Overview
A small community of roughly 40 families, Puerto de Santa Rosa is located in the beautiful sierra of Guanajuato, up the hill from the town center of Santa Rosa. In Climate Crowd surveys, members of the community describe a recent trend away from agriculture, a change attributed in part to a decline in rainfall. As one local woman describes, “Without as much water, as much rain, there is no harvest. [We] don’t sow crops anymore.”
The initial project plan inclused a series of presentations and workshops on climate change and sustainable gardening for grade school students, culminating in the creation of a new school vegetable garden and integrated compost system. High school students were also tasked with helping to establish a new garden at a nearby protected area to educate visitors. Both gardens would incorporate climate resilient techniques including careful crop selection (in consultation with an agronomy engineer), smart watering practices, use of compost to improve water retention, use of sunshades and clear documentation of plant successes and failures such that strategies can be modified and improved upon with each new planting season.
Activities
Due to COVID-19, only part of the project was able to be completed including the following:
- one work session at the primary school with the teacher, parents, and students helping to clear space for the garden and to move donated materials.
- twice weekly activities in the school focused on climate change and the role of plants as carbon sinks.
- collaboration with rangers at the nearby protected area in preparing materials and constructing the keyhole garden over the course of multiple weeks including the planting of some seeds and seedlings in March.
Class lectures (below):
Student drawings (below):
Indicators:
Direct outputs:
Construction of 1 new educational garden. Approximately 50 square ft of land area now dedicated to crop production and environmental education.
Capacity building:
23 students have gained knowledge on the basics of climate change, though the entire planned curriculum was unable to be implemented
