Carbon Sponge is a collective research practice and interdisciplinary collaboration between artists, farmers, scientists, agroecologist, educators and the public to learn from soil and rethink our relationship to it.
Since 2018, we have been stewarding land to grow and retain carbon in the soil for the benefit of microbes, plants, people and climate.
I initiated the project while a Designer-in-Residence at the New York Hall of Science in Queens, NY, in 2018.
Locations:
Carbon Sponge launched at the New York Hall of Science (NYSCI) in Queens in 2018 and ran through 2019. A second Carbon Sponge garden was planted in Spring/Summer 2019 at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn. In 2020, we partnered with five organizations in NYC (Bronx River Alliance’s Foodway, GrowNYC’s Teaching Garden on Governors’ Island, Red Hook Farms and Prospect Farms) to pilot our kit, forming a group of land stewards to discuss urban carbon farming. In 2021, we additionally partnered with New York University’s Urban Farm Lab and two farms in Upstate NY Sugarshack Mushrooms and White Feather Farm. In 2022, we started the Carbon Sponge Hub at White Feather Farm and in 2023 the hub grew to 10 farms in the Hudson Valley and Catskills regions. In 2024, with funding from Northeast SARE and the Spark of Hudson, we are verifying our kit with Carey Institute and expanding our total grow space across 5 farms in the Hudson Valley. In 2023 we established an in-the-ground, controlled/replicated study at White Feather Farm that will span several years.
Since 2018, we have been stewarding land to grow and retain carbon in the soil for the benefit of microbes, plants, people and climate.
I initiated the project while a Designer-in-Residence at the New York Hall of Science in Queens, NY, in 2018.
Locations:
Carbon Sponge launched at the New York Hall of Science (NYSCI) in Queens in 2018 and ran through 2019. A second Carbon Sponge garden was planted in Spring/Summer 2019 at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn. In 2020, we partnered with five organizations in NYC (Bronx River Alliance’s Foodway, GrowNYC’s Teaching Garden on Governors’ Island, Red Hook Farms and Prospect Farms) to pilot our kit, forming a group of land stewards to discuss urban carbon farming. In 2021, we additionally partnered with New York University’s Urban Farm Lab and two farms in Upstate NY Sugarshack Mushrooms and White Feather Farm. In 2022, we started the Carbon Sponge Hub at White Feather Farm and in 2023 the hub grew to 10 farms in the Hudson Valley and Catskills regions. In 2024, with funding from Northeast SARE and the Spark of Hudson, we are verifying our kit with Carey Institute and expanding our total grow space across 5 farms in the Hudson Valley. In 2023 we established an in-the-ground, controlled/replicated study at White Feather Farm that will span several years.
Credits:
Collaborators include Dr. Sara Perl Egendorf, Dr. Peter Groffman, Dr. Maha Deeb, Marisa Prefer, Corey Tegeler and Katharhy Flores. Partnerships include: White Feather Farm, CUNY Advanced Scientific Research Center (ASRC), the Jacob Riis Settlement House at NYCHA Ravenswood, NYC Mayor’s Office of Environmental Remediation (OER) and La Casita Verde (a NYC GreenThumb garden). Funders have included Northeast SARE, The Spark of Hudson, NYSCI, Patagonia, Brooklyn Arts Council, Globetrotter Foundation and ASRC.
Press:
Read in Ambrook “Making the Case for Sorghum” June 2024.
Read in Art in America article “Symbiotic Art” by Claire Pentecost with mention of Carbon Sponge from March 2022.
Read the New York Times article “The City’s Buried Treasure is not Under the Dirt. It is the Dirt” with mention of Carbon Sponge from July 25, 2018.
Website:
www.carbonsponge.nyc
Collaborators include Dr. Sara Perl Egendorf, Dr. Peter Groffman, Dr. Maha Deeb, Marisa Prefer, Corey Tegeler and Katharhy Flores. Partnerships include: White Feather Farm, CUNY Advanced Scientific Research Center (ASRC), the Jacob Riis Settlement House at NYCHA Ravenswood, NYC Mayor’s Office of Environmental Remediation (OER) and La Casita Verde (a NYC GreenThumb garden). Funders have included Northeast SARE, The Spark of Hudson, NYSCI, Patagonia, Brooklyn Arts Council, Globetrotter Foundation and ASRC.
Press:
Read in Ambrook “Making the Case for Sorghum” June 2024.
Read in Art in America article “Symbiotic Art” by Claire Pentecost with mention of Carbon Sponge from March 2022.
Read the New York Times article “The City’s Buried Treasure is not Under the Dirt. It is the Dirt” with mention of Carbon Sponge from July 25, 2018.
Website:
www.carbonsponge.nyc
