Author: Shara Clark

Last Thursday afternoon, a group of about 20 people arranged trees, shrubs, and herb plants on Main Street outside U.S. senator Lamar Alexander’s Memphis office. Besides making Main Street look a little more green, the group — headed by Jarad Bingham, pastor of Shady Grove Presbyterian Church and co-president of the Memphis Ministers Association — hoped to bring attention to climate change and possible national legislation to address the problem. — by Shara Clark

Flyer: Why did you hold a rally on climate change?

Jarad Bingham: We want to encourage our legislators to find renewed energy and creativity in passing new legislation to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. We want to show our support for our senators and the introduction of the Lieberman/Warner bill, the first climate bill that has ever made it to the floor of the Senate.

I feel that the culture has evolved and almost everybody is concerned with the planet and its current state. If people pay attention to the problem, and the government pays attention to the people, then we will be able to come up with solutions.

Why do you support the Lieberman/Warner bill?

The bill is set to require more than a 20 percent reduction in emissions by 2020. It also includes a plan to offer tax relief to people who will be disproportionately affected by the projected increase in utility costs to generate green energy.

What inspired you to organize the rally?

I agreed to join Rabbi Meir Feldman as the co-president of the Memphis Ministers Association, and we decided our main focus for the year would be environmental issues. The National Council of Churches asked me to come to Washington to lobby for climate-change legislation last fall and then asked me to organize the rally in conjunction with a dozen others across the country on March 27th.

We wanted to applaud legislative efforts and encourage senators to keep trying to strengthen certain components of the bill.

Do you think the rally was effective?

Yes. Josh Thomas, a representative for Senator Lamar Alexander, attended the event and answered questions and shared the senator’s hopes for moving toward solutions. I feel that good government occurs when the will of the people and the energies of the representatives are joined. It is amazing that our senator staffs an office in Memphis and invites us to openly converse about what we see and what might be done.

I’m trying for a new model of supportive conversation. The model of taking to the streets in protest is failing us. When we collaborate with officials in supportive roles, we feel a sense of belonging. We feel like part of a greater solution that extends beyond changing light bulbs and driving fuel-efficient cars. We get in trouble when we stop doing our part and don’t realize the difference we can make as part of the whole.

Naomi Van Tol thinks the Memphis Zoo is sending a clear message: Habitat conservation is more important in places like China than it is in its own backyard.

As part of the zoo’s master plan, it recently bulldozed a four-acre section of the Old Forest Arboretum in Overton Park to add a new Teton Trek exhibit featuring the landscape and wildlife of the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem.

Van Tol points out that the zoo has destroyed natural habitat so it can replace it with fake habitat.

“This hypocritical and needless waste of public parkland is an insult to the citizens of Memphis,” she says.

In the late ’80s, the Memphis Park Commission gave the zoo that land, including the area behind Rainbow Lake, to be used for expansion and development.

Don Richardson, a member of Park Friends who has done the only tree inventory of the Old Forest and who has led hikes through the area for the past 10 years, says that the zoo has underestimated public sentiment about the forest.

“The zoo was an important steward of a priceless natural resource,” Richardson says, “and they bungled it.”

The Old Forest contains some of the last untouched landscape in the Memphis area. It contains approximately 70 tree species.

Zoo spokesperson Brian Carter says the area was deemed qualified for development. The city/county office of planning and development approved the plan, as did arborists the zoo consulted.

“We did all we could to save trees in that area,” Carter says. According to him, the zoo removed 139 trees, a third of which were saplings, and 78 trees were preserved.

Carter says the zoo also plans to plant 574 trees in that area during development of the Teton Trek.

Park-services director Cynthia Buchanan says the city agreed that the zoo could construct an exhibit in that area, because it was neither a critical part of the forest nor was it pristine.

“In any park, you have to balance the needs of the users and uses versus leaving it in its natural state,” Buchanan says. “We tried to preserve the best parts of the forest while maintaining an outstanding zoo.”

Concerned citizens say there was no public input into the zoo’s plan, but Carter says the zoo’s master plan has always been a public document and open to comment. The master plan can now be viewed on the zoo’s website.

The zoo has developed 43 of its available 76 acres of land. Carter says the zoo is working on a new master plan, which will include renovating old exhibit space. Unofficial plans include a minimal-impact walking trail through the zoo’s portion of the Old Forest.

Richardson says he hopes that the public holds the zoo accountable and reminds them of their conservation ethic.

“I’d like to think that at some point we don’t have to keep fighting for the forest,” he says.

It started as a huge blank wall, nicknamed “The Gray Mile” by downtown residents. Now, with the installation of a public art project, it is an impressive gateway to the South Main Arts District.

“I think people were ready to see something different,” says local artist Anthony Lee, whose project, “Modern Hieroglyphs,” is painted along a 700-foot stretch of wall at Central Station. “That is supposed to be the arts district,” he says. “It needs to feel that way.”

Lee says the work, a set of 25 painted symbols along South Main, each about 6 feet tall, represent and define contemporary life.

“Some of these symbols weren’t around 25 years ago,” Lee says. “Others will fade out in the next 25.”

After choosing his symbols — which include a skull and crossbones, MATA’s logo, a bass clef, and a computer pointer, among others — Lee arranged the layout on the wall. The color gradient gradually shifts from a light orange at the north end to a deep burgundy at the south end.

“I like the wall being like a puzzle that people have to figure out and put together,” Lee says.

Lee partnered with MATA for permission to use the wall, and work began in January. Though initially intended as a temporary work, Lee says representatives from MATA want it to be permanent. The symbols will now remain indefinitely.

“I didn’t think people would react the way they did as quickly as they did,” he says. “The first night, people were pulling over and taking pictures. Owners of the condos across the street were coming over and thanking me.”

“Modern Hieroglyphs” is one of several public art projects being installed as part of “Interactions/Interruptions: 10 Years of Public Art in Memphis,” an exhibition celebrating the UrbanArt Commission’s 10th anniversary. Other events and exhibits will continue through May 26th.