The Place of Peace, the Center for Sustainability, the Organic Garden, the Eco-Cottages, the lake restoration project, and the Asia Garden are all co-located and connected through Furman’s strategic initiatives focused upon sustainability, international education and the development of the whole person.
Furman strives to be the national leader among liberal arts colleges promoting environmental responsibility. Since South Asian, East Asian and Northeast Asian culture gives special significance to living in a manner attuned to nature, The Place of Peace embodies an ancient tradition of environmentalism. Thoreau, Emerson and other early environmentalists in America were inspired by the writings of Hindu, Confucian and Buddhist authors. Like “Walden Pond,” The Place of Peace and Asia Garden illustrates, far more clearly than a lecture could, the eco-centric basis of Asian culture. This tradition is steeped in philosophical monism – the view that all things in this Universe are deeply interconnected and, ultimately, are ONE. These connections are illustrated in art, poetry, philosophy and religion [as well as the natural sciences], and thus serve to remind students of an increasingly interconnected, global society.