Hands-On Activities for Gardening in a Warming World
What are “systems” and what does it take to be a “systems thinker”? Think about how systems thinking could increase pest management success.
Read the Systems Thinking Facilitator Handout and do the following:
- Review Handouts #1 through #4 and identify approaches to documenting garden observations.
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In a pair or small group discuss the changes have you noticed in your garden. What changes are challenging your garden success? How are they challenging? Any enhancing your gardening success?
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How you might use the worksheet “Reliable Resources Matrix?”
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With another classmate, complete “Climate-smart gardening put into action” then return to whole group to highlight.
Here is the full list of handouts in the Systems Thinking Facilitator Handout:
Handout#1 – Being a Systems Thinker This 2-page handout is adapted from author Linda Booth Sweeney’s 12 Habits of Mind lists the key characteristics of a systems thinker on one page and pictures on the next.
Handout #2 – Knowing your Garden System
This 2-page handout is a checklist of ways to map your garden landscape.
Handout #3 – What is the Greenhouse Effect?
These images on a 1-page handout depict the general concept of how greenhouse gases warm the planet.
Handout#4 – What Happens in New York State When the Climate Changes?
This 1-page handout provides an image of warming indicators and lists a the variety of NYS climate change impacts.
Handout#5– Reliable Resources Matrix
This 2-page worksheet provides a tool to document and quantify the value of each resource, how accurate it is, and how reliable.
Handout #6 – Climate-smart gardening put into action
This 4-page worksheet has a list of actions to reduce your carbon footprint. Reflect on their contribution to mitigation or/and adaptation.