In the wake of the recent Occupy Wall Street protests, it’s hard to deny the effect the recent economic crisis has had on people in North America. Communities are looking for ways to cope and recover, and the people of Detroit have turned to urban farming.
“I think people just got fed up,” says Mark MacInnis, director of Urban Roots, a documentary on urban-agriculture initiatives in Detroit. “With the economy going the way it is and was, it made people think about how to cut corners and how to bring down food costs. So they turned to farming and growing vegetables and starting simple.”
The film centers around individuals and non-profits in Detroit who practice urban farming, some who have been doing it for 20 years, and on “how community comes together to rebuild a city when everyone else has left,” says MacInnis.
“Detroit was built for two million people, and now there are only 700,000 still living there,” he explains, “and while there are a lot of places to cover, there’s definitely a positive feeling in the air.”
Paul Wurtz is one community member contributing to this renewed optimism that’s taking over Detroit. “Paul took out an entire asphalt parking lot and turned it into a farm,” says MacInnis, “not a garden, a full-on farm with a horse, chickens, and bunnies. And he’s doing it because he loves it and he’s passionate about it.”
Through making the film, the creators were inspired to form the Urban Roots foundation, with some of the profits from DVD sales going towards putting farms in schools across North America.
“We have two pilot schools right now; one in LA and one in Detroit,” says MacInnis. “With Urban Roots we wanted to incorporate a whole action campaign around it so that when you’re done watching the film, and if you’re inspired by the film, there’s information and a lot of outreach opportunities through us.”
MacInnis truly believes these types of initiatives are positive for the city. “When someone sees these farms, they start talking about their history and farming, and their family and grandparents and what they used to grow,” he says. “It’s amazing how you learn from different people, and it breaks all these racial and gender barriers.”
Urban Roots
7pm, Wednesday, October 12
Victoria Event Centre
$10-20
urbanrootsamerica.com