Howard E. Woodin Environmental Studies Colloquium Series

“Educating for (Climate) Change” a Howard E. Woodin Environmental Studies Colloquium Series talk featuring:

Bill McKibben, Schumann Distinguished Scholar of Environmental Studies,
Jon Isham, Director of the Environmental Studies Program and Professor of Economics and Environmental Studies
Dan Suarez, C.V. Starr Fellow in International Studies and Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies
Minna Brown ’07, Director of the Middlebury Climate Action Program

As Middlebury faculty, staff, and alumni, we have all sought to support student engagement on climate change - in the classroom, through organizing, and through applied learning. In this, the kickoff event for “What Works Now? Climate Action at Middlebury and Beyond,” we will share some of our experiences of how we have tried to match our teaching and programming to meet the moment and student needs. Jon Isham co-created the learning and convening space for a transformative winter term class coupled with the original 2005 “What Works” conference, driving the need for students to gather as the Sunday Night Group. Bill McKibben sat down around the kitchen table with a group of some of those same motivated students to make climate action a global reality through Step It Up and subsequently 350.org. Dan Suarez came to campus asking questions of pedagogy in the age of climate change and supported students through 2021’s Clifford Symposium and courses like “What is ES Teaching You?” Minna Brown came back to Middlebury after being a part of the early 2000s student group to build the Climate Action Program, dedicated to ensuring that students have pathways to climate action. But what has that meant? What have we learned in these years and how, as educators, do we grapple with our role in supporting students?