Past Events

Please join the department of Environmental Studies for a reception celebrating graduates in this discipline. 

For 23 years the Knoll has been powered by students and the Middlebury community. Come join us in the garden this spring! No experience required; please check out go/knollhours for more detailed information.

“Rivers as Persons: Religion, Culture, and the Ecocentric Turn in Bangladeshi Environmental Law”

By Hannah Gilmer ‘26, Religion, Philosophy, and the Environment major. 

Once a week on Fridays, The Knoll will collaborate with Anderson Freeman Center (AFC) to host Reading Hours - weekly conversations around themes of belonging, environmental justice, community wellness, systemic oppression, and more! Visit go/knollhours for more info and to sign up! 

For 23 years the Knoll has been powered by students and the Middlebury community. Come join us in the garden this spring! No experience required; please check out go/knollhours for more detailed information.

Once a week on Fridays, The Knoll will collaborate with Anderson Freeman Center (AFC) to host Reading Hours - weekly conversations around themes of belonging, environmental justice, community wellness, systemic oppression, and more! Visit go/knollhours for more info and to sign up! 

For 23 years the Knoll has been powered by students and the Middlebury community. Come join us in the garden this spring! No experience required; please check out go/knollhours for more detailed information.

ENVS 0401 B Community Engaged Environmental Studies Practicum Presentations: Social Change and/or Transformation

ENVS 0401 A Community Engaged Environmental Studies Practicum Presentations: Environmental Health Disparities and Climate Vulnerability

The mission of New Perennials’ Community Roots Apprentice Fellowship is to create a cohort of students that explore the day-to-day practices of regional artists, makers, teachers, and scientists as a community of learners. These final presentations are the culmination of this exploration and partnerships as they developed over the course of their time together.

For 23 years the Knoll has been powered by students and the Middlebury community. Come join us in the garden this spring! No experience required; please check out go/knollhours for more detailed information.

For 23 years the Knoll has been powered by students and the Middlebury community. Come join us in the garden this spring! No experience required; please check out go/knollhours for more detailed information.

Once a week on Fridays, The Knoll will collaborate with Anderson Freeman Center (AFC) to host Reading Hours - weekly conversations around themes of belonging, environmental justice, community wellness, systemic oppression, and more! Visit go/knollhours for more info and to sign up! 

Curious about careers in clean energy? The Middlebury Alumni in Renewable Energy Association (MAREA) has launched and is here to help you explore what’s possible.

This new alumni-student network is all about connecting you with Midd grads working across the renewable energy space—people who’ve been in your shoes and are now building careers in a fast-growing, impact-driven field.

For 23 years the Knoll has been powered by students and the Middlebury community. Come join us in the garden this spring! No experience required; please check out go/knollhours for more detailed information.

Singer and Composer, Moira Smiley and Associate Professor and Chair of Dance, Laurel Jenkins collaboratively present at the Woodin Colloquium Series. Part-lecture, part-performance this event integrates music and movement to evoke presence and connection - an essential starting place for social action.

For 23 years the Knoll has been powered by students and the Middlebury community. Come join us in the garden this spring! No experience required; please check out go/knollhours for more detailed information.

For 23 years the Knoll has been powered by students and the Middlebury community. Come join us in the garden this spring! No experience required; please check out go/knollhours for more detailed information.

Once a week on Fridays, The Knoll will collaborate with Anderson Freeman Center (AFC) to host Reading Hours - weekly conversations around themes of belonging, environmental justice, community wellness, systemic oppression, and more! Visit go/knollhours for more info and to sign up! 

Can we build bioregional foodways for the Northeast centered on trees? Join Elspeth Hay (‘07), author of the new book Feed Us with Trees: Nuts and the Future of Food and Chez Liley of Wellspring Commons for a conversation exploring how our food systems might change if we broadened our vision of farming to include the native nut trees of our forested landscape, and how that might reshape our relationships to the world around us.  

Aimed at students with an interest in sustainable agriculture, wildlands conservation, ecosystem restoration, food policy, and journalism, this discussion will delve into some of the assumptions underpinning our current food system and focus on practical ways to transform climate anxiety into action as we look to feed ourselves while regenerating and protecting our home ecosystems.

Elspeth Hay ‘07 is the creator and host of the Local Food Report, a weekly feature that has aired on the Cape and Islands National Public Radio station since 2008, and the author of the award-winning book, Feed Us with Trees: Nuts and the Future of Food. Deeply immersed in her own local-food system, Elspeth’s work focuses on the people, places, and ideas that feed us. Learn more at elspethhay.com.

Cherry (Chez) Liley is co-founder of Wellspring Commons, a nonprofit working to foster bioregional foodways in the Northeast, including reviving acorns as an important crop for the human diet, in ways that protect the standing forests. Learn more at wellspringcommons.org.

This new alumni-student network is all about connecting you with Midd grads working across the renewable energy space—people who’ve been in your shoes and are now building careers in a fast-growing, impact-driven field.

All April long, the newly launched MAREA (Middlebury Alumni in Renewable Energy Association), is hosting the 2026 Spring Alumni Speaker Series: Pathways to Careers in Renewable Energy. Each week features a different panel focused on a key part of the industry, so you can get a full picture of the many paths into clean energy.

St. Francis of Assisi is celebrated as the patron saint of animals and is also recognized as a symbol of pacifism and brotherhood. How then could the figure of St. Francis end up serving the Fascist political project, most tellingly by being declared the Patron Saint of (Fascist) Italy in 1939? Why, and how, would this scrawny Saint become the emblem of a nation dedicated to war?

For 23 years the Knoll has been powered by students and the Middlebury community. Come join us in the garden this spring! No experience required; please check out go/knollhours for more detailed information.

Join us on Monday 20^th to create your own Earth Week themed lino prints. CAF Fellows, Josette and Meïssa will be guiding you through the art of linocut and printmaking. Linocut is a fun art form where you carve a design into a rubber-like surface and then use ink on it to make prints on fabric or paper.  
We will bring used clothes and fabrics to print on but feel free to also bring your own printable surfaces! 

For 23 years the Knoll has been powered by students and the Middlebury community. Come join us in the garden this spring! No experience required; please check out go/knollhours for more detailed information.

For 23 years the Knoll has been powered by students and the Middlebury community. Come join us in the garden this spring! No experience required; please check out go/knollhours for more detailed information.

“Climate Change Impact During the Transition to Renewable Energy in the Natural and Social Landscape in Tierra del Fuego, Southern Chile” a Howard E. Woodin Environmental Studies Colloquium Series talk by Gabriela Mora-Klepis, Senior Research Technician, Geography and Geosciences Department, at The University of Vermont.

This new alumni-student network is all about connecting you with Midd grads working across the renewable energy space—people who’ve been in your shoes and are now building careers in a fast-growing, impact-driven field.

All April long, the newly launched MAREA (Middlebury Alumni in Renewable Energy Association), is hosting the 2026 Spring Alumni Speaker Series: Pathways to Careers in Renewable Energy. Each week features a different panel focused on a key part of the industry, so you can get a full picture of the many paths into clean energy.

For 23 years the Knoll has been powered by students and the Middlebury community. Come join us in the garden this spring! No experience required; please check out go/knollhours for more detailed information.

For 23 years the Knoll has been powered by students and the Middlebury community. Come join us in the garden this spring! No experience required; please check out go/knollhours for more detailed information.

Once a week on Fridays, The Knoll will collaborate with Anderson Freeman Center (AFC) to host Reading Hours - weekly conversations around themes of belonging, environmental justice, community wellness, systemic oppression, and more! Visit go/knollhours for more info and to sign up! 

For 23 years the Knoll has been powered by students and the Middlebury community. Come join us in the garden this spring! No experience required; please check out go/knollhours for more detailed information.

Come meet fellow Environmental Studies majors, minors, and faculty. Learn more about the major and opportunities in the program and get any questions answered prior to fall ‘26 registration. Prospective majors and minors are also encouraged to attend. Light snack and refreshments will be provided. 

For 23 years the Knoll has been powered by students and the Middlebury community. Come join us in the garden this spring! No experience required; please check out go/knollhours for more detailed information.

For 23 years the Knoll has been powered by students and the Middlebury community. Come join us in the garden this spring! No experience required; please check out go/knollhours for more detailed information.

Once a week on Fridays, The Knoll will collaborate with Anderson Freeman Center (AFC) to host Reading Hours - weekly conversations around themes of belonging, environmental justice, community wellness, systemic oppression, and more! Visit go/knollhours for more info and to sign up! 

The Scott A. Margolin ’99 Lecture in Environmental Affairs takes an interdisciplinary approach to the natural environment and human interaction with it.

In 1998, the Environmental Affairs Lecture was named in honor of Scott A. Margolin, of the Middlebury College Class of 1999. In his one year here, Scott established himself as a dedicated student of Environmental Studies, a leader in Environmental Quality and other student affairs, and an outstanding writer. He lives in our memory.

For 23 years the Knoll has been powered by students and the Middlebury community. Come join us in the garden this spring! No experience required; please check out go/knollhours for more detailed information.

Environmental Studies Core Conversations: Truth in Environmentalism
Mez Baker-Medard, Associate Professor of Environmental Studies
Dan Brayton, Julian W. Abernethy Professor of Literature and member of the Environmental Studies Program
Molly Costanza-Robinson, Professor of Chemistry and Environmental Studies
Joseph Holler, Associate Professor of Geography

Want to learn more about the Climate Action Fellowship? Join us for a info session and Q&A on all things CAF.

For 23 years the Knoll has been powered by students and the Middlebury community. Come join us in the garden this spring! No experience required; please check out go/knollhours for more detailed information.

“Consilience, Ecology, and Public Education:  A Look at The Walden Project and Perennial Learning” a Howard E. Woodin Environmental Studies Colloquium Series talk by Matthew Schlein, M.A., M.S.W. and Founder/Director of The Willowell Foundation.

Join students, staff, faculty, and community members for a talk with Alex Barron, Associate Professor of Environmental Science and Policy from Smith College. Professor Barron will cover topics such as climate solutions in higher education, decarbonization and climate policy.

Want to learn more about the Climate Action Fellowship? Join us for an info session and Q&A on all things CAF.

Join in person or on zoom at this link

“Animal Farming Should Be Environmentalists’ Central Focus” a Howard E. Woodin Environmental Studies Colloquium Series talk by Kevin Kuruc, Assistant Professor of Economics at Middlebury College.

Animal agriculture destroys more habitat than any other human activity and ranks among the most water intensive. The industry produces enough greenhouse gases to push warming close to two degrees on its own. And it causes tremendous suffering to the farmed animals themselves. No human activity is more at odds with our shared goals and values.

Environmental Studies Conversations: Community-Engaged and Collective Action Learning Panel
Lindsey Berk, Executive Director, ACORN
Johanna Miller,Energy and Climate Program Director and VECAN Coordinator, Vermont Natural Resources Council
Amy L. Redman, Environmental Justice and Health Equity Advisor, Vermont Department of Health

Do you ever think about your socioeconomic class at Middlebury, but feel afraid to discuss it with others? What if there was a cozy and open space to chat about these things? Our workshop will provide educational materials and community building examining socioeconomic class at Middlebury. Using materials from organizations like Resource Generation and readings such as The Financial Activist Playbook, we will talk about our family backgrounds and money stories in a relaxed environment with tea and snacks. People of all class backgrounds are encouraged to attend!

“Barriers to Agricultural Change in Sub-Saharan Africa: Lessons from Ethiopia” an Environmental Studies senior thesis presentation by Ben Rosmarin ‘2025.5 Environmental Policy major.

Do you ever think about your socioeconomic class at Middlebury, but feel afraid to discuss it with others? What if there was a cozy and open space to chat about these things? Our workshop will provide educational materials and community building examining socioeconomic class at Middlebury. Using materials from organizations like Resource Generation and readings such as The Financial Activist Playbook, we will talk about our family backgrounds and money stories in a relaxed environment with tea and snacks. People of all class backgrounds are encouraged to attend!