Opinion > September 4, 2008

By Jacob Bathanti, Lacey Robinson and Ross Williford | Guest columnists

In this space in the weeks to come, you will be reading about issues related to environmental sustainability and to environmental protectionist movements in general, as well as how such issues apply to our own campus.

You’ll hear from people with widely differing views, from many different points on the political spectrum. All of these folks, whether they’re involved with the rightist group American Energy Security, the more nonpartisan Student Environmental Action Coalition, or are merely concerned denizens of the university and community members unaffiliated with any group, will share a commitment to some facet of the growing movement for a greener future.

You may be wondering why you should hear from us at all. The green movement has a reputation, bluntly, for attracting crazies: the tired stereotype is that of people who don’t bathe and refuse to acknowledge God or country.

That sort of thinking needs to be answered equally bluntly, and the answer is that what we do with our natural resources and our natural environment will have repercussions in the lifespan of our generation. Decisions on energy use affect how much you’re paying to heat your house or drive your car. In a world of rising energy costs, even Dick Cheney is turning to renewable energy (he heats his house geothermally). In an election year where both major candidates are focusing on the benefits of alternative energy, perhaps it behooves us all not to sneer.

This is not your parents’ environmental movement. It is attracting unprecedented numbers, from wide political backgrounds, on this campus and far beyond it. We will seek to provide a forum for these voices. They may belong to evangelical Christians awakening to the responsibilities of God-given dominion, or to radical anarchists who hope to establish a Green Republic in the Winston-Salem area. They might just come from someone who realizes that a better allocation of resources on the university campus could mean lower tuition fees.

Such an example — efficient energy use equating to lower tuition charges — is inherent to the sustainability movement. Sustainability is a term that’s often defined pretty loosely. But even in that loose sense — a commitment to a lifestyle that can be literally sustained year-to-year without necessitating environmental degradation or human oppression — it can be seen as promise of a better life.

We will seek to expose you, as a reader and a thinker and a voter, to ideas and issues that will inexorably shape the world in which we live. A number of different metrics exist to measure sustainability in universities and colleges nationwide. On one of these, the aptly titled “Sustainability Report Card,” Wake Forest received a grade of “D.” UNC got a B-, Duke a B+. We should bloody well be doing better than that. That ought to be motivation enough to commit to environmental sustainability.

It will not necessarily be easy to make this commitment work. The university lags behind in the sustainability race. We need to catch up. It is vital to our environment, our economy – our future. And at the very least, it’s one more way to be better than the schools down the road.

If you’re interested in joining this conversation as a writer, contact Jacob Bathanti. If you want to get actively involved in this cause, we would encourage you to check out one of the current student organizations dealing with these issues: SEAC, WFU Biodiesel and Student Government.

Jacob Bathanti is a senior history and political science major from Boone, N.C. Lacey Robinson is a senior political science major from New Bern, N.C. Ross Williford is a senior mathematical economics major from Winston-Salem, N.C.

Ec-o-pinion is a biweekly column expressing all things environmental.