Sustainapalooza...

More like "Sustainapa-winner!"

Next week is our celebration "Sustainapalooza." This is where we get in gear for striving towards a greener initiative and take responsibility for our own actions, and become stewards, as opposed to burdens, to our environment and our future. There are some really exciting events such as a presentation and showing of the Documentary film "FUEL" by Josh Tickell! To learn more about some events during "Sustainapalooza" visit student activities here.

The "S.C.C. Green Team Committee" has worked diligently to implement a recycling program on campus, and has succeeded well beyond any one's expectations. Single stream recycling is here. Anything that is recyclables can be thrown into one bin, taking the guesswork out of recycling and making it more efficient for everyone, and for the ideal itself!

As groundskeepers, we take our impact on the environment very seriously everyday. Each day we make decisions that will impact the environment. We are the forefront of environmental stewards and we take this very seriously. We have taken an active role in the "S.C.C. Green Committee," "S.C.C. Outdoors Club," "Higher Education Sustainability Consortium," "Arbor day Foundation" and many more organizations to keep up to date and do our part to move us into the forefront of sustainable practices!

If you want to learn more about our efforts as we start our part of the recycling program, and other exciting "green Decisions" and practices we are involved in, and are moving in to, please come see what we are up to at "Grounds: Our Story, Past, Present, and Future!" Thursday September 2nd, 11:30 AM, Social Science Building Auditorium! See you there! And don't be a "Looza" come to Sustainapalooza!

Rise from the ashes...

I am the first to admit, I am a tree junkie. I often drive home and look around my neighborhood, and spot areas that need a tree. Often I wonder if I am crazy, especially when I am looking up at the sky most of the time, and to the passersby, this looks a little odd.

So today I looked around just to see how many ash trees we have on campus, it is after all one of my favorite trees. We have just over one hundred ash trees on campus (Fraxinus species) and these particular trees make up nearly 33% of our large trees on campus.

This was brought on when someone recently showed me a photo of some forests in Michigan, where the ash trees have been devastated by yet another invasive pest, recently discovered in our state. Is it just a matter of time before we see the emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis) here in the St. Louis area?

Adult Agrilus planipennis

The emerald ash borer was discovered in the United States in the early nineties, and has since devastated over 50 million ash trees to date, and they continue to spread. There has been some studies showing control measures to be effective but none have proven to be economical, but my hopes are that science will prevail and we can fix this issue we started.

It pains me to say this, but this is a beautiful insect. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and the damage they can cause is anything but beautiful. The easiest way to identify this insect, besides its distinctive physical features, is the distinctive exit hole it leaves when exiting the tree.

Emerald Ash Borer Larval Exit Hole. Note D-shape

Firewood and ash products tend to be the method of transportation for this pest, so if you do any traveling careful not to help this insect move into our area, and be sure to leave anything containing ash wood where it originated from. If you would like to learn more about this devastating pest, and keep tabs on new developments for control measures click here.

So get outside and enjoy our beautiful ash trees on campus and lets hope we can keep them around!

Joker Beware...

I got a report the other day of some bats flying around campus. "This is great!" I thought to myself. I do not think it was the response this particular person was hoping for. Bats are another animal that gets a bad reputation. They only fly at night, they are secretive and live in caves, and they are often associated with vampires and creatures with fangs. Yet bats are very important, and we should do everything we can to encourage there presence. Why you might ask? BUGS!

Endangered Indiana Bat Myotis sodalis

Some bats in Missouri have been known to eat over five hundred mosquito's an hour! Mosquito's have become a dangerous insect throughout the world, and without bats they would surely become worse. Bats typically catch all there insects in mid-flight, which is why they seem to change direction constantly, and though it looks like they are flying about as if they had one too many, they are actually very talented acrobats. They even drink from lakes while in flight! Expertise at catching insects in mid flight is due to their echo-location ability, similar to sonar. A high pitch sound is sent out and bounced back to their large ears to locate insects in mid-air, and avoid obstacles.

There are many species of bats endangered due to habitat destruction and habitat contamination. Leave bats alone and avoid entering caves as they are very delicate ecosystems. Toxic wastes and littering is also harmful to all wildlife as it often poisons their food source, and then it is passed on to bats. If you want to learn more about Missouri's bats check out this link.

So if you are out on campus and you see bats flying over head, say "thanks for eating those pesky mosquito's!" as you look up in the sky. Though I must warn you, passersby will often think you are one foot in the nut-house, I speak from experience!

singing in the rain...

There is nothing in the world I enjoy more then a good rainy day. Rain washes away the dust, greens up our surroundings, and takes this awful heat down a notch.

Without rain we see things start to turn brown, and we often open up our sprinklers and water our flower beds and yards to get them through the drought. What I often forget to realize is all those hard surfaces; sidewalks, roads, driveways, roofs, cars, parking lots, the list goes on and on, all those hard surfaces do not absorb rainwater.

This runoff rainwater is often full of contaminates; oil, trash, anti-freeze, just to name a few. All this area that used to be a forest, grassland, or wetland, that once utilized and filtered rainwater, is now a parking lot, a road, or a building. Now it dumps thousands of gallons of runoff in areas that can not handle the extra rain. It often contributes to flooding and contaminated streams. So what are a few options we can do to help?

Plants are a great option. Not only do they use water but the also filter water. Some plants have been known to devour heavy metals and chemicals. So plantings around downspouts will reduce some of the runoff.

Example of newly planted rain garden. Note Downspout Extension. The Air conditioner unit will also be shaded by the plants, helping it be more efficient as well!

Pavers are a great option and great alternative to concrete. Pavers allow water to infiltrate between them, and often look much better than drab concrete!

Decorative Pavers

Rain barrels are becoming more and more popular. Rain barrels can be acquired at many home and garden centers, and for those that are handy can be made for around twenty dollars! Rain barrels attach to your downspout and collect rain water that can be used later to water your trees, flowers, or lawn.

S.C.C. staff, family, students, and Coca-Cola volunteer their time to make rain barrels. This will not be the last you see of these barrels!

Stay cool out there, and I hope to see you out there enjoying the campus singing in the rain with me!