UCD
sophomore Cynthia Negron used the Sustainability Fair as an opportunity
to get the word out about "Food Not Lawns," her project to get garden
space for students to grow fruits and vegetables on campus.(photo by
Elizabeth Miller)
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Green space behind the houses on 9th Street has been proposed as the possible site of an Auraria campus garden.
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In
the Tivoli on April 2 during the Sustainable Campus Fair, legislators
lined up at a microphone in the multicultural lounge to say the kind of
things that legislators say about sustainability. They talked about a
commitment to a new energy economy in Colorado. They encouraged
adaptability. They mentioned tax breaks.
"We can't plan for the future by assuming things are going to continue
as they do today," said State Rep. Randy Fischer, D-Larimer.
Outside, at a table in the sun, one UC-Denver sophomore was promoting a
plan that would change some of the green space on the Auraria Campus,
and help college students live healthier, more sustainable lifestyles.
Cynthia Negron has given her project the name "Food not Lawns," and
that's just what she wants to see on campus.
Her mission is to create a garden on the Auraria campus that will give
students the opportunity to grow fruit and vegetables, some of which
they could take home for themselves, but most of which would be donated
to homeless.
Based on her mission statement, it's a vision that takes into
consideration the need to build community, to understand the
environment in order to better protect it, to create a less oil-hungry
economy, and to provide financially struggling college students with an
alternative to Ramen noodles for nutrition.
Negron has met with representatives from the Student Advisory Committee
to the Auraria Board (SACAB) and the Auraria Higher Education Center,
including some of the grounds-keeping staff, to work on getting
approval for the project.
"This is one of those things that we wouldn't move forward with if we
don't have everyone on board," said Rachel Wear, the UCD SACAB
representative and Chair of the Sustainable Campus Program, who heard
Negron speak before SACAB when she introduced her project several weeks
ago.
Selecting an appropriate piece of land requires finding one that Negron
describes as suitable for gardening- sunny, visible, and accessible,
but out of a direct path of traffic-while also checking on the
utilities for the space, and even the historical use of the space.
Behind the houses on 9th Street, there's a stretch of grass, trees, and tables.
"It's the best soil on campus because it used to be back yards and it
gets city water," said Negron. She's still working with campus staff to
get cleared to use the space.
"I think it's a great that we can get students involved in projects
like this, and I think that one important part of sustainability is
using an urban setting to grow food," Wear said. And of re-designing
the space at 9th Street, she said, "Either way, it's plants. It's just
grass that's there now, so if it's corn or lettuce, [it's still
plants], so it's more oxygen for all of us."
Negron campaigned for her cause among booths of vendors marketing
earth-friendly products or vouching for sustainable business practices
for companies from Chipotle to the Odell Brewing Company.
Hers wasn't the only opportunity to get involved. The National Outdoor
Leadership School was tabling. The Colorado Renewable Energy Society
was talking about solar home tours and a webcast lecture series. Bands
for Lands, another group working on outreach and land use, provided
music through the afternoon.
According to Mark Risius, who was organizing the event on campus, Bands
for Lands works to "spread the message of environmental sustainability
and social awareness issues." Their latest project is to work on
purchasing a land trust, and they're focusing on buying what Risius
describes as "gems of land"-wetlands or other rare ecosystems that are
being threatened with development.
"Our goal is to have opportunities [at the Sustainability Fair] for
students to get involved in the community and to let different
organizations promote themselves," said Rachel Brett, campus organizer
for UC-Denver's CoPIRG student chapter, which co-hosted the
Sustainability Fair with the Auraria Sustainable Campus Program. A job
fair focused on green jobs was added to this semester's Sustainability
Fair to help students understand the range of jobs out there that can
be considered "green."
"A green job is not just someone digging in the dirt. It can be working
in a bank," said Brett. "We're only going to make progress in the way
we need to if we expand the idea of what sustainability is."
And for some of the passers-by who stopped to talk to Negron about her
"Food Not Lawns," campaign, the idea of converting grass to gardens was
a new but not unwelcome idea of sustainability.
"Awareness is skyrocketing," Negron said, looking over the pages of
email addresses she collected from people interested in gardening at
Auraria. "We're drumming up interest and support to go to the board
[for SACAB and AHEC]."
One thing administrators at campus are watching for is the community
and student support necessary to give the program longevity past
Negron's remaining years on campus.
Negron has been working on the project since February and estimates she
has since found a core of 15 people seriously committed to making this
garden grow.
The idea came to her after watching the documentary How Cuba Survived
Peak Oil. The film showed Negron how Cuban residents used small urban
gardens that didn't need petroleum-based pesticides to produce food in
a time when the county's oil imports had been reduced by half.
Negron has been talking to University of Denver students who started
working on a similar program last fall and are having their first
planting on April 10.
"Before we can get our own plot going, to get experience because a lot
of students have never planted before, we're going to volunteer with
Denver Urban Gardens and with DU," she said.
Negron wants to make sure her project is represented, so she's running for financial legislator in this spring's elections.
But at the moment, she's also got to worry about House Bill 875, the
Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009, a bill that would place
restrictions on programs that grow and donate food. It could make
growing food and donating it the way Negron plans to a much more
difficult process.
So for now, Negron and her fellow would-be green-thumbs are taking
their practices under the radar. The April 10 "Guerilla Gardening"
groundbreaking at DU will start at 9 p.m., and their next activity will
involve building "seed bombs" of native wildflower seeds to pass out on
Earth Day.
