TED Talks

Greetings Everyone,

     For all of you who enjoy watching TED Talks, there is a great episode by Ron Finley. The premise of the video is that anyone can transform their neighborhood by acting and not just conversing about what needs to be done. Ron is from South Central, California where there are miles upon miles of vacant lots that are owned by the city. He expresses his frustration with the lack of food in his community, and that many people in poverty do not have access to dependable and nutritious foods. Ron eventually got tired of staring at the generations of families that were suffering from this and decided to turn a vacant lot into a community garden. 

     After the success of his first garden, he began to expand and then the city served him a notice saying that he needed to remove the gardens or face a warrant. He challenged the city and won his battle, but it is amazing that the city wanted to end something that was absolutely good. Ron was teaching people how to grow their own food, so that they would not have to depend on the government or suffer from food insecurity. What made this video so powerful was Ron's candor. He explained that many people from all over the state wanted to sit down and (in his words) "talk about some shit. He then explained that nothing gets done by only talking, but that we all must act to produce the change that we want.