George Mason University
EN-3: Student Life

George Mason Organic Garden Association: The George Mason Organic Garden Association was created to oversee the Potomac Heights Organic Vegetable Garden. Members of this group are dedicated to raising education, awareness, and participation in sustainable food and gardens at Mason. GOGA hosts gardening hours open to students at any experience level.

Campus Kitchens at GMU: The Campus Kitchen at George Mason University is GMU’s chapter of the national Campus Kitchens Project based in Washington D.C. This student led organization strives to relieve hunger and food waste in the local Fairfax community by recovering unused food from Mason’s dining halls and delivering it to nearby homeless shelters.

The Amazon WaSH Project: The Amazon WaSH Project is made up of an interdisciplinary group of undergraduate students, graduate students, and alumni led by School of Integrative Studies (SIS) professor Michael Gilmore. This group works with the Maijuna, an indigenous group of people in the Peruvian Amazon, to bring clean water as well as hygiene and sanitation education to the community. The project, called Amazon WaSH (wash, sanitation, and hygiene), focuses on the design and implementation of sustainable community based-development that is culturally sensitive and ethically responsible.

https://green.gmu.edu/resources/student-groups/

The Office of Sustainability maintains three food production sites on the Fairfax campus. The Greenhouse and Gardens Program is available for all volunteers and visitors. It is a free resource for fresh produce and hands-on experiences in sustainable food production.

The Potomac Heights Organic Vegetable Garden (PHVG) was started at the Fairfax campus in April 2009 with the support of the Office of Sustainability. The garden is maintained by the student organization known as GOGA (GMU Organic Gardening Association).

The Innovation Food Forest is located next to Innovation Hall and the Johnson Center on the Fairfax campus. It is a garden designed using permaculture (permanent agriculture) and was created in 2013 by Elizabeth Torrens after she was inspired by the Permaculture Design Certification Course hosted on Mason's campus in 2012. The Innovation Food Forest is an ecological model and an educational resource for the George Mason University campus.

The Presidents Park Greenhouse (PPG), formerly owned by the College of Science, offers year-round food production. The staff and volunteers at the PPG produce approximately 2,000 lbs. of fresh produce annually which raises $20,000 each year that is used to pay for supplies, staff and utilities. Harvests include fresh produce such as basil, cilantro, lettuce, and other greens. The new system recently added is producing tomatoes, fresh thyme and mint.

https://green.gmu.edu/campus-sustainability/campus-gardens/

Business for a Better World: The Honey Bee Initiative at George Mason University is one example of students learning and implementing social entrepreneurship to make a difference both in our local community and worldwide. A collaboration between the School of Business and the College of Science, the Honey Bee Initiative works on honey bee sustainability by providing an innovative education, conducting collaborative research, and establishing community partnerships in our local Northern Virginia region and abroad.

https://bees.gmu.edu/

The Patriot Green Fund (PGF) strives to foster an environment where Mason can flourish academically in part through practicing environmental, social, and economic stewardship. This fund seeks to fund tangible projects that have a high value in all three of these areas of sustainability. The PGF empowers students by providing them with an unprecedented opportunity to lead and direct projects that will create positive change. To strengthen the Mason community, all Mason students, faculty, and staff may propose and/or participate in a PGF-supported project. Infrastructure projects may only occur on Mason’s campuses, but research projects may help solve problems in any of Mason’s surrounding communities or the Metro D.C. region in general. $100,000 is available annually.

https://green.gmu.edu/patriot-green/

Annual Resilience Retreat: Mason aims to be a model Well-Being University, where students, faculty, and staff build a life of vitality, purpose, resilience, and engagement. Each year, the Office of Sustainability and collaborators such as the Center for the Advancement of Well-Being and Housing and Residence Life’s Living Learning Communities host a Resilience Retreat. Students, alumni, faculty, and staff members go together to an off-campus retreat center to learn tools, practices, and exercises to stay hopeful and resilience in the sustainability field.

https://green.gmu.edu/community/resilience-retreat/

STAR-TIDES 3-Day Demonstration: Sharing To Accelerate Research—Transformative Innovation for Development and Emergency Support (STAR-TIDES) which is affiliated with Mason’s Institute for a Sustainable Earth (ISE), is devoted to building sustainable resilience and improving humanitarian assistance and disaster recovery. The three days of exhibits and demonstrations addressed such topics as energy storage, 3D printing, information and communications technology (ICT), drones and geographic information systems, public health, and humanitarian assistance and disaster recovery. The event also explored how the exhibitors could contribute to two broad scenarios: hurricane and flooding disaster relief and infrastructure resilience, including work being done in Puerto Rico, and increasing resilience in interdependent critical infrastructures in Northern Virginia.

News Article: https://www2.gmu.edu/news/579771

The student organization, Mural Brigade, explored the dynamic relationships between art, humanity, and the elements: earth, water, fire, and air. As part of this theme, one of their key focus areas was “Creative, sustainable infrastructure such as an innovative way to divert/reuse campus plastic waste, alternative power, a way to reuse storm/gray water, or a green mural to clean the air, that will lessen the eco-footprint of the campus.” As a result, they created a mosaic made from collected recycled materials on campus, which is on display in the Art and Design Building

Mason Outdoor Adventures offer peer led hiking, rock climbing, skiing, backpacking, and canoeing trips. Each trip covers, at minimum, Leave No Trace, outdoor cooking, outdoors safety, and navigation.

https://recreation.gmu.edu/outdooradventures/

The Environment and Sustainability LLC is one of the interest-based Living Learning Communities Mason offers, and is an on campus residential community. Students selected to live in this LLC are from all majors, class years, and walks of life, but are united in their vision for a cleaner, healthier, and more equitable future for our planet. Environment and Sustainability LLC members have a unique opportunity to support one another in green living efforts. Students on the hall work to make their own carbon footprint smaller through energy and water conservation efforts, recycling and composting, and by reducing waste through reusing goods, and examining sustainable and conscientious purchasing practices.

https://green.gmu.edu/students/living-learning-community/

The Office of Sustainability counts itself fortunate to have interns that are student leaders in the sustainability movement at Mason. This dynamic group helps the office achieve its mission and goals, including outreach, garden management, zero waste efforts, and greenhouse management. Internships are offered for payment and for credit.

https://green.gmu.edu/meet-our-interns-2/

The Mason Core Engagement Series (ENCORE) – Sustainability creates more opportunities for students to make meaning of the Mason Core educational offerings, to draw greater connections to the larger university community, and to develop additional marketable skill sets. ENCORE – Sustainability began Fall 2016 with the entering freshmen class. This program is an optional pathway for students interested in combining academic coursework with co-curricular activities towards a completion certificate in a specific area of engagement.

https://green.gmu.edu/academics/teaching/mason-core-engagement-series-encore/