but what garneau is really scouting for is roadkill. 

when coming upon a flattened porcupine or lamentable roadside squirrel, garneau pulls over. grabbing her smartphone, she opens up inaturalist, a social network that allows users to map and share global observations of biodiversity. she enters data into her device, noting the date, time, species, weather, road type, location, habitat surrounding, and more. snapping a picture, she uploads her photo to numerous studies taking place on the app. in recent years, her observations, and those of other citizen participants, have been added into global wildlife connectivity and roadkill long-term surveys. some of those projects include inaturalist’s global roadkill observations project and adventure scientists wildlife connectivity project, and squirrelmapper. 

the global roadkill observation study’s more than 15,000 international contributors have identified 3,641 species of roadkill globally. species from the crab-eating fox in cumaral, columbia to a black copper rat snake hin yung, thailand were documented with research-grade identifications. this plethora of global wildlife documentation, which garneau contributed to 227 times, will be used by scientists around the world to understand important conservation questions. the study’s page emphasizes that they are collaborating with “organizations globally to record roadkill observations as both evidence of a species occurrence and of wildlife-vehicle conflict.” 

as her prolific contributions suggest, garneau is not new to the rising world of road ecology. she has been studying and documenting roadkill since 2008. her awareness of the questions surrounding road ecology started from an education standpoint. she is one of several researchers in the area with projects that focus on roadkill patterns; others include dr. erika barthelmess at st. lawrence university and dr. tom langen at clarkson.

“i found a need in my courses, students were curious,” garneau said. “it is a good project to learn about wildlife using roadkill as an index of species abundance in the region. it helps students gain skills in animal id and spatial analysis using geographic information systems (gis). it also has the potential for community engagement and service learning.” 

garneau recalled the first launch of her initial wildlife monitoring study. 

“a former student had mentioned she rarely sees virginia opossum near suny plattsburgh during school, while in the albany region she sees a lot,” garneau said. “we were discussing dr. erika barthelmess’ roadkill research paper and commented on how interesting it was that opossum were common roadkill in st. lawrence county, in contrast to their rarity in clinton/essex county during our roadkill surveys since arriving at suny.” 

with the help of her students and dr. curt gervich, an environmental planner and fellow suny-plattsburgh professor, they commenced a survey of workers in the region who are on the roads for their jobs. school bus drivers, delivery drivers and mail carriers filled out the forms. the team started mapping for opossum hotspots. 

over the years, as the project developed, garneau went through trial and error to find a way to keep all of the data together. at first she used a handheld gps and camera to document specimens while adding relevant information to a huge excel sheet. as this became increasingly cumbersome, she then moved onto epicollect, a data-gathering smartphone platform. eventually, she even created her own project using the epicollect app. featured on npr, the epicollect project, titled roadkillgarneau, successfully documented garneau’s findings, as well as other contributors spanning the globe. in fact, in the early stages of the app project, an austrian professor reached out to translate the roadkillgarneau project, and use it in his classroom and research in austria. 

unfortunately, the app project has not been active since 2019 due to smartphone technology rollouts not keeping pace with the app code. garneau was discouraged by the issues outside of her control, but did not stop the research. instead, garneau switched to the inaturalist app, which contributes daily observations from a global network of citizen scientists. 

“(data gathering) got a lot easier with the help of inaturalist participation,” garneau said. “opossum are now one of the top roadkill species logged on my daily drive to work. the increase in frequency of opossum roadkill in essex and clinton counties likely reflects an increase in abundance –– indicating resident populations that are reproducing. we are continuing to pursue contributing factors to this trend. perhaps they are capitalizing on regional land-use changes, including on urban and agricultural habitat. it also offers us an opportunity to mitigate wildlife losses by informing the public and engaging with local organizations.”

garneau sees her roadkill research as a practice of citizen science, a new and growing field of research helping create new scientific knowledge through the collaboration of citizens in scientific research. 

according to garneau, “scientists have learned to understand the value of community participation for engagement, as well as to grow the scope of observations of particular species of interest.”

this is an important step toward helping communities understand the value of science. according to a 2015 analysis, “the direct involvement of the public in research projects ensures that they are less concerned about the findings and purpose of science as well as exposing them to the scientific process. this has the potential to combat the public skepticism of science when confronted with debates in areas such as climate change.”

beyond aiding different scientific circles with essential research, citizen science is having a tangible effect in increasing public safety and conservation impact.

a 2020 article from the journal of nature conservation found that citizen science platforms are helping to mitigate roadkill collisions on european roads. the authors found that the rise in platforms allowing citizens to report roadkill has the potential to increase public participation in both traffic safety and nature conservation. the study notes, “volunteers contribute significantly to collecting data on species that are not typically recorded in official databases.”

research like this supports that everyday citizens can have a direct impact. as of the 2015 analysis, “the term ‘citizen science’ is increasingly appearing in peer reviewed journals, indicating the wider use and acceptance of this term.” now, garneau has noticed a rise in citizen science app usage, even in her non-scientific circles.

pandemic-fueled boredom may have led to an increase in families wanting to identify the backyard birds they have been seeing more of. or, maybe people are beginning to see tangible effects of climate change in their hometowns, and they want to help in any way possible. or, perhaps more and more educators, like garneau, are introducing these growing technologies into their classrooms so students can feel a part of the change. 

want to try citizen science yourself? if roadkill doesn’t suit your interest, you can document the animated birds in your backyard, catalog the critters running around at your local park or search for mollusks in nearby water bodies. plant species can also be documented. turn citizen science into a family weekend outing or a unique date idea. there are a myriad of projects to discover and impacts to be made.

borque is president of the jardin communautaire basile-patenaude, a community garden committee which has pioneered a new wave of garden and urban farming projects in the rosemont-la petite-patrie neighborhood of montreal. a number of local residents have taken over the neighborhood’s vacant lots and hidden crevices to creatively congeal eco-friendly and urban living––resulting in the so-called “edible alleyway.” according to borque, the community garden team started the edible alleyway project in 2015 as part of a land rehabilitation project, which utilized a 20,000 square foot vacant lot.

the lane has grown to accommodate a neighborhood chicken coop, over 100 fruit trees, a mushroom garden, and fences plastered with local art. in the alleyway, members of the community interact with nature and harvest fresh produce free of charge, alleviating food insecurity in the area.

rosemont-la petite-patrie is a densely populated neighborhood northeast of downtown montreal, a multi-cultural and vibrant side of the city beginning to take on a new identity. the trendy and growing neighborhood was once a maze of concrete alleyways solely defined by nearby famed attractions, like the jean-talon market or the olympic village. with community projects like the edible alleyway, rosemont-la-petite-patrie is making a new name for itself by growing greener.

the garden committee wanted to revitalize the space for the neighborhood, so they brainstormed projects to beautify the area. they conceived of the alley, separate from the community gardens, as a place where anyone, from any part of the city, can come and walk through.

“the place is both a place of passage and a place of relaxation,” bourque said. “some people take it just as a shortcut while other residents of the neighborhood frequent it. the henhouse is a very popular stopover for families… fruit trees are very popular in the harvest season and we often see people with bowls scooping fruit at the end of summer.”

the transformed space is a point of pride for locals, who clean the space and care about how it looks. it has provided a place for community bonding and understanding. 

“the fact that people from different backgrounds or social classes meet there allows a dialogue that would probably not take place otherwise,” borque said.

green space is vital to urban areas as it provides invaluable physical and mental health benefits to residents with access. yet, these essential spaces can disappear from cities as increased urbanization takes place. it is difficult to quantify how fast green space is sacrificed to urbanization due to a lack of research, but the effects can be felt tangibly. 

in a 2020 article in the journal land, researchers johan colding, Åsa gren and stephan barthel note that the reasons for the loss of green space need to be studied further. yet, one reason for shrinking public land is increased privatization of green areas. according to the article, green space provides “invaluable ecosystem services to humans that are important to plan for in cities.” for example, green space helps absorb carbon dioxide, thus helping to improve air quality, reduce heat and offset a city’s carbon emissions. however, the researchers found “economic motives and urban neoliberal policies are liable explanations behind the loss of public space in many cities.”

borque has noticed a loss of public space happening in his own city. “the original design of towns included public passageways, while in most new projects, these passages are now private,” borque said. “it isolates people––since no common place exists anymore.”

yet, the jardin communautaire basile-patenaude have made a difference in montreal by creating an open space for residents to wander and gather. 

“the idea of ​​focused concrete cities no longer makes sense,” borque said. “the garden and these kind of community projects are an image of this new way of seeing the city. people need to live in their neighborhood and to feel good about it.”

as we move toward urbanization, montreal is a leading city when it comes to this type of innovation. while traveling the city, there are many examples of architecture that have adopted new, green practices, but one of the most striking lies in parc frederic-back.

located in the north-west corner of the city, parc frederic-back is a beautiful piece of urban greenery that spans over 350 acres. this park lies in the middle of the saint-michel environmental complex, the green space is being utilized in a unique way. the park lies on top of the remains of a former quarry and landfill site. creating green space on any old landfill is a win for environmentalists. the most notable aspect of the park are the hundreds of biogas-capturing spheres that dot the land. not only do the spheres collect gas from the earth that is then turned into sustainable energy, they also glow in the dark.

the land has an interesting history tied to it. it has not always been a beloved, manicured green space. its original form was as a limestone quarry for 60 years. it was not loved by the saint-michael community, the neighborhood it is located in. the surrounding residents hated the deafening blows into the earth, and numerous quarry accidents angered them. local protests took place to end work at the quarry. the cries for change were heard, and in 1988 the city of montreal acquired the land from the miron family. it was not yet acquired to be made into a park. according to the city of montreal, it was turned from quarry to landfill by the city, and until 1995 it collected the city’s garbage. during the 90’s, it’s environmental transformation took place. during the renovation, the city called it the “most ambitious environmental rehabilitation project ever undertaken” in an urban area in north america, as reported by the cbc.

one of the first steps to creating an eco-friendlier space was creating a recycling center. the waste treatment and disposal centre was created. then, came the most notable aspect of the park, the alien-like spheres that define the land. montreal-based architecture firms, lemay and morelli, designed the balls for the urban rehabilitation. they created 250 spheres to collect the methane gas that is still being emitted from the remains of the landfill below the surface. about 40 tons of garbage from the landfill still generates fumes and is collected, according to world architecture. from there, the cbc article explains the gazmont power station starts converting into electricity biogas extracted from production wells, which is then sold to hydro-quebec.

the spheres are not only proof of montreal’s dedication to environmentally friendly and sustainable urban planning, but they were created with park-goers in mind. they are safe to be around, and they are interactive. they collect light from the sun on their fiberglass surface, and at night they give off a soft, green glow. when a light source at night, such as a park-goer waving a flashlight, runs across its surface, a multi-colored bright light follows the pattern drawn on by the person. it leaves behind the drawn light pattern and impresses novice flashlight artists. 

marrying an old landfill and a popular park may seem counterintuitive, but the collaboration has created a unique, beloved park in the middle of the saint-michael neighborhood. the transformation of this former brownfield is a feat for the city of montreal, and an example as other cities push to create more urban green spaces. 

in a series of climate strikes across the globe on sept. 27, montreal had a larger turnout than any other city in the second week of striking. more than 500,000 people, many painted with green paint and adorned with handcrafted flower crowns, took over the city. 

the montreal transportation system, stm, was made free for the day to encourage people to attend and allow them to come regardless of financial restraints. the bixi bike system was also free for six hours of the day. as bixi bikes piled up along the field, droves of people began to collect in the remaining patches of the heavily crowded field. french chants and drum beats echoed off the buildings and statues surrounding jeanne-mance park where the march began. avenue du parc was shut down, along with other main roads, as half a million people left their prior commitments to march toward their hope, greta thunberg. 

several demonstrations and protests happened away of the marching. members of mcgill university’s student organization climate justice action, cjam, protested on the steps of the arts building. they urged people not to go to class and for mcgill to listen to the demands they curated in hopes of combating the climate crisis. 

hanna and sophie, both 20, and daan, 19, held a hand painted sign that read, “people over pipelines.” they explained their list of demands, including that mcgill divest from fossil fuels. their hope for the strike was to raise awareness to the public and, as sophie said, “see the youth rise up.” they hope to see a movement that will only grow.

when asked what greta thunberg represented to them, hanna said, “the youth collective as a whole.”

“she represents hope,” another said.

back in jeanne-mance park, the monument to sir george-Étienne cartier loomed over the crowd as people climbed the human sculptures and dressed them in fitting green garments. a young quebecois woman named maye stood with her sign at her feet as she rested against a tree.

maye said she believes that, “if we all come together we can change the system.” 

like many people there, she was optimistic that the climate strike would draw the attention it needs to prompt crucial change. when asked what greta represented to her, she simply and quickly said, “hope.” 

just across the street from maye, an older woman sat on a simple set of stairs that was crowded with eager people. debbie, 62, is also originally from montreal, but now she resides in san diego. she came from california for the climate strike. she was driven by her worry for her children and grandchildren. she fears we are too close to the “tipping point.” she wants action at the municipal level. she wants better accessibility to biking, especially in the winter. she admits though she is losing hope in the provincial and federal level. however, to her, “greta represents the hope.” 

back on the main road, the rowdy, cumbersome crowd shifted onto avenue sherbrooke. stilt walkers, drummers, and chanters entertained. people hopped in and out of local cafes and cheap pizzeria shops to sustain their journey to the end of the march. children clung on to their parent’s shoulders and people proudly hoisted their witty, empowering, and occasionally crude signs high above the crowd. people climbed lampposts and traffic light poles to be higher than anyone else. groups on apartment building roofs waved and stared wide-eyed at the sea of people below.

winding around city streets, with police surrounding the mass, the crowd finally arrived at its destination. a small stage awaited the 500,000 where the bonaventure expressway normally empties a monstrous amount of cars into the city. people continued to chant and elevate their signs.

when greta came on the stage around 4 p.m., nearly four hours after the march officially began, the crowd erupted. each sentence she spoke seemed to move the audience and lift their spirits after a very long walk. she said that canada reminded her of her home, sweden. she compared both countries being “alleged” climate leaders, and how they are both doing too little. she presented scary statistics and accused international leaders of “empty words.” as she announced, “change is coming” people cried and screamed.

having yearned for a change for so long, many people are beginning to see it on the horizon because of greta. it was astonishing to see such a small girl captivate people of all races, genders, sexual orientations, and political backgrounds. maybe it comes after seeing how she maturely handles being mocked by prominent political figures and media “talking heads.” maybe it is because young people see themselves in her, and older people see their children in her. maybe it is because she stands for science at a time when it is more crucial than ever to believe. whatever the reason, she represents hope; and people need hope.