Tomorrow thousands of people around the world will participate in an international day of climate action.
Its theme is “350” - the number associated with the amount carbon dioxide, or CO2, in the world’s atmosphere believed to be safe by some scientists.
Some people in Milwaukee got a head start on the tomorrow’s global event. They’re planting 350 fruit and nut trees around the city.
WUWM’s Environmental Reporter Susan Bence stopped in to see where, and who helped plant, five of those trees.
This group of teenagers isn’t planting trees on the corner of 2nd and Clarke; they’re chipping away at an intimidating mound of root-bound soil at All Peoples Church garden. Diana Gonzalez seems to be leading the team.
“Are you a member of this church,” I ask.
“No, I’m just here volunteering,” Gonzalez says.
The Rufus King High School senior says she found out about the project and recruited ten more students to help.
“Tell me about this project, what do you know about it,” I ask.
“Well they’re trying to plant food around so people, they don’t have to travel and use the gas to transport the food to help the environment and then we’re trying to also plant trees to help the air as well,” Gonzalez says.
Gonzalez is working hard here, knows a lot about this church’s project, and she hasn’t even met Steve Jerbi.
He’s the congregation’s pastor, unabashedly an environmentalist. In fact, he calls himself “ecopastor.”
“I used to be an environmental ed director before I went to seminary,” Jerbi says.
Jerbi uses the quiet approach. He’s walking around the garden, thanking workers for helping out today.
The pastor says this garden took root in what was a vacant city lot in 1995, long before he came to Milwaukee.
“And so kids from the neighborhood would come and learn about gardening,” Jerbi says.
A decade later, the city notified All Peoples the lot had been sold and the garden was bulldozed.
Ultimately, Jerbi says, the sale didn’t go through.
“And so when I came to All Peoples Church it was still a vacant lot and the city at that time, wasn’t caring for it and so the weeds were taller than me and we started the plan to reclaim it,” Jerbi says.
The church set up a three-year lease with the city and reestablished the garden. Jerbi says for his congregation, it’s not an environmental statement, it’s a neighborhood fixture.
“The food that we grow here serves youth in our congregation, families at the food pantry and the community. When we did our end of summer block party we declared jubilee and said if there’s anything ripe, anyone can go pick it,” Jerbi says. Jerbi says church members agreed to be a part of the local effort to plant 350 trees.
“We’ve planted trees next to the church, three apple trees and a cherry tree. We’ve got another apple tree we’ll be planting in the garden,” Jerbi says
Not because the congregation labels it “environmentally correct.” Jerbi says, for many, it’s more basic than that.
“I care about my kids having asthma and that’s and issue of air quality. I’m not an environmentalist but I care about health issues like diabetes and heart disease and so that’s a question about access to healthy food. And so we might all come to these issues with different ideas, but it’s all about this fabric of justice,” Jerbi says.
Melissa Tashjian doesn’t know anything about the ecopastor or the particulars of his congregation.
“Yeah I just got here, I’m going to move some dirt I think, help the kids move some dirt, maybe move some woodchips. Maybe shovel,” Tashjian says.
Tashjian is one of a number of people who showed up here this morning to help because of a growing environmental movement in Milwaukee.
“Part of Victory initiative, Victory Garden,” Tashjian says.
The young professional moved here from Chicago a few years ago. That’s when Tashjian’s neighbor introduced her to gardening.
“And I got the bug and from then, just started finding likeminded people with the same kind of perspective and now I feel like I’m really part of a community,” Tashjian says.
Tashjian picks up a shovel and meanders over to help the dirt-moving team.
Steve Alexander is working on his own.
He’s not a part of the All Peoples congregation either. The tall, slender man helped plant trees earlier this morning, now he’s quietly cleaning out a vegetable patch. There’s a sense of urgency about him.
“Many climate scientists have come to an agreement that 350 parts per million CO2 is as safe level. We have a problem now, we’re well over 350 parts per million,” Alexander says.
But Alexander says he doesn’t want to preach; he’s just trying to be an example. For instance, he uses as little electricity as possible.
“I walk. This year I walked more miles than I’ve driven. So I telecommute, I try not to burn a lot of gas. On Saturdays I walk eight miles to go grocery shopping,” Alexander says.
This weekend, Alexander says he’ll probably help plant more trees.
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