Are BYU Professors Environmentally Friendly?

I’ve been a student in the Plant and Wildlife Department at BYU for three years (not counting a two-year break) and have sat in class after class where the professor decried the apparent apathy of all the other professors in the university. This has happened to me so often that I began to wonder if all the professors thought that all the other ones were seal-slaughtering savages. So I determined to undertake a survey of various BYU professors to see how they responded to questions about the environment.

I sent out a solicitous email to 100 professors in five departments inviting their participation. Now I understand that in the last few weeks of a semester professors get very busy and few professors enjoy getting emails from random unknown students. However, I believe that who responded to the survey is as revealing as what they responded. I contacted approximately 20 professors from the department of Plant and Wildlife Sciences, 20 from Humanities, 20 from Political Science, 20 from Religion and 20 from Biology. To those 100 emails, I received 20 responses, five of which apologetically didn’t answer the full survey. The religion department produced five responses, two which didn’t answer any questions and one from a geography professor who sometimes teaches religion classes. Biology produced three solid responses and PWS produce a record seven although two of them were apologetic that a complete response would take far more time than they had. Five Humanities professors responded with one apologizing for not completing the survey. Political Science failed to produce a single response so we have no idea where they stand. I could offer speculation on their silence but your guess is as good as mine. Factors that could weigh these numbers are that Biology and PWS professors are naturally more interested in the topic and thus more likely to respond. Religion professors have large classes and often receive email queries on more interesting topics connected to their field. Humanities professors generally like to write so they all wrote very descriptive responses. There are probably additional factors that determine who responded and who did not. I also suspect that only environmentally friendly professors responded regardless of department.

There were six questions in the survey in three categories; things you think, things you do, and things you are (really things you think you are). The questions were designed to be very open so that the professor could give whatever response they wished to give and encouraged discussion of their personal philosophy, what they think about BYU, and what they think about Latter-day Saints; in terms of the Environment. In reviewing the responses I feel I must add a clarifying point. The questions were vaguely stated concerning LDS viewpoints but nearly every response can only be fairly applied to Latter-day Saints in Utah or nearby. If we were to consider the environmental awareness of the saints in Mexico or Brazil or pretty much anywhere outside of the intermountain west I’m fairly sure the professors would have responded quite differently.

Let’s run through the responses:

Question 1: In your experience, what is the LDS perspective on the environment?

Fourteen professors responded to this question. Four professors pointed to D&C 59 specifically as stating the LDS perspective. The core concept of this section is in verse 20 “And it pleaseth God that he hath given all these things unto man; for unto this end were they made to be used, with judgment, not to excess, neither by extortion.” On the other hand, Four different professors also cited D&C 104 with distain saying that many saints use the phrase “enough and to spare” to justify misusing the earth and ignoring responsibility to care for it. Six professors specifically used the word Stewardship (or a form of it) to describe the LDS position. Every professor that answered thought that members of the church have a responsibility to protect the earth because (in terms of most frequently mentioned) 1^st we are stewards 2^nd we ought to respect the creations of God. Dr. Baugh, of the Religion Department, had a unique perspective, he wrote, “We believe the earth, like man, has an eternal destiny and will become a sanctified celestial sphere and the eternal home of those who inherit a celestial glory. Because of this understanding, Latter-day Saints should be environmentally respectful toward the planet that God has allowed us to live upon during our mortal sojourn.”

My conclusion, based on these responses, is that BYU professors believe that Latter-day Saints have a responsibility to be good stewards and respectful of the earth. Some of the answers to this question fit better with question six because it deals more with what they believe Latter-day Saints actually do.

Question 2: What do you think BYU can do to become friendlier to the environment?

Thirteen professors responded with two stating they weren’t aware of what BYU was doing. Four professors said that BYU was already doing very well in this area. Three mentioned that BYU should continue to support buses. Five professors mentioned recycling as either being very good and or not good enough. The quality of our recycling program seems to be debatable. Four encouraged the promotion of stewardship and responsibility as something that should be actively taught (although three of them were in PWS so they are the ones that teach it anyway). A few other ideas include, promote carpooling, turn of lights on campus, water at night and xeroscaping, less food at campus events, recycle at sporting events, and encourage students to develop more economical solutions. I felt that Dr. Stevens from the PWS department did a good job of summarizing the prevailing feel of the responses when he wrote “[We should] become more active and outspoken on the Earth’s “stewardship” responsibilities. We should actually take the lead and not have such a complacent attitude.”

In conclusion, most professors seem to think there are things that BYU could do better but that overall it is doing very well. It just needs to continue to promote and expand the programs that it has already implemented to make them more effective.

Question 3: What do you do at home to lessen your impact on the environment?

Sixteen professors responded to this question and all seemed very positive. Nine of them stated that they buy energy saving light bulbs (I suspect some of the others do too but forgot to mention it). Eight professors also mentioned being very conscious of their thermostat settings; varying the temperature according to season or even in daily cycles. Seven said that they were also careful to water their plants only as much as needed and to do it at night or in the evening. At least eleven of the sixteen participate in recycling even though in some of the cities they live it actually costs money to recycle. The emphasis on water conservation is likely connected to living in Utah. The professors had many other valuable suggestions for reducing your personal impact. Here is a list of specific things that BYU professors do to lessen their impact:

• Use Energy Saving light bulbs
• Turn up thermostat in summer and down in winter to use less heating/cooling energy
• Only heat bedrooms in winter and use a swamp cooler in summer
• Grow a Garden
• Xeroscape your yard (plant drought tolerant plants, use less grass)
• Recycle, reuse first. (reuse even tinfoil)
• Use reusable shopping bags
• Air dry laundry in summer
• Take short showers, like 30-60 seconds of water
• Allow grass to grow longer and water it less frequently (also promotes healthier grass)
• Compost, raise chickens to eat kitchen waste, eat the chickens
• Eat less meat (sounds like a commandment actually)
• Buy cars with good gas mileage
• Plant trees to shade house
• Walk to church
• Print on front and back of paper
• Consider the way houses are constructed to conserve energy.

BYU professors try very hard to reduce their personal impact. Although economics do influence a lot of their choices as well, many of them go out of their way to do small things. Some professors are also involved in community projects to improve local ecosystems. For example, Dr. Allen of the PWS department is spearheading a project to restore the ecology of Rock Canyon.

Question 4: How do you get to campus?

Sixteen professors responded to this question. Since this one is a little simpler to answer here is the list. Drive: 9, bike: 5, walk: 1, bus: 1. Of those who drive three of them reported carpooling a significant portion of the time. Two reported driving fuel efficient cars with one of those being a natural gas-powered car (that just sounds cool). One reported a desire to bike but drives due to unsafe traffic conditions. Three of the bikers stated that they bike only seasonally although it’s possible that all of them do. Three of the bikers reported their mileage for the bike ride at 10, 12, and 15 miles round-trip daily. That’s very impressive.  The one professor who rides the bus also reported having a fuel efficient car. BYU has some 17,000 parking spots. If 9 out of every 16 students drove to school then the students would fill 18,000 parking spots, leaving a negative amount for the faculty, staff, visitors and so forth. However, it makes sense that a larger proportion of professors drive than students because generally professors live much farther away than students do (I suspect they don’t want to live too close to us).

I rode a bike four miles daily for three years in high school. I confess that I am very impressed that we have faculty dedicated enough to put in the time and effort to do 10+ miles. I’ll bet they don’t have to go to the gym very often.

Question 5: Do you consider yourself environmentally friendly? Explain.

This is a very interesting question because of how unified everyone was in answering it. Sixteen professors responded along a spectrum. Four said somewhat, four said yes but trying to do better, and seven said yes with most offering some sort of justification of why they felt they could answer that way.  There was one professor who answered no stating: “because I still use more resources than most of the people of the globe.” In considering his other answers it is apparent that he tries just as hard as the other professors to be aware of the environment around him (if not harder) and I suspect most of them would consider him to be just as aware as they are. Indeed, his statement (I won’t give you his name) shows that he is quite aware of not just the domestic “think green” brand of environmentalism but a much broader global perspective. It seems appropriate to note that nearly every professor acknowledged that there are things they could do to be a little better.

So essentially 12/16 professors consider themselves environmentally friendly with 4/16 claiming to be, in the words of Dr. Perry of the Humanities department, “Friendly, but not in love! I’m all for environmental care, but not “consumed” by it.” I think there are very few people that would label themselves as opposed to the environment simply due to the state of the society in which we live. However, the self-identification of our BYU professors becomes very interesting in the context of the next question.

Question 6: Are Latter-day Saints an environmentally aware people? How can we do better?

I recorded the responses of fourteen professors to this question. Some of the answers to question 1 also applied better to this question then they did to the first question. Ten out of fourteen professors at BYU think that Latter-day Saints are not environmentally aware. Three professors took a middle ground position saying that some are and some out and only one stated that we are environmentally aware, although recognizing that some are more so then others. At face value why is it that 93% of BYU professors (polled) self-identify as environmentally friends but only 7% of them identify their fellow saints as environmentally aware? Now, obviously fourteen professors pounding out a few lines aren’t a fair representation of all 1,200 BYU professors, particularly since half of the fourteen teach life science classes. Perhaps more revealing then the statistical weight of their opinions is why these professors feel Latter-day Saints (I repeat that I consider this to be mainly Utah/intermountain area saints, not worldwide saints) are not environmentally aware. They gave a number of reasons. One stated that environmentalism is more a reflection of regional culture then religion so we are as environmentally minded as others living in the intermountain west. Many mentioned D&C 104 again saying that the saints think God has provided more than we need already and the earth will be enough. (Note that none of the professors actually believe this, they only believe that other people believe it). Three professors attributed our environmental apathy to capitalism/ worldliness/greed. Four other professors relate it to politics saying that environmentalism is a liberal cause so the saints avoid it (an additional two professors said it was because Latter-day Saints tend toward republican viewpoints). A few said it was primarily ignorance that kept down our environmental ambitions. One said that older members tend to be less aware of the environment then younger members.

Another point that emerged from this question is whether the Church should step in and do something about it. Two professors mentioned that the Church should not address it because it isn’t a moral issue and they should stay focused on what churches are good at, building faith and promoting testimonies and so forth. They suggested that change in this realm needs to be taught by parents or in a non-church setting without giving in to dire warnings of environmental disaster. On the other hand another professor suggested that over-the-pulpit statements may be the only way for older saints to change. So it seems to be generally believed that we do have a moral obligation to wise stewardship (all that stuff about D&C) but that the church isn’t necessarily the platform for promoting environmental awareness.

I acknowledge that there is a lot of room for error and this is hardly a scientific study (they don’t teach us much about conducting opinion polls in Environmental Science). Nevertheless it is fascinating to see what our professors believe. Most seem to be honestly committed to living in an environmentally conscious manner and seem to connect their commitment to the environment to their faith. However, they also all seem to have a very poor opinion of what the average saint down in the trenches believes and practices. I would love to conduct a similar survey of saints outside academia to see what they really believe. I don’t think the average Joe is as bad as we in the University tend to think. This high in the ivory tower it’s easy to focus on only the most distinct details instead of the most common.

I hope you have found our exploration interesting and that I haven’t offended too many of the professors whom I profoundly respect for their personal integrity and their public integrity.