PERCENT FOR GREEN: Creating Space as Consciousness

Abstract

PERCENT FOR GREEN deals with looking at climate change in the Bronx and how art can serve community. It is a social practice art project that has consisted of roundtables, workshops, and planning with Bronx-based grassroots organizations for the People’s Climate March in 2014. It entails the creation of a functioning green bill created by participants through art. The goal is to pass a bill allotting funds from city-funded construction projects to sustainable green initiatives overseen by small grassroots organizations in Environmental Justice (EJ) communities in New York City. This chapter considers education as a possible medium in social practice projects and takes a close look on the idea of learning, collective consciousness, US educational trends, and how social practice art appears within this backdrop.

Appendix: PERCENT FOR GREEN

A Local Law

Modeled after a Percent for Art passed in 1980 by Mayor Ed Koch, a PERCENT FOR GREEN would allot 1% of the budget for eligible city-funded construction projects be spent on expanding green space and sustainable initiatives in communities in the Bronx and New York City.

Contact: Alicia Grullon becomingmyth@gmail.com; www.aliciagrullon.com

• a. An amount not less than 1% of city-funded construction budgets for commercial developments exceeding $20 million and large-scale residential developments exceeding $20 million will be allocated to fund green space (e.g., community gardens, urban farms, public river access, green roofs) and/or sustainable initiatives and activities enhancing community living (e.g., farmer’s markets, climate change educational programs, public rain water harvesting, watershed or infrastructure system construction, enhanced community amenity for renewable energy installation, improvement in community aesthetics with plantings and streetscapes) in communities in New York City starting with areas in most need such as underserved areas and Environmental Justice communities.

• b. Green space will also be provided for each capital project which involves the construction or the substantial reconstruction of a city-owned public building or structure which requires that it be accessible to the public or to members of the public participating in, requiring or receiving programs, services, or benefits provided there.

• c. The amount funded will reflect inflation and in no case exceed the expenditure of more than 15% of a new developments’ budget.

• d. Underserved and Environmental Justice communities will be defined as locations that suffer from a high number of asthma rates; little or insufficient green space access; located near expressways and interstate highways; suffer from a high level of contamination rendering current green space unusable or uninhabitable; be vulnerable to climate change conditions such as flooding; suffer from poor storm water drainage and sewage processing; have a high percentage of residents living at or below the poverty line, are elderly, and/or undergoing expansive redevelopment of commercial space.

• e. Reasonable advance notification of the intention to fund green space and/or sustainable initiatives will be provided to the appropriate district council member, council-members-at-large, borough president, chairperson of the community board to the district in which the funding is located. All funding will be fully disclosed to members of the community including neighborhood associations and community groups in public locations such as libraries, schools, local newspapers, US post offices, and via mail in letters directly sent to residents by the community board to the district and/or the appropriate district council member.

• f. Funds will undergo distribution through participatory budgeting in the community receiving PERCENT FOR GREEN funding. Residents via their community boards and local grassroots organizations may submit an application at any time. A review committee will evaluate applications and make recommendations to local officials.

  This bill is part of a social practice project PERCENT FOR GREEN by artist Alicia Grullón. It deals with looking at climate change in the Bronx and how art can serve community. The goal is to pass a bill allotting funds from city-funded construction projects to sustainable green initiatives overseen by small grassroots organizations in Environmental Justice (EJ) communities. PERCENT FOR GREEN has consisted of roundtables, workshops, and planning with Bronx-based grassroots organizations for the People’s Climate March.