Environmental Studies

“Thoreau, Katahdin, the Penobscot People and the Maine Woods” by Huey, Independent filmmaker, Portland, ME.

Huey will talk about making films and show clips from his documentary films on environmental issues including his most recent film, Henry David Thoreau: Surveyor of the Soul. His films on Katahdin and Thoreau feature Penobscots discussing their views on the environment, spirituality in nature, and Thoreau’s representation of Penobscots in his book, The Maine Woods.

MIDD-ES STUDENT REFLECTIONS ON LEARNING
Study Away Experiences

“Fighting Dirty Energy: Are We Losing On Climate Because We’re Only Fighting Half the Battle?” by Theo Spencer ‘88, Senior Policy Advocate, Dirty Energy Team, Nature Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

The vast majority of money and people power in the fight against global warming has gone into cutting down on what comes out of power plants and vehicles, not what goes into them. That’s a problem we need to fix.

MIDD-ES CORE PANEL DISCUSSION
Pondering Pollutants
Molly Costanza-Robinson, Professor of Environmental Studies and Chemistry and Biochemistry
Rebecca Gould, Associate Professor of Environmental Studies
Joseph Holler, Assistant Professor of Geography
Christopher Klyza, Stafford Professor of Public Policy, Political Science, and Environmental Studies

“Negotiating a Relationship with Beauty During a Time of Environmental Degradation” by Megan Mayhew Bergman, Director of Bread Loaf’s Environmental Writers’ Program and Director of the Robert Frost Stone House Museum at Bennington College.

Author and teacher Megan Mayhew Bergman will give a short reading and a talk about the changing notions of beauty in the face of environmental degradation. Are Americans puritanical about beauty? Is access to beauty a privilege?

“The Flint Water Crisis: The Promises and Perils of Practicing Science for the Public Good”
By Siddhartha Roy, Engineer, and Postdoc, at Virginia Tech.

The 2019 Scott A. Margolin Lecture in Environmental Affairs
Guest speakers Rochelle L. Johnson, Professor of English & Environmental Studies and Director of the Gipson Honors Program at the College of Idaho, and Daegan Miller ’02, writer, critic, and historian will engage in a discussion around Reading Thoreau in our Age of Violence.

Lunch served starting at 12:15p - please RSVP to gogreen@middlebury.edu
 

Jack Ewing, Germany correspondent for The New York Times and author of “Faster, Higher, Farther: How One of the World’s Largest Automakers Committed a Massive and Stunning Fraud” (W.W. Norton 2017), explains how a win-at-all-costs company culture made a mockery of Volkswagen’s claims to be environmentally conscious—and why Volkswagen is a cautionary tale for any corporation striving to be socially responsible.

Students in Mez Baker-Medard’s Winter Term course “Sea Turtles to Sharks: Exploring the Social & Ecological Context of Marine Protected Areas” will be performing slam poetry about the reproductive strategies and key life-cycle traits of a marine organism of their choice. From hermaphroditism to sexual outercourse, come learn about the art of salty seduction.

Hope to see you there!