Editor:
We recently read that the Queen's Park Farm Master Plan focusing on Habitat and Grow concepts has been adopted by our city council — bravo!
We love the plan for modelling three habitat zones: a pollinator meadow, a shrub/understory and a wetland habitat. As RegenerateBC volunteer facilitators of climate solutions education, we are absolutely thrilled with many other features of this project, notably the outdoor classroom and Indigenous plant features.
We have been volunteering in many New Westminster classrooms facilitating climate solutions education and believe the Queen's Park project will dovetail nicely with this curriculum. We also think many teachers will be inspired to integrate climate education into their lessons when delivered at Queen's Park.
Currently, many students learn nothing about the climate crisis at school. With this new project, students will learn about the impact of climate change on the three modelled habitats and the need for us to protect and restore these habitats for carbon storage. As well, for our adult education programs, we might take a field trip to this project to talk about nature-based climate solutions in an actual natural environment. The opportunities are immense.
Some may complain about the costs of the Queen's Park project. We see this differently and are proud of our city council for understanding that this cost can be outweighed by the benefits of engaging more residents in climate solutions education, so they are inspired to implement these solutions in our community and in their daily lives.
We won’t act on climate change solutions if we don’t talk about them and learn the science of where we are heading if we don’t act. Already the world is set to surpass a global average of 1.5 degrees Celsius warming before 2030 if we don’t change. Education is key.
Waiting to implement climate solutions because of dollar costs is not a good option because we and, most notably, our children will pay much more in the future if we do nothing now. Thank you, city council, for putting our children first.
Karen Crosby and Jennifer Nathan
To see the full plan for the farm, check out the Queen's Park Farm Master Plan at the city's website.
📢 SOUND OFF: What do you like (or not) about the plans for the Queen's Park farm? What other climate actions would you like to see the City of New Westminster take? Let us know — send us a letter.
