Dawson College students mark Earth Day with seed planting to boost biodiversity on campus

Today is Earth Day and students at Dawson College are planting gardens to create a “living campus."

To celebrate Earth Day on Tuesday, Dawson College students and staff planted gardens, working together sowing seeds.

Dawson was the only CEGEP to receive the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS) for its sustainability efforts.

“We’re planning native wildflower seeds because we want to attract native species and increase biodiversity here at Dawson,” said Jenn de Vera, the head of program development at Dawson’s Office of Sustainability.

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About 1,000 species have been identified in the CEGEP’s urban oasis.

“It’s about rewilding our campus, even though we have a small space just creating tiny little pockets of space for life like tadpoles or putting in a pond so tadpoles can live here,” said biology teacher Brian Mader, who spearheaded the 1,000 species project.

It began with the peace garden and over the years, the living campus has expanded with other projects like rooftop gardens and aquatic plants that absorb the copper from the rainwater runoff from the roofing on these heritage buildings.

Watch the video above for the full report by CTV News Montreal’s Christine Long.