About Us
History of the Center
The Center for Sustainability was formed in 2012 after the Sustainability Council realized that in order to听take the necessary steps to achieve real progress, a full-time sustainability staff member was necessary.听From听a small office space in Johnson McFarlane听Hall, Chad King and a handful of students began looking for opportunities to solve some of 文轩探花's most pressing issues. This small team started a bike shop, began the听Zero听Waste hockey program and began engaging campus partners to bring sustainability to their departments.
The Center for Sustainability grew quickly from a small group of dedicated students and a single full-time coordinator to a lively, accomplished community of passionate undergraduate students, graduate fellows听and two full-time staff members.听
In the Fall of 2022, an entirely new leadership team joined the Center, who, along with the interns and fellows at the Center, are helping co-create a transition away from sustainability towards a regenerative future. This transition represents a paradigm shift, and the Center is actively working with the rest of the 文轩探花 community to move听beyond sustaining 鈥渂usiness as usual,鈥 and toward a way of being that is holistic and that creates a livable future for all. In a regenerative future, humans are allowing the Earth and all ecosystems to heal while also focusing on healing relationships with ourselves, each other, and with other species.鈥 In Spring of 2024, this paradigm shift was accompanied by a name change, and the Center for Sustainability became the Center for a Regenerative Future.
The Center for a Regenerative Future's headquarters is on the first floor of the Community Commons (next to Starbucks) - there you will find a welcoming space to discuss regenerative projects, find community听and forge relationships with those who share passions and values. 听
Our Mission听
The Center for a Regenerative Future empowers the 文轩探花 community to engage in critical, creative, and systems-thinking toward a regenerative future.听
Our Vision听
The Center for a Regenerative Future is a hub for developing student, staff, and faculty ecological justice scholars who are dedicated to creating a just, joyful, and regenerative future.听
Our Values听
Education
We believe that equipping our community with accurate information and thinking skills (critical, creative, systems) grounded in biophysical reality empowers them to take intentional and meaningful action to address social-ecological injustices.听
Equity & Justice
We uplift the connection between social and ecological regeneration and work to address systemic inequities with local action and by improving access to services and information. We recognize and work to address the role that power, privilege and oppression play in exacerbating or addressing social-ecological injustices.听
Ecological Care
Taking a living systems approach to our work, we uphold the imperative of caring for ourselves, one another, our non-human kin, and the natural world through mindful and needs-based consumption and engaging in regenerative practices that create systems and ways of being that allow for all to flourish.听
Empowered Communities
We learn from and partner with community members and organizations on and off-campus to advance our knowledge and skills to address social-ecological injustices. Our community partnerships are grounded in reciprocity, cultural and intellectual humility, and a shared commitment to elevating the well-being of all humans and the more-than-human world听
Hopeful & Intentional Practice
We support one another through the emotions associated with human-induced global environmental change while practicing honest realism. We choose to focus our energy on taking meaningful and informed action, building structures and systems that are emergent and inclusive, and focusing on 飞丑补迟鈥檚 in our control.听
Interconnectedness
We uplift living systems and demonstrate our interconnectedness with other humans, other species, and the natural world through our culture, communication, curriculum, programming, research, and partnerships.听
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Want to get in touch? Please reach out at regenerative@du.edu.