TEAL, Brady Farm host Earth Day celebration promoting agricultural education
The Earth Week Kickoff at Brady Farm housed local community organizations focusing on the environment and food justice. A representative from the Food Bank of Central New York promoted the organization's programs that teach people about nutrition and assist with food insecurity. Solange Jain | Photo Editor
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As the Syracuse community heads into its 56th annual Earth Week, The Environmental Action Lab hosted environmental organizations from across the city Monday evening to advocate for access to sustainable food sources and more educational resources.
This year’s Earth Week Kickoff, organized by TEAL and Brady Farm, was the first of its kind. The celebration at Brady Farm featured five local organizations, including LeadSafe CNY and Food Access Healthy Neighborhoods Now, who educated attendees on environmental issues impacting sustainable food access.
“In times like these, where we’re having financial crises and environmental crises, we need to connect people to the environment in the way that makes the most practical sense,” Gabby Miranda-Diaz, TEAL co-founder, said. “Gardening and agriculture is the first way to really connect people to that and show them the benefits.”
Miranda-Diaz, a graduate of Brooklyn College, spent a semester studying at SUNY ESF, where she and her roommates were inspired to co-found TEAL. Diaz said she helped start the organization after seeing Hurricane Maria’s damage in Puerto Rico. The group aimed to support the island’s food justice movement through sustainable housing, permaculture and farming efforts.
Now, TEAL works in both Syracuse and Puerto Rico to advocate for a sustainable future and provide educational resources to the community.
Miranda-Diaz said once TEAL officially announced the event, vendors immediately began reaching out about participating. Anna Gugerty tabled with her business Kiki & Bouba Bakery, which she said focuses primarily on using a mix of local, organic and in-season ingredients.
Gugerty, a Syracuse University alum, said she composts on a small scale at home and tries to incorporate her environmental studies degree into her baking. Gugerty used to volunteer for Brady Farm while at SU, and said she was excited to share her bakery’s values with the Syracuse community.
“I just love urban agriculture,” Gugerty said. “I think it’s a really underlooked part of the agricultural field, and I think Brady Farms is a great way of incorporating that into the city.”
Solange Jain | Photo Editor
Advocacy group TEAL hosted an event with Brady Farm in preparation for Earth Day. Attendees could purchase sustainably made baked goods and natural arts and crafts at the event.
In January, President Donald Trump took the United States out of the Paris Climate Agreement, an international treaty working to combat climate change headed by the United Nations, for a second time. Trump has also signed executive orders increasing support for the fossil fuel industry, leading to backlash from the country’s environmental activists.
“I think it’s probably the most important issue of our time,” Gugerty said. “And I think if we don’t have a home that’s protected, then we don’t have anything at all.”
Miranda-Diaz echoed Gugerty, adding that while sustainability is important amid the country’s “loss of benefits,” people must also advocate for food sovereignty. She said she wants to ensure residents have consistent access to healthy, sustainable and culturally appropriate food choices, which encouraged her to push for so many organizations to attend the kick-off.
To achieve Miranda-Diaz’s goal of helping Syracuse become a food-sovereign community, she said the city will first need to address its lead crisis. Lead Safe CNY representative Stacey Bailey, who also tabled at the event, said the city’s water problems impact roughly 50,000 local families daily.
Lead Safe CNY, which partners with Onondaga County’s lead prevention team to help residents recognize the presence of lead, also teaches proactivity to avoid the infiltration of lead.
“If we get lead awareness out, we’ll be able to help other families not become affected, while helping the families that are affected,” Bailey said.
Alex Hansson, a community nutrition educator from the Food Bank of CNY, attended the celebration to educate attendees about accessing its many outreach efforts, including nutrition workshops and fresh food donation drives.
Hansson said Earth Day is particularly important to the food bank, as recycling and sustainability are the main pillars of its work. Donations to the food bank are redistributed to underserved communities, she said.
“Food doesn’t have to be this scary thing you have to conquer, but instead can start a love of food, a love of relationships with food and experiencing new things,” Hansson said.
Miranda-Diaz agreed with Hansson and said one of her main goals for Earth Week is to teach attendees how to become more self-sufficient, relying on their own backyards rather than commercial industries.
“Everyone who’s a homeowner and even has a little bit of space, should be trying to do this to make sure that we have food reserves so we’re less dependent on certain unfair, unjust systems,” Miranda-Diaz said. “So, how can we bring it back to our community, and take away power from companies and bring it back to our local farmers, and our tablers and our bakers and our organizations.”
TEAL will continue hosting events throughout the week, including two clean-ups Tuesday and Wednesday, a garden refresh Thursday and an Arbor Day celebration Friday at Mundy Branch Library and Elliot Park.
