During Earth Week, students likely noticed the addition of a green “Sustainability Pillar” which resided outside of the cafeteria.
According to Gustavus Greens Co-President Cameron Reischauer, the idea for the pillar originated during the meetings of the student organization as a component of Earth Week.
Students and faculty passing by were encouraged to sign the pillar in support of sustainability efforts during Earth Week.
“We thought this would be a good way for students to voice their opinion and then also have something visible on campus because sometimes the Greens aren’t always that visible, because most of our projects take place out in the greenhouse or out around campus in smaller spots,” Reischauer said.
Reischauer said that he received a range of reactions, from excitement to skepticism, but that most were supportive after the purpose of the pillar was explained. He added that the support of the campus community will be gauged before moving forward with the initiative.
Former president of the Greens Senior Tiamat Gustafson said that conversations about the addition of a sustainability pillar originated earlier this year. She said that some individuals have questioned whether sustainability is already represented through the existing pillars.
“If you think of the other pillars, isn’t service passively in excellence and justice is in faith, and isn’t community in faith and faith in community, and I think you really can make that argument for the other five pillars, but it would really mean something by saying sustainability has its own pillar,” Gustafson said.
Reischauer said that the potential of offering a proposal for a sixth pillar is still in the preliminary stages. The Greens have thought about where the new pillar might be situated in the dining space.
“The best case would be to get it approved to be in the space farther down there where there is room for another pillar. We do need to think about it cost-wise if we can get administration support, and then also dining services need to approve. There’s really a lot of people involved in the process, so that would be ideal, but there are a lot of things to go through before we get to that point,” Reischauer said.
Director of the Johnson Center for Environmental Innovation and advisor to the Gustavus Greens James Dontje expressed that the subject can be approached two ways.
“You could argue, too, that if we make the right decisions, we do the right things, sustainability just becomes part of day to day business so it doesn’t need anything special, it’s just about doing things correctly,” Dontje said, noting that the existing core values contain components which are necessary to support sustainability.
He also addressed the other side of the argument and the benefits to the addition of a sixth pillar.
“With seven billion of us on the planet and a general tendency on the part of everybody to want to consume more resources, sustainability is going to have to be at the focus of our attention for many years to come, for our lifetimes. We’re just going to have to work at it all the time, and if that’s the case maybe it does have to be lifted up separately as a reminder, as a way to sort of keep us honest about what we’re doing, that we’re always looking at that,” Dontje said.
Some students were surveyed about their perspectives relating to the pillar.
“I think if they really wanted to create it as one of the pillars that we have, they need to first live by that code before we say that we’re going to. I think that too often we get ahead of ourselves by wanting to label the community as what it is before it truly is. It should be something that we do without thinking twice, it should be second nature and something that is just part of the experience and then it becomes the pillar, rather than creating the pillar first and hoping we follow,” Junior Jeffrey Nelson said.
Other students offered additional inspiration for the potential nature of a sixth pillar.
“If I were to install a sixth pillar, it would be gratitude, but I think that goes hand in hand with sustainability and taking care of our resources on this campus and beyond,” Senior Liz Strom said.
Dontje said that instilling a sixth pillar will require a decision made with the support of the entire Gustavus community. He added that while the College has experienced success with composting efforts, a conversation about waste and material cycles is necessary to improve the environmental impact of the institution.
“I think it could be helpful to have the pillar, but we could certainly do a lot of good things without it and if we agree as a community to make it a pillar or if we don’t, let’s not say we’re not doing anything. We still have work to do with or without the pillar,” Dontje said, ultimately concluded of sustainability efforts.
Students interested in joining the conversation are invited to attend the Gustavus Greens meeting, held each Thursday at 9 p.m. in the Gustie Den.

-Libby Larson