Author: Courtney Eberhard

As a part of the environmental committee, I’ve had the chance to be a part of the “Step Two” process in Environmental Activism. For those unfamiliar, there are three steps to the activism process. Saving, Maintaining, Producing. Many times environmental groups focus on the “Saving” step. Don’t step on the river grass, stop the destruction of forests, don’t pump toxic chemicals into the Earth’s core. But you can’t forget about the environment once it’s been saved.

In Feburary 2011, Ian Smith took it upon himself to see what was happening to a broken fountain sitting right outside the LBJ Student Center. After talking to the Building Operations stuff he was able to convince them to donate the back half of the fountain to H.E.A.T. and thus a garden was started.

Once the garden was installed, Drew Luecke took over and spear headed garden maintenance. The past school year (2012-2013) she was able to involve the entire environmental committee in the upkeep. This included changing out the flowers and periodically watering them. Watering happened three times a week, and was done with the help of Linda Sparks. Linda let us borrow her watering ca, and gave us access to water near the garden, making the upkeep much easier.

This past spring, the garden’s flowers were changed again. One particular type of flower that stands out to most students in passing is the Blackfoot Daisy. These daises attract many different insects, including bees. As has been reported, bee populations are decreasing drastically due to different factors. One being a toxic chemical released by companies, and another being destruction of habitat (such as these flowers). If you see one of these flying friends, remember they are not there to harm you, but instead they would like to go about your busy, as would you.

So next time you are on campus, feel free to come check out our 100% recycled H.E.A.T. garden located right outside the LBJ Student Center!