Seed Bombs: Channeling Our Inner Guerrilla Gardeners to Disrupt Climate Injustice

By Greg Stewart

On Tuesday February 27th, we had the privilege of learning how to make super cool seed bombs from Lia Lucero, the outreach coordinator from theLower East Side Ecology Center. Seed bombing has been a central tactic of guerrilla gardeners in New York City since the 1970s. To this day, seed bombing is one strategy for implementing small social changes by filling vacant spaces with wildflowers.Prior to the creation of these neat eco-tools, we received a brief lecture about the role of the Lower East Side Ecology Center. They work toward a more sustainable New York City by providing community-based recycling and composting programs, developing local stewardship of green space, and increasing community awareness, involvement and youth development through environmental education programs.The seed bombs are made from compost, clay, seeds, and water. They are super simple and very functional for guerilla gardening. Encasing the wildflower seeds in clay provides them with a hard coating that hides the seeds from hungry birds and animals. The clay and compost also soak up moisture from rain and dew, holding it near the seeds so they can germinate and grow into seedlings. As the seedlings grow, they break through the coating and the roots reach down into the soil and firmly plant themselves in the earth.We had a great showing of students from the Urban Ecology class taught by Elizabeth Cook, as well as a number of Parsons faculty and staff. Everyone got their hands nice and messy with clay for the purpose of spreading flowers through the city. If you want to make your very own seed bombs, you can see the instructions for the LES Ecology Center here.

Greg Stewart is a Master’s student in the Creative Publishing and Critical Journalism program. He writes for Ragazine.cc, archives for The Believer Magazine, and does interviews for Slice Literary Magazine blog. He expects to graduate in December of 2018.