Richmond Secondary Green Team implemented a pollinator-friendly garden under the David Suzuki Foundation Butterflyways Project. Overall, the block party was a success.
After enjoying food and conversations, we all went to the garden plot to observe the plants and decorations. A few green team members gave a speech on the purpose of the garden, and our gardening efforts. We mentioned how the garden is to provide habitat for pollinators as many species are at risk due to habitat loss from urbanization/industrialization.
We encouraged everyone to build their own gardens, and even though many students do not have the time and resources to start one at their homes, they still gain the awareness of such initiatives and would be more inclined to start one in the future. In the end, we were ultimately able to send out our message on sustainability efforts, while still having a lot of fun: enjoying food, music, and conversations.
However, not everything was ideal. Although we were able to engage the student population of Richmond Secondary, we were not able to have many other people of the general public attend this event. In addition, due to unexpected complications, we were not able to install the informative sign in time, which was supposed to be a major component of our Block Party.
The purpose of the informative sign is to educate everyone who passes the garden about sustainability efforts, as well as serving as an aesthetic element to the garden. From this, we learned the importance of planning early! Even though the sign wasn’t able to be installed for our block party, it will still be able to provide education and awareness to the public for years to come.
