Photo by Drazen Zigic from Freepik

ACCTING aims to understand the impact of Green Deal policies on vulnerable groups, prevent inequalities, and produce knowledge and innovations to advance behavioural change at individual and collective levels for an inclusive and equal European Green Deal. This bottom-up initiative was collected by Don Lee within ACCTING’s mapping of inspiring practice cases, within the Farm to Fork research line. Read our report on all 693 mapped initiatives.

Planting justice, US

Creating green jobs to help incarcerated people transitioning from prison

The initiative focuses on creating employment opportunities in the green sector for individuals transitioning from incarceration. Since 2009, the project has established more than 550 permaculture gardens in the San Francisco Bay Area, enabling people to grow their own food. Additionally, they have collaborated with five high schools to develop a food justice education program. Through a partnership with a state prison, prisoners are trained in permaculture gardening, and their work continues even after their release, resulting in the creation of over 40 green jobs in the food justice movement for formerly incarcerated individuals.

Fostering economic and social resilience

The organization, Planting Justice, offers various programs aimed at fostering economic and social resilience:

1. Food Sovereignty

Addressing the structural inequalities present in the industrialized food system, including the exploitation of food system workers, limited access to fresh and nutritious food in low-income communities of color, and an over-reliance on packaged and processed food that harms both our bodies and the environment.

2. Economic Justice

Building a local and sustainable food system to generate thousands of green jobs, offering fair wages and comprehensive benefits to provide dignified livelihoods in the food industry. The project aims to revitalize the local economy and increase access to nutritious food through investing in food workers.

3. Community Healing

Supporting healing justice in collaboration with marginalized communities that have faced systemic oppression, the initiative seeks to provide equal access to affordable and nutritious food, dignified jobs, education, green spaces, safety, and mobility. Their goal is to support the holistic well-being of these communities and address the barriers they face.

By establishing edible gardens, promoting economic justice, and focusing on community healing, Planting Justice is working towards transforming the food system and creating positive social and environmental change.

Find out more about the initiative 

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Photo luoman from canva 

ACCTING aims to understand the impact of Green Deal policies on vulnerable groups, prevent inequalities, and produce knowledge and innovations to advance behavioural change at individual and collective levels for an inclusive and equal European Green Deal. This bottom-up initiative was collected by Don Lee within ACCTING’s mapping of inspiring practice cases, within the Farm to Fork Research Line. Read our report on all 693 mapped initiatives.

Deep Medicine Circle, USA

An alarming increase in women victims of domestic violence in Serbia created an urgent need to design and implement an innovative response to protect the survivors and the ones at risk of being exposed to this danger. 

Reawakening the Indigenous knowledge

Deep Medicine Circle (DMC) is a worker of a colour-led non-profit organisation that aims to “heal the wounds of colonialism through food, medicine, restoration, story and learning.” They emphasize the importance of healing and care for Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities and non-humans. DMC is formed by a collective of farmers, elders, physicians, healers, herbalists, lawyers, ecological designers, scholars, political ecologists, educators, youth, storytellers and artists. They pursue “earth-based, Indigenous ecofeminist principles of organising, with participatory governance structures and circles of decision-making.” In producing solutions to the climate crisis, they turn to indigenous knowledge to repair the broken relationships between people and nature.   

Food security as a lens into a deeper transformation of intersectional inequalities   

To achieve its mission, the activities below have been conducted:  

• Running urban farm sites and distributing nutritious food to those in need. They do this by partnering with Poor Magazine’ Sliding Scale Cafe, Moms for Housing, UCSF Pediatric Clinic, and Wahpepah’s Kitchen.   
• Carrying out the “Farming is Medicine” project that develops an ecological farming model bringing indigenous knowledge with agroecological care for soil and water.   
• Carrying out the “Heal the Healers” workshop programme to support the frontline healthcare workers   
• Opening spaces for mental health issues and grief, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic   
• Building partnerships with the indigenous peoples in their return to their ancestral lands and reconnecting to the land  
• Prioritising storytelling and arts in their work “We are bridging times and worlds together through story, art and imaginings” 
• Organising workshops on preparing food and medicine from crops and wild foods 
• Providing innovative job training module for farmers that bridges agroecology with Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge    

Along with that, in September 2021, the farm donated fresh greens and herbs to: “UCSF Pediatric Clinic’s Food Farmacy”, which gives free food to hospital patients and their families; POOR Magazine’s Sliding Scale Cafe, which distributes food and other resources throughout deep East Oakland; and Moms 4 Housing, a collective of houseless and marginally housed mothers”.    

Find out more here.

More inspiring initiatives

Photo: Zoe Schaeffer on Unsplash

ACCTING aims to understand the impact of Green Deal policies on vulnerable groups, prevent inequalities, and produce knowledge and innovations to advance behavioural change at individual and collective levels for an inclusive and equal European Green Deal. This bottom-up initiative was collected by Don Lee within ACCTING’s mapping of inspiring practice cases, within the Farm to Fork Research Line. Read our report on all 693 mapped initiatives.

SisterLand Farms, USA

SisterLand Farms is a queer-owned, worker-run farm cooperative/school that provides food for the food banks, supports farmers (especially queer and Indigenous), and partners with Tribal youth through their educational activities. The initiative aims to reflect the experiences of marginalisation into farming practices to “elevate the disenfranchised and historically ignored”.   

A community passionate about progress and agriculture

The community shares a passion for progress and knowledge dissemination. They offer the following services:  

• Consulting: with over 10 years of expertise, they deliver personalised services such as supporting small farm planning, homesteading, and garden development. 

• Composting: it is the only initiative for picking up compostable kitchen garbage in Clallam County is SisterLand Farms. Anyone can efficiently divert up to 5 gallons (or nearly 500 pounds) of household compostables for $5 per week. The process involves the following steps: collecting the compostables, combining it with the animal waste produced by partner farms, and then spreading it in garden areas. 
• Educating:  Since they started in 2018, they have led several informational sessions with well-known organisations such as the National Academy of Science, the Audubon Society, Port Angeles Public Schools, and Port Angeles Farmers’ Markets. “A progressive society uses its learning, its critical thought, and its aggregated resources to create a more promising future” 
• Floral design: They offer Limited floral services for certain occasions, along with some bouquet deliveries throughout the growing season. 

Find out more here.

More inspiring initiatives