Program on the Environment

Blog post by Chelsea Bogrow

On Thursday May 28th, 2015 PoE’s Environment 280 Sustainable Studio class gave a tour on UW’s hidden truths of sustainability and its natural history. It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day and the students were excited to finally put all their research and hard work into the tour. Due to the size of the class and tour, the group was spilt into two tours. From here, I will be highlighting only one: The Hidden Challenges and Stories of UW Sustainability.  

After leaving the Drumheller Fountain -where the tour gathered- we headed for Red Square. This location is a staple of the university; if you haven’t had the chance to slip on it once, you’ve definitely heard about someone else doing it. Luckily we didn’t learn about the tragedies of falling on Red Square, although, we did learn that the bricks laid down not only to help water from permeating the underground parking garage, but might have been chosen to discourage protests from taking place in the square. Red Square has a rich history of protests and student congregations but also ties in very nicely with sustainability on campus.

Afterwards, we learned about buildings on campus. If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me what year Suzzallo Library was built, I’d probably be able to pay for half my tuition! Although buildings on campus look like they were built centuries ago, it turns out they were only mocking an architectural style that they believed to emit higher education excellence. Many of the buildings are designed to look like that of Oxford and Cambridge. But fast forward to more modern times, even though UW still preserves these old style buildings, if renovations are done, a LEED certifications is required, further proving UW’s commitment to sustainability.

Moving forward, we then visited the Medicinal Herb Garden where we learned about the wide variety of plants from all around the world that are maintained in the garden. A small demonstration of burning sweet grass showed us a small glimpse of what native tribes did in the past. The group leading this portion of the tour did an excellent job of getting audience engagement while also telling a story. Note cards with descriptions of native plants were handed out and as a group we had to identify what species belonged to the card. It really painted a picture of how difficult identifying plants can be. 

Lastly, we ventured to a secluded corner for some shade with a view of the Burke-Gilman trail and the future light rail for a wrap up talk about UW’s transportation. As many know, the Burke-Gilman trail used to be a railroad, but after some failed projects, some protests, and a lot of headway, we now have one of the most popular trails going right through campus. With growing populations, the trail is trying to be extended and also separated between bicyclists and pedestrians. This will be helpful for the UW community because we learned, through efforts from the transportation department, more and more people are ditching single riding cars and getting to campus in alternative, more sustainable ways. 

Overall, it was a great day to learn more about UW and how far the university has come with its sustainability efforts. The students reflected on how much time and work they put into their tours and made it very enjoyable. We all learned some things about campus we might not have known before.

Photo credit: Daimon Eklund, UW Sustainability