From Electric Buses to Ecological Ethics: Rethinking Sustainability on Campus

Prof. Asep Saepudin Jahar, M.A., PhD

When three electric campus buses—known as Bilis—began operating at UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta, some viewed them merely as an additional transportation facility.

In fact, the presence of Bilis conveys a far more fundamental message: environmental change does not begin with machines but with human awareness.

Technology is merely a tool; it is culture and ways of life that determine the direction of civilization. In global discussions on sustainability, universities are often described as living laboratories—spaces where ethical ideas, technologies, and social practices are tested in real-life settings.

Higher education institutions should not limit themselves to teaching theories of sustainable development in classrooms. They must also practice sustainability in everyday campus life: in how energy is used, how green spaces are maintained, and how members of the academic community move from one building to another.

Technology and Environmental Awareness

Electric transportation is widely regarded as a key solution for reducing carbon emissions and improving air quality, particularly in urban areas. The International Energy Agency (IEA), in its Global EV Outlook 2024, notes that electrifying public transportation significantly contributes to lowering air pollution and reducing dependence on fossil fuels.

However, the same report emphasizes a crucial point: technology is only effective when accompanied by changes in mobility behavior. In other words, simply replacing fossil fuel vehicles with electric ones is not sufficient.

If daily habits remain unchanged—relying on vehicles for short distances, crowding limited spaces with traffic, and ignoring walking as a viable option—green technology risks becoming little more than ecological cosmetics. It may appear environmentally friendly on the surface while failing to address the root problem: excessive and inefficient use of space and energy.

This is where the real challenge lies—not in technological sophistication, but in cultural readiness. Universities occupy a strategic position in this test.

As educational institutions, universities are not merely sites for knowledge transmission; they are arenas for shaping awareness. The fundamental question is this: will campuses serve only as showcases of technological innovation, or will they genuinely cultivate an ecological ethos among their communities?

Environmental awareness does not grow from administrative directives alone but from habits practiced consistently. For this reason, Bilis is positioned as a supporting facility rather than a single solution. It facilitates mobility for members of the academic community, particularly those who need it, while also serving as a symbol of institutional commitment to sustainability.

Yet the more important message is clear: sustainability demands changes in ways of life, not merely changes in machines. Technology may advance, but without human awareness, it loses its ethical meaning.

Walking as an Academic Culture

In a culture driven by speed and efficiency, walking is often perceived as trivial or even unproductive. Ideal mobility is frequently measured by velocity and convenience rather than by its impact on quality of life.

However, recent research suggests otherwise. A 2023 study published in the Journal of Transport & Health found that campus environments encouraging walking are positively correlated with improved mental health, reduced academic stress, and stronger social interaction within university communities.

Beyond its physical benefits, walking carries deep academic and philosophical significance. Historically, walking has been integral to intellectual life. The Peripatetic philosophers engaged in discussion while walking, believing that bodily movement enhanced clarity of thought and flexibility of reasoning.

This tradition reminds us that thinking does not always emerge from sitting still behind a desk but from dynamic encounters between body, space, and ideas.

Within campus environments, walking slows an overly accelerated rhythm of life. It opens space for spontaneous dialogue between faculty and students, enables more egalitarian conversations, and strengthens a sense of collective belonging as a scholarly community.

A pedestrian-friendly campus indirectly fosters openness and togetherness—two essential conditions for a healthy academic climate. By walking, we not only reduce carbon emissions and traffic congestion but also care for our bodies, minds, and social relationships.

A physically healthy campus is better prepared to produce clear and productive thought.

In the long term, a culture of walking is not merely a mobility choice but part of an academic ethic that places human health and quality of interaction at the center of education.

The concept of a green campus is often reduced to a checklist of technical indicators: solar panels, water management systems, or electric vehicle fleets. All of these are important, but they do not address the deeper roots of the problem.

Fritjof Capra, in The Systems View of Life (2015), argues that environmental crises stem from fragmented ways of thinking that separate technology from values and policy from ethics.

A truly green campus, therefore, is a civilized campus.

It is a campus that treats sustainability as part of a shared ethical life. It is pedestrian-friendly, inclusive for persons with disabilities, safe, and conducive to learning. It educates through example rather than through slogans.

Edgar H. Schein, in Organizational Culture and Leadership (2017), emphasizes that institutional culture is shaped by practices repeated daily, not by formal rhetoric. When faculty members, leaders, and students habitually choose more environmentally responsible options, educational messages operate quietly but effectively.

As an Islamic higher education institution, UIN Jakarta views sustainability as a moral responsibility. Islamic ethics positions humans as stewards of the Earth rather than absolute owners. Principles of moderation and responsibility call for proportional and sustainable use of resources—neither excessive nor negligent.

The three Bilis units now operating at UIN Jakarta symbolize commitment, not an end goal. They facilitate campus mobility while simultaneously raising a deeper question: to what extent are we willing to change our own habits?

A green campus is not created by a single policy or facility, but through the consistent repetition of small, collective actions. Without behavioral change, environmentally friendly technology remains an ornament of modernity.

We often assume progress is measured by what we add: new buildings, new vehicles, and new systems. Yet sustainability requires the courage to reduce—to reduce dependence on vehicles, to slow overly accelerated lifestyles, and to diminish the social distance created by mechanistic routines.

As a space of education, the campus should be the first place where such awareness takes root.

The World Health Organization (WHO), in its Global Status Report on Physical Activity (2022), warns that insufficient physical activity is one of the leading risk factors for noncommunicable diseases among the productive-age population.

By promoting walking and active mobility, universities are effectively investing in the long-term health of their academic communities—an investment often overlooked because its benefits are neither immediate nor easily visible.

I imagine the campus as a living space rather than merely a workplace—a place where people move, walk, interact, and learn not only from books but also from an environment that shapes daily habits.

Anthropologist Tim Ingold, in Being Alive (2011), writes that humans shape the world through how they move within it. Bodily movement is not merely displacement; it is a way of relating to space, time, and others.

Ultimately, a green campus is not a short-term project completed once facilities are inaugurated. It is a long-term process of cultivating awareness, habits, and exemplary conduct.

If we are able to begin with ourselves—through small but consistent steps—UIN Jakarta can become not only an environmentally friendly campus but also a sustainable, healthy, and civilized one.

Perhaps what we need to reflect on together is not how advanced our facilities are, but where our feet are leading us and what values we carry with each step.

This article was originally published in the opinion column of Disway.id on Friday, December 26, 2025.

This article was published in the opinion column of Disway.id on Friday, December 26, 2025.