Sustainability at Menaul
sus•tain•a•bil•i•ty [suh-stey-nuh-bil-i-tee] - noun
“The capacity to endure. For humans, sustainability is the long-term maintenance of responsibility which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions and encompasses the concept of stewardship, the responsible management of resource use.” Wikipedia
The pioneer educators who established Menaul School were frugal Presbyterian people who believed in careful stewardship of their resources. Menaul School worked hard to be self-sustaining whether that meant procuring food on its farm to feed the boarding students or building Old Brick from another burned down building’s . . . . you guessed it . . . . old bricks.
So ingrained was this sense of stewardship, that when Donaldson Hall burned in October 1947, students ran from the dorms into the burning building to save typewriters, textbooks (really!) and desks from the fire until the firemen chased them out.
God charged Adam with stewardship when he turned over the Garden to him. A good interpretation of what He said is “be fruitful, multiply and take care of this earth.” Gen. 1:28
One could say that Menaul School has a Biblical, historical and practical mandate to responsibly manage resources that continues to this day. So how are we doing?
Every evening our security person double checks to insure office lights and computers are off. An evening security pass reports on all the evening activities also being successful.
Our Science Fair this year went digital. All reports were presented on PowerPoint and oral presentations.
Much of the Bugg Light Christmas display is powered by solar panels.
At the recommendation of an Upper School Sustainability Class all our lights are CFL's.
We recycle paper and cardboard.
We are using motion detector sensors to control lights in bathrooms.
We are retrofitting old windows with new double pane, low and high efficiency windows.
Our community garden composts much of the campus grass and leaves and grows organic produce which is used by the cafeteria to feed our students fresh, homegrown vegetables.
We have replaced most thermostats with programmable ones.
In 2010 by replacing older windows, turning off lights, turning down thermostats, and turning off computers, we reduced our power bill over $15,000.
Sustainability at Menaul School is not something new. It's long-term maintenance of responsibility—it's a century long commitment!
