To start off the chapter Thomashow provides a definition for wellness that I feel should be stated before “excellent physical and mental energy, minimal body aches and pains, a reasonably stable state of mind, a sense of enthusiasm about our daily activities” etc (127). He continues that this idea always seems to be interrupted by the way daily life can go, which makes this balance even more important. Then the connection is made from sustainability to this daily health, and I believe UNE does a great job of preparing this. With Parkhurst at the helm of our dining services they have made our population eat healthier, which as Thomashow explained can lead to a happier and healthier outlook towards the day. With healthy options, and well-sourced organic food, Parkhurst sets us up to feel better about what we eat and where it comes from. With this said, the wellness of the campus population should be very important to the administration, and should not be taken lightly if a large problem appears. This could be seen in action after last years complaints with Sodexo.

Thomashow then argues that social networking can be a positive, but largely negative resource for students on a campus, and states that it can produce wellness problems worse than some things that were thought to be at the top. In turn, he recommends that campuses try to use social networking, as UNE does with its various social media accounts, as a connection between themselves and the students they need to reach. I believe that these groups, along with our large number of clubs and sports, lead to a network of people that students can go to when in need, or simply to get away from the stressful day to day life of a college student. For Thomashow this just means that as a campus the idea of simplicity needs to be implemented to help recommend a so called “good life”, but becomes more confusing when thinking about campuses “planetary challenge” that continues to breathe down sustainable supporters necks. A large amount of our time on campus, especially in the Environmental program, is full of thoughts of how we will make change before it is too late. In this program almost all of us came here to learn how to make a change, and the further we go, the harder that idea seems. Our world has gone too far for a long time, and repairs will not be easy, which is why Thomashow is completely correct in stating that we need to keep a good mindset, and helathy wellness if we ever wish to truly combat the damage we have done.

I believe that here at UNE our program, and the student body at a whole can be role models for sustainability if we just put our minds to it. We alone cannot make a big change, but as a group, a community, and eventually a region we can make the shifts we need to to save our planet. This concept, and program continues to push me, and I hope our campus, towards being more sustainable, because the first step in this battle is to truly care about what we have to lose.