This week, Houghton College was invited to celebrate Earth Day. Brian Webb oversaw and organized activities educating students to preserve the livelihood and the health of the planet. Events focused on appreciating and educating students on how best to live in harmony with our terraqueous nursery. They spanned both Earth Day itself–Tuesday, April 22–and the following day.
On Tuesday, the Brown House hosted a lecture titled “Social Justice and the Built Environment.” On Wednesday was hosted both a chapel on environmentalism and a clothing swap.
At the Brown House, Dr. Rusty Pritchard spoke informally about how our constructed world impacts human life and the well being of the poor. Students were invited to interact with Dr. Pritchard who holds a Ph.D. in Resource Economics. He is the founder and president of Flourish, an organization that helps churches tend to humanity through their treatment of the environment.
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he chapel, also led by Dr. Rusty Pritchard, took a lighthearted yet focused approach to the christian imperative of environmentalism. He opened the talk joking, “Let me take a few minutes to make you feel guilty.” Growing up, Dr. Pritchard saw environmentalists as “Debbie Downers,” disliking their fatalistic view of the world. He discovered, however, that they instead understood the effects of their actions at a distance in the context of the environment.
Dr. Pritchard demonstrated the convergence of environmentalism and Christianity. As the environment affects those who live off its fruits – all people, but most notably the impoverished – so too does our damage to environment affect them. In this light, environmentalism is an issue of social justice. Instead of embracing the judgement and blame that often comes from environmentalism, he encouraged Christians to care for creation as an act of compassion for humanity.
The clothing swap was coordinated by junior Hanna Kahler, one of the college’s Eco-Reps. This is the first year that Houghton has Eco-Reps. The program selects students who are interested to help promote a mindset of sustainability to their peers, led by Webb.
“The clothing swap idea came about because it’s something that my little sister and I have done with our friends before, and so I thought that it would be a fun thing to do on a college-wide level. It was my Eco-Rep project this year and has come about with a lot of help from friends and other Eco-Reps.” said Kahler.
In early April, bins were placed in each dorm in which students were encouraged to drop items of clothing that they no longer needed or wanted. On Wednesday, the clothes were set out in the basement of the Campus Center. Anyone was free to take as they pleased from the collection. The remaining clothes were donated to a local clothing shelter for the poor.