Environmental or not

Reading the news from other UWC's that the linking group put up in the AQ made me think; Other UWC's have environmental campaigns, and participate way more than us in the 350 campaign than us. I felt that we weren't “UWC” enough and that we should do more. On the other hand, when you think about it, we might be the most environmentally friendly UWC. We have a biodiversity reserve, we harvest water, we recycle, create our own compost, have solar panels and we are now working on making a natural water cleaning reed bed plant that will make us even more sustainable however I don't know to what extent the awareness of the environment is a part of our daily lives. Just take a walk around your own wada after people have gone to bed and see how many outside lights are on or count in a day how many times you walk into an empty room which has its lights and on,. This little thing to turn the light off at night or when you leave a room might not make that big of a difference, but it is what it symbolizes that counts. You are showing everyone that you care. The same thing comes into play when EPA wants to introduce lights out on Saturdays, it might not be the most pragmatic thing to do but it is showing everyone that we want to do something.
This actually extents to what Dr. Wilkinson said about the UWC experience not starting until you leave this place. It is important to be pragmatic, but it is worth nothing without the symbolism that creates awareness. We might be the most environmentally friendly campus, but it is worth nothing if we are not educated about it. A campus that has awareness, but perhaps doesn't have that much sustainability can still create a whole badge every year, of environmental warriors. What do we create here? We live on a more and more sustainable campus, but it is not of that much interest to us. So perhaps we should be do it for its symbolic value and the awareness it creates, not for its pragmatism because we know that it doesn't make that much of a difference Perhaps it would be a better idea to do it less often, make it more symbolic by making it an occasion. It is not that it is going to save the world, but it will make us aware that there is a world to be saved. My conclusion is, I guess, that we should be the change, but we should also not forget to talk about it.