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4 * WATERLOO CHRONICLE + Wednesday, February 6, 2 > We‘ll bring your store to 32,000 doors. _ â€"~ _ P eur Wareni.oo‘s Own Communiry Newsparen 519â€"886â€"2830 If ' y We are celebrating our € > OonNe venAn AnNivensany > ifidwhldflhlotln\uturcmmfor ; business and loyalty Join us Sat. Feb. 16/08 Enter draw to win a DOOR PRIZE REMEMBER VALENTINES DAÂ¥ f Treat your partner to fine lingerie * D or purchase a Gift Certificate FREE box of Godiva Chocolates with any Valentine‘s gift purchased. (Limited quantities apply) ‘ musiitile â€":~ san emmo & 10% DISCOUNT applies if you bring this ad with you (only valid on Feb. 16/08 and on fully priced items) 519.880.1267 esnE ET it N t ain‘t easy being green, but a Ilocal student group is asking people to try by letting their lawns go brown this summer. Geetha Thurairajah, a thirdâ€" year communications student at Wilfrid Laurier University, said she and her friends started thinking about ways they could improve their local community and wanted to so something about the area‘s growing urbanâ€" ization and its effect on the environment. M The KCI grad and lifelong Waterloo resident thought a lot of the debate going on about lawnâ€"care practices could be ended if people gave up their drive to have a perfect green lawn and let nature take its course. Be Green, Go Brown campaign launched by local students they could remove the By BoB VRBANAC Chronicle Staff social stigma of letting their lawn go brown and avoid the pressure from neighbours to keep up appearances, they could eliminate the harmful effects of pesticides, fertilizers and wasteful watering methods. "We have one of the most suburban regions in all of Canaâ€" da, and we do all this stuff that is harmful to the environment all for the sake of a green lawn," said Thurairajah. "It‘s the social stigma that is the biggest factor. "For the sake of superficialiâ€" ty, this has to change." _ _ _ So the 21â€"yearâ€"old did a little research. She found that disâ€" coloured grass isn‘t dead, it‘s just gone into dormancy. And a lawn can naturally survive on as little of 1 1/2 inches of rain in a month. That‘s why Thurairajah decided to launch the Be Green, Go Brown campaign. She figâ€" ‘_ures if she can change people‘s perceptions about what makes a natâ€" ural lawn, it would end some of the debate around pesticides and : watering bans. "Maybe 50 years from now or 100 years from now brown lawns will be the new green lawn," she said. "Somebody needs to start that fad, and J figâ€" ure I‘m the one to do it." So she‘s starting an ambitious plan to target the companies and instiâ€" tutions that have the biggest acreage, namely the local universities and big employers like Sun Life Financial and Research In Motion. She figures if they let their lawns go brown it will demonstrate their commitment to green initiaâ€" tives. "I think they‘d all loveto save some money but they have to keep up their image," said Thuâ€" rairajah. "But they‘re also leadâ€" ers, and they can show those leadership skills by taking some ecoâ€"friendly skills forward. Her first goal is to get the administration at WLU on side, and then follow with the Uniâ€" versity of Waterloo. She‘s activeâ€" ly setting up a meeting with WLU‘s Board of Governors before seeing if anyone else would follow suit. "If they do, maybe the rest of the population will follow." Thurairajah has already got some support for her campaign from Angela Veith, a Waterloo city councilior. Veith has been pushing for the city to adopt its own pesticide ban. "I think it‘s a great idea and a great initiative," said Veith. "It‘s great to have that kind of enthuâ€" siasm coming out of our univerâ€" sities and it‘s great for our enviâ€" ronment." Veith said Be Green, Go Brown also ties in nicely with the work the Region of Waterloo is doing on pesticides and lawnâ€" care practices. It also supports the work that she and others are doing to bring a more compreâ€" hensive ban to the city. "This is a great educational piece," said Veith. "This is not racket science, this is what lawns do â€" they go brown." Veith said she‘s talked to repâ€" resentatives of Dalsa Corp. in Waterloo about adopting some Continued on page 5