About the author: Carolina Diaz de Villegas is a recent graduate of the Department of Biological Sciences at Florida International University, where she, Kiara Rodriguez, and Michelle Bravo have been providing technical assistance to the Town of Medley as part of projects developed under EPA’s College/Underserved Community Partnership Program.
As many of you may already know, the Everglades — home to countless native plant and animal species — is not only one of Florida’s greatest treasures, but also the largest remaining subtropical wilderness in the United States. Unfortunately, the Everglades ecosystem faces constant threats from urban and agricultural expansion.
In an effort to shift to a more sustainable way of life, efforts are underway to counteract decades of human driven land use by reforesting the small town of Medley, Florida – one tree at a time.
Medley is home to about 1,100 residents in northwest Miami-Dade County. For nearly 85% of the residents, Spanish is their first language. Residents have to drive several miles to get to the closest grocery store. Medley also is home to approximately 1,800 businesses, bringing the weekday population to nearly 60,000. More than 80% of the city is covered in impervious paving due to this industrial activity. As a result, this largely industrial town has become a food desert with heavy air pollution. An urban food desert typically has plenty of convenience stores, liquor stores, and fast food joints, but little or no access to healthy foods like fruits and vegetables.
With the support of Medley Town Mayor Roberto Martell and EPA’s College/Underserved Community Partnership Program (CUPP) , my fellow Florida International University students and I are working with local residents to address these issues.
We began by planting native trees at Medley’s Lakeside Retirement Park. We also planted a variety of native flowers and shrubs near the entrance to attract not only passersby but also pollinators. The change is so dramatic that students have informally dubbed the area the “Medley Botanical Garden.”
Click on picture to watch video
Since education is the key to progress, we worked to help local community members better understand the importance of trees and living a sustainable lifestyle in their urban landscape. My colleague Kiara Rodriguez and I talked about the importance of these principles to kids in the local afterschool care program. We taught them about carbon sequestration, the importance of recycling, and even climate change — a term most had never heard before! We also visited the Community Center during its Saturday food distribution and spoke with the elders about these topics.
This summer, supported by grants from our university, we planted more trees and created two “All-in-One” food gardens. Because much of the land surface around the Medley Lake retirement center is covered by paving and other impervious surfaces, we created an aboveground garden that uses harvested rainwater. We planted several summer crops and are working with the community center to supplement the garden soil with food waste from the cafeteria. The project has many benefits – it produces fresh food for a community in the middle of a food desert, it uses a water-efficient method for watering, and it will reduce food waste by generating compost to supplement the garden.
Here we are standing proudly next to some of our newly planted trees, along with our professor Dr. Tiffany Troxler.
My fellow student Michelle Bravo led other volunteers who built a pergola that is a central feature of the developing Medley Botanical Garden. Ms. Bravo is conducting research that showed that a botanical garden could both improve the health of elderly residents and increase carbon sequestration with the new trees planted. In a continued commitment to Medley, other Florida International University students will be working with the town to develop an economic development plan.
By increasing the amount of green mass available for carbon sequestration, we are helping Medley in the ongoing battle against climate change on a local scale, while also increasing awareness about these issues in future generations.
from The EPA Blog http://ift.tt/1FgjhQg
About the author: Carolina Diaz de Villegas is a recent graduate of the Department of Biological Sciences at Florida International University, where she, Kiara Rodriguez, and Michelle Bravo have been providing technical assistance to the Town of Medley as part of projects developed under EPA’s College/Underserved Community Partnership Program.
As many of you may already know, the Everglades — home to countless native plant and animal species — is not only one of Florida’s greatest treasures, but also the largest remaining subtropical wilderness in the United States. Unfortunately, the Everglades ecosystem faces constant threats from urban and agricultural expansion.
In an effort to shift to a more sustainable way of life, efforts are underway to counteract decades of human driven land use by reforesting the small town of Medley, Florida – one tree at a time.
Medley is home to about 1,100 residents in northwest Miami-Dade County. For nearly 85% of the residents, Spanish is their first language. Residents have to drive several miles to get to the closest grocery store. Medley also is home to approximately 1,800 businesses, bringing the weekday population to nearly 60,000. More than 80% of the city is covered in impervious paving due to this industrial activity. As a result, this largely industrial town has become a food desert with heavy air pollution. An urban food desert typically has plenty of convenience stores, liquor stores, and fast food joints, but little or no access to healthy foods like fruits and vegetables.
With the support of Medley Town Mayor Roberto Martell and EPA’s College/Underserved Community Partnership Program (CUPP) , my fellow Florida International University students and I are working with local residents to address these issues.
We began by planting native trees at Medley’s Lakeside Retirement Park. We also planted a variety of native flowers and shrubs near the entrance to attract not only passersby but also pollinators. The change is so dramatic that students have informally dubbed the area the “Medley Botanical Garden.”
Click on picture to watch video
Since education is the key to progress, we worked to help local community members better understand the importance of trees and living a sustainable lifestyle in their urban landscape. My colleague Kiara Rodriguez and I talked about the importance of these principles to kids in the local afterschool care program. We taught them about carbon sequestration, the importance of recycling, and even climate change — a term most had never heard before! We also visited the Community Center during its Saturday food distribution and spoke with the elders about these topics.
This summer, supported by grants from our university, we planted more trees and created two “All-in-One” food gardens. Because much of the land surface around the Medley Lake retirement center is covered by paving and other impervious surfaces, we created an aboveground garden that uses harvested rainwater. We planted several summer crops and are working with the community center to supplement the garden soil with food waste from the cafeteria. The project has many benefits – it produces fresh food for a community in the middle of a food desert, it uses a water-efficient method for watering, and it will reduce food waste by generating compost to supplement the garden.
Here we are standing proudly next to some of our newly planted trees, along with our professor Dr. Tiffany Troxler.
My fellow student Michelle Bravo led other volunteers who built a pergola that is a central feature of the developing Medley Botanical Garden. Ms. Bravo is conducting research that showed that a botanical garden could both improve the health of elderly residents and increase carbon sequestration with the new trees planted. In a continued commitment to Medley, other Florida International University students will be working with the town to develop an economic development plan.
By increasing the amount of green mass available for carbon sequestration, we are helping Medley in the ongoing battle against climate change on a local scale, while also increasing awareness about these issues in future generations.
from The EPA Blog http://ift.tt/1FgjhQg
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