Lyndsey Walker - Fertilizers

I recently visited the new "Movie Tavern" in Williamsburg, off of Richmond Road. It was raining when my flick let out, and I was ushered through the exit and introduced into the falling drops. I was enjoying the way that the cool water felt coming down from the thunderous sky, when my eye caught a sight of the runoff. There was a green ooze seeping through the water, being pulled by its movement. My first thought was, "Ah, anti-freeze?!" But I quickly saw that it was not originating under a vehicle, but instead coming up from the muddied dirt. Water was collecting fast, pooling and flowing off of the freshly remodeled terrain. My friend who works for Cinter Construction said that this was a result of "hydra/hydro-seeding". When I asked what this was, he told me that it was the "greenest" way that the government has found to renew the growth of grass and other plants. I searched online to find a bit of information on the subject. Wikipedia states that this method "utilizes a slurry of seed and mulch", "transported in a tank or truck and sprayed over prepared ground in a uniform layer". Although it is said to promote quick germination and inhibit soil erosion, the source also expresses that the slurry contains other ingredients including: "fertilizer, tackifying agents, green dye, and other additives". I have heard some people around campus saying that CNU has been spray-painting the grass to make it look greener for orientations. Maybe this is what they're actually putting onto the ground? I haven't seen it applied first hand on the lawn but what I saw in the Movie Tavern parking lot was enough to make me reject the idea of it completely. As I witnessed the chemicals exude from the ground and drain into the water systems, I was saddened. Learning about the depletion of soil nutrients and the hasty employment of harsh fertilizers from Ecology of Eden has opened my eyes to the expansive reaches of this problem. Even if the hydro-seeding technique is better than the rest, from the looks of it there is still much improvement to be done in the area of fortifying Earth's crust.