Newspapers / University of North Carolina … / Feb. 27, 2013, edition 1 / Page 2
Part of University of North Carolina at Asheville Student Newspaper / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
c jiuii I- , Photo by Lou Murrey-Contributing Photographer Scenic views and lush valleys line the 217 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway that run through North Carolina, including Asheville and the surrounding; I area. Students seek to develop green infrastructure in Asheville Shanee Simhoni ssimhoni&unca.edu Asst. News Editor Asheville’s youth need to participate more in the creation of the city as a prototype in eco logical awareness, according to members of environmental or ganizations in the area. “I would personally like to see Asheville become to hub of green infrastructure for the world. I would like to see a green revolution throughout the world where we can turn to sus tainable energy instead of oil,” said Graham Calabria, a ju nior at Asheville High School. Calabria, who also takes classes at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College, works with the Southern Ap palachian Highlands Conser vancy, a nonprofit land trust or ganization that aims to protect the mountains and their inhabit ants. “Basically, they buy the de velopmental rights of a proper ty so that you can’t build on top of it, so that they can preserve the natural native species and the diverse plant arrangement,” Calabria said. The SAHC recently started recruiting members for its ju nior board of directors. Calabria is currently the only member. “Our closing deadlines is April 1 for application accep tance,” said Calabria, an Atlanta native. “We would like to have 5 to 20 (members).” Asheville hosts a large num ber of people who tend to live environmentally friendly life styles, but simple issues, such as turning off a light switch when leaving a room, continue to persist, said Eowyn Lucas, a UNC Asheville freshman. UNCAhas some student orga nizations that focus on promot ing environmental awareness, including Active Students for a Healthy Environment and the Botanical Society at UNCA. “The Botanical Gardens at Asheville is dedicated to the study and promotion of the na tive plants and habitats of the Southern Appalachians,” said Jay Kranyik, the garden man ager of the Botanical Gardens at Asheville. Although Asheville does well in encouraging its residents to strive for a greener lifestyle, consumption remains an issue, said Kranyik, a board member of the Botanical Society for 11 years. “There are many people in volved in the environmental movement, but on the opposite side there are many people com pletely unaware of the reality of climate change and what they can do to help,” said Lucas, the co-chair of ASHE. ASHE focuses on bringing awareness to some common en vironmental issues such as en ergy consumption, Lucas said. “I’d like people to understand that a lot of the conflict we have in this world comes from en ergy, and that can be very read ily and easily solved,” Calabria said. “If SAHC sets a model youth group and other organi zations choose to create their own youth groups, we could have, No. 1, a bunch of youths that are aware of what’s going on in their community, and they could also. No. 2, be very influ ential in their committee meet ings at town hall.” The Botanical Gardens at Asheville sets an example for eco-friendliness in both its di verse array of plants and ani mals and in the construction of the gardens, said Kranyik, an Asheville resident. “When we built our upper parking lot, we designed it so that water run-off, rain, etc., cannot directly enter the streams in the garden. We have never contributed a single direct drop of parking lot-polluted water into the streams, because it is physically impossible by de sign,” Kranyik said. The SAHC has a farmland preservation program which ensures the piece of land, in cluding its resources and water, will be preserved and main tained for the use of growing fresh food and distributing it to local communities, according to SAHC officials. “I would like to have wider sidewalks, smaller streets,” Ca labria said. “So that people walk more. Bigger bike lanes, green roofs, photovoltaic windows. I would like to just see that we release our addiction on oil.” Aside from hosting a varied array of plant and animal spe cies, the Botanical Gardens at Asheville offer educational classes at the garden that focus on its inhabitants, the infra structure of the garden and plant identification, said Kranyik. “We have regular visitation by bobcats and black bear. Green herons and belted kingfishers use the streams. We have all of the woodpeckers species for the mountains nesting in the gar den,” Kranyik said. UNCA students’ opportuni ties to engage in environmen tally focused activities on and off campus provide them with valuable experiences Calabria said.
University of North Carolina at Asheville Student Newspaper
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Feb. 27, 2013, edition 1
2
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75