Bryce DuBois

Framing for resilience through social learning: impacts of environmental stewardship on youth in post-disturbance communities

Civic ecology practices, such as community gardening and citizen-led urban reforestation and wetland restoration, provide opportunities for social learning. Because social learning is an important component of community resilience, we suggest that civic ecology practices can be a strategy for responding to and mitigating environmental disturbances in an era threatened by climate change. Despite the links between civic ecology, social learning and community resilience, empirical research that systematically considers these connections is limited. This study addresses this gap by introducing ‘frames’ as an approach to considering social learning outcomes and process. More specifically, we provide a model for investigating the role civic ecology education programs play in shaping youths’ capacity to understand and respond to environmental disturbance. We used participant observation and cognitive mapping to assess social learning among three youth restoration programs working in the wake of Hurricane Sandy in New York, NY, and after the 2013 floods in Boulder, CO. In all three programs, youth demonstrated social learning and cognitive change by shifting their emphasis from the impacts of disturbance towards a solutions-based framing that focused on community, action, and mitigation. However, the depth of these changes was not uniform across all programs, suggesting that variations in program length, community context, social identity, and opportunities for self-defined action may shape overall impacts of programs and youth capacity for future action.

Climate adaptation education: embracing reality or abandoning environmental values

Abstract Given the magnitude and immediacy of climate change, how should environmental education (EE) address not only reducing our climate footprint but also climate adaptation? Whereas some approaches to adaptation education are consistent with EE foundational principles, others, while crucial for individual survival, address more immediate risks in ways that do not promote longer-term environmental quality. Using a literature review, we examine issues climate adaptation education raises for the field of EE. We then describe example programs that integrate climate mitigation and adaptation, drawing from EE programs in New York City following devastating floods brought about by Hurricane Sandy. These programs are consistent with a praxis or action research approach to EE where learning is embedded in restoration and other forms of action. We close with reflections on how EE might address climate change adaptation in a manner consistent with climate mitigation education and with our field’s focus on improving environmental quality.

Social-Ecological System Transformation in Jamaica Bay

The view from Rulers Bar Hassock in the center of Jamaica Bay is at once wild and urban. You can watch shorebirds hunt for the eggs of horseshoe crabs, and lift your eyes to Wall Street skyscrapers on the horizon. Rulers Bar is an amalgamation of human and nonhuman processes in its own right. Having decayed in recent decades due to increasing pollution and other factors in the bay, the island is being restored through the work of the Army Corps of Engineers, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, and the National Park Service—all aided by two groups of community activists, the Jamaica Bay Ecowatchers and the Northeast Chapter of the American Littoral Society. These community activists, and their governmental supporters, lead stewardship activities because they are concerned about the health of the bay and the health of their nearby community in Broad Channel. The Army Corps dumped sand, and more than five hundred community and youth volunteers planted more than 88,000 plugs of salt marsh cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora) during low tides.