Jane Harlan-Simmons isn't pleased that the evergreens located east of the IU's Creative Arts Building will be bulldozed soon to make room for the new Big Red supercomputer.

"They are outside a building I have worked at for over 20 years," said Harlan-Simmons, a research associate at the Indiana Institute on Disability and Community at 10th Street and the Ind. 45-46 Bypass. "I consider them like friends."

But while the trees' removal disappoints her, her greater frustration lies with IU administrators' abysmal record on environmental protection.

"This action is not in line with (IU's commitment) to sustainability," she said.

She is not alone with this thought.

The Sustainable Endowments Institute gave IU a D-plus in its 2007 College Sustainability Report Card. And some believe that the pine removals contradict the university's pledge to emphasize sustainability in its planning.

"It seems to both her and me that, with Indiana University's sustainability rating judged as poor, we should be attempting to keep our green canopy intact," said Center for Sustainable Living President Lucille Bertuccio. "The way it's going with global warming, these trees shouldn't be cut down."

***

The evergreens are being removed to facilitate both the construction of the Data Center building for the computer and the continuation of the boulevard that terminates at the Auxiliary Library Facility.

In their place, native grasses and forbs will be planted, according to Mia Williams, IU's chief landscape architect and member of the university's Sustainability Task Force.

***

Both Bertuccio and Harlan-Simmons agree that the task force is an excellent start toward improving the university's sustainability efforts.

But they worry that the task force itself has no authority for enforcing environmental policy.

"The task force can only see what IU is doing wrong and make recommendations," said Bertuccio. "They do not really have a voice."

And beyond that is the university's historic indifference toward

the environment, from operating a power plant that has literally spewed air pollution onto cars in campus parking lots to, at one time, planning to destroy a large chunk of Dunn's Woods for a Law School expansion.

"It's a bigger picture than just these trees," Bertuccio said. "The issue is not just these trees. It is the attitude on campus."

***

In hopes of reversing the trees' fate, Harlan-Simmons contacted the university.

Williams wrote her in an e-mail: "There was a two-year process of planning for the Data Center building, and over those two years the SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis of the project evolved to where the pines were no longer salvageable as part of the programmed improvements."

Reversing the university's decision to remove the trees is not feasible, she said.

Williams met with Harlan-Simmons and other concerned citizens on Sept. 5. And while the goal of keeping the trees on site was not met, "the meeting did have some definite achievements," said Harlan-Simmons.

Williams promised to investigate options to relocate the trees and has already contacted someone to re-evaluate the feasibility of transferring them, Harlan-Simmons said.

With regard to sustainability, Williams points to IU's efforts to reforest the campus but acknowledged some difficulties along the way.

"This growing season has been exceptionally brutal, and despite our efforts to keep trees planted in the last two years watered, I know we will have additional losses," she wrote to Harlan-Simmons. "Through my participation on the Sustainability Task Force I have been able to begin an effort to get each individual tree on the campus inventoried. ... This data will help us master plan the reforestation process and maintain a 100-year plan."

***

Harlan-Simmons appreciates the work Williams has done, but she wishes IU would listen to various voices before committing to decisions that impact the community and the atmosphere.

"In talking with Mia, it was clear that she is making an attempt to implement sustainable landscaping," she said. "At the same time, this and other examples demonstrate that IU's decisions around new construction projects are not sufficiently informed by best practices in sustainability as far as trees and other plantings."

While Harlan-Simmons said she is a novice activist, she, like Bertuccio, understands the urgency of global warming.

"I think it has been eye-opening for me that the university would remove these beautiful, healthy trees," she said. "It's of course emotional for me, but it's more about an issue of IU's environmental policy. The policy needs to be changed."

Bertuccio agreed.

The evergreens are full-grown, she explained. Their removal will release the carbon dioxide they have harbored back into the atmosphere. Because the accumulation of carbon in the air increases the average global temperature, cutting these pines is irresponsible, she said.

"In order to remain sustainable, we need to start concentrating on the quality of life," she said. "For me, that's good water, good air and good soil. For others it's a big house. ... This is where the disconnect comes."

***

Though the meeting did not yield the results Harlan-Simmons sought, she believes that the tree removal may still be stopped. And she has created an online petition in a last attempt to prevent their elimination.

If nothing else, she hopes that the exposure these evergreens have received will help change the way IU handles its environmental decisions in the future.

"Whether or not our meeting has a direct impact on the landscaping associated with the Data Center construction, it's important that future projects demonstrate greater sensitivity to the value of existing trees," she said.

Erica Ballard can be reached at elballar@indiana.edu. Alternative editor Steven Higgs contributed to this story.

***

Sign the petition.