Seeds in the Commons: Growing Community Climate Resilience
Presentation Type
Long presentation (faculty/staff) 15-20 minutes
In Person or Zoom Presentation
In-Person
Campus
Daytona Beach
Status
Staff
Faculty/Staff Department
Staff Works - Hunt Library
Presentation Description/Abstract
As climate change brings increasing heat, drought, flooding, pests, and shifting growing seasons, communities need access not only to food but also to the seeds, plants, and knowledge that make local adaptation possible. This presentation explores how the open-source seed movement and seed libraries can support community climate resilience by keeping seeds available for saving, sharing, adapting, and breeding. It will briefly introduce how commercial control can shape seed access, then focus on seed libraries as community infrastructure: places where people can identify plants that perform well under local conditions, preserve and exchange locally adapted varieties, and share knowledge about what grows successfully in a particular place. The presentation will also consider how open seed systems support biodiversity, cultural continuity, participatory plant breeding, and the right to grow. It will highlight how libraries can preserve and circulate the knowledge that makes these systems possible, helping communities respond collectively to environmental change and build more resilient local food systems.
Keywords
open-source seeds, right to grow, horticulture, seed libraries, gardening
Seeds in the Commons: Growing Community Climate Resilience
As climate change brings increasing heat, drought, flooding, pests, and shifting growing seasons, communities need access not only to food but also to the seeds, plants, and knowledge that make local adaptation possible. This presentation explores how the open-source seed movement and seed libraries can support community climate resilience by keeping seeds available for saving, sharing, adapting, and breeding. It will briefly introduce how commercial control can shape seed access, then focus on seed libraries as community infrastructure: places where people can identify plants that perform well under local conditions, preserve and exchange locally adapted varieties, and share knowledge about what grows successfully in a particular place. The presentation will also consider how open seed systems support biodiversity, cultural continuity, participatory plant breeding, and the right to grow. It will highlight how libraries can preserve and circulate the knowledge that makes these systems possible, helping communities respond collectively to environmental change and build more resilient local food systems.