The Nine Elements of a Sustainable Campus by Thomashow Mitchell;Cortese Anthony;

Author:Thomashow, Mitchell;Cortese, Anthony; [Thomashow, Mitchell]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 3339761
Publisher: MIT Press
Published: 2014-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

6

Wellness

Wellness as Human Flourishing

To stay in good physical shape, and to rejuvenate my energy, I always take a mid-day exercise break. When I was at Unity College, I enjoyed taking a lunchtime bicycle ride. For the first few weeks I went solo. Several of my senior staffers noticed and they asked if they could join me. Before long, we had a cohort of riders, including students, staffers, and faculty members. I’d send an e-mail message to the extended cohort each morning announcing the time and place for the daily ride. This became a wonderful routine. I had some of my best meetings while bicycle riding through the rural Maine countryside.

The entire campus (and the town) soon took notice. Before long, many of the staffers started taking exercise breaks during the day. We considered how the college could support a comprehensive approach to campus fitness. The vice president of academic affairs, the dean of student life, the athletic director, and I (all members of the lunchtime bicycle team) hatched plans for supporting “wellness” initiatives on campus. We introduced nutritional awareness, mindfulness meditation, frisbee golf, seasonal vaccinations, and wilderness outings. I am convinced that this boosted campus morale, improved community health, promoted a sense of good will, and set a public example. I wanted to promote not only the virtues of physical fitness, but also the necessity of living a balanced, healthy, and joyful life.

Sustainability and wellness are inextricably linked. When you strip away all the layers of the nine elements and you seek the origins, motivations, and intentions of the sustainability ethos, what is the essence of its deeper meaning? I believe it is the aspiration to live a fulfilling life. What words shall we use to describe this aspiration: wellness? well-being? human flourishing? happiness? exuberance? celebration? And what virtues are the foundations of a good life? Which virtues are intrinsic to sustainability, and how are they linked to campus life? These are complex questions of meaning and purpose. People are attracted to the sustainability ethos for countless reasons, and it would take many late evenings of good conversation to better understand various interpretations of human flourishing. Still, the issue must be addressed. Aspirants and critics alike assert that sustainability encompasses values. What better place is there to discuss values than a college campus? The sustainability ethos requires a philosophy of education. It implies that we think carefully about the meaning of a good life. Late evening conversations about such topics are a very good thing.

These conversations range far and wide, through spiritual and scientific territory, through the realms of ethics, art, history, and psychology, spinning diverse narratives, raising intricate questions, probing all manner of inquiry and experience. Yet there is a core belief that distinguishes the sustainability ethos. This is the assertion of a correspondence between human flourishing and ecological resilience, that the future of humanity and the biosphere share a common destiny, and that personal well-being is connected to the fate of the planet.

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