Why not direct our own Watershed Resilience Action Plan and save money and time while engaging and supporting youth?
The Alliance for the Mystic River Watershed has an overarching goal: by the end of 2026, we want to have a comprehensive ecological health and climate resilience plan in place that all of our communities can support. Usually, towns separately try to develop these plans to meet state and federal requirements, but often the latest Watershed Plans and Coastal Resilience Studies sit on the shelf. This is not only costly to taxpayers, it leaves them both vulnerable and disappointed in their local governments.
Based on common sense (ecosystems and climate impacts do not align with municipal boundaries) and multiple studies from several different perspectives (climate trauma, youth wellbeing, community resilience--many examples are collected in my book Learning in the Age of Climate Disasters (Routledge 2023)) communities are safer and healthier when they develop simple capacities to adapt and transform. When young people possess the tools to contribute to those capacities, their health and engagement and indeed the well-being and economic development of whole communities flourish. More people support the necessary changes and show up to keep their communities safe and healthy.
A "Design Circle" is loosely based on Stanford's design thinking approach, except that the power of designing for change is in the hands of those most affected. I learned in Puerto Rico that the overwhelm that is causing much of young people's disengagement derives from a sense of despair about the future and powerlessness to do anything about it. My favorite quote from one of many climate-related design circles there? "After the hurricanes, I couldn't speak. All I could do was draw. I just drew and drew. Design Circles have given me my voice back--now I know I have ideas that can help."
With gratitude for the EPA and Restore America's Estuaries Long Island Sound Community Impact Fund, and support from Tessa Getchis at SeaGrant and Larissa Graham at the National Estuarine Research Reserve, we have been able to launch a year of Youth-Centered Design Circles (10) which will result in well-informed intergenerational recommendations for our Watershed Resilience Action Plan. The first two have already taken place at the Mashantucket Tribal Forests and Watersheds Camp, and have generated nearly 50 ideas addressing such challenges as how to ensure bacteria-free well water and swimming / fishing areas in our communities?
How can we to attend to the health of land even if we don't own it?
How might we honor the resting places of our ancestors?
How can we enable Seeqanamâhs (River Herring) to flourish in our waters again?
Our third design circle will be the last with the camp, and the excitement is building. Co-facilitators and Alliance Co-Design Fellows Jessica Cerullo, Connor Smith, Rain Thomas, and Miguel Ortiz are planning a big day, which will also include youth from other Tribal Nations. New ideas will fall on the old ones like leaves and be sorted into calls to action and commitment from themselves and adults they know and have met (big thank you to Kate Knight and Tobias Glaza) --fimmaker Alec Asten will help the to amplify their voices and gain intergenerational allies.
Soon we will be meeting with educators and students from Stonington Middle School, Marine Science Magnet School, and Fitch High School. If you would like to learn more about how we can spread the healing impact and frequency of design circles in our communities and learning places (your school, home school, Scouts, clubs) ,
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