Life Is Living

Eco-Empower Yourself with Strong Values

Living.
We believe in messages that include crimes against human life as important to focus on as crime against other forms of life in our world. We believe in messages that include environmental crimes against communities like West Oakland & the South Bronx to be just as pressing as those in the Western Arctic & the Southern Amazon.

Word.
We believe that due to the work of great environmental activists and green economy supporters, the dominate narrative has improved with regards to it’s relevancy to youth. Still, this narrative isn’t as accessible as it can be, and it will take brave new voices to creatively tell stories of new perspectives and points of view.

History.
We know as a matter of historical fact, that youth have long histories of actively caring about LIFE. We value the innovations of those encouraging all inclusive methods of “going green” that can be easily implemented. We look to have, as an end-result, a series of performative non-fiction essays in which the ethos of environmental justice & racism are deconstructed as the result of historical facts, rather than inherent or implicit conditions of the human temperament.

Real Possibilities
We believe in messages tied to the reality of what people in urban communities are making possible. We encourage shining light those actively adopting alternatives that can enhance the quality of their lives.

This campaign includes a traveling environmental caucus & concert, with an invitational Living Word Graffiti Battle, live action sports, and hands on Green building activities. 

In the midst of the public outdoor installation-in-progress activities of the graffiti battle, we will hold a mid afternoon outdoor performance in the park. Confirmed artists include the award winning rapper/actor Mos Def, and Common.

To see photos from the last environmental caucus & concert, click here.

We will partner with Estria Miyashiro of Samurai Graphix to curate 20 visual artists into a public outdoor installation. Each artist will each be given a 6X8 foot canvas, biodegradable materials, and non-aerosol, non-toxic paint to create environmentally themed, graffiti style tags around the park.

Each artist will paint the word “LIFE”, and we will then hang their murals in 20 different locations around the host city, hoping to catalyze deeper thought and community action around the value of life in communities experiencing record homicide rates. The ensuing campaign visually affirms local sustainability and was named “LIFE is Living.”

To see photos from the 2008 Estria’s Invitational Living Word Graffiti Battle, click here.

An excerpt from The Living Word Project repertory theater piece featuring Emmy Award winning choreographer Jason Samuels-Smith, and the writing of Youth Speaks’ alum and HBO DEF Poets Chinaka Hodge and Daveed Diggs.

War Peace confronts the implications of a fictional near future where the city of Oakland is suddenly without water for 30 consecutive days.

A large component of this campaign will be to get people to build things. We envision a locally sponsored service learning project for youth that engages participants in the knowledge of, and constructive play with rapid renewable resources such as bamboo, and other materials sourced locally.

In 2008, the Natural Builders aided the Living Word Project in offering a group of youth in Oakland’s deFremery Park instruction on how to construct Bamboo homes. To see photos of what those looked like, click here.

Against Eco-Apartheid: A speaker series.

Leading African-American ecological advocates will each present a 30 minute lecture demonstration on the grounds of the respective parks.

Invited speakers include the Ella Baker Center’s Van Jones, MacArthur Fellow and Executive Director of the Sustainable South Bronx, Majora Carter, and Kimberly Lewis, Conference Director for the annual Greenbuild International Expo.