Peace with Creation Curriculum
Our unique curriculum provides sustainable learning experiences and a Christian campus environment with a heightened commitment to environmental sustainability. In short, the curriculum works to:
- Strengthen care for God’s creation by enhancing our knowledge, values, and actions
- Increase sustainable practices on campus at EMU
What students learn to do
1. Define and justify environmental sustainability from a theological perspective.
Environmental sustainability is commonly defined as meeting the “needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987). Sustainability education, then, commonly emphasizes learning and working to secure a future that is economically, ecologically, and socially sustainable. Grounding the curriculum in Anabaptist and Mennonite theology will shape our definition of and educational approach to sustainability to include the concepts of creation care, peace, and social justice.
2. Explain how individual, institutional, and community actions impact the environment.
Through curricular and extracurricular activities, students are encouraged to consider the environmental impact of actions at all levels of society – the individual, the institution, and the larger community.
3. Name and defend actions that promote environmental sustainability at the individual, institutional, and community levels.
Similarly, students will be encouraged to identify or develop actions to promote environmental sustainability. In addition, students will learn to make effective arguments that support and explain the need for and viability of such actions.
4. Integrate the principles of environmental sustainability within their discipline or program of study.
Basic sustainability principles (health of all current and future humans and other species; the fairness, equity, stability and security of human cultures and social systems; economic opportunity for all current and future humans; and ecological diversity and integrity) are broad and interdisciplinary in nature. Each major program offers exciting opportunities to explore how these principles are applied in the field. As a result, students learn to identify and explain how sustainability principles can be integrated into the practice of their chosen discipline.
5. Incorporate environmental sustainability into one’s values system.
This outcome is essentially a restatement of a central part of the University’s mission – to produce graduates who embody “the enduring values of the Anabaptist tradition,” which include creation care.