Students for Environmental Sustainability

SES (Students for Environmental Sustainability) is a year old organization started by students at Kennesaw State University outside of Atlanta. The purpose of this organization is to develope a sustainable model of local food production and distribution in an urban environment. 

Our projects include an on campus farmers market for students and faculty as well as an on campus permaculture garden, where students can learn how to grow food organically. Permaculture is a series of principals used to develope an eatable landscape which uses systems found in nature to produce food without chemical inputs such as fertilizers. By applying these principals on campus we effectively produce dense crop yeilds in an urban environment. We use this 2 acre permaculture garden as an educational and environmental hub to develope a full curriculum for students at KSU and abroad. This curriculum is developed by students and faculty at KSU for the purpose of developing workshops. 

All the food grown on campus at the garden is then sold at our weekly farmers market. This allows students to see economic opportunity in organic agriculture. Our model is built around the tripple bottom line or people, planit and profit as a way of demonstrating a sustainable business model for future generations in food production. 

In addition to our KSU project, we have extended our curriculum to the Marietta Center for Advanced Academics, the first STEM school in Georgia. We have partnered with this school to develope a similar working permaculture garden. This garden was built by the students at the school, giving them a hands on education on organic food production. All of the food grown in the garden is then matched by Georgia Grown and integrated into the kid's school lunches. This allows them to see the direct benefit of growing their own healthy produce. This is our first of many future outreach programs that SES hopes to develope over the next year. 

SES is currently applying for a 501.c.3 non-profit status in 2014. Our goal is to expand our impact in our community and abroad through grant and scholarship funding. Our team is very excited to partner with similar organizations in the area in order to applify our impact.