Alex and Marika are part of Community BEES (Community Building for Ecological and Environmental Sciences), a student society for those interested in engaging in environmental and conservation issues. Supported by an alumni-funded Student Experience Grant, they worked to bring new life to local land at Portobello Beach. Alex and Marika spoke to Enlightened and have shared a few photos that document their ecology and restoration project. You can see some of the transformative results of their work below.
A photo of some of the unkempt land, prior to Community BEES' work. "I live in Portobello and I walked past the land all the time. It was kind of an unused wasteland owned by a number of car dealerships, with trash everywhere. I thought it was a bit of a waste of space! So I reached out to some of the owners, who were really supportive of our restoration idea." - Marika
"The place was covered with native plants like nettles and firewood, so we had to remove all the roots. It was really hard manual work, up until we finally got to spread the seeds!" - Alex
Caterpillars enjoying some of the freshly planted flowers. "We’d just had a class about how pollinators are decreasing in number and biodiversity was decreasing. So we thought, 'let's plant lots of flowers and try to make things a little bit better.' Then things shifted from there to increasing plant biodiversity, because the insects will come with that." - Marika
(L-R) Gemma, Olivia, Alex and Max enjoy a campfire on the beach. "Aside from improving the land and biodiversity, it was just a great way to meet other people on our degree, especially after COVID. It was such a good opportunity to have all these people together in one place." - Alex
A beautiful array of flowers and wildlife now flourish on the land by the shore, thanks to the hard work of Alex, Marika and the Community BEES!
"This experience where it's home grown, for yourself, was really good. I definitely learned more about gardening and permaculture. And coming from outside the city, having this sense of ownership over a place in a completely new part of the world was really special." - Alex
Community BEES' restoration project was supported by the University of Edinburgh's Student Experience Grants. These grants enhance students' social, academic, intellectual, entrepreneurial, sporting or cultural development.
Student Experience Grants are made possible with the support of the University's global community of alumni, friends and donors.
Read the full interview on the Student Experience Grants website.
All opinions expressed are those of the individuals being quoted and do not necessarily reflect those of the University of Edinburgh.