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An arrow on Garrison Avenue and Barretto Street in the Bronx points to a green roof stalled by lack of funding atop the Point Community Development Corporation building. (Courtesy of 350.org)
NEW YORK—Brooklyn artist Eve Mosher thought of a way to make solutions to climate change simple. She designed a conspicuous yellow arrow with the bold, black words “Insert___Here” printed across it, then let people all over the city fill in the blank and post their green solutions far and wide.
A giant arrow spans half the side of a Soho building; pointing to the sky, it suggests, “Insert Clean Air Here.” A chalk arrow points to a Lower Manhattan roadside stating, “Insert Bike Lane Here.” Another arrow declares, “Insert Bike Share Station Here.” An arrow on a Bronx building requests a green roof. An arrow above cars in a parking lot suggests congestion pricing. A vacant lot in Brooklyn could be a community garden, points out the ubiquitous yellow arrow.
“Art can translate complex ideas into more simple ideas,” says Mosher. “It’s looking at a complex issue and highlighting simple solutions.”
Shatia Jackson put up 13 arrows in Brooklyn, starting at Green Point and working south to Flatbush. She talked to a lot of curious onlookers who never realized the vacant lots could become something useful or beautiful.
Shatia Jackson stands by an arrow she placed by a vacant lot in Brooklyn that reads, 'Insert Garden/Compost Site Here.' (Courtesy of 350.org)
“I think everyone assumes that you have to pay for a lot, that you have to have money and buy it,” said Jackson. Brooklyn has 596 acres of vacant space, spawning the group 596 Acres, which quickly hopped aboard Mosher’s initiative.
One arrow is of particular interest to Jackson. It points to a long-vacant lot near the brownstone she grew up in around Stuyvesant Avenue and Halsey Street in Brooklyn. Her family has called the neighborhood home for four generations, and the vacant lot has been their neighbor for 20 years.
Jackson says it is time for a change. The wheels are in motion and she is just waiting for the permitting to transform the lot into a community garden. She recognizes that the arrow points the way, but a whole process follows before change happens.
“Once you’re aware, it’s kind of hard to ignore,” said Jackson. “Hopefully it brings about a discussion, and that discussion will bring about a change in mentality, … (an) interest in your community and wanting to see it look better.”
The hardest part she foresees is sustaining community interest in running the garden, keeping enough hands in the dirt to make the veggies grow.
The arrows elicit a simpler form of community support for those unwilling to get their hands too dirty. A Web link on the arrow directs people to the project website, where they might simply sign a petition to help get funding or government support.
The arrows not only point to green spaces that could exist, but also to ones that already do exist.
Arrows point to solar panels in building complexes and flourishing green spaces, showing the surrounding communities that change is possible.
“Climate change solutions sometimes seem daunting to people,” said Heidi Quante, of 350.org, which sponsors the project. “It seems like such a massive global issue; and this is a way to highlight that there is a myriad of things that you can tackle at the local level so it doesn’t feel like it’s impossible.”Anyone interested in putting up a yellow arrow of their own can visit http://earth.350.org/ih/get.php to get started.
