Jordan Washington’s passion in brightening Fresno State’s community did not dim when he graduated from the university in 2018. He remained an active participant in Fresno State’s Elohist Club.

Through his club involvement, Washington attended a Global ASEZ (Save the Earth from A to Z) Summit early in July in South Korea.

The Elohist Club is a religious club that was established at Fresno State in 2016. The club’s practices follow Christian teachings from The World Mission Society Church of God and is part of ASEZ, an organization composed of 500 universities. The ASEZ is dedicated to following and creating a more sustainable timeline for future generations.

On July 23, the Elohist Club held a gardening event to stabilize the current state of Fresno State’s grass and turf. Alumni, club members and Fresno State groundskeepers gathered at 7:30 a.m. to begin replacing the old lawns with mulch beside the metered stalls in the P1 parking lot.

Washington said he brought back knowledge obtained from the summit based on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) proposed by the United Nations.

Some of the 17 SDGs proposed by the United Nations are:

• No poverty.

• Zero hunger.

• Good health and well-being.

• Responsible consumption and production.

• Gender equality.

One of the goals deeply resonated with Washington, relating it to how California suffers from droughts.“Through the 17 SDGs, the UN says that we can sustain the Earth and we can allow the Earth to live longer than what is expected. So we’re hoping that through us accomplishing these SDGs, we can be able to take part in sustaining the earth in the future,” Washington said.

Washington’s main concern is making sure water is conserved and used more conscientiously, especially since California is no longer in a drought.“This is something that we need to actually understand, is how we can sustain this water, because if we get back into the situation where we go through another drought, how do we know we’ll ever be able to come out again?” Washington said.

According to Washington, sustainability is an important topic. There is only one Earth to call “home.”

“We as a global community. It’s not just one person’s job, but it’s everybody’s job. The reason why it’s so important to me is because this is my home as well,” Washington said.

Chau Ho, president of the Elohist Club, said that people need to be aware that their contributions are often for the benefit of the rest of society.

“We’re doing this and it’s not just here, but all around the world too. It’s a global volunteer [event] from university students in the world everywhere,” Ho said. “We wanted to have the same mindset of protecting the environment and how to save the Earth to make it a better place for everybody to live.”

Ho, alongside Nastassja Pizanis, the co-adviser for the Elohist Club, are both hopeful about inviting the community and students to participate in more volunteer activities that promote a more sustainable environment.

They are also advising to adopt things to be more environmentally conscious, like bringing your own water bottle to reduce plastic usage.

Pizanis hopes that, at least for the upcoming semester, students are more wary about their trash.

“I think people aren’t aware of the effect it has after the fact. People don’t think, ‘Where is this bottle going to go if I throw it here and what problem is it going to cause?’ So making people aware of the effects, then they can you know [be more conscious],” Pizanis said.

For members of the Elohist Club, the biggest concern is making the Earth more habitable and sustainable for future generations. As Ho explained to The Collegian, their teachings follow The World Mission Society Church of God, which closely follows the example of a mother’s love.

“The love of a mother is the greatest, like when a child is in pain [or] they feel uncomfortable, that the mother will be the first one taking care and making sure of their well being,” Ho said. “We want to look to the well-being of the entirety with a mother’s heart. Everything we do, every single event, we want to do like a mother’s heart, we want to take care of it.”

The Elohist Club is open to all students to join on Engage. Their next event will be a Bible seminar at the end of August. Information is available at [email protected]