What We Learned in Campus Ecology

• Students (like Elise) can make things happen that seem really far-fetched—like inventing a campus ecology class.
• When students start talking about things like values, God, and sex, a learning community is born.
• St. Olaf has 7 wetlands.
• Green architecture rocks.
• You can live with a passion for the earth and still have hope.
• Our generation needs to live more sustainably.
• Books can be made without paper.
• How to live in this culture and still live sustainably.
• What my place is in this world, or at least begin to learn it.
• The concept of home and how vast and humble that definition can be.
• We can pleasantly surprise ourselves—there is hope.
• We can form a group which works to improve things from the local to the national level.
• I learned a lot about specific problems for the environment and their sources.
• I was exposed to some of the brightest minds I've read at Olaf.
• You can fight for the environment without being a “tree-hugger.”
• The world needs more artists and imaginers, not analysts.
• St. Olaf is a marvelous place worth making better.
• We need to redefine and rethink politics to get everyone involved.
• All actions have consequences for the environment whether we know it or not.
• The way in which American values regarding time, work, consumerism, cost us more than we realize.
• St. Olaf encourages and supports student creativity—the very fact that Elise came up with the idea for the class and co-taught it.
• Giving something is better than giving nothing.
• Causes contradict each other, so choose your battles without worrying about being a hypocrite.
• Think outside the box or inside the box, better yet, get rid of the box.
• Imagination and creativity in any form is what sparks innovation.
• Ask questions - no matter about the answers.
• Hope hope hope hope hope hope.
• Nature, natural, real, unharmful is beautiful.
• Everything is a process with many steps, meaning no simple conclusions - easiest way to fix a problem is to fix the system or create a whole new system.
• Don't be afraid to speak your mind, even if you don't know everything.
• Our actions have direct and indirect consequences.
• We can look to our past for advice, but we have to remember that that is not where the answers lie, meaning technology isn't bad, innovation is not bad, as long as it is used for good.
• Everyone is a dancer, an economist, a consumer, but no one is perfect. Live your life consciously and the best you can.
• “We dedicate ourselves to the care and redemption of all that God has created.”
• Creative writing makes essays more fun.
• Coffee has a lot of chemicals in it (cotton too).
• You can't learn to "hope" from a textbook.
• We teach each other more about American Studies than our profs do.
• Farrell is idealistic; more than me.
• Classes and class assignments can be created in a way to benefit the whole campus (Earth Day).
• Lots of suburbanites glorify country life.
• Religion shapes people's lives, maybe more than economics.
• Group assignments are great for making new friends.
• I love to write!
• Perspective of hope amidst the deterioration of the planet - this perspective allows me to want to engage with these issues in a way I previously thought would inspire only despair.
• Habits of the heart - a phrase/practice I now ponder as part of my daily living.
• The value and beauty of restraint in sharp contrast to the dominant value system that promotes over-consumption to happiness and destruction of the planet.
• The importance of cultivating a fully integrated, impassioned relationship with the planet to truly be able to sustain it..
• An awareness to the “secret lives” of everything in our lives; these become an essential path to explore.
• The unobtrusive value systems we so easily accept with critical vision.
• Guidance to imagining with a vision—practical idealism.
• The flowing patterns on this campus that we so take for granted—only by appreciating them can we understand the value of the Green Team, Sustainability Task Force, and the objectives inherent in each.
• The objectives to bringing the unseen into vision so that we can claim our contributions and begin to revamp, reconfigure, redesign our operative values to reflect lives we want to live.
• The value of design in understanding how we as humans operate in harmony (or often in dissonance) with the patterns and amazing clarity of the planet.
• Perspective on what type of life and consciousness I want my life to embody, share, and even guide others.
• My strongest consciousness has been in circles or caring for people, understanding how they organize their lives and respecting these operative values shaping their social sphere. This class has helped me see the planet as literal and figurative common ground, a crucial new dimension to help me gain perspective, hope, imagination.
• Real community.
• Good design and ecological design.
• More about hope—how to be hopeful.
• Cooperation, compromise, and teamwork.
• How to love things I don't even know, through others love for those things.
• Selective passions—dedicating myself to things I care about.
• A lot about power at St. Olaf College About the environmentalists activities/actions of and at St. Olaf College About the natural lands and our surroundings here.
• Faith - in God, in others, in nature, in everything—faith in life. Faith is kind of the same as hope, but it's different too—more rooted in the sacredness of things—everything.
• Other people do care.
• I can do something to change things
• St. Olaf was self-sustaining in regards to water for 127 years
• There are ways to influence the community to change.
• Not everyone has the same way to go about change.
• Not everyone has the same reasons for change.
• Too few people take advantage of our campus natural lands.
• Too few people actually know where their food and water come from.
• We can learn from our past mistakes to make a better future.
• There is hope for a better, more sustainable future.
• That environmentalists can be anyone!
• To appreciate the beauty and wonder of a blade of grass.
• Your peers are one of the best sources to learn from.
• Although you may think you're an environmentalist, there's still a lot of changes you could make to your lifestyle.
• Life is fragile.
• Some classes you take leave you immediately after finals, others stay with you.
• If you apply yourself enough you can help change things.
• We can still have a hopeful outlook on the future while thinking practically about the current situation.
• How much water is used in making everyday things.
• That a laptop is better to have than a desktop.
• That David Orr might be one of the smartest people alive.
• What's inside the facilities plan and how we get our power.
• Center for a New American Dream (www.newdream.org).
• That certain environmental causes have more effect than other (i.e. driving a car vs. garbage amount).
• Why we should buy locally.
• That talking about environmental issues is much more effective when you talk about practical solutions.
• Green architecture
• St. Olaf was one of the first colleges to offer an ES major.
• Hope, keep hope through cynicism.
• Ways I can stop junkmail.
• To think about where my food comes from.
• Be mindful of water and its everyday uses.
• Laptops are better than desktops.
• Ways to rethink curriculum (thank-you David Orr).
• It's better to be a citizen than a sit-izen - to care even if I don't - don't be apathetic!
• General history of Olaf's natural lands.
• How much driving we really do - in turn to be more mindful, aware of my own driving habits.
• That St. Olaf is among the more elite schools in terms of enviro classes, issues, activities, awareness.
• If you want help on an issue you need to ask, people are willing, you just need to ask them.
• The majority of people know almost nothing about the places they inhabit.
• There is a true cost that overshadows any cost of a product.
• Professors alone should not be the only teachers.
• The moment we step through a door, the building should teach us something.
• The sacred is not something far removed. It surrounds us in every person and every tree.
• Sustainable communities do exist at least partially - Curitiba .
• Society must learn to value creation early on, our values must harmonize with our actions.
• St. Olaf has been sustainable in the past and is a leader in promoting sustainability.
• Each person has a different truth and passion. These blend together in amazing ways.
• We dedicate ourselves to the care and redemption of all that God has made.
• Our water comes from the Jordan Aquifer.
• Other people actually do care.
• How our cafeteria procures food.
• When you buy a product, one should factor in the environmental, as well as financial costs.
• To show others by example, not talk.
• Our school system needs a major overhaul.
• The value of a sense of place, and how it leads to stewardship.
• Energy-saving buildings.
• Class is much more fun when you don't think about grades.
• A community of people, working toward a common goal, in perfect harmony is an amazing thing.
• Everything in the man made world is a manifestation of someone's imagination.
• It is very important to learn about the past, present and future of your place(s) on earth.
• Simple changes can make a big difference.
• Humans are not rational, but are great at rationalizing.
• Worship doesn't always imply religion.
• There is very little that is actually real about “the real world.”
• The way we interact with nature is very emblematic of our values and beliefs.
• The classes in which I learn the most I get to study myself, my values and beliefs and what part I can and do play in the continuing history of my place on Earth.
• An attitude of possibility is a good thing and does improve communities (really like the Curitiba story).
• Rethinking education so that learning is exciting and impacting.
• Hope and celebration change the world, not fear or depressing statistics.
• Cooperative encouragement and constructive criticism elevate learning and action, not competition.
• Questioning and analyzing operative values to see the good and the bad in them so that change can occur to make them more valuable.
• Understanding how all of St. Olaf actually runs.
• There are alternatives, you just have to look.
• Even if you are one step short of a goal, as long as you've put great effort into the previous steps, you've accomplished something good.
• I learned how little I knew about the environment.
• But I learned I do care and want to make a difference.
• I learned our Caf has a pulperizer and that each student only wastes 2.1 oz of food each day.
• I learned that change and action is possible when people come together.
• I learned we don't all have to be motivated by the same things to reach similar goals.
• I learned that we cannot all be passionate about everything.
• I learned we don't have to know everything about issues, the history, sides, causes.to have an opinion, and in fact that is how we learn.
• I learned to accept myself as a listener.
• I learned how to suggest change and discuss issues by listening to people in the class.
• I learned I learn best when Jim and Elise wear their robes in class.
• Environmental concerns are not unfounded and they are vast.
• Hope is not unfounded and it is vast (at least it can be).
• St. Olaf's Natural Lands are amazing.
• I have a big ecological footprint.
• I love squirrels.
• Bon Appetit isn't so bad after all.
• St. Olaf used to have a creamery.
• What "green" architecture is.
• I can't name half or even a small fraction of the living things around me.
• Education does have a lot to do with environmental values and ideas and knowledge.
• I learned that I can call St. Olaf my place. I learned to love it, I learned some ways to make it better and how.
• I learned that I need not be afraid of who I am, or what I think even if I am wrong.
• I learned some ways to better apply spiritual principals into my relationship with the earth, God, and others on an individual and institutional way.
• I learned that I am not that different from anyone else at St. Olaf.
• I learned that conservation is a good thing and that I am a conservative.
• I learned that I am a mystic and experienced in this class and from meditation on the lessons of this class, to a further extent the interconnection of all creation.
• I learned that by making myself vulnerable other people become willing to do so.
• I learned sitting outside in a circle is a good way to get people to bond.
• I learned that Christianity can greatly affect the future.
• I learned that Ed Pompeian kicks ass.
• I've learned the depth of love, or rather begun to see that it has no bottom and how it is connected with what I do, how I treat other people around me and why I value what I value.
• I love the term "biophilia" and how that is the foundation of feeling connected to a place. I've learned that the earth is a sanctuary and deserving of the worship, respect, and care that we give our chapels, churches, synagogues, mosques, and all holy places.
• I've learned that humanity is universal and, in special circumstances, unites and feels and loves over the same causes.
• I've learned the power of youthful energy, and how I must channel and control that energy to choose which causes to be faithful to.
• I've learned to think more deeply and feel as much as I think.
• I love writing in a journal to reflect on and make sense of my thoughts, however jumbled they feel at the end of the day.
• I've become vastly more aware of and concerned about ecological issues, from use of paper products to water to the way we shop and make daily choices to support environmentally conscious businesses and environmentally sustainable practices.
• I've become an environmentalist (or finally acknowledged it) in that every day I find myself thinking up new ways to conserve and reuse products and waste and I feel I have the power to make suggestions to authorities to act more environmentally sustainable.
• How to rethink current problems.
• How to understand how hope can manifest itself in various places.
• In-depth connections, systems, networks behind St. Olaf's ability to function.
• Yet more importances of community.
• How to sit back and listen to other comments and digest them.
• How there are many different viewpoints to a single issue.
• Dedication and passion of others.
• Faith of professors for students.
• The greening of St. Olaf Campus, its progression and possibility of involvement on a personal level
• The college Mission Statement.
• Amazing readings that have bettered my soul and will stay with me forever.
• How a small class/community can make a difference and provide an environmental ethic for our college, and a heightened one at that.
• That a dynamic and interesting class will be more enticing than anything else.
• If somehow that class can't or isn't or hasn't been your priority, that soon becomes one of your largest regrets.
• That taking the time to be thoughtful is so absolutely necessary that not doing it makes you cranky, unfocused, less hopeful.
• That watching a community form is one of the most amazing processes a class can go though.
• That feeling separate from the community is sometimes painful, sometimes another source of regret.
• That you can't turn off life to pursue the things you want to, to do all you want to.
• That time is the most precious commodity.
• That you can't know how to do life in advance.
• That academic cross-pollination (seeing connections from Environmental Policy, Nature and the American Landscape and Campus Ecology) is an amazing way to learn.
• That I face no burden higher than my own expectations.
• Food produced locally is beneficial to the environment.
• Trees are important.
• I use too much energy.
• Olaf is home to other species.
• People are overly concerned about the environment.
• Pollution has many sources.
• JCrew is bad for the environment.
• Wind power is a possibility.
• Politicians do care about letters.
• The Natural Lands are paid for by duck hunters.
• The cafeteria was designed with a great deal of thought
• Over 200 individuals on the facilities staff enable the campus to “run.”
• People eventually have to come to their own revelations.
• The college is a living organism.
• Students have a sought after voice here; we must use it.
• Taking a course for interest, not for credit is marvelous.
• The natural environment is my interest, but not my passion, and that's just fine.
• I'm extremely fortunate to know a place as home at this early stage in my life, and I am not dull or unadventurous for deciding to return there.
• Do not be bashful about asking where something (or someone) came from.
• We are but a part of a large, wondrous system.
• Jim Farrell is very religious.
• There is a critical mass one can reach fairly easily through righteous organizing and effort.
• Oles are, for the most part, some of the most passive, beautifully useless creatures on earth.
• People would rather talk about baking bread than have a substantial (even heated) argument over policy.
• It is hard to talk about sustainability without an "animate" presence putting on the pressure.
• It's hard to care about something you care about when people who know very little about the subject wax eloquent and ignorant.
• Oles just wanna have fun.
• Some of these beloved institutions are on their way out, totally.
• I turn into a cynical fade when confronted with starry-eyed platitudes
• Optimism is sometimes just an extreme discomfort at considering the barbaric exigencies of industrial capitalism for the world's underclass.
• Opening up - being vulnerable is essential to building community and or imagining a different vision.
• Through my connections in this class and my body moveable class, I learned the way we care for our bodies is closely tied to the way we care for the earth.
• I experienced the contagiousness of enthusiasm and the energy of ideas.
• Awareness does change things.
• How joyful and engaging it is to have a real discussion where people are listening and responding.
• I learned how important it is to reflect and talk with others about the issues of environment and society in class - if we don't address them, they become these vague things that eat away at our spirits.
• In the midst of a world that is so crazy, messed up, the world needs more than ever clear-eyed, sane, joyful people.
• It does matter - it is important to do what is right even in small actions whether you think it will make a difference or not.
• Changing the world begins by understanding how you relate to the place you're in and the people you're with.
• If we want to build a sustainable future we have to make this movement into a celebration that includes all humanity.
• This crazy and confused culture has so many possibilities for new ideas blending with old wisdom.
• In the problems of this time are some awesome opportunities to use the gift of imagination.
• How to deal with people that have different views than you, while still getting along and being somewhat productive.
• How to go with the flow when things change. ie. Schedule.
• Conserving the earth is something shared by people of multiple backgrounds, political racial, etc.
• 20 lbs of pollution are expelled in every gallon of gas!
• There are wonderful people in this class, despite being very “green!”
• God and nature are intermixed.
• Although being “eco-friendly” may not always be efficient, the values portrayed seem to make up for it.
• When making decisions one must think of what and who is also affected.
• In my research I found that one of the largest “terrorist” organizations is a Greenpeace type organization costing companies million of dollars in sabotage.
• When working in a group, good communication is key.
• Trust is necessary for any healthy community.
• Community can be composed of diverse people with diverse interest.
• We may not know for sure that the world will be destroyed by us, however this does not mean we cannot commit ourselves to a graceful embrace of our home, the earth.
• Imagination and creativity are the only means of any change whether social, political, or environmental.
• Humility is a necessary state of mind that has powerful activational responses.
• We cannot ignore our diverse desires for strong loving communities, for meaningful goods and products, for a beautiful and vibrant environmental place that can inspire us to spiritual acts.
• Statistics are fundamentally good numbers but mostly lies.
• The classroom, and even a college, can be models for a better reality of institutions
• Caring is a good and constructive thing.
• I am inherently ecologically minded as are all the people I share the world with. I only knew ecology as something “environmentalist” did but I know now it is something all humans do.
• Classmates are above else great friends and the distinction between classmates and professors has forever been erased from my mind—we are all classmates in this place.