Working together to serve our communities through science.

Gardens

Community gardens have been incorporated into community-driven solutions for poverty and unemployment since the late 1800s; however, the concept of community gardens really didn’t take off in the U.S. until much later. In the 1970s, community gardens were recognized not just for their potential to enhance food supplies and maximize land use, but became a central focus for community groups looking to revamp neighborhoods and unite communities. They were recognized for their potential to educate, inspire, and provide creative outlets for at-risk youth. By 2013, 37 million households were estimated to have participated in food gardening at home, with another three million are growing food in community gardens.⁷

Today, the benefits of community gardens are acknowledged across the social spectrum, as they are repeatedly shown to increase access to wholesome foods, improve community building efforts, enhance emotional well-being, create green space, and reduce the cost of food. More than 18,000 community gardens now exist in the U.S. and Canada, and the USDA has estimated that approximately 8,268 farmers' markets are supported by local gardening efforts.

So what’s the challenge?

Gardens have been shown to be vulnerable to external stressors. With pollution, drought, and climate change representing an ever-increasing problem, environmental impacts to gardens from air and water represent a widespread concern. Soils can be a repository for society’s waste; a collection point for surface runoff and airborne deposition. Community revitalization and public health efforts could be diminished if gardens are unknowingly cultivated in environmentally compromised spaces.

Living in Environmentally Compromised Spaces, the truth hurts

One in four Americans lives within three miles of a hazardous waste site,¹ of which there are roughly 355,000 in the U.S.² Furthermore, the U.S. is home to more than 450,000 brownfieldssites, or former industrial properties deemed unsuitable for active use without reclamation and cleanup efforts.⁴ As if these numbers weren’t bleak enough, the U.S. is also home to approximately 550,000 abandoned mining sites, with more than 80,000 abandoned mines⁴ in Arizona alone. U.S. mining sites are linked to the generation of 45 billion tons of waste and are often encountered in arid and semiarid regions, such as Arizona. The dry and arid conditions of the Southwest drive dust emissions and can result in the long-range transport of metal-contaminated aerosols unearthed by historical mining operations, such as arsenic, cadmium, and lead.^{5, 6}

Let us put two and two together

When the U.S. has community gardens plus hazardous waste and legacy mining sites, what do we get? A potential comingling of the two where some communities may be gardening in brownfield sites and near environmentally comprised areas.^8,9,10 Hence, efforts are needed to investigate and evaluate the potential risks associated with growing food within the impact zone of resource extraction sites, as well as to balance the health benefits associated with eating affordable, available, locally grown food.

Citizen Science and Community Engaged Research

These types of environmental health issues are intricate and require capacity building, culturally sensitive strategies, and a trained population of scientists working at the local level. Representation is required for underserved communities if the decision-making process and lasting solutions are to be adequately shaped and developed. This type of local representation can be accomplished through a citizen science approach to research. Citizen Science is also recognized as an active conduit to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math education (STEM) and is spurring the next generation of STEM leaders. President Obama’s call to action to create a "Nation of Makers" reflects these observations. In June 2015, the White House celebrated a "Week of Making" recognizing individuals who are using new tools and techniques to launch businesses, learning vital skills in STEM, and leading grassroots Do-It-Yourself initiatives.

With only a limited number of co-created citizen science projects ever completed, and with a minimal focus on risk communication, Dr. Ramirez-Andreotta developed and implemented her "Gardenroots: A Citizen Science Garden Project" in 2015. Building on the success of the site-specific, co-created citizen science project in Dewey-Humboldt, Arizona (2008 through 2012), Gardenroots now specifically characterizes the state of environmental quality in underserved rural communities. Efforts began by conducting environmental health needs assessments with Cooperative Extension agents and rural gardeners across Arizona. The project is now active in three Arizona counties (Apache, Cochise, Greenlee), evaluating the environmental quality in rural gardens. Dr. Ramirez-Andreotta has trained over 100 citizen scientists to properly collect samples, with more than 50 families submitting water, soil, plant, and/or dust samples for analysis and maintaining journals documenting their experiences and observations throughout the program. With a new federal mandate requiring every federal agency to dedicate resources to citizen science, her data will also be useful in propelling citizen science efforts forward and to determine whether such a project design: 1) co-produces data in a form directly relevant to the participant's lives, 2) increases the community’s involvement in environmental decision-making, and 3) improves environmental health education and literacy in underserved communities.

References:

1. Hazardous Waste Cleanup Observations on States’ Role, Liabilities at DOD and Hardrock Mining Sites, and Litigation Issues. US General Accounting Office. gao.gov/products/GAO-13-633T. Updated May 22, 2013. Accessed Feb 27, 2015.
2. Cleaning Up the Nation’s Waste Sites: Markets and Technology Trends.  USEPA clu-in.org/download/market/2004market.pdf. Updated 2004. Accessed Feb 27, 2015.
3. Abandoned Mine Lands Team: Reference Notebook. USEPA. epa.gov/aml/tech/refntbk.htm. Updated August 9, 2011. Accessed Dec10 2015.
4. Brownfields and Land Revitalization. USEPA. epa.gov/brownfields/basic_info.htm. Updated July16, 2012. Accessed April 10, 2015.
5. Sorooshian A, Csavina J, Shingler T. Hygroscopic and chemical properties of aerosols collected near a copper smelter: implications for public and environmental health. Environ Sci Technol. 2012;46:9473-80. PMC3435440.
6. Priority List of Hazardous Substances. ATSDR. atsdr.cdc.gov/SPL/. July 26 2014.
7. National Gardening Survey. National Gardening Association. 2013. http://www.gardenresearch.com/home Accessed April 19 2015.
8. Attanayake CP, Hettiarachchi GM, Harms A, Presley D., Martin S, Pierzynski GM. Field evaluations on soil plant transfer of lead from an urban garden soil. 2014. J Environ Quality. 2014;43:475-487.
9. Ramirez-Andreotta, MD, Brusseau, ML, Beamer, P, Maier, RM. Home Gardening Near a Mining Site in an Arsenic-Endemic Region of Arizona: Assessing Arsenic Exposure Dose and Risk via Ingestion of Home Garden Vegetables, Soils, and Water. Sci Total Environ. 2013;454:373-82. PMC3871205.
10. Ramirez-Andreotta, MD, Brusseau, ML, Artiola, JF, Maier, RM. A Greenhouse and Field-Based Study to Determine the Accumulation of Arsenic in Common Homegrown Vegetables. Sci Total Environ. 2013;443:299-306. PMC3649874.