Spring Break
Geography building roof also used as garden
NATHAN POWELL For the Red & Black
Issue date: 5/1/09 Section: News
The roof of the geography building is covered with food.
A geography class grows peas, okra, broccoli, beans, bell peppers, tomatoes, lettuce and potatoes up there on the green roof and donates all of it to the Athens Area Homeless Shelter.
The class, GEOG 4890 and 6890, is open to all students - regardless of their major. It is also called the Athens Urban Food Collective, or AUFC.
It teaches students to locally carry food from production through consumption. Students discuss hunger, poverty, social organizing and other food-related issues, said geography professor Nik Heynen.
"We believe that everyone has the right to have good food," said Max Buckner, a senior geography student and member of AUFC.
The class led a tour of the garden Wednesday night, followed by a French movie - "The Gleaners and I" - that shows how one man's waste is another man's dinner. Members of the class led attendees up to the roof to hear about their mission and see the crops. A group of about 20 people stood up there, listening to two guitars and a mandolin play bluegrass while members of the AUFC explained how their garden works.
The roof was covered in soil and planted with grass in 1959, when the geography department converted it into the University weather station, Heynen said. The green roof does not reflect as much heat as concrete, so it allows for an accurate temperature reading for the weather station, he said.
About two and a half years ago, the geography department made the decision to experiment with the food growing process on the roof around the weather station.
"We started growing these plants just to show how easy it was to grow and cook food locally," Heynen said.
The class salvaged part of the wood used to make the plant beds - the rest was donated by Rob Sutherland, the owner of Good Dirt, which is a pottery studio in downtown Athens.
For soil, the AUFC uses a compost pile where they put grass clippings and other waste.
"Nothing goes wasted up here," said Billy Aiken, a senior geography major.
Heynen said it is "super easy" for non-geography majors to join the class.
A geography class grows peas, okra, broccoli, beans, bell peppers, tomatoes, lettuce and potatoes up there on the green roof and donates all of it to the Athens Area Homeless Shelter.
The class, GEOG 4890 and 6890, is open to all students - regardless of their major. It is also called the Athens Urban Food Collective, or AUFC.
It teaches students to locally carry food from production through consumption. Students discuss hunger, poverty, social organizing and other food-related issues, said geography professor Nik Heynen.
"We believe that everyone has the right to have good food," said Max Buckner, a senior geography student and member of AUFC.
The class led a tour of the garden Wednesday night, followed by a French movie - "The Gleaners and I" - that shows how one man's waste is another man's dinner. Members of the class led attendees up to the roof to hear about their mission and see the crops. A group of about 20 people stood up there, listening to two guitars and a mandolin play bluegrass while members of the AUFC explained how their garden works.
The roof was covered in soil and planted with grass in 1959, when the geography department converted it into the University weather station, Heynen said. The green roof does not reflect as much heat as concrete, so it allows for an accurate temperature reading for the weather station, he said.
About two and a half years ago, the geography department made the decision to experiment with the food growing process on the roof around the weather station.
"We started growing these plants just to show how easy it was to grow and cook food locally," Heynen said.
The class salvaged part of the wood used to make the plant beds - the rest was donated by Rob Sutherland, the owner of Good Dirt, which is a pottery studio in downtown Athens.
For soil, the AUFC uses a compost pile where they put grass clippings and other waste.
"Nothing goes wasted up here," said Billy Aiken, a senior geography major.
Heynen said it is "super easy" for non-geography majors to join the class.
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