December 2021 - Parks & Recreation - 27

I think we can't lose sight of these
enormous issues
because we're
consumed with one that happens
to be a health problem right now. "
" The point of this is not to say
the sky is falling, " Rubin says. " It's
to say: There are problems. They're
very severe and there are things
we can do and we should be doing
them right now. I'd like this to be
more of a call to action than an
obituary on our planet " (tinyurl.
com/4dx7hebm).
In 2020, NRPA published a climate
statement. The climate statement
is a declaration of our values
and our value. As stewards of the
land, we have the opportunity to
ensure equitable climate solutions
are incorporated in communities
across the country. It states in part,
" Park and recreation professionals
plan, manage, program and
maintain 11 million acres of public
parks and green spaces across the
country, and are poised to bring
community-driven climate solutions
that build a healthy, more
resilient and more equitable future
for generations to come (tinyurl.
com/5ek479s8). "
NRPA has developed a suite of
green infrastructure (GI) resources
to provide the tools, knowledge
and resources to plan, implement,
maintain and advocate for greener
parks and open spaces. These resources
also can help members to
understand and value the multiple
benefits GI projects can bring to
surrounding communities, including
improved community health,
access to green spaces and nature,
and opportunities for education,
employment and resiliency.
NRPA's resources include:
* A guide of best practices for
planning, constructing and managing
GI in parks
* Case studies and briefing papers
that take a deeper dive into some
key areas, like community engagement,
funding and equity
* The Green Infrastructure Evaluation
Framework, which helps
determine what data points to
measure and how to measure
them to show the impact of these
spaces
* The National Green Infrastructure
Certificate, which is a professional
certificate earned from
an online course, focused on designing,
implementing and maintaining
GI in park settings
As we move into 2022, I look to celebrate
innovation and communitydriven
success, and support
climate-ready parks. Our goal is
to fully utilize existing resources
(blogs,
podcasts, magazine articles,
grants and professional development
opportunities)
to
center
place-based
solutions, which are
exemplified in resources and programs
like Climate.Park.Change.
(climateparkchange.net)
and
BioBlitz campaigns (nrpa.org/
BioBlitz).
To
center
climateready
parks as place-based solutions
in the face of an ever-changing environment,
we must continue to cultivate
solutions that are co-creative,
complementary, adaptive and transformative.
I encourage you to ask
questions that focus on how your
work advances community and environmental
resilience, such as:
* Desirability - Are we creating,
elevating and sharing the right
type
of resources to advance
climate-ready parks through our
planning, professional development
and on-the-ground events?
* Feasibility - Can we use these resources
to create systems change
at the local level?
* Viability - Do these resources
provide information or tools to
make climate-ready parks more
fundable through current funding
structures?
We cannot know what opportunities
and challenges 2022 will
hold. However, I am confident we
can face them together if we see
parks as part of the solution. As
Nelson Mandela said, " It always
seems impossible until it's done. "
Getting it done is what park professionals
do every day.
Ayanna Williams, MSW, is NRPA's Director of Community
and Environmental Resilience (awilliams@nrpa.org).
PARK S ANDRECRE AT ION . OR G | DECEMBER 2 0 2 1
| Parks & Recreation
27
Ayanna Williams, MSW, NRPA's director
of community and environmental
resilience.
To center climate-ready parks
as place-based solutions in
the face of an ever-changing
environment, we must continue
to cultivate solutions that are
co-creative, complementary,
adaptive and transformative.
PHOTO COURTESY OF AYANNA WILLIAMS, MSW
https://www.tinyurl.com/4dx7hebm https://www.tinyurl.com/4dx7hebm http://www.climateparkchange.net https://www.tinyurl.com/5ek479s8 http://www.nrpa.org/BioBlitz https://www.tinyurl.com/5ek479s8 http://www.nrpa.org/BioBlitz
December 2021 - Parks & Recreation

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of December 2021 - Parks & Recreation
