AASHE at Twenty: A Farther Horizon
By: David W. Orr
In the last few days my inbox includes articles about: rapid changes in the Antarctic; a possible shutdown of the North Atlantic meridional overturning; the legality of the president’s order to kill 11 Venezuelans in international waters without a trial; the collapse of American democracy; attribution of heatwaves to particular corporations; states’ efforts to scuttle voting rights; a complicit Supreme Court; a Cambridge University professor who believes that civilization is doomed. But they were drowned out by the news of Taylor Swift’s Engagement to Travis Kelce. Go figger. We do live in interesting and outrageous times. What’s an AASHE to do?
For one, keep on keeping on. Thanks to all of you, AASHE is a great success story. It is transforming energy use, building practices, and economics at hundreds of colleges and universities. Those success stories affect how thousands of students and administrators think and illuminate a world of better possibilities. So, celebrate those hard-won and long-term victories. Even if they are not in today’s headlines, they matter because they are building the foundation for a better society mostly out of the limelight at the periphery of national attention.
For another, take care of each other. We live in difficult and confusing times that are likely to become even more difficult and confusing. So, walk in the woods, get out on the water, listen to birds, be amazed. It’s good for your soul. Celebrate each other. You are quiet heroes in the transformation to a post-fossil fuel world. Hold hands, have fun, and be grateful for each other. Say ‘thank you’ often and mean it.
Third, for hope look to a farther horizon and endeavor to build bridges to that better future. For that journey, we need systems thinkers who know how to see the patterns. We need political thinkers who understand that everything environmental effects “who gets what, when, and how.” We need artists and musicians who know how to summon our better angels. We need practical visionaries who can see what needs doing and does it. We need people with calloused hands to build, operate, grow, repair, and maintain. We will need first responders who show up and second and third responders who put things back in order and heal psychological, social, and economic wounds. We will need people who keep us laughing because if we’re not laughing we’re not taking things including ourselves seriously enough. We will need prophets and seers with imagination to help us see that we are kin to all life and Trustees for that to come. And, we need leaders with the confidence and competence to build a movement from a very large, diverse, but disconnected majority. Toward that future AASHE is a catalyst—small by volume but large by effect.