Brownfields to Urban Gardens
by
Anna Read
A community garden in Chicago. Image Source: commons.wikimedia.org.
November 17, 2009
This Tuesday afternoon panel-session focused on transforming brownfields into community gardens, urban agriculture, or farmers’ markets. Jean Schwab, with the EPA’s Conservation and Development Offices started off the session by talking about the benefits of turning brownfields into gardens, including job creation and increased access to healthy and local foods. She also discussed the value of compost, something the proved to be a central theme of the session. By composting local green waste and food waste, it is possible to “turn problems into profit centers,” creating local jobs and benefiting the local economy. Additionally, using compost in remediating sites can help reduce costs while expediting clean up. On Seymour Air Force Base in North Carolina, for example, compost was used for bioremediation of soils with contaminants including jet fuel. Using compost proved faster than previous clean up techniques and saved $133,000 in the first year.
Chris Harrell, the Brownfield and Redevelopment Coordinator for the City of Indianapolis, talked about projects underway on several of the 1,600 brownfields in Indianapolis, emphasizing that turning brownfields into gardens is a great strategy for Rustbelt cities dealing with large numbers of former industrial sites. He noted that convincing residents that it is safe to grow food on brownfields can be a challenge.
To address this question, Sally Brown, a soil scientist and Research Associate Professor at the University of Washington, shared results from studies on lead uptake from contaminated soils. Noting that all urban soils are contaminated, often with lead, and that lead poisoning can be a serious concern, she said there are three things to consider when growing food on lead contaminated sites: 1) how much lead will the food absorb, 2) how much of this lead will be absorbed in the stomach, and 3) how much of the diet comes from the contaminated soils. As it turns out, the lead uptake (and uptake of most organic compounds) by plants is minimal, making eating food from these urban gardens safe. Compost can further reduce the risk by both diluting and bioremediating the soil.
The session ended with Nora Goldstein, Executive Editor of BioCycle Magazine, who emphasized the importance of using compost to returning soils to a healthy state. Most municipalities have access to compost, which adds nutrients to distressed urban soils and can also help improve the stormwater infiltration capacity of the soil. She emphasized that growing food and working with soils can lead to job creation and, just as importantly, improved nutrition and food access in food deserts. Be sure to check out the article on turning brownfields into urban gardens in October’s edition of BioCycle.
Has your community turned brownfields into urban gardens?