under the tarp were about 30 large fiberglass molds. the molds, held together by strong metal pins, were filled with concrete and “spacers,” which included a large buoy in the center with small vinyl balls strategically placed around the sides. this morning’s group of volunteers was tasked with breaking open the molds and polishing off the finished oyster reef balls before pouring concrete back into the molds to make their own. 

building a “living shoreline”

these oyster reef balls are a part of the living shorelines that tampa bay watch creates throughout the tampa bay area. the holes created by the spaces in the concrete are designed to increase the change of species recruitment and allow water to flow through the concrete. similar structures are used around the world to create artificial reef structures, in response to a global trend of declining coral reefs, according to eric plage, environmental specialist at tampa bay watch. he has been with the non-profit organization since 2009, primarily working on the oyster reef ball program. 

the ones made by tampa bay watch are the “small ones,” according to plage. measuring 18 inches tall, 24 inches wide, these low-profile reef balls weigh between 150 and 200 pounds. other oyster reef balls, such as “pallet balls,” can weigh up to 5000 pounds. 

tampa bay watch’s oyster reef balls are utilized in the intertidal zone. during low tide, they are completely exposed. at high tide, they rest in about two to three feet of water, according to plage. their purpose has three main components: shoreline stabilization, biological filtration and to create oyster communities. 

in terms of shoreline stabilization, plage listed daily energy from boat wakes and more extreme damage from storms as significant contributing stressors on florida’s coastal environments. according to him, increased activity from boats going through channels can have some serious impact on the very important mangrove forests. 

as more and more people use the waterways for recreational and commercial purposes, the stressing factors continue to expand. increased wave activity and strength poses the risk of waves damaging the roots of mangroves and other vegetation. if serious enough, this can lead to the loss of mangrove forests, what plage dubs as the “first line of defense.” with that defense gone, the erosion is free to continue landward and creep up to a person’s property. 

finding the right solution

to protect property, plage says that many people decide to implement hardened shorelines in response to this erosion, mainly in the form of seawalls. but seawalls can do more damage than people think. 

the florida fish and wildlife conservation commission acknowledges the negative impacts of seawalls on their website. “ironically, these structures often increase the rate of coastal erosion, remove the ability of the shoreline to carry out natural processes, and provide little habitat for estuarine species,” the site says. 

most of tampa bay consists of sloped shorelines that consist of many different habitats: high marsh, low marsh, high tide line, intertidal zone and low tide line. building a flat, hardened shoreline takes away that sloped shoreline and therefore contributes to the erasure of the many different habitats possible. 

but these hardened shorelines also worsen the very problem of erosion that they are meant to address, as they magnify the impacts of boat wakes and storms. ocean waves come in the form of energy, so as a wave approaches the shoreline, the energy needs to go somewhere. with a sloped shoreline, it can be gradually dissipated through multiple layers, having a less profound effect. but with hardened sea walls, the energy simply reflects back and causes more destruction, according to plage. 

to oppose the hardened shoreline strategy, organizations like tampa bay watch use more sloped, living shorelines that are not only more natural but also mitigate effects more sensibly. their living shorelines include three main habitats that they create. 

first are the oyster reef balls themselves, which plage calls the first line of defense. they are placed in the intertidal zone side-by-side. behind the oyster reef balls a lagoon forms, in which oyster shell bags are placed in order to hold in sediment and recruit organisms. behind all this, closest to shore, is salt marsh grass. every part of this shoreline is important in its own way. 

“oyster communities are incredibly important because they’re incredibly biodiverse,” plage said. “within the little nooks and crannies of those oyster balls, there are tons of different invertebrates that use that as a nursery, use that as a safe haven.”

the oysters that are recruited onto the reef balls are impressive in themselves. not only do they add to the diversity of the communities and promote other species’ recruitment, but they also filter water. 

a single adult oyster can filter one to two gallons of water per hour when fully submerged. that’s up to 50 gallons a day, according to the national oceanic and atmospheric administration – another missing component of sea walls. 

a community effort

every part of the shoreline projects takes a lot of manpower. everything from creating the oyster reef balls to growing the salt marsh grasses. the latter is done through another program called bay grasses in classes, which works with local classrooms to grow the salt marsh grasses and see them planted in future shoreline projects. 

“we’re a hearty crew of just a handful of people, but we couldn’t do anything without our community volunteers,” plage said. 

plage said that with about 40 volunteers, they can install 200-300 reef balls in a single day. 

margie sundstrom has been volunteering with tampa bay watch for a decade now, mainly with the oyster reef ball program. her favorite aspect is showing the community how the organization is really impacting the shorelines in the tampa bay area. 

“the one thing that i like about it is how the community gets involved,” sundstrom said. “because they see what we’re doing and have an understanding of what’s being done and they can do it too.”

as an environmental non-profit, tampa bay watch gets a hands-on look at projects like these from start to finish. when they see a shoreline that is in danger or in need, they can take data themselves, use it to inform  a restoration plan, create a design, acquire permits for the design and follow through with the help of community volunteers. 

“i think the coolest part of my job is to see one of these living shorelines come to a complete fruition,” plage said. “through many of the shorelines i’ve worked on, i’ve seen them from the beginning to where they are now where they’re prospering shorelines.”

i grew up embodying these legacies, learning to take as much of what’s given because you never know when the safety around you will crumble away. to watch out for myself and my people and always be aware. to be skeptical and cautious and prepare for the worst. while i believe that people are intrinsically good, i also carry practices of not trusting those around me. these lessons are rooted in experience, resulting in constant precautions.

my family home has weathered break-ins and my father’s car was recently stolen a few streets from our home. i’ve been harangued on the street for seemingly no reason (was it because of who i am? what i look like?), questioned about where i or my family are from or what my “heritage” is seemingly a billion times, made to feel small and incompetent simply because i didn’t look like anyone else present or like anyone who had been present before. in the name of protection, i was raised with a scarcity mindset, as well as my forebears’ belief in the american dream. 

learning about trust on huahine

this past fall, i had the incredible opportunity and privilege to study in the south pacific. one of the professors, josiane, is a tahitian ethnohistorian, teacher, author, botanist, linguist, and wonderfully kind person. in discussing culture and community in the french polynesian islands, she said, “you can’t trust someone who doesn’t trust anyone.” other similar maxims exist – trust people and they will become trustworthy. over the last few years away from home, i’ve learned about more worlds than the childhood worldview i grew up with.

i’ve worked hard to assume the best intentions and motivations, love all people, have empathy, and be generous with second, or more, chances. but in the rigid, individualistic cultures prevalent in the u.s., i’ve struggled with the balance of giving the benefit of the doubt while also still remaining safe. spending time in french polynesia, i was exposed to a different, more trusting lifestyle. i began to understand how these community values can be one of the most important ways to tackle climate change. 

some of the highlights of my time in the south pacific were on huahine, where josiane lives. huahine is known for its strong womxn, pride, and self-sufficiency. people live intentionally, practicing culture and traditions as their ancestors did. most of our programming that week was focused on learning about life there, especially related to food, as well as connecting with josiane’s home and friends. one whole day was spent with all of our professor’s friends at a couple’s, sofia and gus’, home and garden. they live off the grid with solar power, big rainwater tanks, no doors, barely any walls to their house, a couple of sailing canoes for transportation, and composting toilets, buying minimally from the island’s grocery store.

my class spent the morning walking through the huge garden with sofia as she told us about many foods i had never even heard of, as well as how they like to grow. she passed on so much of her knowledge in a couple hours, replete with years of best practices, things she had learned from just trying–planting seeds in every single place imaginable to see what conditions and companions each plant liked. the rest of the day was spent with all of josiane’s friends preparing a huge meal.

from each we learned different skills, ideas, and values. together, we husked coconuts, cracked them open, shredded the meat, squeezed the shreds to make coconut milk, made bowls out of the coconut shells, made coconut pancakes with the meat and fresh cassava flour we ground, chopped up a beautiful fruit salad and greens salad, and made carpaccio with fish they had caught yesterday. i talked to one about jewelry and traditional polynesian craft. another showed me how to better husk coconuts. one heard us mentioning a fruit that we’d never tried and shortly thereafter presented us with the fruit prepared in its juiced and fermented form. there was an air of abundance, of both time and joy.

sharing knowledge, building community

all of the food, knowledge, and skills to prepare this feast came from the garden and people present. all were open, willing to teach and to answer our (silly) questions, and they moved with grace and gratitude in the time we spent together and the generosity of the earth. the lack of hesitation in welcoming a group of foreigners into their community, which had never before been done, the generosity with which they shared their knowledge, demonstrated clearly to me what living closely with the earth can look like, in reality.

i had read and theorized and imagined and envisioned back in my ivory tower at school, but this was a genuine way of living that was joyful, fulfilling, and full of love. all of the friends knew nature’s rhythm and showed their gratitude to her by living in relationship with every other being. and they all did this in community. although it was sofia and gus’ home, all of the friends, and then us students, too, were so invited and so comfortable that we moved around their home with ease and care.

together, the friends, each offering their knowledge and skills, teach workshops to the surrounding polynesian community, not open to any tourists, of how to live close to the earth and use low-tech devices like sun-drying food racks and rocket stoves that use little wood. not only do sofia and gus exemplify a life with little harmful environmental impact, they also share that with many others, helping build and give to a community. 

a pampelmousse for everyone

another memorable experience of kindness was on nuku hiva at the arboretum papua-keikaha. the arboretum aims to preserve native and culturally significant foods, while also helping provide food to the community as the island has been stricken with drought for many years after the introduction of palm trees for plantation farming by colonizers.

when we reached the citrus groves, the man giving us the tour picked a few different pampelmousse (or, grapefruit) for our sampling. there were four different varieties that we were able to try and after our murmurs of deliciousness, he started picking pampelmousse after pampelmousse, handing them to people and telling us to take them with us! we were overwhelmed with fruit; everyone had at least a couple in their hands. whatever backpacks people had brought with them were overflowing with fruit. he was incredibly giving, wanting to share his work and the food important to his people.

had the citrus not gone to us, it would’ve, along with the rest of the fruit produced at the arboretum, gone to local schools for lunch meals. but it wasn’t a question of saving the juicy, ripe fruit for the schools, more of an assumption that there were visitors to this place and when they left they needed to take something with them–a mark of the kindness and mindset of abundance in people.  

living in rhythm with nature

building and extending generosity and trust in communities is an important way to address climate change. all of josiane’s friends and the man at the arboretum showed me this explicitly. they produce their own food, take and emit little in terms of housing, transportation, or waste, and share what they know with others so more people can live with the land. in recognizing the earth and others’ generosity, there is more gratitude, which can develop more responsible and intentional living. knowing that the breadfruit trees are abundant when they fruit and having gratitude for the amount of food the earth provides leads people to make sure they steward and care for those trees and do what they can to make sure they can keep reproducing year after year.

rather than keep these ideals siloed and individual, sofia exemplified these values in her community. she trusted a group of foreign students she had never met before to walk through her garden and harvest all kinds of food on our own. she, and the rest of my professor’s friends, shared their time, their hard work, and their knowledge with all of us. from that day, i truly came to understand that it’s possible to live in right relation with the earth, surrounded by and embedded in a community.

the people we met have little negative and harmful impact on the earth while teaching others to live closely, not pollute nor emit, and bask in the generosity of the planet and reciprocate with care for the land and waters. climate change has and will bring food scarcity, individualism and escapism, irregularity and the inability to depend on historically accurate cycles or trends, resulting in barriers to community building. but in building communities that are trusting, kind, and generous, that live in rhythm with nature, climate change solutions become everyday actions that are accessible and contagious to many people. 

developing the capacity to trust is not an easy task, nor is it fair to ask uniformly of all people. some people are skeptical, self-protective, and wary for good reason. the world they live in is not built for them or their benefit, happiness, or ability to thrive. bad things can and do happen. greeting the world with trust and care can sometimes take an unexpected or harmful turn. 

it begins and ends with trust

at the end of the program, my family came to visit and spend the holidays together. within a couple of days, i noticed the generosity and goodwill i was accustomed to greeting and giving out shifting a bit. it was raining as my family drove up a narrow, bumpy, dirt road looking for our rental house. not a good road to be on in the rain with a tiny car with tiny tires. when we reached what seemed like the end of the road, with no luck on finding the house, a person came out from his home and tried telling us in mixed french, tahitian, english, and hand gestures to turn around and get off the road. it made perfect sense to me and i thought i understood what he was saying.

but for the others in my family, having just arrived in the country, they didn’t expect this behavior. this man was standing out in the rain, having come out of his house where we were on his property, telling us with zeal to turn around and leave. as the guy tapped on the window again to emphasize that we needed to go, someone said, “roll the window up” as he was speaking. i was astounded and frustrated! this person was trying to help, to be kind. i trusted him and saw the generosity, whereas that wasn’t shared within my family.

they did not expect interactions with strangers to be filled with generosity. it’s hard to be generous without trust and it’s hard to trust without being part of a community. with a little bit of trust in someone else, they will put a little bit more trust in you, as josiane says. that trust is the foundation of relationships that become communities, which can be filled with generosity and openness. community building is one of the most essential ways to contend with a rapidly warming world where suffering abounds. trust people and they will become trustworthy. 

globally, over 40% of insect species are declining in population. their disappearance is happening faster than plant or bird populations. the main threat is habitat loss created by expanding agricultural fields, followed by chemical pollution, according to a 2019 study.

“many towns, and most farmers, are using very potent chemicals to kill off insects to protect their crops…but there’s been a real neglect of the reality that those chemicals are toxic to the small insects that need to pollinate things, so there’s nothing left to do the pollinating,” says jackie algon, co-founder and current board member of pollinator pathway.

forging a new path

pollinator pathway, an organization founded in wilton, connecticut in 2017, seeks to combat the issues that pollinators and their habitats face. their aim is to create north-to-south migration corridors across north america by planting pollinator-friendly gardens with native plants, and to stop the use of pesticides. individuals or groups can register their gardens or even flower boxes as official pollinator gardens. the organization now has pathways in over 350 towns in 13 states, most in the northeast, as well as one in ontario, canada. just this year, it was registered as a 501(c)(3) organization.

the original pollinator pathway was conceptualized and founded by artist sarah bergmann in 2007, and her concept inspired the pollinator pathway organization, according to their website. bergmann’s goal was to connect two green pieces of land in seattle’s urban landscape by planting along sidewalks and in other underutilized areas, according to her website. 

last spring, a group of mansfield residents registered the township with pollinator pathway. the process started with mansfield’s sustainability committee successfully passing a resolution that declared the town a “pollinator-friendly community” in early 2020. due to this resolution, getting municipal approval to build and maintain pollinator gardens became easier, and helped with getting pollinator pathway on board with the group’s proposed garden, according to melissa sheardwright. a private-practice psychologist by day, sheardwright handles outreach in the mansfield chapter of pollinator pathway. 

mansfield and wilton show the successes of local sustainability advocacy, however, both towns are suburban areas surrounded by woodland. migratory species, which pollinator pathway focuses on, are most affected by habitat loss caused by urbanization and suburbanization. this is why the end goal of the organization is to create stretches of pollinator-friendly land in both urban and rural areas. without adequate “pit stops,” the pollinators cannot survive the trip.

restoring pollinator habitats

monarch butterfly populations in north america have decreased by more than 90% over the last two decades, according to the national wildlife foundation. the areas in which the migratory butterflies seek food and rest are disappearing, taking monarch populations with them. this is caused not only by urban/suburbanization, but also by global warming, which shifts the seasons and throws off the growing cycles of many organisms. this causes the species that rely on each other to fall out of sync, affecting food and shelter availability.

“the insects’ life cycles are now out of sync with the birds’ hatching cycles or with the trees’ leafing out cycles, so nature is confused,” said algon.

monarchs are just one example of the many pollinators whose numbers have been decimated. bees, flies, bats, birds, and other organisms also face migration and habitat issues. bees are a quintessential example, but most people mistakenly think of honeybees as the main pollinators. 

“honeybees are not native bees…they do a lot of important pollinating, especially for farmers, but 40% of the pollinating that gets done is done by what’s called ‘solitary bees.’ people spray their yards with pesticides to get rid of them, but they can’t sting you,” said algon. 

it’s important to restore plant life to developed areas. but supporting pollinators doesn’t just call for more greenery. the pathways must comprise native plant species that pollinators rely on.

algon’s first brush with native plant species and habitat protection came when she moved to wilton with her husband. she wanted to plant some colorful bushes on their property, but the landscape architect told her that part of the property is on wetlands, and those bushes were invasive. “at that moment, i realized that i was dangerous to the ecology because i didn’t know anything,” she said. 

this lack of knowledge is all too common. many of the most popular plants sold in traditional garden centers are non-native. forsythia, for example, looks beautiful in a garden, but “it’s not native and it doesn’t feed the insects,” sheardwright said.

according to the pennsylvania department of conservation and natural resources (padcnr), invasive plants usually are species that can survive in many conditions, and that rapidly grow and reproduce. this allows them to crowd out native species, especially since invasive plants have few natural predators in the new areas. moreover, invasives directly affect pollinator reproduction. garlic mustard, a widespread invasive species, attracts monarch butterflies, who lay their eggs on the plant. but the plant does not provide adequate nutrition for the emerging caterpillars, causing them to die off or grow improperly.

invasive species have cost the united states an average of $26 billion annually in the 2010’s, according to a 2021 study. this is a substantial rise from the $2 billion per year spent in the early 1960’s.

“[invasives often] have multiple seeds that spawn more than our natives do, so they take over easily,” said pamela nobumoto, a resident of wilton and frequent collaborator with pollinator pathway. a stay-at-home mom, she started gardening as a hobby. but she has since turned it into her passion. she was certified as an “advanced master gardener” through uconn extension, a program offered by the college of agriculture, health, and natural resources.

much of her work involves restoring the dunes and native grass at the beach on sherwood island in westport, conn., for which she has applied for and received multiple grants. she has also planted pollinator gardens on the island and in wilton.

as a result, she has seen a dramatic increase in the numbers and types of pollinators that visit the area. “a lot of the things i put in are like magnets for butterflies, bees [and] hummingbirds.”

preserving a future for connecticut pollinators

in addition to planting gardens, pollinator pathway places a heavy emphasis on educating people about the environment around them. one of the main goals of the founders was “making people aware of what they could do,” said algon.

making your yard pollinator-friendly doesn’t necessarily mean ripping up your grass lawn and planting trees and bushes. sometimes, it can be as simple as not mowing as often. algon has seen people do this in her neighborhood. “we encourage people to embrace dandelions, and to love clover; if you let them just grow, they will provide a great food source and some habitat.”

as a result, lawns would require less maintenance. “the less you do, by taking out more of your lawn, by converting it into little meadows or garden beds…the less you have to do.”

sheardwright and nobumoto also emphasized the importance of educating community members about native species and pollinators. sheardwright described her work as “neighbor education”. nobumoto sometimes works at a plant clinic, wherein people can bring in plants to identify or treat for diseases. she said that gardening is a community. 

“it’s a lot of sharing knowledge; it’s not just [for] yourself, but helping others.”

as our mouths were agape from the raw beauty of the mountainous landscape, we found ourselves coughing – at points choking – on dust. and upon conversing with locals like the taxista on day two, it was clear that the dry climate is far from breaking news. this 10-year drought has become commonplace for mendozans, each year a bit worse than the last.

sure enough, a 2021 study found that five of the largest rivers in the mendoza basin are under extreme hydrological drought conditions. in addition to the desiccation of key wetland ecosystems, agriculture and livestock have suffered tremendously. wine production has decreased by almost a third, and key reservoirs can no longer promise water to local communities. as an attempted pivot, snowfall from the andes has been increasingly relied on – but what happens when snowfall decreases each year? last winter, the valley received no snow at all. snow-covered vistas are either distant in memory, or far up in the mountains.

activism in mendoza

on the final day of our trip, we had the gift of spending time with members of mendoza’s asamblea popular por el agua. this group of young climate activists have planned and implemented a series of largely- attended protests, dances and other events over the past five years. on this day, we drove two hours south to attend a public fair framed around the distribution and celebration of seeds in the town of san carlos.

they shared their work with us, which has proven incredibly effective in creating change and mobilizing substantial numbers of people in the fight for rights to clean water for everyone. their framework of diverse, creative, unrelenting activism allows them to address specific communities with each campaign, ensuring that their message truly reaches everyone.

their campaign also addressed questions of environmental justice in the face of climate change, since the impacts of drought, water pollution, and privatization will be distributed unequally, such that certain communities bare the largest burden of these actions. by utilizing infrastructures that already exist, such as grassroots organizations, farmer coalitions, news channels, famous singers like the puerto rican rap group calle 13, and more, they have brought their message to large audiences.

la feria de semillas adopted this similar technique, bringing local farmers, vendors, specialists, the work of local students, and regional nonprofits into the same space in order to amplify their message and strengthen connections within this network of various actors. having only witnessed four days of mendoza, i found myself blown away. first, at the seriousness of the situation. as environmental crises often are, this drought is at the nexus point of concurrent crises: public health, economic and ecological. second, i was blown away at the wisdom and clarity of the activism already in place. it was targeted, inspiring, and oozing with the joy of community. in my past activism in the u.s., i had never encountered a group that could so gracefully balance hope and reason.

upon boarding the return flight to buenos aires, i felt shaken awake. the land had a lot to say, but so did the people. this work is rich with demonstrations of conflict transformation in practice. the seed fair attendees brought their own history and life experience into the space; each had their personal stories of the drought and its impacts. in order to equalize and publicize the knowledge of this predicament, a panel of local experts elaborated on the historical and current situation.

similarly, there was a native plant workshop, open to the public, where attendees could learn about local plants and how to cultivate them. these structures built both freedom and responsibility for every individual at the fair: by gathering sources of local knowledge and sharing them among the community, each individual becomes an agent of change. they too can distribute this knowledge. they are part of the solution.

in Ángela and the plastic problem, she embarks on a journey to discover what her local community and communities across her country are doing to increase sustainability by combating plastic waste. learning about intiatives in other cities and even going on a trip to the marvelous galápagos islands, she is helped and inspired along the way by her best friend, julia, and her mamá.

Ángela meets new friends like pedro and his mother to continue her exploration of ecuador, facing her fears to discover how community can tackle plastic pollution together.

in this children’s book, youth will hopefully be inspired to take action after learning about what other people are doing to combat plastic waste. 

Ángela and the plastic problem was written as an original story by first-time and emerging authors maria zaharatos & shelby atherton, edited and published with support from elena negrón, and illustrated by ruby walker.

the following two page spreads are an excerpt from the book. 

the book is made available through the texas-based educational nonprofit organization, faro: projects for global education, which writes educational curricula and children’s books on global issues.

for interested readers who liked this excerpt, you can check out the full book available on amazon, and keep an eye out for our kindle version coming soon! 

for teachers or others who want to use the book for educational purposes – please contact faro at info@faropge.org

madison, wisconsin’s housing cooperatives appeal to residents for their sense of community and affordable rent. but they also serve as an example of how housing can become more sustainable, according to damontae january, membership coordinator of madison community cooperative.

mcc operates 11 cooperatives that currently house a total of 142 members, according to january. the group provides logistical assistance and a financial safety net for expenses such as maintenance and renovation. members vote on policies for their individual buildings and participate in mcc-wide decisions. depending on which mcc house a member lives in, rent and utilities combined cost between $360 and $710 per month.

in a housing co-op, members live in separate rooms in the same building, sharing utilities and common spaces such as kitchens. according to claire oleksiak, the executive director of madison environmental nonprofit sustain dane, more dense housing like apartments and cooperatives are generally more energy-efficient than single-family homes, producing fewer greenhouse gas emissions per person.

recent gas and electricity use data wasn’t available for three of mcc’s buildings. out of the eight others, madison gas & electric data show that all use less natural gas and most use less electricity per person than the madison average for all forms of housing.

building back better

zoe bayliss cooperative, madison’s largest co-op with 47 student members, will move into an mcc building on langdon street this summer. 

the university of wisconsin-madison will demolish the building zoe bayliss has rented from the university for decades after this academic year. after frustrating uncertainty about the future of the co-op, angela maloney, a uw-madison senior and zoe bayliss board member, said the move into mcc’s building “feels more like we are joining a partnership.”

zoe bayliss’ new location on langdon street has the potential to become uniquely efficient even among mcc co-ops, according to january. mcc will replace the building’s damaged steam boiler system with a new, all-electric heating and cooling system, reducing its reliance on fossil fuels. 

heat and air conditioning are some of the largest contributors to household natural gas and electricity usage, according to valora gutierrez, sustain dane’s efficiency navigator and naturally occurring affordable housing outreach specialist.

improvements like those planned for zoe bayliss can be costly – january said the more efficient heating and cooling system and the electrical upgrades necessary to support it will cost $750,000.

for the project, mcc received financial and logistical assistance from sustain dane and elevate, a chicago-based nonprofit that aims to make utilities cleaner and more affordable. the organizations helped mcc secure a grant to cover $288,000 of the new system’s installation.

sustain dane and elevate assist with similar — though typically smaller — projects through their efficiency navigator program, which aims to make energy and resource-efficient upgrades to affordable multifamily rental housing more accessible.

“we, throughout the process, hold their hand and coordinate the contractors for them, coordinate the contractor bids and set up all the necessary logistics,” gutierrez said.

gutierrez said the program also helps affordable housing stay affordable by directly funding upgrades to old buildings, helping owners keep rents low. upgrades such as more efficient insulation and window sealing can also reduce gas and electric bills for renters.

january expects the replacement and other renovations to be complete by the end of may, allowing members of zoe bayliss to move in for the next academic year.

january said mcc also encourages member houses to improve insulation, particularly in the winter. “those smaller things, that can have a big impact,” january said.

location, location, location

while older buildings often require renovations to increase efficiency and drive down energy costs, sustain dane’s oleksiak said renovations have a smaller environmental footprint than constructing homes from scratch.

“think of all the materials that go into building a house. the concrete to pour the foundation, the wood and drywall,” oleksiak said. “reusing an existing building can be a benefit to the environment.”

housing co-ops typically occupy large, old houses downtown. many, including zoe bayliss’ future building, inhabit former fraternity or sorority houses. 

january said older houses are often either rented out to students as-is or occasionally demolished to make way for new construction. but he said converting them into co-ops can accommodate more people and still “keep the whole house out of the landfill.”

converting old buildings in the city into more densely populated cooperatives also allows co-op members to take shorter commutes to downtown jobs. according to a city presentation on building sustainability, residential buildings create 17% of madison’s greenhouse gas emissions, while transportation creates 41%. 

steve vig, a member of mcc’s hypatia cooperative, said being part of a community also reduces members’ transportation needs and waste compared to living in separate apartments or houses.

“i make one shopping trip a week and do the food shopping for 14 people,” vig said, adding that other members are responsible for recycling and composting. “if we weren’t all living together and organizing it together, probably not all of us would do that wherever we were living.”

rejenerate housing cooperative aims to further reduce its emissions from transportation by installing charging stations for three shared electric vehicles, according to the co-op’s website. members may opt-in to use those vehicles instead of owning their own car.

rejenerate should house 25 units in two adjacent houses on jenifer street once ongoing renovations are complete in the spring, according to abby davidson, one of rejenerate’s developers and a former member of an mcc co-op house.

while making housing less harmful to the environment may be a burden on homeowners and out of the control of many renters, january said madison’s housing cooperatives show sustainability doesn’t have to be a solo project.

“as we look at how our changing climate is going to start affecting how people live, where they live, i think co-ops can be at the forefront,” january said.

established in 1991, the tbep is a product of the national estuary program as a part of the clean water act of 1987. the organization’s goal is “to build partnerships to restore and protect tampa bay through implementation of a scientifically sound, community based management plan.” this plan is funded by the bay mini-grant program, which disperses funding to organizations in the community whose projects work to protect the environment of tampa bay. 

the money for these grants comes from purchases of specialty “tarpon tag” license plates which depict the famous tampa bay tarpon, a highly prized game fish common to the gulf of mexico. 

to gain a little more insight into the tbep and their community work, sheila scolaro, community programs scientist at the tbep, discusses several of the projects funded by the tarpon tag license plates and explains why community science is such an important part of tampa bay. 

this interview has been edited for length and clarity.

q: could you tell me a little bit about yourself and your background?

a: my name is sheila scolaro. i’m the community program scientist for the tampa bay estuary program. i’ve been with the estuary program for about two years. i am a florida native, from near the mouth of the manatee river/bradenton area. i grew up snorkeling and fishing the grass flats of that area, and i remember being really young and kind of becoming really fascinated at the diversity of life hiding just below the surface of the water.

so i knew that i was going to dedicate my career to protecting these sensitive estuarine habitats and coastal habitats, so that future generations would have the same opportunities to explore this amazing underwater world like i had. after i graduated from high school, i went to the university of florida and i studied plant science. and then from there, i got a job at the fish and wildlife research institute studying sea grasses, so i traveled all around the gulf of mexico studying seagrass and water quality. 

i worked at the fwc for about four years and then i ran the seagrass and water quality monitoring program for sarasota county. and now i am at the tampa bay estuary program where i coordinate our volunteer seagrass monitoring effort. and i help coordinate a lot of our community engagement activities.

q: so what got you interested in your current job that you have now? what led you there? 

a: to me, science is really important and management should be based on science, but there seems to be a disconnect between the scientists and the community. part of that issue is that we as scientists, we write in a lot of jargon. i wanted to try and be a bridge between the science and the community so that community members didn’t feel isolated. and they have the same knowledge that the scientists did.

q: could you explain a little bit about your role at the tbep?

a: i help to engage community members. we try to educate our science to the community members so that they can be more informed members of our community and to help them be better stewards of our environment. we have 3.8 million people that live in this region now, and a lot of them are from out of state. i know that most people came to florida because of the beauty of tampa bay, so they don’t intentionally want to do anything to hurt it – so we tried to help them be better stewards. 

some of the things that i do (are that) i manage our bay mini-grant program, which is a community program that’s funded by the “tarpon tag” or the tampa bay specialty license plate. it grants up to $5,000 that is offered to community organizations for projects that help to protect and restore tampa bay. i also coordinate a program which is called “give a day for the bay,” encouraging community members to get out and be part of tampa bay’s restoration story. 

q: what are some of the projects that you’ve been a part of over the past couple of years?

a: we have a lot of projects that we fund through a mini-grant program and through all of the tampa bay programs. so with the bay mini-grant program, we’ve tried to find anywhere from 20 to 25 projects a year. our goal is to fund about $100,000, so i’ve been involved in quite a few projects. the rain gardens are, i think, my favorite – we have quite a few of those. each year we have a request for projects that goes out in the summer and we try to highlight or prioritize a specific action which is basically one of our goals to implement. 

q: what exactly is a rain garden, and why is that your favorite type of project? 

a: rain gardens are areas that collect water and essentially slow water movement and allow for that water to percolate through the system. it pulls out all of the nutrients and contaminants in the water before it gets to tampa bay. as somebody who has focused a large part of their career on seagrasses, any project that improves water clarity or water quality is something that i like to be involved in… (it’s) an exciting project for me because it also gets people outside, gets people digging, digging in the dirt, which i think is really important – getting your hands on nature, feeling nature i think is important. and recognizing the beauty of florida native species.

q: what do you think is the importance of community management and community projects in this day and age?

a: i think it’s important to know a little bit about the history of tampa bay to kind of put the community in context and how important that community is to this area. in the early 1950s, tampa bay’s economy was booming and we were rapidly developing, but we had poor wastewater treatment, so we were discharging raw sewage directly into the bay. we had poor nutrient management, and we were just rapidly developing. we had algae blooms over almost the entire bay, but in the northern portions of the bay, the algae blooms were the worst.

by the 1980s, we lost about 70% of our sea grasses, which is a critical habitat for many of our fishes and wildlife species in the region and in the estuary. in about the 1970s, the community kind of stepped up and there was a community outcry. they basically joined forces and started this movement called “save the bay.” they were really the impetus for change in tampa bay. they demanded more from their representatives and they were the ones that kind of got the restoration started in this area.

without the community, the bay might not look the way that it does today. to me, the community members are still at the heart of our restoration story. so community is everything. you know, we’re the ones who live out here, we play out here. we’re the ones that have a large impact. and so if we can be better stewards of the area, even if it’s just our neighborhood, then it can have a pretty large impact on the estuary as a whole.

q: what are some of the impacts that you have personally seen through community programs like this? 

a: i think they have a big impact in the local communities. i mean, in this one park in gulfport we saw the implementation of one project and then another group was inspired by the project – the rain garden that was installed – and now they want to do another one and potentially there will be other spots that have rain gardens also. i think having those small community projects that are visible to the neighborhood, are inspiring to me, to other groups and to new locals and to tourists.

i will just say that we’ve gotten very comfortable lately (with) how beautiful tampa bay is. however, we’re seeing some major changes in the estuary. anecdotally… we’re getting reports of large scale macro algae blooms. we had harmful algae blooms in the northern part of the estuary from 2018 to 2020. we lost 16% of our seagrasses which is pretty substantial.

we’ve had two consecutive reporting years where we lost the grass, and we’re expecting another one…that’s concerning for us as bay managers.

what i would like to say to community members is that it’s time for us to once again come together as a community and recommit to protecting tampa bay because it took 30 years to restore the estuary and we don’t want to miss out or take for granted what those who came before us did. 

florida residents can get the specialty license plate for $17 a year, helping fund community projects around the tampa bay area, like the ones described by scolaro. for those who want to be more involved in the projects, visit the tampa bay estuary program website.

finding community organizations and ways to support them, like a license plate, can be great ways to take small steps toward building stronger community-based management.

for some, recycling is all about being environmentally conscious. for others, it is a means of survival. recycling is becoming a way of life and the benefits reach beyond the individual doing it. although it is often promoted as a way to save the environment and rescue the planet, recycling can also give hope and a helping hand to so many impoverished communities.

given that can-collectors often experience 24-hour workdays, sifting through trash on the street, and no guaranteed income; can-collecting is often considered the lowest form of work. but for many canners, recycling is an opportunity to take what they can get when more conventional opportunities are inaccessible or not available.

recycling helps individuals feel pride in their work which is honest, difficult, and gives them some financial power to pay for food, housing, and transportation. because there is a stigma around can-collecting, it is important to note that how collectors choose to spend their earnings is their business, as is the case with any line of work.

can-collectors/recyclers/canners are improving recycling initiatives and materials management in new york state. by sorting and taking cans and bottles directly to recycling facilities, they are preventing recyclable goods that have been mismanaged and littered from entering landfills and burn facilities. if you recycle one plastic bottle, that is one less piece of non-biodegradable plastic that will end up in a landfill or as litter in the ocean.