On the morning of Oct. 17, 2025, Professor Owen Dwyer’s Environment and Society class gathered outside in the green space between Taylor Hall and the Social Work Building to do some tree planting. This is an eight week course and happened to be their last class.
The Indiana University Indianapolis Sustainability Office has been working with Dwyer’s class to achieve some of their campus objectives this semester.
They are dedicated to responsible resource management, environmental sustainability and creating a greener Indianapolis by promoting urban sustainability. This is part of the larger goal of expanding urban tree planning around campus and in the Indianapolis area.
“The goal for today is to learn about the benefits of tree planting in an urban environment and to come to recognize just how much care and planning goes into tree planting and tree care in an urban environment,” Dwyer said.
There are many benefits to planting trees on school campuses and urban areas.
Trees are not only good for the environment but they also help reduce stress and help with concentration and mental health.
“This semester we have also been working on a number of other things including we prepared and planted a pollinator strip of native wildflowers and grasses. We also prepared and planted rows in the garden with cover crops of oats and peas,” Dwyer said.
The reasons for cover crops, according to Dwyer, is that they are important for crop management.
“The cover crops cover the bed so as to prevent erosion, suppress weeds and to add nitrogen back into the soil,” Dwyer said.
Pollinator strips are beds filled with small plants for pollinators such as bees. In urban settings they can help increase local biodiversity. Also known as “devil strips,” they are also a reason why the city of Indianapolis ranks in the top five cities for wildlife-friendly gardens, which provide nutrients for pollinators and other wild animals in the city.
Dwyer also explained the reasoning behind the trees they were planting.
“Each of these 16 trees are native to the Midwest and each species is hardy enough to work well in an urban environment characterized by concrete sidewalks and salt in the wintertime. These trees do well in the city,” said Dwyer.
This current project aligns with the goals of reducing the carbon footprint of Indiana University Indianapolis as well as other IU campuses. The overall hope is that by 2040, Indiana University will have achieved carbon neutrality.
Since trees capture carbon this is just one of the many ways to put them onto that path.
As a result of IU Indianapolis’s Office of Sustainability’s efforts, there has been a 11 percent reduction of energy usage since 2013 on campus, as well as a 23 percent reduction of campus waste generation and an 11 percent reduction in water usage since 2014.
Ian Janke is a senior majoring in history and minoring in English. He enjoys running, reading science fiction and is also an editor for IUI’s literary magazine, Genesis.
From Al-Andalus to Indianapolis: The IU Indianapolis course bringing medieval Spain to Indy
By Salsabil F. Qaddoura | Dec. 3When considering the cultural forces that shape the modern world, few students immediately think of a society that thrived a thousand years ago on the Iberian Peninsula. Yet the history of Al-Andalus, or Arab Spain, remains one of the most influential periods in global intellectual development.
REVIEW: Sticky Notes opens in the Campus Center – serving sweets and smiles
By Regina Graves | Nov. 20A new sweet shop called Sticky Notes has opened on campus this fall 2025, bringing students, staff and visitors a fun and uplifting place to enjoy desserts, candies and different pastries. Designed as both a dessert stop and mental recharge, the shop has quickly become one of many to go spots for students looking for something sweet and positive on campus.
Shining through the shadows: Navigating student mental health at IU Indianapolis
By Kamya Williams | Nov. 19About 5 percent of the U.S. population — over 16 million people — experience Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Beyond that, up to 44 percent of college students experience depression.
