A "Guerrilla" Gardening Movement Sprouts In L.A.

Can you bomb Los Angeles to create positive social and environmental change? Sure you can, if you're a guerrilla gardner and your weopon is plant seeds.

Angelenos sadly endure miles of lonely, tree-less streets. If we’re lucky, there is a lone waif-like palm tree to offer little sun relief. Millions of city residents are patiently waiting for our mayor to fulfill his campaign pledge to plant one million trees. However, Kim Karlsrad and Daniel Phillips, the duo from the environmental and product design group Commonstudio, have come up with a far quicker way.

This is a city of extremists: architecture, clothing, people, art -- you name it, it's outrageous. So Karlsrad and Phillips, in the same fashion, decided to apply their backgrounds to green the city. They decided to bomb it.

Their grand plan -- dubbed Greenaid -- isn't exactly urban warfare, however. They are creating little seed "bombs" dispensed from re-purposed gumball machines they've dotted around the city.  A dozen of these gems are already setup, and they intend to double the number in most underserved communities deep in the heart of the concrete jungle. The goal is to create an underground army of guerrilla gardners.

"We call it the ‘Change for Change’ project, because you put in a couple loose coins from your pocket, crank the handle, and get out a little nugget of potential verdant life to throw in the many forgotten niches of the built environment, or even your own backyard," says Phillips.

Greenaid is more than just a shock and awe campaign. Cities worldwide continue to grow beyond their sustainable capacity, and are ever-encroaching on the last, gasping bits of open space. A megalopolis like Los Angeles, for example, has long-experienced the strains of growth on its roads, public transit, housing and parks, even as residents attempt to cloister themselves indoors and escape urban life.

The Greenaid team sees guerrilla gardening -- whether with seed bombs or regular plants -- as an opportunity to build communities. What they hope to do is to get all people engaged in addressing these urban concerns. For them, it's not just about designing green homes for wealthy people in the Hollywood Hills.

As Phillips says: “The current discourse on social design recognizes that way too often, design only benefits the top 10 percent of those who can afford it. The real question should be who needs design the most? What are the emerging challenges of the 21st century that will require design thinking?”

I had the great fortune of stumbling upon some guerrilla gardeners one night last year and quickly joined their efforts at a drab, dusty, busy intersection. Some time later, there stood a vibrant patch of succulents in shades of greens, grays, purples and yellows. Greening your neighborhood might seem obvious, but few people take part in this unique social experiment. Here's a cool chance to change that. Get involved today with guerrilla gardening and seed bombs today.

Photo credit:  catatronic

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