Rain Barrel Education

Meet the Education Team

Liberty Mason

Liberty is currently a junior Environmental and Sustainability studies major with a minor in Sustainable Urban and Regional planning.

Delaney Dorsch

ENS + SPA + HTM

Olivia Tucker

BIO + ENS

Dan Mullen

OSH + ENS

Eden Slavsky

ENS

Who is WMEAC?

West Michigan Environmental Action Council (WMEAC) is a nonprofit centered in the Grand Rapids community dedicated to environmental action. Serving the communities of West Michigan for the last 50 years, WMEAC provides resources, workshops, and events that focus on environmental protection and reducing community climate impact. The rain barrel workshop is offered to schools, workplaces, and groups interested in learning about green stormwater infrastructure.

"WMEAC's Mission is to work collaboratively alongside our diverse community to educate, engage, and advocate for environmental values, environmental and climate justice, and a healthy and resilient community for all."

(WMEAC, n.d.)

Why Rain Barrels?

Rain barrels offer a hand in reducing the amount of runoff caused by precipitation. By capturing some of the water that would typically be lost down gutters, rain barrels also act as a water reservoir to irrigate crops, gardens, or lawns (Fiala, 2013)! Controlling for runoff also helps reduce the non-point source pollution associated with agricultural fertilizers that end up in waterways. Capturing rainwater can also be cost-efficient for residents and homeowners as the water is harvestable for personal uses such as bathing (EPA, 2022).

Rain barrels are limited to those with the space to house them and typically are placed on units with a gutter system. For residents in high-density areas, rain barrels may not be as effective for individuals. Instead, a community garden or business that adopts rain barrel use can offer positive externalities to all members of the community. Rain barrel programs are scalable, an incredibly important factor in their ability to create sustainable communities despite conflicts with individual resident's tenure.

Learn more about rain barrels!

Our Project

Our project consists of working with the education sector of WMEAC. The goal is to reconstruct the rain barrel education programs to immerse more members of the community, engage children by creating generational knowledge, and to utilize an alternative discipline to make West Michigan residents more aware of green stormwater infrastructure.

Community Benefit

Rain barrels help the watershed and the community at large. Protecting the water in the watershed promotes a cleaner ecosystem. People in the West Michigan community can gain access to water that would otherwise be washed away or privatized. Educating the public will help bring Grand Rapids to the forefront of a sustainable city and allow for more residents to gain access to usable water while reducing the pollution in the surrounding waterways.

Equity in Underserved Communities

Engaging with the communities and creating a connection will help facilitate a conversation of their experiences. This conservation of first-hand knowledge is productive because it has the opportunity to bridge divides (BACHANI & GIOVANNA, 2021). This approach to connect with communities and discover the causes and effects of the marginalization is a step in the right direction. WMEAC strives to educate members of diverse backgrounds, so they have the skills to give generational knowledge to their descendants.

The rain barrel programs cultivate a learning environment for West Michigan residents to address water conservation issues while improving water quality (2022). In a large urban area, it is important to have green spaces. Communities that have faced environmental injustice do not have access to many green spaces (McCaskill, 2022). According to McCaskill, some benefits of green spaces include:

“...Air and water purification, temperature reduction, groundwater replenishment, biodiversity and disease control, noise reduction, improved health, and opportunities for leisure and recreation.Specific health benefits of green space include: lower stress hormones, reduced teenage obesity, boosted concentration, alleviated depression and anxiety, lower blood pressure, and reduced overall mortality” (2022).

Rain barrels can serve as a green space in underserved communities to purify water sources, cultivate plant growth, and improve health and well-being. One of our actionable plans is to make the mentorship program available to all public schools and reach a wide variety of students, regardless of age, gender, or financial accessibility to the WMEAC workshop. The mentor program can be used in all types of schools and would be available to students of all backgrounds.

Mentor Rain Barrel Education Program

After a fast semester of Design Thinking, we are warming up to present our solution to help WMEAC achieve a greater impact on the community. The solution we propose is to increase education about rain barrels through a mentorship program within the schools. Young students learn from the 4th grade through the 11th grade when they will partner with the school again and teach the 4th grade, acting as mentors. every student who goes through the program will make a rain barrel and paint it.

The program will focus on activities that promote cooperation such as creating classroom posters about rain barrel’s benefits. This builds generational knowledge of environmental action and protection!

Art Prize Awareness

During WMEAC’s rain barrel workshops, groups will decorate the barrels after learning about their function and importance. Then, they are placed throughout the Art Prize route to bring more awareness of the program to the larger community. Each rain barrel will have a QR code attached that links to WMEAC’s rain barrel program information page for those looking for more information. Not only will this engage the participants of the workshops but also allow for residents with no awareness about WMEAC or rain barrels to interact with them in an accessible and integrated way.

Our image carousel to the left shows possible designs and placements along the central Art Prize map show in the last photo!

Interactive Flyers

Simple, accessible, and educational flyers posted in West Michigan communities will allow interaction at places like parks, schools, libraries, nature centers, and community centers.

Education also takes exposure. The more people see the information, the more likely they are to think about it and potentially try it. The QR code on the flyer links to the WMEAC Rain Barrel workshop website.

Sources Cited

BACHANI, P. O. O. J. A., & GIOVANNA, D. I. (2021). Engaging Marginalized Communities Challenges and Best Practices: A carefully considered engagement and inclusion process helps bind the fabric of the community, 103(9).

Environmental Protection Agency. (2022). Soak Up the Rain: Rain Barrels. EPA. Retrieved March 14, 2023, from https://www.epa.gov/soakuptherain/soak-rain-rain barrels#:~:text=Rain%20barrels%20capture%20water%20from,for%20use%20in%20your%20landscape.

Fiala, J. (2013). Saving water and money with Rain Barrels. WWF. Retrieved March 14, 2023, from https://www.worldwildlife.org/blogs/sustainability-works/posts/saving-water-and-money-with-rain-barrels

McCaskill, A. (2022). Environmental Law. A CRITIQUE OF FEDERAL GRANT PROGRAMS AS A SOURCE OF FUNDING FOR GREEN SPACE IN ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE COMMUNITIES .

Penn State Extension. (2020). YouTube. Retrieved March 14, 2023, from https://www.youtube.com/watch ?

v=WD8R5aAxxYQ&ab_channel=PennStateExtension.

Stormwater solutions. WMEAC. (2022). Retrieved March 4, 2023, from https://wmeac.org/education/stormwater-solutions/

WMEAC history. WMEAC. (n.d.). Retrieved March 14, 2023, from https://wmeac.org/history/