This year the Kaufman Interfaith Scholars learned about social justice through "This Book Is Anti-racist" by Tiffany Jewell. This book inspired them to think deeply about environmental racism. They wanted to do a project to address this topic. However, they learned from naturalist in our community that one of the biggest threats to our environment currently are invasive species that leave the ground depleted, looking like an oil spill where nothing can grow for some time. Furthermore, in the city of Grand Rapids there are not many parks that are accessible to diverse communities and so abundant with native species that need protection as Aman Park. So the Scholars decided to join the Friends of Grand Rapids Parks to do garlic mustard pull with sustainable and impactful projects to accompany their effort. They recruited student groups to help with a scheduled park clean-up, built-in boot cleaning stations at GR parks to prevent the spread of invasive species, and compiled these videos to advocate for the importance of caring for our Earth. They hope to inspire spiritual, secular, and religious folxs to work towards protecting our environment and protecting those most impacted by environmental contamination and climate change. We are thankful to the City of Grand Rapids and the Friends of Grand Rapids Parks for allowing us to help with this effort.

Climate Change United Nations

Center for Inquiry Michigan

Earth Day Garden Relief Initiative

Sunrise Movement

Wisconsin Green Muslims

Friends of Grand Rapids Parks

Additional Information:

We are partnering with the Friends of Grand Rapids Parks to pull garlic mustard and we are building boot cleaning stations that will be installed at various Grand Rapids parks to prevent the spread of invasive species into and out of the parks. 

Sign up for the garlic mustard COLLECTION event with West Michigan Conservation District and Friends of Grand Rapids Parks, please sign up for that event here.



Page last modified May 16, 2022