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The Contribution of Social Sciences to Sustainable Development at Universities pp 161–175Cite as

Student Interest in Campus Community Gardens: Sowing the Seeds for Direct Engagement with Sustainability

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Part of the book series: World Sustainability Series ((WSUSE))

Abstract

At a time when environmental problems are growing and biophysical limits-to-growth are apparent, encouraging sustainable behavior is a critical societal objective. Within the college campus sustainability movement this is expressed as the need to broaden student involvement in environmental stewardship initiatives. This chapter proposes that campus community gardens are particularly well-suited to the task of increasing student engagement across the entire campus population, not just among those with a prior interest in sustainability or gardening. To explore this proposition, a survey of undergraduate attitudes about motivations for and interest in gardening at a large, non-land-grant, research university was conducted. Results show that student interest is strongly related to how the campus gardening experience is structured. In particular, interest in gardening is related to clearly defined personal and community benefits. What is most fascinating is that the level of interest is not related to prior gardening experience or to strong pro-environmental attitudes, suggesting that campus gardens and farms may be made to appeal to a wide range of students.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Composed in 1990 at an international conference in Talloires, France, this is the first official statement made by university administrators of a commitment to environmental stewardship in higher education. The Talloires Declaration is a ten-point action plan for incorporating sustainability and environmental literacy in teaching, research, operations and outreach at colleges and universities.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan, 440 Church Street, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA

    Raymond De Young

  2. Local Government Commission, Sacramento, CA, 95814, USA

    Kif Scheuer

  3. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA

    James Roush & Kate Kozeleski

Authors
  1. Raymond De Young
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  2. Kif Scheuer
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  3. James Roush
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  4. Kate Kozeleski
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Raymond De Young .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Environmental Science, HAW Hamburg and Manchester Metropolitan University, Hamburg, Germany

    Walter Leal Filho

  2. School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

    Michaela Zint

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De Young, R., Scheuer, K., Roush, J., Kozeleski, K. (2016). Student Interest in Campus Community Gardens: Sowing the Seeds for Direct Engagement with Sustainability. In: Leal Filho, W., Zint, M. (eds) The Contribution of Social Sciences to Sustainable Development at Universities. World Sustainability Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26866-8_10

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