Business View - January 2016 53
200 years ago. Here’s another one from an African el-
der: ‘Enough for all, forever.’ Both cultures had a good
understanding of stewardship; of taking care of things
that you’re given and service to others because we
are passing on our current state to the next genera-
tions. And unless we do a much better job of address-
ing these major issues using sustainable development
best practices, we’re going to be in a very difficult posi-
tion.”
Thus, as leader of one of the nation’s pre-eminent col-
lege sustainability offices, Christopher’s aim is, and al-
ways has been, to try and prevent that potentially “dif-
ficult position” from ever happening by reimagining the
ways in which the university and its community could
grow and nurture a new culture of stewardship based
on verifiable sustainable practices that would be a
model for other campuses and communities nation-
wide. “It started in earnest in 2004-05,” he relates.
“And during that time-frame, we’ve grown from a sus-
tainability initiative, to the Sustainable Community De-
velopment Initiative, to now, what we’re called, which
is the Office of Sustainability Practices.”
The stated purpose of Christopher’s office is “to pro-
vide the necessary skills, processes, tools, and re-
sources to address global, national, regional, and local
sustainability issues through curriculum, activities, in-
ternships, and service learning projects that promote
awareness and improve performance through the ap-
plication of sustainable development best practices.”
Its mission is “to provide Grand Valley administration,
faculty, staff, students, and community stakeholders
with the required skills and capabilities to become
better stewards and responsible global citizens in the
workforce, communities, and family life.”
By instituting many university-wide programs and de-
fining all the ways in which they promote best sustain-
AT A GLANCE
WHO:
Grand Valley State University Office of Sus-
tainability Practices
WHAT:
One of the nation’s pre-eminent college
sustainability offices
WHERE:
Allandale and Grand Rapids, Michigan
WEBSITE
:
CLEAN & GREEN
