Trump — Gardening for Climate Change

Sarah Williams turns 30 in a few weeks, and her birthday wish is not money, a fancy vacation, or a pair of earrings. Williams wants raised garden beds.

Raised garden beds. Williams’ garden is her way of doing her part in #climatechange.

Williams, educator and program coordinator of Elon Volunteers at Elon University, grew up in coastal South Carolina surrounded by nature. As an adult, her nature-cushioned hometown looks much different than it did as a child, due to many weather changes and natural disasters.

“There is a huge difference in my hometown since I was growing up; an increase in the number of hurricanes, beach erosion, even more intense storms and flooding,” Williams said. “Hurricane Michael was also a direct hit to my hometown.”

Williams went on to attend undergrad in Charleston, SC where she’s seen a number of what they call Sunny Day Floods: high tides that cause street flooding. Charleston has been around since 1670 and has been “mostly fine” until recent years, according to Williams. Now, a bad high tide could completely flood the roads without a drop of rain.

Currently, Williams lives in a small neighborhood in North Carolina where she spends most of her sunny days gardening. Even here, she and her neighbors have noticed differences in their weather and gardening patterns like frost later in the year, more rain than previous seasons, or a shorter growing season.

To Williams, these things are climate change and it is already affecting her and her gardens. But to some of her family and neighbors, these issues are merely normal shifting weather patterns; something that is not a threat to this lifetime.

According to a poll done in 2018 by Gallup, 55% of Americans don’t believe #climate change will pose a serious threat in their lifetime – leaving Williams in the minority 45%. Another study done by Climate Change Communication explains how influential it can be to spread awareness of climate change with others around you. Research shows that household energy consumption tends to decrease when people find out their neighbors and surrounding people are using less energy. Williams believes if more people begin to put themselves in nature, there is hope it can have this effect.

“I think it’s undeniably happening, and we need to address it quickly,” Williams said.

The largest issue she says is that large corporations are not being held accountable from our government with policies and standards of being eco-friendly. A lot of protections of nature have been taken away, and she wants to see those put back in place.

However, in our current political state, Williams says she’s not optimistic that will happen under Trump. She says she’s hopeful for a positive response to climate change in the next election, but for now, she’s worried more about the average person’s appreciation of the nature we have.

Going to national parks is what William’s family did for vacations growing up, and she credits that as part of the reason she feels such a strong connection to nature. When she became an adult and bought her own home, #gardening became her favorite hobby and way of staying connected to the land. While there are many small and important things one person can do to be eco-friendlier, this appreciation of nature is what Williams believes is lacking in the general population.

“I think we are too removed from nature if I’m being quite honest,” Williams said.

“I think we are too removed from nature if I’m being quite honest,” Williams said. “If we are not going into parks, going near water, or going outside we are simply unaware of these changes. Even in the last year and a half since I’ve owned my home and been gardening, I can already tell when there’s a drought or too much rain because I’m growing things. If we pay attention to nature, I think it will naturally make us be more aware and careful of these climate shifts.”

According to Williams, we are too removed in our houses, cars, and #technology to really realize what’s happening. While government policy has the largest impact on this issue, she says that’s not what she expects to happen during this presidency. She said we, as little people, need to get our hands dirty and care about what’s right in front of us.

“I’m not even holding my breath that policies will change under #Trump. I’m banking on helping bring in someone that will do better for many things, especially the environment,” She said. “I am spending all my energy now doing other things to be in tune with nature.”

For Williams, Donald Trump is not the realistic answer to progress against climate change – it’s her birthday wish: raised garden beds.