Cornell University might have just earned itself a prominent place in my higher education fantasies, thanks to some lush new lawns they installed … in the library. Two different libraries, to be exact, plus three other locations around campus, were equipped with real patches of grass to help students get a taste of nature and relieve stress while they studied for finals. The project was dreamed up by recent graduate Gilad Meron, who based the idea on Attention Restoration Theory, “which says that direct exposure to nature, viewing nature through windows, and even viewing images of nature are restorative.” Bringing nature inside seemed like an obvious next step, and as an added bonus, it allows students to sit in the grass and read without getting beaned in the head by a dudebrah’s frisbee. Bliss! [Neatorama]
