EcoRep
Environmental Committee
- The Will Rice Garden (see below)
- Zero-waste move out
- Free sustainable laundry and detergent sheets
- Environmental education
- Composting & recycling
- Anything else you want to work on!
Garden
The garden was founded by Alex Cho (2024) in the Spring semester of 2023.
The Will Rice native pollinator garden is a flower bed with an emphasis on promoting native biodiversity and ecological sustainability at Rice.
As students come and go, the garden needs to be able to handle neglect, and the Will Rice bed was designed around this requirement. The plants in this garden are native to Texas — and intentionally selected for their resilience in Houston’s climate. Qualities like drought tolerance become especially important during the summer, when most people are away and unable to care for the plants. The majority of the plants in the bed are perennials, meaning they do not need to be replanted every year. All of these aspects minimize the required maintenance for the garden, giving it the best shot at survival!
Having a garden also gives the opportunity to raise awareness of the crucial role that native plants play in the ecosystem. While many people may be familiar with the more charismatic bees and butterflies, the native plant garden also highlights the unsung, misunderstood pollinators like moths, flies, and even wasps. On top of being a food source for pollinators, many of the plants in the garden are hosts for important insects’ eggs and larvae. The Will Rice garden hopes to teach people a little bit more about the Houston ecosystem.
Naturally, the Will Rice pollinator garden is always growing and evolving. Will Rice welcomes and encourages new gardening and sustainability projects. If you want to get involved in the garden, contact the EcoReps or join the environmental committee!
What's in the garden?
Basket Flower
Centaurea americana
Hairy Wedelia
Wedelia hispida
Indian blanket
Gaillardia pulchella
Mexican hat
Ratibida columnifera
Texas Ironweed
Vernonia texana
Tropical milkweed
Asclepias curassavica
Fiend
Blue mistflower
Conoclinium coelestinum
Black-eyed susan
Rudbeckia fulgida
Purple coneflower
Echinacea purpurea
Plains coreopsis
Coreopsis tinctoria
Lance-leaf coreopsis
Coreopsis lanceolata
Texas lantana
Lantana urticoides
Scarlet sage
Salvia coccinea
Notes: pink due to the variety
Anise-scented sag
Salvia guaranitica
Notes: not a Texas native
Tips and Tricks
- Composting. There are compost bins near the trash outside of every servery that you can use to dispose of any food waste, as well as the compostable single-use plates, silverware, and cups.
- Buy dorm items second hand. Thrifting clothes, furniture, and other supplies is super easy on campus, since there is almost always someone on campus looking to sell them. Join the Rice Students Selling Stuff Facebook page or the Rice Clothing Resale GroupMe for some great deals! Contact any Will Ricer for information on how to join.
- Carpool, bike, or use the metro. Every Rice student gets a free metro card that refills automatically! Apply to get one here.
- Use zero-waste dryer sheets. Rice Environmental Committee partnered with Generation Conscious to provide all Rice students with plastic-free, sustainable dryer sheets. Contact your EcoReps for some!
- Apply to be on Environmental Committee! The committee is always looking for new members who are passionate about being sustainable.