Researchers: Andrée Tremblay, Elizabeth Miller, and Kimberley Sawchuck
Highlights:
- Today, more than half of the world’s population lives in urban areas.
- In the province of Quebec, this number reaches over 80%.
- While nature connectedness is a strong predictor of pro-environmental behaviours, many people living in cities have limited experience and connection with the natural world and with the ways our food is produced.
- Begun in 2019, the mind.heart.mouth. project uses garden-based pedagogy as well as consumer experience theories to create workshops and spaces designed to increase awareness and greater connections with our natural environments.
- Situated on the Loyola Campus, the mind.heart.mouth. Collective Garden aims to promote food security on campus by providing free local organic food to any member of the Concordia community who wishes to volunteer in the garden and to the Hive Coop, which provdes free lunches for all. By reframing our approach to front lawn aesthetics with an innovative concept which consists of a fresh vegetable and fruit garden, we are filling gaps in the availability and consumption of nutritious food to meet dietary needs without having to transport food over far distances.
- This project also brings senior citizen volunteers into the garden to experience food growing in an urban setting and benefit from the harvest in collaboration with the New Hope Senior Citizens' Centre.