1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,320 [MUSIC PLAYING] 2 00:00:07,120 --> 00:00:08,750 It's so funny. 3 00:00:08,750 --> 00:00:11,900 People ask me, how'd I get into gardening? 4 00:00:11,900 --> 00:00:15,990 It's-- the question is, how did gardening get into me? 5 00:00:15,990 --> 00:00:18,710 'Cause I remember when I-- 6 00:00:18,710 --> 00:00:22,380 when I first started growing on the parkway. 7 00:00:22,380 --> 00:00:27,090 And it was just so personal. 8 00:00:29,770 --> 00:00:32,310 And I would get up at 5:00 in the morning, 9 00:00:32,310 --> 00:00:34,510 you know, in my pajamas or my robe. 10 00:00:34,510 --> 00:00:38,690 And I'd be out on the parkway planting 11 00:00:38,690 --> 00:00:43,940 sunflowers and arugula. 12 00:00:43,940 --> 00:00:48,740 And all of a sudden, it's 11:00 o'clock and you 13 00:00:48,740 --> 00:00:51,170 haven't showered, you haven't eaten, you haven't-- 14 00:00:51,170 --> 00:00:55,010 [INAUDIBLE] so literally, that garden seduces you. 15 00:00:55,010 --> 00:00:59,930 So my garden had been growing on the parkway for almost a year. 16 00:00:59,930 --> 00:01:03,830 And I got a complaint from a neighbor. 17 00:01:03,830 --> 00:01:08,630 Basically, I got a citation that turned into a warrant 18 00:01:08,630 --> 00:01:10,130 for my arrest. 19 00:01:10,130 --> 00:01:13,580 What the citation stated was illegal planting 20 00:01:13,580 --> 00:01:15,080 of the parkway. 21 00:01:15,080 --> 00:01:17,810 So they put something into motion 22 00:01:17,810 --> 00:01:20,060 that woulda had me in jail. 23 00:01:20,060 --> 00:01:23,050 I had a arrest warrant issued for me 24 00:01:23,050 --> 00:01:25,160 for planting on my parkway. 25 00:01:25,160 --> 00:01:28,460 So I had to go to court and deal with that a couple of times. 26 00:01:28,460 --> 00:01:31,820 I had to remove everything off the parkway. 27 00:01:31,820 --> 00:01:34,130 And I left it for years. 28 00:01:34,130 --> 00:01:36,100 So it was-- it was weeds. 29 00:01:36,103 --> 00:01:38,273 And everybody was asking me would I take care of it? 30 00:01:38,270 --> 00:01:39,440 I'm like, no. 31 00:01:39,440 --> 00:01:41,990 When I did take care of it, you know, I was gonna go to jail. 32 00:01:41,990 --> 00:01:43,670 So I just left it. 33 00:01:43,670 --> 00:01:45,890 Years later, I started an organization 34 00:01:45,890 --> 00:01:49,940 where we put in gardens for people in South Central 35 00:01:49,940 --> 00:01:51,230 for free. 36 00:01:51,230 --> 00:01:54,170 And I thought, OK, maybe-- it's been years. 37 00:01:54,170 --> 00:01:56,900 Maybe I should put my-- you know, do my parkway garden 38 00:01:56,900 --> 00:01:57,560 again. 39 00:01:57,560 --> 00:01:58,790 So I did it again. 40 00:01:58,790 --> 00:02:02,510 And it was up, I don't know, maybe for two years or more. 41 00:02:02,510 --> 00:02:05,660 And I got another citation. 42 00:02:05,660 --> 00:02:07,930 And this time, I fought it. 43 00:02:07,930 --> 00:02:11,350 I was like-- it ain't coming out. 44 00:02:11,350 --> 00:02:14,180 'Cause last time, I had to go to court a couple of times 45 00:02:14,180 --> 00:02:16,610 and I wound up taking the garden out. 46 00:02:16,610 --> 00:02:18,140 You know, you have to take us-- 47 00:02:18,140 --> 00:02:19,190 take out everything. 48 00:02:19,190 --> 00:02:21,720 So, you know, I'm killing trees. 49 00:02:21,720 --> 00:02:26,210 And it just hurt me that I got so much positive energy 50 00:02:26,210 --> 00:02:29,460 from people that would come by from the community. 51 00:02:29,460 --> 00:02:33,230 And so the last time, I said, it ain't going down like that. 52 00:02:33,230 --> 00:02:34,430 Do what you gotta do. 53 00:02:34,430 --> 00:02:37,520 And I took on the system. 54 00:02:37,520 --> 00:02:39,380 We wound up getting the law changed, 55 00:02:39,380 --> 00:02:42,770 where you could plant edibles on your parkway 56 00:02:42,770 --> 00:02:44,840 throughout the City of Los Angeles. 57 00:02:44,840 --> 00:02:47,390 And that is really what started everything. 58 00:02:47,390 --> 00:02:50,850 My story and my experience lit a fire under people. 59 00:02:50,850 --> 00:02:54,320 And it's interesting because I have a guy I met recently 60 00:02:54,320 --> 00:02:55,580 at an event that I do. 61 00:02:55,580 --> 00:02:59,810 And he came up to me and he said-- he studied me in-- 62 00:02:59,810 --> 00:03:01,690 while he was inside. 63 00:03:01,690 --> 00:03:04,310 And he came up to me and said, you were my inspiration 64 00:03:04,310 --> 00:03:05,390 while I was there. 65 00:03:05,390 --> 00:03:06,600 I saw articles on you. 66 00:03:06,600 --> 00:03:08,450 Then I did a paper on you. 67 00:03:08,450 --> 00:03:12,050 And he said, when I get out, I wanna do with this guy's doing. 68 00:03:12,050 --> 00:03:13,800 I wanna to change-- 69 00:03:13,800 --> 00:03:17,510 I wanna fix my neighborhood, the part that I fucked it up. 70 00:03:17,510 --> 00:03:19,850 And, you know, it had me-- 71 00:03:19,850 --> 00:03:22,760 it made me cry, you know, 'cause you don't know-- 72 00:03:22,760 --> 00:03:26,320 you have no idea with media how many people that you're 73 00:03:26,320 --> 00:03:28,320 affecting, how many people that you're 74 00:03:28,320 --> 00:03:29,850 touching around the world. 75 00:03:29,850 --> 00:03:32,030 You know, I've had people, they're studying me 76 00:03:32,030 --> 00:03:33,710 at University of Jordan. 77 00:03:33,710 --> 00:03:37,760 And I would have never imagined that this is possible. 78 00:03:37,760 --> 00:03:43,340 So I want people to think the unimaginable. 79 00:03:43,340 --> 00:03:45,260 That's what I wanna do. 80 00:03:45,260 --> 00:03:48,760 [MUSIC PLAYING] 81 00:03:51,760 --> 00:03:56,470 I do this thing sometimes when I talk to kids in a auditorium. 82 00:03:56,470 --> 00:04:00,550 I'll bring a-- just a gang of snacks, all kinds of snacks 83 00:04:00,550 --> 00:04:02,710 from different products that they 84 00:04:02,710 --> 00:04:05,440 drink to they eat to crackers to chips, 85 00:04:05,440 --> 00:04:09,490 just-- to different sodas or these so-called sports drinks. 86 00:04:09,490 --> 00:04:11,470 And I'm like, OK, we got snacks for you guys. 87 00:04:11,470 --> 00:04:12,730 They're like, ah, yeah! 88 00:04:12,730 --> 00:04:13,990 Woohoo! 89 00:04:13,990 --> 00:04:15,890 And I'm like, but you can't eat 'em. 90 00:04:15,893 --> 00:04:18,173 And they're like-- and I say, what I want you to do-- 91 00:04:18,170 --> 00:04:19,410 I want you to-- 92 00:04:19,410 --> 00:04:22,590 I'm gonna do my thing up here, but I want you-- 93 00:04:22,590 --> 00:04:25,170 we got two mics set up. 94 00:04:25,170 --> 00:04:28,810 And I want you to get on your phone, get on your computer. 95 00:04:28,810 --> 00:04:31,720 And I want you to turn the label around on that product 96 00:04:31,720 --> 00:04:37,000 and I want you to read what these labels do to you. 97 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:38,530 It always gets to the point where 98 00:04:38,530 --> 00:04:43,010 they're like, OK this may cause acne, irritable bowel syndrome. 99 00:04:43,010 --> 00:04:45,220 This is known for cancer. 100 00:04:45,220 --> 00:04:46,030 This is that. 101 00:04:46,030 --> 00:04:49,630 And it's always somebody that can't pronounce something. 102 00:04:49,630 --> 00:04:51,020 And I'm like, this whole-- 103 00:04:51,020 --> 00:04:51,520 I, say. 104 00:04:51,520 --> 00:04:53,290 Great. 105 00:04:53,290 --> 00:04:55,990 [INAUDIBLE] 106 00:04:55,990 --> 00:04:56,780 I say, perfect. 107 00:04:56,782 --> 00:04:57,492 I'm waiting for-- 108 00:04:57,490 --> 00:04:59,690 I been waiting for you the whole time. 109 00:04:59,692 --> 00:05:01,152 And I said, it's real simple, guys. 110 00:05:01,150 --> 00:05:04,120 If you can't read that shit, don't eat that shit. 111 00:05:04,120 --> 00:05:07,420 I say, nothing in nature has 16 letters that you cannot 112 00:05:07,420 --> 00:05:08,960 pronounce. 113 00:05:08,960 --> 00:05:10,040 And it changes 'em. 114 00:05:10,040 --> 00:05:13,720 And I've had kids tell me they've never looked at a label 115 00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:17,830 and they've never gone online to see what these things do. 116 00:05:17,830 --> 00:05:21,220 Being in these urban areas, a lotta times, it's hard for us 117 00:05:21,220 --> 00:05:24,010 to get any kind of healthy food. 118 00:05:24,010 --> 00:05:26,740 And we have to travel to get healthy food out 119 00:05:26,740 --> 00:05:29,680 of our communities, these so-called food deserts. 120 00:05:29,680 --> 00:05:32,590 We have more chronic diseases in these neighborhoods, 121 00:05:32,590 --> 00:05:36,400 where the prominence of liquor stores are higher. 122 00:05:36,400 --> 00:05:41,470 And a lot of times, this is all that's in these neighborhoods. 123 00:05:41,470 --> 00:05:44,890 People that are wealthy, a lot of 'em still don't know that 124 00:05:44,890 --> 00:05:45,880 they're-- 125 00:05:45,880 --> 00:05:47,500 they trust their food source. 126 00:05:47,500 --> 00:05:49,930 They don't know where their food's coming from, you know, 127 00:05:49,930 --> 00:05:52,900 the high fructose corn syrups, the, 128 00:05:52,900 --> 00:05:55,630 you know, chrome and all this stuff-- 129 00:05:55,630 --> 00:05:58,870 chromium and all the stuff that's in our products. 130 00:05:58,870 --> 00:05:59,740 And it's like, why? 131 00:05:59,740 --> 00:06:02,040 Why do you need that in our products? 132 00:06:02,040 --> 00:06:03,550 For shelf life? 133 00:06:03,550 --> 00:06:05,380 Food is medicine. 134 00:06:05,380 --> 00:06:07,240 But we're not treating it like that. 135 00:06:07,240 --> 00:06:10,750 We're treating food like it's just slop for pigs. 136 00:06:10,750 --> 00:06:13,840 That's why we have these fast food places. 137 00:06:13,840 --> 00:06:16,630 That stuff is not making anybody healthy. 138 00:06:16,630 --> 00:06:19,960 It's making a lot of people very, very rich. 139 00:06:19,960 --> 00:06:23,230 So you think, the way this system is built, 140 00:06:23,230 --> 00:06:24,880 who is it benefiting? 141 00:06:24,880 --> 00:06:26,500 Is it benefiting us? 142 00:06:26,500 --> 00:06:28,600 Is it benefiting, you know, the common man? 143 00:06:28,600 --> 00:06:29,170 No. 144 00:06:29,170 --> 00:06:32,890 I mean, the bottom line is what this is-- what the Ron Finley 145 00:06:32,890 --> 00:06:36,490 Project is about is, how do we get back to healthy? 146 00:06:36,490 --> 00:06:38,560 How do we get back to humanity? 147 00:06:38,560 --> 00:06:42,370 I mean, really think about if only 2% of the people 148 00:06:42,370 --> 00:06:46,570 start growing food around the world, what kind of change 149 00:06:46,570 --> 00:06:47,680 that would be. 150 00:06:47,680 --> 00:06:53,830 We could definitely demand that the food that is delivered 151 00:06:53,830 --> 00:06:55,900 to our stores become healthier. 152 00:06:55,900 --> 00:07:00,100 Because now we're affecting their bottom line. 153 00:07:00,100 --> 00:07:03,830 And that's why this is gangster. 154 00:07:03,830 --> 00:07:06,680 That's why this is the food revolution. 155 00:07:06,680 --> 00:07:08,580 This has to happen. 156 00:07:08,584 --> 00:07:11,994 [MUSIC PLAYING] 157 00:07:14,920 --> 00:07:18,950 I would encourage everybody to have some kinda plot where 158 00:07:18,950 --> 00:07:19,450 they-- 159 00:07:19,450 --> 00:07:23,020 where they're growing something, if it's for beauty, if it's 160 00:07:23,020 --> 00:07:26,980 to feed yourself, if it's both. 161 00:07:26,980 --> 00:07:32,710 Because it takes you out of this other world 162 00:07:32,710 --> 00:07:35,240 that we've created for ourselves, that we-- 163 00:07:35,240 --> 00:07:41,300 you know, I ask people, like, what are cities designed for? 164 00:07:41,300 --> 00:07:42,680 And people will say, people. 165 00:07:42,680 --> 00:07:47,300 I had a architect tell me, a professor, 166 00:07:47,300 --> 00:07:49,250 cities are designed for people. 167 00:07:49,250 --> 00:07:51,350 I'm like, [INAUDIBLE], wrong. 168 00:07:51,350 --> 00:07:53,540 They're not designed for people at all. 169 00:07:53,540 --> 00:07:56,540 If they were designed for people, I would be like this, 170 00:07:56,540 --> 00:07:58,910 and do like this and there's a pear in my hand 171 00:07:58,910 --> 00:08:02,760 and there's strawberries and there's shade 172 00:08:02,760 --> 00:08:06,350 and the air is cleaner and different. 173 00:08:06,350 --> 00:08:09,230 Can we design cities that are more humanistic? 174 00:08:09,230 --> 00:08:10,250 Hell, yeah, we can. 175 00:08:10,250 --> 00:08:10,910 Are they? 176 00:08:10,910 --> 00:08:14,360 No. 'Cause they have one purpose, commerce, period. 177 00:08:14,360 --> 00:08:15,370 And I tell people-- 178 00:08:15,370 --> 00:08:18,260 I say, the only thing that cities have in common 179 00:08:18,260 --> 00:08:20,050 with nature is the freeway. 180 00:08:20,050 --> 00:08:21,050 People look at me like-- 181 00:08:21,050 --> 00:08:23,420 I say, yeah, you know, freeway, rush hour. 182 00:08:23,420 --> 00:08:25,410 You know, you seen a ant farm? 183 00:08:25,410 --> 00:08:29,640 It's like, that's-- now look at a freeway and look at a ant 184 00:08:29,640 --> 00:08:30,140 farm. 185 00:08:30,140 --> 00:08:31,590 It's the same thing. 186 00:08:31,590 --> 00:08:33,540 We have to redesign our cities. 187 00:08:33,539 --> 00:08:37,669 And that's where these green spaces come into. 188 00:08:37,669 --> 00:08:39,499 That's where these parkways come into. 189 00:08:39,500 --> 00:08:44,930 'Cause some neighborhoods have no access to land whatsoever. 190 00:08:44,930 --> 00:08:47,420 And just imagine if we planted parkways. 191 00:08:47,420 --> 00:08:50,930 Just imagine if every other block in a community 192 00:08:50,930 --> 00:08:53,250 had the parkways full of food. 193 00:08:53,250 --> 00:08:56,090 So you've created a ecosystem. 194 00:08:56,090 --> 00:08:58,160 You created a community. 195 00:08:58,160 --> 00:09:01,580 You've created safety in your neighborhoods. 196 00:09:01,580 --> 00:09:05,000 'Cause now I can go across the street to Martha and get onions 197 00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:08,510 and she can come over to my place and get tomatoes. 198 00:09:08,510 --> 00:09:10,490 And, you know, we can go around the corner 199 00:09:10,490 --> 00:09:13,340 and get pomegranates from David. 200 00:09:13,340 --> 00:09:15,770 At one point, we did do a block in South Central 201 00:09:15,770 --> 00:09:17,870 where we planted a whole block. 202 00:09:17,870 --> 00:09:19,910 All the parkways were planted with boxes. 203 00:09:19,910 --> 00:09:21,580 And some people chose to do flowers. 204 00:09:21,580 --> 00:09:23,250 Some people chose to do vegetables. 205 00:09:23,250 --> 00:09:25,400 Some people did both. 206 00:09:25,400 --> 00:09:26,780 If you do that-- 207 00:09:26,780 --> 00:09:28,820 and you should, as a-- 208 00:09:28,820 --> 00:09:32,210 even as an experiment in your neighborhood. 209 00:09:32,210 --> 00:09:34,640 And you're gonna find that all of a sudden, 210 00:09:34,640 --> 00:09:37,160 you get to meet neighbors that you didn't know you had. 211 00:09:37,160 --> 00:09:39,230 You get people passing by your house. 212 00:09:39,230 --> 00:09:44,360 'Cause this gardening, this effort that you put in, 213 00:09:44,360 --> 00:09:46,070 it creates questions. 214 00:09:46,070 --> 00:09:48,530 And now, people wanna know, well, how can I do this? 215 00:09:48,530 --> 00:09:50,070 Why'd you do this? 216 00:09:50,070 --> 00:09:52,980 You know, people ask me, why did you start growing food? 217 00:09:52,980 --> 00:09:55,400 I'm like, 'cause it's food, you clown. 218 00:09:55,400 --> 00:09:57,590 Why would you not grow food? 219 00:09:57,590 --> 00:09:59,720 You know, why don't we grow food? 220 00:09:59,720 --> 00:10:02,750 But I have a real simple concept. 221 00:10:02,750 --> 00:10:05,780 And that's, you know, beauty in, beauty out. 222 00:10:05,780 --> 00:10:07,340 You put beauty into a space, that's 223 00:10:07,340 --> 00:10:08,790 what you gonna get out of it. 224 00:10:08,790 --> 00:10:11,360 But if you have a place lacking in this, 225 00:10:11,360 --> 00:10:12,860 that's what you gonna get out of it. 226 00:10:12,860 --> 00:10:17,400 And, you know, growing up in these environments, the city, 227 00:10:17,400 --> 00:10:22,420 urban areas, you realize that beauty is by design 228 00:10:22,420 --> 00:10:24,130 just like ugly is by design. 229 00:10:24,130 --> 00:10:28,050 Both of them, they serve a purpose. 230 00:10:28,050 --> 00:10:30,040 You know, 'cause if you're surrounded by ugly, 231 00:10:30,040 --> 00:10:31,840 that's how you gonna think life is, 232 00:10:31,840 --> 00:10:35,300 'cause that's-- now it's in your DNA. 233 00:10:35,300 --> 00:10:37,910 But if you're surrounded by beauty, 234 00:10:37,910 --> 00:10:40,520 that becomes natural to you, too, and you become-- 235 00:10:40,520 --> 00:10:42,240 you appreciate it. 236 00:10:42,240 --> 00:10:45,530 [MUSIC PLAYING] 237 00:10:48,350 --> 00:10:52,580 Things that we value, we've been trained to value, 238 00:10:52,580 --> 00:10:57,440 like money and diamonds and other dumb shit like that. 239 00:10:57,440 --> 00:10:59,210 We don't value humanity. 240 00:10:59,210 --> 00:11:01,040 We don't value each other. 241 00:11:01,040 --> 00:11:03,560 We don't value our water, our air, 242 00:11:03,560 --> 00:11:06,830 our resources that surround us. 243 00:11:06,830 --> 00:11:08,600 And we definitely don't value soil. 244 00:11:08,600 --> 00:11:10,260 We call it dirt. 245 00:11:10,260 --> 00:11:14,160 You know, but we gotta realize that life comes out of that. 246 00:11:14,160 --> 00:11:20,470 I've actually put gardens in some places in Skid Row. 247 00:11:20,470 --> 00:11:24,400 And it was interesting because it did-- 248 00:11:24,400 --> 00:11:27,250 it took some of the people back to when they were kids. 249 00:11:27,250 --> 00:11:32,230 And it's been proven, they have all kinds of statistics, 250 00:11:32,230 --> 00:11:35,770 that they realize when you put in a garden, when 251 00:11:35,770 --> 00:11:41,360 you put in a green space, the crime rate goes down. 252 00:11:41,360 --> 00:11:46,000 This is known, because of the things that gardens do. 253 00:11:46,000 --> 00:11:47,930 It's not just about the food. 254 00:11:47,930 --> 00:11:52,210 It's about the fact that now you have something to care for. 255 00:11:52,210 --> 00:11:54,610 Now you have something that's alive. 256 00:11:54,610 --> 00:12:00,670 And it's-- it winds up changing your life. 257 00:12:00,670 --> 00:12:01,840 It's like with a child. 258 00:12:01,840 --> 00:12:03,560 You give 'em a seed and all of a sudden, 259 00:12:03,558 --> 00:12:05,348 you put it in the ground and they come back 260 00:12:05,350 --> 00:12:06,550 and it's a carrot. 261 00:12:06,550 --> 00:12:08,860 And they take it out like, I made this. 262 00:12:08,860 --> 00:12:09,360 You know? 263 00:12:09,360 --> 00:12:11,320 And I'm like, yes, you did make it. 264 00:12:11,320 --> 00:12:15,040 You know, so now that's something that someone never 265 00:12:15,040 --> 00:12:16,750 can take from them. 266 00:12:16,750 --> 00:12:17,740 So it's known. 267 00:12:17,740 --> 00:12:20,710 So why don't they have this in every prison? 268 00:12:20,710 --> 00:12:22,150 Why don't-- every school. 269 00:12:22,150 --> 00:12:24,630 Why isn't that one of the main curriculums 270 00:12:24,630 --> 00:12:31,810 in elementary school is learning how to cultivate and grow 271 00:12:31,810 --> 00:12:33,670 your own food? 272 00:12:33,670 --> 00:12:35,560 Because there's so many lessons and there's 273 00:12:35,560 --> 00:12:37,190 so much power in that. 274 00:12:37,190 --> 00:12:41,320 And that's why I'm doing what I'm doing with the garden. 275 00:12:41,320 --> 00:12:46,530 And I had no idea that I was building a ecosystem. 276 00:12:46,530 --> 00:12:47,280 That just came. 277 00:12:47,280 --> 00:12:49,980 I had no idea that all of a sudden, 278 00:12:49,980 --> 00:12:51,820 I would see birds in South Central 279 00:12:51,820 --> 00:12:53,950 that I've never seen in my life. 280 00:12:53,950 --> 00:12:57,450 It brought this knowledge that I've never had, that I never 281 00:12:57,450 --> 00:12:58,860 kinda knew existed. 282 00:12:58,860 --> 00:13:01,830 And I was kinda pissed that-- 283 00:13:01,830 --> 00:13:04,870 everybody should know the things that you learn in the garden. 284 00:13:04,870 --> 00:13:08,790 I have a saying, the school should be in the garden, not 285 00:13:08,790 --> 00:13:11,520 the garden at the school. 286 00:13:11,520 --> 00:13:15,750 There's so many lessons out here that we all need to have. 287 00:13:15,750 --> 00:13:19,440 We have to have this reverence for mother nature. 288 00:13:19,440 --> 00:13:20,670 We have to have this respect. 289 00:13:20,670 --> 00:13:22,860 And we haven't been trained to do that. 290 00:13:22,860 --> 00:13:24,600 Is there a pledge allegiance for air? 291 00:13:27,180 --> 00:13:28,080 Why not? 292 00:13:28,080 --> 00:13:29,220 There should be. 293 00:13:29,220 --> 00:13:32,430 It's the single most important thing to your life. 294 00:13:32,430 --> 00:13:36,300 And this is the things that I think we need to change. 295 00:13:36,300 --> 00:13:39,990 With that, we need to change our value system.