World We Dare to Imagine Part 3

The Ethan O’Keeffe Foundation – Campus Gardens

In today’s sprawling urban cities, recreational spaces become more and more limited. The green that once flourished has been replaced with the grays of pavement and the browns of brick walls. The Ethan O’Keeffe Foundation – Campus Gardens was created to combat the transition from the natural world to the industrial world. Nationwide, campuses are placed in central population hubs to accommodate students with the best resources and appeal to a larger depth of potential applicants. Unfortunately, because large campuses are found in cities, they suffer from the same urbanized fate of limited recreational green spaces. Campus Gardens aims to create more designated recreational green spaces within campuses and especially community gardens that students, faculty, and community members can work together to maintain, nurture, and appreciate together.

In my World We Dare to Imagine Together Part 1, I talk about how important the natural world is to me and how much It affects my mental and physical wellbeing. I love to be in the sun, watching trees blow in the wind while birds chirp from their limbs. Fortunately, USC is a campus that was built with green infrastructures, trees and common spaces. However, when I toured other schools, I noticed how dull some of them seemed and how a lot of the common spaces were not well-maintained or weren’t natural spaces.

My grandma always kept a garden; it was one of the things she was most passionate about. When I was young, I spent lots of time with her in her garden, picking the biggest tomatoes and peppers I could find and admiring the pinks, purples, and reds of the flower petals. My grandma’s garden always gave joy to me and I think gardens on campus would give the same opportunity to other people. It would also create a sense of community and belonging for those involved. It would offer a shared feeling of accomplishment when the flowers and fruits begin to flourish.

Anima Mundi should support Campus Gardens because its built on and embraces the same values that Anima Mundi strives for. Anima Mundi is about awakening the soul of the world through understanding the world as a spiritual and natural essence. The best way to achieve this it to make efforts to return the Earth to its natural state and increase the amount of natural spaces for people to connect with. Campus Gardens is about reconnecting people to the natural world and to each other.

Thank you for your time and consideration!