Loyola U Reinvents a Vacant Block
A recent decision by the local City Council turned over a vacated street which the university plans to use for expansion of its Rogers Park footprint. The space will be transformed into green space connecting campus and creating a safer area for students.
Vassar College Plants 1,100 Trees
To help buffer two adjoining streams and further climate change resiliency, students plan to reforest a 5-acre tract of the college’s Farm and Ecological Preserve in coordination with the Student Conservation Association (SCA). Liz Putnam, SCA founder and 1955 alumna of Vassar College, will be visiting and working with students.
U Toledo Completes River Restoration Project
(U.S.): In an attempt to restore a small stretch of the Ottawa River which runs through campus, the university installed natural stones, vegetation and man-made fish habitats to make the waterway a cleaner and healthier ecosystem.
Yale U Designates Urban Meadow Areas
Mowed just two to three times a year to promote the natural regeneration of grasses and wildflowers, these meadows promote increased biodiversity, improved air quality, natural aesthetics, stormwater runoff reduction, economic savings and learning opportunities.
U Louisville Transforms Area into Community Horticulture Zone
Initiated by a recent urban planning graduate, a formerly unused campus field is now home to raised garden beds, native plants, and two rain barrels that will connect to a nearby building’s downspouts. Food waste from the university's dining areas will be turned into compost to help grow produce including tomatoes, kale and sweet potatoes.
Hampshire College Students Organize Lawn-to-Meadow Transformation
As part of an invitation to assist in developing strategies for climate neutrality, students have successfully proposed that the college cease mowing about nine acres, and instead convert them into managed meadowlands. The accepted initiative, which includes appropriate soil types, plants and wildlife, is projected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by up to 12,000 pounds and save about $2,300 in diesel fuel costs per year.
Dublin City U Launches Community Garden
(Ireland): As part of the Green Campus initiative, the university launched the DCU Community Garden. The garden is an open, all-inclusive area that can be utilized by staff, students and the community for teaching, research, education, training, community engagement and recreation.
U Nebraska Lincoln Students Receive Funding for Organic Farm
A group of students has received funding from a local nonprofit organization to create an organic farm on campus. The half-acre farm will be divided into three sections that will include an asparagus patch, a greenhouse and a space for student research. The group plans to organize the farm into work shares to allow student-volunteers to receive produce in exchange for labor.
U Nebraska Lincoln Alumni Raise Money for Organic Farm
(U.S.): Two alumni have been working with current environmental studies students to raise money to turn a half-acre of university land into an organic farm. The student-run farm has received commitment from the university for the land, and more than $2,000 toward the $3,500 needed to renovate a greenhouse on the site has been raised.
Morgan CC Creates Community Garden
The college has created a community garden to provide food for the community, help fund scholarships through produce sales, and provide a student educational component. Classes will be held to assist participants in becoming more self-sufficient with their own gardening sustainability efforts.
Frostburg State U Named Tree Campus USA
(U.S.): The university has been certified as a Tree Campus USA institution by the Arbor Day foundation. The campus has adopted a standard of planting native trees and shrubs.
U Manchester Students Plant First Campus Orchard
(U.K.): Forty students helped to plant more than eighty fruit trees around campus residence halls, aiming to provide staff and students locally grown apples. The university will plant plum, pear and soft fruit trees next winter.
U Rochester Named Tree Campus USA
The university has been certified as a Tree Campus USA institution by the Arbor Day foundation. There are 61 trees, 12 conifers, and six gardens on campus.
U South Florida Recertified as Tree Campus USA
(U.S.): The university has been recertified as a Tree Campus USA institution by the Arbor Day foundation for the second year in a row. One of the highlights that led to the recertification was the planting of 1,173 trees on campus in 2012.
Grand Valley State U Field Earns Sustainable Site Certification
The Student Recreation Fields has received certification by the Sustainable Sites Initiative, a pilot program that is creating national guidelines for sustainable land design. The project was judged based on efforts in categories such as site selection, pre-design assessment and planning, water, soil and vegetation, material selection, human health and well-being, operations and maintenance, and monitoring and innovation.
U California Riverside Opens Campus Community Garden
(U.S.): The university has debuted a new community garden that will also hold student fields trips and serve as an educational learning space. The 2-acre “R’Garden” will feature two natural structures: a classroom and a facility equipped with a compost toilet.
Middlesex CC Creates Sustainable Garden
The college marked the opening of its Mabel Burchard Fischer Grant Foundation sustainable garden with a gathering that allowed members of the campus community to plant the garden’s first herbs, perennials, and shrubs. The event was organized by the college’s Sustainability Team.
DePauw U to Constructs Student Farm
The university has announced plans to break ground for a new campus farm in 2013. The Sustainability Club will grow produce on the farm that will be used in the campus dining halls. Partial funding for the project came from a $20,000 donation from two university trustees.
Georgia Tech Students Oversee Community Garden
Members of the group, Students Organizing for Sustainability, have constructed and are maintaining six organic garden beds on campus. More than a dozen produce varieties will be harvested with the inaugural fall crop, and leftover produce will be donated to a local soup kitchen.
Ohio State U Creates Organic Garden
In an effort to bring a food-to-fork concept to campus, the university’s Ecological Engineering Society, the Wexner Center for the Arts, and a local chef have collaborated to create an on-campus organic garden that will provide fresh ingredients to a university café. Project funding came from a Coca-Cola Student Sustainability Grant.
Purdue U Research Farm Receives Organic Certification
The university’s 10-acre research farm has been certified as organic by the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association. The farm will allow researchers to evaluate organic-farming management practices and assess how particular crop varieties perform under organic conditions.
U Maine Constructs Greenhouse
A newly constructed, 26x96-foot, hoop-style greenhouse will be used by UMaine Greens, a student-run organization, to localize the university’s food system and provide greens to dining services. A composting facility is also being installed nearby.
Florida State U Students to Create Campus Garden
The Tallahassee Sustainability Group has received approval from the student senate to build and maintain an on-campus garden. The garden will utilize the most efficient permaculture techniques possible to grow a variety of crops including satsuma trees and seasonal foods like tomatoes.
Appalachian State U Tests New Paving Material
The university has surfaced an area outside a residence hall with Flexi-Pave, a material that is made from recycled tires. The material is porous, allowing water and snow melt to seep back into the ground instead of producing puddles or runoff.
Cornell U Garden Receives SITES Certification
(U.S.): A student-designed and installed garden has achieved certification by the Sustainable Sites Initiative (SITES), a comprehensive national rating system for assessing the sustainability of built landscapes. The garden features healthy soils, recycled materials, and site-appropriate plants, and incorporates a design that promotes water conservation.
Inver Hills CC, Metropolitan State U Students Partner on Garden
Students and faculty from both colleges have harvested more than 1,300 pounds of vegetables from the first interdisciplinary vegetable garden on the Inver Hills campus. The produce will be donated to local food banks. The institutions will also plant 50 apple trees next to the garden. Two professors initiated the garden project as a way to provide students with hands-on experience.
San Francisco State U to Debut Campus Community Garden
The garden will make its debut on Campus Sustainability Day. Plants will be kept in 12 planters above ground and will be pesticide free. The project received funding from the Physical Planning and Development department, Environmentally Concerned Organization of Students, and the annual Farm to Fork event.
Amherst College to Develop Campus Farm
The 4.5-acre college farm will be an educational resource as well as provide organic produce for Dining Services. Students will have the opportunity to serve as interns to help the hired farmer. The farm came to fruition after several students created and submitted a proposal outlining the benefits of a campus farm.
U Alaska Fairbanks Community Garden Completes First Harvest
The 42-plot community-operated garden has completed its first successful harvest since its creation in the spring. The garden received a $5,000 grant from the university’s People’s Endowment as well as a $6,000 grant from the Student Sustainability Fund.
U Winnipeg to Go Pesticide Free
By spring 2013, the university will eliminate the use of pesticides on campus. The university also recently introduced phosphate-free detergents and environmentally friendly cleaning products for use on campus.
U Pennsylvania Dedicates Sustainable Green Commons
(U.S.): Shoemaker Green, a new green commons area, will serve as a pilot site for the Sustainable Sites initiative, which will measure the performance of the landscape and serve as a test case for other campus landscape projects. The site incorporates 100 percent native plants, reused building materials and has decreased the amount of impervious surface by 50 percent.
Elon U Community Garden Certified as a Wildlife Habitat
Five years after its inception, the Elon Community Garden has been designated by the National Wildlife Federation as a certified wildlife habitat. The small vegetable garden is a space where local wildlife can find food, water, shelter and a place to raise their young. A camera that can be moved around the quarter-acre property has spotted raccoons, coyotes, foxes, woodchucks, squirrels and rabbits.
American U Accredited for Green Arboretum Practices
(U.S.): The university’s Arboretum and Gardens has been awarded a Level II Accreditation through the ArbNet program, an international initiative to support the work of arboreta in saving and planting trees. A Level II accreditation means that the university has at least 100 kinds of trees or plants that were planted and grown in accordance with an arboretum plan; a collections policy; one or more employees whose job responsibilities specifically include management or operation of the arboretum; and an enhanced educational program.
