Big Bend Incrementalism Landscape Design

1 INTRODUCTION. This project is located in the semi-arid southwestern Big Bend Region, and more specifically in the remote, border town of Marfa, Texas. Droughts, which increase wildfires, and threaten both water resourcing and water safety are the interconnected area climate change threats, and related human health impacts, that this project aims to address.

Using plant chaperoning, the campaign symbolically taps into the concept of neighboring to mitigate drought incrementally on the personal (micro)level, and to create a model for macro-change by promoting collectivism over individualism and our diseased, cultural hyper-individualism.

Fostering a community orientation directly and indirectly…

2 BACKGROUND

This project was partially inspired by the work of ecologist Suzanne Simard,  who pioneered the discovery that  trees communicate through mycorrhizal networks, wherein trees trade nutrients and share signals along a threaded fungal-root network, and who show preference through kin recognition,  (Davies & Simard, 2021).  and the work of ecologist Ray Callaway who wrote ‘Positive Interactions and Interdependence in Plant Communities’ and who studied “how plants chaperone and enhance their neighbors’ growth, survival, and reproduction” to demonstrate the social behaviors of plants which, through internal hydraulic lift, store water deep in taproots to then distribute it to the neighboring plants.”  (Beynus; Johnson & Wilkinson (Eds), 2020, p.10).   

Adverse to the theories of plant competition and the outmoded scientific-scarcity assumptions, plants function best using interdependence rather than competition.    

“Knowing which plants are the chaperones in botanical communities will be important as droughts deepen in the coming years”   (Benyus, p.10, 2020)   

3 OBJECTIVES

OBJECTIVE 1

Promote drought-resistant and chaperone-plant [hydraulic lift] education to increase local biodiversity and improve regenerative systems and water protection in the Big Bend Region

OBJECTIVE 2

Model behavior within the project and its deployment that encourages collectivism, neighboring, and increases mental health co-benefits by way of

volunteerism and active and passive mitigation efforts intrinsic depth psych goal: de-abstracting nature and  our human connection to it to encourage embodiment

SMARTIE GOAL (Strategic, Measurable, Ambitious, Realistic, Time-bound, Inclusive, and Equitable)

Within 2 years  of project launch, 1% of township land becomes planted with drought-mitigation plants, and 20% of the population will have planted at least one drought-mitigation plant on their property.  

GOALS  AND OBJECTIVES  

De-abstract nature using features of plant interdependence to model collectivism at the macro level, while promoting local biodiversity on the micro-level. Planting more drought mitigating and drought-resistant plants will encourage land-stewardship and demonstrate actionable and tangible benefits to ranchers and property owners alike. Increased awareness of the threat of drought, while promoting ways to incorporate regenerative planting and water stewardship by landowners can promote actionable change with the added benefit of locals seeing themselves as part of nature rather than nature happening to them. Reconnecting the bifurcation between human and nature with theories of positive 

relational attachment and multi-species awareness would encourage further engagement in the climate change mitigation and community adaptation spaces in the future.

4 WHAT IS HYDRAULIC LIFT?

HOW DO PLANTS ‘NEIGHBOR’?

Plants store water in their taproots to hydraulically redistribute to their neighboring plants where dry soil exists. 

The water not only gets redistributed but the “...soil and rhizosphere microorganisms and the soil fauna could also benefit from HL-derived water, which eventually increases the availability of nutrients to plants” (Liste & White, 2008). 

5 AUDIENCE ANALYSIS

Marfa is a bit of a microcosm, as it contains multitudes in its demographics- covering a wide range of the Six Americas in a wide ranging swatch of rural and border-approximate landscape.

The campaign focuses on one's own property, building plant knowledge, and as drought is collectively, colloquially and locally appreciated (from plant lovers to property owners to shareholders in Big Gas and Oil to those concerned about the animals that begin to migrate closer to town as they suffer from hunger and thirst)- drought, rather than human harm, is the gateway issue to address.  Co-benefits include education 

and free plants for ones’ property. This area both houses the Permian Basin as well as the McDonald Observatory-- making it a natural resource-fueled arena, with a wide gap of reasons of interest and engagement. 

LIBERAL  to  MODERATE  HOMEOWNERS 

Predominantly White persons in their 30's-40's, and Latinx persons between  30-60  

First Time homeowners;  they have stake in their properties and the town thriving for locals and tourists.

Transplants   and   Locals > engaged or distracted:  Alarmed/Concerned to the Disengaged  in the Six  Americas

 more  Instagram/TikTok/Millennials  and   Gen X'ers>  early adopters

CONSERVATIVE RANCHERS

Dominantly  White men in their 40's-80's  

Ranchers: they have a stake and profit from the land and water conservation efforts

Texans,  many  locals > less  engaged;  spanning from Cautious  to Dismissive in the Six Americas

more Facebook / Boomers, older Gen Xer’s> lower certainty

Based on this area being a true mix of varying political ideals, backgrounds, socio economic status’ and equal-- this area spans “The Six America’s'” 

Concerned to Doubtful (with Cautious and Disengaged in the middle of this spectrum). Many who live in the area have an admiration, awareness of the 

natural environment; while others’ incomes are directly impacted by nature and its events and shifts. The area’s Big Bend National Park is in the area and the least visited national park, yet it is one of the most biodiverse in the country. Access to this park and nightly dark skies alongside myriad species of plants means burgeoning interest in nature and possibly seeing oneself as part of nature-- if one did not explicitly move here to enjoy the spoils of the area. Cornell Ornithology Program App users and Park Visitors ranging from Alarmed to Disengaged and even down to Dismissive (Yale, 2018, lecture) is limited data that shows that nature appreciators span the gamut of audiences.

The   audience   collectively   already   holds   values   that:

Nature is paramount, water is important; land stewardship is important for humans, animals, property value and income (ranching, aquifer, tourism) alike.  

Other notable  values  to tap into:  

isolation,   freedom,   independence,  flexibility,   community

6 FRAMING

The   campaign will call upon framing that is demonstrative

of the audience-held values:

Due to the  vast nature of the area, and its attractions, messaging around stewardship and beautifying  the collective landscape, and  ones’  own property  would  fulfill  several values  (self-sufficiency,   purity,   self-efficacy,   financial gain). 

Individualism is perhaps the biggest block for this campaign. The campaign engages with collectivism at large scale (per climate change, and its impact on human health), and it deploys neighboring as a metaphor. One possible barrier is lack of interest or disengagement with a project that has a volunteerism-oriented-scale. Dissemination of the information can be effective, and the plants distributed, but much of this project relies on the audience performing the delivery of the action (planting the drought-mitigating plants). This singular deployment makes it hard to track and monitor effectiveness. 

Equally, the “I can't make a difference,” (Cautious to Doubtful) attitude, or disinterest in small-scale shifts creates general disengagement. One of the major issues is people getting overwhelmed with their own lives, going to sleep (from a depth perspective, going unconscious). Making the invisible visible is one of the issues and jobs of the climate change communicator and  any project in this realm. To honor the human imagination, making a mitigation project actionable to the degree it removes almost all barriers will be an important consideration. Inequitable socio-economic issues that foster lack of available resources to follow-through on a project personally must also be considered. If a task is even marginally difficult to execute, and if a persons’ daily life means an interaction with bills unpaid, medical issues, financial strain, systemic oppression, or the multitude of stressors on a modern human in America at the moment; it might mean caring less about plants in the backyard, let alone taking in plantlife as a metaphor for biospheric thinking. Ensuring grants cover the cost of plants and materials, and removing the barrier of the action itself—for instance, delivering plants to doorstep or even being fully planted by the alliance between organizations formed—can promote project success and ensure a higher uptick of follow-through.

A large part of the audience that will need to engage with this messaging will be in the Moveable Middle, those who live amongst nature, revere it, and understand at least to some degree the threats of desertification, drought and extreme heat events. This part of the population are likely to engage in motivated reasoning and biased processing. Some of this audience might  disengage from the science of solution, as it would mean more governmental involvement and oversight (Roser-Renouf, 2018). Texas is a state heavily run by landowners (an inherently problematic construct), and financial incentives and profit back the feeling of entitlement related to land ownership. Engaging with this group using the existing nomenclature of drought, native planting and for some, profit, would be helpful to address inherently the barriers and biases of these groups.

7 MESSAGES

DESCRIPTIVE NORM

Join your neighbors in planting drought-mitigation plants

Halfway through the campaign, deploy statistics of the number of area locals who have already planted to further promote the “join your neighbors” part of the messaging. This message will be most effective with the liberal to moderate homeowners.

INJUNCTIVE NORM

You Can Help Protect the Big Bend | Plant Water Keepers

Using images of ranchers amongst native plants and easy-to-follow diagrams that exhibit the water-lendinging mechanism of the plants. This messaging will be more directed toward the Conservative Rancher cohort. Statistics used would be in the vein of profit and business success.

11 IMPLEMENTATION PLAN

> Small ask first - sign up for messages on local plant education in 

   exchange for a pin featuring a tagline ( “these plants water themselves

   and others,” “plant water keepers,” “neighbors plant neighboring plants” ). 

> Followup via the online service using mass emailing

> Host event that is formatted around education- a panel lecture on the 

   threats of drought in the area with a focus on the regenerative nature of 

   this type of planting. Introduction of the campaign at this event.

> Followup of event by airing a recording on Marfa Public Radio and 

   posting transcript and plant pickup and planting events on all channels

> Public promise/messaging - hashtag for instagram / campaign-styled 

   signature gathered to encourage locals to post about their action utilizing 

   the hashtag to further promote

> Good group coherence commitments- announce at city council meetings; 

   over the radio; via the library and with a plant party to end the cycle once 

   all plant pickups/drop-offs have occured

> Be reward and positive discipline focused in implementation and follow up

> Employ message repetition through repeat messaging on all channels of 

   the identified trusted messenger

Deploy trusted area messengers and…

The target audience gets exposed to the campaign messaging via:

* Radio PSA messaging at Marfa Public Radio

* Published in the Big Bend Sentinel as a full-page-back ad 

* Via Instagram as a post with a hashtag #neighborsplantneighborplants 

* Marfa Public Library, in concert with Big Bend Conservation Alliance

* Pickups to span the locations of the library, Ballroom Marfa, CDRI and 

   Cactus st0re, one per quarter depending on season and plant available. 

   Varying the places of pickup mean increased traffic if posted on their 

   respective site, email-blasts, and social media sites. This site variation has 

   inherent injunctive norming, as these are all trusted area sources but each 

   with their own slice of the wide audience focused on.