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Locally-Grown Food at Williams
I want to share with everyone an article I wrote featuring Williams students’ work on local food, published in College News Magazine’s 2009 Winter Break Issue (article is on pages 16-17). It’s really encouraging that college students are taking the lead on transforming our food system.
Williams freshman wins national ‘green’ award
By Meghan Foley, North Adams Transcript
WILLIAMSTOWN — Before coming to Williams College in August, Claudia Corona, of Los Angeles, took it upon herself to educate students at her high school about the importance of co-existing with the environment.Her efforts didn’t go unnoticed, and during the spring of her senior year at the California Academy for Liberal Studies Early College High School in Los Angeles, she was nominated for an award given by the Sierra Club’s Building Bridges to the Outdoors program and the North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE).
On Oct. 10, Corona received the second annual Green Youth Leader award at the 2009 NAAEE’s annual Conference in Portland, Ore….
Read the whole article.
Sustainability Report Card
The 2010 College Sustainability Report Card rankings were released last week. Williams received an A- (the highest grade), along with 25 other school. I would like to share my article on the Report Card.
RIP, Lobster Dinner
One of the most anticipated days of the year at Williams is the annual harvest dinner, where they served, among other things, lobster. This seems to have come to an end. A comment left by an ‘09 on Speak Up led me to WSO:
Show Me The Lobster
…tomorrow night, harvest dinner.
Whatever happened to tradition? To honor?! To liberty?!?!?!
A look at the Dining Services website confirms it. Lobster is off the menu:
Locally produced cheddar cheese and crackers
Green River fresh apple cider
Pickled vegetables from Peace Valley Farm
Peace Valley greens with balsamic vinegar
New Englad clam chowder
Peace Valley green bean salad
Mystic haddock fresh baked with lemon garnishing
Hudson Valley chicken
Sea Vegetable Stew made from Peace Valley and local farm crops
Fresh and locally grown corn on the cob
Peace Valley harvested fingerling potatoes
Williams College freshly baked rolls
Williams Bake Shop fresh apple crisp made with Apple Barn apples
Williams College homemade vanilla Gelato
Now, I have never really cared for lobster, considering it an icky bottom dwelling sea bug. But non-lobster eaters such as myself always had the option of a strip steak instead, which left more lobster for our lobster eating brethren. However, the steak has also disappeared from the menu. The only proteins on there seem to be chicken and baked haddock. Baked haddock?! You might as well cancel Harvest Dinner altogether at this point.
This is the most serious casualty of the cost-cutting, by far.
UPDATE: Hey Dining Services – lobster’s a bargain right now. Prices are down by almost 50% from two years ago.
(thanks to hwc for the image. Original here.)
Green Roundup
Lots of environmental-related news in recent weeks:
- As previously reported on Ephblog, Mark Udall ‘73 will deliver what is certain to be a sustainability-themed Convocation address on Saturday.
- Amy Marrella ‘81 nominated as head of the Connecticut DEP.
- William Walter ‘07 hired by EarthWater Global, which locates, develops and manages large-scale, sustainable groundwater resources internationally.
- New academic buildings obtain LEED Gold certification.
- Brainerd Mears ‘43 makes major donation to fund earth sciences program at University of Wyoming.
- Blog post mentioning the Williams Campus Greens group.
- Article claiming that Newsweek’s citation of Williams as a green campus is the product of “snooty East Coast prejudices.”
- This Nature article is available only to subscribers, but according to Google News, it quotes Amy Johns, an environmental analyst at Williams.
- More info on Williams environmental initiatives can be found at the Zilkha Center website.
- Profile of Mark Tercek ‘79, CEO of the Nature Conservancy.
Green is the New Purple
Thanks to ‘nuts’ for bringing the student article, “Global Warming’s Wide Impact”, to our attention. It’s a collaborative effort by Williams College student, Meredith Annex, and Amherst student, David Emmerman. Considering all the recent discussion on the value of interaction with neighboring campuses, I thought it especially poignant.
And tying right in with the subjects of sustainability and cost cutting, is JG’s link about the efforts of the college to accomplish both of these goals; “The Great Shutdown of ‘09″. Just goes to show, saving energy, equals energy $avings.
Meg Lowman ‘76 Still Climbs Trees
KERA’s (Dallas) Krys Boyd recently interviewed tropical field biologist Meg Lowman ’76 on Boyd’s always fascinating “Think” program.
http://podcastdownload.npr.org/anon.npr-podcasts/podcast/77/510036/91173599/KERA_91173599.mp3
The interview ranges over a variety of topics, from Lowman’s creation of the first tree canopy walks (she was the force behind the one in Hopkins Memorial Forest), being an international field biologist, teaching (she is a professor at New College of Florida, where she teaches undergraduates), life as the single mother of two boys while working in the field, and women in science. More than anything, I was struck by how much her identity as a parent shapes her worldview and values. She and her sons (who are now in their early twenties, and destined for scientific careers of their own) have collaborated in writing about life growing up in a field scientist’s family.
Those of you who are at Williams for reunions can try out a canopy walk for yourselves tomorrow (assuming the rain stops):
Sat., 1:30 – 5 p.m. Hopkins Forest: Visit the Treetops on the Canopy Walkway
The walkway is a pair of tree platforms set 70 ft. above the ground and originally used for research. Platforms are linked by a cable bridge and accessed via a wooden ladder. Participants are harnessed to safety cables, and aided by guides. Space limited; long waits possible; first come, first served; no children under 12.
(It’s safe, but a challenge if you have height anxieties. Even if you don’t ascend, it’s worth walking over to HMF just to look at the structure. There will be an open house in the forest at the same time, so you could stop in at HMF headquarters and see the museum of farm implements, buy some homemade maple syrup, and view some of the other exhibits. And if you are outdoorsy, don’t miss the bird walk and the hike, both of which are also on the main reunion schedule.)
Listening to the interview or seeing the canopy walk might interest you in reading Meg’s books for the layperson:
Life in the Treetops: Adventures of a Woman in Field Biology by Margaret D. Lowman (2000)
and
It’s a Jungle Up There: More Tales from the Treetops by Margaret D. Lowman, James Burgess, Edward Burgess, and Ghillean T. Prance (2006) (written with her sons)
Lowman has a website, canopymeg.com. Officialy, her title is Margaret D. Lowman, Ph.D., Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies and Director of Environmental Initiatives, New College of Florida, but, if one just adds “Mom,” the subtitle of her website encapsulates it rather nicely: “Author, Adventurer, Tropical Rain Forest Canopy Biologist.” She is very much a proud product of the Williams Center for Environmental Studies, and the College has celebrated her accomplishments by honoring her with a Bicentennial Medal.
Global Warming Solutions and Herding Cats
Holding a big event at Williams is like herding cats. In an institution run by independent and motivated professors and administrators, getting collaboration and consensus is very difficult. That is why I’m very proud to announce plans for Focus the Nation, an event which really will capture the attention of the entire school, at least for a day.
A little background on Focus the Nation: conceived of and promoted by Eban Goodstein ’80, this day-long symposium for global warming solutions will take place at over 1500 schools, churches and businesses across the country. Held on Jan. 31st nationally, the eve of super Tuesday, the goal is to engage 5 million citizens in active and intelligent conversations about global warming solutions.
The classic problem in any sort of activism is that when you throw an event, only the people who are interested come. In order to address this age old problem, we’re going to the students. Starting in September, we embarked on a campaign to speak to every single faculty member individually and ask for some or all of class time on February 5th to discuss climate change from the stance of their department. To speak to over 300 faculty is a big project, and I applaud Meredith Annex ’11 and Martin Sawyer ’08 who have coordinated those efforts.
Its paying off. Currently over 60 faculty will use between 5 minutes and all of their class time to talk about where their passion for a better world intersects with their discipline and subject matter. And more new commitments are coming in every day. We’ve actually been surprised at how many faculty are genuinely eager to participate in an event that addresses a big issue and uses their particular strengths. Maybe it’s not that surprising after all.
Indulgences?
Some call it “The Big Razor,” a play on its corporate namesake. To others, it’s simply “Foxborough,” as in the Massachusetts town home to it and its dumpy predecessor. A few unbalanced types think of Gillette Stadium, the dwelling of the National Football League’s New England Patriots, as an oppressive Albert Speer knockoff housing the cheatingest gridiron squad on dry land. Most of us are bitter Bills fans.
But more to the point, did you know the stadium was built with an on-site wastewater treatment facility? And even more to the point, were you aware that the Patriots recently agreed to purchase 2,400 megawatt hours of offsets to match their gameday electricity consumption? Well, that’s kind of the point. And, obviously, there are Eph footprints all over this bad boy, starting with Jonathan Kraft ‘86.
But today, the Kraft Group will announce that Midwestern wind will fuel the Gillette Stadium lighthouse, the 612 blazing light bulbs shining down on the field, the scoreboards, and more than 40 concession stands that are juiced with enough power during each game to run 2,269 households for a day. …
“Obviously, energy is vital to our game-day operations and we have made substantial efforts to enhance our energy efficiency,” the Patriots’ president, Jonathan Kraft, said in a statement.
“This not only reduces our carbon footprint, but could help build awareness that other organizations have an opportunity to make a similar choice for the environment.”
The renewable energy credits will be purchased from Constellation NewEnergy, a subsidiary of the Mayo Shattuck ‘76-helmed Constellation Energy, as part of an extant power agreement between the Pats and their energy supplier.
There are, naturally, a few doubters.
The idea of buying certificates to offset pollution has its critics, who say some companies may “greenwash” without making substantive changes.
“People have made the comparison to Catholic indulgences – we’ll continue to sin, but look, we’ll send this to the Church,” said David Chernushenko, author of the book “Greening our Games.”
Previous EphBlog discussion on this topic here.
The Krafts have obviously been into the green-conscious thing for a while, so as much as I’d like to claim they’re simply looking for a much-needed PR boost here, that doesn’t really hold water. But the good press doesn’t hurt, huh? And, indeed, it’s part of the stated rationale for the transaction.
“We have been incredibly proud to serve the New England Patriots since 2003, and now we are pleased to support their sustainable environmental practices by securing clean, renewable energy sources to match the electricity usage for home games throughout the season,” said Michael Kagan, president, Constellation NewEnergy. “Given the national prominence of the Patriots, this significant action sets a terrific example for other companies and businesses preparing to introduce renewable energy into their portfolio as part of an overall strategy to address climate change.”
Now, I tend to think Kagan has a point here. The Pats’ appeal (and, perhaps, their influence) cuts across all sorts of social and economic lines, and as a a result, their green example might just carry more weight with the average consumer than would such a move from the average business. Depending on how much overlap one believes there is between the pro-wind power crowd and the pro-Randy Moss contingent, the Krafts are quite possibly helping to expand the roster of environmentally conscious citizens.
Williams students attend Power Shift 2007
Williams students lobbying congress in front James Garfield.
13 Williams students traveled to DC this weekend for the first ever national youth climate conference, Power Shift 2007, put on by the Energy Action Coalition. Organized by TNG, this trip was planned simultaneously with the Step it Up events right here in Williamstown. Driving two college Prius (priui?), we learned valuable organizing skills, heard diverse perspectives on how to build a clean and just future, and gained a sense of the movement.
The conference attracted 6000 youth from all 50 states, as well as tv cameras, newspapers, influential leaders and the speaker of the house, Nancy Pelosi. In her speech to the assembled students she linked global warming to the war in Iraq, saying we need to fix both simultaneously. Some of her comments were met with boos from the a crowd clearly disappointed with how she has failed to get our troops out. Her prescriptions for climate change solutions were met with fiery chants and calls for ‘more, more, more’. She seemed very surprised at the intensity, and it was clear she did not fully capture the audience the way more passionate speakers like Ed Markey, chair of The Select Committee for Energy Independence and Global Warming.
New Center for Environmental Initiatives
Morty just sent out an e-mail to the college detailing a new full-time staff position within the office of the vice president for operations. The staffer will lead the Center for Environmental Initiatives, which will create and maintain a strategic plan for the college’ sustainability goals.
It looks like the Thursday Night Group just got a corresponding official within the college.
Read the whole letter at the link below.
TNG – what does fighting global warming mean?
92 people attended the first gathering of Thursday Night Group this week. 23 people participated in our overnight leadership retreat to set the agenda and goals for the year. This isn’t the kind of activism we’ve seen at Williams in the recent past (DK, I’m counting on you to prove me wrong here somehow.)
Why is our group so energized this year, and where is all of this going to lead?
Skeptical
Think that global warming is a major problem and that, therefore, the College’s Climate Action initiative is a good idea? Read this (pdf) for a contrary view.
My complaint is not so much that the science of global warming is oversold or that the College has as much (or as little) responsibility toward climate change as it does to other issues (say, malaria). The issue is the rampant hypocrisy which pervades the Williams community. If the College were really concerned about carbon emissions, the faculty offices in the new Stetson would not be huge (300 square feet). Previous discussion here.
Also, stuff like this is absurd.
Amy Johns, environmental analyst at the Center for Environmental Studies, has been crunching the numbers to determine the environmental impact of travel by families and friends to attend Commencement ceremonies.
“A rough estimate of CO2 associated with running the campus for Commencement is 118 tons,” Johns said. “The estimated impact of family and guests’ air travel is about 650 tons and car travel about 50 tons.”
“One way for the college to promote sustainability is through the purchase of carbon offsets for the energy expended in running the campus during, and for family and guests’ travel to, Commencement,” said Boyd.
The college will purchase approximately $8,600 worth of offsets from Owl Feather War Bonnet Wind Farm, a 30 megawatt wind farm being developed by the Rosebud Sioux Tribe in South Dakota and from the Wanner Family Dairy Farm Methane Project in Narvon, PA. The anaerobic methane digester on the dairy farm is estimated to produce approximately 2,000 kWh of electricity a day.
Alas, time constraints prevent me from investigating these offsets (see the original article for links) but 95% of this stuff is bunk. At least, that is what my smart left-wing sources tell me.
Carbon offsets are the modern day indulgences, sold to an increasingly carbon conscious public to absolve their climate sins. Scratch the surface, however, and a disturbing picture emerges, where creative accountancy and elaborate shell games cover up the impossibility of verifying genuine climate change benefits, and where communities in the South often have little choice as offset projects are inflicted on them.
This report argues that offsets place disproportionate emphasis on individual lifestyles and carbon footprints, distracting attention from the wider, systemic changes and collective political action that needs to be taken to tackle climate change. Promoting more effective and empowering approaches involves moving away from the marketing gimmicks, celebrity endorsements, technological quick fixes, and the North/South exploitation that the carbon offsets industry embodies.
Think that sending money Owl Feather War Bonnet Wind Farm — I swear, I am not making that name up! — helps the environment? Educate yourself. Read the report. Anyone know anything about the two projects that the College just sent your alumni donations to? Interested readers would like to know.
If the College were serious about this topic, it wouldn’t have 1/3 of the meetings of the Executive Committee of the Society of Alumni in locations like Portland. Think of the carbon that this sort of air-travel generates! Two years ago, everyone went on a fun junket to London. Cry for Mother Gaiea!
Now, my position is that global warming is neither certain nor necessarily harmful, but I have been having that fight with fellow Ephs for two decades. Maybe my opponents will be right someday! Stopped calendars and whatnot. In the meantime, the College should not involve itself in partisan disputes outside of its core mission.
Eph on PBS
Mark Orlowski ‘04 might be old news to ephblog readers. His work on sustainable endowments while at Williams and much more so after is worth bringing up again, though, especially when its captured in the soft glow of a PBS camera.
Mark is currently touring the country with Guster. The Campus Consciousnes tour will be stopping in the purple valley this Thursday. Members of the band will be at a town hall forum at 2:30 in Brooks-Rogers before the concert to talk about environmental consciousness and giving out backstage passes for the show.
Step it Up in Williamstown
The story copies below is taken from iBerkshires News article on the rally. For national coverage, see your local paper or visit www.stepitup2007.org
I was a bit disapointed to see a few key elements omitted.
1. There is no photo of the ribbon up the steeple (even among the ones I didn’t copy here), arguably the most inventive part of the rally.
2. Hundreds of postcards were signed to congressmen. The entire rally was explicity designed to address the national congress, but that aspect seems to be lost in this article.
By Susan Bush – April 14, 2007
Center for International Environment and Resource Policy At Tufts Director William Moomaw [Photo by Sue Bush]
Williamstown – First, one encountered a couldn’t-miss-it-with- eyes-closed bright orange timeline measuring the fossil-fuel emission levels between the year 1,000 A.D. and 2007.
The fluorescent tape stretched over the First Congregational Church lawn in a nearly straight line, and then curved sharply and steeply upward toward the church steeple. The sudden jump skyward represented the increase in emissions that began during the beginning of the 20th century.
The stunning illustration was part of a Step It Up day event initiated by environmental activist Bill McKibben. Step It Up events were held nation-wide and several Berkshire region communities hosted global warming/climate change events throughout the day.
Long tables served as information booths for numerous local organizations, including the town Carbon Dioxide Lowering [COOL]Committee, the Hoosic River Watershed Association, the Northeast Organic Farming Association, and the Center for Ecological Technology.
TNG Answers?
Were any readers at the Thursday Night Group with Morty last night? Was my question about the carbon impact of Stetson/Sawyer asked? Was it answered? I just left a message on the question for Stephanie Boyd, who seems to be the key college official.
Why do I keep harping on this? Partly it is my natural curmudgeonliness. But accurately measuring the carbon impact of everything that Williams does will highlight, I predict, the hollowness of the moral smirking that seems to drive so much of the discussion. (Consider this discussion of hybrid cars.) Good-hearted students like Morgan Goodwin ‘08 deserve all the facts, not just a collection of smiling faces and Earth Day letters from the college bureaucracy.
UPDATE: Morgan’s year of graduation corrected. I had a great phone conversation with Stephanie Boyd about the College’s goals, the difficulties of accurately measuring something like the carbon impact of Stetson/Sawyer and the importance of involving students in the gritty details of policy. Boyd would make a great guest for Nathan Friend ‘07 on The Hour.
Morty at TNG
Morty is coming to the Thursday Night Group meeting to talk about sustainability. Good for him and good for TNG. Could a reader please ask Morty what the estimated carbon impact of Stetson/Sawyer will be? Just that. Just the facts. I don’t expect TNG or anyone else to try and stop Stetson/Sawyer. I just want to know what the carbon impact will be. Is that so unreasonable?
No word on whether Morty will be driving his hummer to the meeting.
Week of Climate Action
This week is Williams Week of Climate Action. Students have been working hard to raise awareness about sustainability at Williams through lots of events, art and information. This eight foot tall cut out of Morty holding up the globe is now prominently displayed in Goodrich hall. Tomorrow students will unveil a giant CFL lightbulb made entirely from the incandescent bulbs that have been exchanged so far. This sculpture will be placed on Baxter lawn, weather permitting.
Yesterday the “Amherst Blows Greenhouse Gases” T-shirts debuted, for sale at $10 each. They are available in the dining halls.
So Sustainable
The Columbia Spectator frets today over my current institution’s “B” grade on the recent College Sustainability Report, even pulling out a former Spectator columnist to propose that grade “sounds a little generous.” Meow. Meanwhile, Williams’ phatty phat phat A- is included in a passive-aggressive little graphic above the article, contrasted with the “D-” grades handed out to Trinity University (Texas), Tulsa and Notre Dame. As if we needed another reason to hate the Fighting Irish. No mention of Amherst’s weak “B-” showing.
The front page of the same paper also includes a hilarious little refer to an op-ed column about the Middle East by a Columbia freshman. How do they tease the piece? “Staff writer Jordan Hirsch explains why Israel is not the bloodthirsty mess some think it to be.” Outstanding!
Big Day for Williams Sustainability
Two major events occured today to elevate sustainability to the forefront of Williams. The first was President Schapiro’s announcement to the college of the Climate Action Plan. The trustees met this weekend to discuss and unanimously passed a plan to reduce college CO2 emissions 10% below 1990 levels (or about 50% below today’s levels) by 2020. That letter can be found here
The second item was the release of the College Sustainability Report Card. The Report Card examines and grades 100 schools across the United States and Canada on criteria including climate change policies, green building, and investment practices. It was produced by the Sustainable Endowments Initiative which is run by Mark Orlowski ‘04. I’m not sure if his connection to Williams swayed his organization’s report, but Williams was one of only 4 schools to recieve an A-, the highest grade awarded. More can be found and the full report can be downlaoded here or here
Mt. Greylock Climate Action
Justin Bates, ‘07 starts his talk on Global Warming in the Berkshires at Mt. Greylock High School
Thursday marked the second day of the Williams regional outreach program. Five Ephs spoke to six periods of classes and one period of lunch at Mt. Greylock High School, reaching about 250 students and inspiring the creation of an environmental club at the school. The talk was based on the slide show developed over our Winter Study class on student activism with professor Singham. The show is intended to bring up some scary and local possible effects of climate change and then turn the focus to the student climate action movement. The goal is to inspire students to become leader and motivate their schools and communities to reduce energy use, seek alternative energy sources and raise awareness on the issue.
Solar Panels at Williams
The Solar Panels on the science center roof are touted by the Williams sustainability website as part of our source of energy at the college. If you follow the link and compare these panels to other institutions in the regions, you see they are actually pitiful (keeping mind the relative size of the other institutions). I know homeowners who have installed 5kw displays, which gives them an annual net electricity bill of $0. Should we be ashamed of boasting of such a small array?
Currently browsing posts filed under "Sustainability"
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Williams Record- Track and field ends regular season at Tufts
- Your Friendly Neighborhood Sports Columnist: Come join the party.
- Crew comes on strong in Baxter
- Gentlemanly conduct and hockey etiquette
- Alpine/Nordic ski teams notch yet another fifth place finish
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- College News Releases
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- Ephs continue climb in USCHO national poll, now 6th: host 9th ranked Middlebury Tuesday
- WATCH and HEAR the Ephs on the Internet Feb. 9 - Feb 13
- Ski Team Finishes 5th at UVM
- Squash Finishes 2nd in NESCAC
- Women's Squash Cruises into NESCAC Finals
- Ephs Defeat Tufts and Bates to Advance to NESCAC Finals
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