The World is as you Dream it

Nathan Engstrom
Coordinator, Office of Environmental Sustainability

Earth Day, for those of you who might not be aware, is this Sunday, April 22nd. This presents us with a good opportunity to reflect on the troubles of the world, their root causes and impacts, and most importantly what can be done about them.

Regardless of one’s political, religious, ideological, philosophical, academic or scientific proclivity, the world is a troubled place. The massacre at Virginia Tech, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, global warming, poverty and oppression, the subtle and pervasive effects of long-term industrial development, and the empire of global corporatocracy are areas of concern for us all whether or not we agree on their causes or impacts or even believe in them at all.

I fear that we as a society are becoming desensitized. Not just to violence or environmental or social justice concerns, but to our own contributions, whether complicit or complacent, to the systems that are responsible for destruction, inequality, greed and exploitation. Decisions both great and small are often driven by personal motivation rather than a desire to do the right thing or act in the interest of the greater good. It’s easy to justify this. We’re simply doing our jobs, doing what we’re told, doing what’s easy, advancing our careers or supporting our lifestyle.

Can we as a society tear ourselves away from our cars, jobs, interest payments and television shows long enough to consider the consequences of our actions? What are the broader implications of the decisions we make (or don’t make) every day? Why have we allowed ourselves to be sucked into a system that we know to be unjust? How have we deceived others and ourselves? Where have we deferred?

When we stop to think about these things we are almost certainly surprised at what we didn’t know, at what we thought we knew, or at what we never thought to ask. We realize that even the strongest of beliefs are often relative at best. That money really can’t buy happiness. That just because it’s on TV doesn’t make it true. That we shouldn’t hold onto something just because it defines us. That we have more to gain than we do to lose by profoundly changing our priorities.

We need to read between the lines of every newspaper article and question the deeper implications of web sites and radio and TV reports. We need to hold companies that take advantage of desperate people or pollute the environment accountable for their actions. We need to question the roles and functions of economic and social institutions and the people who are a part of them—ourselves included. We need a revolution in our approach to education. We need to subvert global distribution and communication networks to bring about positive and compassionate change. We need to get personally involved, speak out and act with compassion.

My vision is that sustainability represents the ultimate liberal art and as such is fundamentally important to the function of Oberlin as a liberal arts college. A community that recognizes the interconnections between the environment, economics, equity and esthetics is one that understands the dynamic interactions of species and communities over time and during changing ecological conditions. A college that embraces sustainability commits itself to instilling a consciousness of these interrelationships and developing the skills necessary to create new possibilities and extend our ecological imaginations through any discipline, field, endeavor, or area of study.