{"id":36148,"date":"2017-12-18T11:01:46","date_gmt":"2017-12-18T16:01:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=36148"},"modified":"2017-12-18T12:21:44","modified_gmt":"2017-12-18T17:21:44","slug":"sustaining-sustainability-emu-earns-silver-rating","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2017\/sustaining-sustainability-emu-earns-silver-rating\/","title":{"rendered":"Sustaining sustainability: EMU again earns STARS \u2018Silver\u2019 rating"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Eastern Mennonite University has earned a second consecutive \u201cSilver\u201d rating for its sustainability efforts from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE).<\/p>\n<p>To earn the rating, institutions must submit materials through AASHE\u2019s Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS) every three years. EMU <a href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2014\/03\/emu-earns-silver-in-stars-ranking-of-sustainability-efforts-by-universities-around-the-world\/\">first received the award in 2014<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>STARS recognizes sustainability efforts by universities around the world in three focus areas: curriculum and research; operations; and planning, diversity and engagement. It defines sustainability as \u201cencompassing human and ecological health, social justice, secure livelihoods, and a better world for all generations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cInstitution-level innovation is a vital component of environmental stewardship and addressing ever-growing concerns about climate change,\u201d said Professor <a href=\"https:\/\/www.emu.edu\/personnel\/people\/show\/neufeldd\">Doug Graber Neufeld<\/a>, director of the <a href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/category\/cscs\/\">Center for Sustainable Climate Solutions<\/a>. \u201cThe steps EMU has taken provide a strong foundation for the ongoing work of increasing sustainability.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In recent years the university developed a Climate Action Plan. It was also recognized for its work on a collaborative <a href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2017\/11\/emu-among-sustainability-award-winners-nitrogen-footprint-study\/\">nitrogen footprint study<\/a>, said Jonathan Lantz-Trissel, who as EMU\u2019s former sustainability coordinator led the months-long reporting process for both the 2014 and 2017 STARS ratings.<\/p>\n<p>The report is \u201ca useful tool for self evaluation and directing further efforts,\u201d said Gregory Sachs, EMU\u2019s building automation coordinator, including collaboration \u201cwith the broader church, community and beyond to mitigate the global effects of climate change, particularly for the most vulnerable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On its extensive 2017 application, <a href=\"https:\/\/stars.aashe.org\/institutions\/eastern-mennonite-university-va\/report\/2017-07-26\/\">EMU reported<\/a> these and many other sustainability efforts:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Eighty-nine percent of its academic departments offer sustainability courses, with at least one sustainability-focused degree at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, and a quarter of research-producing departments engage in sustainability research.<\/li>\n<li>Four active student groups focus on sustainability:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.emu.edu\/studentlife\/clubs\/websites\/earthkeepers\/\">Earthkeepers<\/a>, the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.emu.edu\/studentlife\/clubs\/websites\/sustainable-food-initiative\/\">Sustainable Food Initiative<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.emu.edu\/studentlife\/clubs\/websites\/peace-fellowship\/\">Peace Fellowship<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/weathervane\/2015\/10\/21\/divestemu-campout-educates-and-entertains-students\/\">DivestEMU<\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. (A fifth group, the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2017\/04\/coalition-climate-justice-urges-simple-commitments-living-sustainable-values\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Coalition for Climate Justice<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, is also now active.) <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The campus boasts five <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2016\/12\/homesteading-students-can-veggies-chicken-tend-garden-bake-share\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">gardens<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> that raise produce for the campus. <\/span><\/li>\n<li>Facilities improvements included lighting upgrades, the installation of efficient heat pumps, and window switches that disable heating and cooling to individual rooms when windows are opened.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>EMU\u2019s 2014 rating was in part for its three LEED gold-certified residential halls, the massive solar array on the Hartzler Library, and its recycling program. At the time it represented seven years of sustainability efforts, both grass-roots activism on campus and the 2007 adoption of education for sustainability as a re-accreditation requirement. EMU is accredited by the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sacscoc.org\/\">Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Eastern Mennonite University has earned a second consecutive \u201cSilver\u201d rating for its sustainability efforts from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). To earn the rating, <a href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2017\/sustaining-sustainability-emu-earns-silver-rating\/\" target=\"_self\" class=\"more-link\">... read more <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">about Sustaining sustainability: EMU again earns STARS \u2018Silver\u2019 rating<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36160,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5583,17596,17562,8845,5643,5708,5640],"tags":[10566,17578],"feature":[17427,17426,17241,17422],"class_list":["post-36148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-community","category-cscs","category-digest","category-emu-at-lancaster","category-environmental-sustainability","category-sustainability","category-suter-science-center","tag-doug-graber-neufeld","tag-gregory-sachs","feature-emu-home-page-feature","feature-myemu-feature","feature-news-feature","feature-news-landing-page-main-feature"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Sustaining sustainability: EMU again earns STARS \u2018Silver\u2019 rating - EMU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2017\/sustaining-sustainability-emu-earns-silver-rating\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sustaining sustainability: EMU again earns STARS \u2018Silver\u2019 rating - EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Eastern Mennonite University has earned a second consecutive \u201cSilver\u201d rating for its sustainability efforts from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). 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