Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

U. Cincinnati students offset carbon emissions
By Matias Chavez
The News Record U. Cincinnati
May 12, 2008

After a two-year growth period, about 350 of the trees planted by University of Cincinnati students in Glenwood Gardens should each eliminate the amount of carbon dioxide produced by 400 cars.

Twenty-five UC students played an important role in the local environment on May 10, by volunteering their Saturday morning to plant 1,400 trees in Glenwood Gardens in Sharonville, Ohio as part of Trees for Tomorrow.

The event, sponsored by Partners for the Advancement of Collaborative Engineering Education (PACE), was planned to reduce the university's carbon foot print on the local environment.

"The University of Cincinnati is taking steps in the right direction to become more environment friendly," said Joe Harrell, event coordinator and director of Finance-Utilities Services at UC. "This is the first time we are out here planting trees to help offset UC's carbon emissions, so were going to see how it goes. We expect a lot of great things from this as we had a great turn out of volunteers today."

Harrell, with help from UC's Energy Sustainability Coordinator Shaun Finley, decided to plant only trees that were naturally indigenous to South Western Ohio.

"We have planted seven varieties of tree that are native to the area," Finley said. "We will be planting all these trees together randomly, so that the Silver Maple and the Black Gum, for example, will have the same chance to fully develop as any other tree."

Of the 1,400 trees, only about 25 percent, or 350 trees, are expected to survive and reach their full developmental stage.

"It's so nice to see so many concerned students giving up their personal time to help UC grow with sustainability efforts," Finley said. "It feels great to be here today because this is a chance for us to give something back to the environment instead of just take away. It is a privilege to be out here helping Mother Nature."

It will take approximately two years for each tree to mature enough to start capturing carbon from the atmosphere. Each tree will eliminate about 400 cars worth of carbon dioxide once they have surpassed the two-year growth period. If the expected survival rate of 25 percent is met, then UC students will be directly responsible for offsetting approximately 140,000 car emissions.

Leanne Merz, a first-year urban planning student, devoted her Saturday morning to a cause that she said was bigger than she.

"I am out here today to help the environment by planting all these trees," she said. "It's a nice, active way to spend a beautiful Saturday morning doing something that will have tremendous impact on the way we live for many years to come."

Each tree is expected to grow 10 feet to 12 feet by 2015, and it will take approximately 30 years for each tree to reach its full developmental peak.

Pete Hagan, a fourth-year finance student said he is confident his help will aid many generations to come.

"This is just one small step in helping our environment regenerate," Hagan said. "It will be really interesting to come back in seven years or so and see how all of our hard work haspaid off."

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