Promoting appreciation of cultural diversity and inclusion with the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen garden program

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present emergent findings from an evaluation of the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden (SAKG) Program showing that the program promoted appreciation of cultural diversity and inclusion of culturally diverse groups. Design/methodology/approach – The findings reported here are from the qualitative component of a mixed-method, nonrandomized, pre- and post-comparison evaluation study. Focus groups and interviews were held with school principals, teachers, program specialist staff, parents, volunteers and children at the program schools. Findings – In a culturally diverse school, the program enhanced the school’s capacity to engage and include children and families from migrant backgrounds. In less diverse settings, the program provided opportunities for schools to teach children about cultural diversity. Research limitations/implications – Assessing the program’s impact on multicultural education was not a specific objective of this study, rather these findings emerged as an unanticipated outcome during interviews and focus groups that explored participants’ views on important changes to schools associated with the program. Thus, the quantitative component of the evaluation did not assess the extent of this program impact and further research is recommended. Practical implications – The program may have particular value in culturally diverse schools, providing benefits in terms of engagement of children and families and potentially, in the longer term, associated improvements in learning outcomes. Social implications – These findings suggest that the program can help to promote social equity and inclusion for culturally diverse groups. Originality/value – This paper highlights critical equity implications associated with school-based programs’ capacity to include culturally and linguistically diverse groups.

The Secret Garden and the gaze

Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden (1911) suggests that acts of looking are seminal to the communication of ideals surrounding gender in the text. The acts of looking – which this paper refers to as the gaze – to which Mary Lennox introduces her cousin Colin Craven direct him toward a model of masculinity characterised by its emphasis on power but, in doing so, disempowers her in her agency in the story.

Multisensory environments for leisure: promoting well-being in nursing home residents with dementia

Multisensory environments such as Snoezelen^® rooms are becoming increasingly popular in health care facilities for older individuals. There is limited reliable evidence of the benefits of such innovations, and the effect they have on residents, caregivers, and visitors in these facilities. This two-stage project examined how effective two types of multisensory environments were in improving the well-being of older individuals with dementia. The two multisensory environments were a Snoezelen room and a landscaped garden. These environments were compared to the experience of the normal living environment. The observed response of 24 residents with dementia in a nursing home was measured during time spent in the Snoezelen room, in the garden, and in the living room. In the second part of the project, face-to-face interviews were conducted with six caregivers and six visitors to obtain their responses to the multisensory environments. These interviews identified the components of the environments most used and enjoyed by residents and the ways in which they could be improved to maximize well-being.

Linking future ecosystem services and future human well-being

Ecosystem services are necessary, yet not sufficient for human well-being (however defined). Insufficient access to the ecosystem provisioning service of food is a particularly important factor in the loss of human well-being, but all ecosystem services contribute in some way to well-being. Although perhaps long obvious to ecologists, the links between ecosystems and aspects of human well-being, including health, have been less well understood among the social science community. This situation may now be starting to change, thanks in part to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA). Causality between ecosystem services and well-being is bidirectional; it is increasingly clear that functioning societies can protect or enhance ecosystem services, and accordingly, that societies with impaired well-being (best documented in the case of chronic diseases such as malaria and HIV/AIDS) can also experience a related decline in ecosystem services.

The future state of human well-being and of ecosystem services is more than the co-evolution of these two fundamental elements. Human well-being also depends, critically, upon the human institutions that govern relationships between human individuals and groups, and also between humans and ecosystem services.

The scenarios working group of the MA found that human well-being is highest in the Global Orchestration scenario, which assumes the fastest evolution of beneficial institutions, and is lowest in the Order from Strength scenario. Human well-being was found to be intermediate in the other two scenarios (Adapting Mosaic and Techno-Garden) even though these scenarios share a much greater recognition of the importance of ecosystem services to human well-being.

Review of greywater reuse practices in Victoria

Greywater reuse has become popular in rural and urban communities of Australia. In recent years, the Barwon region of Victoria has been affected by drought and as a result, water restrictions were imposed at different stages. While a water conservation by-law was introduced in February 2003 with overwhelming community support, greywater reuse is still debated among householders, Environment Protection Authority (EPA), local councils, and the water authorities. Higher levels of greywater reuse are needed due to low average rainfall in the region and high water consumption per capita. This paper looks at the position of the different parties that govern greywater reuse and presents the factors that restrain uniform reuse practices. Factors considered include quantity and quality of greywater generated in the Barwon region, current regulatory controls as reviewed through a series of surveys of local councils and water authorities. While the water restrictions resulted in an increased demand for alternative means of watering garden areas, the regulatory conditions were found to be unsettled about greywater reuse, with a wide range of concerns making these authorities unwilling to encourage it.

Portals of the mind

The idea of a gateway or portal to another world is common in myth and fantasy, and, obviously, far older than the use of the same notion in computing. While computing portals take researchers to other domains of data, the use of portals in myths is often far more complex. In creation myths, the passing of portals has immense consequences for humankind, as in Adam and Eve's expulsion from their carefree existence in the Garden of Eden (unleashing the world's woes upon their descendants), and in the carrying away of Persephone by Pluto into the Underworld (leaving a legacy of cold and sunless months each year). In other types of myths, and in the fantastic tales they have bequeathed, portals provide heroes with strange and wonderful adventures, and with experiences that leave heroes irrevocably changed. This article will now explore these types of portals in more detail.The idea of a gateway or portal to another world is common in myth and fantasy, and, obviously, far older than the use of the same notion in computing. While computing portals take researchers to other domains of data, the use of portals in myths is often far more complex. In creation myths, the passing of portals has immense consequences for humankind, as in Adam and Eve's expulsion from their carefree existence in the Garden of Eden (unleashing the world's woes upon their descendants), and in the carrying away of Persephone by Pluto into the Underworld (leaving a legacy of cold and sunless months each year). In other types of myths, and in the fantastic tales they have bequeathed, portals provide heroes with strange and wonderful adventures, and with experiences that leave heroes irrevocably changed. This article will now explore these types of portals in more detail.

Climatic variation and breeding in the Australian magpie (Gymnorhina Tibicen) : a case study using existing data

To anticipate the effects of climate change on Australia’s avifauna, it is first necessary to understand the current effects of climate (including climate variability) on life histories, and to examine the scope and nature of existing data that may provide the necessary historical context to anticipate the effects of climate change. This study examines naturally occurring geographical gradients (altitude, latitude) and the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) as integrated measures of climate. These are then compared with the timing and ‘amount’ of breeding recorded for the Australian Magpie (Gymnorhina tibicen) using data from Birds Australia’s Nest Record Scheme and Atlas of Australian Birds, the NSW Bird Atlassers Inc.’s NSW Bird Atlas, and the Canberra Ornitholgists Group’s Garden Bird Survey. For this common, easily identified species, these data suggest links between Australian Magpie breeding and all three environmental variables. Breeding became later as altitude increased, the proportion of breeding records increased from north to south, and years of high SOI corresponded to more (and earlier) breeding in this species. That annual climatic fluctuations have a direct, immediate and substantial effect on breeding in the Australian Magpie, particularly on the amount of breeding that occurs, implies that longer term changes in climate will have substantial impacts on populations. Results were not solely temperature-driven, which makes predicting climate change impacts difficult. For rainfall, predictions are far less precise and regional variation is higher. The results also highlight the potential and limitations of current survey techniques for documenting the impacts of climate change on birds; in particular, the Nest Record Scheme does not measure the amount of breeding that occurs, but a useful index of this can be derived from bird atlassing data

The rise and fall of the internal reserve

The 'internal reserve' distinguished world's best practice for the early garden suburb movement. These 'hidden' spaces were designed for a variety of reasons: to encourage the formation of community, promote safe play for children, offer sites for small-scale agricultural pursuits, address  topographic and drainage constraints, and facilitate conservation of natural features. They were a feature of progressive plans for British icon developments such as Hampstead Garden Suburb. As these plans travelled globally, however, the purpose of the internal reserve was less clear than their spatial form, and most languished as undistinguished, left-over spaces. The historical origins, development and demise of the internal reserve are surveyed, with a focus on the Australian experience against an Anglo-American backdrop.

'Dig in' to social capital : community gardens as mechanisms for growing urban social connectedness

This article reports on research undertaken with members of a Melbourne urban community garden to explore the extent to which such a natural amenity provides opportunities for enhancing social capital. It is apparent even from this small qualitative study that membership of 'Dig In' community garden offers many benefits to its members. These benefits include increased social cohesion (the sharing of values enabling identification of common aims and the sharing of codes of behaviour governing relationships), social support (having people to turn to in times of crisis) and social connections (the development of social bonds and networks). However, the study indicates that, at least in the early stages of development, such benefits do not necessarily extend beyond the garden setting. This raises a question about the time required to develop high levels of social capital, and points to the need for further research into 'time' and 'space' aspects of community gardens.

Editorial

This issue of Papers presents four essays canvassing a diverse range of theoretical and textual interests. Beverley Pennell’s ‘Ozzie Kids Flee the Garden of Delight: Reconfigurations of Childhood in Australian Children’s Fictions’ tracks shifts in how childhood is conceptualised in contemporary Australian fiction for children, using as focus texts Joanne Horniman’s Sand Monkeys and Odo Hirsch’s trilogy of ‘Hazel Green’ books. This essay argues that cultural discourses around children and childhood have shifted from an emphasis on adulthood and childhood as distinct and separate domains of experience, and from the idealisation of childhood as it manifested in Romantic textuality, to a blurring of boundaries between children and adults. In Australian texts, Pennell sees this shift as incorporating an increasing democratisation of power relations between adults and children, and an appreciation of the diversity of child populations. This essay invites comparative studies which explore the extent to which representations of childhood in Australian texts are similar to those evident in other national literatures for children.

Pyrite framboids interpreted as microbial colonies within the Permian Zoophycos spreiten from southeastern Australia

Two types of pyrite framboids (PF, probably sulphate-reducing bacteria) have been found
within the Zoophycos spreiten, hosted in the Guadalupian (Middle Permian) glaciomarine greywacke
of the Westley Park Sandstone Member within the Broughton Formation from the southern Sydney
Basin of southeastern Australia. They are composed of non-sheathed (PF1) and sheathed (PF2)
sub-micron balls, respectively. Chemically, the sub-micron balls consist of iron, sulphur, carbon and
oxygen. Both PF1 and PF2 occur in rhythmic alternationwithin the thick, light-grey and thin, dark-grey
minor lamellae of Zoophycos spreiten. The framboids from the minor lamellae are highly abundant and
occur in an orderly arrangement of equal density and in a good state of preservation.Within Zoophycos
spreiten no homogeneous filling, fecal pellets, or any sign of re-exploitation of the minor lamellae have
been recognized. No similar framboids have been observed outside Zoophycos spreiten. Therefore, the
framboids are interpreted as the pyritized remains of microbial colonies within Zoophycos spreiten.
The trace Zoophycos would be a multifunctional garden thatmay have been carefully constructed by the
Zoophycos maker, where different microbial colonies were orderly and carefully planted and cultured
within different minor lamellae. Further, it is proposed that the Zoophycos maker had a symbiotic
relationship with microbial colonies on the mutual basis of food supply and redox conditions. The fact
that the overlying spreiten cut the underlying ones indicates that the Zoophycos from the study area is
of an upward construction. The rhythmic alternation of both the thick, light-grey and thin, dark-grey
minor lamellae within Zoophycos spreiten may be suggestive of a gardening manner of the Zoophycos
maker responding to the warm and cold changes, food supply in pulses and variations of sedimentation
rate for planting and culturing microbial colonies under the conditions of a glaciomarine environment
at the high latitudes.

Applicability of leisure theory in managerial views on volunteerism in a volunteer managed nonprofit organisation : some preliminary findings

This paper explores whether a leisure perspective explains volunteer  motivations as perceived by managers of one event-based nonprofit  organisation - Victoria’s Open Garden Scheme. The results identify that a leisure perspective does not explain all motivations, as some volunteers are socially motivated by a desire to give back to their community. Other  motivations are less positive and less voluntary than is expected of leisure and volunteering in a traditional context. Suggestions are made for further research and managerial implications in regards to managing volunteers.

An investigation of corporate image, customer satisfaction and loyalty-more than just monkey business

Prior research into corporate branding, of which corporate image is a key construct, has focused primarily on products. There has, however, been limited academic research focusing on corporate branding in the leisure services sector. However, in an increasingly competitive environment, leisure services need to treat branding and image management as more than just "monkey business". This study addresses this by developing a model and empirically testing the relationships between corporate image, the dimensions of corporate image, customer satisfaction and loyalty in the context of a Zoological garden. As predicted, a strong relationship was found between corporate image, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. Our results also suggest that three dimensions of corporate image (adventure, mission/vision and agreeableness) explain a significant propOliion of the variance in satisfaction and loyalty.

Endocrine disrupting chemicals accumulate in earthworms exposed to sewage effluent

Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) can alter endocrine function in exposed animals. Such critical effects, combined with the ubiquity of EDCs in sewage effluent and potentially in tapwater, have led to concerns that they could be major physiological disruptors for wildlife and more controversially for humans. Although sewage effluent is known to be a rich source of EDCs, there is as yet no evidence for EDC uptake by invertebrates that live within the sewage treatment system. Here, we describe the use of an extraction method and GC–MS for the first time to determine levels of EDCs (e.g., dibutylphthalate, dioctylphthalate, bisphenol-A and 17β-estradiol) in tissue samples from earthworms (Eisenia fetida) living in sewage percolating filter beds and garden soil. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first such use of these techniques to determine EDCs in tissue samples in any organism. We found significantly higher concentrations of these chemicals in the animals from sewage percolating filter beds. Our data suggest that earthworms can be used as bioindicators for EDCs in these substrates and that the animals accumulate these compounds to levels well above those reported for waste water. The potential transfer into the terrestrial food chain and effects on wildlife are discussed.