1. Cultivate virtues appropriate to a culture of permanence.

Sustainability isn't just a technical problem or a material problem; it's also a cultural problem involving the fulfillment of human needs—physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. In short, it involves virtue. David Orr asks, for example, "What virtues in our lives would produce actions that were harmonious in a larger commonwealth of plants and people? And what sort of communities must we create in order to encourage the harmonious action that we expect from individuals?" Orr suggests that we could learn something from cultures that preserve the virtues of humility, simplicity, moderation, prudence, frugality, hard work, neighborliness, and family stability. And he insists that, although individuals practice them, these virtues are not just individual values. They're social values, and institutions and societies must nourish them to keep them. At St. Olaf, therefore, we'll practice thrift, frugality, prudence and sufficiency. We'll nurture virtues of care and cooperation, trust and commitment. In an age when the word "virtue" sounds old-fashioned, we'll re-fashion it for a sustainable future.

Think and act globally and locally

A St. Olaf student enjoying one of the first days of spring in front of Mellby Hall.

"Think globally and act locally" is a common slogan of today's environmental movement, and it's worth remembering. At St. Olaf, we intend to maintain a global perspective in our encounters with the natural world. In our American lives, we operate by remote control, as our everyday decisions trigger environmental impacts around the globe. We'll pay attention, therefore, to the sources of our resources, and try to assure that we care for other environments as lovingly as we care for our own. As much as possible, we'll procure products that protect or preserve the environment in processes of extraction, production and distribution.

But we also want to think locally and act locally, studying this particular place for its ecological lessons. We'll nourish a new sense of place and a college culture attuned to the nature of its place. We'll invite students to understand the diverse landscapes of our campus by encouraging a sense of place that is sensual—experiencing the land and the landscape through sight and sound and taste and touch and smell. In the process, we'll embrace and embody a sense of wonder and a love for nature. We'll also cultivate a new common sense of the natural resources of Manitou Heights, and of the ways in which we can become native to this place.

Finally, we also want to think locally and act globally. We intend to use our experience on Manitou Heights as an example, good and bad, for other colleges and institutions. With other colleges and universities, we hope to create a set of standard benchmarks to measure our environmental progress (or regress). We hope to use our procurement practices to affect businesses in Minnesota and around the world. And because we intend to teach our students by our own institutional commitments, we expect to graduate young adults with designing minds who will make a substantial difference in the world.

Cultivate long-term thinking

In addition to thinking in space—locally and globally—we'll practice a new way of thinking in time. We'll counter the prevailing "now-ness" of American culture by cultivating the art of long-term thinking, considering future generations in making today's decisions.