Sustainability is a community’s ability to meet its needs without preventing future generations from doing so. Sustainability exists in a lexical field of meaning alongside other terms like creation care, environmental stewardship, and ecotheology.
As a Christian community, Seattle Pacific University adopts a theocentric approach to sustainability. Rather than contextualize sustainability as care for the planet or even each other, we view it as the opportunity to participate in God’s work to reconcile all creation.
Sustainability closely aligns with our University core themes:
Academic excellence and relevance
- The environment plays a key role in many of today’s most pressing issues. We commit to equipping our students with the tools and knowledge to be able to enact change.
Transformative and holistic student experience
- Whether through the curriculum, co-curricular programming, or interaction with the physical campus itself, we commit to providing our students opportunities to cultivate an ethic of creation care.
Vital Christian identity and purpose
- We affirm creation to be inherently good. Apart from any measure of usefulness, creation is good simply because God made it. Although part of creation, humans have a special responsibility to care for it.
- We affirm creation care as an act of worship.
- We affirm creation care as a way of loving our neighbor.
- We affirm creation care as a way in which humans may participate in God’s reconciling work.
Not sure where to start? Check out our list of academic options, outdoor and experiential opportunities, or our campus sustainability map.