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A Teaching Roadmap

Environmental Affairs

Environmental Affairs through its Office of Sustainability Integration and The Knoll offer the following opportunities for student projects and classroom activities.

  •  Energy 2028 and Carbon Neutrality contact Jack Byrne
    • quantitative research and analysis of: greenhouse gas emissions, carbon neutrality of biomass, campus energy usage (thermal, electricity, transportation), credits associated with solar projects; carbon sequestration on Bread Loaf lands, renewable energy credits from renewable natural gas digester project, internal carbon tax pilot project,…
    • energy conservation outreach and behavior change design and assessment, Townhouse Energy Monitoring Project using installed and programmable LED light strips in each suite, a BiHall specific initiative to engage lab users in adopting new habits for conserving energy
    • social justice and equity criteria development for E2028 decisionmaking
    • solar siting and opportunities for ecological management of land under and around the site
  •  Climate Action Capacity Project, contact Minna Brown

Collaboration with a new Climate Action Capacity Project which will launch in August and offer a number of opportunities and resources to support students and faculty in making connections and building capacity for understanding and action on the climate crisis.

The SSL has numerous student – staff driven projects in process during each semester focused in areas of: waste minimization and recycling, food and dining, energy, water, transportation, storytelling, and others. These projects could benefit from a collaboration around a specific effort that could be brought into a classroom to help move an SSL project forward, or could undertake a companion effort to supplement a class-based project.

The EC works during the academic year on a number of projects to address needs and gaps in Middlebury’s sustainability leadership. There are opportunities for classes to help with the projects the EC chooses to work on each year. Past examples include: sustainable procurement, increasing ACTR usage by students, Real Food Challenge, internal carbon tax, dormitory energy challenge

Middlebury’s garden site just west of BiHall program uses food as a medium to cultivate wellbeing in people, place and the planet.

  • The Educational Garden serves as a place for students to learn about gardening. Volunteers are welcome to join us for open Volunteer Hours led by garden staff. We also support paid internships for current students during spring, summer, and fall
  • The Outdoor Kitchen is a medium to cultivate community. We host pizza nights and celebrations for campus partners. Interns learn to cook with the wood fired oven and make pizzas with vegetables from our gardens.
  • The Serenity Garden is a plot of land on the western slope of The Knoll. This garden is a collaboration with the Scott Center for Spiritual & Religious Life. In 2012, His Holiness the Dalai Lama blessed a large round marble bench. We also constructed a labyrinth to celebrate 15 years of The Knoll in September 2018. Perennial gardens will continue to be cultivated.

As owner of several thousand acres of land in the Champlain Valley and Green Mountains, Middlebury College is committed to exemplary land stewardship. The College’s Land Stewardship Initiative established seven Guiding Principles that inform our use of land. There are numerous opportunities for collaboration around the nature and use of these lands and their management.