Gardening project promotes sustainability

The Office of Sustainability has partnered with Hilltop Gardens and Nature Center to create free gardening workdays for the public. It is part of the Campus Green Initiative, a program with a mission to foster a conversation of sustainability through interactive work spaces, according to its website.

The program was created in 2011 by Stephanie Hopkins, a former intern at the Office of Sustainability.

Emilie Rex, assistant director for sustainability at IU, said student awareness was the driving force to bring the project to fruition.

“There was a lot of passion surrounding food production among the campus and a lot of interest among the students,” Rex said.

Currently, the initiative is directed by the Edible Campus Steering Committee, a group that oversees all the land in use by the program.

The subcommittees —academic engagement, food production and volunteer outreach and marketing — work together to organize the group.

“We really wanted a campus space that was owned by the institution that would allow students to experience first-hand through gardening to learn about the food system,” Rex said.

On average, the site attracts about five to 30 volunteers.
At the end of the session, the initiative allows volunteers to take some of the produce grown in the garden.

This year, more than 400 pounds of food were donated to Residential Programs and Services, Office of Sustainability intern Audrey Brinkers said.

“It’s a mixture between what we should be growing because the dining facilities want to see that and what the students want to be eating,” Brinkers said, referring to the variety of food grown at the garden.

Currently, the initiative is working to reach out to students from other disciplines to work within the garden.

Brinkers said she believes gardening is a great tool to bring diverse academic backgrounds together and train young adults to live a sustainable life.

“Sustainability is definitely a message about the future,” Brinkers said.