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DU students Erin Hough and Ben Waldman spent a recent Saturday with classmates and neighbors creating a community garden from an unused plot of land owned by the University, at 1817 S. High St. The pair is committed to spreading the doctrine of environmental activism and societal sustainability to the DU campus and the community at large.

“That was my first taste of how politics works,” he says, laughing. “Basically, that nobody wants to do it.” Now a junior at the University of Denver and co-chair of the grassroots DU Environmental Team, he is dodging continuing systemic hurdles in an effort to get things done.

For fellow team member Erin Hough, a sophomore and Colorado Springs native, an interest in natural medicine ignited a passion for supporting locally grown foods, further fueled by a freshman year class that opened her eyes to the larger issues involved. “It was really learning what people were doing with the mono-agriculture system,” she says. “How it destroys land, it’s bad for people, it’s costly, and it’s resulted in diets that are ninety percent corn. It’s had an insane effect on health all over the world.”

Supported by a faculty sustainability council and a sustainability committee of students dedicated to implementing specific projects, the environmental team works to help make a difference in its school and neighborhood, helping distinguish DU as an institution seriously committed to the green movement along the way.

“We’re trying to look at how to break down big-picture problems and apply solutions in our own little world,” Hough says. “It’s kind of inspiring because you can get direct feedback for what you’re doing.”

One of their most concrete projects involves creating a community garden on university-owned land located at 1817 S. High St. “It was quite the process getting all the necessary approvals,” Waldman says. The environmental team held community meetings of students, faculty, and neighbors and worked with Denver Urban Gardens on design and resource management. “I first saw community gardens in Seattle a few years back, and it seemed like it didn’t make sense for DU not to have one, if it wants to be a ‘green’ school. It also seemed like a great way to break down that invisible wall between DU students and our neighbors.”

The garden will include vegetables, herbs, and flowers, with a heavy emphasis on growing food to eat. “We want it to be a learning environment to show students what a backyard garden can be. Instead of asking people to give something up, we’re showing them a green initiative that gives something tangible – healthier, tastier food – back.”

Hough agrees. “We’re also pushing the idea of food, not lawns. Why have grass when you can have food? And we’re planning on community garden members donating some of the food to a shelter, or to host a local foods meal at DU.”

Waldman says the response to the garden has been heartening. “Students have been very engaged, but we also have an awesome steering committee of neighbors, so it’s already community-owned. That’s important, because we don’t want it to die out after we graduate.”

For Hough, working to bring local foods to campus dining halls has proven a more challenging task. “I thought it would be easy, you know, I’ll call the farmer and he’ll truck in his cucumbers,” she says, laughing. But she had not wagered on corporate contracts and insurance issues. “The farmers have to have five million dollars of liability insurance, but most small farmers can’t afford that. Other schools have set up umbrella agencies, but it’s not easy getting a group of farmers to trust each other – and a bank.”

She’s also working to reduce campus reliance on non-recyclable paper hot cups. “The university would provide metal ‘eco-cups’ you could use and return at café locations, for the university to clean and redistribute. If we can implement this, we’d be the first school in the nation to do so. Instead of lagging behind – we’d start to lead the green movement.” 

The students see the country’s current economic troubles as a potent opportunity for advancing the sustainability cause. “Growing your own food is much less expensive than buying it,” Waldman says. “It’s a great opportunity to become more conscious, to learn how small decisions can have a huge impact on you. We’re just so accustomed to materialism, but if we start making little changes, we begin to see we have more to gain than lose. We just started going tray-less in the dining hall to help save water, and it’s really not a big deal.”

Hough believes every sacrifice reaps unexpected benefits. “When you start growing your own food, the next logical step is to start cooking. One of the best, unexpected things to come out of this for me is, now I have this great group of friends, and we find and cook local foods and sit down together once a week.”

Both students intend to incorporate what they’re learning in their post-grad lives. “It’s not just about getting a job after school and working for a utility company that’s trying to build solar panels or wind energy technology,” Waldman says. “It’s also about supporting a sustainable lifestyle that’s less materialistic. With our global population continually increasing, and diminishing resources, we need to re-think how to live.”

Next year he plans to launch a Neighborhood Supported Agriculture program, asking community members to dedicate their lawns to growing specific crops. “People will grow a certain crop one year and then switch crops with their neighbors the next. It’s been happening in Boulder, and it’s an idea that can build strong communities while helping the environment.”

As for their take on their generation’s ability to address the problems it will inherit, given its “entitled” media image, they see good and bad news. “I think there are extremes,” says Hough. “It sounds terrible, but a lot of kids just need a slap in the face. But I think there are also young people getting involved in record numbers in certain places for certain causes.”

“I think it’s going in the right direction,” Waldman says. “I see people becoming more aware, but it’s still an uphill battle. Our generation is going to have to do some pretty impressive, creative things because of what we inherited.”

Their experience on the environmental team has already given them the confidence to tackle future challenges. “When you take on these bigger roles, you start to have a lot more respect for yourself because you see what you’ve accomplished that you never thought you could, and you see the respect people have for you,” Hough says.

“The social networking and resources the community is willing to offer and their dedication has made it an amazing experience for me,” Waldman says. “It keeps me motivated and inspired.”