Moss Up Your Environment

Having moss lawns and moss wall on campus, will enhance biodiversity and drastically decrease air pollution.

We noticed that besides the botanical gardens, there is not a lot of variation in vegetation on campus and in the city in general. Therefore, we would like to introduce planting moss lawns at the university campus, as this would have a lot of benefits on enhancing biodiversity and reducing air pollution. Insects will find their homes in these moss lawns, which will in turn attract more frogs and birds. Furthermore, moss also effectively absorbs carbon dioxide and reduces aerosols from smoke particles and fumes, so it also contributes to reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in the air. Moss does not grow the same way grass does; this means that it also does not require mowing, which in turn means that the carbon dioxide omission of lawnmowers is drastically reduced as well. Besides moss lawns, you can also make moss walls. This shares many of the benefits named above, but also adds a lot of other benefits. Moss walls take up less space because they can be grown vertically and they add a greener look to the campus. Another benefit of equipping moss walls is that they reduce noise when placed against the walls of a building, resulting in quieter and less stressful working environments inside the university buildings. Moss does not require a lot of maintenance; it just requires water and sunshine, which makes it easy to care for. The expected results of this project are increased biodiversity on the university campus, while the carbon footprint decreases. On top of this, moss walls could reduce noise and therefore reduce stress levels and improve productivity. It will also give the university campus a unique and appealing appearance. Last but not least, involving students in planting the moss lawns will also increase the awareness of the importance of biodiversity.

The project targets the outdoors part of the university campus, namely the lawns and the walls of university buildings.

We ask 1500 euros to invest in buying moss, because this should be enough to get started on one small lawn. If the university allows more moss lawns and even moss walls to be installed, more money would be needed to buy enough moss and to be secured to walls in a safe manner.

Planting the moss can easily be done with the COVID-19 restrictions currently in place. As the planting will take place outside, there is fresh air and people can work in an appointed area that ensures a safe distance.