borque is president of the jardin communautaire basile-patenaude, a community garden committee which has pioneered a new wave of garden and urban farming projects in the rosemont-la petite-patrie neighborhood of montreal. a number of local residents have taken over the neighborhood’s vacant lots and hidden crevices to creatively congeal eco-friendly and urban living––resulting in the so-called “edible alleyway.” according to borque, the community garden team started the edible alleyway project in 2015 as part of a land rehabilitation project, which utilized a 20,000 square foot vacant lot.

the lane has grown to accommodate a neighborhood chicken coop, over 100 fruit trees, a mushroom garden, and fences plastered with local art. in the alleyway, members of the community interact with nature and harvest fresh produce free of charge, alleviating food insecurity in the area.

rosemont-la petite-patrie is a densely populated neighborhood northeast of downtown montreal, a multi-cultural and vibrant side of the city beginning to take on a new identity. the trendy and growing neighborhood was once a maze of concrete alleyways solely defined by nearby famed attractions, like the jean-talon market or the olympic village. with community projects like the edible alleyway, rosemont-la-petite-patrie is making a new name for itself by growing greener.

the garden committee wanted to revitalize the space for the neighborhood, so they brainstormed projects to beautify the area. they conceived of the alley, separate from the community gardens, as a place where anyone, from any part of the city, can come and walk through.

“the place is both a place of passage and a place of relaxation,” bourque said. “some people take it just as a shortcut while other residents of the neighborhood frequent it. the henhouse is a very popular stopover for families… fruit trees are very popular in the harvest season and we often see people with bowls scooping fruit at the end of summer.”

the transformed space is a point of pride for locals, who clean the space and care about how it looks. it has provided a place for community bonding and understanding. 

“the fact that people from different backgrounds or social classes meet there allows a dialogue that would probably not take place otherwise,” borque said.

green space is vital to urban areas as it provides invaluable physical and mental health benefits to residents with access. yet, these essential spaces can disappear from cities as increased urbanization takes place. it is difficult to quantify how fast green space is sacrificed to urbanization due to a lack of research, but the effects can be felt tangibly. 

in a 2020 article in the journal land, researchers johan colding, Åsa gren and stephan barthel note that the reasons for the loss of green space need to be studied further. yet, one reason for shrinking public land is increased privatization of green areas. according to the article, green space provides “invaluable ecosystem services to humans that are important to plan for in cities.” for example, green space helps absorb carbon dioxide, thus helping to improve air quality, reduce heat and offset a city’s carbon emissions. however, the researchers found “economic motives and urban neoliberal policies are liable explanations behind the loss of public space in many cities.”

borque has noticed a loss of public space happening in his own city. “the original design of towns included public passageways, while in most new projects, these passages are now private,” borque said. “it isolates people––since no common place exists anymore.”

yet, the jardin communautaire basile-patenaude have made a difference in montreal by creating an open space for residents to wander and gather. 

“the idea of ​​focused concrete cities no longer makes sense,” borque said. “the garden and these kind of community projects are an image of this new way of seeing the city. people need to live in their neighborhood and to feel good about it.”

i consider myself a rather environmentally conscious 20-year-old: i eat plant-based, contemplate my clothing sources, despise single use-plastic, bring reusable bags and bottles—i even tried the whole zero waste thing. despite my efforts, living sustainably as a student in rapidly changing, business-centric cities like new york and washington, d.c., has been more than challenging. 

moving to copenhagen has made me realize that instead of constantly evaluating my personal habits, perhaps i should be more critical of the systems which ultimately shape society’s collective impact because real improvements will only transpire when we collectively take action.  

in 2020 denmark was ranked as the most sustainable country by experts from yale and columbia universities, according to the 2020 environmental performance index (epi). reasons for this high ranking include denmark’s reduction of co2 emission by more than half since 1996, and that 47% of electricity was sourced from wind power in 2019.

furthermore, as identified by the united nations, these high ratings likely correlate to the fact that denmark is a front runner in other aspects of sustainable development. the danish government provides citizens with universal health care and education, there is high gender equality, a generous social safety net, personal freedom, and more.  

these high rankings are also largely thanks to the shared philosophies of sustainability and minimalism which are upheld in the home, and beyond. this collective mindset is often neglected when discussing global sustainability methods, but i believe it should be emphasized. 

to find out more, i decided to talk with other students who have also recently moved here, to see what they’ve noticed living in copenhagen and whether these differences have impacted them too. these conversations have left me with a freshly optimistic outlook on how sustainability within cities can not only improve the health of our planet but also improve people’s mindsets and happiness overall. 

i’ve come to think that perhaps we are looking too far into the unknown for solutions to our biggest climate challenges. rather than waiting around for another ambiguous statement from our world leaders, or some unidentified technological solution, let’s examine the cities who have already implemented tangible and effective sustainable systems into daily life. 

it all started with a mirror. 

this recent incident with my father perfectly illustrates the first major difference i noticed when moving to denmark: the absence of online shopping.

my dad needed to acquire a full-length mirror. after days of careful window shopping around town, he finally picked one out online and reserved it for same-day pickup. as my dad insisted that everything was transportable via the holy bike lane, he and i cycled out to the store and purchased the mirror. realizing that it was indeed far too large and heavy to cycle with, even for a full-blooded determined dane like my father, we resorted to balancing the mirror on one of the bike pedals and walking it all the way home, fighting the wind as we went. yes, this entire fiasco could have (and would have) been avoided in new york city with the ease of a click on amazon prime. but, this would have also come with an environmental cost, going against danish values of minimalism—as well as the notion that everything is possible on a bicycle.

it feels strange that purchases do not involve the corporate monstrosity that everyone in the united states hates and loves all at the same time: amazon. online shopping here is virtually unheard of. 

some people may do it occasionally, but the presence of amazon and its associated delivery services are nothing like what i am used to. another university student who moved to copenhagen from london six weeks ago, calum kendal, 21, has noticed stark differences in online shopping here too. 

“if you want to use amazon you have to go through the u.k. or germany, so it’s much less accessible, certainly to me,” he said. 

furthermore, things you would normally order online are often accessible in shops only a bike ride away.

when calum searches for items online, he’s found that they are available within biking distance of his apartment. this allows him to pick goods up conveniently and sustainably, rather than having them delivered via amazon as he did in london. 

minji suh, a 22-year-old from montreal, canada, who moved to copenhagen in january, says she noticed the collective support for local products and an emphasis on minimalism right away. 

“people are willing to pay a little more because they want to support their community,” she said. 

overall, minji feels that in copenhagen the mindset of having and spending less is celebrated, so that when you do purchase an item, it is one of high quality and necessity. 

minji is passionate about sustainable fashion, incorporating predominantly second-hand and homemade clothing into her wardrobe. she explained to me how the attitude around clothing in denmark has inspired her to think more consciously, and creatively, about her clothing purchases.

“a lot of danish people i’ve met have this very minimalist mindset, where it’s not about having as much or showing off, but it’s about being comfortable and presentable,” minji said.

minji explained to me that the societal differences of life in copenhagen versus in north america contributed to the amount of clothing she felt was needed to fit in.

“back home i lived such a fast-paced life, it felt like i had to have a big wardrobe, with lots of different options, to fit all my parts. so, unfortunately, as a student you gravitate to fast fashion,” she said.

“there is also more pressure to assert your personality through clothing in the states,” minji continued. “but coming here, and seeing people be so mindful about how they dress and how they consume, made me think that i don’t actually need to buy all these things so quickly. i know now that i can live a happy life just having a select amount of clothes.”

this shift towards minimal, yet quality items did not just manifest in her clothing choices, either.

“it translated into other things too, like me wanting to own a nice set of kitchenware” she said. 

i too, have recognized this emphasis on owning quality material things, and its effect on me has certainly been positive. danish design is popular all over the world for its simplicity, durability, and usefulness. minji therefore justifies purchasing a few expensive items that will last her years.

“i know that if i take care of it, it will last me way longer than scrappy ikea stuff. already i see the changes it has had on me.”

another friend of mine, christina hermanson, 19, who is originally from samoa, has been living in copenhagen for the past two years. 

“we have four trash cans,” she begins. “there’s one for trash, the second is divided into two—half for hard plastic, half for aluminum— then there’s the biodegradable bin, and the last bin goes to cardboard boxes.” 

when christina was living in samoa and new zealand, she only had two: one for trash and one for compost.

“if you had a compost bin in new zealand people would comment and say, like, ‘oh you really are one of those people, so environmentally friendly,’” she said.

the miniature size of trash bags in copenhagen also took me (pleasantly) by surprise. forget your mammoth 13-gallon glad bags; here, the average trash bag is barely bigger than a supermarket plastic bag. this subtle difference makes so much sense. not only does a smaller size insinuate less waste, but people are no doubt more conscious with their waste, having to maximize the space in their trash cans. on my second day in copenhagen, my dad was quick to criticize me for “wastefully” throwing out my trash.

“you need to fold it really small, otherwise it takes up too much space in the bin,” he said. 

the differences in trash disposal goes beyond the physical act of sorting, however. there is an additional shift in people’s attitude toward trash too—that we have a collective responsibility to do our part. if you fall short, you feel poorly, because everyone else is doing it.

 “there is more shame in not properly throwing trash away here. and it’s just normal—you don’t even question it,” christina said. 

i do feel my actions subtly changing because of this collective attitude of responsibility. i would never, ever, spit my gum out on the street here, for example. whereas in new york city, or d.c., i probably would without guilt, simply because it is so normalized. 

christina could relate to this feeling, too.

“i actually just experienced that last week,” she said. “i had a half a drink left and i threw it in the trash can and my danish friend was like, ‘why didn’t you just leave it on the bench? someone would have just come along to recycle it for pant.’” 

it is evident that every individual in copenhagen holds great responsibility for their personal environmental footprint, and also, that people feel as though they have a joint responsibility to contribute to larger sustainability measures, such as the recycling system. 

christina works in a sushi restaurant, and notices how even people who aren’t dining come in to ask for a tray to properly dispose of their cigarettes. 

“it’s also a standard thing with cigarette butts,” she said. “in other cities i’ve been you just leave them about, but here, even working in a restaurant, people come in to ask for a cigarette tray.”

the ‘pant’ recycling system, which successfully recycles over 50 million bottles and cans every year, is another widespread eco-friendly approach found in denmark. this was the first noticeable difference that came to calum’s mind when i picked his brain about sustainability in copenhagen. 

the system is based on a small deposit being paid on every bottle when it’s purchased, which you then get back when you return the bottle to a ‘pant’ machine, which are located at most supermarkets. danes return an average of 3.8 million bottles and cans daily. 

something else slightly different about living in copenhagen is the way natural light is used as a replacement to electricity. alex groth, 22, has lived in copenhagen for six months since graduating from university college london. one difference we can both agree on is the sparing use of bright lights in homes. instead, people rely on sunlight and candles.

“the architecture here is a lot more about having natural light—we barely have lights on in the summer because it’s just so bright,” he said.

in contrast to the 24/7 fluorescently lit cities of new york and london, danes often disregards the use of lights completely. 

“half the time when i come home at night, my house is only lit with candles,” he said. 

maybe it was because i grew up mostly in big, bright cities that made this shift especially obvious to me. the popularity of adjustable lights was a subtle way i observed that likely contributes to the fact the danes consume far less energy per person when compared to the other nordic countries (sweden, norway, iceland, and finland). this practice holds true even during the winter months, and when it is dark at night, according to alex. 

 “most houses i know use adjustable lighting, and even at night we never put it up all the way,” he said. 

a contributing factor to utilizing natural light whenever possible is that the price of electricity in denmark, as of march 2020, was the third-highest in the world. to avoid staggering prices, many households adopt led lights, which are up to 80% more energy-efficient, too.

all this is not to say that denmark is perfect, and that american ways of living and consumption are inherently bad. only that in many cases, we can do better, and we should be trying harder to. as i discussed with minji, it’s difficult to directly compare the sustainability practices of two vastly different places.

while the wealth of denmark certainly aids in its ability to run these operations smoothly, the sustainable lifestyle is one that’s firmly chosen by the individuals and local communities. alex, who has grown up with family in denmark, tells me how local communities in denmark have far more influence over people’s actions than the government. at the end of the day, it really comes down to the decisions of individual families, neighborhoods, and communities. this gives me hope that with a shift in mindset and responsibility, these kinds of changes are possible elsewhere, too.

the key to creating sustainable cities isn’t extreme—we don’t all need to go zero-waste. as young and adaptable people, we can set an example through subtle and collective changes. if we all take the time to sort our trash, recycle our bottles, if we chose to dim our lights and only purchase long-lasting items when necessary, we will mutually reap the benefits.

i want to display a ghanaian guide to sustainability that everyone can follow. they are simple tasks that many people can do but probably do not think about. too often have i heard the excuse that environmental sustainability calls for people to do the impossible. here are examples of everyday people completing everyday tasks. 

the latest to join the fight against the climate crisis is the washington, d.c., suburb of arlington county, virginia, which recently announced their plans to have net-zero emissions and become carbon neutral by 2050.

despite arlington county’s recent announcement, they have been working for more than a decade now to become more eco-friendly. according to adam segel-moss, the county’s energy outreach specialist for the leadership in environmental and energy design, the process started in 2007 by cutting greenhouse gas emissions by a sizeable amount.

“to date, the county has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 24% from 2007-2017,” segel-moss said.

he explained how arlington county plans to build on its previous accomplishments — and even take them a step further.

“we are going to have more stringent energy codes that make renovated buildings more energy efficient, incentivizing new buildings to be designed, built, and operated more efficiently than is required by code,” segel-moss said.

segel-moss also explained that the funding the county will receive will be put to good use to help “local and regional needs.” he also said transportation will go through a change, as the county aims to make it more energy efficient. 

a question that a lot of people have is how this eco-friendly transformation will affect the residents of arlington county. however, segel-ross is confident the changes will have very little effect on everyone’s daily routines.

“we expect these changes to be incremental and to have little effect on day-to-day life,” he said. “there will be small changes such as cleaner air due to electric vehicles and electric school buses being used. however, much of the work we do is invisible, such as building efficiency, accelerating a clean electric grid, creating low-carbon transit options, and ensuring new development is net-zero or well above baseline building code.”

the changing climate has become one of the biggest issues in the political arena, and more officials from every level of government have started to take notice — from arlington county to every presidential candidate. 

said segel-ross: “we have no choice but to do our part. climate change is serious. businesses, residents, and governments must act.”

we are part of a community and a much bigger nation that is responsible for this energy crisis, but we have done very little to change our individual behaviors or make others aware about the improvements we can make to save energy.

my plan to combat this habit is to host an energy savings & awareness week, starting in 2020. the goal will be to promote reusable energy resources, implement smart technology to measure and monitor energy usage and raise awareness about energy waste and potential savings. the event, nicknamed e-saw, will begin march 21, leading up to earth hour on saturday, march 28. the message of environmental protection and energy savings will be given through various activities, themes, and campaigns.

week activity plan

sunday: selfie sunday

take a selfie while doing something that will help save the environment. it can be of you cleaning up garbage on the sides of roads, changing your incandescent light bulbs or air drying your clothes. participants should upload the picture onto social media using the #esawselfie. my hope is that they do it for the picture initially, but continue doing the action to help the environment.

monday: monitor monday

take a picture of your energy meter readings located outside your house. at the end of the week go back and compare the numbers. that will be the amount of energy your household used in a week. also, take some time to glance at your energy, water and gas bills. many people will be shocked to see how much they pay for utilities. smartphone applications like meter readings and watt’s plus can be leveraged to make people aware of energy saving applications and usages. this empowers consumers to measure, monitor, and save energy anytime, anywhere.

tuesday: tech tuesday

invest in a piece of smart technology for your home. my top recommendations are:

• a smart thermostat
• energy-efficient appliances
• smart power strips
• wi-fi controlled light bulbs
• smart utilities

upgrading to newer technology can help consumers save a lot of energy. the initial investment will pay itself back in the form of reduced energy bills thanks to energy savings.

wednesday: work wednesday

look at all the ways you can save energy at your workplace or school. start with walking, running, bicycling or sharing a ride to get to your destination. if possible, take public transportation like the bus or train. participants should take part in easy actions like turning off their lights and powering down their computers while leaving work at the end of the day.

thursday: turn off thursday

in preparation for the big event on saturday go through your house and unplug everything that you will not need to use for the remainder of the week. it can be an iron, laptop charger, etc. make sure to fully unplug them from their outlets for maximum energy saving potential. many people do not know this but even if you are not using the item, if it is still plugged in it is still using energy.

friday: fix it friday

go through your house and fix anything that can be wasting energy. check the sinks and showers for any leaks. also check around the doors and windows for any spots that are leaking air. these small cracks can have a huge effect on your energy bills. consider participating in an energy audit for your home. they will replace your light bulbs and fix all small leaks for a small charge.

saturday: showdown at sundown saturday

this is the final event of this extravaganza. in correlation with earth hour’s initiative to turn off your lights for an hour, the community will switch off all major landmarks’ lights off. all residents are encouraged to participate as well. it will wake people up to the realities of energy consumption and show them how dependent they are on electricity. residents need to go through their house and turn off all lights and unplug all non essential items like tvs, microwaves, phone chargers, etc.

as government and private sectors continue to work on alternate energy resources, electric cars, newer technologies to extract fuels, smart appliances, and other technologies, it’s important that we, as citizens, continue to adapt to newer energy resources and do our part by saving energy as much as we can. our energy savings & awareness week will instill some necessary environmental habits, create awareness that will help make the planet a cleaner and greener home.

was it your granola bar wrapper? the packaging from your latest amazon purchase? your grocery bag? 

we are addicted to plastic. it’s in grocery stores, in hospitals, in our homes. it’s everywhere. but where does it all go? according to the epa, only around 9% of all plastics are recycled. 

it’s not enough to just use less plastic. since plastic takes upwards of 450 years to decompose, most of the plastic that has been made since its invention in 1907 still exists on earth. as it decomposes, it releases hazardous chemicals into the atmosphere and the ocean. 

but what if there was a way to use plastic waste?

enter ecobricks. 

when jonathan cerdas first stuffed plastic bottles to the brim with discarded plastic in costa rica, he never would have expected how much this simple act would change the way volunteers from all over the world think about plastic consumption. he may have just started a revolution. 

how did he do it? see for yourself. 

the other day, i asked chris hornsby (sewanee class of 2019), left, to tell me his story. here’s what he had to say:

when asked to define my purpose in life, i have stated it as such: may i live with vision of a world which i may work to create, and ensure that the work of my hands may always be building this future. to explain this vision, let me begin with a bug.

this is the larvae of a black soldier fly (or bsf), raised in sewanee, tennessee, at the university farm that i work for.

using this insect, we can convert large quantities of food waste into a feed for chicken and fish. the bsf is native to most of the western hemisphere, and in its two week larval stage, it has the capability to eat twice its weight in a day. they are fed food waste from our dining hall and, in peak production, we plan to be taking 500 pounds of food waste a day.

after this two week phase, the larva will eclose into an adult fly with no mouth, so it is neither a disease vector nor a crop pest. before eclosion, we will feed a majority of these larva to chicken and fish being raised on the university farm, which in turn will be a food source for the students in sewanee. this closed-loop system has the capability to fulfill a service and create an agricultural product.

my dream, however, extends beyond sewanee. consider this: at a bare minimum, two people are required to run this system. one with a knowledge of bsf waste management, and one with a knowledge of how to finance and run a successful business. these two people will support themselves off the income of the business, deciding together what their allowable expenses are and where to reinvest profits. now, in the current status quo of entrepreneurialism and corporate hierarchy, these two individuals would become managers, and hire wage-labor employees. minimum wages flow downward, and maximized profits flow to the top.

i challenge this system as a fundamental source of capital inequality in our society, which produces an impoverished labor force, and a politically influential corporate elite. this is the nature of a consumerist society, as to further our own progression, we must constantly be encouraging economic growth and consumption of goods. this system has created a workforce surviving paycheck to paycheck, told to invest in the economy and buy useless goods in order to foster economic growth, while the elite enjoy the true profits of a subdued workforce.

rather than following this path toward inevitable inequality, the onus placed on any member wishing to join this model will be such: how will you work as a member to expand the income of this group to support your own financial needs? the possible answers to this question can be diverse, meeting a range of needs of the pre-existing group. an applying member may offer access to a wider customer base (those paying for waste service removal), thus increasing the monetary income of the group. or, they may offer the service of food preparation or cultivation, thus providing a non-monetary source of income.

at a time when this group continues to grow, they may decide to purchase some land, and grow their own food. thus a self-reliant community is born.

if any member of this group does not perform their function to the best of their ability, the community will fail. for example, if the individual running the business puts in foul labor, the community will have no monetary income. if the agriculturalist does not grow adequate food, the community will be hungry. if the home-builder fails to build adequate living space, the community will have no shelter. the interdependence of such a community is reinforced through mutual need.

therefore, all roles hold equal importance in overall success, and all members hold an equal voice in the decision-making process of where to allocate scarce resources, and what the needs of the community are. such a horizontal democracy extends beyond arbitrary divisions of race, class, and gender. through this model, the inequality and hierarchy of corporate america could be virtually eradicated. with communities producing their own food, the industrial agricultural complex will die, as its consumer base and workforce disappear into their own communities.

this model is applicable with any skilled trade as a means of providing income — imagine a community of doctors, trading with a community of waste managers to meet mutual needs. goodbye to the monopolistic healthcare industry. communities of educators teaching the children of america skilled trades, and how to live in a society that values wellbeing and happiness over success and wealth. goodbye to the state-sponsored education of robotic and bureaucratic laborers.

i wish to note, that purposefully, this community will not have great amounts of excess wealth, for this is not a get-rich-quick scheme. the needs of the community will be met, and nothing more. there can be no desire to waste precious resources on the unnecessary overconsumption of goods and services which meet no need. a community of this type also lacks the financial wealth to pay for swaths of land to be deforested for timber harvesting, or for oil to be mined, or for residential or commercial development, protecting the integrity of our land, our watersheds, our forests, or lifeblood, which we share with the diversity of creatures on earth.

to conclude, i would like to warn those who are seeking some glorious revolution to herald in a new age of equality and justice. refer to a history book on the subject, and you can clearly see (the) perpetual unfolding of such revolutions, in which the middle class usurps the lower class in order to establish themselves as the elite, then abandons their promises of liberty and freedom, and a new demographic is found to be oppressed. when power is used to disrupt power, control is lost. the victim of power is annihilated, and the user is intoxicated. thus, a true revolution will be a complete rejection of power as a means to dominate others, and total investment in the power of the tribal community.

rather than use violent means and political warfare to establish itself, community power will spread like wildfire with the strength of vision. this is not a revolution of words, but one of action. i invite you to invoke your own vision, and work with others to create a powerful, self-sustaining community.

one solution put forward is a method for growing food vertically in enclosed, self-contained domes that also have the potential to absorb co2 (and generate valuable carbon credits) and locally produce mineral and nutrition-rich vegetables and fruit aeroponically. one estimate i read recently says that a one acre greenhouse has the potential to grow up to 20 times the produce an acre of land will produce using traditional methods. since plants are not grown in soil, greenhouse facilities can be located almost anywhere. these facilities will greatly reduce the need to transport produce long distances (the average produce travels 1500 miles in the us and an apple in canada for example, is transported more than 2500 miles) and offer the potential to reap huge returns to investors participating in the right projects.

a few companies have taken up this challenge to produce healthy and i would be interested in learning more about who they are and how they are addressing the challenge to reduce food without the use of petroleum products (fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, fungacides, etc.).