Our Projects
The Environmental Action Lab aims to take on projects that support the development of a sustainable society, where we work with nature as opposed to against it.
Work in progress
TEAL Farm & Ecovillage
TEAL is currently in the process of purchasing land in Central, New York to build an agro-ecology lab and eco-village. TEAL Farm will sustain itself through grants and selling cottage goods, such as soap, preserves and honey. Through our business ventures, we will create opportunities for those who have never owned their home to gain financial stability and sovereignty over themselves. As a community, our goal will be to pay off the farm, sustain livelihoods on the land and grow to take on new investments and members.
2019-2023
YIMBY Farm
YIMBY is an acronym for Yes In My Backyard, a rebuttal to NIMBYism. YIMBY Farm was a backyard farm in Brooklyn that implemented permaculture techniques, such as integrating chickens into gardening and supporting food production through ecological restoration. For years, this permaculture oasis was an outdoor classroom that taught New Yorkers ways to reclaim their food sovereignty. YIMBY farm reimagined the food system as something that should be controlled by local systems and communities. Our work on YIMBY Farm inspired us to found TEAL Farm and Eco-village,
2021
Natural Classrooms
During the pandemic, The Environmental Action Lab facilitated outdoor workshops and day camps for middle school and high schoolers. Themes included urban sustainability, permaculture, ecological restoration and environmental justice. Urban agriculture workshops were held at YIMBY Farm. Most other topics were taught out in the field; at a park or forever wild site in Jamaica Bay. Student engaged in wilderness hikes, plant identification, and the construction of bat houses, bee hotels and garden beds.
Summer 2019
Service Trip to Puerto Rico
In 2019, two years after Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico was still in recovery, but the disaster had spurred an age of food justice and resiliency. CUNY students from Brooklyn College and the BA Program, as well as SUNY students from the College of Environmental Science and Forestry, came together to raise money for a service trip to Puerto Rico. While there, they assisted in ecological restoration, the construction of hurricane proof housing, and clean up efforts for areas damaged by Hurricane Maria. The students also visited non profits and farms using sustainable techniques to create a stronger and more resilient island.
