Design in Progress

Like it or not, you are involved in this practice of ecological design. By your every action, you are designing the world of tomorrow. At St. Olaf, we hope you’ll be conscious and conscientious about your choices. We hope you’ll help us design a community for the 21st century (and beyond), and we hope you’ll let us help you with your creative designs for your own mind.

St. Olaf College is already an ecological design, but it’s a design in progress, and we’d like to invite you to bring your designing minds to the task of designing a community—both human and natural—that nourishes all of the life of this place. You can do this in your daily routine and in your active membership in this community. In your daily routine, I’d invite you to be materialistic—not in the old American way that tells you that you are what you own, but in a new American materialism in which you take responsibility for the materials you use, both near and far. Most Americans are conscious of recycling, but we can also be conscientious about reducing consumption, re-using old things, recycling materials, resisting the ads and peer pressure that are designed to get us to consume more, and rejoicing in the simple (and sometimes spiritual) pleasures of life. We all know about recycling, but we can also think about pre-cycling—keeping things out of the waste stream by not buying stuff we don’t need.

As new members of the St. Olaf community, you’ve chosen St. Olaf because you think it’s the kind of place you want to live and work in. Remember, too, that you’re responsible for the shape of this community—and your other communities too. Get involved in student government and local government and national government. Join student organizations like Environmental Coalition , the STOGROW Farm, and the College Republicans or Democrats (maybe even both). Volunteer in the Northfield community. Join the college council or other college communities. Write to me about what you can do with your designing mind.