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Green@Messiah

Tree path on campusIt is officially Earth Week – the start of an all-week celebration leading up to Earth Day on April 22.  This year Earth Day celebrates its 40th anniversary, and Messiah College, in commemoration of this significant anniversary, is launching Green@Messiah, a website devoted to sharing the College’s sustainability efforts over the past 40 years.

And, yes, Messiah has been actively caring for creation for nearly 40 years!

In 1971, just months after the first Earth Day, Messiah was offering a course – “Man and His Environmental Problems” – that inspired students to organize an Environmental Concerns committee on campus. Since then, many Messiah students have been passionate about environmental issues and have partnered with the College on exciting projects like planting and harvesting a community garden, engineering and constructing solar vehicles, and restoring the banks of the on-campus Yellow Breeches Creek.

It’s true that environmental stewardship isn’t just the latest trend at Messiah College. It’s a way of life.


Read more about Green@Messiah.

Also, in honor of Earth Day, junior Danika Foster, biology major, shares these helpful tips for students seeking to live a more environmentally-friendly lifestyle in the residence halls.

“Green” your residence hall experience

  • Save paper towels by taking your own towel to the bathroom or leaving one in the bathroom.
  • Take shorter showers, or turn the water off while you lather up.  If you’re brave, only shower every other day since it’s better for your hair anyway.
  • Skip the blow dryer or the hair straightener.
  • Only do laundry with a full load, or do a load with a buddy if you absolutely have to wash something in a smaller load.
  • Buy a drying rack for your clothes, and save money by not using the dryer.
  • Decorate your walls with old fabric, recycled posters, and tickets from things you’ve done on campus; be crafty with old postcards or note cards.
  • Take your own silverware to the Union so you don’t have to use plastic silverware.
  • Reuse and recycle old plastic containers.
  • Learn to sew and fix your own clothes.
  • Know where your garbage is going.

Save energy

  • Know where your energy is coming from and how it is generated
  • Be aware of “vampire electricity,” the power used by household appliances when they are left plugged in but are unused.
  • Study in a lounge or more common area rather than by yourself.
  • Use rechargeable batteries.
  • Grab a sweater before cranking up the heat; open a window before blasting the air conditioning.
  • Cover your walls and floors to avoid heat loss.
  • If your window leaks, get something to put along the base of it.
  • Use glow-in-the dark stars instead of Christmas lights; choose LED lights instead of traditional lights.
  • Always turn the lights off when you leave a room.
  • If you only need light in half your room, only flick on one switch.

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