Green Initiatives
How Wayland Participates in a Global Idea of Creation Care
Wayland’s primary focus in sustainability efforts on campus is an emphasis on Creation Care and instilling a sense of environmental responsibility among the Wayland family as a part of our calling to be good stewards of God’s creation. We feel that caring for the environment also means caring for people – we have an interest in clean air, clean water, and responsible allocation of natural resources for all peoples.
On the Plainview campus, Wayland participates in an ongoing recycling effort. Our WBU Geological Society students help clean-up the Running Water Draw each fall, and our Texas Academy of Science Chapter students organize conservation and environmental education efforts in the area.
Wayland owns and maintains a community garden, run by Professor Mark Hillard of our School of Fine Arts, which is open to anyone wishing to participate. Featuring raised beds and other innovative growing technologies, the garden uses compost and coffee grounds as fertilizer, and utilizes harvested rainwater when available.
Several science classes at Wayland focus on environmental sustainability and green initiatives as well. For example, Dr. Andrew Kasner of the School Math and Sciences offers a biennial seminar on nature, conservation, and society. The seminar tackles conservation issues, according to sustainability in nature and social dependencies from a Creation Care standpoint. Students also participate in real-world research on environmental conservation problems and ecology.
Wayland participates as a university on the Academic Council for the Au Sable Institute for Environmental Studies, a Christian organization whose focus is to provide college-level, field-based courses and research opportunities which emphasize Christian environmental stewardship. Students may take classes with the organization (Michigan Great Lakes Campus, Pacific Rim Campus in Washington, India and Costa Rica study abroad in tropical ecology or agricultural missions) for credit toward a degree at Wayland.
Our Plainview campus hosts a Creation Care week each November. During the week, we take time to focus on our Christian responsibility to environmental stewardship. Our green initiative committee and the School of Math and Sciences organize activities for students and faculty. The apex of the week is a chapel service with a guest speaker who has contributed to the national or international conversation on Christian Environmental Stewardship in some capacity.
Other campuses in Wayland’s system take time to emphasize Creation Care as well, sometimes at different times than our annual Creation Care week. Interested parties may contact campus executive directors for more information.
Additionally, the environmental science department of the School of Math and Sciences has created some resources to explain and encourage students to actively practice Creation Care:
Biblical Foundations of Christian Environmental Stewardship
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