Lillipoh Magazine
LILIPOH MAGAZINE FALL 2009
(Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness)
Michelle La Vone
EarthMatters; George Washington Carver
Inspires Environmental Education in Nashville, Tennessee
The Universe is large and for many of us intangible in concept—fortunately, grounding oneself can reduce the feeling of being overwhelmed. Tending to the soil is one way to restore the balance between mind and body. For naturalist and community gardener Sizwe Herring, enriching the environment and its caretakers has become a self-rewarding practice. In 1996 he formed EarthMatters, a group of environmental educators, youth and organizations based in Nashville, Tennessee, which has since grown to encompass several thousand people.
Herring grew up in Detroit, Michigan with a thrift-minded father and community-oriented mother.
“We were called the ‘Rat Patrol’. We’d go and clean up peoples alleys for them and donate stuff that we got,” said Herring, recalling the ways in which his father influenced him to become green minded.
He did not unearth his passion for the garden until many years later while walking the same Tuskegee University paths as the Black History Month celebrity who lived many decades before him: Dr. George Washington Carver.
“I was really inspired then by just being that close to that greatness, physically.”
Carver was an African American ex-slave whose fascinating story of struggle and success has earned him worldwide respect and admiration. He helped establish agricultural systems all around the world, according to Herring, who calls himself a “devotee” of Carver and describes him as a truly independent soul.
“He was on his own path. . . It didn’t matter what everybody else thought.”
Perhaps most known for his work with peanuts, Carver also held the title of “plant doctor”, a nickname given to him after word spread about this young self-educated boy who knew how to heal a dying crop. But his knowledge was not attributed only to trial and error—it included an understanding of scientific attributes as well as a higher sense of spirituality that allowed him to appreciate the true essence of nature.
“He would always wear a fresh flower in his lapel, and whenever anybody commented on [it] he’d tell them, ‘Look closely, that’s God looking back at you’,” said Herring.
Carver believed his inspiration and tendency towards new discoveries was freely given to him by God. He had strong faith that was grounded in the recognition that all of creation was intertwined and ultimately masked the Divine.
Herring explained that one of Carver’s greatest philosophies was that we’re not here to have dominion over all the other creatures, but to live sustainably with them. As a member of this brotherhood, he felt he had an obligation to rise with the sun during the “great energy exchange” when diurnal and nocturnal animals would switch places.
Carver was a renowned scientist and agriculturist, emphasizing the idea of crop rotation and the usage of organic materials for fertilization. In the former-Confederate and slave-owning South, many African Americans were having a hard time adjusting to independent lifestyles. He hoped his methods of high-yield and multi-use farming would inspire blacks to be the best they could be.
“He wanted his research to help his people,” said Herring, recalling how Carver turned down job offerings from VIPs like Henry Ford and Thomas Edison to stay at Tuskegee.
Herring had similar intentions in mind when forming EarthMatters. Its main goal, he says, is to grow healthier neighborhoods through G.R.A.C.E.: an acronym for Gardens, Recycling, Activism, Composting, and Education. There is also a focus on environmental justice, mainly in black and Hispanic communities.
“Now that it’s time for justice let us be the ones to get the job training to do all these green jobs that are career track jobs.”
At the George Washington Carver Food Park in East Nashville, EarthMatters also teaches about soil, composting, and organic methods. At the foundation’s core, Herring hopes to hold true to another of Carver’s big ideas: there is no such thing as waste. When asked where the trash can was for a non-degradable item Herring paused, almost confused, before unhappily pointing to a metal can.
The park’s three-acre plot of land is nestled in a quaint neighborhood and serves as the maintenance grounds for a large ring of compost that every year boasts a different shape worthy of photographing from the sky. This organic blend composed of ingredients such as tossed banana peels, dried leaves, shredded paper plates and weeds bakes in the sun and over time becomes a rich fertilizer for baby seeds to grow into beautiful adult plants.
“An apple seed or peach seed…it’s just a thing. It’s just there. But when you create the space for it to do what the Creator intended it to do, that’s when the miracles happen.”
The community garden’s inviting atmosphere encourages volunteering, learning, and connecting. EarthMatters also brings guest speakers on certain Saturdays. The wooden shed houses materials such as rakes and shovels that the neighborhood is free to loan out.
Like his late teacher Carver, Herring hopes to inspire others to find joy in nurturing Nature—after all, it is a symbiotic relationship that gives back.
“It is really therapeutic,” he said. “The spiritual connection with caring for the Earth is really valuable.”
Herring challenges us to look between the soil horizons at every level. Underneath the roots of the great Sassafras or tomato plant lie our ancestors, their bodies decomposing to form new life.
“They are the Earth. We have to treat it well and respect it…That’s the one thing that there’s not more being made of: land.”
Unfortunately, this recent wave of environmentalism may not yet be resonating with the kind of consciousness necessary to have truly impactful effects. Often termed “green washing”, the trend to “go green” has falsely convinced many consumers that they are leading sustainable lives simply because of brand-names or twenty-point font promises of natural materials.
“It’s a confusion based model that really makes money—and we’re in this sort of capitalistic system that’s all about making money,” said Herring.
He is optimistic about the future as an increasing number of young people are conditioned to respect the land and organisms that surround us all. Teenager Cortney Akridge has volunteered with Herring for over ten years and with a bright-eyed smile said, “I’ve learned a lot…I would like to come out here and run something like this when I get older.”
Herring hopes his foundation will challenge people to seek personal truth in an otherwise consumer-minded society.
“We at EarthMatters are very dedicated to showing voluntary simplicity. How do you simplify your life and make it more green at the same time without having to buy this or [that]?”
We can all purchase less, use less, and waste less, but it takes strong commitment to maintain an eco-friendly lifestyle. Where understanding of the urgency to change lacks, solutions dwindle. Perhaps spending more time listening to nature’s voice will reestablish the tie between humanity and Earth and foster the kind of relationship that truly makes a difference. As the great Dr. Carver intended us to realize: we are part of the web, the web is not part of us. 0
