06/24/2025
we wrote USC a letter of solidarity for the USC Peace Garden (peep the last slide for ☀️🐈):
The USC Arts & Climate Collective joins the chorus of the many stakeholders expressing strong support of the USC Peace Garden and calling for its preservation. As a community rooted in environmental justice, artistic expression, and collective care, we recognize the Peace Garden not just as a physical space, but as a living symbol of healing, learning, and resilience.
We’ve seen this vacant space grow into a vibrant refuge for so many: a place to unwind, grow, harvest, learn, and heal. The work of the Peace Garden makes sustainability education tangible, nurturing students’ curiosity into action and community. Many of our awardees have found a home for their projects in the Peace Garden’s collaborative and welcoming space. They share that the garden has been a source of inspiration, motivation, and empowerment as they’ve brought to life functional, beautiful projects that recognize the need for climate action and communication. Further, we funded the permanent student murals that decorate the space there.
We are deeply saddened to learn that this space is being sold and dismantled. The proposed sale threatens not only the physical garden, but the social, ecological, and creative fabric that has been carefully nurtured over the years.
We urge USC leadership and decision makers to recognize what the Peace Garden represents and to halt the sale or find a new home for the garden to thrive as quickly as possible. It is exemplary of USC’s sustainability goals, wellness strategies, and community engagement mission. Displacing the Peace Garden means uprooting a model of regenerative design, participatory education, and shared stewardship.
The Peace Garden has always been more than a garden. It is a promise of what’s possible when we grow things together.
From, The Arts & Climate Collective
