in california couple years ago there's a measure, prop 23 on the ballot to repeal the new clean car standards put in by arnold schwarzenegger, that measured to repeal the stands, which loss, prop 23 totally funded by koch brothers. legislation in west virginia to overturn the new mining safety rules that were put in place after that last mind disaster, the effort to overturn mining safety regulations funded by the koch brothers. i had in the book a page with 53 different organizations. a lot of them by the way research centers on college campuses around the country all for the purpose of disputing the existence of global warming and fighting to deal away with any government regulations that have to do with climate control. 57 other organizations that i was able to find that are either partially or totally funded by the koch brothers. they reach is so great that

someone has called them the koch the police. think of it all the arms out there. they don't do it alone. they get together twice a year with their corporate buddies from around the country. and raise money for right wing political causes. two days before the book came out, i was so happy this happened because i could tell people you see, i'm not exaggerating. i'm not making this a. today's to for the book came out they had their latest meeting in palm springs. i will tell you who was there. sheldon angels and was there by the way. their meetings are routinely attended by republican governors, casey, walker, chris christie, bob mcdonnell from virginia. i'm sure richard scott. they've opened a. supreme court justices and of course clarence thomas, alito, they've all been there to their meetings of these corporate she's. this 12 days before the book

came out, just a month or so ago. they raised $109 in the we can to defeat barack obama this year for president. think about that. if you look at the super pacs for romney and santorum and ron paul and newt gingrich, up until super tuesday they have spent a total for all the candidates of $53 million. and in that one weekend they raise $100 million. so they are huge. they went out there and they will say and they will do anything. of course, it's a lot easier for them now since citizens united, because you not only raise unlimited corporate money but you don't have to report which corporations are paying which bills. but they also couldn't do it without the assistance of the nation's me. and that's what drives me crazy. >> you can watch this and other programs on line at booktv.or booktv.org.

>> in 1993, will allen bought a two-acre plot of land and close -- in close proximity to milwaukee's biggest housing project. from this initial purchase, he created an urban farm that now grossed 40 tons of vegetables and raises 100,000 fish that can feed 10,000 people a year. he recounts his career change from a former professional basketball player and executive at procter & gamble to urban farmer and ceo of growing power. this is about an hour and 20 minutes. >> welcome to boswell book company. tonight we are presenting will allen, author of "the good food revolution." will allen is an urban farmer who is transferring the cultivation, production and delivery of healthy foods to underserved urban population. after a brief career in professional basketball, and a number of years in corporate marketing at procter & gamble, will allen returned to his roots

as a farmer using his retirement package to purchase a plot of inner-city land where he has built the country's preeminent urban farm. he is now ceo of growing power, an organization that develops community food system. in 2008, he was named john d. and katherine t. macarthur foundation fellow, a genius grant, only the second farmer ever to be so armored -- honored. [applause] >> is also a member of the clinton global initiative and in favor 2010, he was invited the white house to join the first lady michelle obama in launching let's move. in may 2010, "time" magazine named him to the time 100 world's most influential people. and then 2011 -- [applause] allen was named one of the seven worlds most influential fujian's

dashing fujian's. he was named the theater was the award. and now a video. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> who do such a powerful way of bringing people together.

-- food is such a powerful one of bringing people together. >> when i graduated high school i had over 100 scholarship offers. my goal was to get an education and play professional basketball. and i said i will never go back to that farm. we are able to move from less than 1% of local food production to 10%. that was a billion dollar change. we are going energy. we are growing soil. we are growing people and we are growing a community because we are angry here in a community that badly needs food. so the whole concept is really

about growing community as well as providing the most important thing to all of us use food. >> my mother's family used to form. my father was a sharecropper. but like unlike many american males at the time, he wanted us to know where our food came from. and for practical reasons, we would grow our own food. action i was driving down the street here at the time i can 1983. i was working for proctor and gamble. i just saw the for sale sign and i stopped and i wrote down the number. i said to myself, this is the

place that i could land him and that's when i got in trouble. i knew a little bit about the area, five blocks what is the largest housing project we have here in milwaukee. it was pretty much what is called the food desert. ghana access to food is corner stores and what they call fast food is wants. >> as a matter of fact, many of our kids are eating food grandmother wouldn't recognize. >> i was just in cleveland with the mayor of cleveland. he really gets it. we are starting get a lot of ways of food wholesaler. they threw away thousands and thousands of pounds of food waste a week. >> i want that same food to go to all people, all communities. to do that yet to figure out ways of reducing the production cost. and part of that is what we do here in terms of growing soil by

using renewable energy and keeping costs in line so we can get that through to everybody at a reasonable cost. >> how did you do that here? how did you make that happen? on three acres. how can we do that? >> this one has been a unique farm system. it's part of i think agee of the future in terms of how we grow food here, using every square foot and everything that we discover, we pass on to folks that come here. >> it's not like we want to stick it in some closet and try to make money off of the. everything we discover speed as i don't think i've into the anyone who is named a genius by any foundation. >> in our city we have a lot of -- [inaudible] thousands of acres inside cities, cities like detroit,

cities like youngstown, ohio, or buffalo, new york, chicago within 33 square miles. that we can grow food. >> always believed having a diverse group of folks to work with. diversity is at the top of my agenda. one of the agreement i made with the city is i would hire kids. then we start looking at as an asset to the community because we are providing jobs. >> i used to walk past it everyday when i was in high school to go to the basketball court. and one day i just stopped in. i love it here. i never thought i would do something like this. but i love it. >> whoever wants help, whether they are from detroit, the rural

communities in alabama or mississippi, or other states, wisconsin, we engage those communities. so it's not just inner-city. it's not just urban. it's rural communities that are hurting today as well. >> but it's really all about food, now we're going to try to change the existing food system to make it something that really works for everybody. >> people think because they spent a lot of money for food, that food is fresh and good. but we know when food travels many miles, it loses a lot of its nutrient value. the system we need is to go back to those days where our food system was local. sustainable food system is the only way to end hunger in the world. industrial food system, it hasn't worked. >> we have to change your food policy, national food policy. and to do that we need projects like this and others around the

country to change policy. you just can't compete and stay in line. you have to prove that this works. we have to prove that this can work. >> it's something that we need to continue to grow. there are some challenges that we have to overcome to make it grow. i'm a former athlete. i like competition and the like challenges. i've always wanted to guard the best player, take the last shot, whatever. i like that type of challenge. if you can transfer that over to something like this, it becomes a very powerful and good thing for the community. ♪

♪ [applause] >> good evening. i don't know if this works. it doesn't work for me anyway. these things never work for me. it's very great to be here tonight. great to be back in milwaukee. i flew in a few minutes ago from miami. i was first in l.a. this week, early in the week, and then i went to miami. i was invited by our president of our university, the university of miami. donna who once was the chancel at gw madison. , to give the commencement

speech to the graduating class which i did yesterday. it was quite an honor. especially the fact that in 1967 i left the farm in maryland, and went to the university of miami where i was the first african-american ask of a player there in 1967. so it was kind of a really special, special weekend for me. and it's also special to be back home for just a day. [laughter] because tomorrow i'm heading out to new york. but before you start i want to bring up charles wilson who really -- come on in, charles -- who cowrote this book with me. and acknowledge a couple people that helped with the book. and i don't know if you want to do that. [applause]

>> i will speak in to yours. one of my friends told me once you often get -- [inaudible] you hope there's the same thing. this is a project of my heart, being involved with this. i'm grateful to will. it does work. you lie to me. i have great respect for this man to i feel really grateful to work on the edges want to thank a few people that were instrumental in helping us. joan fisher and who is here tonight speak shown, would you stand up and that? >> she's in the back with a picture. very graceful writer who got this project off the ground. don richards who in the book, a board member. where is don? right here. spent i think everybody knows dawn, a former alderman here in

the city of milwaukee. >> don put in a good word for will win will was applying to get that on silver spring drive. there's a church the one of that space as well, and don said i think we have enough churches in our community. [laughter] he said well, what you're doing is religion in itself. and i want to thank jennifer, who has some beautiful pictures in the book. helped quite a bit. [applause] >> great photographer. just need to make sure, there's lots of other people i'm sure i am forgetting, but, and we'll, thank you. [applause] we also have some of the folks that are very instrumental in the work that we do. one of them is sarah, our facilities manager at growing

power. a lot of you who have been onto it, you're probably run into her. center, where are you at? [applause] okay, she is somewhere here. and also we have a couple other people here from growing power. and really wanted to thank them because they're all part of our team, because the way we operate at growing power, we really are a team. i kind of pattern our organization after some of the teams that i played, the team perspective and so forth. so it's not just me. i get a lot of the credit but we have 110 employees today, and we will be hiring another 150 over the next year or so.

[applause] >> they do a lot of the heavy lifting. and we are embarking on a sttegic plan. and frank martinelli who some of you might know, frank, do you want to stand up? [applause] leading us to our second strategic plan. and our first strategic plan really brought us to where we are today. this five year strategic plan we are going to be developing over the next year takes us into the future, going through kind of a succession plan. and so forth. so looking forward to that. want to thank frank as part of the. but this wouldn't happen, the work we're doing here in milwaukee, if that wasn't for the community. everybody in the community in terms of this is a grassroots kind of revolution that started as a movement. now i call it a revolution

because it really is but as i travel around the country, everywhere there's thousands of people that show up for talks and thousands of people getting involved because we realized that our food system is broken. we realized that our health is going south. if you read articles on tv or "time" magazine showed his baby predicted to be under three pounds by the time that person reached 30 years of age. we know that one-third of us are at least, we know that we are eating a lot of food that's not really good food, even though we pay a lot for it. but when it travels it loses a lot of its nutrient value. and really the only way the u.n. center for the first time march and 110, the only way to end world hunger, when we lose a 5 million people to like food and water a year around the world is the local food systems. not the industrial food system

that we have it is the industrial food system going to go away anytime soon? no. but we should rework on trying to develop a system that we used to have in this country where most of the food was grown in the states where we live. and now we have this tremendous opportunity because of what's happening in rural america in terms of forest and farmland to really use some of the land inside our cities and some of the vacant buildings. milwaukee is one of those cities it has a lot of vacant land and a lot of vacant buildings. so milwaukee has become the leader around the world, and urban farming. look at that as a place where folks can come and get knowledge around how to start their businesses and how to develop their farms, not just community gardens the community forms. so we can scale up the food. so part of what we're going to do over the next few years is really quantified a lot of

things because you really have to have concrete examples of how things work before people really believe. because there still a lot of naysayers, especially in the industrial, folks who work in industrial food system, they are starting to say that doesn't work. you know, that can never work. and i think that just fuels us more when people say things that were. so we will be part of fine that and doing it in milwaukee. milwaukee right now, less than 1% of food is locally grown. over the next two years, our goal is to take up to 10%. that has huge implications in terms of jobs, jobs you wouldn't necessarily get as foreign jobs. there's a new kind of growing food involves everybody. everybody in the show, that connects all this is the fact that we have food, and why not good food?

we should be able to get our food and our daily -- so it has that full nutrient impact the and medical folks are working with all the high schools now recognize that. they are for just being with us in terms of getting the word out that food is medicine. some of us, most of us it's bad medicine. the only way to do that is to develop the infrastructure and the system to be able to do that. and it's not easy, but they can be fun everybody works together. what i call the good food revolution, we can't afford any more to keep people away from the table because we don't like the politics or whether work or what company they represent. every major corporate company today has a sustainable mission.

so everybody wants to live in these sustainable cities. as a matter of fact, every sustainable city has a 2020 plan to come green and be sustained. if we don't have green sustainable food system, they will never reach those goals. for me, food is the number one thing in our lives. so we need to start with food, although most cities rank in the top 10 towards the bottom. so i think we have an opportunity here in milwaukee, and the whole milwaukee metro area to really prove that this can happen. so i believe that over the next couple of years we will be able to quantified a lot of things and work with a great institute at gw in to get lake perch back into our diets because we can't commercially fished for yellow perch anymore in lake michigan. it's been banned.

and, of course, there's mercury contaminants. so we will build a system and use some of those vacant buildings to really grow out, not just thousands of lake perch, the millions of lake perch. one of the plans we have is to have a hatchery here in the city of milwaukee, something that we don't have anywhere to be able to hatch out enough for i to make this possible. and to build enough greenhouse is around the city. they have 100 acres of greenhouses to be able to grow food you run. that's a we do now. we grow food year round because it's not, it's not just eating food for 20 out of you, but to be healthy food 365 days a year. and recently, we launched this $20,000 accurate program which is really important. to assist families and putting in 20,000 backyard gardens, and that's kind of the first line of

defense. if people can grow their own food, a percentage of their own food in the backyard, tiger, on balconies and containers or whatever, that's really important. but to do that there's some challenges. of course, i think everybody knows that our soil is contaminated. so what we do is grossly. this year we will see take 40 million pounds of food residue rescued, and carbon residue from and is about it and grow thousands of yards of compost to be able to do this job. so if you remember anything i say tonight, it's all about the solar. that's what makes food taste good. it's what's in the soil. any farmer will tell you that. and we want to grow food without chemical. so the only way to do that use through the slow. some going to stop right here and i'm going to just -- i don't know if we can, probably need the lights. i'm going to show a few images.

that's my grandmother, who really started everything, growing good food, and was part of my family. were slaves. a part of my family has a very diverse background. they were never slaves up my grandfather chickasaw indian who married my grandmother here. and that's my mother and father. they came up to the washington, d.c. area in the '30s, and my father was a sharecropper. just one day dropped his plow and you'll and headed north, along with my mother. that's illustrated in the book. going the wrong way, charles. these are from 1993-2000.

this is what i purchased, and this is what it looked like. these are the young people i work with. there's something unusual about the young people. they are over 30 years of age. they came from the neighborhood and that's how we got engaged with the neighbors, working with these kids and said there something different about them than the thickets today. and i'll tell you, these young people, they have their pants pulled up. [laughter] [applause] we started doing growing soil are growing soil back in the early years. you can see one of the greenhouses, we started take the glass of the these were built in the late 19 toys, and started resurrecting the we started composting more. we started worms back in in

these boxes. and today, one farm, 7000 pounds of warmth to resort over 30,000 words. these young people are again over 30 years old. you see they have coats on. this is the wintertime. we had an old boiler and it didn't work very well. as a matter fact it broke and every day and i had to go help the thing or whatever, take it. get it going. so the kids were coats in the greenhouse. we started, and remember this, this was the start of our program in 1995. we had one thing was the lead tank. one was the filter tank filled with rock. we use the air stone to move the water. we replicated a clean river string. so from that you will see how we

moved ahead as we move forward. and we had a number of those along the north wall. we also grew a lot of -- that's what this greenhouse is set to do. we use those to decorate the city, actually -- next. they know teach the kids how to grow food. one of the things, many of vision people had really bad reading and writing skills, but actually did something hands-on, we would bring them in and have them write about it to improve their writing skills, and they would want to dig deeper. we would give them some ring on microorganisms or whatever. great improvement and something we do with our creek and today is, one of the lost arts of course was canning foods. a way of preserving food, my

family always did that. we teach those kids. i was really drunk on the things we did as a family as i was teaching these kids in those early days. the other thing we did was help build -- many of these young people did know how to use tools. i know there are rules against kids can't touch a trail until you're 18 years of age. well, i broke all those rules. things to get kids life skills. [applause] so we teach these young kids life skills. ..

that some problems with prospects. with move the shrubs, compos, planted flowers and hit with a poetess. and what happened, -- [laughter] what happened was the contest

with the way it because people start paying attention. [laughter] so clip was the will be informing and suffering the community room there, but we did this turn the entire block. this was 2015 brown. i remember this project. this is where drug dealers with hem. part in about 75 carrots of compost. it would to these flower beds. again, what happened is the drug dealers with the way, but the people started turning their heads. there are looking of the floors and uncomfortable. that became a real crime fighting tool.

the kids have summer jobs. the couple of this and the trout programs cover and it really worked. and that from the west with type of working with native communities. there's suffering from high rates of diabetes. starting with the half but the schools. it will not work in communities like ingelwood and chicago with their was almost a murderer day. that was another crime putting tool. in the it team that -- the milwaukee journal brought this article, that's one thing, the the kind of took off. the turn-of-the-century.

so this is what it looks like to the. total trade commission. we use a lot of renewable energy because of strong to be an important piece in the future of our realtor. 25 percent of the energy issue, 25 percent of our fossil fuel is used in agriculture. it's very poor and have a renewable energy and water collection. we captured our energy and we use the water and a project. next. and the solar panels, quarter of our energy if.

adding with solar energy and also of he and a wind generator similar to the will we see them there. every time i go home to look at that. [laughter] we call this our community food city where people can come in purchasing it. many different things. one of the only multi-cultural, multigenerational organizations in the country led by. or very proud about being a multicultural organization. is there some of the faces.

over 15,000 a train of 15,000 the year . with the sense. [laughter] again. it's all about the trail. we really have to grow so. as i travel around the country

and cities and mayors and they're ready a talk to, the need a large composting operation because the soil is contaminated and there's of barbarians we used seeds, microorganisms have been killed off. the struggling to make honey. we really need to resurrect our struggle -- so. the only way to do that is to take the waste and put it back to mother earth. so we do it over a million pounds annually of compost. and we have animals. only about 200 feet away from

our resident. we have to in gauging there we also have our 500 letters that led brown makes. and of course, apple tonics' come crawling fish. 100 tons of fish. that's the path of light. the users of the systems. go down a little bit. this is our research and war will. quantify things have never been quantified about growing fish. pilling seven different types of systems to be able to do this

work . different type of food stops, a natural for it stops, food waste. sylmar going in and redfish. the latest fish that we have started research on is black perkins. the brazilian fish to eat : notes, berries to and vegetable waste. they get up over 60 pounds. the taste is just wonderful. the help to minister of raising some of those. they have all lot of of the three vats the acids this project means a lot to the city in terms of starting to grow. if we had a billion pounds of yellow perch we would have the but tomorrow morning

. these higher our system. a 10,000 gallons system. caring greenhouse production every bit of space is important, so we try to use of ground combat typically greenhouse produces don't use the 10,000-gallon system. the nitrogen that the shed -- fish get off. "210 does build systems. the one of the right is tilapia. the water temperature is heated to 85 degrees. the water system that provides

70 percent of our heated water. or it will to offset the cost. of the benefit, it heats the green hills. it's much more effective. so we have these. like us to before, our rural agriculture, or losing beef. the kids have to hundreds of people, even the youth. over 100 pounds of honey per hive, 50 percent more than today. all you folks of -- grow flowers. the stealing pollen from the gardens. this is a of the project.

you might of the swan. we turn this into an air patrols side. this is from a low this. recanted that back in february. we transplanted it into our compost. in today's this letter is ready. this comes to cisco. the delivery system, almost all of our public school systems get food delivered by cisco. last year but it will hundred thousand pounds of carrots. some went into milwaukee public schools. we're going to grow 250,000 pounds of carrots to go to in ps lunch program.

it developed relationships. all this is what developing relationships. redoing our 40 million pounds of food waste into compost. where will to break down. high-quality, the best of the world. and across the street, we also have a 30-acre pounds. rowing to metals. we just planted those two weeks he'll. these dimensions, they're very productive. we'll have these until about january 7 -- january february.

they just keep producing to me than. it just keep the playing up with the ceiling. we have a crew. every day we're building infrastructure. next. we build these from scratch. next. these young men and building every day. they have a crew of 16. new in place every month. this is important. every bit of space that we confront.

the italian schieffer edible redoing. yet some vacant land. the guys really didn't want to cut the grass in or. it will we were doing was great. so we built up food deposits, and now that's what's growing there. we don't grow in the existing soil. we don't take down. test recently, our april workshop congresswoman keenan spoke to us. next. these are participants from all of the country and some outside. behalf of from canada, sweet

folks from all over the world really come to these workshops. one of the pieces we do this project planning moving groups into action. it's not sit at the table for two or three years. this is above vision with your from look like. this is a very effective tool. this is an idea about our reach. fifteen regional and reach centers. we did this workshop. washington d.c. we signed a one-year contract with the district of columbia, a land grant university for the district of columbia. with the want to do is grow so. i convinced them the need to

grow so for folks wanted to do iran and realtor. this is really important. about 10 miles a lawyer. we went and estimated a 1 acre compost. it went in with a staff. of seven. we did a regional workshop. they're not in order. and not trying to tell -- slow them. next. next. next. next. next. next. next. the next. so this is what goes on at a workshop. we start out. this particular young man has this thing called compost cab. he goes american picks up food waste from different homes

. he charges a fee, but this is one of the most important things . he came to or five month promotional program. he wanted to do rooftop garden. before he left he chases month. picking a placed. he doesn't do compost himself. next. next. next. next. next. so we bring one of our 24-foot trucks, all the materials. we do this weekend training. vitrine lots of folks from the regional area.

how to build these composites, how to do composting. next. next. bleeped. today's. and everybody gets ahead in doing this. those groups. everyone participates. and that's the only way you can lead of the farm. he can learn it in the classroom . you have to do it out on the

farm. we have seven farms in jakarta -- chicago. 150 different varieties. part of the firm. fringe prodigy desire. we have been doing this for seven years and of the city of chicago has come as more land. this food goes to programs. it's marketed. 100,000 pounds. probably the most famous housing project in the country, in fairness, before the presbyterian got this land, cabrini green. this is been a huge success.

another seven year project corona tubman's fall. and it has been a great project in terms of different folks from for cultures. this is our latest farm. we haven't opportunity to give more acreage. right across the river. the average income is about 55,000. on the other side of the river its 19,000. so this is going to be really important. a lot of renewal of energy. we are at the chicago flower and garden show. this is our display. one of the things, way back in the 90's, these gardens need to be very aesthetically pleasing.

it's important to enhance communities where that having of the gardens the people really don't want. these new people, if they were not participating there would be doing something that is not so good. they get paid in the summertime. many of them stay. this is the future. we hope to be breaking ground for this project. this has been designed right next door to our current form. a first of its current. a five story freckle form. greenhouse and stacked on top. also, hopefully it will be the start of the project working

with universities here in our area, medicine and some of the other universities around the state to have a nutritional and our cultural starting with ministers and. the army reserve base. could land and build and institute there. this building will homes about 24 of the space. next. thank you very much. [applause] one person i did not introduced about like to, the doe has been

working with me for couple of years. we are putting together -- we have been working on the video for a couple of years that will be coming on also a really talks about the work we're doing. you have a small slice tonight. my normal power point has almost 1,000 to images. [laughter] business only 200. you got lucky. of it. i'm going to take some questions before the signing. i think we have a process this. >> thank you very much for another informative and inspiring talk. we are very fortunate to have you in milwaukee. thank you.

i heard you speak at the university recently, and you mentioned you would be doing something at the state fair. >> probably the largest national, international carbon and small farm conference in the country. september 7th, it, and ninth. seventeen different trucks, every aspect from medical trucks to corporate trucks, former truck. we have kind of a who's who list they're coming in. we give them a free entrance into the conference. a lot of these folks are working and around the food system. we will be having over 200 preconceptions and keynote addresses.

a huge use presents. it will be on the weekend. made monday. we're looking forward to that. the second national conference. two years ago we had about 1500 people. i would like to invite everybody to come. get them. all the food will be from our infrastructure. we'll have a chef nine. over 30 different chef stations on saturday night at the conference. it's really a wonderful thing. the takeout food and make all this amazing. if anyone wants to be a part of that planning team, were still looking for folks.

over here. this can man. >> what are the main challenges with you guys have? what are the main challenges you have today? >> oh, god. we would be here all night. i would guess -- not cast, but one of the main challenges is always funding. a little bit different of a nonprofit. over 50 percent of our income comes from our own efforts. i don't come from on nonprofit background. when i started way back when nobody would find us. i said, with a sell services. we do have a small to helping

community. we do grants. we've been told to get some pretty sizable grants. we just don't go out. walker said, we want to prove what we're doing and all the different aspects of the integrating farming system. yes. [inaudible question] step to the microphone. [laughter] >> two questions. >> okay. >> one is, i don't mean to be facetious, but i grew up with the understanding that eating vessels from greenhouses' was

not could. >> you know what, it's all about the slow. it's not about greenhouses'. the traditional way was always chemical, using a lot of couples even the hydroponic some. even the soil. so it's all about what is in the soil. micro organisms, if you have to help the soil and a lot of micronutrients calendar going to get good tasting food. we do a few hundred thousand pounds per year. it's important to have the right nutrients. >> one other quick question.

to you have a relationship with the natural foods? >> yes, we do. permanent placement and all three. a great relation. we are also working with them at sinai hospital. to stop conducting some of their food. so one of the most important things is integrated madison and getting food as a part of those programs out to the community. >> thank you. >> you talked about this project , chicago being instrumental in mending fences. i wonder if you could talk about that more. >> cabrini green was a huge housing project. they're keeping it low prices.

gentrification. new people. the presbyterian church. about 4,000 people. i wanted to use this piece of land, the original purpose was to build a community center, with the did not have the funding. they came to us and asked if we would help in terms of setting up of large scale community card that would mend fences and recruit folks from the community to join the church and bring people together, people from a different cultures. it has been a big success. weigh in the back. you want to come on. [inaudible question]

>> you had shown the construction of four greenhouses in washington, near washington. a huge crew. everyone well organized. in today's time. how do you get all the people? how did these people know this is coming? how do you get all these people signed on for the project? and complete it in such a short time. >> that's a great question. that's part of the outreach, the folks that we work with will organizations. we are not trying to go out and put grope our organization all of the country. were building of infrastructure

and training. those organizations recruit folks to come to the workshop. those people have no knowledge, absolutely zero knowledge. so what you saw a people but are learning through this hands-on process. below the trucks with all the materials. early on, we get there and nothing would be there. the load of one of her car before for trucks and go up there. we kind of lead training. you can get a high up in today's that's how people when.

once they learn the can pass it on, take it back to their far more community-based organization and take that knowledge back. >> thank you. >> my question, knowing the quality of soil is very important, the south side of chicago. at that time i use a chemical pesticide. but i grew did tasting food. no, she indicated making the room. i'm not as concerned. it may be more toxic. is there a concern, if you have a backyard and you haven't been

using toxic things. and was always amazed. the water looks healthy. [laughter] my question is, i'm going right directly to the soil. if i don't. >> let me answer that for you. milwaukee is one of the heaviest cities in america. the south side of the walking. ranked number one in the nation. certain plant take up a lead in mostar and the eat there. they wonder why they have heavy lead problems. we have no the equipment. if you're going to do the full spectrum test of all of your

soil it will cost you a few thousand dollars. not really practical. we found a method, we put to feed of newsroom on top of existing so. micro root fibers don't go out and to play. no less technically have been using. even though epa hasn't signed on and said this is the method, but they will be coming out because of all the activity. a city where we have a lot of old houses. and pain, it has been spread around the yard. a lot of arsenic. i would not eat food that was grown directly in this will inside the city. i would not any of you to eat food. if you think it you have help

the soil without refunding on for sure. it's important to grow from so. okay. over here. the cnn. >> could you comment on landfill contamination from sources like electronic and fan -- trash? >> i don't have all lot of mileage. the worst thing that goes into landfills is food waste. it leeches out nitrogen. koses ground water contamination one of the things we're going to start at the new housing project at westmont, makes income development, reconstructing the

75-acre project, and we will start with milwaukee's first food waste pickup. trading focused what to put into the container. we don't want things like rags and diapers that will be a pilot project. we hope the weekend grow this out. i talked to the mayor about this we will start there and workout all the kinks. over here. we're going back and forth. >> understand that there may be three areas for you to grow. a to concede much in here. the abandoned buildings.

another is schools. there might be a couple of science teachers who are actually setting up a system like yours. and the third place is internationally. especially in places like palestine or desert areas. what are the projects? you might have to remind me. let's start with the schools. one of the things, the kind of keeping on campus. one of the things we're doing to work with teachers now. they're coming to our weekend training over five months learning how to do hands-on education.

that's important. many of the kids learn in a hands-on way. so we're working with teachers. it's not undercover. it is being funded by a number of sources. many teachers are interested. so it's really important that our teachers learn how to pass on. one of the messages we give our kids, the five super foods, kale, whatever, blueberries, and three others it's not a good message. the need to -- as far as gardens on the school ground, it's very important. in milwaukee we have a number of

school gardens that we have installed. we signed a 20 year lease. every class has a garden. the community has a garden. it's a combination community garden and school rick. that is important. as far as international work, part of the clinton plan will initiative. we are developing projects in zimbabwe. and the big interest in doing stuff in different countries. we have done stuff in ukraine. we've been doing a lot of work and the syrians. >> abandoned buildings. >> we're looking at abandoned buildings.

over 20 closed schools. i have a contract, were going to start putting up group houses, i think it's 42nd. that's been closed for about 56 years. will put up 20 by 96-foot group houses. we're looking at every type, any space that we can find, but definitely these buildings. a hatchery content the north of new. images of the illness there. so will have that for cemetery.

old greenhouses. the resurrected those greenhouses'. keeping people out of the cemetery a little bit longer so that we get food. [laughter] [applause] >> to you have any ideas on things that we can do about biologically engineered food? >> well, you can stop buying it. >> right. >> i think that would be the first thing. one of the problems you have, you have to search for local levels. we're going to try, and we have done it at the outpost, plan a lot of locally grown food, but

we need to be a will to the pro it year round not just growing food 20 weeks of the year. >> i was wondering if the carter initiative or any of these are looking at biologically engineered food. >> a lot of people are. our approach is to change the dynamic of how people access. one of the things we're trying to do is kid stores to have locally grown the sections. instead of searching, it will be labeled. maybe pictures of the farmers. it will be easier to make the stresses. until we build the infrastructure, remember, we are less than 1%. implications are tremendous and in terms of 10% less trucks.

all the money stays in the local community. 10% or more the better health. >> thank you. >> this union -- this young man. >> a number of things. we make artisans used. a cheese plant. a friend of mine, bob wells. you've probably heard of him. the only one i knew about inside the country. we will be taking cuts will to make partisan cheese. we will come back. try to answer everyone's

questions. >> i heard you talk about how you never take into soil. you make your own fresh water system. there are a lot of people out there, other activists to think that the genetically modified food is contaminating our natural seed. there are a lot of people out there that believe you have to save his seat in order to have natural and a culture. i wanted to get your opinion. >> we do some seats saving, but that is all whole other business. a room scenes and open pollinated seeds . as a matter of fact, very few on the vegetable line. most of the stuff is cash crops,

soybean, corn. as far as the vegetable seeds, yes, it is important for us to start seeds saving. a lot of companies that we support that do it on the organic side, but that's the whole of the business. we try to support people that want to go into that business. we will definitely try to help. [laughter] yes. >> i am concerned about my new friend who really wants to do forming in her house. drawing power, consider discussions are funding for anyone that is this enthusiastic >> absolutely. we have scholarships.

we also have some corporate companies that gave over $30,000 to the will to purchase soil for low-income folks. every ten gardens and we sell we donate one to of low income family. we don't just want these gardens and this will to go the folks that have a lot of money. that's the way we work. we want our future to get to everybody in our community. we want the same food to go to every area of our city, state. that's the way. this is about social justice, and we have an organization called growing food injustice, over 1,000 different organizations and turned the country.

a conference every year. [applause] >> well, here is a softball. urban farm. how many total went to talk to you have? >> oh, gosh. >> within 100,000. >> we don't have that many. we have over 50 gets, 500 chickens. we will be due to wars, one of the things, we toward thousas every year. many of the programs don't allow kids because of the economics. they get to see a real form. >> red buttons. >> we have plans. by the way, those are also our employees.

the biggest employer in the world. [laughter] of cape. thank you very much. one more. >> you obviously have price all over the place, people who are really interested and want to support. your a tremendous leader. your aunt is a chasm is unbelievable. what are you doing to ensure this enthusiasm continues because this is a long progress. >> helping us to lead our organization. i have the most wonderful stunned the world. these young people of learning. i pass on everything i can tower

staff. our strategic plan is much different. our strategic plan. frank, you want to say a couple of words about how we engage our entire management staff. that's a great question. >> thanks. well, i would start by saying, one of the hallmarks of a great leader is, he or she thinks about the future, what needs to be done today so that the mission of the organization will thrive and have impacted the future. that is why will is supporting and leading this strategic planning process. like most, it's really important to involve the board and staff together. also, really throw the net wide in terms of who we talked to, who we ask about the future, was

changing in the world around the organization, the implications, and how growing power needs to change in order to be around in the future. and i've sent this, the special challenge to an organization like growing power which is, of course, all about sustainability , your challenge, our challenge is to build an organization that is sustainable itself. [applause] realistically i'm not going to be around forever. i am trying to pass on to the next generation. 75 percent of the folks around the country. before it was mostly academics and crusty old farmers.

now we have all these young people that want to become farmers. most of these will not come from the liberal community put colleges and universities and programs are brought the country , growing on rooftops and asphalt. inside buildings. hydroponics. this next generation i have a lot of faith in. prickling to take this into the future. thank you very much. [applause] >> we will allen is the ceo of growing power. for more information visit growing power top war.

>> thanks barnes and noble for hosting this so that we can get together and talk about issues that i think are very important. there seems to be some confusion a lot of people don't realize that america failed. it think it is still going on. just as i mentioned, some guy said to me, i did not know america failed. i also wanted to just look read this particular talk in terms of the stuff i've been writing. this is why it -- wind america failed is the third in a trilogy the first one was the twilight of american culture. the second was called dark ages. this came out about a month ago. there was, however, a collection

of essays that i published about a year ago that came between book two and three. half the essays are about the united states. i kind of want to encourage you to have a look at that book. a question of values. there is material in there that is not in any of the other books but deals with the kind of unconscious programming that americans have. that leaves them to do what they do. that sort of completes the picture. the title of this talk tonight is the way we live today. despite great pressure to conform, to celebrate the united states as the best system in the world, the nation does not lack for critics. the last two decades have seen

numerous works criticizing u.s. foreign policy, domestic policy, in particular economic policy, the american education system, court system, military, media and so on. most of this is very astute, and i have learned much. two things in particular are lacking. a very hard time making it into the public eye partly because americans are not trying to think in a holistic the synthetic fashion and partly because the sort of analysis i have in mind is too close to the bow. someone would say, it didn't know it failed. and integration of the various factors that have done the country. these studies tend to be institutions pacific, as the the institution under examination existed in a kind of

vacuum and could be understood. the second thing i find lacking is the relationship through the culture at large to the values and behavior is that americans manifest. as a result, these critiques are superficial. they don't go to the root of the problem, and this of weapons enables them to be optimistic which place them in the american mainstream. the authors often conclude with practical recommendations as to how a particular institution can be objectified. they are not much of a threat. it's usually mechanical analysis if the authors were to realize that these problems did not exist in a vacuum but are related and firmly rooted in the nature of american culture itself, the prognosis would not be so rosy. it would become clear that there

simply is no way out. to take two examples, i admire them greatly. they have done a lot to raise awareness, to show that both foreign and domestic policy as currently pursued a dead in his or wars, it of these men assumed problem is, and with top which is partly true. the problem is that the scores on a series of false consciousness. these institutions have pull bill will over the night -- eyes of the average american citizen who is ultimately rational i would say get out and talk to people. find out how accurate that is. for them the solution is one of education. pool of global away from the eyes and he spent -- the

citizenry will spontaneously awaken. is that happening with the occupy wall street? is an important question. my point is, what if it turns out the will is the ice. the so-called kent -- the so-called citizen when it does want a mercedes benz. probably not much else. grateful for the corporations supplying as with concern americans and the pentagon for protecting us from the awful arabs in the middle east. some of the possibilities for fundamental change appears to the small. what would be called for is a set of different institutions. personally at doctor is much chance of that. america is what it is. >> you can watch this and other programs online at c-span.org.