by Stell Simonton

 

What’s the greatest environmental problem of our time?

 

To Alex Gordon, the question is not rhetorical.

 

Gordon, a sophomore at Georgia Perimeter College’s Alpharetta and Dunwoody campuses, posed it to local government leaders, researchers and organizations.

 

“What are the solutions?”he also asked them. Then he invited them to bring their answers to GPC.

 

The result: the Green Expo, an April 6 environmental event at Alpharetta that featured displays, presentations and food. Guests and presenters included City of Atlanta officials; North Fulton master gardeners; the host of PBS TV show “Growing a Greener World”; a financial supporter of sustainable agriculture projects, and Georgia Environmental Protection Division and U.S. Environmental Protection Administration officials, among others.

 

Gordon, the mover and shaker behind the expo and the 13-member Environmental Club at Alpharetta, has a vision of engaging a wide community to solve environmental problems. He wasn’t always a passionate environmentalist, however. At 16, he was a disenchanted sophomore at Milton High School.

 

“I didn’t really like what I was doing,”he says. He wanted to apply what he was readingin books to the real world, but felt school didn’t offer him a way to do that.

 

One night he had a vivid dream that unfolded like a science fiction film. He saw himself as another kid, who grew up, graduated from high school, become a civil engineer and–while in his 30s–designed and lived in a gorgeous, futuristic, sustainable community. It all came to pass in an intensely beautiful world in which nature was valued and orotected. In the dream, he closed his eyes as the full grown man. Then he awoke as a 16-year-old again.

 

The dream had such an impact on Gordon that three days later he withdrew from high school. His mother, of course, was concerned initially. Gordon and she talked for days about where he was headed.

 

“You have to figure out what you want to do,”his father told him.

 

Gordon found work with a marketer interested in vertical gardens and hyrdroponicsystems, a method of growing plants without soil. The method grows plants in perlite, vermiculite and coconut fiber, which allows for high-density, low-energy, minimum-water cultivation. Gordon built a large system to grow strawberries and experimented.

 

He also worked toward his GED, earned money and eventually entered GPC. Among his teachers was Dion Stewart, professor of geology and environmental science, who encouraged him to start an environmental club.

 

“We’re trying to change the community,”Gordon says. Club members restored eroded stream banks and marked storm water drains with stickers bringing awareness to the public not to put leaves, trash and other substances in them. The club also visited the Johns Creek Environmental Campus, an innovative water treatment center.

 

“The Environmental Club has a huge vision,”Gordon says. The first step is to become a permanent fixture on the Alpharetta Campus and expand to the Dunwoody Campus.

 

Gordon also is a senator in GPC’s Student Government Association, will be the Dunwoody Student Government President for fall 2015 and works on the City of Roswell’s landscaping crew.

 

“I get to advise and recommend [landscape] designs,”he says. He also is involved with environmental organizations such as the Watershed Alliance of Sandy Springs, the Georgia Water Coalition, and Adopt-a-Stream.

 

Gordon plans to transfer to the University of Georgia, where he will seek a bachelor’s and master’s degree in landscape architecture. He’s drawn to the research being done in environmental programs at UGA and hopes to create urban and rural designs that sustain natural resources.

 

“I’m passionate about sustainability and the environment,” he says.