Student Sustainability Fund Projects
What Has Been Funded So Far?
2019 Approved Projects
- Organic waste composting pilot project using black soldier flies
- Spring Greening Day and Sustainability Expo
- Sustainability in Fashion- reducing waste in Textiles, Apparel Design, and Merchandising
- Installing an electric vehicle charging station on campus
- Creating a butterfly and pollinator garden on campus
- Funding a cold storage system for the Hill Farm to store produce after harvest
- Purchasing new bike racks for the School of Renewable Natural Resources
- Registration fees for College of Agriculture students to attend the 2019 SSAWG Conference
- Baton Rouge Bike Share program student membership support, coming in Spring 2019
Previous Years
- Update the Museum of Natural Science in Foster Hall
- Re-establish the student-run farm at Hill Farm Community Garden
- Decrease rental costs for a future bike sharing program
- Send a group of College of Agriculture students to a conference
- Re-establish a fruit & nut orchard at Hill Farm
- Composting pilot for food recycling in the Student Union & dining halls
- Campus bike counting pilot project using Dero Zap technology
- Send College of Agriculture students to the 2018 SSAWG Conference
- Provide farm to table cooking demonstrations for local elementary schools
Currently Funded Projects
The fruit and nut orchard at Louisiana State University's Hill Farm is being replanted to promote local food sources on campus and serve as a teaching tool for horticulture students. The orchard is intended to promote the development of a healthier, more sustainable food system on campus through local sourcing of food, promoting energy-efficient food products, encouraging the use of reusable containers, and reducing food waste via donations or composting. HORT 4085 (fruit and nut class) labs will be held at the Hill Farm facility and the new orchard will play a prominent role in hands-on learning.
Echo Tree is a project cultivating a partnership between LSU students and nearby University Terrace Elementary School to develop a children’s gardening program. University Terrace Elementary is located in a food desert, meaning the surrounding area lacks access to fresh, organic fruits and vegetables. Echo Tree brings LSU students to University Terrace to lead monthly cooking and gardening demonstrations and teach community members how to plant and care for organic, seasonal herbs and vegetables.
A composting pilot project in partnership with the LSU Entomology Department, Fluker Farms, and LSU Dining is utilizing black soldier flies to break down food waste from LSU dining halls. Dining hall food waste is collected in barrels, which are taken to the Plant Material Center on Ben Hur road. There, black soldier fly larvae are added to the food waste, where they eat 60 percent or more of the material, turning it into proteins and fats. The remaining compost, containing rich nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, is used by LSU Landscape Services as fertilizer. The project is part of the University’s plan to divert 75 percent of its waste from landfills by the year 2030.
The learning pollinator garden located in the“Life Sciences Annex” in between the Life Sciences Building, Chopin and Williams is meant to be a visual learning garden for the LSU community. Eventually there will be signage with information on the Monarch butterfly, life stages of the pupae, and other interesting facts. The garden provides food sources for the declining Monarch butterfly population as it migrates to and from Mexico in the spring and fall. In addition, all plants in the garden are pollinator sources for bees, wasps, and moths.
