About
At Michigan, sustainability doesn’t sit in textbooks. It comes alive through our students. Student Life Sustainability turns knowledge into action. Here, students create bold solutions, reduce waste, reimagine energy use, and set the standard for sustainable living. Through our Campus as Lab model, Michigan itself becomes their testing ground, and every initiative is a chance for students to shape a more just and resilient future.
When you support Student Life Sustainability, you fuel student innovation and leadership. Every gift empowers students to act now, to shape the culture of campus, and to make an impact beyond Ann Arbor. This is not only about protecting resources, it’s about preparing a generation to rise to the greatest challenge of our time.
Last year
Student Life Sustainability employs 50+ student interns to lead operational change in their student cohort programs: U-M Sustainable Food Program, Sustainability Cultural Organizers, Planet Blue Student Leaders, and the Student Sustainability Coalition.
Students designed and built a mobile Farm Stand in an immersive multi-year project. Their innovation has seen a 25% increase in student engagement and continues to grow! With your support, students will continue to apply what they have learned into the real-world.
Students at Student Life Sustainability cultivate an environmentally conscious campus by leading others towards a greener future at U-M. By gaining knowledge, building skills, and integrating core sustainability principles into campus life, they build a climate-resilient community. Their leadership work comes to life in signature initiatives like the FreeStore, Sustainability Lending Library, and Joy Mapping.
At Student Life Sustainability, students gain tangible career experience through year-long mentorship in leadership cohorts. Using the campus as a living laboratory, they imagine, design, and execute initiatives that prepare them to shape the future of sustainability at U-M and beyond!
Impact
Students at Student Life Sustainability are expanding their impact through applied and experiential learning programs and culture-change initiatives, creating a stronger and more resilient campus community. Through their initiatives, student leaders continue to have a lasting impact on U-M while setting a model for partnerships and collaboration that extends beyond the university.
Your gift will help to support the goals of Student Life Sustainability:
- Expand climate resilience programs like the Sustainability Lending Library, FreeStore, food access initiatives, driven by students.
- Drive impact with hands-on opportunities that immerse students through a living and learning lab model, preparing them to lead change in the future.
- Make U-M the premiere destination where students lead through innovation and experiential sustainability education in and outside of the classroom.
Ask
Student Life Sustainability drives U-M towards a resilient and carbon-neutral future while inspiring students to become changemakers and environmental leaders. For a detailed report on their impact on campus, look at their interactive annual report!
With your support, Student Life Sustainability will continue to empower students to pave the way, making U-M a national leader in sustainability and climate innovation. Invest in students and watch their ideas for a greener U-M come to life!
Your donation will:
$100 - Buy an item for the sustainable lending library
$250 - Fund the student staff for a farm stand day
$500 - Fund the materials for our sustainability honors cord (local Michigan wool!)
$1000 - Help us sponsor a student team to map joyful locations on campus in the face of climate change
$5000 - Become a transformative donor for Student Life Sustainability
