Wednesday, 7 Jan 2004

BEREA, Ky.

At 11:00 p.m., it’s time to sit down with a late dinner of improved ramen noodle soup and get some writing accomplished.

Remembering the energized discussion in class today, I appreciate the tension and exhilaration that complement each other in the life of a college student. I can manage the late nights and impossible amounts of reading — as far as I am concerned, the life of a college student is one of leisure — but the greatest challenge is communicating ideas to those with different backgrounds and thought processes.

A class I am taking for January term, Natural Capitalism, has raised some interesting questions concerning sustainable business, natural capital, and incentives to incorporate the value of our collective well-being into the market. One of our assigned readings for this class is Mid-Course Correction, Toward a Sustainable Enterprise: The Interface Model. Interface is a billion dollar company and the largest manufacturer of commercial carpet in the world. It also aims to be a sustainable, zero-waste business, and eventually a restorative company.

The book approaches this seemingly noble goal with practical considerations for business and market-based economics. The author Ray Anderson — the founder, chair, and CEO of Interface — has the following to say:

Interface paid fair market price for every pound of material it has bought and processed … Doesn’t the market govern? Yes, but does the market price cover the cost? Well, let’s see. Who has paid for the military power that has been projected into the Middle East to protect the oil at its source? Why, you have, in your taxes. Thank you very much. And who is paying for the damage done by storms, tornadoes, and hurricanes that result from global warming? Why you are, of course, in your insurance premiums. Thank you again. And who will pay for the losses in Florida and the cost of the flooded, abandoned streets of Boston, New York, New Orleans, and London someday in the distant future? Future generations, your progeny, that’s who. And who pays for the diseases caused by the toxic emissions all around us? Guess! Do you see how the revered market system of the first industrial revolution allows companies like mine to shift those costs to others, to externalize these costs, even to future generations?

Anderson realized he had been robbing our children of their future by externalizing these costs.

I consider daily how to convey such ideas to my peers and to our college administration — the urgency of paying for what we cost not only future generations, but communities today in Appalachia.

Today I received a message from a fellow activist on campus saying that we should use this January term, and the energy of the new year, to raise awareness about our clean-energy campaign and get folks thinking about energy consumption, and why they should give a damn. How do I explain to the average college student the social and environmental implications of leaving the TV blaring or the laptop on all day, that they are perpetuating systems of ignorant consumerism, over-consumption, and irreparable destruction? How do I show them the connection between dorm life and the family in rural Appalachia who, right before Christmas, had their house destroyed by a nearby strip-mining operation? (A mining company was blasting for coal near a house in eastern Kentucky, and in the midst of blowing the top off a mountain, a huge boulder smashed through the family’s roof.)

Oh, the never-ending question — how do we make people understand? We tell the stories.

But informing people of injustice and their connection to it is not all we can do. As with our local campus campaign, Youth Power Shift can’t create change by education alone. By encouraging higher education institutions to use clean, renewable energy sources, we are building a demand for these human-positive technologies, leading the way for other institutions to become more sustainable and creating a domino effect in the students and the surrounding community. Influencing energy policy is only one solution. There are many, and there is a niche for everyone in the social and environmental-justice movement.

As a student, I have come to realize that my most difficult task is allowing others, everyone, to realize their power. I want to communicate clearly the need for people to wield that power for justice, for life and music and democracy, and on and on. I hope we can all embrace the challenge of communicating with one another. Indeed, no one can do it alone.