Climate Gardening 101

A Course on Assessing How Urban Landscapes Impact Climate Adaptation

Winter 2025

COURSE DESCRIPTION

In this course, we apply theoretical principles of ecosystem ecology to critically examine how the urban landscapes that individuals cultivate can both bolster and erode climate adaptation at multiple scales. While the content of this course is globally applicable, examples emphasize Los Angeles and the region’s specific climate challenges, socio-environmental inequities, and dominant or emergent landscape types. Over the course of one month (3 in-person and 4 virtual sessions), students will build community with fellow classmates, learn from TreePeople staff and special guest instructors, and develop new skills to read urban landscapes through an ecosystems and climate- adaptation lens.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

  1. Understand urban landscaping history and contemporary influences of policy and environmental concerns
  2. Analyze the tenets of Climate Gardening as a framework for evaluating how our managed landscapes impact climate adaptation
  3. Assess water, soil, and plant traits in a (residential) landscape and investigate their connection to different climate factors
  4. Observe and assess the physical and living properties of different landscape types
  5. Articulate how we as land managers, and the systems we cultivate, are in relationship to our ecosystem and our collective capacity for climate adaptation
  6. Describe the local context pertaining to climate, resources, and socially contested futures

COURSE STRUCTURE

With a combination of in-person experiences, online lectures, and discussions, this short course aims to engage community members in an in depth exploration of the challenges and opportunities that exist around climate gardening.

COURSE COST

$100

SCHEDULE

In Person

February 15 (9am to noon): Introductions and exploring the physical world

  • Urban Landscape: An Introduction
  • Defining “Climate Gardening”
  • Soil science

March 1 (9am to noon): Diving into the living world

  • Landscape Typologies
  • Biotic Components of the Landscape

March 15 (9am to noon): Engaging the social context

  • Field trip/urban walk
  • Culminating experience

Online

February 19 (7-8:30pm) – course/content – 90 minute block

  • Principles of Ecosystem Ecology

February 26 (7-8:30pm) – guest lecture – 90 minute block

  • Urban Ecosystem Ecology in practice

March 5 (7-8:30pm) – course/content – 90 minute block

  • Socio-environmental context
  • Resilience

March 12 (7-8:30pm) – guest lecture – 90 minute block

  • Biodiversity
  • Environmental inequity and social vulnerability