Greening CHMSU
Why Greening CHMSU?
In 2012, Carlos Hilado Memorial State University launched an intervention program and movement to transform the entire school system into a green institution in pursuit of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). It was then called Green CHMSU-a transformative process involving the core elements and dimensions of the institution’s operations: Green Campus, Green Community, Green Culture, Green Research, and Green Technology.
On July 11-12, 2017, five years after Green CHMSU was conceived, the program was revised in a Re-Greening Workshop themed “Revisit, Re-Vision, Revise and Revitalize.” Attended by administrators, faculty and student representatives from the four campuses the body realized that CHMSU has still a long way to go. The school renewed a stronger commitment to revitalize and accelerate the program with a clever vision statement: To be a leading GREEN institution of higher learning in the global community by 2030 where GREEN stands for Good Governance, Research-Oriented, Extension-Driven, Education for Sustainable Development and Nation-building. Green Campus was replaced with Green Curriculum and Green CHMSC was changed to Greening CHMSU to acknowledge that the program is an on-going process and a continuing transformative journey to sustainability.
On October 3, the new Greening CHMSU Framework (A Green Future by Greening CHMSU Today) was recognized by the Development Academy of the Philippines as a finalist-best practice together with 13 government institutions which included four SUCs in the Government Excellence Class – Government Best Practice Recognition 2017. Our participation in the Government Best Practice Recognition has opened a lot of realizations, challenges, and opportunities. We are reminded of our commitment to Education for Sustainable Development – a pledge we signed in a Declaration in 2012.
Today, more than ever, people are realizing the need to urgently protect the health & well-being of planet earth and all its inhabitants. Education for Sustainable Development now means the pursuit of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. To fulfill this, Greening CHMSU must empower and transform students and teachers who will become active citizens with the heart, mind and skills to solve the global and local environmental problems we face today. How can we have a sustainable future and promote green economy and lifestyle without green education today?
5 Pillars of Greening CHMSU
Guided by green research, our extension and outreach programs create long term positive impact and ensure the development of resilient partner communities.
Community programs and projects are designed to address the SDGs, e.g. poverty, environmental degradation, climate change and other challenges of our time.
Our human interactions, practices, and lifestyles are in harmony with ecological principles and are anchored on the values of respect for human dignity, the integrity of God’s creation, simplicity, peace and social justice.
Multi-disciplinary themes in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), Gender and Development (GAD) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are integrated in our curricular, co-curricular and extra-curricular offerings so that our students and graduates become highly capable of taking the global challenges of the 21st century.
Our researches seek to improve quality of life and ecological well-being. They provide guidance and input to our extension services and community engagements.
Data, discoveries, and knowledge are applied in social policy and the advancement of a just, equitable and sustainable world.
Driven by creativity and innovation, technologies, facilities, methods, materials, systems, and operations are designed to lessen or neutralize our carbon footprints and to mitigate or reverse the negative effects of our activities on the environment.