Sustainable Landscaping and Sustainability Education on a College Campus: A Case Study in Place-Based, Collaborative...

Sustainability education on college campuses can leverage interdisciplinary collaborations between facilities services, sustainability offices, environmental studies researchers, and students to provide hands-on opportunities for place-based learning. In an effort led by student researchers that could be replicated in academic practice at other academic institutions, we collaborated across campus groups to improve campus landscaping and turfgrass management. Turfgrass is an ideal cover for high-traffic areas and recreation, but is energy intensive to maintain, inefficient at carbon sequestration, and requires fertilizing which contributes to nutrient pollution. Here, we outline a student-led research effort that combined experiential learning, using a college campus as a "living laboratory," and an ecosystem services case study to advance not only campus sustainability goals but also provide a rigorous research opportunity for undergraduates. Supported by a collaborative, multi-office team at Macalester College, students provided recommendations on campus land management practices that would increase a multi-faceted suite of sustainability goals. Student researchers used geospatial data to measure campus land cover types then adapted an easily accessible ecosystem model, i-Tree, to quantify changes to ecosystem services due to converting strategic parcels of lawn to native plant beds or trees. Based on model results, students proposed increasing Macalester's tree cover to 30% campus area and converting 6381 m² of lawn to low-input native gardens. These landscape changes were modeled to sequester 26.3 tons of carbon year^-1 for a value of USD $521 year^-1 and remove air pollutants, a health benefit valued at USD $1034 year^-1. This proposal balanced campus climate and environmental sustainability goals, Facilities' labor and economic constraints, and landscaping use goals. This use case of a college campus as a "living laboratory" offers a novel case study that empowered undergraduates and can be adapted to similar campuses that integrate the work and expertise of multiple students, faculty, and staff.