{"id":71993,"date":"2024-03-08T05:02:19","date_gmt":"2024-03-08T10:02:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?p=71993"},"modified":"2024-03-08T05:02:19","modified_gmt":"2024-03-08T10:02:19","slug":"campus-garden-initiatives-can-help-grow-the-next-generation-of-environmental-change-makers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/campus-garden-initiatives-can-help-grow-the-next-generation-of-environmental-change-makers\/","title":{"rendered":"Campus garden initiatives can help grow the next generation of environmental change-makers"},"content":{"rendered":"

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No longer a problem of the future, the climate crisis is now driving devastating real-world impacts\u00a0here in Canada<\/a>\u00a0and worldwide.<\/p>\n

For many Canadians, one of the most visible climate impacts is on the availability and cost of the food we eat as climate change, global crises and profit-driven food companies have combined to drive food insecurity. The agricultural sector is simultaneously a\u00a0major contributor<\/a>\u00a0to Canada\u2019s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and itself highly vulnerable to climate change.<\/p>\n

Amid this crisis, students are sowing seeds of change on university campuses across the country.<\/p>\n

Transformative learning and action<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Student-led food initiatives like\u00a0campus gardens<\/a>,\u00a0food waste diversion projects<\/a>, and\u00a0community food security partnerships<\/a>\u00a0are on the rise and are a proven way of localizing climate action and transforming food systems.<\/p>\n

Given the sheer scale and complexity of the climate and food security crises, it can be tempting to doubt just how much impact these small-scale campus initiatives can have.\u00a0Researchers<\/a>\u00a0have even criticized student gardens for entrenching shallow and depoliticized understandings of the food system among participants. After all, the GHG emissions saved by growing vegetables in one garden plot or setting up a compost program are minuscule compared to the many hundred million tons of emissions attributed to corporations.<\/p>\n

While student-led initiatives may not directly solve the crises we face, we found they can transform students\u2019 mindsets and develop their skills and confidence as agents of larger-scale change.\u00a0Our research<\/a>\u00a0with McGill University students participating in student-led campus- and community-based initiatives shows how these activities can support transformative opportunities for learning about, and acting on, food security and climate change.<\/p>\n

Students have\u00a0long reported<\/a>\u00a0that education about food and environmental issues like climate change feels abstract and disempowering within the confines of classroom walls.<\/p>\n

The lack of real-world engagement makes it challenging for learners to discern how and where they can contribute to building solutions. Student-led food initiatives are one way that students engage with these issues through experiential learning.<\/p>\n

Our findings<\/strong><\/h3>\n

We found that initiatives that only focus on the technical or scientific aspects of food security and climate change have limited educational impact on student participants. Rather, building critical and transformative understandings of food systems in students appears to hinge on a few key practices that some, but not all, student-led initiatives address.<\/p>\n

1 – Learning and acting beyond the classroom<\/strong><\/p>\n

Through hands-on learning students gain opportunities to \u201clearn by doing,\u201d either through course-based or extracurricular activities. This approach is especially effective when education transcends campus boundaries through partnerships with local communities and community organizations.<\/p>\n

When immersed in hands-on and collaborative experiences with communities, students demonstrated new capacities to collectively act in small ways on large-scale issues. Connecting with partners in school and community gardens, for example, allowed students to grapple with complex issues on tangible scales and foster a deeper understanding of the challenges at hand.<\/p>\n

2 – Centring equity and justice<\/strong><\/p>\n

Building on our insights about learning in hands-on collaborations, we found that working with equity and justice-oriented partners deepened student engagement even further. For instance, collaboration with local food banks called upon students to observe, interact with, and reflect on community food insecurity and injustice, which they otherwise may not encounter within campus confines.<\/p>\n

This direct engagement with food system realities nurtured a more complex, holistic and critical understanding of food systems issues among participants. It also inspired hope and confidence within students, motivating them to engage in further action.<\/p>\n

3 – Engaging with peers across boundaries<\/strong><\/p>\n

Our research found that student-led initiatives act as important spaces for social engagement and learning between students, creating opportunities for meaningful dialogue across academic disciplines. Social bonds were also important for motivating and strengthening collective action among students, often evoking feelings of hope. These feelings stand in stark contrast to the despair and discouragement reported by students exposed to conventional \u201cdoom-and-gloom\u201d environmental education.<\/p>\n

For example, in developing a workshop for a local food bank that connected composting in the community garden with climate change, students studying education and environment exchanged new understandings of the connections between climate, food and educational systems.
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