Fixing Our Ecosystem: Don Bosco’s Landscaping Club  

By: Thomas Kilgannon ’23 (Journalism)

New Jersey White Orchid via Pixabay 

RAMSEY, NJ- In a world where it seems many are taking the ecosystem we live in for granted, Don Bosco students have come together to clean our campus up. According to club president Connor Magee ‘23, the Dirt Brothers club aims to transform both the Bosco campus and community to a life-giving and sustaining environment by “getting dirty and inspiring others to do the same.” 

Today, many people do not know the benefits of native plants. According to Magee, the first order of business for the “Dirt Brothers” is looking into the different types of native vegetation and seeing which ones are suitable to be planted around campus. Native plants do in fact help the environment, they require much less water, fertilizer, and pesticides than foreign species. Native plants also prevent water run-off. This means that less rain from storms is going into the roads and flooding the streets. Instead, the water is soaked up into the plant and absorbed back into the soil. According to Archive.EPA.gov, Native plants are already adapted to local conditions, thus decreasing pollution and improving air quality. 

AmericanNativePlants.com explains three advantages of native plants. First, native plants provide a refuge for wildlife, as many produce fruit and nectar, sustaining wildlife with the nutrients they provide. Second, native plants save you money. They bloom more rapidly and can be easily divided to create free plants to start gardens. Native plants are durable and usually live longer, meaning you will not need to buy replacements as often as you would with non-native plants. They are also low maintenance because they are equipped with natural protections against disease and pests. 

Leaves are another natural element people do not know the advantages of. When the leaves fall from the trees, our natural instinct is to rake them all up and bring them to a landfill. However, when these leaves decompose in the landfill, they release methane gas, a major contributing factor to global warming. these leaves also serve as home to many overwintering species, such as butterflies, spiders, snails, and worms and so by removing the leaves, we are also killing many species who find refuge in the leaves.

According to IndependentTree.com, instead of bringing the leaves to landfills, we should make compost of the leaves and create leaf mold. Composting leaves and creating leaf mold allows tiny microorganisms in the pile to make quick work of turning leaves and green waste into usable compost. The club also plans to construct their own compost bins for both Don Bosco and our homes. These bins can then be used to make natural fertilizer that can be used once the club begins planting.

The Dirt Brothers aim to educate the school population on ways to help the environment. Planting Native plants and composting leaves is a good start. The hope is that these native plants bring pollinators to campus, such as bees, hummingbirds, and butterflies.