Oberlin College Sustainability Program Shines Through Student YouTube Video

Oberlin College is a private institution in Oberlin, Ohio, that makes a strong effort to encourage sustainability among their students and faculty. Multiple students at the college came together to showcase this commitment by producing a video entitled Creating a Culture of Sustainability at Oberlin College. The video’s purpose is to show the world how Oberlin College is choosing to live sustainably within their environment, and was presented at Second Nature’s 2013 Climate Leadership Awards.

The entire video is geared toward how students at Oberlin can make a difference. Bridget Flynn, the film’s producer, said “Part of what we do on campus is not just build buildings that are sustainable, but try and get residents who live, work, and play in our buildings to think about sustainability”. This idea is present throughout the video through student and faculty interviews. Students explain how Oberlin’s commitment to sustainability is part of the reason they chose to attend the college in the first place, and discuss what they do to make a positive sustainability impact on a daily basis. This shows how students at Oberlin are environmentally conscious and could attract potential students who feel the same.

The video also includes interviews from professors and the college’s president. Professors discuss things they do to get their students more involved in sustainability, such as teaching outside, and the president even says “I’ve been so impressed by commitment by on the part of the students, faculty, and staff to try and make the world better and try to make our community stronger in terms of conserving resources and being smart about our energy usage”. A quote like this from a high level member of the college community shows that the college is working together as a whole to meet their sustainability goals.

Another way the creators of the video showcase their sustainability efforts is through examining actual sustainability projects that the students and faculty are conducting. One example of this is a wetland they built on campus to model how Ohio actually filters water. They also talk about a student-run campus organization that raises money for sustainability. Their examples are a great way to demonstrate that they are not only trying to make a difference by themselves, but they are also attempting to get others to follow their lead. These demonstrations along with the landscape montages in the film give a visual perspective of what they are trying to preserve and how they are doing it.

I think that the video does a great job of exhibiting Oberlin College’s sustainability efforts and practices, and can be seen as a call to action for more students and colleges to follow their lead and join in the sustainability movement. If I were to have one critique, it would most likely be to talk about the effects of their efforts more so, in addition to just explaining them. If they were to actually prove that they are making a difference, it might make others more eager to do the same.

Creating a Culture of Sustainability at Oberlin College. Dir. Kirk Pearson. YouTube. N.p., 15 May 2013. Web.