Community Garden as a Context for Civic Ecology: A Multidisciplinary Project in Restoration and Environmental Education

This paper describes a civic ecology program called Bees Alive! developed by the NYU Wallerstein Collaborative for Urban Environmental Education & Sustainability over three years to establish a native plant pollinator garden in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, New York. The project brought together a large university, public schools, non-profit organizations and a community garden called Lentol Garden to support wildlife and create an outdoor classroom to educate the public about the importance of pollinators. The garden was utilized as a context for civic ecology, environmental education and stewardship. Theories of place-based education and experiential learning were incorporated in designing this long-term project funded by EPA Region 2. This article illustrates how partnerships between educators and stewards can enhance green infrastructure, ecosystem services and human well-being in cities (Krasny 2014).