Every action you take gets us closer to our goal of a 100% renewable energy campus by 2050.
A Sustainable Future Starts with You
Bring real change to our community when you get involved in sustainability on campus. How can you get involved?
- Take your seat at the table where sustainability decisions are made when you become a member of the Student Sustainability Committee (SSC.)
- Add an academic focus that shines on your transcript by participating in the Sustainability Distinction Program.
- Expand your knowledge by choosing sustainability-focused courses.
- Earn a certificate in Sustainable Agriculture through a hands-on practicum and innovative coursework.
Bring Sustainability into Your Studies… and Career!
JCCC offers numerous ways to get involved academically with sustainability on campus.
1. Sustainable Agriculture Certificate
In a blend of knowledge and lifelong practical skills, learn expertise in market farming, agriculture, and horticultural science while joining the sustainability team through a season of planning, production, harvest, and sales at JCCC’s on-campus Open Petal Farm.
2. Sustainability Distinction Program
This ground-breaking curriculum expands your knowledge of sustainable practices, helping you develop the knowledge and skillset to work towards solutions to local and global problems.
Study aspects of ecological health, economic prosperity, and social equity—and connect each perspective to your interests and career path.
3. Sustainability Courses Across Every Degree Path
The Center for Sustainability works alongside faculty to develop courses that help students establish core sustainability knowledge and hone their skills for future professions. Sustainability courses can be taken for the Sustainable Agriculture Certificate or the Sustainability Distinction Program Coursework or separately. Explorations include, but are not limited to:
- Interior Design — Learn about Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), and the efficient lighting technologies in practice throughout campus
- Fashion Design – From product sourcing and design to merchandising and marketing, explore how to be sustainable in the fashion industry
- Humanities – Sustainability is integrated into numerous humanities courses, such as history, philosophy, and more
- Electrical Technology — Work with renewable energies
- Automotive Technology — Service hybrid and electric cars in theory and practice
- Floriculture – Learn how sustainability and floral design are interconnected
- Theater — Promote sustainability through prop and set design, costume creation and energy conservation
- Social Studies — Learn how sustainability affects people and ongoing social and economic development in sociology, anthropology and economics.
- Art and Graphic Design — Sustainability can be integrated into art courses with sustainable art sculpture and sustainably-focused graphic design projects.
What makes jobs “green” are the skills you bring - new technology and fresh perspectives applied to existing trades and professions are key components of what “green” business and development looks like in our future. Learning these essential skills can help you stand out from other applicants and pave the way for your career!
Keep learning about sustainable practices by topic at any stage in your career. In JCCC’s Workforce Development & Continuing Education classes, get individualized attention from instructors in small, familiar classes that work with any schedule.
Sustainable practices play many roles in our Workforce Development & Continuing Education courses, from gardening to energy to health and wellness. Visit CE & Me and search for topics that interest you.
Want to impact JCCC’s next sustainability project? Make your voice heard by joining the Student Sustainability Committee (SSC) and have a voice in the allocation of the Sustainability Initiatives Fund. The Sustainability Initiatives Fund is supported by a $1-per-credit-hour fee that advances JCCC toward a more sustainable campus. This student-led committee hears proposals from students, faculty, and staff on campus on votes to fund different sustainability-related initiatives on campus.
In 2009, a student-led team of JCCC Honors students lobbied the president and the Board of Trustees and petitioned their peers to approve the Sustainability Initiatives Fund. Over 1,500 signatures were collected leading to projects like irrigation improvement at Open Petal Farm and a solar EV parking canopy. The Committee’s efforts were noticed in 2021, when the American College Personnel Association (ACPA) awarded them a Champion of Sustainability award.
Apply to Become an SSC Member
Save your seat during the spring semester for the following academic year. If you are interested in serving on the SSC, email the Center for Sustainability, Sustainability Education and Engagement Coordinator.
SSC Projects
Check out the projects and initiatives that were made possible by the Student Sustainability Committee and the Sustainability Initiatives Fund at JCCC.
2023-Current
- Offset food and sustainability-related costs for numerous events on campus, such as the Harvest Lunch, Epicenter, Student Veterans of America Trivia Night, Gender and Sexuality Alliance Rocky Horror Picture Show Event, the E-waste Recycling Event, the Honors Pumpkin event, Japan Club events, Nerman Museum guest speaker series, and Cider and Sunset at Open Petal Farm
- Assisted with conference and/or study abroad trips for numerous groups on campus, such as the Model UN, LUNA, student science research conferences, student sustainability conferences, and study abroad trips to Costa Rica and Iceland
- Increased sustainability measures on campus through resource support for initiatives like providing free tampon dispensers in the bathrooms, adding more blue carts for recycling, establishing bird and bat houses at Open Petal Farm for natural pest control, providing construction and demolition waste collection bins, funding faculty incentives to integrate sustainability into curriculum, and increasing the number of bird-safe windows on campus
- Paid for an extension to our in-vessel composter at JCCC to increase on-campus composting
- Funded a JCCC traffic study to aid in making campus more commuter- and bike-friendly.
Apply for Project Funding
Do you have an idea, small or large, to help make JCCC more sustainable? Or are you working on a project that complements our sustainability focus? Your idea might qualify for funding. Apply soon!
Leave a lasting impact on campus and the student body by taking part in JCCC’s Sustainability Idea Contest.
Build a healthier campus. Support safer and climate-friendly services. Embrace lifestyle change that enrich sustainable portfolios.
Submit a proposal outlining your ideas for creating a more sustainable campus. You can include transportation, energy efficiency, upcycling, waste management and other sustainability-related efforts.
Proposals will be judged on:
- Ability to be implemented
- Total benefit to the campus
- Depth of research and detail of proposal
- Sustainability influence
- Reach of impact
Submissions should also address the estimated project budget, including cost savings, environmental impacts, awareness raised and any other financial information necessary to plan for the implementation.
Submit proposals and supporting materials to sustainability@jccc.edu by April 30.
Questions? Call 913-469-8500, ext. 2883.