On Wes Jackson’s "Becoming Native to This Place" and Sustainable Education

Wes Jackson writes that, “when we humans mess around with an ecosystem, we tend to invert what nature does well. Just as bad, we tend to ignore the question of why nature features ecological mosaics that, until disturbed for human purposes, provide, in the words of John Todd, ’elegant solutions predicated on the uniqueness of [each] place’ ” (p.78). I believe that Jackson is absolutely correct in thinking that the best ways of living are those that work with the environment in which we live rather than by imposing a foreign construct onto a new place. There are many terms for this way of thinking, such as bioregionalism and bio-mimicry. The core notion is that nature, over time, has evolved into an organization of reciprocity that is place-specific and that, more than anything, works. That is, the Earth’s systems have been around for a long time, and species and landscapes have successfully adapted to its biological systems of both limits and bounty. And so when we come to a new place, we are seeing the product of millions of years of trial and error. In order to turn towards sustainable communities, we do not have to re-invent our organizing systems as much as we need to pay attention to the ones that already exist. And to do it, as Jackson suggests, we will need a whole new generation of students who are able to envision this.

Wes Jackson reminds us that we must move away from the concept of economy as our governing principle and replace it with ecology. The author writes that, “to a large extent, this book is a challenge to the universities to stop and think what they are doing with the young men and women they are supposed to be preparing for the future. The universities now offer only one serious major: upward mobility” (p.3). But there is ambiguity for students of what he calls “homecoming,”, or what we call sustainability. The successful examples of sustainability that we read and write about are of people who are living sustainability more than studying it. From the Ladakh to Arcosanti to Wes Jackson, we see people that are actively engaged in a local pursuit to understand their place and to live in harmony with it. And so for students, we ask ourselves, “what can I do?”

For students of other subjects, this may also be a question that they ask themselves, but it is certainly not as pronounced. The study of sustainability, or homecoming, implies that a career is not necessarily our primary goal. It suggests alternative meanings to our lives, which, by default, are difficult to fold into our culture of modern America. It implies additional matters of importance like spiritual growth, outdoor experiences, and deep connections with other people. The study of sustainability is a pursuit to the wholeness of life that is not present in the singular focus of homogenized America. While non-compatible is too strong a phrase to describe the relationship, not-exactly-compatible might fit.

The dilemma for students of sustainability is that we are torn between the academic pursuit of sustainability, and the gut-feeling urge for immediate applicability. The academic pursuit fuels our urge to be successful in the traditional sense and gives us access to positions where we can hopefully be influential. There are political and economic realities to which we must consider. This, however, is not a simple task. Jackson again: “Our task is to build cultural fortresses to protect our emerging nativeness. They must be strong enough to hold at bay the powers of consumerism, the powers of greed and envy and pride. One of the most effective ways for this to come about would be for our universities to assume the awesome responsibility to both validate and educate those who want to be homecomers” (p.97). I agree with Jackson that universities stand at the unique position to facilitate the change that we need by providing an avenue for students to study both the larger concept of sustainability as well as local and place-based issues. Universities are the only institutions that have the capacity to assume such a responsibility. Within its infrastructure is the flexibility to introduce new curriculum and ideas, and the potential political willpower to implement them.

Particularly as cities and universities become strained economically, and budgets are increasingly being cut back, it is more important for universities to use their students as resources to contribute to the local area. We should not only encourage local student research, but we should not be afraid to listen to their conclusions. For example, universities pay private companies for the design and construction of their buildings. This is silly considering that we have departments of both civil engineering as well as construction. A university has virtually all of the resources necessary for planning and development within its student body and faculty, and yet we contract out to other companies. How can we validate the concepts of sustainability if we do not turn to its students for guidance? How can we foster homecomers when their voices are not prominent? Not just students of sustainability, but the entire student body is an invaluable resource for a university and its city. Turning to them would lessen pressure on budgets while at the same time provide an excellent opportunity to apply research to the place in which they live.

Not only capital assets, but students of social science research, economics, food systems, and all other areas of study are invaluable. We can build the fortress that Jackson is referring to - the emergence of sustainability - through an emphasis by universities on in-house research and local issues. More than just a bullet-point on a strategic vision list, universities should be serious about being issue-focused and place-based. The more that a university participates with the town and city that it is in, the more it applies its vast resources – the student body – to the study and appreciation of place, then the more we will protect and nurture the emergence of alternative systems of organizing.

This, however, does not necessarily dispel the dichotomy of going to school in order to “become native.” To be sure, universities have not been successful at holding “at bay the powers of consumerism, the powers of green and envy and pride.” Jackson writes that “the long search and experiment to become native […] will be a struggle, but a worthy one. The homecomer will not learn the likes of Virgil to adorn his talk, to show off, but will study Virgil for insight, for utility, as well as for pleasure” (p.97). In as much as I agree with Jackson, it must be stated that it is quite easy to say that we will pursue upper education solely for insight, utility, and pleasure than it is to practice it. It is common to find frustration in students of sustainability precisely for this reason. While it is noble and rational to attend college for insight, it is also sacrificial. What we need to be careful to do as universities is provide the fortress that Jackson refers to. We can do that by providing opportunities for application.

To do this, I believe that we need to have more internships between university students and the local public administrations in which they live, both county and municipal. Public administrations will provide an excellent opportunity for students to make an impact locally through policy. To go from studying issues of sustainability to positions that influence how we define “public” for our future is integral. Also, part of becoming native and developing a reverence for place means staying in the same place. In that sense, more work-related experiences within the community in which the college is located is more valuable than sending students off around the country for internships that have little to do with their home community. Instead, staying local provides the opportunity for students to build relationships with people and landscapes outside the university setting but within their own community. It adds another layer to the appreciation of place.

In addition to public administrations, we also need internships in not-for-profits and private businesses. We need more fieldwork experiences through the community to foster more relationships. The point here is that while we are searching for alternative ways of living, for alternative ways of organizing our lives, we should not create alternatives that are not connected to our present condition. We should be careful not conceive of alternatives that do not contain threads of continuity with our current systems, or we will become lost in the nebulous of what constitutes “alternative.” Local internships allow for connections not just with current systems of governance and policy, but also neighbors, friends, business owners, mountains, prairies, mountain lions, and all members of the community.

Finally, without direct application of our concepts, we risk falling back to already accepted norms. Jackson writes that “even when we try to think other possibilities, other worldviews, the powerful assumptions stirring within us reassert themselves in unexpected and often undetected ways. So our modern thinking is itself resistant to critique and change, even as the end of the fossil fuel epoch comes in sight” (p.104). The concepts of sustainability are real and true, and the warnings must be heeded. We are already beginning to see the voices of the sustainability community being validated as economic systems are crashing and the idea of ‘being green’ takes hold. Taking our concepts of sustainability and applying them locally will create a compassion for what happens to the place in which we live. To not do so is to fall back to the well-developed stereotype of universities as factories for diplomas. And if this happens, then universities will have failed to build Wes Jackson’s fortress, and the issues of sustainability will be defined by the highest bidder. We must apply our concepts of sustainability locally in order to become ‘native.’ It builds relationships with, people, towns , mountains, streams, and trees. And it is this shared compassion with one another and with the surrounding environment that, in turn, provides the context that we need in order to successfully build community.