Merrill Hall was built under unusual circumstances. Merrill Hall, at UW’s Botanic Gardens, was built to replace the Center for Urban Horticulture, which was burned down in May 2001 by arsonists from the Earth Liberation Front. The arsonists set the fire because they believed, incorrectly, that a professor at the center was carrying out research on genetically modified trees. As the university made plans to rebuild at the site, several students encouraged the administration to make the new building a green one. Given the reasons for the fire, one can imagine how receptive the University was to the idea. Professor of Forest Resources Tom Hinckley, however, quickly took up the cause and spearheaded the effort to build green. In 2005, LEED-certified Merrill Hall opened its doors.
Professor Hinckley met with us on the morning of July 23rd to tell us a little bit about the architectural features of Merrill Hall. He emphasized that every feature of the building – every different kind of wood used for the doors, trim, and siding of the building – had a story behind it. Was it more environmentally responsible to use wood from a Forest Stewardship Council certified forest half a world away, or wood from a clear-cut right here in the Northwest? Should the building have incorporated donations of conventional materials in order to allow for more environmental features elsewhere in the building? Collectively, the stories presented both the successes and the difficult trade-offs that were made in attempting to build a sustainable structure.
Our tour of the building was brief, however, as the focus of the morning was a panel addressing the sustainability initiatives at the University of Washington. Our panelists included Anita Bowers, Assistant Director of Housing and Food Services; Clara Simon, Sustainability Manager for Capital Projects; Tony Guerrero, Director of Facility Services for UW Bothell; A.J. Van Wallendael, Programs Operations Specialist for the Environmental Programs Office; Sterling Luke, Shop Safety Representative for Facility Services; and JR Fulton, Capital Planning and Sustainability Manager for Housing and Food Services. The topics addressed during the panel ranged widely from local food in the dining halls and biodiesel in the power washers, to corn husk buildings and the use of goats to manage weeds on the Bothell campus.
The weed-whacking goats on the Bothell campus were just one of many examples of how progressive the new UW campus is. At Bothell, the facilities staff use Green Seal certified cleaning products and only organic fertilizers – including compost tea from their on-site vermicompost project. The campus also manages its own stormwater through bioswales and the on-campus wetlands. As of July 1, 2006, the Bothell campus became herbicide free. In August, the campus will be reviewed for its Salmon Safe certification. I was amazed by these and other achievements at this relatively new campus. I was particularly impressed because these progressive programs were driven primarily by the staff of the college, not by the students. The same cannot be said for sustainability initiatives at many other colleges.
Equally impressive were the efforts of Food Services on UW’s main campus in Seattle. In the dining halls, conventional french fries have been replaced with fries from local, organic potatoes, and all the beef now comes from grass-fed cows. Tully’s Coffee even developed its own organic, fair-trade regular coffee, decaf coffee, and espresso to sell in the campus cafés – oh, the advantages of an $18 million food budget! So many colleges – including my own – have no such sway when it comes to food orders. My favorite of the food initiatives on campus was that regarding water. Sales of bottled water at UW are high, but the enormously detrimental environmental consequences of bottled water have moved Food Services to replace this product. Beginning this fall, the dining halls and cafés will no longer sell bottled water. Instead, they will sell reusable water bottles that can be filled with filtered tap water. Bottled water was not widely sold even ten years ago, but now we take it for granted. As customers we demand it and food suppliers are loathe to deny us what many believe to be a healthy alternative to soda. But, if you ask me, bottled water is something akin to clean coal: fine – perhaps – for the consumer, but a disaster – undeniably – for the source. I commend UW for having the conscience to make the switch.
After our wonderfully informative panel on sustainability, we headed back to the heart of campus to meet with Eric Eberhard and Bill Rodgers. Eberhard is a partner at Dorsey & Whitney in Seattle, as well as a member of the Udall Foundation’s Board of Trustees. Rodgers is a professor at UW Law School. Between them, Eberhard and Rodgers have over eighty years of experience with Indian law. We all enjoyed a tasty lunch while listening to the men’s stories about Mo Udall, issues in Indian Country, and some of their past cases. As there are several members of the crew interested in the law, and Indian law in particular, the luncheon offered a fabulous opportunity to ask questions we have not been able to present to other guests.
That afternoon we bid farewell to the Emerald City, clicked our ruby slippers, and glided down the yellow brick – read: black asphalt – road to the City of Roses and Bridges. We haven’t been in Kansas for weeks!
By: Savanna Ferguson
