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Sustainability Spotlight

GREEN THUMBS

Tucked behind the Wesley Building, home of University Relations, a unique garden is adding a new kind of green to campus. This space, which once served as a playground for the Hilltop Child Development Center, has been cultivated by student volunteers and converted into a garden that will provide much needed fresh produce to local food pantries.

The Campus Garden project began in fall 2005 to grow produce for community members in need, beautify the KU campus and provide students with the opportunity to learn basic gardening skills. The project gained momentum when the KU Center for Community Outreach EARTH program revitalized the effort this spring. Using equipment from the initial operation, volunteers began cleaning up two year's worth of debris in the garden and tilling the ground. Once the soil was ready, seeds donated by Sunrise Garden Center in Lawrence and starters grown by volunteers were planted.

Most of the garden's yield is expected to be ready for harvest by the end of the summer and will be donated to the Ecumenical Christian Ministries, the Ballard Community Center and other food pantries.

About 50 volunteers have contributed more than 150 hours since the garden was brought back to life, and EARTH will provide steady leadership to maintain the garden as a major ongoing project. Coordinators for EARTH see this as an opportunity to promote sustainability on campus by providing a garden where students can learn new skills and give back to the community. The garden helps demonstrate how produce can easily be grown locally with other community members to create a sharing, learning experience.

RESEARCH MATTERS:

Rafe Brown, assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, was recently awarded a National Science Foundation grant of more than $900,000 to comprehensively survey, review and summarize the biodiversity of terrestrial vertebrates and their parasites in the Philippines. Described as a "megadiverse country" and a "global conservation hotspot," the Philippines' biodiversity is largely uncategorized. Brown's project will survey vertebrate and parasite diversity at more than 50 sites throughout the country. For more, www.nsf.gov.