Seattle University is an urban campus located in Seattle. Established in 1891 as a small Jesuit institution located in a single building, SU has grown to 30 buildings on 48 acres. More than 7,200 students are enrolled in undergraduate and graduate programs within eight schools and there are over 1,000 faculty and staff.  The university is dedicated to its mission of educating the whole person, to professional formation, and empowering leaders for a just and humane world.

Environmental Advisory Council 
A student initiative led to the creation of the Environmental Advisory Council in 2004. As a standing committee of the university, the EAC offers advice and leadership regarding the identification, creation, assessment, and implementation of environmental planning and policies for the University.  The council acts as a seed bank and catalyst for campus sustainability and environmental initiatives coming from the SU community.   The 17 members comprise students, alumni, staff, faculty, Jesuits and a government agency.

Committed to Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Seattle University is a member of the Seattle Climate Partnership—a voluntary pact among Seattle-area employers to take action to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, and work together to help meet the community-wide goal while at the same time cutting costs, improving the work environment for their employees, and improving their record of corporate responsibility.  The Seattle Climate Partnership was a key recommendation of the Green Ribbon Commission on Climate Protection appointed by Mayor Greg Nickels to develop recommendations for achieving the goal to meet or beat the global warming pollution reduction target of the Kyoto Protocol. 

The university is a charter signatory of the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment. The commitment is an effort by the nation’s higher education institutions to neutralize their greenhouse gas emissions and accelerate educational efforts and research to help re-stabilize the earth’s climate.

SU is committed to buying new renewable energy to offset 15 percent of the campus’s electricity consumption making SU the first and largest institutional customer to join Seattle City Light's Green Up program at the highest level of business participation-Platinum. By paying a Green Up premium, SU helps City Light invest in renewable energy development. City Light acquires its green power from the Stateline Wind Farm in Eastern Washington, one of the largest wind power farms in the country. Any net revenues earned through the Green Up program is reinvested in additional renewable energy. 

Membership Organizations
Seattle University is a member of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) and the US Green Building Council (USGBC).

What is Sustainability?
The modern sustainability movement began when The World Commission on Environment and Development, through the Brundtland Commission, released their report Our Common Future in 1987. The Brundtland Commission defined sustainability as "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." The real power of the concept of sustainability lies in its integration of economic, social, and ecological systems, previously studied and dealt with separately.

Definitions of sustainability show the diversity of perspectives related to the concept. Some say that sustainability is and will remain impossible to exactly define. Others argue that ambiguity is valuable in getting a range of conflicting voices together around a table to discuss issues. It also seems to be much easier to define what is not sustainable than to say what is. Read other definitions of sustainability, and the history and future of the sustainability movement here.

Regional Sustainable Development: A Plan of Action
In December of 2006, the Society of Jesus Oregon Province promulgated the Regional Sustainable Development: A Plan of Action. The Oregon Province of the Jesuits has committed itself to regional sustainable development as part of their Twinning Agreement with the Jesuits of Colombia. This new document on Sustainable Development is not a departure from the path or criteria of the past. It simply widens the Jesuit vision by bringing the critical problems of the environment into focus. In the Plan of Action, Sustainable Development is defined as...

“a commitment to respect and care for the community of life. It is economic growth that promotes the values of human rights, care for the natural world, and the striving for the common good of the whole earth community, especially the poor and most vulnerable. It involves sustaining the present generation without imposing long-term costs or penalties on future generations. It replaces the use of non-renewable resources with renewable ones and reduces the consumption of all resources. It entails reuse, recovery, and recycling wherever possible; and replenishment or restoration of the natural balances affected by our actions. It implies sound life-cycle planning and economics—economics that truly reflect the environmental and human costs of our technologies and decisions. Sustainable development will succeed only if it expands to include a vision of sustainable communities which hold all creation as sacred.”