Imagine walking by the beloved koi pond on Northeastern University’s Boston campus and instead of red, white and golden fish, you’re greeted by turtles, trout and catfish. It might sound like heresy to some, but for one group of students, this bold idea brings some much-needed wildlife to campus life.
“Learning about nature really makes you realize how synthetic the world around us is,” said Lucia Barrera, a fourth-year environmental science student at Northeastern, after presenting her proposal to her class of fellow rewilders in Snell Library.
Barrera and her classmates are reimagining campus as an urban nature preserve, bringing wildlife to campus life as part of English professor Kathleen Coyne Kelly’s class simply titled “What is nature?” Kelly’s English course attracts people studying everything from literature to biology with the aim of understanding how people think about their relationship with nature.
