Kids' knowledge always astounds me, working with them is witnessing the future

I was inspired to donate my time to Oberlin High School by playing in their band rehearsals and fostering growth in the kids as human beings and as musicians

The separation many people have with their food could be broken down if vegetables were growing in the yard

Making a difference is highly obtainable if you just know where to look and who to ask

Have an awareness. We need this environment to be around for a while

I learned that change cannot be brought to the community; it has to happen in the community itself

I didn’t have a very broad concept of sustainability before connecting with members of the larger Oberlin community; the experience forced me to expand my definition

Communities are sustained by friendships

I learned of many friendships that bring people in this community to where they are

Communication can be a barrier to change within communities; effective communication can be transformative

It’s been really nice to see the partnership around a lot of shared initiatives, especially related to sustainability issues

I think sustainability has shifted from planet-based and individual-based to now, hopefully, more of a society-based intentionality

In a place with a population of eight thousand people, you know so many of the people personally. It’s easier to work together towards community sustainability initiatives

We're unique in that the community here is full of creative and imaginative people who inspire the college every day whether or not they have any affiliation with it

I think we should never stop trying to be better relative to sustainability issues

Given Oberlin’s history of modeling things for the rest of the world, sometimes in the face of strong resistance, it is critical for us to lead here

It's less about me and more about the next generation. Not only do I have my own kids’ futures to worry about, but also, there are so many kids in this town from so many different backgrounds who are part of my life in a significant way

How cool would this be: you grow up here and go to some college in some big city, and people ask you where you're from and you say ‘Oberlin’ and instead of it being this small town that no one's ever heard of, it’s immediately identified as the town that paved the way for the country to become more sustainable

Sustainability can’t just be about what you need in your life - we have to think upstream and downstream about what other people and things we are affecting with the choices that we make

I really enjoy going outside my house at nighttime, where I am able to see the stars. It helps me keep things in perspective and reminds me that we are part of something a lot bigger. I like knowing that we’re part of something bigger

Sustainability to me is making the best use of the resources that are available and being open to utilizing alternative forms of energy, because we can’t use coal forever

My daughter teaches afterschool programs and I save these things [and] gave her these bags I had of the cardboard toilet paper rolls and boxes and she uses them in her classes

As an individual, I’m always looking for something that can be reused

For me and the things that I have, I would like to see them used more than once

My mother was practicing conservation long before it became fashionable. I grew up in a poor household and we were always finding multiple uses for things