Brandon Weeber
Throughout my academic studies, I learned a lot about global politics, political theory, and environmental policy. It is through these topics that I realized that climate change solutions start with communities and not via a top-down approach. Climate change is a threat multiplier, which worsens current social, economic, and political issues and instabilities. We are seeing this with the water shortages and droughts in the West. Climatic impacts are disproportionately impacting lower-income and black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) communities because many of these communities cannot afford to live sustainably and must rely on cheap fossil fuel goods, which then directly affect their health. Many government policies are inadequate and do not trickle down to these communities. They do not have the education or the resources to help them prepare or improve their lives as climatic impacts worsen around them. Therefore, I want to try and reverse this course. I am working on a Community Pollinator and Education Garden located at Lake Shore Christian Church. This project focuses on educating and providing resources to the surrounding communities to help improve their devastation of climatic impacts, improve our local environment, and help put sustainable solutions in the hands of the communities.
The Community Pollinator and Education Garden will be open to everyone within the community. Our mission is to build community while also building natural wildlife habitat within an urbanized area and serving as a place of education for local communities. Residents can learn the importance of wildlife conservation, sustainability, water conservation, urban agriculture, and much more through workshops. Not only that, but residents will learn how their food supply relates to their environment and how they can make an impact reducing their carbon footprint while also eating a healthier diet. In addition, learning to grow one’s food can help reduce the food deserts that impact our area. The core way for communities to combat climatic impacts is through education to change their perceptions of what they can personally do. As a result, communities learn to come together to help each other, which then leads to the potential for more positive policy changes.
The Community Pollinator and Education Garden is in progress, but we would love to hear community feedback on your thoughts about this project. Attached is a QR code that takes you to our community survey.
We are also asking for volunteers to help this project reach its full potential. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact Brandon Weeber (weeber.3@wright.edu) for more information. If you would like to help but do not have the time, you are more than welcome to make a monetary donation to Lake Shore Christian Church. Donations will go directly to the construction and management of the Community Pollinator and Education Garden, also hosting the workshops it will work to provide.
