of the school supports those of us students that can’t afford food.

“I have a dream,” said Martin Luther King Jr., as he dreamt about equality. We have a dream for the future. A place where we don’t have to worry about water quality, green space, global warming, and food access. The students in Chicas Verde are trying to make that vision come true.

It is important for community members, such as myself, to resist letting the torch die out. When you feel the embers are about to burn out, remember to go beyond the limits and not doubt yourself. Movements that revolve around bettering our quality of life take a lot of planning and efforts, but as long as hope remains I will continue to smile and keep working for the community.

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The People’s Kitchen On Broadway

Rodmahjai Scutter

When I’m at school I don’t eat the food because it does not taste right. I wait to get home to eat. By the time I’m getting home from school at 8:30pm after basketball practice, my mom is in the kitchen cooking. She cooks red beans and rice, cornbread, neckbones, and yams.

She went to culinary school when I was eight years old. She sautes neck bones before she puts them in the oven. When she pulls them out, the meat slides off the bone. She gets the neck bones from the meat market. Sometimes I’m lazy, but I do go buy groceries with her sometimes. When we walk into the meat market on San Pedro and Vernon the smell makes you want to cover your nose. All the meat smells combined is nasty. You have to smell that blood. It’s just me and her that walk in. It reminds me of the times she had a restaurant.

She had a restaurant once on 104th and Broadway. It was called The People’s Kitchen. I was in the sixth grade when we had this restaurant. She was head chef, owner, and everything. Sometimes I would go to work with her to get a little bit of money. She would say to me, “I need ten wings!” and I’d drop them in the deep fryer. I prepared tacos with meat, cheese, cilantro, and pico de gallo, then I’d go check on the wings. She was in charge of the soul food and breakfast, and taught me how to make everything else. Everybody said “Oh, he’s so little in the kitchen,” and give me a lot of tips.

She closed the restaurant because we moved. She was going to open one in Vegas. Now she’s going to get a catering truck. It’s going to be called something with her last name in it. She’s going to add her secret sauces. I know one of her secret recipes for the wings because she makes those wings at home. My favorite thing that she makes is her gumbo. She puts in shrimp, wings, sauces, celery, and crab. For Thanksgiving, oh my goodness, she makes some creamy macaroni and cheese. She makes ham. We don’t really eat turkey—it’s not that we don’t like it. She makes turkey wings instead and that’s what we like to do.

Cooking makes my mom happy and I like to see her happy. It’s a bonding thing. It’s just me and her. I’m usually out all day busy with basketball, so I don’t get to spend a lot of time with her. I’m just a mama’s boy. She’s always been there for me. Most Sundays I cook breakfast for her because it’s God’s day and she’s supposed to relax. I cook eggs, bacon, and sausage. I have a special recipe for golden brown fried potatoes that I call mashed potatoes because they get so soft. Cooking makes me feel good too. Cooking makes me think about life. I get to settle down and realize I only get one mom, so I make the best of the time we have. I feel good about myself because I can cook better than all my brothers and sisters and my mom agrees with me.

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Water For The Future

Abigail, Fabian

Everyday before leaving home, I hear the water filling up the bottle I use for the day. I fill it when I’m off to school or when I go out. When I hear myself closing the bottle, I would wonder how some people don’t get the same type of water. Some people get clean water and some have lead in their water. When I watch the water come out of the faucet or when the machine from the refrigerator pours out water, I notice how clean and wonderful it is. When I take a sip of it, I reflect on how some people don’t always get the wonderful taste of clean water.

We don’t only use water for drinking in our everyday life but also for watering plants, washing the dishes, washing your car, etc. People don’t understand how dirty water can affect their bodies and themselves. Drinking lead in your water little by little everyday can impact you more than you think. Lead in the body is distributed to the brain, liver, kidney and bones. There are some schools that have really bad quality water and yet kids all around the world still drink lead poisoned water and don’t realize the effects of lead poisoning. It can cause people to get sick or die.

In my health class we took action to help our school, Manual Arts High School, by doing a project to see if we have any lead in our water. We learned that in some areas there is good quality water while other areas have bad quality of water. We discovered that there was lead in our water at school and figured we had something to do about it. We made posters and went to each advisory class to talk about the water quality at the school and its impact on the body. Now students are aware of the amount of lead the water has. They know what water is safe for them to drink or use and will help them pay attention to the quality of water they are drinking.

By us drinking lead it can affect many people to either die or be sick. This can impact thousands of people in the whole world and are future lives. If this were to happen I would have been trying to find out a way to make people get clean water. I would be trying to figure a way to help people get water as soon as possible because if we don’t do it anytime soon people would be getting sick and end up dying soon because of the dirty quality the water has. I wouldn’t want people dying because of people who don’t care about the water quality. Earth is just as important as we people are so I believe if we didn’t have good quality water then I believe we should take action now and not later.

When I go out somewhere I always have my reusable water bottle for me to drink out of instead of plastic water bottles. I believe it’s a waste of money if you keep on buying water bottles over and over again the whole day. It’s also sad because some of the plastic goes to the sea or land and it endangers animals. It can bruise, scar or lead them to death. I really don’t like using plastic bottles because it can cause pollution and hurt the animals.

I care about the environment but also those who live on this planet. Right now there is trash in the seas and dry lands where animals live. They are suffering because of us. I believe we should care about the environment and those who inhabit it. I suggest people use reusable bottles rather than plastic bottles. I believe we should take action now and not later.

I would like to lead a fundraiser to improve water so everyone could get access to good quality, clean water. I’d like to talk to governments around the world about how it’s not okay for kids or adults to have dirty water and bring awareness of what areas are most affected, like my school and community.

If we don’t take action, who will be the one to make a change in the world that we live in? Who will be the one to save many lives in the present and in the future? We need to be mindful of our surroundings and of the people around us who are suffering because of the quality of their water.

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Make Something New

Stephanie Gamez

There are a lot of things that can be done to reuse old wasted products in our community. Some ways I’ve reused things are by upcycling clothes. Old clothing can be made into something new and creative, and this can be a fun way to help waste management.

I really started to upcycle thanks to a workshop held by Chicas Verdes. We discussed all the ways old clothing can be upcycled with old fabric. A shirt could be turned into a skirt if cut in half, or old fabric from a furniture store can be sewed into an old jacket and made into a new design. Usually what I do is I get old shoes and I paint on them. I transformed a pair of Vans by painting clouds on them with the color white and a blue background using fabric paint from Walmart. My stepdad had a shirt that was really big that he didn’t want anymore, so I painted a design on it—sunflowers and other plants on a shirt that was blank before.

Of course you can upcycle more than just clothes. I use plastic water bottles that my mom gets or save bottles after I’m done drinking and use them as flower pots. I cut the bottle in half, fill it with dirt, poke holes for drainage, and put dandelions inside. They’re so small and my mom likes dandelions. I started doing this when I was little for Mother’s Day.

I dream about reusing things that usually people would find no use for. Bags, bottles, or soda cans can be turned into so many useful things that people usually look over and see as just waste for landfills. What I want to do is make something new from something old to show what can be done with creativity and putting your mind to it. It’s up to people and what they want to create with their own recyclables. If people are willing to use their creativity and reuse, anything is possible.

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My Peach Tree

Skilar Wallace

When I step outside my home I see people walking, cats and dogs moving slowly and cars moving. Early in the mornings I smell fresh air as the coldness and fog hit my face. Everyday on my way to school, I pass the garden in front of my house and a tree full of peaches that’s still growing. My peach tree has been there since I was going to elementary. I check on the peaches. Once when I was little, I touched a peach and rubbed my eye. It watered and got red because the peach was not fully ready.

As soon as I walk out, there it is. I have seen this peach tree grow since I was in elementary school. I have seen this peach tree in the springtime and in the fall. It has the most peaches in the summer. The peaches are small, like gumballs, but yellowish. Reddish little flowers grow around it and the brown leaves are like a crown on the peach. Sometimes the peaches catch my attention when I’m going to school. When the peach is not fully ready it looks like a hard green apple. It’s just a little smaller like a Cherry plum. I know when it’s ready because it’s usually hard, not so soft. When the peach is ready the color is a dark yellow color, but if there’s any hint of green on it, it needs more time to grow on the tree.

Soon as the peach is ready, I go into my house and wash my peach and bite into it. It is juicy and sweet. My neighbors also try the peaches too and give me compliments and comments so I can improve on its growth. My neighbors love peaches from my tree. They tell everybody about them. If my peach tree wasn’t there, most of my neighbors wouldn’t have any good fruit. They don’t have to spend money and go to the store. They can just get fruit from the tree. The peach tree is stable. The peach tree brings happiness to the community. The peach tree is respect. The peace tree is joyful.

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Feeding the Hungry

Maria Franco

Hunger is something that I know very well as a teenager. When I lived in Mexico, I observed a very ugly crisis: people with problems because of drugs, alcohol, health issues, and a lack of access to healthy food. In Michoacan, where I used to live, there were people without work or food. Some of my relatives had access to food, but others did not. My family members who are still in Mexico, some aunts and uncles, do not have access to food. Many things have happened in my life, and one of them is not having food to eat. I thank God we never had to live on the street because my mother and brother always found a way to support us. To this day they still make sure we have enough food.

They have worked in restaurants and I helped when I could. There are still people who can not eat for days because they don’t have money. Millions of people have died of hunger in Mexico and in other countries. It makes me feel bad that I cannot help all of the people who need food.

There are people who have everything. They have a home, family, their health, and food. Yet, all those people who have everything are wasteful. It is important for them to think about the people who don’t have food. We know that there are measures that can help the needy.

This year I want to go ahead and help people who need food. I will help them by working in our school garden. I am calm, happy, and relaxed when I’m in our school garden. I wish that everyone had access to a garden where they could relax and grow healthy food. But what we should do is help those people who have no food. We should organize volunteer events with people who want to help, go outside and offer food and water to the homeless, so that at least that day they can eat. It is important not to cook too much food because it can go bad if you don’t finish what you make. It is also important not to waste food because many people don’t have it. We must help or donate food like: beans, rice, cereal, lentils, milk, fruits and vegetables, and other things.

For that to happen, we should invite those people who do not have food to events where they are giving away food, water, clothing, amongst other things.

When I don’t have food I feel different, worried, sad, hungry, because having no food feels like life will no longer be the same. But now I can help other people. Helping others makes me feel happy because they can eat.

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The Flood Of Trash

Valerie Rangel

When I’m walking I see plastic bottles, soda cans, food wrappers, and papers. I usually see all of this trash in the water drains and on concrete. On 54th and Vermont, there is a water drain that is filled up with trash and when it rains, it gets all flooded, making it so that we cannot walk around anymore. Last time it was raining, and I had to go to the store and I forgot that the drain was flooded. When I saw it flooded, I got worried that I was going to get really wet and sick. Still, I had to kind of wade through the really cold water. The cold water went inside my shoes, and it made me sick. At that moment, I got angry because you could see how trash can impact something seemingly small like the water drain. Right then I wanted to clean all the trash in the world, but I realized that I don’t have such a big “power” to clean everything or try to change people’s minds.

I want people to know how plastic waste is a big deal and that they should help save the world because we live in it. When I go visit other places like Glendale, I can see how much cleaner it is. I ask myself why it is cleaner there than in my hometown of LA? So, I did some research, and according to the Los Angeles County Department, they disposed of an estimated total of 28.05 million tons of solid waste and averaged about 89,900 tons of trash per day. It’s crazy to think how much trash our community is throwing away. It is so much trash! One way we can help out is by recycling and putting trash where it belongs. For example, my family and I have a different container just for plastic waste because we don’t want the trash to get mixed up with plastic. We also have a filter for water, so that we don’t use plastic water bottles. My brothers have canteens that they fill with water. Another way we try to help the community is by saving the reusable bags to go shopping. We also save up money by doing this because now grocery bags aren’t free anymore. We all can help the community by putting the trash where it belongs and also by picking up after ourselves. We can all make an impact to keep our community cleaner and better. If everyone can put in effort to manage waste, I feel like our environment is going to get better.

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More Information on Chicas Verdes

Chicas Verdes is a sustainability initiative that serves under-resourced communities. Through their involvement in Chicas Verdes, students learn about issues in their communities and combat these issues sustainably.

Promoting female-empowerment and activism, Chicas Verdes students grow their own food, develop soaps and creams, recycle clothing, and dye their own merchandise with plants. They also host bi-monthly farmers markets where they distribute their produce and products and interact with community members to share their mission.

Since its start in 2017, Chicas Verdes has hosted over 50 events to educate community members about healthy, sustainable living, and distributed over 20,000 pounds of donated produce. Chicas Verdes educates students about inequity in food systems and teaches them to grow their own food with the larger goal of creating new, sustainable, community-based food systems.

Chicas Verdes school-sites receive curriculum about gardening, sustainable living, product development, and entrepreneurship, along with teacher training and access to a supportive online community. To supplement curriculum, Chicas Verdes teams can also receive seedlings, dirt, tools, and consultations to start their own school gardens. Graduated members can bring Chicas Verdes to their college campuses and mentor girls currently in the program.

The nature of this mission exposes Chicas Verdes members to the wider world, encouraging them to identify and hone untapped skills. Self-reliance is the club’s cornerstone — members are expected to seek a deeper understanding of the social and historical contexts of their lives.

With new insight into the world and their place in it, students become activists, assuming leadership roles and developing healthier lifestyles and a sustainable food system for the wider community.

To learn more please visit:

 

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Acknowledgements

Every book project begins as an idea, a plan, a writing prompt, and then an invitation. We invite dedicated, passionate volunteers from across this city to join us in the classroom to help students dispel the idea that they are not writers, or that writing can only be done alone. It is with the support of our community of volunteers, their keen eyes and ears, and their persistent encouragement, that pages of countless books have been filled throughout the years at 826LA.

To the volunteers on this project: Alex Torres, Alexis Nunez, Angela Tapia, Anna Boudinot, Ashley Paul, Audrey Kuo, Carol Davis, Cheryl Klein, Debra Shrout, Debra Villinsky, Erica Estève, James Liddell, Joan Goldfeder, Josie Bloomfield, Mariesa Kubasek, Martha Windahl, Melina Castorillo, Michael Sokol, and Patrick Ferrell. Thank you for inspiring us, feverishly taking notes, and for asking questions that helped these stories flourish on the page.

Thank you to Principal Thomas for continuously supporting 826LA, The Writers’ Room, and our programs at Manual Arts HS.

To Ms. Applebaum, who opened the gates of the Manual Arts garden and helped transform it into a space where students could cultivate their passion for social justice; thank you for your tireless advocacy and your enthusiasm throughout our collaboration.

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826LA Supporters

This project was made possible in part by grants from the All Ways Up Foundation, the Flourish Foundation, the Joan Leidy Foundation, the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, and the USC Good Neighbors Campaign.