The Environmental Management Club at James Madison University is actively involved in improving environmental conditions and awareness among both students and the local Harrisonburg community. Some events and activities that this club has participated in are presented below.

JMU Clean Energy Coalition

The Environmental Management Club is a charter member of the JMU Clean Energy Coalition. The Coalition’s ultimate goals include but are not limited to global climate change education, sustainability projects, and getting the university to commit to 100% renewable electricity usage. EMC has been collaborating with the Coalition since 2006.

Off Campus Recycling

There are few students living off campus who are aware that the City of Harrisonburg provides free weekly recycling pick up and free recycling bins by simply calling (540-433-6800).  We have posted flyers around the community to inform students and residents of this great recycling program. 

 

Electronics Recycling Day

Two former EMC members organized an Electronics Recycling Day as part of their ISAT senior thesis. The event gave local residents the opportunity to drop-off their old electronics for proper disposal. The service was free to all participants and prevented potentially hazardous materials found in electronics from ending up in the landfill. EMC members have volunteered at the annual event, held at JMU.

AWMA South Atlantic States Section Conference
The Environmental Management Club was asked to hold the 2003 AWMA regional conference for the South Atlantic States Section. This is significant because we are the first student chapter to be invited to host such an event. The event, held in November, was highly successful.

Stream Cleanup
The Environmental Management Club adopted a section of a stream in the valley. Every semester a small group of club members go to the site and pick up trash that people driving by have left between the road and the stream. Every semester, we take a pickup truck full of trash. Afterward, the group goes out to lunch at Luigi's.

Bike Sharing Program

The Environmental Management Club teamed up with the Environmental Business Club (EBC), JMU's Cycling Club, Progress, Dr. C.J. Brodrick of the ISAT Department, among many other organizations and individuals to start JMUs first successful Bike Sharing Program!  Preliminary research began during the Fall 2003 semester. 

Friends of Black's Run Greenway
Black's Run is a highly polluted stream that runs through the heart of Harrisonburg, VA, which every environmental student at JMU is well versed. There is currently a community push to clean up the stream, and to improve the habitats directly around the stream, including the construction of new green parks in the downtown area. The Environmental Management Club began a relationship with the organization, “Friends of Black's Run” through the newly created Community Service committee. Through this relationship, the Environmental Management Club hopes to increase its participation in this movement through volunteering and education.

Guest Speakers
The Environmental Management Club has hosted a wide range of guest speakers on relevant environmental topics. Topics have ranged from sustainability and development issues in the Shenandoah Valley to the state of the Blacks Run watershed.

Environmental Career Fair
The Environmental Management Club hosted an Environmental Career Fair at ISAT in 2006. The fair featured a diverse group of environmental companies from Virginia and Maryland. Students in attendance had the opportunity to meet company representatives and learn more about individual companies and their respective fields.

Fundraising
We have attempted a few different forms of fundraising thus far, including selling recycled notebooks that we had bound last semester and composing equation/general information sheets for some of the classes in the ISAT curriculum. These were quite popular, but we did learn ways to decrease costs while increasing profits. Fundraising is an element that the JMU chapter is still working to improve.

22nd Annual Home and Garden Show
Sponsored by the Shenandoah Valley Builders Association
The 2003 Home & Garden Show was held at the JMU Convocation Center, and benefited Friends of the Blacks Run Greenway, and Habitat for Humanity. It featured approximately 50 vendors from local and national businesses and a team of over two hundred volunteers over the three day period, including members of the Environmental Management Club.

Recycled Paper in ISAT
The Environmental Management Club has been exerting pressure on the faculty in the Integrated Science and Technology department to switch to recycled paper in the copy rooms. The EARTH club, another environmental club on campus, donated paper to this cause, and there was a trial run with the recycled paper in the near future. The CISAT Copy Center now stocks recycled paper.