Why Woods Matter
Why Woods Matter
As an area of concentrated poverty, Ward 8 has many challenges and unmet needs. With so many residents facing hunger, homelessness, ill-health, addiction and violence, it is reasonable to ask: Why should be care about the forests?
To answer that question, we must realize that people are not separate from their environment. “The environment” is the places where we live, work, and play. It is the air we breathe, the water we drink, the weather we experience, and all the sights, sounds and smells we encounter daily. Polluted air and water make people sick. A dead planet cannot support human life. Caring for the environment is essential to caring for people.
The Benefits of Forests
Living experience and scientific research both attest to the benefits of regular contact with nature.
Environmental Racism
Access to a clean environment too often depends on racial and class privilege. Environmental racism refers to the pattern of trash and pollution being concentrated in communities of color and low-income communities. In Washington, DC, the inequity is striking: the predominantly Black south and east sides of the city include a water treatment plant, a former power plant, a former landfill, and several other legacy toxic sites. The wealthy and mostly white west side has no industrial sites.
Environmental racism also applies to parks. Rock Creek Park, which runs through the Northwest DC, has 32 miles of hiking and biking trails, which are lovingly maintained by the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club. Since 2005, the private, nonprofit Rock Creek Conservancy has carried out important work that the National Park Service cannot or will not perform, including trash and invasive plant removal, recreational activities, and school programs.
Ward 8, unlike many other low-income areas, is blessed with more than 500 acres of forested parkland. Yet the disparity can still be seen in the condition of these parks: less than one miles of trail, hundreds of thousands of pounds of trash covering the ground, entire areas decimated by invasive vines, and no public programs.
Ward 8 Woods is founded on the conviction that all people -especially those who have been oppressed and marginalized- have a right to clean, accessible parks, including those that offer an immersive forest experience.
As an area of concentrated poverty, Ward 8 has many challenges and unmet needs. With so many residents facing hunger, homelessness, ill-health, addiction and violence, it is reasonable to ask: Why should be care about the forests?
To answer that question, we must realize that people are not separate from their environment. “The environment” is the places where we live, work, and play. It is the air we breathe, the water we drink, the weather we experience, and all the sights, sounds and smells we encounter daily. Polluted air and water make people sick. A dead planet cannot support human life. Caring for the environment is essential to caring for people.
The Benefits of Forests
Living experience and scientific research both attest to the benefits of regular contact with nature.
Environmental Racism
Access to a clean environment too often depends on racial and class privilege. Environmental racism refers to the pattern of trash and pollution being concentrated in communities of color and low-income communities. In Washington, DC, the inequity is striking: the predominantly Black south and east sides of the city include a water treatment plant, a former power plant, a former landfill, and several other legacy toxic sites. The wealthy and mostly white west side has no industrial sites.
Environmental racism also applies to parks. Rock Creek Park, which runs through the Northwest DC, has 32 miles of hiking and biking trails, which are lovingly maintained by the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club. Since 2005, the private, nonprofit Rock Creek Conservancy has carried out important work that the National Park Service cannot or will not perform, including trash and invasive plant removal, recreational activities, and school programs.
Ward 8, unlike many other low-income areas, is blessed with more than 500 acres of forested parkland. Yet the disparity can still be seen in the condition of these parks: less than one miles of trail, hundreds of thousands of pounds of trash covering the ground, entire areas decimated by invasive vines, and no public programs.
Ward 8 Woods is founded on the conviction that all people -especially those who have been oppressed and marginalized- have a right to clean, accessible parks, including those that offer an immersive forest experience.