10. Create and maintain a transparent planning process, and give an honest accounting of our successes and failures.

photo by Gene Bakko

We'll include the whole St. Olaf community—students, staff, faculty, alumni, friends of the college, and neighbors in Northfield—in our conversations, planning, and activities. Sustainability isn't something that can be imposed on a community—it's something that must grow from the conversations of a community, both internally and externally.

Finally, we will share our stories of success and failure so that others may learn from our example (good and bad). As we turn our attention to the arts of sustainability, we will learn a lot from other institutions that are making the same turn. With any luck, we'll also have lessons to offer. In a collegial spirit of cooperation and collaboration, we'll offer our story—on the website, at conferences, and in publications—as an object lesson for people with common concerns.