Every week, students gather at Presidents' Circle to balance on a red rope hanging four feet from the ground between two trees, then meticulously move from one tree to the other.
These students are participants in the Outdoor Equilibrium Slacklining Club.
Slacklining is an exercise derived by mountain climbers during downtime to hone balance, strength and focus.
The skill displayed during the suspended walk often attracts passersby. That's how Abe Goodall, a sophomore majoring in parks, recreation and tourism, first encountered the sport and the club.
Less than a month after joining, he can travel halfway across a 40-foot line.
"It's a gradual process," said OESC co-founder Andy Eisenberg, a sophomore majoring in urban planning. "The first day, it's important just to balance one foot. Then, you need to focus on placing the other foot and maintaining that balance."
The members of OESC do more than focus on building balance and strength on a slackline: They're also concerned about creating a balance between the environment and the community and the community's commitment to sustainable energy.
"With slacklining, you won't be able to walk across the line if you're not moving in a deliberate fashion, (if you don't) know exactly what you're doing with each step," Eisenberg said. "If you translate that into how we are living, it will not be sustainable if we take ignorant steps."
Society does not have a balance in the way we develop and produce energy, he said.
The OESC's faculty adviser, Bob Palais, a research associate professor in mathematics, is an accomplished mountain climber and supports the club's community agenda.
"Slacklining is clearly aligned with sustainability. The way the world is now, it would get on and fall off in one second," he said. "Slacklining requires long-term thinking, and so does our environment."
The OESC looks to increase participation and will hold slacklining competitions later this fall and spring. It also plans to host a lecture and discussion series involving the human, urban and industrial aspects of sustainability.
"Of all things to pair with technology, the most potent combination is imagination," Eisenberg said.
The smart, compassionate people in the world need motivation to explore the ideas and the concepts and the questions raised by sustainability, he said.
The OESC meets four days a week on Mondays and Wednesdays from 4 to 6 p.m. and Tuesdays and Thursdays from noon to 2 p.m.
a.thompson@chronicle.utah.edu
