Brooklyn College (2018)

Welcome to the Brooklyn College Podwalk, a pod walk centered around highlighting the sustainable initiatives on the Brooklyn College landscape.

As you enter, you can see the Brooklyn College Performing Arts Center -- the first LEED certified building on the Brooklyn College campus.

As you are continuing to walk past the library, when you pass the side of the library, if it is a rainy day, it might be flooding! Brooklyn College campus is prone to flooding on rainy days because of the high amount of nonporous surfaces that cover the campus -- this spot is not the only place that you will see flooding on a rainy day, look out for some other spots around campus and observe how much paved ground are by those areas that are flooding. Some ways that we can mediate the effects of storm water are with increasing green spaces and green infrastructure. The potentiality for green infrastructure on campus will be discussed later on in the walk!

As you continue walking we’re going along the path by the Brooklyn College Library in order to go to Brooklyn College’s only outdoor aquatic infrastructure, the Lily Pond. This installment was a part of the original construction of the campus in the 1930s, a testament to the college’s appreciation for the natural environment and the beauty it presents us. A small contribution to the urban ecology, the lily pond houses red eared slider turtles as well as some koi fish. If you look directly up and above the lily pond you will see Ingersoll Hall Extension -- an extension of the original Ingersoll Hall, Brooklyn College’s hub for the sciences. On the 5th floor of the New Ingersoll Hall Extension is the Greenhouse, a fixture for research within the Brooklyn College scientific community, the Greenhouse has housed research projects of undergraduate students, graduate students and professors. Now we’re going to head to an outdoor sustainable socioeconomic initiative that benefits the students!

Bike Repair Station

Once you have walked all the way to the gate, you should see on your left-hand side a bike repair station, this opened May 1st, 2018, where students can repair their bikes and facilitate their zero carbon emission healthy modes of transportation with a free bike repair station! This sustainable initiative was also the result of fierce participatory budgeting where students made their voices heard in regards to what improvements should be made to campus using a small allocation of the school budget, an example of how economically sustainable initiatives can support environmentally and socially sustainable actions as well. We will see more of these examples of participatory budgeting supporting environmentally and socially sustainable actions along the walk! This one in particular supports the commuter students because it eases the burden of transportation costs by facilitating the bikers potential repair needs in a free and accessible way. Students can come and use the tools at the station and park their bike at the nearby rack when they are done and are going to class.

Hydration Station

Let’s keep going, now we are going to explore the original Ingersoll Hall and the sustainable initiative happening right in its entrance! This initiative has its origins as a submission in the participatory budgeting process on the Brooklyn College campus. Participatory budgeting on the Brooklyn College campus is relatively simple: 10% of the funds for the school’s CLAS Student Government, School of General Studies Student Government and Graduate Students Organization will be allocated into a separate pool where students can vote on how they would like the money to be used around campus. This money is used towards project submissions created by students. The submissions are voted on in April, the project with the most votes gets the funding and the opportunity to come to life on campus! As you enter the front of Ingersoll Hall, look to your right -- there you will see a hydration station! There are several hydration stations on campus, each one replaces a pre-existing water fountain with a dual-use fountain for regular drinking use and for refilling reusable water bottles. Look at the bottle refilling count on the station, when this was recorded it was at 42,462 bottles -- take note of what the count is now. If you see other hydration stations around campus, take note of those counts as well. These hydration stations offer an environmentally conscious alternative to purchasing single-use water bottles, students can refill their water bottles as much as they please for free! As mentioned earlier these hydration stations came about by gaining a majority vote in the Brooklyn College Participatory Budgeting process -- a commitment to economic and social sustainability by involving the student community in the financial decision making around the campus they call home. Now, leave Ingersoll Hall through the main entrance and continue on the path towards the Bedford Gate.

Bioretention

As you walk along the path you should be heading towards the security booth that is right near the Bedford Gate, construction of a bioretention system has been planned behind the security gate. This bioretention green infrastructure system was spearheaded by one of the professors on campus to attempt to achieve an environmentally sustainable installation on campus. It was designed and tested in the greenhouse that we previously saw above new Ingersoll hall extension. She used a mesocosm experiment design that mimicked the future bioretention site to assess its feasibility. What might be some challenges that present themselves when trying to implement sustainable projects on a college campus? Can you think of some bureaucratic obstacles -- what about financially? The flooding issue that we previously explored is intended to be mitigated by this green infrastructure installation. Bioretention systems are a type of green infrastructure that use plants, sediment and a series of pipes in order to capture, store and manage rainfall. This helps mitigate runoff and combined sewage overflow caused by storm water surges and flooding events. Continue on the path and along the gate.

Recycling Bins

Before you exit the gate, notice the recycling bins on your right. These bins are an example of Brooklyn College’s environmental sustainability initiatives that promote proper sorting of solid waste products. The signage on these bins are the brainchild of Urban Sustainability students during their time at Brooklyn College. These students as stewards of the Urban Sustainability major took it upon themselves to the create the signs in order to help the Brooklyn College population recycle responsibly. The students enrolled in this major are involved in public sustainability awareness projects around campus. The Urban Sustainability students are responsible for the creation and execution of the Brooklyn College Sustainability Fair, where students can get involved in tabling to hear about initiatives and issues related to sustainability. They also have the opportunity to talk to different organizations involved in sustainability. The Urban Sustainability students also organized the Brooklyn College Sustainability club, where they discuss potential implementation of new projects on campus. Some of them were also involved in the creation of the Bicycle Repair Station! These students also get involved in research projects with professors in the greenhouse, in our Aquatic Research and Environmental Assessment lab, as well as in independent study projects with professors from different departments. Continue along the walking path and exit the gate to cross Bedford Avenue and enter the West side of campus.

Trees

Take a look around you, observe the trees you see. These are mulberry trees, where between June and August these trees are ripe with mulberries, these can be eaten fresh off the tree or made into delicious baked goods or preserves. These are not the only trees that can be found on campus, there are also: elm trees, gingko trees, birch trees, oak trees, and cherry blossoms.

As you are walking to the back of campus, you will pass the tennis courts. Between the courts and the West Quad building there is a xeriscape installation. Xeriscaping allows for the landscaped aesthetic with plants that require much less water and maintenance than most plants. Brooklyn College commits to the environmental sustainability of the campus not just through xeriscaping, but in the maintenance of the campus as well. As much as 30% of the grounds is maintained organically: only green pesticides; plant based oils; and environmentally friendly fertilizers are used. In addition to the outdoor maintenance -- only green cleaning products are used in the buildings.

Community Garden

You have arrived at the last stop of this pod walk, the Brooklyn College community garden. Members of the surrounding community as well as Brooklyn College students, faculty and staff are able to maintain their own garden plots. This space is approximately 5,000 square feet, and currently has 28 framed plots, which are available on a first-come, first-served basis, with plots assigned each year by lottery. There is a small annual fee assigned to an individual plot, but gardeners who do not have a plot volunteer to help maintain common planting areas, or work on specialized activities such as irrigation, tool maintenance and weeding. The plots are framed in cedar and are equipped with holders for hoop gardening, which allows year-round gardening. Two of the beds are raised to accommodate gardeners with physical limitations. The Brooklyn College Garden is a green space that not only fosters the growth of fresh produce for the participants, but also allows for these same people to come together to learn about sustainable garden practices for urban environments. It also promotes a healthy and active lifestyle, all while fostering a closer sense of connection to the earth, the community, and themselves. The Community Garden supports no-till agriculture which is an agricultural methodology that does not employ tilling in its process. This allows for the soil layers and their distinctive properties such as nutrient and mineral balances to remain intact. This promotes a more natural composition of the soil which combats erosion, but from the anthropogenic side it also lessens labor and fossil fuel usage. The Community Garden is not the only food-based sustainable initiative Brooklyn College has launched over the years. A farm share was created through the Corbin Hill Food Project where students and staff can sign up on a weekly basis for upstate produce brought to the Nutrition Center for distribution.

Resources

Thank you for joining us on the Brooklyn College Sustainability Pod walk, if your curiosity in sustainability on campus is piqued, please check out the following resources for access to more information about Brooklyn College’s sustainability opportunities to get involved!

For composting and volunteering at the Community Garden, contact bcgarden@brooklyn.cuny.edu.

To join the Brooklyn College Sustainability Club -- check out the Facebook group “Brooklyn College Urban Sustainability.”

For more information about the Urban Sustainability Major contact bcsust@brooklyn.cuny.edu or check out the Brooklyn College Website.

To get involved in sustainability initiatives on campus, contact sustainability@brooklyn.cuny.edu.

For general sustainability information about internship opportunities or upcoming events, go to Norma’s Sustainability website at sust.blog.brooklyn.edu.