Connections Quarterly Spring 2016 - Environment | Page 3

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WELCOME
Environment

There is a scene in the TV series Mad Men in which, at the end of a picnic, the 1950’s hostess simply shakes all of the trash on the picnic blanket onto the field and departs. The
show’s creators successfully showed the difference in the sensitivities of that time period.
I felt myself gasp as I watched this scene. Where did this gasp come from?
There is a strain in medieval philosophy that contends, if you love something or someone,
correct decisions about that which you love automatically follow. Their contention is to
focus on the interior, to examine and deepen what you love, and in so doing ethically
correct action will follow. Hence, this gasp flowed from seeing someone make an incorrect choice about something I loved, even though I wasn’t consciously aware of this love.
All this is to say, the goal of environmentalism is not simply to do something nice on
Earth Day. Rather, as educators our goal is teach how to love. To love not just oneself, not
just those around us, but also to love the Earth on which we reside. As a society, we have
come a long way in seeing the Earth as not simply something to have dominion over, but
something to love and care for.
Environmental responsibility and action can seem like more things to add to the list of
things to do. But as educators, our primary purpose is to create attachment, not tasks. Our
contributors in this edition talk about varying tasks, but are all united in attachment to the
environment in which we exist. l

Bob Mattingly, Executive Director of CSEE

CSEE Connections

Spring 2016

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