Greenmaroons

What if Bethel College started marketing itself as a "green" school? They already have a decent start. The prairie reconstruction project across the street is a great idea. They have a car-sharing program, they have stickers next to light switches reminding people to turn off lights when they leave the room, and they offer interterm trips with the biology department to Central America.

To expand on those features, the opportunities are endless, and they vary greatly in cost and complexity. They could turn a small section of land into a campus garden, and make it a student-run project by subsidizing a club to tend to it or by offering scholarships, wages, or course credits to do so. Those students could then sell the fruits and vegetables in the local community to raise money for additional green projects around campus. The college could also offer financial incentives for students to leave their vehicles at home rather than bringing them to campus. They could buy fresh produce for the cafeteria from the local farmers' market. They could offer a major in environmental or agricultural studies (agricultural would be more unique), and hire a professor with a background in both economics and agriculture. They could give gift certificates to local businesses that promote fair trade, commit to using minimal packaging, or sell only pesticide- and chemical-free products at various campus events. They could build a power-generating windmill or solar panels on campus. They could encourage composting. They could make sure every building they build meets the highest standards in energy efficiency. They could offer a competitive financial award in the business department for green entrepreneurship. They could start a year-long or semester-long competition, with a kickass reward, to see which dorm or which residence hall can use the least amount of water per capita. They could encourage students to do their senior seminars on topics relevant to the Great Plains region. Biology students could research alternative farming techniques with the help of Bethel alumni in the farms around Goessel, Hillsboro, and Moundridge. Physics students could study wind and solar energy. English students could study literature of the Plains, working to discern the relationships between the land and the cultures that inhabit it.

No doubt most of these suggestions cost more money than I think and are easier said than done, but that is not my concern right now. I'm just brainstorming.

When my grandparents went to Bethel College, most of their classmates grew up on farms. Several of my parents' classmates did as well. Very few of mine did. That pattern, of course, mirrors national trends; nowadays less than 2 percent of Americans live on farms. But there is another national trend that Bethel would do well to take maximum advantage of: a growing craze for organic products, sustainable living methods, and local economies.

When I was a student at Bethel (not so terribly long ago), farming was seen by many as a brainless, conservative, blue-collar activity that no smart, liberal, upwardly-mobile college graduate would aspire to. My friends in the sciences leaned toward medical research and practice, my friends in the humanities leaned toward the education system, and my friends in the in-between disciplines (psychology, history, social work, etc.) leaned toward social and human services. I didn't have many close friends in the business department, and those I did have leaned toward whatever would make them money. Generally, few of my friends wanted to live in Kansas, unless they could stay within the protective Bethel bubble.

I think, though, that if Bethel played its cards right, it could turn its location (rural, agricultural, quiet central Kansas) from a weakness into a strength. It could market itself as the greenest Kansas college (using The Green as a central metaphor), with the most expertise about sustainable agriculture and the 21st-century food and energy economies. In doing so, they might convince some local farm kids to come to Bethel to learn about agriculture rather than going to K-State. They might also strengthen their ties with the legions of Bethel alumni in the area with farming roots. If President-Elect Obama's vision for a "new energy economy" pans out, it will include a new "green-collar" job sector based heavily in America's rural areas. It would be nice to place some Bethel graduates in prominent positions in the new green-collar industry. If Kansas is the future home of wind farms, vast fields of solar panels, and revolutionary agricultural experiments, wouldn't it be great if Bethel could be on the leading end of the revolution?