"Be yourself the change": Gandhi's words accompanied Valerio Ciriello SJ during his academic summer break. The Swiss scholastic about the ecological weeks at the Campus de la Transition in Paris and at Schumacher College in England.

The ecological question began to interest me already in my youth in Italy, I became a member of the then Green Party (Verdi) in the mid-90s.

The threat to the environment has taken on another dimension since I joined the Order in 2014. I am currently studying philosophy and theology in Paris and I am influenced by the inputs of Cécile Renouard and environmental scientist Gaël Giraud SJ. Cécile Renouard, professor of philosophy and nun, is the founder of the Campus de la Transition: an ecological project that seeks to root itself beyond academic reflection in everyday life and compassion for the earth. Through her I also learned about Schumacher College in Dartington/South England.  And so I spent my two-month summer break at the two institutions.

The inner reversal of our way of thinking and living has received great urgency for me. A credible repentance must begin with me before I can "help" others to repent. So today I mainly eat vegetarian food and avoid air travel whenever possible. By the way, I have rarely eaten so excellently in my life as on Campus de la Transition and at Schumacher College, another proof that vegetarian and vegan dishes can be very tasty - they are cheap and healthy anyway.

These are only small steps towards global ecological conversion - but many such steps multiply daily, hourly around the world and will make a difference for mankind. Instead of waiting for the reversal from above, from politics and economy, we can here and now in our own lives take fate into our own hands - and thus that of the world. "Be yourself the change you wish for this world," Mahatma Gandhi said.  

It is also the guiding principle of the Campus de la Transition and the Schumacher College: There is the academic with master studies and courses, but the formative are experiences and encounters at eye level. Students, employees, professors, volunteers, course participants: Everyone helps with cooking, cleaning, field work, planning educational activities. Everyone has his own and general responsibility for the whole. The aim is not to flood the heads with even more knowledge, but rather to let the acquired knowledge seep from the head into the heart.

I have experienced openness, depth, women, men, young people, believers, seekers who, beyond hedonism and egoism, participate every day in a more humane and just world. Unobtrusively, step by step, steadily. This is how a lively community emerges. That makes me hopeful for the world!   

www.campus-transition.org
www.schumachercollege.org.uk 

Caption: Valerio Ciriello (44) gets down to business with organic onions: The Swiss scholastic at Schumacher College in Dartington/Southern England.