YOU’RE OK, I WAS BORN IN 1965, which puts me at the outside edge of Generation X—alternatively known as the MTV Generation, the Lost Generation, or sometimes, a bunch of slackers. Some music junkies will also remember that a London punk band called Generation X launched the career of one Billy Idol, but that was well before our generational angst became fodder for movies starring John Cryer, Rob Lowe, and the rest of the adorable, lipbiting Brat Pack. Many words have been written about how Gen X-ers feel disconnected, unseen, caught between the comfortable Baby Boomers and the Millenial/Gen Y/Gen Z soup that followed us. Personally, I never really felt that way until recently, as climate change has come barreling into our everyday reality, laying waste to everything from jobs to turtles. As I write this, Australians are emerging from their homes to assess the damage of the worst wildfires that continent has ever seen, and COVID-19 is changing life as we know it. While we deal with the immediate problems of a global pandemic, the scientific community continues to study how our changing climate affects the spread of disease. I think, perhaps, that the sad lot of my generation is to carry the guilt of being adults with income and autonomy during the excessive, over-hyped, mass-marketed 90’s, and at the same time to be outraged by it as well. In The Graduate, poor confused Benjamin is lectured by his father’s friend, who tells him, “Plastics. There’s a great future in plastics. Think about it. Will you think about it?” Nowadays, it seems, we can think of nothing else. It’s the height of social media cool to write off older generations with a snide, “OK, Boomer.” It’s this generation’s “Talk to the hand.” Personally, I
think it’s a little unfair to blame the Boomers for everything. In the 60’s and 70’s, women went out into the workforce like never before. And though they were newly liberated, the patriarchy was real. While the womenfolk were going all Norma Rae with their fists in the air and their bras burning, they still had to pack the lunches, give the kids a bath, and do the laundry. Can we really blame our parents for looking for easier ways to clean the house and get dinner on the table? Let’s be honest, the real culprit here is greed, and that is intergenerational. If it could be made, it could be made in volume, wrapped in a protective film of plastic, and shipped across the country in time for the weekly trip to the supermarket. Look, we all have a past. In America’s case, it’s riddled with inequity, injustice, and downright nasty behavior but there’s some stuff worth celebrating too. The American spirit is out there, even if it is buried under old toothbrushes and miles of plastic wrap. We may have gone about it all wrong, but we’re all here, and in spite of ourselves there is a lot to love about this crazy, ongoing experiment. And so in this issue we sought out the people who have decided that the way forward must be paved with more than good intentions. These are our Reformers. They come from many generations and many backgrounds but they share an entrepreneurial spirit that is guided by the will to do good and the belief that “a rising tide lifts all boats” (which, by the way, is a quote attributed to John F. Kennedy, but was actually adapted from a New England regional chamber of commerce slogan, by Kennedy speechwriter Ted Sorensen. Kennedy is sort of the Uber-Boomer, even though he was really part of the previous generation—the Greatest Generation.) We imagined a future New York—covered in green and soaking up the sun—for our sustainable fashion feature; we visited urban farms; had a chat with an official forager; and discovered that cleaning products can actually be clean. We sought out some game changing items that can green up everything from your pantry to your vanity table, and we visited a passive home in Greenpoint, a sustainable tower in Williamsburg, and our own Battery gardens. We also focused on a rewilding project that everyone should know about, since it concerns that most iconic of American creatures, the native wild horse. I hope you read our story about the Cana Foundation’s work to protect this noble and important species, because the challenges our four-footed fellow travelers face mirror our own, and their survival is vital to our little corner of planet Earth. We hope this issue inspires you to find ways to change your own habits, one plastic-free day at a time. To quote Pete Seeger, “If it can’t be reduced, reused, repaired, rebuilt, refurbished, refinished, resold, recycled, or composted, then it should be restricted, redesigned, or removed from production.” Here, here.
Deborah L. Martin Editor in Chief
Follow me on instagram @debmartinnyc and on downtownmagazinenyc.com
HOW GREEN IS MY CITY? A visit with a Lakota Luke (above), on Manda Kalimian’s Syosset farm, where rewilding is the watchword. Tens of thousands of children and young people (right) marched in September, led by Greta Thunberg (far right), who arrived in North Cove Marina after crossing the Atlantic Ocean in a catamaran. She spoke truth to power at the United Nations Climate Action Summit, where she said, “How dare you! You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words.”
THE REFORMERS 2020 DOWNTOWNNYC
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PHOTOGRAPHY BY MANDA KALIMAIN (PORTRAIT); DEBORAH L. MARTIN (ALL OTHERS).
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