A Research Partnership: Green Light New Orleans, Tulane University, and Commission for Environmental Cooperation
This past semester, an environmental class at Tulane University worked with Green Light New Orleans to begin to create a carbon reduction methodology for our Backyard Vegetable Garden Program. We want to know… how much of an impact on the carbon reduction and financial savings are our gardeners contributing to as they grow their own food? The Commission for Environmental Cooperation (NAPECA) helped to make this happen by funding the research and a number of our Backyard Vegetable Garden builds. The Commission for Environmental Cooperation hosted two student researchers at their conference last month (July 2015) to present the research and its connection to Green Light. This is what the students learned at the conference and through their research:
Chrissy and I first attended the discussion on “Adapting to Changing Storm water Quantities through Land Use Planning,” which featured a panelist from Mexico, Canada, and the US. The first speaker, Roberto Ramirez of Mexico, discussed holistic watershed basin management in villages and the importance of local government advocacy; he pushed the need for changes in water consumption patterns and ultimately proposed a tri-national meeting between the three countries that would explore consumption patterns, specifically for agriculture. The second speaker, Isabel Thomas, represented the voice of Canada and New Orleans, and she voiced that the number one challenge and task is to locate the most vulnerable cities, characteristics, and people. She advocated for a three-part resiliency plan that restores infrastructure, improves ecosystems, and empowers neighborhoods. Like Roberto Ramirez, she identified the importance of involving local role-players and improve collaboration between the neighborhoods, cities, and countries. Finally, George Hawkins of Washington DC discussed the Clean Rivers Project, which works to resolve combined sewage overflow issues in DC using a combination of “green infrastructure” and tunnel systems.
Overall, the three panelists pushed for the importance of education and involvement of local government and role-players, and the following question and answer period with the ministers and public explored how exactly to go about accomplishing that task. As seen in New Orleans, fostering advocacy of local government officials proves easier said than done. A few members of the public encouraged us to rethink our definition of “local role-players” and who actually holds the power to change the public’s perception of an environmentally friendly perspective, which reminded me that in New Orleans, the Mardi Gras Indian Chiefs are powerful role-players that could be strong resources for environmental advocacy. I think that they are a reservoir of local power that has yet to be tapped and maybe even recognized as such, but must be in order to connect the environmental needs for the future of New Orleans.
The following day, Chrissy and I tabled information about Green Light New Orleans along with other organization that also received funding from NAPECA. In all of our observations, people seemed to appreciate how manageable and applicable Green Light’s Backyard Vegetable Garden Program can be in local communities. It is low cost, straight forward, and tangible, creating an easy outlet for environment education. The program serves as a great model for grassroots advocacy. It shows that small steps can indeed make a big difference–an illustration of what everyone was pushing for in the panel the day before. We all look forward to see how the program grows in New Orleans and many would like to explore its potential in other communities!
Thank you again for such a great opportunity! As an architecture student, I walked away with many interesting ideas that I hope to explore in my thesis project. It appears that education and communication are the two most important and most difficult tasks facing environmental change in New Orleans, and I would like to think that design has a lot of power to change that. I look forward to working with Green Light New Orleans more in the future!
Written By: Chesley McCarty, Tulane Student