228: Jamie Rosenthal, Roots Down (Atlanta, GA)

Roots Down is redefining urban agriculture in Atlanta. Helmed by Jamie Rosenthal, a self-proclaimed reformed farmer, the business has ambitious goals in many areas, but we sat down to focus on the Fruitful Communities initiative. With it, he along with private and policy-making partners, are identifying, planning, designing, and implementing edible landscapes in urban settings in Dekalb County, Georgia. There are a lot of passive landscapes in modern America, from parking lot medians to shrubbery in front of public libraries, and the aim here is to make these more active and useful, either through providing food or creating spaces that benefit pollinators and other native species. It's a simple idea, but wildly ambitious at the same time.