By Carlene Groen, 4th Year student and environmental steward extraordinaire
The vision of King’s is
“To provide university education that inspires and equips learners to bring renewal and reconciliation to every walk of life as followers of Jesus Christ, the Servant-King.”
King’s teaches students about environmental, economic, and social sustainability and living out the stewardship mandate, but we weren’t practicing what we were preaching.
So students and staff had to do something it. We…
·Formed The King’s Keepers, a student club to bring awareness on environmental issues
·Conducted paper, energy, water audits.
·Wrote numerous reports to the administration
·Presented the issue to the board of governors and administrators
·Created a Campus Sustainability Coalition
It only took years, but this month our administration has began the shift towards becoming a sustainable campus. They have committed to…
·Sign the University and College Presidents’ Climate Change Statement of Action for Canada (UCPCCSAC)
At this point you might be saying to yourselves “well that is a nice success story, but that could never happen on my campus”. Stop right there! To use a cliché, a stone dropped in water will start a ripple effect, and lots of stones dropped in water will cause a tidal wave to overcome the inertia of any campus administration.
Or….
Maybe you are laughing because your campus has been sustainable for years.Well watch out! Let me remind you of the epic story of the race between the Tortoise and the Hare. Don’t let your campus be caught sleeping under a tree because we will overtake you!
Visit the Kings' Green Pad to learn more: http://kingsgreenpad.ca/
Most recently I was at Calvin College in Michigan. I had a joint tabling effort with ESC (Environmental Stewardship Coalition) of recruiting for CCSP (Creation Care Study Program) and getting people to write letters to Michigan Senator, Debbie Stabenow.Students want to let her know that Christians do care about the environment and wanted to encourage her to vote with stewardship in mind.
Yesterday afternoon I was privileged to accompany Ben, James, Carissa, and Kyle to Senator Stabenow’s office where we met with a representative named Mary.They delivered about 15 letters that their classmates had written along with a Green Awakenings report.For more than an hour we talked with Mary about our concern for mountaintop removal practices (which she had never heard of), about our support for the Senator’s actions to prevent the Asian Carp from entering the Great Lakes, and about green jobs.Our comments were well received and we were assured that Senator Stabenow would hear our concerns.We also learned that every letter is read and that sometimes it only takes one to make a change. So keep letting your representatives hear from you!
At Eastern University I got to work with our own dear Brittany Bennett. We also did "Do-it-Yourself" workshops.Marissa taught us how to make our own envelopes, Brittany taught about making your own jewelry, Dan demonstrated the replacing of a bike chain and the patching of a tire, and I described how to plant herbs in your apartment. It was a neat opportunity to get people involved who weren’t necessarily part of Earthkeepers already. Thanks to everyone who shared their skills and came to participate!
My first Renewal visit was to my alma mater Messiah College in Harrisburg, PA. Working with Laura Dagley from Earthkeepers we set up an evening of Do-It-Yourself Workshops. Pictured above is former professor Pauline Stevick who taught us how to make delicious bread. She also had samples for us to taste. (Here's her recipe and bread making tips.) We also learned how to patch a bike tire, how to plant herbs in your apartment, and how to patch a hole in your clothes. These skills are important because they help us live sustainable lives. The more we make ourselves or buy from people who live close to us, the less we depend on processing, foreign exports, and fossil fuel consumption. Keep your eyes peeled for more DIY workshops at Messiah in the future!
Land that once bore bountiful crops that could be sold or eaten, isn’t producing. Streams that used to provide water to drink, now run dry. Out of desperation, the poor cut down more trees to sell as firewood, even though doing so means further destroying their one chance of survival.
By reversing deforestation, Plant With Purpose helps the poor restore productivity to their land to create economic opportunity out of environmental restoration. Since 1984 we have helped more than 100,000 people in some 230 villages lift themselves out of poverty through our holistic approach to sustainable development.
Plant With Purpose Executive Director Scott Sabin has published a book entitled Tending to Eden: Environmental Stewardship for God's People that recounts his journey to attend to the environment and the poor. Information can be found at the following link.
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Plant With Purpose Executive Director Scott Sabin has published a book entitled Tending to Eden: Environmental Stewardship for God's People that recounts his journey to attend to the environment and the poor. Information can be found at the following link.