Jill Whitman

Professor of geosciences
Hometown: Lexington, Mass.

My thought is that everything is connected to everything else in the complex system of the earth. And it’s the complexity of the concept that makes it impossible to ever prove.

This is a concept that has grown with me over time and life. Part of it comes out of the disciplines I’ve studied, and part of it is this ever-increasing awareness that we develop. We start out as young children and our world is very small – it’s family or school or our town. As life goes by, we learn about history and the connections between peoples in different parts of the world, for example. When I went off to college, I ended up studying marine geology and oceanography. I was particularly interested in ancient ocean systems as recorded in the sediments of the deep sea. What we find in the sediments of the ocean is connected to the chemistry of the ocean and physical, biological and even atmospheric processes, and so my world of study went from geology to studying a much broader set of sciences together.

But this idea has hit me in the face now more than ever because of the direction I’ve taken here at PLU, which was to get involved with the environmental studies program and sustainability efforts. It has caused me to look not only at the natural systems of the earth but the human impact on the natural systems. You learn how human activity in one place can end up affecting water availability in another place, and you start to appreciate how big the consequences of human actions can be.

I feel a sense of awe when I think about these connections and the remarkable consequences. Some people might think of the ‘butterfly effect,’ but what I’m talking about is something even bigger than that. It’s not just the concept that if a butterfly flaps its wings somewhere, it creates a tornado somewhere else. It’s more about the connection between the decisions we make personally and how those decisions impact this incredibly complex web of life on our planet earth.