Permaculture Landscaping and the University
By Madeline Dunn
Nearly two thirds of students who are looking to attend college say that having information about the school's commitment to the environment is important and nearly one fourth say that information such as this would “strongly” or “very much” impact their decision to attend certain institutions (Shriberg, October 1). Imagine being an environmentally aware student on a campus visit. As you walk around the property, your tour guide stops at an aesthetically pleasing edible landscape, picks an apple and hands it over, asking you to take a juicy bite. During the tour you learn about the university's mission to create an eco-friendly campus that provides education and sustainable food to their students. According to the proposed statistic, there is a fair chance that this eco-campus has achieved victory and won over the heart of the prospective student.
The goal of a university is to not only educate their current students, but also to recruit the next and best leaders of tomorrow. One of the greatest aspects of both food systems and the environment is that there will always be jobs in these fields because we cannot live without either one. Presumably, this means that a great deal of students will want to concentrate in these areas of study. So why doesn't every university create an eco-campus that attracts the environmental leaders of our future? More specifically, what would it look like for a campus to incorporate closed loop, energy efficient systems into their institution which in turn tempts students to enroll?
Permaculture is the answer. It is energy efficiency, zero waste, systems thinking and it is, in the words of Ryan Harb from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, “...rewriting our human impact to be regenerative for all living things by changing the way we relate ourselves to the world around us” (Little). What university does not want to be on the cutting edge of change?
By looking at what colleges and universities around the country have done to incorporate permaculture into their curriculum and campus life, one can envision how to make their own campus more environmentally sustainable and attractive. In whole, many more colleges have taken the leap to incorporate permaculture into their curriculum than universities (Rodale Institute). Whether this is due to the size of the student body or the fact that colleges offer more hands-on learning in the form of trade programs compared to universities is up for discussion. What is important is that permaculture has made its way into the education system and does not appear to be slowing down.
Permaculture is a combination of the words permanent and agriculture coined by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren over 40 years ago. Its methodology is used in healing both social and ecological systems. The vision of permaculture is of abundance and resilience within local communities and ecosystems alike. As a design science, permaculture uses a holistic lens to establish productive, low cost regenerative systems. It is about regeneration and goes beyond sustainability (AdaptiveNOW, Part 3).
Based on its broad yet imperative definition, the idea of incorporating permaculture into a university may seem intimidating. It is proposing a shift in not only the structure of operating systems but also in the way we think and tackle problems as individuals and within a community. The introduction of permaculture into institutions is expected to be taken hesitantly by faculty, staff and operations personnel. Although universities are made up of cutting edge thinkers and student leaders, they are still “among the most conservative of institutions” (Shriberg, Oct 1). How is it then that permaculture has successfully made it into a select few institutions and what did it take for this new system to thrive? When looking at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst [UMass] as a case study, one can see exactly what kind of support and how much effort it took to sustain permaculture within their campus community.
In 2010 students from the UMass Permaculture Initiative approached campus food services with a detailed proposal to grow food for the dining commons. Their proposed budget was $10,000.00 for a ¼ acre space ten feet in front of the Franklin Dining Hall (Email, October 3-9). This area was highly trafficked and visible to both the students and the community which was imperative if they were going to get enough interested volunteers to turn this idea into a reality. This space was initially going to be a parking lot until the university reconsidered that idea to pursue the proposal for an on-campus permaculture garden. In 2010, the UMass Permaculture Initiative received a green light to start prepping the soil for their first of three on campus gardens (Franklin Permaculture Garden).
Understandably, the ultimate sustainability of a project like this should be a concern. To combat the fears of failure, UMass Auxiliary Director, Ken Toong, hired Ryan Harb to facilitate the implementation of the garden (Franklin Permaculture Garden). After a near-death experience, Harb vowed to positively impact the world. He was the first person to graduate from UMass with a master's in Green Building. After he changed his front yard into a permaculture food forest, it became known as the Amherst Permaculture House. It was then that he was commissioned by the university to take on this project (Mazuc, 2012).
After Harb was hired and permission was given, the first step was taken by growing soil. UMass used sheet mulching to regenerate and aerate the earth: this includes 1,200 pounds of organic matter, 500,000 pounds of university compost, lots of recycled cardboard and mulch. (AdaptiveNOW, Part 1). While the soil sat for five months, the UMass Permaculture Initiative held a design roundtable that attracted over 100 community members and university students from across the nation. The group was mainly comprised of undergrads who created 40 different designs for the ¼ acre space. Upon checking the soil, students found about 18 worms per square foot of space with fungi colonies birthed throughout. The goal for this space was to provide for the people, be an education hub for the entire community and to act as a model for other university campuses across the entire nation. Hands-on and classroom experience are both very important in education while students crave the experience of learning by doing (AdaptiveNOW, Part 2).
Over 1,000 volunteers planted a total of 150 different species of plants in a 3,500 square foot space producing over 1,000 pounds of food in one year! The enthusiasm and work ethic that this project produced was remarkable and can be replicated on other college campuses. The permaculture bug spread quickly as the UMass campus community, over 20,000 students, not only became familiar with the term, but they could most likely explain what it is that permaculture is trying to accomplish. The students were so intrigued by the methodology of permaculture that the senior class of 2012 funded the newest garden project outside of Berkshire Dining Hall with money raised by their class. The students began to understand that they were not just consumers; they were creators (AdaptiveNOW, Part 3).
The explosion of student engagement and innovation of landscapes in this project caught the eye of President Obama. He nominated UMass as a finalist in the Campus Champion of Change Challenge in March after the Franklin Permaculture Garden was completed. After gaining over 60,000 votes online, UMass won and all 15 members of the permaculture committee were invited to the White House for a special ceremony. President Obama spoke about how young people are going to change the world and that change can start at the university level (PBS, 2012).
Two more permaculture gardens have been created since the Franklin space was completed, one at Berkshire and the other at Worcester, both dining halls on campus. There is a plan to build five more permaculture gardens at elementary schools in the area under a $4,000.00 budget (UMass Permaculture Initiative- Worcester Herb Garden and Class of 2012 Berkshire Permaculture Garden). Each space has a different ecology therefore requiring unique attention. Growing food in any climate and soil type is possible. For example, the soil near the edges of the Franklin garden was high in sodium, so Beach Plum trees were planted which thrive in coastal areas. Frances Moore Lappe', author of Diet for A Small Planet said, “As we align with natures rules there is more than enough for all of us” (AdaptiveNOW, Part 3).
UMass is proving that they can take polluted unproductive soils and grow food from them while increasing positive publicity and strengthening the local communities and economies. This is crucial and applicable information if we think about areas like Detroit, MI where there is a lot of vacant land as well as the open spaces on the University of Michigan's campus. UMass has shown the world that with visibility, volunteers and spirit the soil can be your genie lamp: treat it well and your wishes will come true.
Although UMass makes it seem obvious why a university should follow suit and create a campus garden of their own, it is commonly thought that integrating farming practices, such as livestock or berry bushes into a university setting, is taking a step back in time (Salatin, Pg 1). But does edible landscaping really promote primitivism? Or, can it be viewed as an educational opportunity for our leaders of tomorrow? Food has become a hot, publicized issue and people concentrating in environmental studies at the University of Michigan have soared. Making a change on campus is all about vision and designing something that makes economic sense. The leverage points at the University of Michigan lie within the innovation of students, the donating Alumni and the university’s image. If any change within the food system is going to happen, I believe that it must be a student's innovative vision that also creates a positive image for the university. “All colleges like to think of themselves as discovering new frontiers, going where no man has gone before.” The big paybacks are gained within the 180 degree changes that a university makes when getting serious about a decision (Salatin, Pg 1).
Joel Salatin created a list of ten radical ideas for collegians to get their university on the map and
heading in the direction of an environmentally friendly and sustainable campus. His number one request was for universities to create edible landscapes. He notes that edible perennial plants provide so much more wealth than a mere ornamental can. They provide nourishment, aesthetics and innovation to a campus community; and edibles don't require any more maintenance (Salatin, Pg 2).
A common misconception about campus gardens is that the food would have to be harvested in such abundance that it could feed the student population, and then be transported to the dining halls, and finally incorporated into the menus but only after it upholds OSHA regulations. When a student walks by they can pick the food fresh when it’s ripe as opposed to wasting all of the time and money in trying to get the food into the dining halls. The maintenance burden can be lessened with the help of student organizations and there can even be postage at each site that educates students on what the fruit looks like when it is ripe and ready to munch. “The easiest changes don't force innovation through the status quo. It reinvents the whole game.” (Salatin Pg 2)
I am proposing that the University of Michigan take on the project of creating visible, edible forestry on campus using permaculture methodology. Unfortunately, food and dining regulations within the university stand in the way of easily implementing a full-fledged vegetable garden next to one of the dining halls to be used by university chefs. Buzz Cummings, a lead chef at the University of Michigan, said that the dining staff is definitely interested in a project like this and if we are going to try and push a garden on campus, we should start by proposing an herb garden. Buzz explained how the regulations placed on vegetables that go into the university's food may inhibit this project from quickly taking off (B. Cummings, October 13).
At the University of Michigan, there are many student groups and affiliates that will be supporting this movement: the permaculture group in ENVIRON 391, The Permaculture Design Team [PDT] and Chiwara Permaculture and student organizations within the University of Michigan Sustainable Foods Program. The PDT would be happy to design an herb garden for the chef's access however, edible landscaping in other areas on campus is an equally tempting and possibly more realistic sister project. With this university and community support, having enough consistent volunteers now and through the future is looking successful.
UMass set an example for the University of Michigan to follow. The innovation, tactics, technique and leverage points have all been covered. The university's support is all that is left. Having an edible landscape that is nearly self-sufficient and feeding the students who are maintaining it provides the university with a closed loop system that is sustainable, attractive, efficient and visionary. By helping to recruit students, create positive press and promote campus sustainability, this student plan to locate areas on campus and convert them into food producing systems using permaculture methodology is a proposal that the University of Michigan would be wise to support and adopt.
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