Greening Sustainability Brochure - North Carolina A&T State ...

Natuculture - Biomimicry in Urban Landscapes
Manuel Reyes, PhD
Professor, Bio Engineering Program
Natuculture (pronounced ná-chew-culture), a term originating from North Carolina Agricultural
and Technical State University (N.C. A&T), is any human-made system that mimics nature in human
disturbed landscapes. The term is derived from ‘nature culture.’ Since 2008, multigenerational teams
of students from different disciplines have been designing and implementing natuculture systems on
the campus of N.C. A&T. Students converted a portion of a conventional lawn – which we call a ‘drugaddicted
carpet’ that has very limited utility – into a natuculture system. Now the landscape at this
site near the N.C. A&T football stadium, is a vibrant, biologically diverse, multifunctional and
ecologically complex system. Features of the system include a green roof, a rain garden, a rainwater
harvester, a solar powered bird pond, bird feeders, and at least 50 species of flora. It is visited by an
array of birds, including American gold and red finches, titmice, Carolina chickadees, mourning doves,
hawks, downy wood peckers, and cardinals. Other fauna, insects and arthropods that feed at the site
include bumble bees, spiders, butterflies, squirrels and a ground hog named ‘Arnold.’
In addition, following the example of First Lady Michelle Obama, 32 six-by-three foot raised vegetable
beds, which we call “oasis sofas,” were established. The purpose of the oasis sofas is to demonstrate
and research ways to bring nutritional food into home deserts using very limited space. A home
desert is defined as a household whose diet barely contains nutritious food. The oasis sofa is a
scientifically replicated study that compares conservation agriculture with conventional methods to
produce vegetables in urban areas. Conservation agriculture mimics a forest the ecosystem, and the
practice has been shown to double yield, be eco-friendly, sequester carbon, improve soil and water
quality, arrest erosion, save on fossil fuel and labor, and significantly decrease use of artificial
chemicals by providing natural fertilizers. Graduate and undergraduate students have been
monitoring and will write scientific papers about soil quality, yield, artificial fertilizer use, biomass,
carbon sequestration, profit, and many other variables in the oasis sofa study. This study is also an
excellent tool that exposes students to the benefits of healthy living.
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