Kim James 
When six Harvard College students observed developing swimming pools of rainwater on campus walkways, instead of hopping over or tiptoeing around them, they got down to restore the hassle. During the spring, the students, as a part of their work with the Green Think Initiative, led a hit effort to carry a pair of rain gardens to campus to assist soak up typhoon water overflow and filter chemical compounds and pollution. They are believed to be the first rain gardens on campus, stated Paul Smith, companion supervisor of Harvard Landscape Services.
“One of the perfect things about this mission isn’t simplest is it a good image of sustainability, but it is showing that Harvard helps active student motion toward that aim,” stated Taisa Kulyk ’22, a member of the Green Think Initiative, a first-12 months pupil think tank based totally at the Harvard Office of Sustainability. The gardens have been installed by using Harvard Landscape Services inside the Leverett House and Mather House courtyards as a part of a pilot initiative. Next yr, the University hopes to feature extra of them if they prove effective at flood reduction.
The effort comes when rising temperatures associated with climate change have brought about improved rainfall, especially within the Northeast. In 2018, for instance, Massachusetts and numerous close-by states experienced their rainiest 12 months on record. Unfortunately, at Harvard, green areas, just like the Yard, frequently turn into a sequence of ponds at some stage in prolonged downpours or while drain systems lower back up. Eventually, the water spills onto walkways, turning them into obstacle publications for pedestrians.
The 5 first-year students from this 12 months’ Green Think Initiative and their sophomore scholar coordinator sought an answer that became sustainable and aesthetically attractive. They launched their rain gardens project. The recessed gardens use a mix of soil, sand, compost, and mulch that keeps water, and both release it slowly into a drain or makes use of it to feed the native vegetation and deep-rooted shrubs planted in each. The gardens also act as a natural filter for most of the pollutants determined in stormwater runoff. To describe the research they performed and otherwise train fellow college students, The Green Think developers plan to show signs and symptoms at every region to explain what the gardens are and how they work.
As part of the project, the scholars had to interrupt the gardens’ price for directors and scout out capability locations. The experience allowed the institution to gain revel in undertaking management, verbal exchange, and negotiation. For a few, it has launched or solidified plans to explore careers in related environmental fields. “When I see them be as successful as they’ve been this beyond yr I can’t assist, but sense like that is more than only a volunteer corporation,” said Christiana Akins, who oversees the program at the Office of Sustainability. “It’s a way to exchange their school revel in or maybe their lives.”
Past Green Think projects have included putting in water-bottle filling stations on campus and leading composting efforts in the first-12 month’s pupil dorms and restrooms around campus. Nazneen Cooper, assistant dean of campus layout and planning within the Office of Physical Resources & Planning, changed into one of the directors who this 12 months’ Green Think college students approached with the concept. She turned into inspired by the initiative the students confirmed.
“There changed into a recognition concerning flooding … acknowledging that there are quite a few issues with heavy rain … that there’s soil compaction due to urban utilization and that some of the drains can’t handle the amount of water as speedy as we would like them to,” Cooper said. “They made those observations which I thought have been insightful and useful, and then they came up with a proposal.” The students funded the venture with $6,000 in furnished cash from the Office of Sustainability and the Harvard Undergraduate Consulting on Business and the Environment. In addition to supporting stem campus flooding and educating different college students, Green Think contributors hope the gardens serve as a concept.
