Tackling environmental and sustainability issues requires input from many points of view, and therefore, majors, because these issues are inherently complex. No single discipline has a lock on the environment or sustainability. The diversity of the directors’ specialty area is a reflection of this truth. While I am a biosystems and agricultural engineer, Dr. Arthur is a forest ecologist, Dr. Bell an environmental sociologist, and Dr. Fryar a hydrogeologist. Each of us approaches the environment and sustainability with a different set of skills and experiences, all of which are equally important.
Consider the University of Kentucky’s new bioretention facility, or rain garden, at Farm Road. When Dr. Rebecca McCulley and Suzette Walling of the Tracy Farmer Institute for Sustainability and the Environment (TFISE), with support for the Department of Environmental Management, approached me about constructing a rain garden on UK’s campus, I knew we would need a team of faculty, staff and students from multiple departments. My students and I could perform a hydrologic analysis, design the amendment mixture, develop a project budget, perform construction oversight, and monitor the hydrology after construction, but I did not have all of the skills needed to complete the project in the way that TFISE envisioned. So while the TFISE actively sought and thankfully received funding for the project from the Student Sustainability Council at UK’s Office of Sustainability and the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government, I worked with Dr. Brian Lee and Corey Wilson of Landscape Architecture to develop a design that was both functional from a hydrological standpoint as well as from a human dimension standpoint. Dr. Lee had fantastic ideas about how to use variations in elevations as an interest point to draw people to the facility. After much support from then Dean Scott Smith of the College of Agriculture, Food and Environment (CAFE) as well as my department chair, Dr. Sue Nokes, staff and students from the Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering (BAE) Department constructed the rain garden in the fall of 2013.
We still have a lot of work to do on the rain garden, although construction is complete and hydrologic monitoring is already being conducted by an undergraduate student in BAE. One of the biggest tasks that remains is planting, an important step to realizing the project’s full potential. Thankfully, students in Dr. Ned Crankshaw’s LA 851 studio developed a number of low-maintenance planting designs for the rain garden, so he, Dr. Lee, and Dr. Rick Durham (Horticulture) have plenty of ideas to work with. Once we secure the plants, with the help of UK’s Physical Plant, we will need volunteers to help put them in the ground. Another large undertaking is constructing outdoor classroom seating, which Drs. Crankshaw and Lee are designing. If the TFISE can secure funding for this portion of the project, staff from BAE will help install it. Lastly, we need to develop rain garden-related outreach and educational products for audiences ranging from school children to professionals to the general public. This latter effort will require those with skills in environmental educational, communication and extension to a name a few.For me, the diversity of student majors who will opt to participate in Greenhouse is one of the things that I am most excited about. My professional experiences, both in and out of the classroom, have taught me that some of the best outcomes have resulted from teams comprised of members with different backgrounds. The range of perspectives that students will bring to Greenhouse will help bring about positive changes for environmental and sustainability issues at UK.
