This new Student Spotlight section is our way of highlighting students doing great work on campus. May these students be inspiration to us all.

Do you know a student worth recognizing? Email Renewal at info@renewingcreation.org.

Kirsten Wahlberg, Bethel University, Senior

Major: Environmental Studies
Minor: English Literature

How have you been involved with creation care initiatives on campus?

I have been involved since my sophomore year when I took on the role of being the Sodexo Food Liaison and Green Council member.

How did you come to realize the importance of creation care?

For my high school AP Environmental Studies, my teacher took a group of us up to the boundary waters in the wintertime. On our last night there, he took us out on the frozen lake where there was no light pollution and we did some star gazing.
While we were realizing how incredibly clear the night sky was he said, “We are so lucky to be able to come up here and enjoy a view like this. However, there may come a day in the near future where future generations will not be able to get away to places like these. Places like the boundary waters may not exist anymore.”
And it hit me how we have the responsibility to take care of everything around us. Not just around us, but the entire creation. It wasn’t until I came to Bethel University and took my favorite class – Sustainability – that I realized we were called by God to take care of the creation (Gen 2:15.) So I wasn’t just crazy. I was passionate and actually realized my love for the outdoors made sense both biblically and personally.

Favorite non-human life form:

My hermit crab Sebastian. My roommate and I bought him together and became slightly obsessed with hermit crabs afterwards. It may be hard to believe, and I may be slightly biased, but he was the cutest crab I’ve ever seen.

Favorite outdoor spot on your campus:

My favorite outdoor spot on campus would probably be our “Sem Hill.” It’s close by Bethel’s seminary buildings, and also has a great view of our Lake Valentine. It also has a couple of bonfire pits which students are able to rent out if need be. It’s a great place for groups to meet, be outdoors and enjoy God’s creation together.

Three books worth reading:

I am a huge Matthew Sleeth fan, the main reason is due to his book Serve God, Save the Planet. This is a hopeful introduction to creation care which I read when first starting out. Sleeth was a doctor and talks about the many adventures he goes on, the connections he’s made, and the faith creation care has brought him.

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. I found this book fascinating, learning about the many cultures who have fallen in the past. A lot of the societies relate to the issues we face today as a country.

The final book is a more personal love of mine, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. It’s a classic and a quick read.

What is a dream you hope to one day accomplish?

I have found that I absolutely love working with people in any way, shape or form. I also love learning about new cultures and different ways of life. Someday, I really want to be able to travel anywhere and everywhere. I want to be able to meet people from all over the globe.

Keep up the great work, Kirsten!

Renewal is joining New Vision Renewable Energy in throwing parties all around the world on Earth Hour 2013 and beyond.

New Vision Renewable Energy provides solar-powered lighting systems to some of the 1.3 billion people worldwide who have no access to electricity. This lighting system helps some of the world’s poorest areas increase nighttime security and decrease the reliance on harmful and costly kerosene lamps.

By hosting a Light Up The Night party, you can help raise awareness and funds for the New Vision Renewable Energy initiatives.

Can you bring a group of friends together and raise enough money to equip a family, a church or a school with a solar-powered lighting system. You may be surprised that they aren’t as expensive as you might think.

Check out the Light Up The Night video and visit New Vision Renewable Energy’s website or Facebook page for more information regarding how to host a party on your campus.

Those are just some of the 40+ perennial plants recently planted around the Westmont College gardens.  Led by Anthony Waldrop, Sustainability Programs Coordinator, and a group of student interns, the on-campus garden area has been growing larger and larger in recent years.

Of course, these plants won’t produce fruit for a few years to come, but being future-minded is one of the most useful tools in a gardener’s tool belt.

With soil tests complete, organic compost turned in and irrigation lines run, the campus garden is up and running with the intention of continuing its tradition of supplying the on-campus cafeteria, run by Sodexo, a supply of fresh produce that cannot be grown any more local.

It’s a win-win-win situation for all parties involved. The cafeteria saves costs in not having to buy products from a further distance, the students have access to produce in its freshest and most nutritious state and the college has a previous unused plot of land that is beautiful and worthy of showcasing.

Student Interns Standing in the Kiwi Trellis. In couple years this trellis will be covered by yummy kiwi fruit vines.

While many college students spend their weekends cramming for upcoming exams, logging hours for an internship or simply catching up on much-needed sleep, students at Calvin College spent a weekend this autumn doing something very different. They hosted a festival of sorts – full of workshops, video interviews and even a panel discussion. But this wasn’t your typical festival. This was the 5th Annual Mad Farmer Food Festival.

Allow me to explain why this festival was a little different from your typical festival or weekend conference.

The workshops taught students how to make delicious hummus, pesto and applesauce and how to preserve their applesauce using the old skill of canning.

The video interview was with local food/restaurant hero, Marie Catrib, whose Grand Rapids restaurant is as much a local landmark as it is a restaurant.

And if you are not already intrigued, the panel discussion was on the topic of dumpster diving, and yes, the panelists were indeed seasoned dumpster divers themselves.

“This event was to educate about issues surrounding food, said Megan Dickens, a sustainability intern at Calvin College. “It’s about faith, food and fun.”

The festival, named for Wendell Berry’s 1973 poem, “Manifesto: Mad Farmer Liberation Front,” was organized by Dickens and other sustainability interns at Calvin College. The interns are supervised by the on-campus Residence Life staff.

College students throughout North America are turning their attention to food issues. Whether it’s growing some of their own food, majoring in Sustainable Agriculture or hosting festivals like the Mad Farmer Food Festival, food is a topic that everyone relates to, participates in, and is dependent upon.

Students are making the connection that food, at every stage – from growth to waste – is a topic that we need to care about. To quote the Center for Environmental Leadership and their outcomes document from a recent Symposium on Food, “the time is right for Christian individuals and groups concerned about food to come together and collaborate for greater collective impact to help reform the current food system so it better reflects Christian values and principles: that is, a food system that produces healthy, just, and ecologically sustainable food for all.”

As the last line of the of Berry’s poem suggests, let us “practice resurrection.”

A sample of Eastern University's harvest.

Eastern University (St. David’s, PA): A lot of ideas have come to fruition recently and students are busy with some great, new projects. These include harvesting the crops from the inaugural campus garden as well as keeping an eye on their newest campus friends, bees. That’s right! Beekeeping has made it’s way to Eastern.

Calvin College (Grand Rapids, MI): Students are doing some pretty great things, including hosting a recent weekend gathering called, Mad Farmer Food Fest, where students and staff gathered to prepare food, eat food and discuss food-related topics (subsidies, eating local, food injustice, etc). Through Residence Life, Calvin also recently instituted student sustainability coordinators in each dorm.

A look at the farmer's market at Messiah College.

Messiah College (Grantham, PA):  Various on-campus groups continue working together to strengthen Messiah’s sustainability efforts. This semester has seen the continuation of some traditions (like the annual Sustain-A-Fest) as well as the beginning of new ones (like the creation of a Student Sustainability Coordinator position and an on-campus farmer’s market run by the campus garden folks.)

Wheaton College (Wheaton, IL): Transition is in the air with the A Rocha Wheaton student group. The team lost a lot of it’s leadership to graduation last year, but students have stepped up in big ways. With creative ideas and a long-term vision, these students are ready to make a splash.

Keep an eye on our Facebook page to see what campuses Renewal plans to visit next.

If you’d like Renewal to visit your campus, send an email to info@renewingcreation.org

Renewal and Restoring Eden have a mutually beneficial relationship, supporting one another in various ways.

Restoring Eden is a national Christian ministry that encourages Christians to love, serve and protect God’s creation and all those who depend on it.

Their mission is to make “hearts bigger, hands dirtier, and voices stronger” for God’s creation. They raise awareness and enthusiasm for creation care on Christian campuses and at conferences and also spearhead campaigns dealing with mountaintop removal and coal usage.

For more information, visit Restoring Eden’s website.

Renewal, Creation Care Study Program, Restoring Eden and the Center for Environmental Leadership are all part of the umbrella organization, Christians for Environmental Stewardship.

CCSP offers semester-long study-abroad programs taught by Christian professors in Belize and New Zealand. They will soon offer a new program in Cascadia, USA. Academic credit obtained through CCSP is usually easily transferable at Christian colleges, which makes it an attractive option for students who want to spend a focused semester immersed in creation care outside their home institutions. All academic interests are welcomed.

For more information, including applications, visit CCSP’s website.

Renewal, Creation Care Study Program, Restoring Eden and the Center for Environmental Leadership are all part of an umbrella organization, Christians for Environmental Stewardship.

Renewal graciously receives support from the Center for Environmental Leadership.

The Center for Environmental Leadership is devoted to two things; helping individuals, institutions, and communities act on their convictions to care for creation, and educating the next generation of Christian environmental leaders.

Visit the CEL’s website for more information.

Renewal, Creation Care Study Program, Restoring Eden and the Center for Environmental Leadership are all a part of an umbrella organization, Christians for Environmental Stewardship.

During his undergrad studies, Tyler was graciously given the opportunity to study in New Zealand with the Creation Care Study Program. It wasn’t long after his initial trip to New Zealand, Tyler made his way back, this time working with passionate and creative students, in a Student Life Coordinator role for CCSP.

What excites him most about Renewal is coming alongside students, learning from them and offering his insight.

Tyler’s responsibilities include making campus visits, providing direction and feedback for the Student Leadership Team, plan events such as the Renewal Summit and oversee all Renewal publications including the Green Awakenings Reports and the Campus Garden Toolkit.

Some of Tyler’s additional interests include birding, playing lawn games, sketching and bike riding with his wife, Mary Beth.

Renewal’s partner organization, the Creation Care Study Program, has a campus in the beautiful New Zealand coastal town of Kaikoura. Right now, Kaikoura is faced with the impending threat of offshore oil drilling.

For a variety of reasons, the proposed deep sea oil exploration is a very risky endeavor. Aside from those reasons, we must ask, “is nothing sacred?”

We believe it is our responsibility as Christ-followers to speak up.
So please join us in making our voices heard.

Two steps to have your voice heard:

1. Prayer – Join in asking the Creator to intervene on behalf of his creation. We will pray for the decision-makers in New Zealand to hear our voices and reassess the situation.

2. Pressure – Put pressure on the New Zealand Ministry of Economic Development to withdraw
the proposed drilling sites near Kaikoura. Visit Restoring Eden’s website for details on how to do that.