49 Items
100% Renewable Energy, Campus Energy Conservation, Divestment from Fossil Fuels, Educational Integration, Justice
Students, faculty, and alumni gathered at the What Works Now? conference, held November 15–17 at Middlebury College, to reflect on the positive environmental outcomes sparked by the inaugural gathering 20 years ago, and to consider strategies for addressing today’s climate challenges.
The “Educating for (Climate) Change” event was the latest in the Woodin Environmental Studies Colloquium Series and served as the kickoff event for What Works Now, a three-day conference held at the college this past weekend. The conference offered an opportunity to reflect on climate initiatives spearheaded by members of the college community over the years, as well as contemplate future action.
Divestment from Fossil Fuels, Educational Integration, Justice
What started in the winter of 2005 as a J-Term class taught by Jon Isham, professor of economics and environmental studies, has progressed into a flourishing student environmental group that is approaching 20 years of sustainable conversation and climate activism. Having begun with environmental conversations in the Chateau basement, Sunday Night Environmental Group (SNEG) now holds weekly meetings where students gather to talk about climate news and various relevant campaigns that they can get involved with.
Educational Integration, Justice
On Tuesday Oct. 28, prominent environmental activist Tabi Joda visited Middlebury to discuss his work with One Billion Trees for Africa, an organization dedicated to the reforestation of the Sahel, a rapidly desertifying strip of land across Northern and Central Africa. The talk was hosted by a wide range of departments, including Environmental Studies, Anthropology, Sustainability & Environmental Affairs and African Studies.
Educational Integration, Justice
Although environmentalism and sexual health are not generally considered related topics, SPECS Panther is here to explore how the two are deeply intertwined. Sexual health, justice and pleasure cannot be talked about without including the health of the Earth.
In her book “Mother, Creature, Kin,” local Rochester, Vt. author Chelsea Steinauer-Scudder weaves threads of motherhood, ecology, and spirituality together to explore what it means to raise a child in a world facing profound environmental and existential challenges. On April 8, Steinauer-Scudder visited the Ilsley Public Library to read and discuss the book.
Earth Day is celebrated internationally on April 22, but at Middlebury, this year’s festivities spanned the entire month and beyond. Between March 29 and April 30, campus groups including the Sustainability and Environmental Affairs team, the Climate Action Program, the Prism Center and the Knoll hosted over 30 Earth Month-related events.
On Jan. 17, The Middlebury Snow Bowl hosted a Fostering Inclusive Recreation Experience (FIRE) event at the bowl for the second year in a row, providing BIPOC students with free transportation, ski lessons, equipment rentals and passes for a night of skiing. FIRE is a student organization with the mission of reducing barriers to outdoor sports for marginalized groups at Middlebury. The club leads outdoor trips year-round that involve hiking, backpacking, ice skating, fishing, skiing and ice climbing.
Members of the Middlebury community gathered in Dana Auditorium on Jan. 14 to experience a collection of short films that transported them across the world and into the lives of a wide range of remarkable storytellers. This year the films featured stories from outdoor landscapes everywhere from Mexico, California, Sweden, Japan, Zambia and beyond.
In an era marked by climate change and unprecedented environmental disasters, the topic of climate has been notably absent from this year’s presidential campaigns. Although the majority of Americans support some form of action, climate change is one of the most politically divisive issues in American politics and one of the least important issues to voters — only 21% of voters cite it as being a very important factor in their vote in a recent Gallup poll.
