The Christian faith calls us to care for all of God’s creation and ensure preservation for generations to come.
Hope College Commitment to Sustainability
Hope College strives to create a future in which our planet and all its inhabitants flourish. Rooted in the Christian faith, we embrace our calling to care for the Earth and we celebrate restoring God’s creation and sustaining our future as synergistic goals. We commit to building a sustainable world that promotes the holistic well-being of future generations and affirms the dignity of all people. By means of our academic curriculum, our scholarly work, our student life programs, the management of our campus, and our engagement with the local and global community, we educate students for a sustainable future that values the rights and opportunities of every individual, each of whom is created and loved by God. We humbly embrace this calling and shoulder these responsibilities with joy.
—Adopted by the Administrative Council, summer 2021
Defining Sustainability
Sustainability encompasses solutions-driven scholarship and practice that seeks to safeguard our economic, ecological and social systems. The field is defined by the problems it addresses rather than the disciplines it employs.
Hope College derives its goals for sustainability from the definition posed by the Brundtland Report:
Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It contains within it two key concepts:
- the concept of needs, in particular the essential needs of the world's poor, to which overriding priority should be given; and
- the idea of limitations imposed by the state of technology and social organization on the environment's ability to meet present and future needs.
Christian Sustainability
Our commitment to our Christian heritage and our historical affiliation with the Reformed Church in America (RCA) point to our responsibilities as Christian stewards:
Responsible Christian witness in light of the environmental crisis is becoming increasingly important and urgent… the Reformed tradition offers a theology which neither merges God with creation nor denigrates creation as beyond the realm of God’s continuing interest, care, and promised redemption… Humankind has been given a special responsibility to care for creation… The degradation of creation not only imperils life, including human life on this planet, it is also a sin against God.
—RCA Minutes of General Synod 1994: 95
Recent blog posts
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Environmental Justice and Water Event – March 28
Posted by Michelle GibbsPresentations will be made by the following Global Water Research Institute Faculty:Dr. Kenneth B...
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Hope College Alumni Sustainability Affinity Group December 2022 Newsletter
Posted by Michelle GibbsWe hope you enjoyed this first issue and if you’ve not already done so, please click here ...
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2022 Alumni Sustainability Affinity Group Pledge
Posted by Michelle GibbsThe Hope College Alumni Sustainability Affinity Group challenges you to commit to one of our thre...
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Money for your summer environmental internship
Posted by Michelle GibbsAre you considering pursuing an internship addressing environmental advocacy and/or education wit...
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Lakeshore Cleanup Events – Fall 2022
Posted by Michelle GibbsJoin Hope Advocates for Sustainability at one of our fall cleanup events as we put Creation Care ...
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MiSustainable Holland: Hope College students take action for sustainability
Posted by Michelle GibbsNatalie Hammer and Ellie Jankowski Hope Advocates for Sustainability https://www.hollandsentinel....
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Association membership
Hope College is a member of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education.
Miller Center for Musical Arts221 Columbia AvenueRoom 233Holland, MI 49423
workP. 616.395.6811
sustainability@hope.edu