1. Cultivate virtues appropriate to a culture of permanence

St. Olaf is an American college and so, for the most part, we cultivate the virtues that have characterized American culture. Most of the people in the St. Olaf community have learned to be good Americans, and that involves some bad habits. We've learned to privilege human preferences over natural needs, and to consume resources without worrying much about the environmental consequences.

At St. Olaf, however, we also cultivate virtues appropriate to a church-related liberal arts college, and those virtues involve thinking twice about the intellectual and institutional patterns of our lives. As students and faculty and staff engaged in critical thinking, we're often thoughtful about our environmental impacts. And we're becoming more conscious and conscientious about our environmental stewardship. Slowly but surely, we're trying to adjust the habits of our hearts to the needs of a small planet with a fragile biosphere.

Think and act globally and locally

One of the ironies of campus ecology is that most of our environmental impacts don't occur on campus. But in our everyday lives, we set in motion a chain of events that affects the entire planet. Our privilege permits us to enjoy things here and now that impacts economies and ecosystems of other places, and of the future. The college mission statement commits us to a global perspective, and a really global perspective requires attention to planetary health.

We already nurture global thinking in our students in many ways. Students explore the world in our classrooms. They explore it on off-campus and overseas programs. St. Olaf is a national leader in overseas educational programs, and many of our programs enhance environmental awareness. Several of the programs contribute for Environmental Studies—Biology in South India, Tropical Field Research in Costa Rica, Environmental Studies in Australia, Island Biology, Equatorial Biology, Superior Studies at Wolf Ridge, Winter Ecology, and the Washington Semester in International Environment and Development.

Cars parked near Old Main

So far, however, our global perspective hasn't greatly affected our local environmental practice. For example, despite witnessing the social and environmental devastation caused by oil drilling in the Ecuadorian Amazon during the Equatorial Biology interim, students remain highly dependent on individual cars. We're better at raising awareness than bringing it back down to earth, especially to this patch of earth we inhabit on Manitou Heights .

But we're getting better at thinking and acting locally too. Environmental responsibility literally takes place where we are. Consequently, we intend to know our place in the Cannon River Valley watershed of Minnesota, understanding what nature makes possible in this place, and how we can shape the nature of our place for the health of our locality and bioregion. In the last ten years, for example, St. Olaf has been a "groundwater guardian," making a concerted effort to keep its stormwater runoff on its own lands, thus relieving stress on the Northfield storm sewer system and helping purify water for recharging the Jordan aquifer. Our land restorations and trail system are open to the Northfield community, providing opportunities for hiking, running, skiing, birdwatching and fresh air to people nearby. As we turn to local sources for our food, we'll also be supporting Minnesota farmers and the regional economy as well.

Cultivate long-term thinking

The environmental crisis, or the energy crisis, or the oil crisis, or the ozone crisis—or whatever crisis you think we're in—isn't usually a recent occurrence. Instead it's the slow symptom of a long process called the industrial revolution. For more than 200 years, people have re-ordered their lives to take advantage of the energies embedded in fossil fuels. These energies have revolutionized all aspects of economic and social life. They have made people more productive, more comfortable, more affluent. People are healthier, and many of us are arguably happier. ¹

But the energies embedded in fossil fuels have not been purely positive. They have made possible the plundering of the planet. With fossil fuels to mine materials, pump oil and gas, cut forests, fish the lakes and rivers and oceans, manufacture cars and trains and ships, transport materials around the globe, build homes and businesses and skyscrapers, people have changed the face of the earth. And they have used up much of the material bounty of creation. A planet that once seemed almost infinite and imperial is now seen as finite and fragile.

The progress of the industrial revolution came from a process of short-term thinking. In the 18 th century, a leader like John Adams explained his participation in politics by saying, "I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history and naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry and porcelain." In the 20 th century, a leader like Jimmy Carter was ridiculed for his Global 2000 report, which had the hubris of considering a future just 21 years ahead. Neither American politics nor the American economic system reward long-term thinking.

At St. Olaf, for the most part, we're normal Americans, looking ahead a little, but not a lot. We've used most foresight in thinking about architecture, and we've designed buildings to last. We have plans for deferred maintenance, but find that short-term needs often cause us to postpone upkeep and repairs. And in many (if not most) of our consumption patterns, we've participated in many of the myopic patterns of American civilization. We can't live in the future, of course, but in our planning we can be more mindful of the future not just of the college, but of the planet that supports every human endeavor.

¹ Like other histories, the histories of health and happiness aren't uncontroversial. People live longer, and they don't suffer from all the same diseases as their ancestors. But they also experience stress and anxiety disorders that seem to have been relatively rare in the past.