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https://reasonstobecheerful.world/why-a-texas-school-let-its-lawns-grow-wild/>
"When Jefferson Early Learning Center first opened on the corner of a busy
intersection in Houston’s west side in 2022, school officials started receiving
calls from irritated residents.
It wasn’t the increase in traffic or the noise from loud preschoolers that was
the source of the callers’ ire.
It was the wild, unkempt landscaping.
Residents wanted to know, “‘Why aren’t you cutting the lawn?’ ‘Why aren’t you
keeping the grounds?’” recalled Hilda Rodriguez, the assistant superintendent
of support services for the Alief Independent School District, home to
Jefferson and nearly 50 other schools west of Houston.
Although Jefferson’s neighbors didn’t know it, the tall grass surrounding the
early learning center was part of a larger strategy to mitigate climate-related
issues in a county where a major flood occurs nearly every two years and the
number of days at or above 95 degrees has increased significantly over the past
25 years.
In addition to choosing durable, impact-resistant materials to help the school
building withstand natural disasters, Jefferson’s designers focused on the
surrounding land. They chose to restore much of the ground’s nearly 20 acres to
native prairie lands and wetlands, creating a habitat for more than 200 plant
and animal species.
That sort of habitat is especially beneficial in an area vulnerable to climate
change events such as the torrential rains that regularly hit the city, said
Melissa Turnbaugh, senior principal at PBK Architects, which designed
Jefferson. “By putting in native prairies and grasses, we can now actually
absorb three to four times as much water as if we had manicured grass,” she
said.
Experts who study early learning and climate science say there is growing
demand for solutions like these to address challenges related to climate
change, such as floods, fires and hotter temperatures. Angie Garling, a senior
vice president at the Low Income Investment Fund, which runs initiatives to
help build and improve early learning facilities, said that when her
organization solicited applications from child care programs needing facilities
improvements, the vast majority had to do with climate.
“They were asking for things like HVAC systems, misting systems, air filtration
systems, shade structures, turf … because they couldn’t maintain their lawn
anymore because the cost of water was too high,” said Garling. Due to the
extreme level of climate-related need, LIIF recently partnered with other
organizations to launch a program to help fund renovations for child care
providers in Harris County, where Houston is located.
Alief officials have already noticed benefits from the unconventional use of
the school land. During the school year, students can walk on trails that weave
through the prairie, learning about insects, plants and flowers. The native
plants can withstand Houston’s infamous summers, when the average temperature
sits above 90 degrees. That saves work, time and money for Alief’s maintenance
team, which rarely needs to mow or water the land at Jefferson."
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*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
