South Lawn Garden in Development: Sustainability at East

The sheer mass that is the climate crisis can often be existentially overwhelming to the average person. To many, it’s beyond the scope of one’s daily life. This is a subject that’s discussed over and over again, yet still seems way over our heads. Many feel apathetic to the problem or unmotivated to take any action. Being primarily urbanites, students of East included can often feel a disconnect from nature in their lives (Greater Good Science Center). Many of us live with a concrete curtain separating us from the Rocky Mountains to the West. Charlotte Goldstein, president of East High School’s sustainability club, has been attempting to garner support in climate activism since her freshman year when she joined the club. However, getting and keeping people motivated with an issue to the scale of the climate crisis has been a consistent challenge. “One of the main struggles is getting people involved,” she mentioned. 

In many ways, the natural disconnect is exactly what senior Olivia Beasley hopes to help remedy with her plans to construct a garden on East High School’s south lawn courtyard. The plan consists of setting up six garden boxes on the south lawn, chosen because of its seclusion from street access and ideal shade conditions. “We want to turn the east side of the south courtyard [...] into a usable vegetable garden for students,” says Beasley. The garden project acts as a collaboration between Olivia’s four-person SLUG (South Lawn Urban Garden) team, sustainability club, and garden club. “It's just a lot of different clubs working on a really beautiful project,” according to Charlotte.

So far, the project has received the necessary permissions from Principal Walker, logistic support from East groundskeeper Raymond Leyba, and funding from Denver Public Schools’ office of sustainability. In a joint effort with the woodshop, the group has fully constructed the wooden boxes, which students may have spotted on the south lawn. As of April 25, dirt has been added to the boxes, and planting is expected to commence soon.

The project is made possible by the SLUG group’s winning of the DPS Climate Champions grant, which awarded them with $18,308 out of a $225,000 pool. The grant acts as the district’s way to fund various climate activism projects across Denver as a part of DPS’ Climate Action Plan (CAP), which was created with DPS Students for Climate Action, a district-wide student activist group. The CAP sets climate standards for the district and aims to reduce carbon emissions.

Activism and proposal for communal difference is the ethos of this project, as well as the people and groups that make it up. Beyond the garden, all members are deeply involved in environmentalism. Sustainability club has plans for various events that also aim to create community action. ‘Treeplenish’ is a particularly important event, where students will get together to plant trees around the city. 

People with interest regarding the garden are encouraged to visit sustainability club every Monday in room 407 or garden club in 211 every other Monday.