Center for the Sustainable Environment

Advocating for a Sustainable World

The Center for the Sustainable Environment, or CSE, unites the many interests and initiatives relating to global environmental stewardship and sustainability on campus. The CSE space offers a seminar room, a field-work laboratory space, a community outreach room, office space, and a student commons. Our location close to the heart of campus offers an ideal hub for students, faculty and staff to engage in activities relating to our three main objectives: education, action, and example.

Education

Facilitating F&M’s dedication to excellence in undergraduate education, we work with faculty and students across all disciplines to offer sustainably-based lectures, seminars, research projects, outreach activities, and green living resources. Past programming at the Center includes:

A food composting workshop
Wild food tasting
An environmental lecture featuring Jane Goodall
Green Cinema movie screenings
Sustainability campus tours showcasing the physical sustainable features of campus, including solar arrays, green roofs, and pollinator gardens, as well as the environmental studies and environmental science majors, the environmental pre-orientation program, and student environmental clubs

Action

A sustainable idea doesn’t have to remain just that. Sustainable efforts originate in all corners of campus, and we serve as a launchpad to bring these ideas to life. By coordinating sustainable efforts collegewide, we enhance F&M’s reputation as a leader in the community through the innovation, execution, and promotion of meaningful environmental stewardship. Recent initiatives include:

The Granola Bar, a resource at the Center for fighting food insecurity and food waste
Meatless Mondays, a global movement operating in numerous colleges and universities in 36 countries around the world. Our campus adopted the policy after a student-led initiative.

Our Focus

Example

We lead by example. We strive to minimize our environmental impact. Our long term goal is to create sustainable practices and methodologies that can serve as a working model for other facilities on campus and across the broader Lancaster community. The Center itself features many environmentally friendly and sustainable features: carpets made from recycled plastic bottles and recycled car tires, reclaimed hardwood flooring, recycled cork flooring, American Clay walls, dual-flush toilets, and Mythic paint (non-toxic, zero-volatile organic compounds (VOC) paint).

Sustainability at F&M

We’re committed to serving as a leader in building a sustainable world. We pride ourselves on looking at every possible angle to create a more sustainable future for both the campus and the world. Explore how we implement our sustainability master plan with initiatives that showcase the most recent advances in sustainable ideas and technology.

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Lancaster Community Resources

Are you a Lancaster community member hoping to learn more about sustainability? We’re proud to offer resources for neighbors who would like to live “green.”

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The Sustainability Center at F&M features a native pollinator garden.

A major focus of F&M's sustainability efforts is reuse. Here, students on Hartman Green take part in a yard sale of lightly used clothing.

The gathering place for the eco-minded is the F&M Center for the Sustainable Environment. The community gathers for events and meals, such as this bagel breakfast.

Less than a mile from F&M you'll find Baker Campus, where the students, faculty and professional staff maintain community gardens. They often share what they grow or sell it to raise funds for sustainability inititatives.

Pop-up events such as this one on Hartman Green, which gave participants hands-on practice with erecting tents, are geared toward outdoors-oriented students and community members.

Community members have the chance to get off campus and enjoy nature. Here, a group of students takes a nature hike at Millport Conservancy, just a few miles north of F&M in nearby Lititz, Pa.

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CSE in Action at F&M

April 24, 2023

Mindful Moments: Unwinding in Nature

Sometimes, it's the quiet and contemplative moments in between class and co-curriculars where the most personal growth occurs. In this mindfulness miniseries, we explore moments of calm and...Franklin & Marshall College offers students a hands-on education that emphasizes close relationships with faculty. Students flourish in a supportive community that treats them as an individual, and their successes continue long after F&M. The College is a national leader in launching students and alumni to opportunities where they make a difference in the community and the world.

September 14, 2021

An Appalachian Adventure Begins at F&M

Thirty first-year students at Franklin & Marshall recently swapped their books and syllabi for hiking boots and trail mix. Pioneered in 2012, Franklin & Marshall College's First-Year...F&M First-Year Outdoor Orientation Trip (FOOT) is a program designed for first-year students interested in sustainability, environment & the oudoors.

July 26, 2021

Weaving Lancaster's Rich Farming Community into the Classroom

Three environmental studies and government students research how to incorporate Lancaster County's farming industry into F&M's curriculum. Franklin & Marshall College is tucked in the...Environmental studies and government students research and collaborate with Lancaster County's farming industry to add sustainable food systems minor.

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