Contemporary · United States
ロン・フィンリー / Ron Finley
The 'Gangsta Gardener'; urban-farming and food-justice activist
“Growing your own food is like printing your own money.”
A former fashion designer, Ron Finley planted vegetables and fruit trees in the city-owned parkway strip (about 10 by 100 feet) in front of his South Central Los Angeles home — his answer to a 'food desert' where fresh food was hard to buy.
The city cited him for a code violation and demanded removal, but Finley and 'LA Green Grounds' ran a petition and saved the garden. In his 2013 TED talk he urged people to 'get gangsta with your shovel' and said 'growing your own food is like printing your own money' — viewed millions of times, it spread worldwide.
Through 'The Ron Finley Project' he builds a self-sufficient ecosystem of gardening, food education and entrepreneurship. He is an emblematic contemporary voice who reframed urban farming as a matter of health, dignity and justice.
“Let your shovel be your weapon of choice.”
Key contributions
- Expanded the right to grow food in public space through his parkway garden and fight with the city
- Lifted urban farming into a global movement via his 2013 TED talk
- Popularised 'food desert' and 'food justice' in everyday language