University of Richmond
ER-12: Sustainability Immersive Experience

The Earth Lodge is a separate residential experience which aims to offer an immersive experience that provides students an opportunity to engage in communal dialogue about human connections with nature, environmental issues, and sustainability. The community of students is required to take a class named Geography/Environmental Studies 215: Geography of the James River Watershed. The course’s goal is to facilitate the involvement of students with their local ecosystem and to learn more about resource challenges facing urban watersheds. The final project of the class focuses on the Gambles Mill Trail corridor located on campus. Each room within the community is responsible for a separate project on the corridor. The area is an abandoned railroad corridor that runs along the southeast boundary of campus. Westham Creek is located downslope, which makes the trail a prime location for storm water and run-off management. It is also a central focus of the University Master Plan and prime transportation corridor for foot and bike access to the James River from campus.

The University also offers multiple internships offered to students that give real-world hands on experience with sustainability. Every semester, the Sustainability Office and Facilities has two interns that work with the LEED projects on campus. The aim of this internship is to provide students the opportunity to obtain knowledge in the LEED processes and principles. The LEED internship is open to application for all students. In addition, the Sustainability Office has two student internships that work as the Energy Program Assistant and Recycling Program Assistant. The two interns assist in the implementation of hands-on collegiate sustainability initiatives such as student programs, office supply exchange between faculty and staff, recycling programs, and campus sustainability competitions.