City Sustainability:

Kysa Bursch
Nicole Seligman
Max Wang
Section AE

Combatting Negative Human Impacts Through

Environmental Consciousness

Planting Ferns at
Puget Park

Promoting Sustainability Through

Service Learning
Building Trails at Puget Park

Maintaining Puget Park, West Seattle:

Organization: Seattle Parks and Recreation

Waste: A Research Inquiry

Oversees 400+ parks, maintaining trails and

biodiversity

My Position: Trails Advocate

Description of Issue
The way in which waste is handled currently in Seattle leads to too
many negative consequences, in part due to the amount of waste
that is produced. However, this can be generalized to most of
America as well. Some noticeable consequences include health
hazards, economic burdens and a huge contribution to climate
change.

Why This Matters

Social: Methane-containing landfill gas can be carried by strong
wind to cities from landfills, and a high concentration of methane can
lead to oxygen deficiency.
Economic: In 2007, the amount of funding being directed into solid
waste transportation was about $2.1 billion(21%) of human
services, or 7% out of the $27.3 billion total funding[1]. In recent
years, transportation has been reconsidered as its own category,
and now takes up 9.8% of the $8.3 billion total funding[2].
Environmental: Landfill gas contains 90% CO2 and methane, both
of which are Greenhouse Gases[3]. Waste transportation also
produces a substantial amount of CO2. The Greenhouse Gas that
this results in is detrimental in terms of climate change.

rebuilding a trail that has been ruined by water erosion

and planting ferns

Environmental Governance
Seattle Trails Program needs funding and volunteers. Its trail
committee is made up of only two people. This demands advocacy
solutions.
The Nature Consortium is a non-profit organization that relies heavily
upon volunteers. There needs to be greater participation and funding
to support this group.

Environmental Citizenship & Education

Goals of the Group:

Combat human-caused soil compaction (which depletes
the soil of nutrients, such as nitrates)
Rebuild after water erosion
Allow easy access to the environment for Seattle citizens
Maintain biodiversity surrounding the trail by planting
ferns

Restoring West Duwamish Greenbelt

Organization: Nature Consortium
Connects people, art, and nature

My Position: Forest Steward

Trail restoration, replacing invasive species with native
ones

Goals of the Group:

Combat pollution of industrial city with restoration of
crucial land
Removal of air toxins through planting native species
Protection of forest that acts as a barrier from city waste
Promote environmental citizenship through accessible
forests and increased volunteering

Seattles Core Emissions of 2012[4]

Washington State Budget of 2015[2]

The Bigger Picture

Volunteer Forest Restoration

We are combatting the effects of the law of the commons by doing

our part in positively giving back to the land.
Volunteers gain ownership of land, and citizens more easily access
nature, increasing environmental citizenship behaviors.
Relates to Dobsons paper: Environmental Citizenship: Towards
Sustainable Development
City access to nature is a critical form of environmental education
because it increases exposure to nature and generates positive
interactions with the outdoors.

Promoting Biodiversity
Seattle Trails Program replants ferns in the Puget Park area because,
for this climate, ferns are supposed to make up 60% of the land. This
relates to the natural abundance and spread of plant species.

Waste and CHANS

When we acknowledge that we are part of an ecologically connected
system (CHANS), it becomes relevant and necessary to do service
that combats the waste discussed in the research inquiry.

References:
3d View of Nature City and Sky [Photograph].
(2016). 3D Wallpapers, MailChimp Official
Cite.
Untitled [Photograph]. (n.d.). Seattle Trails
Program Volunteers, Seattle.
Jimenez, J. (2016, November 14). Planting
Ferns [Photograph]. Puget Park, Seattle.
Urban Forest Restoration Program - Nature
Consortium. (n.d.). Retrieved November 30,
2016.
Seattle Trails Embulum [Photograph]. (n.d.).
Seattle.