Campus garden initiatives can help grow the next generation of environmental change-makers
No longer a problem of the future, the climate crisis is now driving devastating real-world impacts聽聽and worldwide.
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聽聽to Canada鈥檚 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and itself highly vulnerable to climate change.
Amid this crisis, students are sowing seeds of change on university campuses across the country.
In a , 平特五不中 Integrated Studies in Education Professor Blane Harvey聽and Faculty Lecturer聽Emily Diane Sprowls, along with University of Copenhagen Master's Student Zo毛 Deskin, write about聽聽with 平特五不中 students participating in student-led campus- and community-based initiatives. Their findings show how these activities can support transformative opportunities for learning about, and acting on, food security and climate change.
Here on Macdonald Campus, you don't have to look very far to see evidence of such impacts:聽the Macdonald Student-Run Ecological Gardens and the 平特五不中 Feeding 平特五不中 program聽cultivate a sustainable future while empowering students with hands on farming experience that makes a tangible difference.
With the impacts of climate change only projected to grow in the years to come, the authors argue that educational institutions urgently need to step up to the scale and scope of the challenge聽by supporting student-led initiatives through the allocation of funds, space or mentorship to these efforts, or by expanding experiential learning within academic courses and programs.