Tag Archives: By T. Stoelker

Let the Graveyard Grow

Green-Wood Cemetery embraces change and looks to bring degraded landscapes back to life.

By Tom Stoelker

In late autumn, the windswept straw-colored grass gives areas of the cemetery a cinematic feel. Photo by Tom Stoelker.

There’s a turn at a road in Green-Wood, the 478-acre cemetery in Brooklyn, where tall blond grass reaches up to meet age-old headstones. The effect could seem like a windswept meadow, but for those whose loved ones are interred at Green-Wood, it may look like overgrown weeds. Continue reading Let the Graveyard Grow

Industrial Evolution

At Paterson Great Falls, one of the newer national parks, Americans made many things, including history.

By Tom Stoelker 

The visitors on the footbridge have a dramatic view of the Great Falls near Mary Ellen Kramer Park.
The visitors on the footbridge have a dramatic view of the Great Falls near Mary Ellen Kramer Park. Photo by Sahar Coston-Hardy.

Paterson, New Jersey, is a tough town. Gang violence is prevalent, teachers are being laid off, and about 30 percent of the city’s residents live in poverty. But the city’s got soul. Continue reading Industrial Evolution

Young and Agitating

New York City teens demand action on environmental justice issues.

Photos and Text by Tom Stoelker 

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Students stop to take a group photo on their environmental justice tour in Hunts Point.

Last November, Charles Orgbon, the 19-year-old founder and CEO of Greening Forward, was in New York City to organize the annual International Young Environmentalists Youth Summit. Outside his hotel near Times Square, he heard helicopters, sirens, and chanting. People were streaming onto the streets shouting, “Black lives matter!” Continue reading Young and Agitating