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Shi Institute’s first Sustainability Week includes hikes, bikes and more
The Shi Institute will hold its first-ever Sustainability Week starting Sept. 28, including a farm tour.
Furman University’s Shi Institute for Sustainable Communities is combining its three tenets – education, research and leadership – into one week full of events and activities called Sustainability Week.
The week opens Sunday, Sept. 29, with a 2.9-mile loop hike of the Brissy Ridge Trail at Paris Mountain that is open to the public. It closes with tote bag painting on Friday, Oct. 4. And what happens in between is designed to engage students, connect with the community and offer deep experiences in sustainability to effect change.
“The goal is engagement and partnership,” said Andrew Predmore, executive director of the Shi Institute. “Societal sustainability challenges are too big for any single organization to tackle, but through this kind of collaboration our entire community can take responsibility and contribute.”
Shi is working with the Furman University Outdoor Club, Furman University Student Activities Board, Eco Reps, Furman’s Duke Library, Furman Auxiliary Services, Furman Facility Services, Bon Appetit and the City of Travelers Rest to offer seven different events both on- and off-campus. Events include farm tours, recycling talks, a seminar on Furman’s composting efforts at its Dining Hall, a bike parade to Travelers Rest and it’s first Harvest Market of the year. In addition, the Duke Library will have a display available to learn more about Furman’s Climate Action Plan.
“We want these activities to be fun and make students more aware of the work the Shi Institute is doing,” Predmore said. “It shows that this effort is not only about individual change, but that it requires systemic change as well.”
Predmore believes each Sustainability Week to come will build on the successes of the ones before. In five years, he hopes for more engagements, more partnerships and tangible outcomes like reduced energy consumption and increased recycling rates. For now, however, he’s happy to start somewhere and to have the enthusiastic response that has come from this inaugural event.
A full schedule of Sustainability Week events can be found here.
For more information about Sustainability Week, please contact Erikah Haavie at [email protected] or 864-294-3083.