{"id":52254,"date":"2019-03-26T09:05:09","date_gmt":"2019-03-26T12:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=52254"},"modified":"2019-10-10T20:29:28","modified_gmt":"2019-10-10T23:29:28","slug":"planting-ideas-santa-martas-community-garden-and-revolutionary-solar-powered-irrigation-system-sustainablefavelanetwork-profile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=52254","title":{"rendered":"Planting Ideas: Santa Marta’s Garden and Revolutionary Solar Irrigation System #SustainableFavelaNetwork [PROFILE]"},"content":{"rendered":"

Clique\u00a0aqui\u00a0para Portugu\u00eas<\/a><\/em><\/a><\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Initiative<\/span><\/strong>:\u00a0Santa Marta Community Garden
\nContact<\/strong><\/span>:\u00a0<\/strong>Community Garden Facebook<\/span><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<\/span>Planting Ideas Facebook<\/span><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Website<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Email<\/a>
\n<\/span>Year Founded<\/span>:<\/strong>\u00a02017
\n<\/span>Community<\/span>:<\/strong>\u00a0Santa Marta, South Zone
\n<\/span>Mission<\/span>:<\/strong>\u00a0To create a community garden that fosters environmental awareness and responsibility and produces healthy food
\n<\/span>Public Events<\/span>:<\/strong>\u00a0Gardening workshops for children of all ages
\n<\/span>How to Contribute<\/span>:<\/strong> Schedule a tour<\/a> of the Santa Marta favela with community leader Jos\u00e9 Elias Duarte to see the gardens, irrigation system, and more, and financially support the initiative.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

A craftsman, tour guide, gardener, community organizer, and activist, Jos\u00e9 Elias Duarte is a man of many talents. Throughout his life, he has been lucky enough to learn these various skills from others. To him, sharing one\u2019s expertise is a necessity: \u201cIf you know something, you have to pass that knowledge on to everyone else,\u201d Duarte states. He runs the Santa Marta Community Garden with the same attitude. The garden is located in Corumba Plaza, adjacent to Rua S\u00e3o Clemente in Botafogo<\/a> at the entrance of the\u00a0Santa Marta<\/a> favela.<\/p>\n

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Duarte and his parents have been residents of Santa Marta for his entire life. They know the hardships that the community has faced in the past and continues to face. One of the greatest challenges in Santa Marta is the lack of public services and general awareness with regard to waste disposal, according to Duarte. During heavy rains like those that took place in February<\/a>, \u201cdebris and sanitary waste end up scattered\u201d throughout the favela’s steep slopes, he says.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The favela of Santa Marta is located in Rio\u2019s South Zone,<\/a> an area with one of the\u00a0highest costs of living<\/a>\u00a0in Latin America. As a result, many residents of the community\u00a0struggle to afford a healthy, balanced diet. Beyond poor access to affordable nutritious food<\/a>, Duarte believes that \u201cmany residents lack access to information\u201d about what truly makes up a highly nourishing diet.<\/p>\n

With a focus on sustainability and the open exchange of information, Duarte seeks to address these challenges. He was originally inspired to start the initiative in\u00a02017 because \u201cso few people [in Santa Marta] had knowledge [of horticulture or gardening techniques].\u201d By sharing his knowledge and expertise with others, he eventually hopes to see gardens in every currently idle or underutilized space<\/a> in the community. He believes that this would help to not only bring the community together but also enrich residents\u2019 diets and their understanding and connection to nature.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nRecently featured<\/a> in the French urban agriculture magazine De Ville En Ville<\/a><\/em>, Duarte has created a simple mechanized solar-powered irrigation system that has the potential to completely revolutionize urban gardening and farming not only in Santa Marta but also in other communities in Rio and beyond. His system starts with a small solar panel, approximately 40×40 centimeters. The solar panel powers a solenoid valve, which, controlled by humidity sensors in the soil, releases a specific amount of trapped rainwater into the garden via a porous hose. As long as the garden can be kept safe from hungry critters, it will thrive with very little maintenance or additional costs. \u201cI think it’s really cool!\u201d Duarte states with pride. \u201cWith my system, there are really no expenses [to maintain] a functioning garden.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nWith the help of ten to fifteen local volunteers, Duarte recently harvested and replanted the garden. Currently, the garden contains bananas, kale, lettuce, onion, okra, squash, and various flowers and herbs that he received from foreigners who participated in his guided tours of Santa Marta. Duarte tends an additional garden in his home, which operates on the same mechanized system as that used in the community garden.<\/p>\n

The vegetables, fruits, flowers, and herbs grown in Duarte’s gardens help to provide the community with affordable access to healthier food options, while also eliminating waste created from food packaging. \u201cSustainability is everything that we do here,” Duarte proclaims. \u201cTogether, we will care for our dear Earth with our own means and resources.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Duarte hopes that the presence of more sustainable gardens in the favela will make a big impact on the community\u2019s youth. With help from volunteers, Duarte runs various planting workshops for kids of different ages. These workshops, which he says \u201care more like games\u201d for the youngest children, aim to teach respect for nature through the understanding of it. They also teach horticultural techniques, with the intent that these students and their families will produce gardens of their own. Duarte believes that \u201cthe kids are our future\u201d but that \u201cwithout the environment, there is no future.”<\/p>\n

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\n*The Santa Marta Community Garden is one of over 100 community projects mapped<\/a> by Catalytic Communities<\/a> (CatComm), the organization that publishes RioOnWatch<\/em>, as part of our parallel \u2018Sustainable Favela Network<\/a>‘ program launched in 2017 to recognize, support, strengthen, and expand on the sustainable qualities and community movements inherent to<\/a> Rio de Janeiro\u2019s favela communities. Check out all the profiles of mapped projects here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clique\u00a0aqui\u00a0para Portugu\u00eas Initiative:\u00a0Santa Marta Community Garden Contact:\u00a0Community Garden Facebook\u00a0|\u00a0Planting Ideas Facebook\u00a0|\u00a0Website\u00a0|\u00a0Email Year Founded:\u00a02017 Community:\u00a0Santa Marta, South Zone Mission:\u00a0To create a community garden that fosters environmental awareness and responsibility and produces healthy food Public Events:\u00a0Gardening workshops […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":187,"featured_media":52350,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1288,1271,1670,1284,1503,329,452,1329],"tags":[244,67,2405,2556,756,258,474,385,1561,1560,291,386,107,152,103,66,1724,156,471,2124,128,194,287,1140,259],"writer":[2933],"translator":[],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-52254","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-highlight","8":"category-favelaqualities","9":"category-favela-tourism","10":"category-interviews-profiles","11":"category-opportunities-to-support-favelas","12":"category-solutions","13":"category-rio20","14":"category-by-international-observers","15":"tag-agroecology","16":"tag-botafogo","17":"tag-community-garden","18":"tag-community-knowledge","19":"tag-community-organizing","20":"tag-community-solution","21":"tag-environment","22":"tag-environmental-education","23":"tag-favela-tour","24":"tag-favela-tour-operator","25":"tag-food","26":"tag-trash","27":"tag-health","28":"tag-participation","29":"tag-profile","30":"tag-santa-marta","31":"tag-solar","32":"tag-south-zone","33":"tag-sustainability","34":"tag-sustainable-favela-network","35":"tag-technology","36":"tag-tourism","37":"tag-urban-agriculture","38":"tag-waste-management","39":"tag-youth","40":"writer-ben-bildsten"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/187"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=52254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52254\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/52350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=52254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=52254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=52254"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=52254"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=52254"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=52254"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=52254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}