The Sustainability House began in 2004 as a place to gather students with a similar interest together such that they could work and learn together. Since then, Sustainability House has been strengthened to offer more support to residents wishing to learn about and apply concepts of sustainability. This is the primary goal of the Sustainability House, to be an environment where students can learn from and with each other, to share personal visions, to build a shared vision, and to apply knowledge and concepts through group and personal application.
The Sustainability House is a place where people come together to form a strong, supportive community. This community will take some commitment to maintain and grow. The commitment, in terms of time, may be only a few hours each week, but the commitment of intention, effort, and motivation is greater than simply being present at meetings. It requires curiosity, self-motivation, desire to explore and learn new things, and creativity to apply understanding in practical, yet experimental ways. There will also be a need for willingness to work with other residents to build and maintain true to a shared vision.
The following information can serve as a guide for Sustainability House residents
and other community members wishing to contribute more actively to Sustainability
House. This page is part of a capstone undergraduate project by Mark Retzlaff
and Robin Fenske completed Spring 2005. For more information on their project,
please visit their
Sustainability in On-Campus Housing Project Website
Communication, both among Sustainability House residents and between residents
and housing, is crucial for effective organization. The Sustainability House
Organization Plan (which contains details of the communication structure) calls
for a self-organizing communication structure facilitated by an elected or
appointed resident with the title of Resident Coordinator (RC). The RC will
also be responsible
for communicating with housing staff when necessary. This person will be a
resident in the sustainability house and will work in parallel with the Resident
Advisor,
who will fulfill his/her normal housing life duties.
Full text, Word
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This document is a chronologically organized description of the startup
of Sustainability House. It was written to inform Sustainability House leaders
of important priorities at the outset of Sustainability House.
Full
text, Word (.rtf)