Restoring the Past to Ensure Our Future...An Environmental Education Program that’s Good for the Earth plants its Roots in Waltham, Mass.

This summer, we launched the pilot of Meadowscaping for Biodiversity, an outdoor, environmental education program for youth, on the east lawn of Christ Church Episcopal, 750 Main Street, Waltham, MA.

Meadowscaping is simple in its vision for the next generation and elegant in its solution for their earth. 

Our vision is to inspire and empower youth to be stewards of the earth while teaching them how to heal her one meadow at a time. 

Our solution, (using a curriculum built on project-based learning), is to transform sections of monoculture lawns into biodiverse meadows that provide food and shelter – habitat – for bees, butterflies, birds and other wildlife.

These meadows contain native plants and shrubs, sources of the essential diet/breeding ground that native species of insects and pollinators are challenged to find in urban developments and landscapes overrun with nonnative and invasive plants.

Here’s a picture:

 

Our meadow is not an abandoned lot filled with tall grasses and runaway vegetation.  Rather, it is a beautiful sunny garden.

We’re very lucky – maybe blessed – to have started Meadowscaping here. Why? Because our sunny meadow buzzes with activity! Since July, hundreds of bees and pollinators have found their way
here:

 

It also soothes the soul in the midst of a busy spot in Waltham.  Yes, this meadow is just across the street from the public library, a few paces from the post office, a UPS store, cafes, the local Boys and Girls Club, and an active Yoga studio. Being along the main commuter route and abutting an active bus stop, this special garden garnered a lot of thumbs up, “what a beauty” “glad you did this” and “now I understand” from passersby. 

Best of all, this spot is a place of pride for our students, who, every time they pass or stop in to water and measure the plants, exclaim “that’s our meadow.”

So how did we do this? In this blog, we’ll share some highlights from the 2014 Meadowmakers: Barbara, Jean, Steve, Omar, Adam, Alessio, Lisa, Julie, Jim and Laura.

Meadowscaping for Biodiversity(Meadowscaping) is an outdoor, project-based, environmental education program that provides middle school youth with real-world experiences in STEAM learning (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math), while inspiring and empowering them to address challenges to the environment and human society.

Without biodiversity--defined as the range of organisms present in a particular ecological community or system--the earth lacks the foundation to support a variety of insects (including bees), birds, flora and fauna that, in their collective, diverse chain of relationships, contribute to our planet's food, air, and water--elements necessary to sustain all living creatures on Earth.

Creative programs taught by master educators provide student participants with hands-on learning methods that are practical tools for understanding the world. MEADOWSCAPING offers a meaningful, empowering opportunity for youth to get outside, develop environmental literacy, and apply knowledge and experience to solving problems affecting their local community.

Middle school students have the opportunity to work together outdoors on real-life research studies. Graduate students in STEAM subjects from local universities, landscape designers and architects, local gardeners, and professionals from related fields will serve as educators/mentors/role models and sources of information about STEAM environmental careers.

We say that the MEADOWSCAPING program builds "citizen scientists" and "stewards of the Earth." Children who spend little time outdoors may value nature less than children who spend time outdoors in free play. Similarly, children who feel part of something bigger than themselves may be right-sized--they don't feel separate from or more important than nature. They understand their dependence on a clean environment and know that they are responsible for caring for the Earth as their home. These children may maintain the feeling of responsibility when they grow up and have to make political and personal decisions on environmental matters.

At the same time, children who are aware of climate change and its serious effects on their lives may worry about the future, but they may feel powerless, thus frustrated and angry, especially at the adults who left them this second-class environment. Participating in this program will give them a simple yet effective way to feel that they are helping to improve their world.

Meadowscaping for Biodiversity