Collaborators in Sustainability
The Initiative is Multi-Faceted
Sustainability is a collective responsibility and collaborative endeavor at Dickinson. Students have been important agents of change, advocating environmentally responsible policies, forming organizations that advance sustainability goals such as EarthNow, the Sustainable Foods Committee and the Idea Fund, helping launch The Handlebar Bike Shop and the Biodiesel Shop, and providing labor and ideas for many of our sustainability efforts.
The Office of Campus Operations was an early mover, aggressively pursuing energy efficiency, adopting LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) building standards and making environmental stewardship a watchword for the campus. Faculty members have been innovators, offering sustainability focused and related courses in more than 30 different academic departments that span the arts and humanities, social sciences and laboratory sciences. They and their students engage in research that advances understanding of sustainability problems and solutions.
The Dickinson College Organic Farm employs student farmers to supply sustainably grown food to the campus and educate the community about healthy foods, while the Alliance for Aquatic Resource Monitoring (ALLARM) and its student staff members work with watershed associations across the state, empowering communities to protect their waterways. The Center for Global Study and Engagement (CGSE) works with faculty and overseas partners to expand opportunities for students to explore and compare sustainability approaches of different cultures. The Center for Community Studies (CSC) promotes community collaborations that benefit our students and the communities they are working in, often connecting with aspirations for sustainable communities.
College leadership marshals the resources for the sustainability initiative and embraces sustainability goals and practices in our planning processes. The Center for Sustainability Education (CSE) is charged to create connections and synergies with other constituents, thereby providing new opportunities for students to gain hands-on knowledge and skills for creating a sustainable world.