Using civic ecology education to foster social-ecological resilience: A case study from Southern California

ABSTRACT

Environmental education that incorporates civic ecology can contribute to social-ecological resilience through programs designed to advance youth civic leadership and environmental stewardship. This research used an interpretive qualitative approach to study the environmental education activities of a Watershed Avengers at the Ocean Discovery Institute in Southern California that focused on urban canyon stewardship and restoration. The first author conducted ethnographic fieldwork with the Watershed Avengers from fall 2014 through spring 2015. Civic ecology emerged as a concept that resonated with what was observed on the ground and then informed the focus of our study. We found that Ocean Discovery Institute’s strength in developing youth civic leadership was a defining feature that contributed to its other practices of collaborative urban canyon restoration and engagement in community priorities. These findings suggest that environmental education practices can build social-ecological resilience through a focus on youth leadership.

Keywords:

• civic ecology
• social ecological resilience
• youth civic leadership

Notes

1 Ocean Discovery Institute began community planning efforts for the center in 2006, and officially broke ground in February 2016. They had their grand opening in October 2018. Ocean Discovery Institute had started planning with the community years in advance (starting with a Youth Advisory Council and Family Advisory Committee and then expanding to engage the broader community and stakeholders) to come up with the design, identify the location, raise the funds, and expand community support.

2 The aims of the Watershed Avengers Initiative vary each year depending on the youth leadership opportunities. In 2021, the aims focused more on larger community canyon cleanup and ecological restoration events and associated monthly programming.

3 During an analysis meeting on March 5, 2020, the third author clarified that the trees were being trimmed so people could see into and out of the canyon, to make it safer for children to enter and their parents to see them.

4 To understand community needs, Ocean Discovery Institute conducted key informant interviews with park rangers, public officials, and environmental groups, as well as surveys with community neighbors.

5 Ocean Discovery Institute’s Outdoor Community Center space is 12,000 square feet on a half-acre of property.

Additional information

Funding

In accordance with Taylor & Francis policy and our ethical obligations as researchers, we report that we have no financial interests in the enclosed paper. The Newkirk Center for Science and Society funded the first author as a graduate student research fellow; however, the Newkirk Center had no interest in research outcomes and no relationship with the partner organization, Environmental Education Nonprofit, at the time of data collection. The third author is a staff member in the Environmental Education Nonprofit, which was the focus of this article. We used an intentional participatory and community-based research approach, with the third author included in the collaborative writing of this article.