Written by: Nicole Fassina and Maren Hale

“EarthLab is a valuable outdoor space for experiential learning, but what makes EarthLab special is the people.” – Amy Knight, UCSD-EarthLab Program Manager

Adjacent to the Millennial Tech Middle School (MTM) campus in Encanto, San Diego, sits EarthLab, a 4-acre outdoor climate action park owned by the San Diego Unified School District and managed collaboratively by the UC San Diego Center on Global Justice and Groundwork San Diego-Chollas Creek. Part of a broader network of green spaces across the Chollas Creek Watershed, EarthLab is specifically designed for experiential outdoor learning about the local environment. On March 1, the Heat Hub team visited EarthLab together with partners from the Center on Global Justice, Groundwork San Diego, and San Diego Canyonlands to kick off a collaboration effort that will join science, education, and community engagement.

During the visit, we received an overview and introduction of EarthLab and the surrounding community from Allie McCarthy, director of youth and family programs at Groundwork San Diego-Chollas Creek, and Teddy Cruz, co-director of the Center on Global Justice. We learned how this dedicated team is making progress towards EarthLab’s Master Plan, which includes the development of a Climate Action Maker Lab building, a greenhouse, and the implementation of additional climate and drought resilient landscaping. This Master Plan builds towards a vision that integrates Millennial Tech Middle School with EarthLab to enhance educational programs for students, fostering environmental education and climate science. Allie then led our group on a comprehensive guided tour of the space, after which we engaged in collaborative discussions about our plans to connect EarthLab with Heat Hub science. As a team, we sought to understand EarthLab’s role in the community and how the Heat Hub can use its resources to help support ongoing education and engagement efforts. 

During the guided tour of the EarthLab space, we delved into its purpose as an experiential learning center for students, youth, and families in the community, and we were able to see the different outdoor areas that serve as hands-on learning stations for environmental education. We started at a large central gathering space that is covered by a canopy, with many picnic tables scattered underneath. This space is used as an outdoor classroom, and is ideal for facilitating group collaboration and workshops. In fact, the day we visited, we were treated to student art of important figures in Black history displayed around the space: an example of the previous day’s outdoor classroom activities. There are also many permanent art installations, specifically painted murals, sprinkled throughout the space, some of which were painted by students.

A repurposed shipping container with a colorful painted mural. Photo credit: Maren Hale.

In addition to the gathering space and outdoor classroom, we had an opportunity to see the gardens and vegetation throughout the space, including a beautiful native plant garden that supports local ecosystems, an oak grove, fruit trees planted by the local community, and a pollinator garden. We also were able to see in person how EarthLab fits into the broader context of the Chollas View community within Encanto and the Chollas Creek Watershed. EarthLab’s location in the Chollas Creek Watershed positions it as a vital hub for environmental education and Heat Hub science as well as community engagement.

Historically, communities within the Chollas Creek Watershed have been impacted by redlining and discriminatory housing policies, which to this day has resulted in an increased vulnerability to extreme heat because of a lack of tree canopy coverage and increased impervious surfaces (Groundwork San Diego). The geographic location of EarthLab next to State Route 94 is also important to highlight within the historical context of underserved communities in the Chollas Creek Watershed. Highway construction has impacted communities in the Chollas Creek Watershed by exacerbating the divide between neighborhoods, through limiting active transportation between neighborhoods, and also restricting access to outdoor recreational trails and bike paths (Deaderick, 2023). The highway also represents a significant source of both noise and air pollution, which can negatively impact the nearby community. The EarthLab space is vital here because it has the potential to address and mitigate these issues by providing a green space and offering opportunities for education and community engagement. Furthermore, being situated in a historically redlined community emphasizes the importance of prioritizing investments in green infrastructure to combat disproportionate impacts of climate change on vulnerable communities. This visit highlighted the crucial role of such initiatives in creating awareness, fostering a sense of responsibility, and actively contributing to the restoration and improvement of the local environment and the wellbeing of the residents of Chollas Creek Watershed.

In this picture, the group is seen engaging in a discussion about bringing Heat Hub science to EarthLab. Photo credit: Maren Hale.

 The collaborative management aspect of EarthLab, shared between UCSD and the community-based Groundwork San Diego-Chollas Creek, is essential to the success of an initiative such as EarthLab in an underserved, climate-vulnerable region like Encanto. Amy Knight, UCSD-EarthLab Program Manager, explains: “our years-long partnership with Groundwork San Diego-Chollas Creek deepens UCSD’s ties to the community of Encanto, and by extension supports the development of mentor-mentee relationships between UCSD undergraduates and youth.” The collaboration also helps empower youth to see themselves as building solutions to issues such as climate change and extreme heat. Amy, who facilitates university partnerships and runs an undergraduate mentorship program at EarthLab, elaborates on this topic: “For me, it is particularly rewarding to see how these relationships foster youth agency. At EarthLab, youth engage with place-based environmental concepts like extreme heat while mentors deepen their own knowledge of climate change and affirm their mentee’s ability to advocate for change.”

At the end of our visit, we engaged in a collaborative discussion focused on ideas for combining efforts between EarthLab and the Heat Hub. We identified goals such as installing a weather station at EarthLab to provide locally-relevant weather data to students, community members, and scientists, collecting valuable data on heat, vegetation, and water within the Chollas Creek area, and collaborating in upcoming workshops to engage with what the local community needs when it comes to local heat and climate data. We even discussed the integration of science with art, envisioning performances, paintings, and drawings as mediums to convey important ecological messages. Overall, this visit was an enriching experience that not only allowed the Heat Hub team to visualize and experience EarthLab climate action park firsthand, but also fueled discussions surrounding opportunities for collaboration, data collection, and the fusion of climate science and hands-on education to inspire the next generation of youth to be environmental stewards. 

Header image caption: The view as you approach the EarthLab entrance. Photo credit: Nicole Fassina.