I call alumni on the telephone to raise money for the University. On Tuesday, I talked to a graduate from the architecture program who now resides in Virginia. Trying to find some common ground between my passions and his profession, I brought up green architecture. I told the graduate about Earthships, the new achievement in sustainability. I expressed my excitement for mass production of houses that are made from 100-percent recycled materials, and have virtually no environmental footprint. Upon the conclusion of my rant, he started laughing.
“You are such a tree-hugging, liberal Oregonian,” the graduate spoke.
Despite the available information, environmentalism still fails to reach across political ideologies. Just as business is often associated with conservatism, environmentalism is often labeled with liberalism. Yet to me, this is not the case at our University.
Throughout the course of the day, I marvel at the eclectic demographic of “environmentalists” here. In one weekday, I might see an Alpha Phi member fill up her coffee thermos, a fixed-gear biker compost his banana peel, and a well-dressed business professor locking up her bike. Almost subconsciously, the vast majority of students and faculty at the University practice some form of environmentalism.
Malcolm Gladwell addresses a formula for social epidemics in his book, “The Tipping Point.” He notes three separate factors. The first is “mavens”: people who are ahead of the game with information. The second factor is “connectors.” A connector has a wide variety of social connections, and a gift for communication. Connectors bring the world together. The last factor is the “Power of Context,” which Gladwell says is the idea that human behavior is sensitive to and strongly influenced by its environment. “Epidemics are sensitive to the conditions and circumstances of the times and places in which they occur,” he writes. Malcolm Gladwell says that if these three factors coexist in their highest form, a social epidemic, or revolution, can be successful.
The necessity for a green revolution is well-known here, but travel to, say, the Northeast and you’ll likely find the green movement much less prominent. In my home state of Connecticut, you can only recycle bottles and cans if you’re lucky enough to find a bin. When those bins went to the dump, they got lumped together with the trash – pretty efficient.
I don’t know why the heart of the environmental movement is in the Pacific Northwest. Maybe it is because we have breathtaking mountains. Maybe it is because our hot tubs don’t require electricity, but rather a hike to your nearest fault line, where you will find one of Oregon’s numerous hot springs. Whatever the reason, I would say Oregonians are mavens of environmentalism. Given the fact that we continue to have natural disasters, a dangerous population boom and new diseases, I’d say the context is pretty suitable for a Green Revolution.
The University can be both a maven and a connector in accelerating the Green Revolution. Business students can be entrepreneurs of green power companies. Journalism students can produce media with a sustainable attitude. Architecture students can continue to model houses off of nature. Artists can produce anything that is reflective of the sustainable lifestyle here in Oregon.
If all parts of the University work together, we can let our sustainable wave travel across coasts, continents and ideologies.
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UO can accelerate Green Revolution
Daily Emerald
May 5, 2009
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