Welcome to the 24th Annual Fairchild Challenge, where we’re reimagining how nature can blend with our city! This year, we want to explore the ecological connections that make turning our communities into a “City in a Garden” possible. 

Florida is the second fastest growing state in the US, with almost 500,000 people moving to the Sunshine State last year. As cities and suburban areas grow to accommodate this, sometimes nature gets left out. When pine forests and wetlands are replaced with highways and apartment buildings, important habitats and functions that are vital to our ecosystem become fragmented and degraded. Asphalt can’t soak up rain like plants can, concrete doesn’t provide the same cooling effect as shade trees, and losing native flowers can affect the animals that rely on them. 

But what if urban spaces didn’t have to be built at nature’s expense? 

This year, the Fairchild Challenge invites you to help reconnect local ecosystems with our urban environment. We don’t and can’t live separately from nature. Even in cities like Miami, pockets of nature still provide us with daily essentials like food and clean air. Together, by tending to native plant gardens, examining trees and ground cover on your school grounds, re-envisioning public spaces like a garden, and sharing the power of plants and science with others, we will uncover how plants stand as nature-based solutions to some of our greatest urban problems.  

We have an incredible opportunity to transform South Florida and beyond into places where both people and nature can thrive by fostering important connections within our ecosystem and our urban community.  

Let’s grow it together!