OUR ROOTS
HFC’s Story
Mackenzie Feldman co-founded Herbicide Free Campus with teammate Bridget Gustafson at University of California at Berkeley in 2017. Mackenzie and Bridget showed up for beach volleyball practice one day to their coaches cautions: If the ball rolled off the court, they were not to chase it as the groundskeepers had sprayed an herbicide on the surrounding area.
Bridget and Mackenzie were shocked at the potential public and environmental health risks posed by the spraying of what they found out to be glyphosate-based products. This was two years before the Johnson v. Monsanto ruling, but one year after the World Health Organization had ruled that glyphosate was a probable human carcinogen. They asked the Supervisor of Athletics Fields & Turf to end spraying by the courts, and in return, the team would pick the surrounding weeds.
Since that day, Bridget and Mackenzie have made lasting, institutional change. After the success of banning herbicides from the campus beach volleyball courts at UC Berkeley, the focus was moved to the entire campus. After several meetings with the Grounds Manager to understand what the needs were to transition the campus, Bridget and Mackenzie organized several 6-hour work days where they got various student groups to mulch the soil in order to suffocate the weeds.
Mackenzie and Bridget went on to secure a grant to get support from Beyond Pesticides, a national organization that helps communities transition away from toxic pesticides. First up: highly trafficked places like UC Berkeley’s popular Memorial Glade and Faculty Glade. Beyond Pesticides’ board member, Chip Osborne, a professional horticulturist, was brought in to teach UC groundskeepers how to enhance soil biology in order to prevent weeds from growing.
Now, in addition to the beach courts, pesticides and herbicides have been discontinued from Memorial Glade, Faculty Glade, and seven other spaces at UC Berkeley, and Herbicide-Free Campus is currently working with the Grounds Manager at Berkeley to eventually make the entire UC Berkeley campus herbicide-free. Mackenzie and Bridget have had countless organizations, professors, students, and even the UC Berkeley Chancellor champion their efforts and offer support.
Upon graduation, Mackenzie launched Herbicide-Free Campus, to inspire the entire UC system to rethink its reliance on toxic herbicides in grounds management. The campaign has now spread to campuses across the country, driven by Student Fellows who receive financial support and training from HFC’s seven staff members. Herbicide Free Campus will continue until toxic herbicides are eliminated from every school in the country through student action.