AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Bus stops near St. Edwards are getting a bit of extra shade as students plants trees with a little extra hardware.
The trees are part of the schools efforts to not only bring some much needed relief from the sun for those waiting for the bus, but also new and important information on how the trees do throughout the season. Each tree will have a tag on them which will feed information back to the Climate Resiliency Living Laboratory team at St. Edwards.
"If you look at the weather swings we've had for the last five years, it's been extreme cold, extreme heat, then dry," said Jim Morris, the Associate Vice President of University Operations. "So we are trying to find kind of the new, smartest planting strategy. Even the types of trees, placement, treatments. Those types of things."
Every 30 minutes, the data will be filtered to the group and determine what trees work best in Austin and around the city.
"We are trying to plant a bunch of different trees to see which survive the best and provide us the most shade at the bus stop in the changing climate," said Sarina Collard, President for Student for Sustainability.
So the next time you are waiting at a bust stop at St. Edwards and see a tree near you, you are watching science in action.
