“I urge impatience,” boomed Dr. Mitch Thomashow, President of Unity College in Unity, Maine. This gregarious man who filled the stage with importance and compassion delivered what I thought was the most compelling presentation in the three days of GreenBuild. He urged the audience of Green architects, builders, designers, remodelers, and city officials to move ahead quickly and without further delay as climate change is the number one threat to a quality future.
He talked about AASHE – The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education and the thousands of members that are committed to “…a prosperous, equitable, and ecologically healthy world” where “…. higher education plays a vital role in ensuring that people have an understanding of the interdependencies between environmental, social, and economic forces and the skills and abilities to meet sustainability challenges.”
(You might be surprised to see what schools have committed to the AASHE challenge: Notre Dame (my alma mater), U of MN, Century College (another alma mater), Augsburg College, Dakota County Technical College, Hamline U, Gustavus Adolphus, Macalester, UW-River Falls, UW-Stout…and many too numerous to mention http://www.aashe.org/membership/members/institutional_members
Dr. Thomashow talked about the 9 elements of a sustainable culture to which Unity adheres (with “governance” being the most influential element of change). He also showed pictures of the 1,900 square foot Green home where he and his wife live that was designed to doubles as an environmental teaching lab. He is teaching the Unity Board of Directors what it means to truly be an environmental liberal arts college. He is teaching them to walk the talk all the while urging impatience.
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