After being exposed to a variety of toxic substances while renovating his home in 1980, Clint Good, class of ’77, developed hypersensitivities to compounds in paints, adhesives and other building materials. He was just 27 years old. Good visited numerous doctors as he struggled to regain his health. He began paying close attention to the ...More
The house taking shape on the property of Kim and Mike Martin, both ’94 grads, in Greencastle, Pennsylvania, was largely inspired by the couple’s service term with Mennonite Central Committee in Mexico. Living in a society with a material standard of living far below that of the US middle-class has shaped many lifestyle decisions they’ve ...More
For decades, environmental sustainability across the world has been a focus of EMU alumni working in international development, usually working with Mennonite Central Committee (MCC). In recent years, many people linked to EMU – alumni, staff and faculty – have answered MCC’s call to reverse the degradation of God’s creation, encompassing land, sky and seas. ...More
The fact that Paul ’79 and Shirley ’80 Hoover had no background or experience in the dairy industry did little to stop them from entering the business in 1991. Neither did the fact that they had five children at home. And after two years in partnership with another couple, they struck out on their own, ...More
These eight examples in three states show the range of agricultural work in which alumni are engaged – greenhouse operations, raising meat and poultry, dairy farming, marketing of produce, working the land as a form of rehabilitation. Dawn ’91 and Troy (class of ’92) Alderfer raise corn, soybeans and wheat, dairy heifers and about 56,000 ...More
The latest improvement at Village Acres Farm in Mifflintown, Pennsylvania, is a new kitchen and education center where Hope and Roy L. Brubaker ’67 and plan to host cooking classes. They have been concerned lately about the health effects of poor diets. Maybe offering a crash course in cooking with fresh vegetables would be a ...More
Sustainability can’t exist in a vacuum, says Nelson Longenecker ’78, the vice-president for business innovation at Four Seasons Produce in Ephrata, Pennsylvania. “From a business standpoint, it needs to be driven by what makes sense,” he says. To that end, Nelson has worked to reduce his environmental footprint and operating costs with a variety of ...More
Andrea Stoner Leaman ’98 was finishing a master’s degree in social work at Temple University in 2009 when she first heard of “Creative Reuse Centers” – organizations that connect excess materials with “anyone who can use them creatively.” Though nearly 100 CRCs operate across the country, the only other one in Pennsylvania was in Pittsburgh. ...More
Working for the federal government was not necessarily the dream job of Dave Hockman-Wert ’91 after graduate school, but, nine years ago, his roots sank into the Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center (FRESC) of Corvallis, and he has remained ever since. FRESC is part of the Biological Resources division of the federal science agency ...More
Before his retirement, Paul S. Lehman ’63, PhD (plant pathology), spent decades as a government-employed research scientist, mainly focused on excluding pests and diseases through phytosanitary practices rather than by chemical means. Today, however, his research focuses on his backyard. Mary Ellen ’62 and Paul Lehman have retired to farmland in the Laurel Highlands of ...More
