This two-week project with National City required students to develop a rainwater collection and restoration scheme that could irrigate proposed gardens along A Avenue and in Kimball Park. The mission of the project was to reduce storm-water management costs and runoff, redevelop or restructure the park with a low-to-zero water bill, and turn Kimball Park into a shady and food-producing park that is watered mostly by rainwater, and that is drought-tolerant, low-maintenance, a practical contribution to material security, and a center for community building. The overall purpose of this project was to generate a whole-systems approach to sustainability, namely to: 1) provide students with a real world project to investigate; 2) enable students to apply their training; and 3) provide real service and movement to a local city ready to transition into a sustainable future. Joint ventures typified by the Sage Project are not only beneficial to the community in question, but are also integral to redefining higher education for the public good and catalyzing broad community change towards sustainability.
