Landscaping Clinic Project Proposal

The Harvey Mudd College
Center for Environmental Studies
Regional Landscaping Clinic

Proposal Page 1 - Background | Page 2 - Problem Statement | Page 3 - Clinic Information

2 Problem Statement

The Environmental Studies Landscaping Clinic will perform a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the present economic, social, and environmental aspects of Harvey Mudd College's current landscape design. Subsequently, alternative-landscaping choices will be examined with an emphasis on resource conservation, community appeal, environmental educational value, and reduced maintenance cost.

3 Problem-Solving Approach

Our team has decided to approach HMC's landscaping from three different perspectives: the environmental effects, the psychological and cultural effects on the HMC community, and the economic costs of all of these. Two team members will address each of these topics.

Similar analyses will be performed on existing regionally appropriate landscapes in comparison to HMC's campus. The sub-groups will combine their findings in a final report. The objectives of these groups are stated below:

3.1 Environmental Effects

Our main focus in quantifying the environmental impact of Harvey Mudd's landscaping will be on the lawn areas, as a major portion of the landscape is turf and grass is the most resource-intensive plant on the college’s landscape (Perry 2000). To analyze the current environmental effects of HMC's landscaping, we want to quantify the amounts of water, fertilizer, and gasoline (for lawnmowers and other maintenance vehicles and equipment) required for the upkeep of the landscape and also the concentrations of nutrients leaching out of the lawn and into the groundwater. The fertilizer and gasoline use will be obtained from HMC Facilities and Maintenance records. The water use can be calculated from the watering times for the lawns, the number of sprinkler heads, and the amount of water that flows through each head (these numbers will also be obtained from Facilities and Maintenance). Soil and groundwater nutrient levels will be determined by obtaining soil and groundwater samples and testing for ammonium and nitrate concentrations with a colorimetric test. We will then find the theoretical water and nutrient needs of the lawn using standard calculations for maximum evapotranspiration, photosynthesis and carbon-to-nitrogen ratios possible for the turf. If the theoretical water and nutrient needs of the turf are less than what is currently applied, we will propose a better maintenance regime for the lawn in which only the required fertilizer and water will be used. If time permits, we will perform similar analyses of the campus' ivy plots and mulched areas.

We then wish to identify alternative landscapes already in existence that are similar to the possible changes that could be implemented at HMC (i.e., regionally appropriate landscapes). We will again quantify water, fertilizer and gasoline used to maintain these landscapes and the concentrations of nutrients leaching into the groundwater from these landscapes.

If time permits, we will construct an energy budget of the two types of landscape in order to assess the sustainability of each. An energy budget involves quantifying how much energy goes into maintaining the landscape (how much energy does it take to pump water to the school, make and apply fertilizer, mow the lawns, etc.) This value is then compared to the amount of energy that comes out of the landscape (usually expressed in terms of the biomass of its flora).

Finally, another issue is the possible effects of HMC's current landscape maintenance practices on the health of students and staff of the college and on native flora and fauna present at the college (invertebrates, birds, etc.). Specifically, we would look at how fertilizers and pesticides applied to the landscape may affect people and animals, what effect pollution released by the lawn mowers may have on people and native flora and fauna, and how nutrients and chemicals in groundwater and run-off may affect other bodies of water and the wildlife in them. As the semester progresses, we may address other topics as they arise. One area of particular interest is the potentially harmful effects of the pesticides applied to plants on campus. Recently, the fungicide methyl thiophanate and the herbicide MCPA-4 (two of the chemicals administered by TruGreen-Chemlawn) have been found to have certain deleterious effects including cocarcinogenicity (Paolini et al. 1999), cell-transforming activity (Perocco et al. 1997), severe allergic reactions (Assini et al. 1994), and hormonal disruption (Garry et al. 1999). Our team probably can not quantify these effects, but a qualitative understanding of them will add another dimension to our analysis of the college's landscape and proposed alternatives.

3.2 Human Aspects

One of the primary objectives of the Landscape Clinic is to propose cost-effective, sustainable alternatives to the current campus landscape design and maintenance practices. However, for proposed changes to be feasible, they must take into account the current campus culture and its interaction with the landscape. Ideally, changes to the landscape would make it both more attractive and more useful to everyone. Therefore, we must seek to understand how the design of a landscape (in particular, HMC's) affects the people who use it, as well as how they use it.

To understand the social, psychological, and cultural effects of the campus landscape on the Harvey Mudd College community, we will research the history of HMC’s campus and the reasons for its original and current appearance. We will conduct a thorough literature search about social, psychological, and cultural issues in landscape design theory, as well as investigate how environmental psychologists have addressed the effects of landscapes on their inhabitants.

We will balance the theoretical perspective by studying how the HMC community interacts with the landscape. We plan to determine use patterns of the current landscape by observing students, faculty, and staff. To find out how the current college community perceives the campus landscape, we will conduct surveys (either paper or online, or some combination) on topics such as aesthetic attractiveness, usefulness, and comparison to hypothetical alternatives (or suggestions from survey-takers). If time permits, similar questionnaires will be circulated among prospective students, faculty, and staff, as well as HMC alumni.

Our theoretical and survey findings on how the HMC community perceives and uses its landscape should enable us to project community response to different alternative landscapes. Incorporating factors such as these into our analysis of the current landscape should enable us to better propose alternative landscape designs and practices that are both socially and environmentally sound, as well as psychologically, aesthetically, and emotionally satisfying.

3.3 Economic Analysis

A cost-benefit analysis of the current HMC landscape and proposed alternatives will be performed from an economic, social, and environmental viewpoint. Attention will be given to both the apparent economic costs of maintaining the landscape as well as the less readily quantifiable environmental and human costs. This analysis will be used to justify proposed changes based on actual costs paid by the college as well as hidden costs (those not paid directly by HMC).

3.3.1 Evident Costs

We will begin our economic investigation by examining water used on the HMC landscape. With the aid of economic records and watering timetables, we will construct an accurate picture of the quantities of water being used and in what areas. The cost of water must also include the cost of maintenance and repair of the irrigation system and the price of labor, including supervision and operation time.

Secondly, we will look at chemical and fertilizer usage. Costs here include not only the chemicals and fertilizer themselves, but the cost of labor for application, and the cost of increased water usage as a result of faster growing grass.

Third will be an analysis of the use of unadapted, inefficient plants in our landscape. We will consider the extra water, fertilizer, and herbicide required to keep these plants alive. We will also consider the extra maintenance and replacement costs of those plants, which do not survive due to lack of adaptation.

Finally, we will investigate grass-cutting policies. Unnecessarily short grass requires extra maintenance as well as more water and fertilizer to remain alive. Even a slightly longer lawn may cost significantly less to maintain.

3.3.2 Hidden Costs

Evident costs are not the only consideration. Hidden costs may not be paid for in current dollars, but nonetheless will cost money in the long term. There are many methods for evaluating hidden costs. In this project we will probably quantify costs by determining the price to fix problems caused or to replace lost resources and services with their functional equivalents.

The first of these hidden costs is the environmental damage caused by our current landscape. Excessive water use leads to water run-off containing herbicide, pesticide, and fertilizer, thus polluting groundwater or other water sources. We will also consider the health problems associated with chemical use, including both immediate and long-term effects. Also emissions produced by the maintenance equipment have a potential deleterious effect on the environment.

Most importantly, we need to consider the lost educational opportunity. Harvey Mudd College seeks to educate tomorrow's brightest scientists and engineers to become leaders in their fields. HMC graduates go on to apply what they learn here in their future careers. The campus landscape can then be seen as a template for how alumni of this school will interact with and think about landscapes. The values learned here will be applied and multiplied far beyond HMC's campus. If students of this college are leaders in innovative designs that incorporate consideration of social and environmental repercussions, it will reflect back positively on the school itself. Redesigning the landscape and introducing environmental education to the curriculum provides an opportunity to educate not just HMC students but also their future coworkers and students in practices that are necessary to create a sustainable world.

The ultimate goal of analyzing the current situation economically is to show that it is actually more costly that it appears, and the future costs could rise even further. Furthermore, we can compare alternative landscapes on economic grounds as a way to lump all the environmental, social, and other aspects of the landscape into a common framework of costs and benefits.

4 Calendar

A general timeline of the year's activities is presented in Figure 3.

Figure 3: Calendar of the Landscape Clinic's Activities

Team-specific schedules are presented in Figure 4.

Figure 4: Calendar of the Specific Team Activities

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