We’ve all grown up seeing the work of graffiti artists: the grand sweeping artworks decorating otherwise blank and bland urban warehouse facades, the quiet murals and memorials on alley walls, and the pathetic little Sharpie tags on every mailbox, cigarette machine and token dispenser.

But an idea in today’s WSJ startled me with its originality. It discussed how a Washington alliance of activist groups, including Greenpeace and Friends of Earth, has enlisted the help of graffiti artists to help in their campaign to secure the city’s railway tracks, and the tanker trains of hazardous chemicals they carry, from terrorist attack:
Just as a spy satellite has a different view of the Earth, a graffiti artist has a unique perspective on his world from underneath bridges and inside tunnels,” Mr. Hind [a Greenpeace worker] says.

Mr. Hind figured that since the street Picassos are always on the rails, they might know what was coming over the tracks. … Scott Davis, a former Amtrak police officer who until 2001 ran an antigraffiti unit in Washington says: “Graffiti on the rails means one thing: access.”

Why help the alliance? “Graffiti writers have a romantic sense of ownership of the rails and tunnels around a city,” [graffiti artist] Serk says. “Those are our spaces. That’s why we decided to help Greenpeace.”

The genius in the alliance’s campaign is in recognizing the unique assets available to help their grass roots campaign. Despite their relatively low profile, Washington’s community of graffiti artists are passionate and posessive about their environment. Just as importantly, they can easily single out security risks along the railway tracks.