Bowdoin has failed in its self-proclaimed mission to lessen the impact of climate change through College-wide action. It is not just a failure of results; it has been a failure of vision and a failure of leadership. Our leaders do not understand the nature of the problem; they believe that there is some solution that does not amount to a change in our behaviors.
The heart of the argument for sustainability is conservation. We realize that our actions and our use of resources affect future generations. As Teddy Roosevelt put it, "Our duty to the whole, including the unborn generations, bids us to restrain an unprincipled present-day minority from wasting the heritage of these unborn generations."
The environmental crisis is a crisis of resources—there are not enough resources on this planet to power the aggregated aspirations of mankind. There is not enough oil to fuel our cars; there is not enough space to hold our carbon waste; and there is not enough land to sustain population growth. How can we satisfy our desires and wants but conserve enough resources for our children?
Sustainability and the environmental movement are not purely selfish, for we also seek to ask how our decisions affect those other creatures who share the planet. How noble. It is too bad that our leaders forget the core mission of sustainability—conservation.
Resources must be conserved. We cannot buy our way out of climate change. The posters proclaiming that Bowdoin is ready to fight climate change required resources to construct and print. To what end?
Will two-dozen posters change people's behavior enough to conserve the amount of resources and energy that went into making those posters? Will buying a new, environmentally friendly Nalgene made at a factory with low carbon emissions make up for the old Nalgene that lies unused? Will buying T-shirts that say "Polar Bears against Climate Change" save any polar bears or stop climate change? No.
My eco reps tell me to recycle my beer cans. If it is worth it to recycle a single can, isn't it worth it to recycle an entire building?
Barry Mills proudly tells his colleagues that Bowdoin has one of the first LEED certified hockey stadiums in the country. LEED certification, which by its very title defines the leaders of the environment movement, does not take into account that an entire building will be demolished as a result of the new one being built.
I'd like President Mills to follow up his proud proclamation by informing those same colleagues that Bowdoin will now feature an additional parking lot after Dayton is demolished. Not only are we using virgin resources to build a new rink, we are sending a good percentage of an old one to a landfill, and encouraging more driving to boot. Show me the calculations that prove constructing a new building and destroying an old one is sustainable. You'll need to invite some magicians to the President's Climate Commitment Advisory Committee to make that one work.
If you want to be sustainable, Bowdoin College, buy fewer clothes. Reuse the same Solo cup every weekend. Plant trees. Print double-sided. Turn Dayton into office buildings or lab space rather than tear it down.
Until our leaders understand that they cannot buy a solution, we are destined to waste the heritage of those unborn generations.
Aaron Cole is a member of the Class of 2011.