Eye Of Nature

EYE OF NATURE IMPERATIVE ISSUES What will happen to us in the future if we did not maintain food security?

ENGAGING THE COMMUNITIES ‘I Grow Seeds Campaign’

LAVISH GROWTH From 3 Raised Bed To Sanctuary

PEOPLE-CENTERED INITIATIVE KULNA “All of Us” in Zayed University

IMPERATIVE ISS

What will happen to us in the future if we did not maintain food security

WHAT IS WRONG? What percent of the food

we eat is imported into the UAE? Turns out about 80%, so yeah, a lot!

While imported foods make the long journey from their

home to ours, what is done to make them last longer and stay fresh? Are these

processes healthy for us?

Do they make food more

expensive or even unaffordable can

we

locally?

to

not

some? grow

Why

food

Why the Food Revolution for Social Change at Zayed University?

Long-term

food

security

has

been

a

key

strategic goal for the government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which ranks 21 on the

Global Food Security Index (The Economist Group, 2019).

The country is vulnerable to

food shortages, price volatility, and supply

restrictions, producing very little of what is

consumed by its population and wasting 197 kg of food each year. Its arid landscapes, water scarcity, and extreme temperatures represent an urgent need to create a resilient ecosystem

that sustains local agricultural production in the long run. To alleviate this pressing issue,

the government has devised a National Food Security Strategy to “develop a comprehensive national system based on enabling sustainable

food production, enhancing local production,

“The country is vulnerable to food shortag very little of what is consumed by its po

SUES

y?

Project Drawdown

https://drawdown.org/

Led by Paul Hawken, details 100 ways we can take greenhouse gasses (as carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalents) out of the atmosphere. The solutions have potential to either reduce emissions or sequester 1,052.04

gigatons (gigaton = 1 billion metric tons) of CO2 equiva-

lents between 2020 and 2015. Drawdown is the point where globally we start to reduce atmospheric CO2.

The project groups 80 solutionss into 7 clusters, and the cluster that can generate the highest reduction – 31%,

is food. Between 2020 and 2050, food initiatives that are already underway can reduce CO2 by 321.9 gigatonnes.

Listen to Paul Hawken If

we

change

the

preposition,

and

consider

that

global warming is happening for us – an atmospheric transformation that inspires us to change and reimagine

everything we make and do – we begin to live in a

different world. We take 100 percent responsibility and

stop blaming others. We see global warming not as an inevitability but as an invitation to build, innovate,

and effect change, a pathway that awakens creativity, compassion, and genius. This is not a liberal agenda,

nor is it a conservative one. This is a human agenda.

ges, price volatility, and supply restrictions, producing opulation and wasting 197 kg of food each year.”

PEOPLE-CENTER INITIATIVE The KULNA

Community

Garden was first

conceived at the Design Thinking

Workshop during

the ZU Innovation Week 2016, where

students voiced a strong interest in

sustainability and

“the approach of the KULNA community was based on a collective, inclusive, “bottom-down meeting top-up” process called codesign (cooperative, collective, community-based).

”

RED

KULNA was one of the people initiative, which means in Arabic (All of Us)

About KULNA It was then launched under the CFRSC research cluster, with the goal of developing a small-scale local food system to

instigate a “food revolution”. The food revolution was framed as a collective movement to bring awareness to the urgency of

making food systemic changes in the ZU community and beyond.

This is supported by the work of the ZU faculty on the ME=WE

framework, which has engaged the ZU students in team-building and personal development projects to connect individuals within teams, and these teams with their surroundings, to spark long-

lasting attitudinal and behavioral changes in the community as

a whole. Hence, the approach of the KULNA community was based on a collective, inclusive, “bottom-down meeting top-up” process called codesign (cooperative, collective, community-based).

The cluster proposes a food system built on the framework of codesign, which includes a variety of actors in terms of experience,

roles, and expertise, using sustainable practices to minimize

waste in the system and maximize well-being of the community members. Via codesign, all actors in the community were encouraged to actively engage in the design process of the

garden, which enabled them to envision a food system that

was structured to meet their needs. The participants were encouraged to participate in their activities in the garden and in classes and invited to

plan further actions to expand

the capacity of the movement, through which they observed how

their

knowledge

and

skills evolved through their involvement in KULNA.

Applying Permaculture Principles for Sustainable Gardening Practices

L

Fro

The garden demonstrates multiple conceptual technical

solutions

that

are

aligned

with

permaculture design principles centered around

water and energy efficiency. These include water systems, companion planting, seed harvesting,

wicking beds, vermicomposting, recycling, and reusing materials. The garden has a variety of

edible produce, including vegetables, herbs,

edible flowers, and small fruit and nut-bearing trees. All plants attract beneficial wildlife and

creatures, nitrogen fixers which produce mulch by chop and drop are used to improve the soil,

and the garden is provided with windbreaks, canopy

and

shades.

Wicking

beds,

ground

beds, raised beds, and vertical growing were

incorporated, along with drip irrigation and capturing/storing possible

in

rainwater

infiltration

runoff

channels

where

running

alongside the road. Biomass accumulation, living soils, nutrient recycling, mulching, green

The lavish growth of KULNA from 2016 to 2020.

manure and no-till techniques were applied. All garden waste is converted to compost, which

is used as a soil amendment and fertilizer.

“All plants attract beneficial wildlife and creatures, nitrogen fixers which produce mulch by chop and drop are used to improve the soil, and the garden is provided with windbreaks, canopy and shades.

�

LAVISH GR WTH

om 3 Raised Bed To Sanctuary.

“I believe in growing my own organic garden.�

Students from biology courses are growing radish and testing soil conditions in the wicking beds

EXPL RING A FO Food system is consist of Zero waste, Well-being, Inclusivity.

“The Garden was

designed to be a learning space for students to engage in hands-on, interactive skill-building that promotes health and sustainability.

�

Well-being The Garden was designed to be a learning space for students to

engage in hands-on, interactive skill-building

Seedlings are been prepared in the nursery.

that

promotes

health and sustainability.

“KULNA compost making and soil production through the use of kitchen w

OOD SYSTEM

Zero waste ZU

Waste

compost

Management:

making

and

KULNA soil

production through the use of kitchen

clipping,

Inclusivity wider

communities

waste were

encouraged to engage in lively dialogue and activities.

waste�

Applying zero waste, compost out of the kitchen waste.

pruning

garden

litter,

provides

an

opportunity to implement zero

Participants including the ZU and

waste,

practices

and

waste

management systems, which are conducive to active learning and

innovative business practices by producing living soil.

“ZU students and faculty interacted with the people of KULNA, including the gardening staff and security

DISC VERY How Far Have We Come to a Food Revolution at Zayed University?

In its nascent implementation, KULNA did not

reach the university-farm capacity of Dickinson college or UC Davis, where they provided food

to the on-campus and local communities, with the harvest being sold to the campus canteen and feeding a large number of families. Rather

KULNA has been influential in instigating a few steps towards connecting people and

exploring sustainable practices on campus by prototyping a pathway for co-designing a healthy and sustainable food system.

Who says good girls don’t get their hands dirty Written by Almanar Albastaki Edited by Vijaya Chikamane

A

common many

of

students

stereotype

our

have

female

had

to

overcome is that “girls don’t

like to get their hands dirty, or

work

outdoors

with

the

soil.” This story follows the experiences of Kulna’s student leader

Almanar.

Almanar’s

journey has taken her from a

rather

quiet

student

who

found a special place in the garden to a strong advocate for

sustainable

gardening

practices, environmentalism,

a graduate of an international permaculture design course, student club President and

driver of social change. When

she first began working with Kulna

Almanar

reactions

she

recalls would

the get

from peers and staff, many

who believed that outdoor gardening work.’

But

was

for

not

‘girl’s

Almanar,

working with Kulna has been

hard, authentic, collaborative

GRADUALLY CHANGING

ENGAGING THE COMMUN

G

“Student-led Initiative” In Zayed University, and Jameel Art Center

NITIES Through the “I Grow Seeds Campaign” in Spring 2019, students truly reflected

on the inclusivity aspect of working in

KULNA.

Collaborating

with

the

gardeners of ZU, KULNA researchers, and community volunteers through the

‘I Grow Seeds Campaign’

campaign, the students reported being

is

a

student-led

skills, merge themselves in the nature

Change research cluster at Zayed

ways in which they could bring social

Kulna

the participating students suggested not

and sustainability by inviting our

scale on campus, but to expand its scope

and grow seeds. The food system

together people from other communities.

few groups of people. It calls ‘All Of

Revolution

initiative

able to improve their communication

Food

that surrounded them, and reflect on the

University in collaboration with

change in the UAE. Most significantly,

art, design, science, education,

only implementing KULNA on a larger

communities to pledge, plant,

to different parts of the country, bringing

challenges can’t be solved by a

Community

for

of

Social

connecting

Us’! Our aim is to raise awareness

of food issues, bringing positive

ALL OF US

WE GROW TOGATHER!

It is only possible if we all did it.

If you did not notice...

You already have pledged, go back to the beginning

You actually said “I pledge” through the pages, no way to run away from it, and you know now how important is this matter!

We are waiting for you to share your pledge.

“You can solve all the world’s problems in a garden.”

- Geoff Lawton