The University of Michigan recently announced that it has received Bee Campus Certification from Bee Campus USA, which recognized our campus for establishing pollinator habitats, creating nest sites and reducing pesticides. While these are laudable achievements, the fact remains: We need to do more.
The prospects for insect life, and by extension our wellbeing, are bleak. Traditionally composing half of all animal biomass — the total mass of a population, reflecting the importance it has in the ecosystem — insects have seen a precipitous decline, with the total biomass of insects collapsing at a rate of 2.5% every single year over the last 25 to 30 years. The causes of their collapse are clear: habitat loss, herbicides, invasive species and of course climate change. While as a campus we may not have power to stop the corporations burning fossil fuels responsible for climate change, we can make a difference in the first three. Our next steps are clear: maintain our grounds without the use of synthetic herbicides, convert unused lawns into green spaces and reintroduce native plants.
The benefits are straightforward. By no longer poisoning the ground with synthetic herbicides, mycorrhizal fungi can return to the soil and sustain plant growth by providing mineral nutrients and hydration. Native plants allow native pollinators to compete with generalist European honeybees that could otherwise diminish their population to the point of local extinction. Through the cultivation of native gardens and pesticide-free lawns throughout campus, we fight habitat fragmentation, allowing for the connection and spread of local populations of native insects. Not only can these insects now play their ecological role throughout campus, but these populations will also have better long-term prospects when they are able to migrate between spaces of natural habitat.
So why haven’t we done more? As the president of the Entomology Club and a fellow with Re:wild Your Campus, I have worked to establish organic plots of land on campus. Time and time again, two issues were raised: funding and image. The grounds team and sustainability office have expressed enthusiasm about these solutions and are already experimenting with organic methods like compost tea applications and organic products, but a larger campus-wide transition will require a signature from higher-ups. In order to save biodiversity on campus, the University needs to set aside money for the initial costs of transitioning to an organic campus. At this, the University hesitates: Is it worth the startup cost? What will current students, alumni and potential students think when the manicured lawn is no longer a desert of grass?
Perceptions are changing; students want to see change to campus. This academic year, the Entomology Club conducted an online survey of 105 people distributed on campus, with 98 student respondents. Out of our 105 respondents, 90 (85.7%) responded that they supported zero usage of synthetic herbicides on campus. When asked how they would feel if it meant that “certain grounds on campus would look less green and neat for a while,” we found that 87% of respondents still supported stopping synthetic herbicide use as “a necessary process.” An additional 11% said they would support organic groundskeeping, though they hope the appearance change would not last long. Finally, we found that a remarkable 60% of respondents would be willing to volunteer on campus weeding days.
Other campuses are already ahead of us. Harvard University, University of California, Berkeley, University of Texas, Austin and others have already taken the steps necessary to make their campus synthetic herbicide free. Most similar to us, UC Berkeley successfully transitioned 95% of their campus to organically managed land over the course of only five years. As a result, the microorganisms in the soil increased twenty-two fold. Students driving this change at UC Berkeley created a national organization, Re:wild Your Campus, to encourage other schools to also go organic. Most importantly, research conducted there found that investing in a compost tea brewer yielded a $100,000 yearly benefit to the soil. Harvard similarly reported that use of the organic clippings as compost saved the University an annual $10,000 for 5,000 acres of land.
This isn’t to say our grounds team is not trying. In a recent meeting, we discussed a trial of an organic product they will be using on the Diag. They are open to alternatives and have already implemented some best practices like soil testing and the application of nutrient-rich compost teas. But, like many campuses, our grounds department is underfunded and asked to maintain a vast campus to a world-class standard.
With support from the student body and enthusiasm from grounds, it is time that we make the leap to organic land care. In transitioning to organic land care, our campus can become Green Grounds certified, a first-of-its-kind certification that goes above and beyond chemical reduction to ensure the campus is taking steps to promote biodiversity and ecological health. We cannot fall further behind. We are the leaders and best and it’s time we acted like it: It’s time to change how we think about our lawns.
Maxwell Klein is a Junior in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, as well as the president of the Entomology Club and a Re:wild Your Campus fellow. He can be reached at maxklein@umich.edu.