Ecology

Design and ecology are inseparable in my work. However, although I aim to make no designs separate from ecology, plenty of my ecological activities fall outside of the realm of design.

One of my most significant engagements with ecology outside of the classroom is my involvement with the Burke Museum’s meadow, planted in 2019. I learned of this project in 2020 and was excited to see it before I stepped foot on the UW campus as a student. I’ve watched it over the years, and attended several work parties to help care for it. In 2022, I was recruited to work for the Burke Meadow by Polly Olsen, Burke Museum Director of DEAI and Director of Decolonization, who I had met in Fall 2021 through the class ESRM 421: Yakama Nation Experience.

The Burke Meadow project is truly interdisciplinary – it melds Indigenous lifeways and practices with Western science and has many facets and collaborators. Through this project, I have organized work parties with UW Grounds workers, engaged students in my department, worked with Burke Museum staff, and spoken with Burke Museum visitors. This project blends many of my key interests – most notably ecology and community. Research I did for this project in Summer 2023 – measuring plant abundance in plots in the meadow – was my second Honors experiential learning project.

I’ve also found ways to explore ecology through Honors classes, often in more theoretical ways than my extracurricular involvements. For instance, I took an Honors class in Spring 2021 called The Ecology of Urban Seattle, which I learned about community activism and ecological history through.

My involvement with the Burke Meadow project has showed me what ecological restoration can be. Sometimes, Western approaches to restoration lack communal components and focus on a conception of healing land from the harms humans cause without recognizing the beneficial ways both humans and the more-than-human world can benefit from healthy social-ecological systems. This project has brought communities and disciplines together and puts Indigenous cultures at the forefront, showing how critical human stewardship of the environment is.