Embedded Files
Native Plants Database
This database is a resource for anyone wanting to learn more about the species of native plants EcoHope has planted in our campus gardens, their ecological importance, Indigenous medicinal uses and tips for growing these plants in your own gardens!
Biodiversity Monitoring
In June 2025, a group of volunteers conducted the first bird point count survey (a survey where participants record all the birds they can see and hear while standing still at a specific spot for a specified amount of time) of Studley Campus. They surveyed 8 points, identifying 36 individual birds and 10 different species.
We are hoping to conduct more surveys in the years to come, to track the impact that our gardens are having on the surrounding biodiversity, particularly pollinator and bird populations. Please reach out to ecohope@dal.ca if you'd like to be involved! (even if you don't have any previous experience with biodiversity monitoring, we would be happy to have you involved!)
Image credit: Linden Thomas
These charismatic cedar waxwings are one of our regularly spotted campus birds!
Get involved with our ongoing bird surveying project to help us track this population of beautiful birds, and many others, helping us learn about the impacts of native planting on bird biodiversity!
Greenhouse Native Plant Cultivation
Dr. Amy Mui with intern Will Creaghan. Image credit: Linden Thomas
During the winter 2025 semester, Environmental Science intern Will Creaghan helped develop a protocol for propagating over 1000 native plants from seed. Around 300 of those plants survived and were planted around Dalhousie campus or given away to interested groups or community members to be planted outside of Dalhousie campus!
See our dashboard and our native plants database (on the top of this page) for more information on the species of plants cultivated, and where they were planted.
EcoHope is planning to run the greenhouse native plant cultivation program each winter, employing an intern from the department of Earth and Environmental Science to gain practical experience in native plant propagation techniques!
Email ecohope@dal.ca for more information on how to get involved!
Gardening Volunteer Program
In summer 2025, we started a volunteer program for students and community members to help us take care of our campus garden spaces, helping with weeding and watering, while building a lasting connection with the garden!
Image credit: Linden Thomas
Meredith Rose, one of our dedicated garden volunteers, waters our newly planted native seedlings in the Killam Library garden.
Research on Eco-Anxiety in Students
Thus far, we've conducted 5 surveys regarding eco-hope and eco-anxiety in students, faculty, staff and community members. Four of the surveys were short surveys conducted before and after EcoHope's two native planting events. The other was a more comprehensive survey, taking place in Spring 2024, surveying students across Dalhousie. That survey gathered 139 responses.
Finally, we also conducted a focus group to gather qualitative data on eco-anxiety and eco-hope in 2024 with 20 participants.
Figure 1 and Figure 2 display some of the results of the online 2024 survey, emphasizing the prominent impact of climate change on students' emotional states, and their support for a group addressing eco-anxiety. This survey largely supported the creation of the EcoHope initiative, and directed its focus.
Figure 1
Figure 2
Analysis of above charts
Figure 1 displays the answer to the question "How would you rate the impact of climate change or environmental degradation on your emotional state?", with participants choosing a number between 1 (climate change has little impact on their emotional state) to 5 (climate change has an extreme impact on their emotional state). Responses show that the majority of respondents chose level 3 (32.4%) and level 4 (46%), thus the majority of respondents think that climate change has a significant but not extreme impact on their emotional state.
Figure 2 displays the answer to the question "How beneficial do you think it would be if Dalhousie formed a group where eco-anxiety could be addressed?", with participants choosing a number between 1 (not beneficial at all) to 5 (very beneficial). Here we can see that there is a clear upward trend in the data, with an increasing number of participants choosing each subsequent number, and the majority (33.1%) choosing number 5 (meaning that they think it would be extremely beneficial that Dalhousie form a group where eco-anxiety could be addressed. The answer to this question helped the team behind eco-hope argue for the importance of the formation of the eco-hope project.
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