Connections between gardening experience and valuing food justice in undergraduate students
Presentation Type
Poster
Presentation Type
Submission
Keywords
community garden; climate change; food justice
Department
Biology
Major
Economics
Abstract
Community gardens have the capacity to serve as educational tools, both within and outside of academic communities. However, few studies have examined the role of community gardens in individuals’ faith or value systems as they relate to food sourcing and climate justice. We used Pepperdine University undergraduate students as a case study to address this question. Our objective for this project was to determine 1) current involvement of Pepperdine students in the community garden, and 2) how Pepperdine students currently connect personal values to food justice and climate action. We hypothesized that few students have heard of the community garden. We also predicted that students would express little concern toward food justice values and individual action. We surveyed Pepperdine undergraduate students using a Likert scale. Our results show that most students who completed the survey had not previously heard of the community garden. However, scores for all action or value questions were significantly different from extremely unlikely or strongly disagree (score of 1 out of 4 or 5), as shown by a one sample t test (p < 0.05). The average scores were moderate with some range, indicating that students valued the subject of food justice and climate action more neutrally than anticipated. Future studies will determine whether the community garden can be used as an effective tool to educate students on the intersection of faith, food justice, and climate change.
Faculty Mentor
Helen Holmlund
Funding Source or Research Program
Not Identified
Location
Waves Cafeteria
Start Date
24-3-2023 2:00 PM
End Date
24-3-2023 4:00 PM
Connections between gardening experience and valuing food justice in undergraduate students
Waves Cafeteria
Community gardens have the capacity to serve as educational tools, both within and outside of academic communities. However, few studies have examined the role of community gardens in individuals’ faith or value systems as they relate to food sourcing and climate justice. We used Pepperdine University undergraduate students as a case study to address this question. Our objective for this project was to determine 1) current involvement of Pepperdine students in the community garden, and 2) how Pepperdine students currently connect personal values to food justice and climate action. We hypothesized that few students have heard of the community garden. We also predicted that students would express little concern toward food justice values and individual action. We surveyed Pepperdine undergraduate students using a Likert scale. Our results show that most students who completed the survey had not previously heard of the community garden. However, scores for all action or value questions were significantly different from extremely unlikely or strongly disagree (score of 1 out of 4 or 5), as shown by a one sample t test (p < 0.05). The average scores were moderate with some range, indicating that students valued the subject of food justice and climate action more neutrally than anticipated. Future studies will determine whether the community garden can be used as an effective tool to educate students on the intersection of faith, food justice, and climate change.