Environmental stewardship isn't just a trend at Messiah University. It's a way of life.
This map illustrates the various green projects implemented by students and staff to reduce Messiah's environmental footprint.
Each of the projects highlighted on this map is also noted with a sign in their physical campus location. So, whether you visit campus and tour these facilities yourself or whether you click through this interactive map, the University's commitment to sustainability is clearly revealed.
Messiah University is committed to caring for and protecting the Yellow Breeches Creek, a 68-mile stream that winds through campus and several counties before draining into the Susquehanna River and, eventually, the Chesapeake Bay.
Recently Messiah has received a number of grants designated for protection of the Yellow Breeches Creek. The University has managed initiatives such as planning for and adding containment structures in key locations, restoring native vegetation, and stabilizing stream banks.
In addition, the University's grounds crews use phosphorous-free fertilizers in our ongoing care for the creek.
At the end of each semester, Goodwill parks a tractor trailer on campus and accepts students' unwanted items, diverting a significant amount of trash from landfills while helping people in need. This initiative is a partnership between residence life and the office of environmental health and safety.
Dining Services receives 95% of its products from vendors located within 200 miles of Messiah's campus resulting in energy and fossil fuel savings.
The dining hall's compact fluorescent lights with their daylight harvesting feature, dimming controls and an anticipated extended lamp lifetime save Messiah University about $9,000 a year in utility expenses.
By installing more energy-efficient lighting in Brubaker Auditorium, Messiah University reaps an annual cost savings of about $2,800.
It is estimated that Messiah University saves nearly $4,000 a year by utilizing these more energy-efficient light fixtures in Hitchcock Arena.
Messiah utilizes an on-site processor to recycle the Styrofoam take-out containers, cups and plates used in each of its dining facilities. The foam is recycled and eventually used to make computer cases. Using and recycling Styrofoam saves Messiah about $45,000 a year.
Student volunteers retrieve upwards of 700 pounds of organic waste weekly from each Messiah eatery for an on-campus compost pile. The nutrient-rich soil produced from the waste is then used on the Grantham Community Garden and in various flowerbeds around campus.
The vegetable oil used to prepare food in Messiah's eateries is collected by a team of students and converted into biodiesel. That biodiesel then fuels utility vehicles used by the University's grounds crew and heats a storage building behind Frey Academic Building.
A portion of the fresh produce available during the summer months on Messiah's salad bar may be from the student-managed, on-campus organic garden. Dining Services owns several shares of the Grantham Community Garden, a community-supported agriculture initiative.
By upgrading its dishwashing machine to a new, energy-efficient model, Messiah enjoys a yearly cost savings of $21,000 and a significant reduction of water usage.
Messiah University has had a robust recycling program since the early 1980s when two students launched the initiative in response to the class, "Man and His Environmental Problems." Now Messiah recycles cans, glass, paper, cardboard, metals, electronics, rechargeable batteries, cellphones and Styrofoam.
Messiah owns two hybrid vehicles—one for the president and one for campus safety. In addition, campus safety has an active bike patrol.
Messiah maintains an intentional residential space for students interested in practicing sustainable living. Students living in the Restoration House commit to live in relationship with God, people and the environment by limiting energy use and waste.
The Clifford L. Jones Solar Scholars Pavilion generates enough power to offset energy usage in a single computer lab in Frey Hall academic building. The structure is student-designed and constructed.
The Grantham Community Garden is a student-inspired, student-led effort to demonstrate and promote real-life concepts of sustainable agriculture by educating the campus community and visitors about the benefits of eating organic food and tapping into local farm economies for food resources.
More than 100 solar panels on the student residences that comprise the North Complex generate enough energy to heat water for all three buildings, making this the fourth largest solar thermal system in the country. Messiah's energy savings from this project is equivalent to planting 3,600 trees each year.
In 2010 ecology students and faculty identified species native to the area and planted this plot to resemble a central Pennsylvania forest.
The Oakes Museum of Natural History—home to a collection of Smithsonian quality African and North American mammals, birds, eggs, fish, seashells, minerals, insects and fossils—offers tours of sustainability projects on Messiah's campus to local school children.
Messiah utilizes an on-site processor to recycle the Styrofoam take-out containers, cups and plates used in each of its dining facilities. The foam is recycled and eventually used to make computer cases. Using and recycling Styrofoam saves Messiah about $45,000 a year.
Student volunteers retrieve upwards of 700 pounds of organic waste weekly from each Messiah eatery for an on-campus compost pile. The nutrient-rich soil produced from the waste is then used on the Grantham Community Garden and in various flowerbeds around campus.
The vegetable oil used to prepare food in Messiah's eateries is collected by a team of students and converted into biodiesel. That biodiesel then fuels utility vehicles used by the University's grounds crew and heats a storage building behind Frey Academic Building.
Messiah University has had a robust recycling program since the early 1980s when two students launched the initiative in response to the class, "Man and His Environmental Problems." Now Messiah recycles cans, glass, paper, cardboard, metals, electronics, rechargeable batteries, cellphones and Styrofoam.
Wondering where the light switches are? These overhead lights detect the intensity and availability of natural light and then adjust the amount of artificial illumination accordingly.
Wondering where the light switches are? These overhead lights detect the intensity and availability of natural light and then adjust the amount of artificial illumination accordingly.
The Bridge magazine, Messiah's quarterly alumni publication, abides by the Forest Stewardship Council standards. This certification is the most socially, environmentally and economically responsible third-party certification of its kind.
The classes of 2009, 2010 and 2011 have generously designated their senior gifts for local and international sustainability projects, including providing water filtration systems to a village in Bolivia and continued restoration of the on-campus Yellow Breeches Creek.
President Kim Phipps is a signatory of the American College and University President's Climate Commitment, a nationwide effort to accelerate progress towards climate neutrality and sustainability.
Messiah's Community Covenant expresses the University's sincere commitment to sustainability: "This respect for creation also shows itself in our treatment of natural resources. As stewards we are to be faithful in preserving the environment and in maintaining the balances within the creation order. We are to use our intellect and creativity to preserve and enhance the creation, using its resources prudently in light of the uncertain limits to history and life as we know it."
The president's residence is heated and cooled by geothermal, a renewable energy source that encourages the conservation of natural resources.
