The EFC’s Pesticide-Free Soil Project (PFSP) staff and interns, in collaboration with the Rio School District and participating local organizations, have created a lively video that takes a step-by-step approach to sharing how to organize a compost tea party at your school or in your community. The Compost Tea Party is a collaborative event with the Rio School District and local community organizations that not only takes the first step in moving away from using pesticides on school grounds, but also provides workshops about nature-based climate solutions, addressing both farmworker and family health, soil health, and climate change. The district has earned the California Green School Designation as a direct result of the CTP’s and PFSP’s continuous involvement in climate-resilient policies and programming at the district.
This video provides an introduction to the PFSP’s purpose and approach to education about the issue of pesticide pollution on public land, particularly in school areas, and its relationship to farmworker community health and climate change. It also shows how to take direct action to address the problem by working with hundreds of school children and teachers to apply compost tea to school grounds. This increases soil health, which increases carbon sequestration and water retention.
The video also shows examples of the many nature-based climate solutions that the PFSP interns and local organizations offer. It features local district and organizational representatives sharing the steps they take to organize a Compost Tea Party and encourages the viewer to organize such an event in their school or community. The excitement and collaboration among the organizers is inspiring, as is the joy that hands-on learning brings to children.
We gratefully acknowledge the participation of the Rio School District, and the community members and organizations of Oxnard and Ventura County in making the Compost Tea Parties a success. In particular, we thank everyone who is interviewed in this video’ the individuals and organizations providing nature-based climate solution workshops’ and the videographer, Adriana Campos-Ojeda, who put all the pieces together to share our vision. We have been and are supported in growing and nurturing the PFSP by the Clif Family Foundation, McCune Foundation, New Tudor Foundation, and Sparkplug Foundation. We could not have made this video without a Cal EPA grant that allowed us to expand our work, and to start the process of sharing it with other communities.
See the PFSP interns in action at Santa Barbara’s Earth Day Festival on Saturday, April 27, 2-3 p.m., on the Climate Action Stage at Alameda Park. Join us to participate in an interactive play created and performed by the interns about pesticide drift.
The 2024 Encampment — nourishing youth activism!
The PFSP was born at the 2019 summer Encampment, out of concern for the pesticide pollution surrounding local schools and its impact on the health of farmworkers and their families. It has thrived as a year-round program in Ventura County. To learn more about this year’s Encampment click here.
Contact
Email: admin@encampmentforcitizenship.org
Call: 831-515-6775
Follow the PFSP: https://www.instagram.com/pesticidefreesoilproject/?hl=en