The Doris Duke ConservationScholars Program aims at taking a diverse group of students and providing them
with opportunities both conducting research and working for environmental
organizations. This summer, Marvin Bell and I are working for the Sierra Club Michigan Chapter’s Great Lakes,
Great Communities program. Marvin is a
rising senior at Amherst University studying Anthropology, History, and
Sociology, and I am a rising senior at Brown University concentrating in
Environmental Studies. Upon arriving at our internship, Marvin and I were very
excited to see what opportunities lay ahead of us. I was particularly
interested in seeing what working in a small office for an NGO could look like,
and I have not been disappointed by the plethora of projects offered to us.
The project that we dedicate most
of our efforts to is the Rain Gardens to the Rescue program. This program is a
collaboration effort between Sierra Club, Friends of the Rouge and Keep Growing
Detroit. It has been helping citizens of
Detroit plant rain gardens in their community. Since the project’s inception, one
of its main goals has been to protect the Great Lakes from climate change impacts. Warmer climates result in more intense
storms. Rain gardens a type of green
infrastructure that captures stormwater keeping it out of combined sewer
drains; helping to prevent combined sewer overflows.
Sierra Club has worked with their
partners, other NGOs, and community members to implement green infrastructure
from the residential to organizational level and advanced local policy on green
infrastructure. The rain gardens project promotes relationship building with community
leaders, and recognizes the values and priorities of community members. Residents of targeted geographic areas submit
applications to participate. Those
selected, participate in training and are encouraged to educate other Detroiters
on how to build upon the network of green infrastructure opportunities by
creating their own rain gardens.
Rain gardens are particularly
helpful to Detroit, as its combined sewer system has resulted in the dumping of
untreated wastewater into local rivers during large rain events. To help
finance upgrades to it’s aging infrastructure, and waste water treatment, the
City of Detroit Water and Sewerage Department charges rate payers a drainage
fee. This fee has been in existence
since 1975. To be more equitable, DWSD
has updated the way the charge is calculated so that all rate payers pay based
upon the amount of stormwater runoff produced by each lot from impervious
surfaces.
Implementation of green
infrastructure e.g. rain gardens has the potential to help customers receive
“green credits” and lower their drainage costs. The “Rain Gardens to the
Rescue” program is aimed towards this end. The first day of our internship
kicked off with a tour of rain gardens already planted in the community, and we
got to see what successful gardens looked like. Soon after, Marvin and I began
participating in site visits, and helped applicants plan the space for their
garden. While our internship will end before the planting begins, I am very
excited for this round of rain gardens, and have been inspired to look into
green infrastructure opportunities in my own community.
To read Blog Post #2, click here.
To read Blog Post #2, click here.
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