one of my favorite spaces at home is my backyard. spanning two-thirds of an acre and backing up into the mianus river state park, it’s always been just the right size for flag football games, fetch with my dogs and swinging on the swingset. 

when i moved to washington, d.c., for school, my “backyard” nearly vanished (unless you count the national mall) and each year i miss the potential of a green open space more and more. according to the united nations, the world’s urban population is expected to increase by 84 percent in the next 35 years, reaching 6.3 billion in 2050. soon, there will be more people living in cities like d.c., and in cities that are even bigger; they will have to trade their backyards for small balconies and patio spaces, just like i did.

however, all has not been lost. these small spaces hold some incredible potential as love and carrots, a business in washington, d.c., is revealing to their clients in the form of vegetable gardens that can be designed specifically for small deck spaces, balconies and windowsills. urban agriculture is not a new concept, but more unconventional city spaces are being redesigned into small gardens, which can yield great payoffs.

when i visited love and carrots “headquarters,” which includes an outdoor vegetable garden, greenhouse and office space, meredith shepard, the founder of the company, walked me through a typical discussion she has with her clients on a design consultation. her goal is two-fold; give her customers the ability to grow and eat the vegetables they love and advise them in picking vegetables that will give them the highest yield for their urban space. when it comes down to it, what you choose to grow influences the productivity of your space.

take carrots, for instance. one carrot seed produces one carrot and it can take up to 3 months before it is ready to be harvested. in smaller garden spaces, carrots are not and ideal crop to grow because they are not efficient. in order to maximize urban spaces, choosing plants like kale, swiss chard and beets, vegetables that all have continual harvests, will maximize the production value of any space, big or small.

“another example of something that is good to grow in small spaces are radishes. you can have 3-4 cycles of radishes in a season and they can be harvested in about 30 days,” meredith said pointing to the radishes that she had tucked into tiny spaces all around the love and carrots vegetable garden. according to fao, an area just under 11 square feet can produce 44 pounds of food a year. 

to reduce my grocery store costs and maximize the potential of my small balcony, i’ve started considering what my own ideal container garden would look like. potted plants would clutter my very small balcony, so i would want to maximize the vertical wall space that i have and create an innovative shoe organizer garden; i would plant salad greens like spinach, peas and herbs like thyme and rosemary.

i’ve found that there are many creative ways that you can grow food in a city space, and why not? the usda expects prices for fresh fruit to increase 2.5 percent to 3.5 percent in 2015 and in 2014, prices went up 4.5 percent to 5.5 percent. growing even just some of your food at home can benefit your bottom line. growing vegetables is the most practical and sustainable use of any small city space.

our house was an “all electric home,” powered by connecticut light and power. cl&p supplies their customers with energy through oil and nuclear technology. at the time of our renovation we looked into installing solar panels on our roof, but our state didn’t offer an incentive and we wouldn’t see the return on investment as immediately as we did with propane. after making the switch, our monthly energy bill is one fifth of what is was before, our home heats and cools more efficiently, and sometimes the butter on the stove melts too fast.

less carbon, less harm

the word “carbon dioxide” is tossed around by scientists, journalists and citizens a lot; it comes with a negative association — at least for many. carbon dioxide is the world’s most prevalent greenhouse gas. many don’t know that it is a necessary component of the earth’s atmosphere and that it has only become threatening over the past few decades. the concentration of co2 in our atmosphere has risen exponentially due to human activities like the burning of coal for electricity and fossil fuels in our cars; the excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is contributing to anthropogenic climate change. atmospheric carbon dioxide is measured in parts per million (ppm), and over the past 50 years the concentration of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere has gone from 320ppm to almost 400ppm.

the burning of coal produces two times more carbon dioxide than the burning of natural gas. we are approaching a tipping point of 450ppm, where the amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide will be too great for mitigation efforts to actually reverse the effects of climate change. so with our planet’s future weighing in the balance, is natural gas the bridge to renewable energy?

by 2040, natural gas will make up 38 percent of u.s. energy production. coal production in the us is slowing, and while the development and use of domestic natural gas resources is reducing carbon dioxide emissions, natural gas production and distribution does come with its own environmental concerns.

a temporary solution

the process of getting natural gas, trapped in between the layers of rock, can be harmful to the environment if not done carefully. hydraulic fracturing “produces fractures in the rock formation that stimulate the flow of natural gas or oil, increasing the volumes that can be recovered. wells may be drilled vertically hundreds to thousands of feet below the land surface and may include horizontal or directional sections extending thousands of feet.” methane flaring and water contamination are two environmental concerns related to hydrofracking; this reality cannot be ignored, even though natural gas is a cleaner burning fuel.

so while my family didn’t go the extra step and invest in renewable energy technology, that’s where the united state’s energy future needs to head. we need to move in the direction of renewable energy technologies like solar, wind, and geothermal. these technologies produce energy without emitting carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases and can help reduce and eliminate the threat human activities pose to our planet.

we are facing climate change in the united states in the form of more intense and frequent storm events, heat waves, droughts, and wildfires. right now we have adapted, but that does not mean that climate change is under control. many countries around the world are dealing with serious threats right now; they are bearing the brunt of our behavior, and the burden that they are carrying now will only get heavier.

we sat down with sabrina mccormick, who worked as a producer and associate producer on the showtime original series years of living dangerously, in which hollywood celebrities span the globe to experience climate change.  sabrina has committed herself to learning about the intricacies of the extreme impacts of climate-related phenomena like heat waves, emergent vector-borne disease, and climate-related disasters. she has coupled this knowledge with her passions for filmmaking and storytelling, discussing with us the importance of communicating these complicated facets of climate change.

“seeing is believing,” she said, reflecting on her time spent in bangladesh for the filming of the series finale “moving a mountain” with michael c. hall. “if we can’t see what the future will look like either bad or good, we don’t know, we don’t believe it, we aren’t going to do anything.”

film is a critical tool that can be used to address the complex task of communicating the intricacies of climate change and encouraging immediate action. “this is a task that we have as media makers and as newsmakers, to show audiences what their world can be like and then through that process, get them to actually do something.”

filmmakers like sabrina have taken on this important task and are telling climate change stories, inviting audiences to consider the abstract idea of climate change in a personal way. what’s your climate change story? what have you experienced and seen? show audiences, use media tools, and empower others to learn more about how climate change could affect their lives and the lives of many vulnerable people like those in bangladesh and around the world.

this summer alone i must have been bitten nearly 30 times by a mosquito; each time, though annoyed, i wasn’t afraid for my life—but there are millions of people who fear that every day and their vulnerability is growing because of climate change.

i’m from connecticut; my house sits 100 yards from the mianus river park—an incredibly serene place to walk dogs, take hikes, and go fishing on the weekends. on any given hot summer day, this tranquil park transforms into a doggy playground, buzzing with the sounds of panting, overly excited neighborhood dogs and mosquitos breeding at the edge of the river. lurking in the dense forest are the ticks that silently attack, spreading lyme disease, another vector borne disease making its way across the northeast region of the united states.

eleven years ago, my mom was bitten by a tick infected with lyme disease, and that’s when her battle began. she suffered with an array of disparate symptoms for 8 years until her doctors diagnosed her 3 years ago, when she was finally able to begin immediate and aggressive treatment. luckily my mom has not been burdened with some of the worst symptoms, which can include nerve damage and heart problems, but she is not symptom free by any means; many people do experience these unimaginable symptoms.

richelle jones of old greenwich walks her dog “oliver” at mianus river park in stamford, conn. on monday august 27, 2012. photo: dru nadler via stamford advocate

it’s in our backyards, and it’s spreading…

according to the 2014 national climate assessment, several studies in the northeast have linked tick activity and lyme disease incidence to climate, specifically abundant late spring and early summer moisture. lyme disease will be more prevalent in the mianus river park in years to come, leaving many more people, like my mom, vulnerable to ticks bites that could transmit the disease.

lyme disease is a costly illness that takes its toll on the mind and body, and requires extensive treatment, especially when it goes undetected. my mom went eight years untreated – eight years. late diagnoses happen way too often, and many symptoms are simply not visible or consistent across patients.

according to the lyme disease association, in 1996 a “disseminated lyme case could cost over $61,000 to treat”, which today would be around $92,000. that’s 55% more than an american’s median yearly income of $51,000. we can’t afford to waste another penny fighting lyme disease, be we continue to do so because it’s our parents’ health and our neighbors dog, these are their battles that they can’t do it alone.

the costs are clearly high, but the stakes are even higher. this threat is imminent and global; it’s not just malaria in africa, or lyme disease in connecticut. more people are susceptible; these vectors are growing; by 2080, the projected expansion of tick habitat, according to the nca, includes much of the eastern half of the country. for a deeper understanding, interact with the map found in the 2014 nca and see how changes to our climate will affect the transmission cycle of lyme disease in the northeast region of the united states.

the maps show the current and projected probability of establishment of tick populations (ixodes scapularis) that transmit lyme disease. projections are shown for 2020, 2050, and 2080. source: brownstein et al. 2005 via the 2014 national climate assessment

lyme disease is spreading; everyone should be prepared and protected outdoors. right now, we can take preventative measures to reduce many of the future costs associated with climate change. while climate change will not reverse itself overnight, if we act soon and responsibly we may be able to reduce the likelihood that any more people will suffer from this exhausting, costly, and preventable disease.

if we don’t act now even our best adaptive efforts later may fall short. many more people like my mom could become vulnerable to the bites of infected ticks and mosquitoes. the ball is in our court; let’s make sure we make the right play—our futures and health are at stake.

lauren pollack is a junior at the george washington university majoring in political communication.

by utilizing both the water that falls onsite and the water that runs off from surrounding areas, urban rain gardens in dc, planted with drought tolerant plants, filter rainwater and runoff water during storms. once rainwater hits the pavement it will travel to a storm drain, dragging anything in its path down the drain. covering more city surfaces with urban rain gardens will allow for greater rainwater filtration and will ensure that our waterways and drinking glasses remain pollutant free and that our streets remain green!

lauren pollack is a junior at the george washington university majoring in political communication.