Forest ReLeaf: Bringing the Benefits of Trees to Communities

Meridith Perkins is the executive director of nonprofit Forest ReLeaf of Missouri, and is extending her passion for urban forestry to the local community in St. Louis, MO to improve its canopy coverage and health of its residents. ESAL spoke with Perkins about the organization’s role in combating climate change and future plans in educational programming.

MS: How did you become involved in forest conservation?

Perkins: I'm a city kid. I grew up in a very urban area, close to downtown St. Louis. I really didn't have a lot of experience with nature, but I was always drawn to the park system and loved being in those green spaces. I saw college as a chance to learn something that I had completely no exposure to – trees. The emerging field of urban forestry was a great fit to support my passion for people and natural systems. So I moved back to the city and started doing tree inventories, health assessments, and then grew from there.

MS: What is Forest ReLeaf’s mission?

Perkins: Forest ReLeaf is a kind of the tech transfer of ideas when it comes to forestry connections. It's the place where people can come because they're excited about planting a tree or want to do something for Earth Day. Forest ReLeaf captivates people's interest and engages them in this power that we all have to make a difference in the environment. Coexistence of nature and people is such a critical part of our future, and it is not us or them, it's together.

Meridith Perkins. Photo credit: Forest ReLeaf.

MS: How has Forest ReLeaf engaged with the local community?

Perkins: We have a lot of regular volunteers that have been coming out every Wednesday and Friday morning for a decade or more. A lot of those folks are retired scientists who have been working in labs their whole lives and now have the flexibility and freedom to do what they want. Forest ReLeaf also serves over 200 community partners a year by offering free trees for local planting projects.

MS: What are some current projects that Forest ReLeaf is working on?

Perkins: Everything that Forest ReLeaf does has an aim to impact and positively change a community. There're so many projects that we're working on now that I'm so proud of. The bedrock of our organization is called CommuniTree. We're really focused on removing barriers for people who are interested in planting trees. We give the trees away for free to anyone who's planting on public or nonprofit property. We have about 20,000 native trees and shrubs that we're growing at any given time. We distribute those in the spring and the fall to all kinds of different community groups, all kinds of different volunteers. Then they recruit their own local volunteers. We're training the messengers, then they're training that next tier of volunteers. Many people are touching the trees, and managing the roots, and digging the holes, and planting the trees.

We've got a couple of great tree planting and stewardship grants through the Arbor Day Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, and Great Rivers Greenway. The most exciting thing for me is that there is a lot of positive momentum with these partnerships moving into the future.

MS: How is Forest ReLeaf involved in advocacy?

Perkins: I would say we advocate through education and engagement and it's effective to a different audience. I think the hope is that the upswell of support from people that are interacting and participating in the programs and the resources that we have will then influence their elected officials. They'll be joining their tree boards and their city councils. It's that trickle effect that really makes a difference in the long run.

Forest ReLeaf of Missouri Logo

MS: What are some challenges that ReLeaf has faced?

Perkins: There's the climate crisis challenge where we're talking about trees as a solution. So trees can help with sequestering carbon. Trees can help with some of the air and water quality issues that are becoming more and more intense, but they're also very vulnerable to the negative impacts of climate change. We're seeing a lot of tree loss associated with severe storms, severe flooding, and severe fires. So, as we continue to try and plant trees to help with climate change, the negative impacts of climate change are really fighting against us to continue to take down the trees.

Another thing that we're seeing a lot of is invasive species. The next big invasive species issue is just one pallet away. The emerald ash borer is a big issue. These invasive species are causing huge problems with tree loss and also, from a municipal standpoint, budgets. So if a city has to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars every year on removing dead and dying hazard trees, they have limited resources to replant new trees.

The other big thing that I would say is a challenge for Forest ReLeaf is tree survivability. We need resources to come back to water, mulch, and prune that tree and make sure that it's an asset to the community. We're still figuring out what that looks like, but it's a critical part of the success model, especially in our priority relief communities that need more support. All of the models and all of the research that talks about tree benefits are really based on healthy tree canopy.

MS: How do you determine where to reach out to in the community?

Perkins: We do a lot of GIS work. We have canopy assessments that are looking at where there is canopy, where is there not? We can identify those low canopy areas from the GIS map, which is really cool and really sad because we can see where it very much correlates with our BIPOC communities. Limited tree canopy also correlates with negative health outcome issues that we're seeing across the city. Where we see the highest need, we don't always have the highest demand because people are worried about other things. People have other priorities and don’t always understand how trees can help – so education is so important.

MS: Where do you see the organization in the next 10 years?

Perkins: For now one of the big goals is to expand our nursery operation. We'll be looking into not only the urban nursery, but also expanding our existing nursery to rise to the occasion of that emerging need for tree supply. We're also going to be expanding our education influence. We want to create spaces where we can host more engagement opportunities. So we're going to be building a pavilion and doing some infrastructure improvements at our facilities so that we can be more of a resource for education purposes. This summer we'll be launching a new canopy crew. It's a youth team that's going to do a lot of canvassing and talking to people about all the ways trees benefit the neighborhood. It is a powerful tool to have young people from a community relaying the value of trees.

MS: What advice would you have for scientists that want to get involved?

Perkins: The more urban forestry, as an industry, engages with scientists in general, it creates a lot more momentum around the relevancy of what we do. The science that supports tree benefits has really elevated the opportunity for urban trees. In particular, we’re starting to learn how trees are important for cleaning the air, how they're filtering stormwater, what percentages of storm water get absorbed, and how we can use green infrastructure as a system. There is so much science that could go into supporting our seemingly simple mission of growing tree canopy across the state. So it's been really wonderful to explore and to justify not only the hard sciences and environmental impacts, but also a lot of the social sciences where we're starting to see really clear impacts for green spaces and stress relief.

The narrative wouldn't be there without the science input. The more we can engage and connect with science and scientists, I think the more they're going to be inspired to want to continue that kind of research and make sure that we're supported too. We need more people who are comfortable standing up at a city council meeting and advocating for preservation of trees in a park.

Native American and Other Experts Monitor Penobscot Watershed in Maine

Jan Paul and Angie Reed work with three other staff in the Penobscot Nation Department of Natural Resources’ Water (nə̀pi) Resources Program to monitor the health of the Penobscot River, tributaries, and waters. Paul, a citizen of the Penobscot Nation who is studying natural resources at the University of Maine, has worked as a water quality field/lab technician since 1997. She takes field samples and measurements, relying on various probes, and helps analyze the data. As the water resources planner since 2004, Reed has done lots of field work but her recent focus includes project planning, data management, analysis, and reporting. Reed got her bachelor’s in water resources management from University of New Hampshire and master’s in aquatic ecology from Colorado State University. Reed, Paul, and their colleagues share monitoring results with the Penobscot Peoples and others through outreach, education, and program representation on tribal, state, and federal committees. The science and stewardship carried out by program staff has been impacted by political and legal challenges, many of which have been discussed in documentaries, including an interview with Paul.

Penobscot (pαnawάhpskewi) means “people of where the rocks widen” – revealing how intimately the people are connected to their relative, the river. The Penobscot Nation’s Water Resources Program staff often use the Penobscot Water (nə̀pi) Song to open outreach gatherings as a way of reframing the typical perspective on water and help bring everyone together. They encourage people to read the lyrics, download the mp3, consider playing it for a water body nearby, and perhaps create a water song.

DR: Where did your interest in taking care of the Penobscot River’s water quality originate?

Paul: As a youngster, I grew up afraid of the river. My parents put the good fear in us to stay away from it, especially when ice is forming or the water is high, because it is so powerful that young kids get swept down it. During college, when I was majoring in kinesiology, I went to an eight-week water resources training for Native Peoples in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Not only did it get me ‘out of Dodge,’ but it caused something to click. I changed my degree to natural resources, and I fell in love with the Penobscot River. I could feel her energy drawing me in, and even now that’s what gets me up every morning. It’s easy to do something with someone you love.

Paul and Reed standing next to the Penobscot River sharing one of many moments of laughter. Photo credit: Bridie McGreavy.

DR: How about you, Angie? What attracted you to a career in water resources?

Reed: After changing my major from architecture to engineering I finally found water resources management, and it made sense to who I am. Growing up in a small town in New Hampshire, I used to walk near a stream close to my house. The culvert through which it flowed would get all plugged up with leaves sometimes, and I'd clean them out and feel happy that I contributed to the water flowing freely again. I loved being out in nature but didn’t think about it being my job until college; protecting rivers is where my heart is. I feel blessed because my job encompasses literally everything I believe in.

DR: Jan, tell me a bit more about your role in the Water Resources Program.

Paul: I’m a water quality field and lab technician, and I’m also acting manager for air quality. I go out and sample the rivers, tributaries, and lakes for many things, including dissolved oxygen (DO). Early in the morning, the DO can tell you whether the river is stressed. We use existing western science techniques rather than recreating the wheel. Angie, though, is our golden ticket for data management. We used to write everything down on paper until she came and set us up for digital data entry. Now, we can get the data analyzed quickly enough to see the trends.

Reed: Yes, but Jan has been gaining data management skills too. And I might have the technical chops to lead the data stuff, but she has the life experience. Many years ago we went to a conference where I took care of the western science details of the presentation, then Jan came up and brought all of the heady stuff right down to the heart. She spoke about what it was like having cyanobacterial blooms that reached 70 miles downriver from where they started and impacted Indian Island, the center of Penobscot government and where many Penobscot citizens live. Having native citizens doing all aspects of this work is incredibly important and I am committed to sharing any useful skills I have to help make that happen more in the future. When there is a different relationship with the river, it is not just a job.

The future generation of Penobscot citizens engages with their relative, the pαnawάhpskewtəkok (Penobscot) River. Photo credit: Charlene Huerth.

DR: Jan, how did it feel at first to be taking care of this watershed that you grew up with?

Paul: When I first started, I was just doing a job. Even though I grew up in the Penobscot Nation – my mom Passamaquoddy/Miꞌkmaq and my father Penobscot/Maliseet, having some family line migrated from further north in Canada – I didn’t know the importance of what I was looking at. The data doesn’t really mean anything until you visit the river repeatedly and see the variation. When Angie took me under her wing and started taking me to conferences where I got to hear the end results of the data we’d been collecting, they hit me like a ton of bricks and I cried. Because of my knowledge, I now refuse to eat things that Penobscot Peoples traditionally eat unless it’s ceremonial and has been prayed over. Food from contaminated water could cause cancer or other problems, but I don’t know whether to play innocent or scream to the rooftops to get native people to stop eating it.

DR: Angie, how do you navigate that tricky issue of balancing public health with Native traditions?

Reed: We try to offer suggestions for protecting people’s health while recognizing that a traditional diet is a significant part of the culture and identity of Penobscot people. The Program created an Eating Wild Foods Safety series to help with outreach on this topic. We take samples of traditional foods (plants, fish, wild game) that are consumed for food or medicine, and then test for chemical contaminants. All studies have indicated contamination levels high enough to cause health problems if consumed at the traditional rates calculated in the Wabanaki Traditional Cultural Lifeways Exposure Scenario. It is heart-breaking to have to issue consumption advisories but we have tried to focus on the species and amounts people can eat safely, while suggesting limitations for certain people. For example, women who are nursing, pregnant, or planning to become pregnant and children eight years of age or younger should not eat any fish from the river.

DR: Jan, how do you get these hard messages across to the people of the Penobscot Nation?

Paul: With data. Without the sampling of the fish, muskrats, turtles, and other species in the diet of the Penobscot, we would not know how bad the contamination has gotten. We make brochures based on the data that explain the water quality problems so that tribal members don’t have to ask “What do you mean? What are you talking about?” Whomever wants the brochures can just come and get them. And I take people out with me too. When I first started, I didn’t like being out there alone, so my sister came along. At first she was my secretary, writing the data down. I tried to explain the science to her, but she’d say “Jan, I don’t know anything you’re talking about,” until one day years later when I explained something, she said “Yeah, I know.” It made me realize that she had been paying attention and I had been doing a good job telling her about it.

Multiple generations participate in sustenance fishing, a right that is reserved and protected by treaties, but is challenged due to pollution which has contaminated the fish. Photo credit: Charlene Huerth.

DR: Angie, what does your day look like when you’re making a difference?

Reed: I really enjoy making it easier to collect, analyze, report, and share data. Back in 2006, I asked Jan how I could improve her fieldwork and she asked to go paperless so that she wouldn’t be chasing after data sheets blowing downriver. So, I started making the entire data entry processes electronic. It’s been an adventure and we now have a great system to link all our data together.

DR: How do you see your data getting used?

Reed: I often say that people in our field are the kings and queens of delayed gratification because it can take a really long time to see results in this work. There aren’t a lot of people collecting as much data on water quality and fish tissue contamination in the Penobscot River basin as our Program. I don’t think enough people realize how much help Native environmental monitoring programs can be in protecting water and fish for everybody. Because of our long-term data, the Penobscot Nation has been able to submit proposals to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection that resulted in many upgrades to water quality classification of the smaller streams and the Penobscot River into which they flow. Thanks to our work with Jacque Kutvirt at Casco Bay High School in Portland, Maine, 52 students submitted letters of support for the proposed upgrades in 2019.

DR: What sort of outreach have you all done that has led to the support you describe?

Paul: I credit Angie for pushing me to get out there and talk to people. We started working with 4th-8th grade students at Indian Island School, helping the Native Studies teacher teach them about point and nonpoint sources of pollution. We showed them that we were doing important work that they could be proud to do as well. And then we went to other high schools and universities as well. If people want to listen, I’ll talk. I’m really honored to have as much knowledge as I do and to be graced with this job. Now, it seems like people are finding me, seeking me out. I have tribal connections because I’ve lived here my whole life. This place is where my ancestors drive and steer me, telling me what to do to protect the watershed we rely on.

Reed: Jan is the person people go to when they have a question about the river. I want to echo what she said about working with the Native Studies class – that has been some of the most rewarding work we have done. It can be very difficult for Penobscot youth to go ‘across the river’ to a non-Native school. But after going through some of the 8th grade lessons we did on aquatic insects, one student proudly told her auntie later that her high school teacher said she was really smart and knew more about some of them than he did. This has been my favorite story for a long time because it brings together everything that we do and is a good example of how combining different systems of knowledge and relationship building can help make the world just a little bit safer for Penobscot citizens.

Cibolo Center for Conservation: Creating Community-Based Resource Stewardship

As the state of Texas experiences developmental shifts in infrastructure and populace, the local environment takes on new realities. The Cibolo Center for Conservation, located in Boerne, TX, promotes the conservation of natural resources by using science to inform decision-makers about practices and policies that affect the quality of life in the region. ESAL had the opportunity to interview Laurie Brown, the director of programs, and Ben Eldredge, the director of conservation, to learn about their mission and unique approach to community citizen science.

MS: How did you become involved in natural resource conservation?

Brown: My pathway was unusual. I actually started my science career as a veterinary technician and then went to work at an analytical chemical plant facility. Eventually, I got recruited by the San Antonio Zoo to teach and work on their volunteer program. So then I got into conservation, which has always been a passion of mine.

Eldredge: My family had a ranch in the region and my grandmother was the one who really took us out to explore for fossils and to notice all the subtleties of the natural environment. When I went to college, I naturally migrated to an environmental science degree. My grandfather called me up one morning and he asked if I wanted to come manage the ranch. It was great to apply ecology and to understand how you take what you know about natural systems and then emulate them through your land stewardship practices.

MS: What is Cibolo’s mission?

Eldredge: The mission is the conservation of natural resources through stewardship and education, stewardship for which community science feeds into. We use the data that we collect to inform our management. We're trying to understand how our management efforts and regional development impacts the wildlife in our park, as well as throughout some portions of the watershed. We're very dynamic, innovative, and both nature-oriented and sustainable-living-oriented. We really want to make an impact.

Laurie Brown. Photo Credit: Cibolo Center for Conservation

MS: How does Cibolo locally engage both scientists and nonscientists?

Eldredge: I see the nature center as a crossroads of community that includes community leadership scientists, University of Texas San Antonio, UT Austin, San Antonio River Authority, the US Geological Survey, and other organizations. Our community science program has opportunities for middle-school-aged students all the way up through seniors. Some are relatively easy to engage in, like the ant surveying, and some more complex like the plant surveys. We're also trying to bring people into the scientific community in ways that are not only meaningful and great experiences, but also based on legitimate scientific methodologies.

Brown: We've developed a huge relationship with the Monarch Joint Venture with Dr. Karen Oberhauser at the University of Michigan, University of Wisconsin, and University of Kansas. We are working with the University of Georgia on a citizen science project called OE testing on monarch, queen, and soldier butterflies. It's a super awesome engaging way to get our community into science.

We also do it by inviting science teachers. We trained a little over 160 teachers this year on how to do OE testing, and how to report their birds to Cornell. We're working with Bat Conservation International and sending them bat results of what we're finding on our night hikes. We found out that people really enjoy that connection. In all of our programs, we try to initiate some form of scientific discovery with an impact.

MS: What is an example of the way the conservation initiatives built by Cibolo have impacted local communities?

Eldredge: One that comes to mind: we were concerned about increased stream setbacks to buffer our stream ways and preserve our riparian zones. We'd already been chipping away at low impact development requirements. That ordinance was starting to be shaped up, so we decided to go ahead and make a really big push for stream setbacks. We talked about the Texas Hill Country being a flash flood alley. We also grabbed economic data from a major flood event that happened in Wimberley, Texas. We leverage that data to make the case that you'd be remiss not to increase these stream setbacks just for human safety and economics alone. That was the fastest pitch we ever made and got results.

Brown: We have also done some local guerrilla marketing with the mayor's monarch pledge through the National Wildlife Federation. That now has 30 conservation action items that a city has to produce to be a Monarch Champion City. So looking at how San Antonio has now embraced this, what we call a flagship species, has been really impressive. The great thing about flagship species is that if you conserve their environment you conserve the ecosystem as a whole.

MS: What are some long-term goals for Cibolo?

Brown: One of our major goals is to integrate a multilevel experience for every age group that comes to the Cibolo for programming. When you go on a field trip, you go to a place once – it's beautiful, it's great. We want to make it so visitors are inspired to make some positive impact. We're looking at going into a school and building them a pollinator garden, teaching them how to do community science there, and enrolling them in a community science effort.

I think a big piece for our goal is sustainability and looking at how we can be environmentally sustainable with our programming and incredibly low impact.

Ben Eldredge. Photo Credit: Cibolo Center for Conservation

MS: What are some challenges that Cibolo has faced?

Brown: One is that there's not enough of us. Our staff and our volunteer teams are incredibly multi-talented in different ways. We're jacks of all trades, but also masters of many. So it's a challenge because you have to focus and have a discerning eye.

Environmentally, it’s land development. There's a lot of bad structural change that can really destroy a lot of what we have. We have this working relationship with other organizations like the Cibolo Conservancy and Nature Conservancy, trying to encourage people with ranch land and larger acreage to do something different.

Eldredge: I can make a lot of changes at the local level, city, county, but the problem is that the state is really in the pocket of, basically, seven major industries. They are increasingly eroding what we call local controls, which are the ability of a local government to define what it wants for its future. We are seeing that our ability to protect our community and our natural environment is both insufficient and increasingly diminished.

Brown: Another unique problem that we're having is there's a distrust in science, in engineering, and all of these things. So you kind of have to be what I call a closet scientist.

MS: What advice do you have for scientists and engineers who want to get involved?

Brown: One of the things that I've had a lot of success in is bringing in engineers as early interns and training them in a way of giving them some exposure. Giving them an environmental focus can kind of change their view on how they articulate their work. The environmental conservation world needs more scientists and needs more engineers more than anybody can even imagine. I think that it's going to be a growing field in the years to come with the environmental damage that's being done. So we're all going to need help.

Eldredge: We need holistic engineering that includes the natural environment as a very fundamental concern to solve for. We need some of these engineers to see themselves as environmental change makers. People can make a positive change, and we need them to step up and make that change.

Science Policy in Action: Making Local Connections

“If you want to connect with a certain community, how do you initiate that conversation?”

This question was posed to a panel of water experts at ESAL’s “Science Policy in Action: Scientists and Engineers Shaping Local Policy.” The event, held in-person in New Orleans and virtually, took place at the American Geophysical Union’s fall meeting in December 2021.

The answer to that question depends on who you talk to.

Kenya Goodson, who holds a doctorate in civil engineering, is a STEM educator with years of regulatory and research experience on water quality. Her practical advice is to attend city council meetings to network with local representatives, or, at the state level, to join an existing organization with statewide influence. Goodson traced her journey from her childhood growing up in an environmental justice community in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where the neighborhood was majority African American and filled with food deserts and polluting industries. Her later work inspecting wastewater systems for the state of Alabama made the disparities clear, and eventually led her to engage in political advocacy, including for her hometown watershed, the Black Warrior River.

Goodson believes in educational outreach as a policy tool: “Our responsibility, if we want to have true impact in our community, is to translate science knowledge for everyday people to understand.”

Aron Chang is an urban designer in New Orleans, who works on community-based planning of resilient infrastructure and co-leads the Water Leaders Institute. His philosophy of inclusivity permeated both his presentation and his responses to questions. He advised everyone to reframe their mindset and bring their full humanity to conversations on local issues.

“Show up not as a scientist but as a community member and as a human,” said Chang.

The problem of floodwaters and climate change is especially pertinent to the city of New Orleans, which is “shaped like a bowl” and is a place that has wrestled with naturally shifting waterways for thousands of years. Chang pointed out the difficulty of manmade interventions like levees and pumps, which can ironically cause the city to sink further. He believes the solution lies not just with more technology, but with more voices from the community.

Ed Kearns, who has a doctorate in oceanography, transitioned from a career at federal science agencies into a role with a hyperlocal focus. Currently, he serves as the chief data officer at First Street Foundation, a nonprofit that assesses and translates climate risk for the individual. Their latest tool is a web app called Flood Factor, which calculates flood risk at the three meter resolution for all properties across the U.S. The output is a simple flood score that any homeowner (or buyer or seller) can access online. To maximize their reach, First Street Foundation has strategically engaged with local media such as TV stations and newspapers, because those outlets know their communities best.

Kearns, who calls himself “a sucker for big impact,” is motivated by the urgency of the climate crisis and reflected on why he left the slow-moving federal bureaucracy. His desire for change, fast, was something he realized he could only achieve by taking a local approach.

For further reading, check out these interviews with Kenya Goodson and Ed Kearns on ESAL’s blog.

Geologist Works to Create Shared Economic Prosperity

Mark Little is a geoscientist who serves as the executive director of CREATE, an economic development center at UNC Chapel Hill working to create economic opportunity for all through local, regional, and international approaches. Little is also the president-elect of the Geological Society of America, and was previously a AAAS Congressional Policy Fellow. He holds a Ph.D. in geochemistry from Rice University. Little sat down with ESAL to discuss his role in helping foster shared economic prosperity.

JB: What originally inspired you to pursue science?

Little: I think it really started with interest in space and becoming an astronaut, which was cultivated as a kid from science fiction. When I ended up in college, I initially started down the astrophysics route. When it became clear that I wasn't going to be able to physically interact with anything that we were studying, I switched over to earth and planetary sciences.

Mark Little.

JB: How did policy start to come into the picture?

Little: For my undergrad major, I was studying topics like geophysics, atmospheric chemistry, hydrology, and oceanography. But all my electives were more human-centered, like water resource management, American Indian policy, and Mexican history. In school, there were all these things I was interested in, but they hadn't yet coalesced or combined with the natural sciences.

The only career thing that I was really certain of is that I wanted to be an astronaut and to play music. And given the odds against being an astronaut, I just tried to make sure I was working on things I also cared about, whether it was science, policy, music, or something else. So when I was looking at graduate schools, I was very interested in not just doing geoscience. One of the reasons I went to Rice was because of the Baker Institute for Public Policy.

JB: What are you working to accomplish at CREATE?

Little: We're working to create shared prosperity for all of humanity. Obviously, this is a really big endeavor shared by many organizations around the globe. Prosperity is ultimately a question of power, who has it and who doesn’t. When you’ve got power, you can create your own success and construct your own solutions to the challenges you define. In the United States, the kind of power that is most recognized is financial power and political power. And so, our mission is to create financial power for people, communities, and places that don’t have enough of it.

Little at the Black Communities Conference in 2019.

JB: How do you go about achieving that?

Little: I think to be successful, we have to work on multiple levels. So we aim to create sustainable communities, good job opportunities, new wealth, disruptive policy and useful research. On the most direct level, we provide direct technical assistance to town managers, county commissioners, Tribal councils, and business owners in order to create more decent-paying jobs and a strong economic future for their communities. We talk with them about their vision for their community or business, create a scope, and then do the work. At any given time, we have an active portfolio right now of about 30 projects, each of those with different partners or clients.

Our work for communities spans economic development strategies, applied research on workforce development, and business district planning, all rooted in the assets of that particular place. For example, we've done a lot of work with indigenous communities and other rural communities that are trying to leverage their river resources for ecotourism. So we help them plan how to actually do that and build that sector out. We always publish this work as reports and often add to our online case study database Homegrown Tools. The type of work we do for businesses ranges even more broadly, depending on what the needs are, from industrial engineering, to financial analysis, marketing strategies, and many other areas. The goal is to see what we can do to help the business grow and create more decent-paying jobs for people in places that need it most.

And to do all of this, we’ve got an amazing team of full-time economic development professionals and part-time graduate student analysts based in multiple states. We also work with faculty collaborators and a large number of partner organizations around the world, from foundations to corporations to faith organizations.

JB: What other sorts of engagements are effective?

Little: In addition to that kind of on-the-ground local work, we advise elected officials in the U.S., write op-eds, and partner with think tanks. We also organize major conferences. Since 2017, I’ve chaired the Black Communities Conference, which is an interdisciplinary international conference that brings together academics across disciplines as well as a very wide range of community leaders - such as folks running nonprofit organizations, educators, and faith leaders. We also host international academic research conferences. We recently hosted one exploring the characteristics that make one place more successful, economically, than another.

JB: What would you say to scientists and engineers who are interested in getting more engaged?

Little: My advice would be to observe how communities and how people who aren't scientists think about various topics and issues, and ask yourself what are the best ways to communicate? What vocabulary are they using? A key point is that human beings are complex, and they don’t experience issues in a single way as a narrow discipline. Whatever the topic is, before talking to a person or community about it, see if you can understand what they care about and why. Then try to talk about the specific issue you’re concerned about in that context, with the language that the community uses, to accelerate the process of having a real conversation.

Local Science Engagement Network: Equipping Scientists for Policy Impact

As government demand for science communicators increases, there is a simultaneous growing interest in elevating the role of evidence-based policy among the science community. The Local Science Engagement Network (LSEN) is an initiative by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). A grassroots program, the LSEN nurtures and guides STEM supporters and scientists who want to ensure that science informs evidence-based public policy at the federal, state, and local levels. ESAL had the opportunity to speak with Daniel Barry, the campaign director for the LSEN since 2018, to learn how LSEN empowers scientists with the tools and skills they need to contact their elected officials directly and make an impact on local and state policy.

MS: How did you get involved in local STEM engagement?

Barry: I have close to 40 years of experience working on climate campaigns and communications. Recently, I served in local government for four years in Washington, D.C. as a climate policy analyst and was part of the formation of the first climate action plan that has made some significant improvements to people's lives and the community.

MS: What was the call of action that inspired the development of the LSEN?

Barry: About five years ago, AAAS started thinking about how to better engage our members on the local and state levels. The call to action really came out of our members telling us in surveys that they wanted to be more involved in advocating for the use of science in policy deliberations. They wanted to represent the voice of science and reassert the role of scientists as community members and leaders in local and state efforts, particularly for climate and energy issues.

MS: What does the LSEN aim to do?

Barry: I often describe LSEN as connective tissue. Through partnerships with other organizations, we can elevate the voice of science. Advocacy is a very clear mission. Serving society means advocating for the proper use and positioning of science at all levels of government. For the LSEN, we have a digital public engagement platform that allows AAAS members and non-members to join as LSEN advocates free of charge. Our digital platform employs their home addresses to connect them directly with their elected lawmakers at the federal, state, and local levels, and provides numerous ways of contacting those leaders. Beyond that, we are striving to open a dialogue and build a community between scientists and policymakers to inform the policymaking process.

Daniel Barry

MS: What is an example of the way the networks built by the LSEN have impacted local communities?

Barry: During the pilot program, our approach to field testing the LSEN was through partnerships in three geopolitically diverse states: Missouri, Colorado, and Georgia. The most exciting result thus far has been in the state of Missouri, where our LSEN partner has succeeded in setting up state level of policy fellowships. One of their great success stories has been in issuing “science notes.” They are two to four pages, focused on the science around a locally relevant policy issue. The Missouri chapter only publishes a science note by request from a lawmaker or a committee. They want to be very clear that they are not trying to push an agenda and that they are responsive to the needs of lawmakers to fill in gaps of knowledge on the science level for these issues. To date, they have published 100 science notes.

The science notes, combined with a policy fellowship program that Missouri already had in place, have really advanced the reputation of the science community. Missouri lawmakers and their staff have counted on scientists to get them the information they need to make informed decisions about policy.

MS: What inspired the name “science note?”

Barry: Back in the anti-regulatory days of the late 1990s and early 2000s, local and state lawmakers who were opposed to regulations that protected the environment, workers, and public health felt that regulations were burdensome and costly. They passed a requirement that something called a “fiscal note” be attached to any proposed legislation that had a tax or spending implication. If there were dollars involved, then a fiscal analysis had to be conducted and attached to the bill. The clear objective there was to portray health and safety regulations as too expensive and erode support for them. It worked. The science note is a take on that, but instead of being used for overtly political reasons, our goal is to provide actionable information that lawmakers can use.

MS: What are some challenges that the LSEN has faced when aiming for nationwide participation?

Barry: In the past, before we had the LSEN, we would go into the field and do training. We would bring university students to our headquarters once a year for our Catalyzing Advocacy in Science and Engineering Workshop and other training modules. They would go back to college or to their job and we had no means in the past of staying connected with the folks that we trained. We missed an opportunity as an organization to continue to guide and build additional capacity and play a guiding and directing role. One thing I’ve changed is for you to get our free training, you must register to be a part of the LSEN. We want to continue to stay in touch with you. We want to know what you care about, what issues concern you and how we can help you form a cohort that does effective advocacy.

MS: Can you describe the goals of the training the LSEN provides?

Barry: Our training is focused on what I consider the three primary skills “buckets” of doing good engagement. The first is basic communications. It includes getting to know your audience and trying to put yourself in their shoes in terms of their values and perspectives. Secondly, basic organizing work is important if you want to scale the ladder of engagement beyond the “point and click” type of advocacy that resembles the postcard campaigns of the past to incorporate more personal engagements that build relationships with policy makers. The third bucket is effective advocacy, and this is critically important because we want to act as honest brokers where we're not advocating for or against specific legislation on any topic. It's really more about presenting scientifically accurate evidence about an important topic.

MS: What are some long-term goals for the LSEN?

Barry: I'm excited about early returns on diversifying the kinds of engagements that we're trying to facilitate, to make sure that they are local- and state-based in nature. The digital platform the LSEN uses has room for 250,000 registered users, so we've got a lot of recruitment to do. We want to expand into new markets and continue to recruit thousands of advocates and provide them with training. Our goal is to mobilize scientists and engineers across the country to effectively speak up for science in the decisions that affect their communities. Ultimately, we aim to foster long-term relationships with state and local leaders based on trust and shared values, which will lead to a future where decision-makers come to the scientists looking for the evidence.

MS: What advice do you have for scientists and engineers who want to get involved?

Barry: I think the most important advice for anybody who wants to be a change agent is to join. Join ESAL, join the LSEN, join with colleagues at your university or your place of work who are like-minded, because there's power in numbers. Identifying and joining with diverse scientists who are also interested in advocacy allows you to build a multifaceted approach for tackling whatever issue you decide to set your sights on. Once you have built a relationship and achieved a goal, decide what's next. Always have a plan B and a plan C. There's always going to be an opportunity to enlighten people.

Writing Science Notes for Missouri Policy Makers

Tell us about yourself.
I am a Ph.D. candidate in developmental psychology at the University of Missouri – Columbia. I work with families and children with a primary focus on early childhood (i.e., zero to 5-year-old). I conduct research related to family relationships and child social emotional development.

What is important to you about engaging with your local government?
My Ph.D. training strictly focuses on research, but I also have a counseling background in clinical mental health, which motivates me to translate developmental science to create real-world change that improves the lives of children. Although COVID-19 is a universal stressor, the situations are much worse for minority and low-income families. The pandemic has exacerbated the healthcare accessibility for these children and parents. Through my engagement with local government and nonprofit organizations, I have found ways to support social justice and multicultural diversity.

Nanxi Xu

What did you do?
I joined the Missouri Local Science Engagement Network (LSEN), which helps to connect scientists to local policy makers. I signed up as a guest writer for Community Science Note, which summarizes the research and policy context surrounding locally important issues. In September 2021, LSEN reached out and asked me if I could write a science note on children’s mental health during in-person schooling amid COVID, and I agreed. I created a 4-page science note which is published on Missouri Science & Technology (MOST) Policy Initiatives website.

What happened then?
After I created the science note, MOST Policy Initiatives held a roundtable discussion for local scientists, school policy makers, and mental health specialists. My science note was shared as part of an outreach campaign to local mayors and city councils to help them gain a better understanding of the policy landscape around education and mental health science considerations in Missouri. The roundtable discussion was recorded and posted on MOST Policy Initiatives website.

What did you get out of this experience?
Through this experience, I was able to learn how to communicate science effectively to a diverse audience with a variety of knowledge levels. MOST Policy Fellows provided tremendous support during my writing. Through working with them, I learned how to craft a science note using objective and nonpartisan language, which is crucial for my own professional development as an emerging scientist.

Biologist Steps Up to Empower Environmental Justice Communities with Data

Monica Unseld is a biologist, environmental and social justice advocate, and founder of Until Justice Data Partners, located in Louisville, Kentucky. Her organization builds community capacity to use data as a powerful advocacy tool for social and environmental change while challenging narratives that have limited community empowerment. Prior, Unseld served as the director of community engagement for the Greater Louisville Project. She built her experience on the ground through grassroots environmental justice initiatives like Coming Clean and the Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform. Unseld earned a Ph.D. in biology from the University of Louisville followed by a Master’s in public health from Benedictine University.

DR: When did you first get immersed in science and data?

Unseld: As a little Black girl, I was not expected to get a Ph.D. in biology. But I always had lots of questions for my parents, which annoyed them but never stopped me. My mother let me use the dining room as a lab for mixing things together. My dad sat outside with me, pointing out animals, and showing me that facts will reveal themselves if you sit patiently and observe. My mom bought me books and took me to the library, and I learned early on to be analytical. I love the fact that there’s always more to learn and we have to be humble enough to know when we need to change course.

DR: It sounds like you had a scientific mindset even as a kid. When did you become interested in public health?

Unseld: When I began encountering communities that needed environmental justice. At first, I didn’t really know about redlining. But I knew the worries that come with being Black in America – experiencing the racism and fearing that I could be discounted even if I was just as smart as others. Then, I went into communities that suffered from smoke and odors from industrial facilities right in their backyards or school yards. I heard horror stories about how local public health departments were dismissing residents’ concerns. Situating toxic waste sources in Black communities has been going on for decades, with the knowledge of both city and state governments.

DR: As you confronted these problems, how did you picture your role in making change?

Unseld: I realized that I could gather and provide data to make issues visible in local media, or to challenge the Mayor’s office or City Council when they make statements not based on evidence. I could help people find reputable sources, interpret them, and visualize the data. Just being able to get data into everyone’s hands is important because those who’ve historically had access to the data and controlled the dialogue have not made the necessary changes.

Monica Unseld. Photo credit: Monica Unseld

DR: How did your degree in biology shape your engagement in environmental justice?

Unseld: In my doctoral program, I studied endocrine disruption with Dr. Cynthia Corbitt and became aware of the impacts of environmental contaminants on animal health. She took me to the e.hormone conference, where I heard about the research of Dr. Tyrone Hayes on environmental hormone impacts on amphibians. I was excited to see scientists stepping up to speak against environmental contamination, to say “This is wrong.” When you have data and credentials, the ethical choice is to speak out. We have not been using our academic privilege in a way that is most suitable for the planet.

DR: Did this perspective shape the way you taught during your years at St. Catharine College?

Unseld: While I was teaching at the university, the 2010 DeepWater Horizon Oil Spill happened. I just took a break from the syllabus to talk about it. My class discussed why Obama was giving BP so many chances to patch the pipe when it was clear there was a major problem. Part of being a scientist is that you know when to reject a hypothesis – in this case that BP could stem the spillage. My students and I considered the politics that were standing in the way of actions that needed to happen. I also had the chance to speak about the power of questioning and how we can use the scientific method to push back against racist and oppressive systems.

DR: What drove you to get a Master’s in public health after your Ph.D.?

Unseld: When I finished graduate school, I felt quite panicked. I assumed I was supposed to go into basic research or to a liberal arts institution to teach. But I was not drawn to the publish or perish culture. That’s when I joined the board of the Kentucky Environmental Foundation and got immersed in environmental justice. I met with communities, did interviews, and analyzed the research. With credentials, I could be heard in a way that community members could not. And as a researcher, I knew how to look for reputable sources, and the ability to feed that information to people for their self-advocacy was valuable. The people in charge don’t want these communities to say the truths out loud.

DR: Who do you perceive as the people in charge that limit the conversation?

Unseld: They are the corporate policymakers, local and state government officials, and other decision-makers. Even philanthropic organizations have built wealth from wages stolen from people of color, and while they are renaming grants and resources to reflect Black Lives Matter, they still hold the reins. It’s like begging for crumbs back when someone has stolen your cake. The way the whole system is established is a problem. Organizations are putting out BLM statements, but making surface changes, despite the ongoing, serious public health concerns in Black communities. Where is the sense of urgency?

Unseld launched Until Justice Data Partners to use data as an advocacy tool change. Photo credit: Until Justice Data Partners, Inc.

DR: Has this been a difficult path to take in terms of stirring up peoples’ emotions?

Unseld: Yes, and I know I’ve upset some funders here in Louisville by sharing data directly with communities – sending links to open access peer reviewed articles that they would otherwise not likely see. But let’s take crime, for example. The statistics that get reported are usually about gun and gang violence, trending towards people of color. When I ask for data on crime prevention, it’s hard to come by. But, as a scientist, you should be looking at all the data – on housing, public health interventions, art – things that make a community safer so that people don’t feel like they need to carry weapons. And the media should report that information too. Science teaches us a healthy skepticism, to not just accept what we’re told, but dig deeper.

DR: Where do you find the courage to tackle these hard questions?

Unseld: People tell me that I am blunt and direct, asking the difficult questions. But I feel that more people need to, and I find it liberating to just not accept what I read in the papers. Nationwide, the conversations about lead and other toxic chemicals, and even climate change, are looking at pieces of the puzzle. We complicate solutions by upholding systems that won’t challenge the status quo. As intelligent as our species is, we still don’t have great solutions lined up. If we had invested the same brain power that got us to the Moon, we could be much further along in terms of getting off fossil fuels, for example. Maybe I can help light a fire, increase the urgency.

DR: How do you think that fellow scientists can help boost the sense of urgency?

Unseld: I think that we need to get out of the lab and also realize that emotion is valuable in decision-making. As scientists, we don’t like to rely on emotion, but if you study the brain, it uses emotion as information in order to make the best possible decisions. We have these strict definitions of objectivity and professionalism, which basically tell us to discount the limbic system. We should know better. When you speak up, some people will not like you, and you should never go after anyone personally, but we can hold people and foundations accountable. Instead of counting how many people they’ve helped, let’s ask how many people have died.

DR: What’s your long-term vision for the work of your nonprofit, Until Justice Data Partners?

Unseld: I see us bringing data to the table on things like how having safe, stable housing affects a child’s performance at school. If I had a ton of funding, I’d teach communities how to do research, for example how to ask the hard questions. A community member should be empowered with the information to speak out when there is a factory behind their home and their child needs a respirator. This work is needed all over the world and I want to see it get done, whether under my organizational brand or not. It would be amazing if I could shut my nonprofit down within my lifetime, having built the capacity of communities to do the research they need to advocate for the public health they deserve.

Community-driven Solutions to Rural Water Needs

Fact: 2.2 million Americans do not have running water or basic plumbing. In high income countries, such as the U.S., access to sanitary water is not a guarantee.

Julie Waechter, chief program officer at DigDeep, presented these facts during the “Community-driven Solutions to Rural Water Needs” event, a virtual panel co-hosted by ESAL and the Water Environment Federation (WEF) on October 12. This event also featured presentations by Jimmy Jones, president and CEO of Axom Development, and Jennifer Palmiotto, senior federal policy advisor for the National Rural Water Association (NRWA). The panel was moderated by Maria Claudia Reed of WEF and focused on the importance of culturally sensitive solutions.

Waechter’s organization, DigDeep, is a “human rights nonprofit working to ensure that every American has clean, running water forever.” Headquartered in Los Angeles, DigDeep coordinates projects in rural regions by tailoring solutions to the local context. In the Navajo Nation where population is sparse, they’ve installed solar-powered home water systems, while in the Appalachian region of West Virginia, they’ve partnered with the local food bank and water utility to repair existing lines. An overarching goal, according to Waechter, is to develop an information source, which currently doesn’t exist, with data on water access.

Next, Jones discussed the motivation behind his efforts to promote water equity. As a native of Louisiana with ties to minority communities, Jones founded Axom Development after extensive experience working in water management across his home state, where water pipelines can be over 100 years old. At Axom, he now consults for municipal water projects while adhering to principles of diversity and inclusion. In minority cities, Jones focuses on educating constituents and empowering them to advocate for their own desired outcomes instead of letting outside interests dictate development.

“You have companies and engineers coming from all over the world to address the pipes, but nobody is addressing the people,” said Jones. Understanding funding sources, for example, can help residents exercise political clout and financial independence.

Finally, Palmiotto presented on the mission-driven work of the NRWA, a nonprofit that supports rural water systems throughout the country. The organization works with an established network of state associations to provide technical training and assistance to water operators underpinning small, rural populations. In their various programs, Palmiotto emphasized the role of relationship-building to implement projects from the ground up, not top down.

Unsurprisingly, race has been shown to be the leading indicator of whether an American household has access to running water. Waechter shared the statistic that black and brown households are twice as likely than white households to lack access, whereas Native American households are a staggering 19 times more likely.

“You have to develop that trust and the trust takes time,” advised Palmiotto, based on personal experience from getting involved in her town’s water project. “There is no one size fits all. Every community has its own personality.”

The running theme of the discussion, echoed by all three panelists: get to know the community. In matters of water access, local stakeholders and citizens should be enabled to shape the process and imprint it with their own unique values.

A recording of this event is available.

Counter Culture Labs: Combining Citizen Science and Biotech

Over the years there has been an increasing interest in “citizen science” within biology, which has enabled data collection on a substantial scale as well as the opportunity for public engagement. Counter Culture Labs (CCL) in Oakland, CA is one example of a community lab for biotechnology and citizen science that focuses on diverse projects related to mycology, agriculture, fermentation, botany, food, and medicine. ESAL had the opportunity to speak with Patrik D'haeseleer, one of the original co-founders of the lab, and Jessica McGrath, the president of CCL to find out more about the facility and how they engage with the community and get the public excited in science!

RD: What is the overall mission of counterculture labs?

CCL: Our aim is to make everyone aware there is a space where anyone can come in and do biology, we endeavor to democratize access to biotechnology! We remove the barriers and the gatekeeping that often happens for science, such that members of the public can use scientific equipment. This all requires one to become a member of the lab, to use the space and to partake in safety vetting procedures! There is so much technology within the lab that is unused, and we not only explain, but practically demonstrate, what technologies are involved in what processes. In addition to access, we run several community projects that range from insulin development to creating real vegan cheese from cell cultures.

RD: How do you ensure continued engagement with the community?

CCL: We use membership to track engagement over time. Independent of technologies, our versatility was highlighted during COVID-19 when engagement declined. We then began weekly informational discussions where members of the community would come together and dissect what was ‘hype’ and what was ‘real’ science. This enabled attendees to understand the critical thought process required in science to assess the value of research and even data. Furthermore, given the magnitude of biotech in the news now, we have a lot of traffic – so we are staying very relevant, which results in greater engagement! As restrictions are being lifted, we intend to go into schools and work with at-risk kids to teach them about biotech careers. We are aiming to do more targeted outreach to specific communities to ensure our member base is drawn from a diverse community.

Jessica McGrath (Image Credit: Counter Culture Labs)

RD: Could you highlight a project or two that the community enjoys?

CCL: Open Insulin is one of our larger community projects where we are working to make open-source protocols and strains to produce low-cost insulin. We find that people are rationing their insulin as they are under-insured, and the price of insulin makes it unaffordable. This project is a great example of what community collaboration can do for the good of humanity, without a profit motive. This opens lines of inquiry that academic labs or big pharma would not pursue because it's against their interests.

The kombucha genomics project is another fun campaign where we study kombucha cultures from a variety of perspectives. We've done taste tests with kombucha using panels to fill out different flavor characteristics. However, we also have the tools to identify the strains in the starter culture and correlate those flavors with the species that are present. We have been teaching how to isolate individual species of bacteria or yeasts from kombucha culture, and have recently sequenced our first bacterial genome sequence from a kombucha isolate - it is essentially microbiology 101.

RD: How did COVID impact the practices of the lab?

CCL: Prior to COVID, we were already using Zoom and Google docs for most of our meetings, so luckily, we had the technology in place, so we could shift online – and it was not completely foreign. We were able to keep a good amount of our membership intact by still offering several events per week virtually. However, this did not retain all our membership, and given that was our main source of income to pay the rent we are now having to rebuild our membership and having more public events to reboot the interest. Nonetheless, we came through COVID better than many other labs. We did have a couple of projects that were deemed necessary for public health that were allowed in the lab on a very limited basis.

RD: What do you expect the lab to be in 5-10 years’ time?

CCL: Given that we were one of the first community labs on the scene in Oakland, we are still in initial growth stages. If you compare us to regular makerspaces and hackerspaces, they have a longer history. We hope to be better integrated with the community and provide more services. We also hope to develop collaborations and have a distributed network of service labs around the country. The next big movement is how do we organize ourselves and build resources so that all these community labs can interact with each other and best leverage what we all have.

Patrik D'haeseleer (Image Credit: Counter Culture Labs)

RD: What advice do you have for engineers and scientists that would like to get involved?

CCL: Feel free to join any of our online events listed on Meetup, or find your own local community lab. If you're interested in the growing community lab movement, keep an eye on the Global Community Bio Summit. It is a space for the global community of DIY biologists, community biologists, biohackers, biomakers and members of independent and community laboratories to convene, plan, build fellowship, and continue the evolution of our movement. This is an annual event where members share, discuss, and frame the future of independent research in the life sciences.