The University of Michigan has numerous labs and researchers dedicated to investigating climate change. The Michigan Daily explored how some groups are using their research to address the challenges of climate change. You can read more stories from the project here.
In June 2021, residents of the Jefferson Chalmers neighborhood in Detroit faced devastating flooding and sewage overflows that caused significant property damage. The neighborhood has faced floods before, including one in 2014, but climate change is expected to continue to make flooding in Detroit more severe. Property damage due to flooding sparked a new partnership between local nonprofit Jefferson East Inc. and the newly established University of Michigan Detroit Sustainability Clinic in 2021.
The clinic was founded as part of the School for Environment and Sustainability and was kickstarted by a $1 million grant from the Kresge Foundation. In an email to The Michigan Daily, clinic director Tony Reames explained how the clinic works to connect University researchers, experts and resources to local projects in Detroit that aim to tackle climate-based issues in the city.
“The Detroit Sustainability Clinic is a solutions hub that provides capacity support and technical assistance to community-based organizations and local governments in the Detroit metropolitan area on issues related to sustainability and climate change, while centering equity and justice,” Reames wrote. “We aspire to be a conduit through which long-term, mutually beneficial community and University relationships are made.”
The clinic’s inaugural project was designed to investigate flooding in the Jefferson Chalmers neighborhood and propose solutions to the issue. Ultimately, the clinic proposed several steps for Jefferson East Inc. to address flooding including advocating for infrastructure investments and resiliency programs and utilizing sustainable design practices.
In an interview with The Daily, project manager Virginia Wilkinson said the students and researchers who worked on the project talked to people directly impacted by the flooding and helped them come up with solutions.
“There are sewer backups, there’s shoreline flooding, there’s a multitude of different problems,” Wilkinson said. “So, what the students primarily did for Jefferson East is they wrapped all of that information into a comprehensive understanding that could really assist (Jefferson East Inc.) in understanding what were the dimensions of all the problems being encountered, and what potential solutions could be brought to bear to impact that.”
According to Wilkinson, the clinic has several upcoming projects on topics ranging from food sovereignty to the circular economy. Rackham student Amaya Griego, Sustainability Clinic Student Program and Social Justice assistant, said these projects allow U-M students and researchers to assist in ongoing efforts to make Detroit more sustainable.
“One of the main things that we do at the clinic is identify areas of research that already exist in Detroit, so coming from the community or coming from affiliated faculty and student teams,” Griego said. “In identifying those ongoing projects or efforts, we want to see where we can support. So if that’s supporting brain power, or if that’s supporting funding-wise, what kind of support can we provide to existing efforts?”
Griego explained being involved in the clinic is important to her because it allows her research to extend outside of academia and make a direct impact.
“It’s really important for me that my work in the environment is grounded and reality and what’s happening to communities on the ground,” Griego said. “We have a lot of amazing research coming out of the University and a lot of amazing ideas, but there are amazing and brilliant ideas coming out of the communities themselves.”
According to Wilkinson, the clinic’s work allows projects and organizations within Detroit to receive the support they need to promote sustainability.
“No one else is consistently available to do this work,” Wilkinson said. “We are. We are connecting resources to a community that otherwise would not necessarily have access to the depth of knowledge and skills that the University can provide.”
Senior News Editor Nadia Taeckens can be reached attaeckens@umich.edu.
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