How “green” is EMU?

"What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God" — Micah 6:8

At EMU, we were "green" long before green became trendy. Sustainable and simple living is at the core of many Mennonites' faith, and it's a strong part of the EMU community.

Our new environmentally-friendly residence hall Cedarwood is full of students. The dorm will have basic LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification.

Other EMU sustainability initiatives include a new meadow on the EMU hill, a campus garden that supplies the dining hall, and a creation care council composed of students, faculty and staff that meets regularly throughout the academic year. We have on staff a full-time recycling coordinator who guided EMU to national recognition two years in a row for recycling efforts!

Professors develop sustainability-focused courses like green design and compost research and applications, courses with real-life results; students take lessons and apply them to campus issues.

And new majors like environmental sustainability and peacebuilding and development incorporate sustainable practices into real-life studies of our world and global community.

Longtime collaborators also focused on sustainability

EMU continues to work with longtime-architect Troyer Group and local alumni-related building companies on facility upgrades and new projects. We are currently building completing the building of Cedarwood residence hall, which will be LEED certified, and planning an addition and renovation of Suter Science Center, which we anticipate will also be certified through the U.S. Green Building Council.

EMU has also long been a "participating college" of the Au Sable Institute of Environmental Studies, a Christian institute geared toward healing of the biosphere and the whole of creation. EMU students can enroll in Au Sable academic courses and programs, research projects, seminars, and other educational activities.

Our worldview

President Loren E. Swartzendruber shared about creation care from an Anabaptist perspective for a BBC production on Christian response to climate change in 2007. Matt Frei, chief Washington, D.C., correspondent for the BBC, was on hand for the event.

EMU is a member of The Orion Grassroots Network, which provides services and support to organizations engaged in ecological, social, and cultural change, as well as the Mennonite Creation Care Network, a network for Mennonite people and agencies actively engaged in the care and restoration of God's creation.

If you’d like to support EMU’s efforts to pursue sustainable living on campus, or if you have questions, please .