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(03/18/10 4:59am)
The recent controversy over the reorganization of super block housing this semester has left many students upset, confused and scrambling to find new plans for the upcoming year. Despite the series of e-mails sent out and the information meetings held in an attempt to help upperclassmen through the new system, many students walked away from these efforts more baffled than before.
This restructuring lacked clarity and transparency in both its launch and decision-making process. Locations that were typically senior housing, such as Sperry, have been converted into language houses or broken down within the system into smaller blocks, limiting on-campus options for seniors.
Current juniors, now abroad, missed the majority of the new housing conversation, potentially eliminating them from applying for homes that are now a part of the super block process. Though several bumps in the road are to be expected with the introduction of any new system, it seems as though this new super block process is simply more complicated than needed.
As the super block application process occurred earlier this month and the general housing lottery will open after break, the housing committee has found itself in a pinch. In anticipation of next year’s increased numbers, the committee may have to explore temporary solutions, such as converting office space into student housing.
With that in mind, now is the time to begin thinking about long-term solutions. We understand that in the current climate of financial tightness, the construction of a new dormitory may seem too expensive, but perhaps this needs to be made a budgetary priority — even if it comes at the expense of other resources.
Alternatively, the College could at least explore expanding off-campus housing eligibility by both opening up the opportunity to the junior and senior Feb classes and eliminating the lottery process, which seems an unnecessary hassle given how many seniors had to be begged to move off campus in the past few years. Such a shift could potentially have a positive impact on the town economy as well.
When discussing potential long-term solutions to the housing problem, the administration must remember that the student voice is both vital and valuable — nothing will be met with more outrage than a housing decision made without seeking the opinions of those who will feel the consequences.
A productive dialogue about housing has been woefully missing over the past few years, during which time the College has altered the super block process twice, and in the future, we hope that all ears will be open to innovative and creative ideas to this community issue.
(03/11/10 5:00am)
It’s quite easy nowadays to vilify Big Business and conglomerated corporate interests. In fact, in a way, it’s become even fashionable — certainly not much of a surprise after watching the financial giants pull enormous profits out of thin air, cause a near collapse of our economy and then steal (under the guise of a federal bailout) our taxpayer money. Can you even feign shock that they are now actively (and productively) lobbying to ensure regulatory reform never sees a congressional agenda?
And it’s not just Michael Moore running around with an empty sack, pestering the old white boys at Goldman Sachs either. On the other side of the spectrum, Republicans are winning elections on the premise that they are “small government,” riding the tide of Wall Street v. Main Street sentiment falsely peddled out to a frustrated electorate, tossed around as pawns in a game of consolidating private wealth. As if any politician was for small government (do I hear private military contracting, anyone?).
However, under our current growth-driven economic system, it’s necessary for institutions to invest capital in order to support those industries that construct the fabric of our material lives. Moreover, in a globalizing society, commerce and trade are becoming even more important, as the means of production become more geographically diffuse (regardless of the condensation in ownership).
But industry, as we are all well aware, looks mostly at short term profits and ignores externalities — environmental and social costs not directly borne by the producer or consumer. Cheap goods from Wal-Mart rely on cutthroat competition, leading to the promotion of unsafe sweatshop labor and unparalleled pollution. Private transportation and energy inefficiencies are pumping CO2 into the atmosphere on a massive scale, causing global climate change and ground level ozone pollution, etc. Coal companies are blowing up mountains, the global fisheries stock is drying up and industrial farming is ruining our water supply (think swine flu, MRSA and E. coli are bad?). It’s almost too much to handle. Meanwhile, these costs are invisible to the accounting sheets of industry. Managers pursue record rates of return on investments, increasing the bottom line to the applause of the short-term profit seeking shareholders.
Sound like a bad Bernie Madoff-esque screenplay? If only that were the case — rather, it’s the story of our very own Middlebury College and the rest of our peer “growth-olympian” institutions. This Ponzi scheme is broader only in the sense that we’re borrowing profits from natural resources and sinks, societies and cultures — setting up to watch the problems mount and collapse over civil society in the near-future. It looks like sour grapes have been sitting in clear sight for a while now. And the speculative economic bubbles will leave more than a couple hundred New Yorkers without a 401(k).
Middlebury revels in its image as a school that projects social responsibility, internationalism and sustainability. Subsequently, you may think that with an institutional endowment of $740 million, the community would have some clue as to what companies this collective legacy of ours is funding. We don’t. The College Sustainability Report Card gives us a “D” for endowment transparency, and we lack accountability for any so-called “investment priorities.” Something needs to be done.
We pretend to actively address the problem by consolidating our investments under a single management group, Investure LLC, which features pretty pictures of rolling hills and smiling people on its Web site. The Board of Trustees repeatedly ignores the cries from student groups, the Faculty Council and our beloved scholar-in-residence, Bill McKibben. As an educational institution with a motto that reads “Knowledge and Virtue,” Middlebury cannot help but look like a complete and utter hypocrite unless it addresses the need for Socially Responsible Investing through our endowment.
To me, this gets at the heart of the problem. Our $740 million legacy is silent as to where its priorities lay but represents the future of a school running its mouth at every opportunity it gets. Sustainability this, global responsibility that. Diversity. Social work. Environmental justice. Clap it up, friends, we’ve got one hell of an image to be thankful for. We claim to embrace global challenges, training students and thinkers who will go off into the world and make it a better place. Yet our legacy, as embodied by our current investment strategy, is paradoxically at odds with our institutional message. I’m sorry, but while I may have chosen a liberal arts college for an interdisciplinary education, I do not need a duplicitous lesson in morality.
Worse yet, our endowment is, in effect, subsidizing the very powerful inequities that we simultaneously send our students out to defeat. Not only are we saying one thing and doing another, we are saying one thing and doing many things to ensure we’ll never be able to stop saying it. As a college with a conscience, we are literally firing guns at a reflection of ourselves that we don’t like, and accordingly training students in making sure nobody steps barefoot on the shattered glass. It’s a terrible contradiction to be getting for the hefty $50,000-a-year price tag I’m paying.
Of course, there was no mention of an SRI Sustainability Fund in the president’s Trustees update e-mail, and instead merely the laughable suggestion by Frederick Fritz ’68, the chair of the Trustees, that something with any transparency or autonomy had been created. The Campus’s characterization of whatever decision the board made as a new opportunity for students “to evaluate whether or not certain companies the College invests in live up to Middlebury’s sustainability standards, something they were able to do only minimally in previous years” is patently untrue and misleading. Furthermore, contrary to some reports, the recommendation by the ACSRI that one percent of the endowment be moved into a separate fund was outright rejected, and any move made will be a fraction of that number, remaining within Investure’s Global Equity Fund.
But hey, what can you expect when the money’s on the line, right? And just for the record, I’ve been sincerely trying to (but just can’t) see how $200 million disappearing virtually overnight can be conceived as a viable investment strategy. If you’d like to let me know, I live in Hepburn 110, and would be delighted to have the conversation.
(03/11/10 4:59am)
India: the land of Bollywood, curry, the Taj Mahal, Kama Sutra, snakes, elephants and pleny of folklore. For most of us halfway across the world, the recent economic boom that has catapulted India to the international stage in recent years seems at odds with our more romantic and exotic perceptions of India.
There are other preconceived notions as well — the stereotypical Indian, according to comedian Russell Peters, is a brown-skinned, God-fearing, curry-eating computer genius with 100 cousins and a pronounced Indian accent accompanied inevitably by the special left-to-right head jiggle.
But what actually lies behind these common perceptions of India?
That is precisely the question that the spring 2010 symposium “De-Romanticizing India” attempted to answer. Through the lens of politics, history, religion, art and culture, it aimed to give students a glimpse of the paradox that is India.
But where does one even begin to understand such a vast, diverse, complex and dynamic society? Between its Northern and Southern, Eastern and Western extremes one can find a varied topography of mountains, deserts, beaches and hills and an even more varied cultural fabric interwoven with extremes of a more drastic nature.
Combine the image of the country’s poor and illiterate millions with a soaring GDP of about seven percent, even during the recession, and you will begin to see some of these complexities and contradictions.
India has the world’s third largest number of billionaires; it also has a poverty rate of 42 percent. Even different states within India are on extreme ends. For instance, Kerala has a literacy of 91 percent whereas Bihar stands at lowly a 47 percent.
These are just the disparities that can be expressed through numbers. Behind these figures lie many more contradictions that are not explicitly stated but nevertheless spill into the lives of Indian citizens — like the persisting Hindu-Muslim conflict, the narrowness of the education system and social challenges like the caste system and the practice of dowries.
As an ancient and vibrant civilization, a country of 1.5 billion people, the largest democracy in the world, India struggles with its various divisions of language, ethnicity, religion and culture.
The purpose of the symposium “is to show India as it is, not in the old clichés inherited from colonialism and Rudyard Kipling, but as a complex, diverse and changing country and society,” said Jeff Lunstead, professor of South Asian Studies. An escape from the India of pop culture, or the Orientalist views that have long dominated discourses on Southeast Asia, this symposium attempts to understand India — its domestic and international dimensions — in a holistic manner.
“We wanted people to walk away with a full-bodied view of India,” says Vrutika Mody ’11. “India travels on its own planetary orbit — it is more than an economic powerhouse and more than just another China,” she said.
“There is growing interest about India at Middlebury College,” said Lunstead. “Those who want to deal realistically with the emerging world, in which countries like India and China will play an increasingly important role, need to learn about India.”
Keynote Address: A New U.S.-India Relationship
The dynamic between India and the United States was the focus of the keynote address that kicked off last week’s symposium. Karl F. Inderfurth, who worked in the U.N. and for the U.S. government specializing in South Asian affairs, gave the speech.
Inderfurth started out by stating that India has a big role to play in today’s political climate. “India has emerged as one of the rising powers in the 21st century,” Inderfurth explained. “Along with China, it is one of the major powers on the Asian continent.”
He then went on to state why the United States must engage with India. Inderfurth mentioned the global environment, a desire to maximize economic trade as reasons for U.S. involvement in moving the South Asian region toward stability. Many of the points he made centered on the power the two countries would have working together to create a positive change in the world. “The United States is the world’s first democracy,” he pointed out. “India is the world’s largest.”
The relationship between the two nations was not always so stable. It was only after the Cold War, once India began to open itself up to other nations, that a true bond was formed. “It has been a transformation from a country with which we had an estranged relationship and democracy to one where we are engaged democracies.”
However, Inderfurth admitted that he was afraid that the publicity India is receiving because of its booming economy would create an unrealistic expectation of what it can achieve in the present. “We don’t have to look at India through rose-tinted glasses,” he said.
What we need right now is a realistic outlook for the nation.”
Two of the main problems India faces is maintaining its high economic growth and dealing with challenges such as infrastructure and poverty. Inderfurth added that Manmohan Singh’s government is aware of the domestic challenges it faces. “India sees itself as a developing country,” he explained. “An advanced country, but a developing country.” As of now, India’s rising population is an advantage, because the booming economy has stimulated job and education opportunities.
Another aspect of the India-U.S. relationship Inderfurth focused on was where China fit in to the picture. In the past, India and China have had continuous border disagreements that created tension between them. Both nations have come together to work on their relationship, and China is now India’s largest trading partner.
“The U.S. needs to engage China on its merits as it does India,” said Inderfurth, “and not get into a competition or a competitive triangle between the two. It should be a cooperative triangle, not a confrontational triangle.” Collaboration between the three nations could lead to great progress on important issues, such as climate change and energy security.
Overall, “Looking at India in a realistic sense of where it is and what challenges it faces and what it can accomplish is a good idea and one that will be well served in this symposium,” said Inderfurth.
Students leaving the address felt they had a better understanding on India-U.S. relationships. “This was a good beginning for the symposium. I think Inderfurth did a very good job of presenting the international perspective on India,” said Mourtaza Ahmad Ali ’12.
Yuan Kang Lim, another sophomore, said, “It’s interesting because U.S.-India relationships aren’t talked about much in the media. It’s a topic of increasing importance for us and I think it’s important to look beyond common stereotypes and a superficial understanding of India.”
Panel: Indian Foreign Policy and Global Outlook
The foreign policy panel held last Thursday at the Franklin Environmental Center in Hillcrest focused on the tumultuous relationship between India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Lisa Curtis and Walter Andersen, two experts on South Asia, spoke about the dynamic between the three countries and its effect on the region.
After the Cold War, India made an effort to take its place as one of the leading nations in the region. According to Andersen, the country greatly improved its security system and adopted liberal economic reforms. Opening up its economy to others forced India to reach out to other nations. “It’s the largest country in the region by far, and it’s long taken the stand that it should more or less structure the foreign policy of the region,” said Andersen.
However, India has had troubles with other countries in South Asia ever since gaining its independence in 1947. Pakistan and India in particular have always had a strained relationship, and Curtis admitted that it was difficult to remain optimistic at times. Indian citizens are still smarting from the devastating attacks that took place in November 2008 that were believed to have been perpetrated by extremists from Pakistan. The most recent talks between the two countries took place on Feb. 25, but according to Curtis, were held because of “international pressure rather than changed views.”
One of the main areas of contention between India and Pakistan is Afghanistan. “Afghanistan has become new battle ground for the Indo-Pakistan problems,” said Curtis. “Kashmir is no longer the main issue. Now both countries are vying for influence in Afghanistan. India has developed relationships with the political players in the country, and Pakistan feels threatened by this, so this has caused a huge rivalry.”
India has a very large presence in Afghanistan. It is the nation’s fifth largest aid donor, giving nearly $1.5 billion dollars to various projects taking place there. It also has one of the largest training programs for new bureaucrats, army officials and policemen, and many Afghan students study in India. India’s involvement in the country is even more evident by its five consulates and an embassy, which was attacked twice in 2008. The attacks only made India more determined to strengthen its relationship with the Afghan government.
According to Andersen, Pakistan sees India’s strengthening relationship with Afghanistan as an existential threat. “What India needs to do is open up talks to Pakistan in an effort to convince them that they’re not trying to open up a two-front threat against them,” said Anderson.
However, India is currently debating sending troops to Afghanistan. The United States and India have a similar viewpoint on the situation in Afghanistan. In fact, India is one of the strongest supporters of the surge. Where their views differ is on the 18 -month timeline President Obama announced for the troops’ withdrawal. “They see that as something that will encourage Taliban and Al Qaeda to stick to what they’re doing and they are afraid the Afghan army won’t be strong enough to withstand them on their own,” said Andersen. India is already the only nation to have its own personal security forces on the ground.
“The flashpoint for the Indo-Pakistani rivalry is Afghanistan,” said Curtis. Needless to say, the future of the three countries is inextricably linked to each other. While there are hopes that one day, through peaceful negotiations, an understanding will be reached, Curtis admits that the chances of this happening in the near future are slim.
The dynamic between the countries is extremely complicated, yet the panel was able to break down the relationships into clear points. Mirwais Hadel ’12 gained a newfound perspective on the situation after the panel discussion. “I think it’s really useful for students, and it’s interesting to see how the U.S. reflects on issues in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and India. It’s helpful, because they have a broader understanding of the situation,” he said.
Panel: Domestic Issues in Contemporary India
On March 5, a panel on “Domestic Issues and Challenges in Contemporary India” met to share ideas surrounding some political complexities in India. The panel was composed of environmentalist Saleem Ali from UVM who specializes in South Asia, Walther Anderson from Johns Hopkins University and Safa Mohsin Khan ’12.
The panelists gave an overview of the domestic challenges of India with regard to the environment, party politics and the Hindu-Muslim conflict. “The talk was great because people were addressing similar issues like religion and development from different perspectives and backgrounds,” said Kyle Olsen ’10.
Saleem Ali highlighted the need for India to adopt a more environmentally friendly road to development. He pointed out that India was ranked #123 (one spot behind China) on the environmental index designed by Columbia and Yale universities.
“Overall, the Indian government has not been very forthcoming on these issues. There is a normative debate between development and environment,” he said. When asked what suggestions he had for a more environmentally friendly path to development, he suggested the Taiwan and Malaysia models but did not elaborate on how India would reconcile its huge population and coal intensive production methods with these smaller models.
Ali pointed toward the strength of India’s civil society and grassroots organizations for environmental protection. “Because India is a democracy, better sense will prevail in terms of reducing this rampant degradation,” he said, highlighting Chinese efforts to reduce environmental degradation by comparison.
On the political side, Walther Anderson discussed the consequences of party politics in India. “The Indian parliament mirrors the population of India,” he said. He gave a brief history of Indian politics highlighting the long domination of the Congress, eclipsed only recently by the Hindu nationalist party, the BJP. He also talked about the inevitability of a coalition government in India due to “social issues.”
He highlighted two crucial aspects of the future of Indian politics. First, “Indian politics will be centrist. It is already moving towards being centrist because of its complexity,” he explained. Second, he said that “change is going to be incremental. “You won’t have revolutionary change. It just won’t happen.” Despite its gradual pace, the Indian system is incredibly open and change will ultimately be realized, Andrerson explained.
Safa, on the other hand, gave a more personal account of her experience with another major domestic challenge of India: the Hindu-Muslim conflict. “The tension between the two groups is such that it simmers beneath the surface and can explode at any moment,” she remarked. She also described the polarization of Hindus and Muslims with regard to neighborhoods in her hometown of Meerut, saying that it was “unhealthy.”
She specifically mentioned two events, the Babri Masjid Demolition and the Gujarat riots, which really shaped relations between the two communities. “It’s not the riots themselves but their aftermath that is the scariest part,” she said. She lamented that Muslims in India are also politically under-represented.
“My family votes for the Congress because it is the lesser of the two evils,” she said. She also commented on the suppression of their language, Urdu, which is not taught in local schools. She ended her talk with the question, “Is India really secular?”
Grace Gholke ’13 found Safa’s personal perspective was very much valued by the audience. “I found it very intriguing to hear personal experience,” said Gholke, “because sometimes to hear about unfamiliar things in a very abstract, academic way is hard to connect, so it’s always good to hear about how these issues are experienced by people within the country.”
Beyond the Symposium: Success powers forward
After a packed week of lectures and panels, the symposium ended with a return to the popular elements of the “romantic” India. A showcasing of Bollywood through the movies, “Rang De Basanti” gave a candid insight into the corruption that is present in the highest portals of Indian government. Indian food complete with generous servings of spicy curry and naan bread were offered in celebration of Holi on Saturday. The symposium concluded with a performing arts show, Midd Masala, which had performances by dance troupes from several colleges dancing bhangra, fusion and garba.
Even though the task of de-romanticizing an exotic country like India is an arduous one, students and faculty alike feel that the event has been a success. “I think the symposium was a good starting point to help unfold the various ‘unspokens’ about India,” said Vrutika Moody ’10. “It’s hard to map how perceptions change but I do think that it brought important issues to the forefront. Even introducing the idea that India has such dense challenges like environmental degradation and Hindu-Muslim ties up ahead impressed upon students that the gleeful atmosphere in Bollywood movies was not always accurate.” She acknowledged that it was difficult to unfold all the nuances of India within a week, and hoped that the symposium would encourage students, professors and townspeople to want to research or visit India more.
Mody attributed the diverse people interested in the symposium — even people who had never taken a class on India or had never been there to the “multi-cultural nature of Middlebury. Students of all majors can see a fitting spot in India’s development,” she said, whether through art, economics, history or environment and the symposium tried to cater to that. Another encouraging factor was the number of townspeople who attended the events. “It shows the depth and breadth of interest in India not just in the college, but in Middlebury as a whole,” said Professor of South Asian Studies, Jeff Lunstead.
Overall, the symposium was indeed successful in unpacking the several layers that form the complex Indian society. While the stereotypes still persist, it has enabled people to see it in a new light, in the realities of its challenges as well as strengths. As Anoushka Sinha ’13 puts it, the symposium generated a lot of “Go India!” spirit on campus.
(02/25/10 5:10am)
The United Nations Climate Change Conference, held in Copenhagen in December, has generated much uncertainty and debate. Copenhagen was arguably one of the most important international negotiations in recent memory. Still, the implications for our planet and for international politics are still unknown. What changes should be made for a post-2012 international climate treaty?
Last week, students Rhidaya Trivedi ’12, Ben Wessel ’11 and alumna Jaimie Henn ’07, a 350.org campaign organizer, joined Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies Chris Klyza and Scholar-in-Residence in Environmental Studies Bill McKibben on a panel attempting to answer that very question. Listening to the panelists and their apprehension, one sentiment resounded: the future of the planet is being negotiated and the youth of this world needs to be a part of the decisions that will shape it.
Many young Copenhagen attendees like Wessel proudly sported emblazoned t-shirts with the words, “How old will you be in 2050?” Part of the negotiations was widely focused on trying to match new targets that science suggests must include up to a 25-40 percent cut in CO2 emissions by 2020 and up to an 80 percent cut by 2050, Trivedi explained. Consequently, the panelists said, the people in office making — or not making — these decisions won’t be the ones to live through the repercussions of their actions.
While talks may not have produced immediate results, as Henn put it: Copenhagen went from “Hopenhagen to Nopenhagen” — a lot was happening amongst civil society members, especially young people.
One of the more remarkable aspects of the conference was the power asserted by some 2,000 young people present, who, in Wessel’s words, “fundraised for over a year, who educated themselves, who were leaders in their communities … and were coming to Copenhagen for the purpose of influencing their leaders to create an international climate treaty based on science and survival.” There were so many young people that for the first time, international youth were considered an official constituent by the United Nations.
In Copenhagen, passionate and dedicated young people from all over the world had access to policy-making in a way that, in the panelists’ view, should be made more available to youth year-round when dealing with issues such as those surrounding the Copenhagen summit.
While 100,000 people from various countries, ages and socioeconomic backgrounds marched the streets, others had the opportunity to work on the “inside” of the convention center, some of whom were Midd-kids advocating for legislation and policy change: Trivedi made her voice heard when she spoke to the administrator of the EPA and Wessel met with three members of Congress in the Hard Rock Café to discuss possible solutions to climate negotiations.
The panelists also addressed the pertinent question: beyond Copenhagen, what can young people do to advocate and implement change? Besides the progress in policy work that needs to be furthered, Henn explained, “there’s a real need for public pressure. There’s a real need for the U.S. Senate to make progress. We must work on the national level.”
Students who want to make a difference need to make their voices heard, according to the panelists. Said Trivedi, “That includes telling representatives what you want to see happen, and the criteria upon which they should be acting abroad.” The 350.org campaign sloganexpresses hope for a treaty that is “Fair, Ambitious, and Legally Binding,” and this vision can only be effectively achieved through advocacy and civic engagement.
(02/18/10 5:30am)
Abby Hoeschler ’10 has been log rolling since the age of four. Her mother is a seven-time world champion. Her oldest sister, Katie Hoeschler ’03.5, is the current world champion. Together with her sisters Katie and Elizabeth Hoeschler ’05, who started teaching log rolling on campus when they attended Middlebury, Abby has institutionalized log rolling at the College, and the sport is now a thriving activity on campus.
Log rolling, which traces its historical roots back to the 1800s, when loggers would “drive” logs down the river to a sawmill, is a little-known yet exciting activity that has captivated the interest of the Hoeschler family. Today, it bears little resemblance to the antiquated practice of the 19th-century logging industry, as its influence has spread through community programs which use discarded electrical poles for the logs rather than chopping down trees. Abby describes it as the most mentally taxing sport she has ever played.
“Stepping onto a skinny piece of floating wood in the water (just inches from your competitor), knowing that if you take one misstep you will plunge into the water, has taught me how to stay and fight when my body goes into the instinctual fight-or-flight mode,” said Hoeschler in describing the sport’s psychological pressures.
During the two years at Middlebury between Hoeschler sisters, log rolling continued to be taught by a recent convert to the sport, Danielle Rougeau, a LIS staff member for Library and Information Servies. Offered as a P.E. class and a Winter Term workshop, it is now applying to become a club sport, and should finish the process sometime this spring.
“Danielle has done a great job of promoting it,” said Hoeschler. “Offering log rolling as a P.E. class really helped to increase involvement, and the J-Term workshops are always full.”
Log rollers recently came together for the third annual log rolling tournament at Middlebury, which took place in the natatorium during the last week of Winter Term. The group had enough participants this year to have a beginner bracket as well as an intermediate bracket, and the event drew a solid number of fans, including President of the college Ronald D. Liebowitz. Due to this outpouring of support and participation, Hoeschler and Rougeau are hoping to organize a spring tournament as well, since it would be the last one before Abby graduates in May.
Beginners and intermediate log rollers alike put in a great showing at the tournament, for which Abby acted as announcer. “There was a lot going on, since we had two logs in the water, and it was challenging to be announcing and organizing the event at the same time,” admitted Hoeschler. That said, the tournament was a lot of fun for all involved, and ended up being a huge success.
“Abby made a difficult job seem really easy,” said Rougeau of Hoeschler’s role in the organization of the event. In addition to helping plan the tournament, Rougeau competed in the intermediate bracket. Although she did not place in the top three, it was clear from watching that she loves to roll, and had a great time facing off against some of her former students.
Katie Crecilius ’09.5 won the intermediate bracket for the second straight year in arguably the most exciting match of the tournament. Rolling against fellow graduating Feb Dave Small ’09.5, she dropped the first two contests before coming back to win three straight for the 3-2 victory, cheered on by her mom and the spattering of remaining fans. Brian Clow ’13 took the beginner’s title, with Spencer Ellis ’12 finishing second and Robin Curtis ’10 in third place.
“It was exciting that we had a very diverse group participating in the tournament,” said Hoeschler. “People from all over are picking it up.” Log rolling’s unique presence at Middlebury has certainly attracted attention, and Hoeschler added that it has given the school good press from a wide audience. When her sisters were involved with log rolling at Middlebury, the Today Show came to interview the two of them about their participation at the highest levels of international competition and their desire to establish this intriguing sport at the College.
This past fall, Abby organized a log rolling event to raise awareness for 350.org on the Oct. 24 International Day of Climate Action. She and other members of the Middlebury community collectively made 350 turns of the log rolling log in a gesture that highlights the ability of sports to become an instrument of social awareness and change.
Hoeschler is optimistic that log rolling will continue to thrive at Middlebury after she graduates this spring, especially given Rougeau’s firm commitment to the program.
(02/18/10 5:01am)
Last Thursday, Feb. 11, the seven seniors of the environmental science 401 seminar (taken during this Winter Term) presented their research findings about the effectiveness of forests at sequestering carbon. The students’ message about the College, the environmental studies program and its relationship with the greater Vermont community questioned the viability of the biomass facility.
For the first time this year, the ES department offered its senior seminar during the winter term. For Alice Ford ’10, ES 401 was a huge success. Although the compression of all that research into four short weeks was obviously stressful, she said that “having the seminar during J-term was great. It let us concentrate on just our research without having to do, well, other classes.”
In another change this year, the ES department decided to create a common theme among the three seminars (fall, winter, spring). All three groups of students will focus on energy.
Specifically, the Winter Term group researched carbon sequestration and storage. Ford said that, in general, they wanted to study “the procurement standards that the College uses for biomass so that they consider more of the forests’ sequestration potential.” “Procurement standards” is just the scientific way of saying, “how we go about getting” the biomass (i.e. forest material like trees, leaves and brush) that the College burns at its plant. The ES students believe that the way in which we harvest biomass material is affecting the carbon storage potential of the forests. Trees take in carbon dioxide, store the carbon inside the wood, and give off resultant oxygen. Forests therefore store a lot of carbon within them. This process of taking CO2 from the atmosphere and storing it is called carbon storage. Carbon sequestration is actually taking the CO2 and eliminating it altogether. The ES 401 students collected data on how much carbon a forest can store and how different harvesting practices affect those numbers.
This research led the students to a number of interesting conclusions. The students were able to come up with some rough estimates of the potential carbon storage of Middlebury lands. The 1,297 hectares of land that Middlebury owns both near campus and at Bread Loaf is capable of storing between 323,000 and 354,000 tons of carbon. They calculated that as the forest grows, untouched, carbon storage increases by about 10,000 tons per year. For reference, the Middlebury Web site indicates that the biomass facility is meant to decrease the College’s total carbon emissions by 12,500 tons, a fraction of the amount being stored in its lands. Unfortunately, the estimates presented by the group were extremely rough. There does not exist enough data to make accurate estimates. The students were forced to use data from other types of forests and equations meant for other places in the United States.
Ford explained that “this work needs to be done. With more resources, we could have done a lot more.” In this regard, one of the other things students in the ES seminar had to learn was “how frustrating it is to research modern ES concepts.”
The biomass facility on campus is the jewel of the College’s sustainability program, but both the fall group and these Winter Term seniors agree that Middlebury’s goal to become carbon neutral by 2016 cannot be accomplished with the biomass facility running as it does now. While previously biomass gassification was thought to be nearly carbon neutral, that opinion is changing — beacause, while burning biomass is much better than the burning of fossil fuels, it is still a deeply flawed process, according to students of ES 401.
Their study of carbon sequestration indicates that naturally growing forests are the optimal way to store carbon. Any thinning, harvesting, or managing in general will hamper the forest’s ability to store the carbon. Carbon storage in the forests is a naturally occurring process that has been regulating the CO2 levels in the atmosphere since the dawn of time. However, as more forests are cut, the gap between the amount of CO2 being released into the atmosphere and the carbon being stored widens, increasing the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere, and thereby contributing to be a major source of climate change.
Carbon storage, then, must be considered in any calculation of carbon neutrality. Ford said that any cutting of trees results in the “missing out on potential carbon sequestration.” Those trees could be storing carbon, and cutting them is the same as releasing that same amount of potential into the atmosphere. Also, the soil, which is the best store of carbon available, is exposed to sunlight by the cutting of trees, which releases even more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The procurement standards that the seminar put together are a way of optimizing the carbon storage of the forests. Things like selective cutting, observing longer harvesting cycles, and managing the ages of the trees would maintain higher levels of carbon storage while still enabling the plant to obtain biomass for energy. Still, the best way to maintain carbon storage is through “passive management.”
Meghan Blumstein ’11, who attended the colloquium, described the presentation as the “best example at Middlebury of community outreach,” adding that “the ES department makes an effort to connect their research to the greater Vermont community.” Dale Freundlich ’10 was likewise encouraged by the “connection with the community, which is often lacking at the College.” This seminar worked with Vermont Family Forests in an effort to educate farmers about carbon sequestration and set up procurement standards for community farmers. The farmers that are part of VFF are environmentally conscious. Unfortunately, according to Lizzie Horvitz ’10, “landowners are not aware of carbon sequestration.” There is simply not enough information or research, especially on the local level because so much of the storage depends upon variables such as the specific soils and trees found in the area. Middlebury needs to research the economics of biomass procurement and into the exact amount of carbon storage potential of its lands to find out which behavioral changes can serve its goal of carbon neutrality.
In addition to Ford and Horvitz, this Winter Term’s ES 401 seminar included: Clare Crosby ’10, Chris Free ’10, Charlie Hofmann ’10, Emily May ’10, and Roz Vara ’10. The course was led by Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies Steve Trombulak.
(02/18/10 4:59am)
In a heavily attended speech in Mead Chapel on Feb. 12, President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz unveiled a bold new financial model that would rely more heavily on alternative funding sources like the summer Language Schools and the Monterey Institute for International Studies (MIIS) to support the College’s annual operating budget.
The proposal aims to limit the annual increase of the student comprehensive fee to one percent over inflation. Liebowitz’s remarks reflect growing fears in the liberal arts community that the existing financial model is, in his words, “no longer sustainable.” The Board of Trustees is expected to approve the proposal at its coming meetings this weekend.
The announcements made in last week’s address have garnered attention from several national media outlets, including the New York Times and Inside Higher Ed.
Historically, the College relied upon the annual growth of its endowment, along with generous alumni gifts and the tuition of students to fund a large amount of its annual budget.
But high expectations for gifts and endowment performance, along with little preparation for an economic disaster, left the College unprepared.
Strategic shift in financial model
Under the new plan, the College will downgrade its expected returns for interest on the endowment from 9 percent to 5 percent annually. Additionally, the College will reduce its goals for the current fundraising initiatives by 15 percent over the next four years.
In order to make up for the decrease in revenue from traditional sources, Liebowitz will lead the College in exploring alternative funding sources like the summer Language Schools, a potential language software partnership with an online company and the MIIS.
Liebowitz and President of MIIS Sunder Ramaswamy expressed optimism about the potential expansion of the graduate school when it legally joins Middlebury in July 2010 during an open meeting on Feb. 15.
When the College acquired Monterey in 2005, the California school was on shaky financial ground.
Since then, the school has continually remained in the black and generated $10.4 million in surpluses.
In the coming years, the College hopes to promote a “4+1” joint degree program between the two institutions, increased faculty exchanges, study away programs for Middlebury undergraduates that would send them to Monterey for a semester and MIIS collaboration with Middlebury schools abroad.
Monterey has over 800 graduate students, an operating budget of $39 million for the coming year and real estate holdings valued at $43 million. Ramaswamy emphasized the desire to create a community between the undergraduate college and MIIS.
As evidenced by top-ranking programs at Monterey and in Vermont, Liebowitz hailed the College’s superiority in language education over all peer institutions and challenged the community to utilize these assets.
“The idea that we could find a way to take advantage of this strength is not the corporatization of Middlebury College,” he said. “It’s a smart use of our developed strengths and advantages.”
Though he cautioned that the College might not see the benefits of these alternative funding sources for three or four years, Liebowitz stressed the community’s history of taking risks.
“The College has always been willing to take risks,” he said. “People can get complacent and take for granted where the institution historically has been and how it has overcome adversity. It has done a lot to preserve of itself what is most important and to overcome financial challenges that threatened its very existence several times.”
Chief Financial Officer Patrick Norton acknowledged that the administration now looks at auxiliary operations from a business point of view.
“We are known for languages,” he said.
“We are peerless. It’s very important that we use that asset in different ways to make our business model sustainable in the long-term. We’re looking at [alternative funding sources] in a more of a business-type way. [Language software] could add to the bottom line in the long term as well.”
Complementing an increased emphasis on auxiliary operations for their financial potential, the new financial model would attempt to ease the burden of tuition on students and their families.
He explained the need for change during the address.
“We need to recognize that the demand for a four-year liberal arts degree, while still great, is not inelastic,” he said. “There will be a price point at which even the most affluent of families will question their investment. The sooner we are able to reduce our fee increases, the better.”
Although the comprehensive fee does not cover the estimated costs of $80,000 per student for education, Provost of the College Alison Byerly said that linking the fee to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) shows that the administration recognizes that parents and students hold it accountable for the price of the College.
“Even families that can afford to pay full tuition still feel like it’s a lot of money,” Byerly said.
“The message [the change] sends is that our fee increases will reflect actual increased costs of what we do, not expanded programs or new initiatives. That doesn’t mean that we won’t have new programs or initiatives — it means that new priorities have to replace old priorities and fit within the existing cost structure.”
Norton acknowledged that historical comprehensive fee increases outpaced levels of inflation and called the College’s new financial approach potentially “unique” among its peer group.
“Tuition increases have been outstripping inflation and I think that’s the main issue,” he said. “We need to somehow keep the comprehensive fee at a reasonable level that at least tracks inflation or at least [stays] close to inflation.”
In addition to the sweeping philosophic shift to College financial policy, Liebowitz announced a series of more immediate policy decisions.
Barring an economic disaster, no additional staff layoffs will occur.
Student enrollment will increase to 2,450, but the student-faculty ratio of 9:1 will remain.
The current financial aid policy that is need-blind for domestic applicants and need-aware for international students will continue.
Finally, the salary freeze on employees earning more than $50,000 will end next year.
Evolution of unsustainable model
Liebowitz said the old financial model evolved and flourished because of an ongoing “arms race” between liberal arts colleges. The model forced colleges to create expectations that did not allow for economic crises and led many schools to engage in lengthy periods of continual construction of new infrastructure.
“The prior financial models relied on some exceedingly optimistic, never-go-down-projections,” he said.
“It was like the old Soviet five-year plans — rising expectations no matter what.”
Though forced to participate in the system to remain competitive with peers, Liebowitz said he harbored concerns about the current model for years.
“The old financial model we had used for a long time was always a bit screwy to me,” he said.
“I had always wondered why one would not spend one’s endowment to build a building instead of taking on added debt, meaning wasn’t it better to use existing wealth for some projects than to saddle the institution with long-term debt? This was viewed as a naïve question back in the 1990s, but I don’t know how many people would consider it so naïve today.”
Norton said the College acted quickly in the early months of the recent economic crisis to analyze its business model.
“The changes have been in the works for 18 months to two years,” said Norton.
“We can’t state enough the shock that the economy has had on all colleges. It really did give us a wake-up call as to the sustainability of the business model. We did act very quickly to do different planning models and scenarios to not only get our short-term deficits under control but to look long-term for a sustainable model. You will only survive if you ensure that you have a model that is sustainable.”
Both Liebowitz and Norton emphasized the incredible progress made by the College in combating the economic crisis. Over the past two years the College has eradicated more than $30 million in projected deficits and eliminated more than 100 staff positions, with an additional 50 to come.
Liebowitz attributed the College’s success to its quick reaction to the initial crisis.
“We were just about the first ones out of the gate, and were recognized as such,” he said.
“There are many peer institutions that are now considering or offering voluntary separation programs to reduce faculty and staff. I’m glad that we were there more than a year ago. I’m a little surprised that some schools waited this long.”
Norton emphasized that the College could not return to the past financial model even after the economic climate improved.
“The key is that we can’t go back to business as usual,” he said.
“If we see the endowment increase, and it will this year, you can’t start handing those positions back. We’re looking at the model differently now. The whole boom-bust era of the financial situation at the College needs to come to an end. The boom was good, but you don’t want to go through the bust.”
With the budget balanced through 2015, Liebowitz believes the College can begin to grow and thrive once again.
“I hope we can now look forward and close this chapter in our history,” he said.
“I hope people can have some fun now.”
(02/11/10 4:59am)
Most of the campus hears and sees the action powering Middlebury’s Open Queer Alliance (MOQA) in April, with the dynamic Gaypril programming, and in October, during “Coming Out Week.”
But behind the door of Chellis House and on the rest of campus, MOQA is still working, advocating and having fun the rest of the academic year.
Whether through larger activities like the New England Small College Queer Summit at Williams College or with cookies and movies on Valentine’s Day, MOQA is launching into spring semester with fresh ideas and exciting events for students to try out. The organization is also hoping to become a more welcoming resource for questioning students.
“I understand that physically crossing the doorstep into Chellis House and attending a MOQA meeting can be extremely intimidating for a questioning student,” said Jean Lin ’10, co-president.
Lin is working on the Web site (go/moqa) with the goal of shaping the site and the organization to provide better resources for conflicted students. She also encourages anyone who wants to talk confidentially to contact her or co-president Wayu Niederhauser ’12 through e-mail.
The membership of MOQA is composed of individuals who “make up the entire spectrum of outness, from being totally closeted, or out to the world, to somewhere in between,” they acknowledge on their Web site.
This spectrum houses over 100 affiliated members, who also range in their roles: some are regular members and some attend larger events, while others want to stay on the mailing list to keep informed about the organization’s events. Still, some students are wary of coming to Chellis House, fearing that membership has certain connotations.
“Forget everything you’ve heard about MOQA,” said member Chelsea Guster ’11. “If you’re at all interested, just stop by. I feel like MOQA has a stigma as being cliquey or unwelcoming, as if by going to a meeting, you out yourself. Don’t let those things stop you from dropping in.
Though I can’t say everyone’s experience with MOQA will be like mine has been, I’ve found it a great place to get the ball rolling on certain projects, or even just to take a break and have a silly conversation. And with MOQA as part of the Middlebury community, it’s generally a good place to meet new people, just because.”
MOQA is planning to organize and set up a PostSecret, a public display where students can post their thoughts anonymously, focusing on LGBTQ issues and to host an international panel about cultural differences relating to queer topics. In the fall, David Leavitt, a renowned professor and author, came to speak and this spring MOQA will welcome back musician Ezra Axelrod ’08, as its featured speaker.
After studying voice, composition and piano at the College, Axelrod moved to London, where he was well received as a singer/songwriter. In 2009, along with Soho promoter Aubrey Dobson, he launched The Menagerie, a record label, management company and performance series all in one, which is now the only venue in Central London for cutting-edge performance art and music.
Axelrod describes his own music as Vernacular and Realist, and many of his songs raise queer, or more specifically, gay, issues.
MOQA’s membership will also be setting up a booth with information on the Food and Drug Administration policy that discriminates against gay men at the spring Red Cross Blood drive, and, per usual, partaking in the national Day of Silence — a student-led event that raises awareness about the silencing effect of bullying and harassment of the LGBTQ community.
On March 6, about 10 members will be traveling to Williams College for the first ever New England Small College Queer Summit, where there will be sessions on identity, organizational leadership, and policy and activism on campus.
“I think one of the most important steps for GLBT youth up through college students and adults is to know that they’re not alone,” said Jason Mooty ’12.
“A Summit is a great way to congregate with like-minded individuals.”
Though political activism is explored and enforced at such conferences, there is often debate when it comes to MOQA’s political role on campus. Some believe the organization should exist as a resource and space to meet people, work out issues and find support, while others stress action and advocacy for important issues.
Last fall, members spent a night calling voters in Maine to prepare for the casting of the same-sex marriage ballot, working to rally support.
Meanwhile, the organization also hosted tea nights and had plenty of meetings that evolved into simply interesting discussions among students in an open environment, so some members would agree that MOQA maintains its balance.
The organization also balances how it spreads awareness — sometimes it is through non-structured advocacy as opposed to more formal events such as hosting well-known speakers or running politically concentrated booths.
The members will hang random posters dispelling myths and misconceptions about stereotypes, queer issues and other LGBTQ “Fun Facts.”
Other activities will include Colors Week, during which students can show their support for those struggling with their sexual identity by wearing a different color of the rainbow each day of the week.
As for how these events and demonstrations are received on campus, members of MOQA range in their perspective on Middlebury’s level of acceptance: some are both grateful for the climate of tolerance at the College and still pushing for changes, while others find the atmosphere isolating and separate.
“I think GLBT students are very welcomed and integrated in the community, and we are very thankful for that,” said Mooty.
“It’s hard to remember sometimes that the rest of the world isn’t as accepting as this place. I’ve heard that there was some very homophobic behavior the year before I came here, but during my time at Middlebury, I haven’t received anything but support and love.”
On the other hand, acceptance does not always mean comfort and ease to some.
“While the climate for GLBTQ students at Middlebury is accepting, I think there is no real cohesion among the queer community,” said Tony Huynh ’13.
“It can be quite frustrating and isolating, especially as a first-year, to find out that there are not as many out students than expected at a liberal institution in a state that has marriage equality.”
“I feel that the queer community as a whole is more or less invisible,” said Lin.
“Sometimes I worry that there’s a rift between the straight students and the queer students — not necessarily on a daily basis. What I mean is, when MOQA comes together to host events on campus (especially during April), my hope is that eventually, no one will think, ‘Oh, there go the gay kids complaining about discrimination, again’ or ‘Why do they have to flaunt their sexuality?’ A person’s sexual identity is just one part of the whole picture, and it doesn’t make him or her any more or less intelligent, tolerant, liberal, conservative or anything else.”
Mooty expressed his commonly shared vision “to see MOQA as a place for discussion among all students, not just the queer minority.”
MOQA meets every Sunday at 7:30 p.m. in Chellis House, where the membership continues to foster a friendly, welcoming atmosphere open to any interested student.
As Huynh explained, the organization can exist as both a “goal-oriented group and informal way to meet other queer students to find support transitioning into college.”
(01/14/10 4:00am)
“The Age of Stupid” is an idiotic name for a film that everyone should see. In its examination of cultural choices that ignore the impending effects of global warming, the film provokes a sense of urgency, disgust with consumerism, and a desire for change.
Actor Pete Postlethwaite poses as an archivist in the year 2055 after the major repercussions of global warming have reshaped the earth in dynamic ways.
He lives in a fortified structure in the Arctic Ocean north of Norway. Once inside, the camera zooms through the various levels of the base.
It contains collections from all national galleries and museums, preserved specimens of most species lined two by two, and a significant computer database.
The camera then takes the perspective of a computer screen as the archivist creates a video log. The first words out of his mouth are, “We could have saved ourselves.”
As he speaks, he fiddles with the screen and pulls up documentary footage of the present, filmed by director Franny Armstrong, to illustrate the consumer culture that led to the world’s destruction.
His archive follows seven stories: an Indian business tycoon opening up a low cost airline, a hurricane Katrina survivor who worked for Shell Oil, the oldest French tour guide of Mont Blanc, two children in Iraq, a woman in Nigeria and a British environmentalist who specializes in wind power.
Documentary footage framed in a fictitious future setting gives immediacy to a tragic future that may not be so far away. Opening images of 2055 are based on mainstream scientific projections of the effects of global warming.
However, in spite of this specification, these dramatizations feel a bit heavy- handed in their demolition of famous landscapes — Coney Island submerged in water, the Sydney opera house burning, Las Vegas covered in sand.
What was so effective about the film was less its apocalyptic imagery and more its focus on the actual present and the problems of today. The archivist considers the next few years leading up to 2015 and dubs them the formative time in human history when we had the chance to mitigate the negative effects of climate change.
The film insists that people now could instate a policy that would cut carbon emissions 80 percent by 2050, only allowing the temperature to rise two more degrees. The challenge: “questioning collective values” that fuel excess and restructuring society to achieve this goal.
Unsurprisingly, the film hits the oil companies hard, presenting alarming statistics about oil consumption and specifically showing the cultural and environmental devastation that a Shell oil drilling project brought to a community in Nigeria.
Yet, just as importantly, “The Age of Stupid” condemns the ignorance of the general public, claiming that “the government will only go as far as its populations demands.”
In the segment that follows Mark Lynas, the British environmentalist, Lynas meets paralyzing resistance as he fights for clearance while setting up a wind turbine project.
The people of the town ultimately reject the idea because they fear that the project will depreciate the value of their homes by obscuring the view of the English countryside.
At this point, the archivist returns to the scene and states: “It’s like looking through binoculars, observing people on a far off beach […] fixated on the small area of sand under their feet as a tsunami races towards the shore.” His comment is perfectly timed. The material is painful to watch, and his words, ominous.
The Archivist finishes his video log by bestowing his information upon whomever finds it, offering it as a cautionary tale. Hope for the audience, then, lies in stepping away from the film experience, knowing that it is not yet 2055 and now is the time to effect change.
(01/14/10 4:00am)
As 2010 begins, student environmental leaders returning from the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen hope to spark federal action on climate change, while those involved in the Solar Decathlon project will work to provide Middlebury students with a tangible model for sustainability.
In December, Rhiya Trivedi ’12.5 and Ben Wessel ’11.5 attended the Copenhagen conference. During the conference, Wessel and Trivedi joined others from across the globe to encourage world leaders to agree on an international treaty on carbon reduction initiatives through protests, demonstrations, lobbying, and other forms of expression.
While these actions were not enough to push international leaders into reaching a consensus, the students “used every opportunity we could to make our voices heard,” wrote Trivedi in an e-mail.
Although many media outlets focused on protests and marches, Trivedi explained that a highlight of her experience was a sit-in that “managed to spur a serious conversation about civil disobedience in relation to climate justice and the climate movement.”
The sit-in, staged inside the conference center itself, risked arrest and ejection from the conference center for those involved.
Bill McKibben, scholar-in-residence in Environmental Studies and founder of the international environmental group 350.org, called the conference a “stunning couple of weeks.”
McKibben praised the students’ involvement in the conference, explaining that in Copenhagen, “there seemed to be Midd-kids and former Midd-kids everywhere you turned.”
Although McKibben was disappointed in the lack of progress made by political leaders, he believes the actions taken by environmentalists demonstrated that “the movement to fight climate change is now very young [and] led by, more than any college on the planet, colleagues here at Midd.”
Trivedi, one of many leaders in the Sunday Night Group, hopes to promote further activism now that she has returned to the United States.
“The time for campus organizing for sustainability has somewhat passed,” said Trivedi. In the coming year, Trivedi hopes to work with the student body to bring about action on the federal level. The failure of the conference was partly due to the lack of an established plan to dramatically cut greenhouse gas emissions within the United States, which created mistrust from other nations about the United States’ true commitment to the climate change movement, she said. Trivedi hopes that the College with its wide geographic ties, can work to contact politicians to “deliver the message of climate change as a moral challenge.”
At the College, Addison Godine ’11, along with Joe Baisch ’11, Alex Jopek ’11 and Astrid Schanz-Garbassi ’12, are leading a team of Middlebury students who will compete in the biennial Solar Decathlon design competition hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy in the fall of 2011.
The competition features student teams from colleges and universities across the world that design and construct a solar-powered home.
The Middlebury team was supposed to receive notification of its acceptance into the competition on Dec. 18, but the team notifications have been delayed for an indefinite period of time.
Even with their official acceptance uncertain, Godine emphasized the “significant interest in continuing with the project even if we don’t get in.”
Two Winter Term courses are currently working on the Solar Decathlon project. A course called Schematic Design is working to develop the architectural design of the house, while Engineering for a Solar Powered House works toward implementing solar technologies within the house in order to generate and provide energy.
Both courses will ultimately combine their plans and expertise in order to develop at least two designs for the home before the end of this term.
In an e-mail, Godine explained that “a lot of students here are very interested in sustainability but sometimes feel they don’t have any opportunity to ‘get their hands dirty.’ Working on the Solar Decathlon project will allow students to work with real, cutting-edge technologies and apply theory to practice.”
Godine recognized that the Decathlon represents a “big project” for a school like Middlebury, and noted that “the majority of the student body will likely know about it come construction time.”
Pending its acceptance, in October 2011, the Middlebury team will assemble its house on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
There, judges will determine the winners based on qualifications ranging from the architecture and engineering to the success of movie nights and dinner parties held within the home.
(12/03/09 10:00am)
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn will deliver a joint commencement address to the Class of 2010 on May 23. At an event with an expected audience of 5,000, the couple will receive honorary degrees from the College.
Throughout their 25-year careers, which have spanned the globe, the couple has focused on entrenched problems like gender inequality, global poverty, health and climate change. They became the first couple to win a Pulitzer Prize for their reporting on the Tiananmen Square democracy movement in China in 1990. Kristof later won a second Prize in 2006 for his columns on Darfur.
In September Kristof and WuDunn published “Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide,” a book that calls the brutality inflicted upon women and girls across the world the 21st century’s “paramount moral challenge.” Kristof writes a column for The New York Times.
Director of the “Meet the Press” lecture series at the College and Scholar-In-Residence Sue Halpern said the couple had agreed to speak on campus in April before President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz independently approached them about coming as commencement speakers. The Honorary Degree Committee unanimously and enthusiastically approved their nomination.
Liebowitz said the couple will ask this generation to tackle the issue of gender inequality in all its future endeavors.
“Kristof’s and WuDunn’s exceptional journalistic talents offer us a remarkably clear picture of a major scourge of the 21 century,” he said. “By putting the problem in such a stark context, this year’s commencement speakers will challenge students, [in] whatever professions they pursue … to become more cognizant of the conditions faced by such a large portion of humanity.”
Kristof said the couple eagerly accepted the offer from the College to deliver the address.
“We’ve got huge respect for Middlebury,” he said. “We’re flattered and looking forward to it.”
The couple appreciates the College’s commitment to engaging in the international community and its encouragement of independent activism.
“Middlebury has been pretty successful at cultivating an international response ethos where students learn from the world and engage it,” Kristof said. “That’s something I admire and encourage.”
WuDunn said this generation works toward making a difference in the world around it rather than waiting for change to happen.
“Students are much more service oriented,” she said. “They really feel they want to be proactive about [making a difference]. We’re seeing that and we’re extremely excited about it.”
President of the Honorary Degree Committee David Salem said the couple fights for the citizens of the world using many of the same skills the College teaches.
“This remarkable couple has done much to make life better for many millions of the world’s citizens, unborn as well as born,” Salem said. “That they’ve done so by exercising energetically their conspicuous gifts for oral and written communications makes them especially fitting choices as commencement speakers at Middlebury.”
Halpern said the couple tackle problems that many others see as unsolvable.
“The fact that the [oppression of women] is an entrenched problem makes them move toward it instead of away from it,” she said. “They turned it on its head. The entrenched problems are exactly what need to be written about.”
Kristof uses his column to tackle important issues that few other journalists address because they are complex and do not have easy solutions.
“[He] gives voice to the disenfranchised, whether that’s domestic or in some developing country,” Halpern said. “He does it very consistently and in a way that actually changes lives. That’s a power that a lot of journalists have but very few actually use.”
Halpern said the couple will show students where to make their mark on the world and what they can do with their education from the College.
“As a college, we are committed to making our way in the global world,” she said. “This couple should be our mentors. They can tell us what you can do with a liberal arts education.”
Kristof began his career at the Times in 1984 and began his column in 2001. After graduating from Harvard University, he studied law at Oxford under a Rhodes scholarship. He uses his column to discuss issues like global poverty, health and gender issues. In addition to his Pulitzer Prizes, Kristof has earned the George Polk award, the Overseas Press Club award, the Michael Kelly award, the Online News Association award and the American Society of Newspaper Editors award.
WuDunn serves as president of the Medley Group, which provides intelligence services to fund managers and leads the development of multimedia relating to the couple’s book. She previously worked as a corporate executive at the Times and was a vice president in the investment management division of Goldman, Sachs & Co. She was the first Asian American to win a Pulitzer Prize. Other journalism awards include the George Polk award and Overseas Press Club award. She graduated from Cornell University, Harvard Business School and Princeton University, where she earned a Masters of Public Administration.
Liebowitz said the College will announce the remaining Honorary Degree recipients in the coming months.
(12/03/09 10:00am)
Though a few scattered application materials continue to trickle in since the Nov. 15 deadline, this year’s pool of Early Decision I (ED I) applications has largely arrived. The Office of Admissions has already evaluated many of the applications, and will announce their decisions electronically on Dec. 12 following a Dec. 11 mailing.
About 45 percent of the Class of 2013 was admitted from the ED I and II applicant pools, as is typical. However, according to Dean of Admissions Bob Clagett, that percentage could be even higher this year.
“Based on the evaluations that we have done so far, this pool appears to be qualitatively even stronger than last year’s record-setting ED group,” said Clagett.
Approximately 665 prospective students submitted applications for the ED I deadline this year, only seven fewer than last year. This number, according to Clagett, is significantly higher than “virtually all” of the number of ED applications for the College’s peer institutions.
“That continues to speak well for our popularity as being the first-choice college for so many of our applicants,” he said.
Geographically, last year’s pool and this year’s pool are similar as well; as was the case last year, about a third of applicants hail from New England and about a quarter from the Middle Atlantic states, with smaller fractions from the South, the Southwest, and the West. A notable difference in this year’s pool, however, was that the number of applications from the South this year doubled.
“As always, what determines the number that we admit in ED is how certain we are that any student would also be admitted from the Regular Decision group,” said Clagett. “If we are certain that the student would be admitted in the spring, then we admit in ED.”
Though Clagett could not be sure this early in the process whether the economic climate has had an impact on ED applicants’ decisions, he said he “would not be surprised if more students for whom financial aid will be an important consideration have decided not to apply ED to a college.
“If they are admitted, they cannot compare their financial packages with those of other colleges,” he said.
The addition of Senior Fellows — current seniors who assist the admissions office in giving information sessions, processing applications, conducting interviews and other admissions-related activities — to the process has been a fresh change this year.
“The Senior Fellows have been very helpful to us in the ED process in helping us file the application materials in the proper order in the folder and doing some preliminary analysis of academic credentials,” Clagett said.
“We’ve been responsible for helping the counselors in many of their projects, even if it’s something as simple as answering questions for prospective students or following up with them,” said Hannah Burnett ’10, one of the fellows. “We also help prepare some of the applications to be read, so that they’re as complete and ordered as possible for the counselors.
Burnett noted that the period between the ED I applications deadline and the decisions announcements is extremely short.
“This is the crunch time,” she said. “I pretty much live at Emma Willard.”
“ED is always very fast-moving,” said Katie Panhorst ’10. “It keeps you busy! It’s been fun because it changes up the atmosphere in the office.”
Though many prospective students who applied ED I may feel great apprehension as the deadline approaches, Clagett expressed confidence that the admissions decisions for this round of applications will be both painstaking and fair.
“Applicants can be assured that we have a very thorough, labor-intensive evaluation process that helps us make the best, most well-informed decisions possible,” Clagett said. He urged ED I applicants who are eventually deferred to “not give up hope.”
“As many students here at Middlebury can attest, every year there are some students who are deferred in ED but who are eventually admitted to Middlebury,” Clagett said.
Deadlines for both ED II and Regular Decision are Dec. 15 for the Middlebury Supplement to the Common Application and Jan. 1 for the remainder of the application.
(11/19/09 7:19am)
Skiing
After placing eighth in the 2009 NCAA Skiing Championship, the Middlebury Nordic and Alpine ski teams are gearing up for another successful run in the Eastern Carnival Circuit this winter. Each team can field six men and six women in the events, and hope to qualify all six participants in the NCAA Championships at the end of the season. The teams have survived grueling preseason workouts this fall, featuring a diverse range of activities, including “bounding,” numerous time trials, log rolling and car-pushing.
The fall preseason features many team bonding events that simultaneously strengthen the teams physically and contribute to positive team chemistry, as teammates motivate each other through the workouts and push each other to improve. At the Sunset Orchard Challenge, for example, the teams split up and competed in an obstacle course of sorts that involved carrying logs up a mountain. At the end, they spelled out 350 with sticks to show their support for international climate control.
“Everyone came back [this fall] fitter than I’ve ever seen since starting to coach at Middlebury,” wrote four-year Nordic team coach Andrew Gardner on the ski team’s blog. Alpine coach Steve Bartlett has also coached at Middlebury for four years with extremely successful results, which the team hopes to build on this winter. Both the Nordic and Alpine teams have a strong batch of new talent in their first-year class that will hopefully make a significant impact on the team’s performance.
Middlebury’s ski teams are traditionally fierce competitors in the Northeast region, dominating the other Division-III NESCAC teams and consistently challenging their perennial D-I rivals Dartmouth, UVM and UNH. In last season’s carnivals, Middlebury earned several fourth-place finishes behind these three powerhouses as well as a second-place finish and two thirds. This year the team has set their sights on solidifying their position at the top of the Eastern Circuit rankings.
Men's Bastketball
The Middlebury men’s basketball squad is looking to bounce back after last season was frustratingly cut short. The Panthers made their second straight national tournament appearance last year after winning a school-record 24 games and dropping only four over the course of the season. During the tournament, however, Bridgewater State’s clutch long-range shooting in a sold-out Pepin Gymnasium handed Middlebury its first home loss of the season and denied the team’s advancement to the sectional round.
Despite losing second team All-American Ben Rudin ’09, starters Kyle Dudley ’09 and Aaron Smith ’09 and reserve Matt Westman ’09 to graduation, the Panthers expect success again this season. However, it may take some time for the team to jell.
“We’ll become much stronger as the season goes along,” remarked coach Jeff Brown, last year’s NESCAC coach of the year. “Captain Tim Edwards ’10, last year’s NESCAC defensive player of the year, is out three to four weeks with a fractured hand, and [last year’s starting center] Andrew Locke ’11 will return after his semester abroad in South Africa. With both of them back in the fold, we’ll be much more competitive.”
In addition, key reserve Ashton Coughlin ’11 has yet to practice, while others have intermittently suffered from injury (including Bill Greven ’10, who has a fractured foot) and illness, all contributing to a relatively slow early-season start. But the Panthers appear to be stacked at all positions.
The front-court duo the 6’10” Locke and Jamal Davis ’11 will be a force to be reckoned with throughout the season. The Panthers are counting on length and athleticism up front to cause problems on the defensive end. Coach Brown will also look to skilled post players Ryan Sharry ’12 and Peter Lynch ’13 for quality minutes off the bench.
In addition to Edwards and Coughlin, Kevin Kelleher ’10 and Ryan Wholey ’11 will provide Middlebury with perimeter threats while Nolan Thompson ’13, who has been impressive in practice, is expected to share minutes at the shooting guard position. Henry Butler ’12 and Jake Wolfsin ’13 are expected to share minutes at the point guard position.
As each Panther finds his role, the team will become a dangerous competitor. Middlebury begins its season at the Swarthmore Invitational on Nov. 20, but be sure to catch the Panthers for their home debut Nov. 24 against St. Joseph’s.
Women's Basketball
The women’s basketball team has returned to Pepin Gymnasium this year with a newfound confidence and a positive attitude, following a disappointing season last year.
Last season the team finished with a record of eight wins and 15 losses, going only 2-6 in conference play. Despite being an intense and competitive squad, certain things did not go their way last winter.
The players responded to last season’s setback by working incredibly hard during the off-season. After recognizing what was not successful in the past, the women have spent last spring and this fall working incredibly hard to solve these problems.
“Our hard work in the off-season has already given us a great jumpstart,” said Brittany Perfetti ’12.
The team this year will be led by captain Kaitlyn Fallon ’10. Fallon is described by Perfetti as “one of the most hardworking people” she knows.
“Fallon’s heart and passion has really motivated and connected us as a team,” said Perfetti. This leadership will be a defining feature of the women’s squad this year.
The women’s team this year is incredibly young. It is composed of four first-years, four sophomores, two juniors and three seniors. The incoming class has proved to be an incredibly talented group that is expected to contribute much to the team.
Women’s basketball returns with an optimistic outlook and lots of potential for success this season. This weekend will be the team’s first test as they travel to Pennsylvania to play Haverford and Swarthmore in their first games of the season.
“I think we’re going to bounce back,” says Perfetti. Her confidence is inspiring, and indicative of the high hopes the program has for the 2009-2010 season.
Indoor Track
With several ‘crossover’ cross country-track runners every year, the tremendous success of the cross country program this fall is bound to spill over into the indoor track season. For the men, a solid seventh-place finish in NCAA regionals marked the end of competition, while the women, who finished the event tied for first with MIT, are still running, on a quest for their sixth NCAA championship in nine years.
If the success of the cross country program is any indication of what the indoor track and field season will shape up to be, impressive results are almost guaranteed. The perennially powerful women’s squad, which sent five athletes to nationals last spring, is expected to make its presence known, while the consistent growth of the men’s squad could usher in an improved season over last year.
Under the tutelage of last year’s NESCAC coach of the year Martin Beatty, the squad, short a few key graduated seniors, among them co-captains Ben Fowler ’09 and Chandler Koglmeier ’09, and women’s co-captain Kelley Coughlan ’09, is looking to mimic last year’s success. Relying heavily on young talent last season, the loss of leadership will give a very talented younger generation the chance to assume a greater role on the team.
Because the indoor season is acknowledged by many to be a glorified warm-up for the trials of the outdoor track, don’t be surprised to see runners stepping outside their usual roles, running new races and maybe even trying their hands at a field event or two.
The youth and talent of the women’s team, captained this year by Laura Dalton ’10, Anjuli Demers ’10, and Anne Sullivan ’10, and the improvement of the men’s squad, led by Micah Wood ’10, Michael Waters ’10 and Victor Guevara ’10 would indicate a successful season in the offing, but look to the spring for runners abroad to return and the real fun to begin.
Men's Hockey
Since setting their skates on the ice at the beginning of October for captain’s practices, the men’s hockey players have displayed renewed determination to get the program back to where it once was — at the top of the NESCAC and Division III NCAA rankings. As last season came to a close, the squad suffered two blows: falling short of a NESCAC championship at Amherst and missing a bid to the NCAA playoffs.
Though the Panthers ended the season with a 19-7-1 record, the players put their skates away for the spring with a feeling of missed opportunities. Today, they are eager to prove they still have what it takes.
With 13 new players joining the roster, the team has a new face — and with it, a new desire to dominate the competition on the ice at Kenyon and on the road.
To be sure, the stick skills of the team’s seniors from last season will be missed, having graduated second team All-American Jamie McKenna ’09 along with a solid group of experienced players. Nevertheless, the near future looks bright for this historically successful team, which includes last year’s NESCAC Rookie of the Year, Martin Drolet ’12.
As the 13 first-years make their debut on the ice this weekend at Conn. College and Tufts, the team will look to show off its new and old talent with high hopes for the season.
Women's Hockey
The women’s hockey team is all about bonding this season — both within the squad and with the Middlebury community at large. After having spent an evening with residents of the town at a Community Supper at the Congregational Church recently, the Panthers got to know their fans — a group that, at many times over the years, has proven to be more die-hard than the College’s own student body.
After collecting both the NESCAC Championship and NCAA Division III third place trophy last winter, the women deserve a little celebrity status. This year, many of the players are back for another season of strong play — with seniors hungry for an NCAA title and the seven first-years eager to prove themselves on the ice.
At the helm of the program remains head coach Bill Mandigo, who enters his 22nd season with the team. A coach whose tenure with the program is older than most of the women on the squad have been alive, Mandigo brings a history of success to the ice that is unparalleled in the NESCAC.
The trifecta of captains Lani Wright ’10, Marjie Billings ’10 and Heather McCormack ’10 (who enters the season fresh off the field hockey turf) also promises to deliver impressive results as it guides the team through a competitive schedule of matches, starting at home on Nov. 22 against Conn. College.
The real event to watch, however, will be the Panther-Cardinal Classic, which will bring Middlebury’s two biggest rivals — Plattsburgh State and Amherst — to Kenyon Arena to battle it out with the Panthers on Jan. 3.
Swimming and Diving
The Middlebury swimmers and divers are highly anticipating and preparing for their first meet this upcoming weekend. The team will compete against Connecticut College and Tufts on Nov. 21 and against Springfield on Nov. 22.
Swimmers on the men’s and women’s side had impressive results in the NCAA meet last year, but the team ended the season on a fairly even keel; the men’s team finished with a record of 4-5 and the women 5-4. The team looks forward to move up from there this year.
“We look forward to continuing the momentum we have started during preseason,” said co-captain Katie Remington ’10.
Although the team graduated a handful of key contributors including Catherine Suppan ’09, Zach Woods ’09 and Kevin O’Rourke ’09, the class of first-years has the potential to fill their shoes.
The depth of the 2013 class is promising, and their performance this weekend will greatly impact whether or not the Panthers come out victorious.
In addition to the deep first-year class, the return of co-captains Katie Soja ’10 and Katie Remington ’10 from abroad will help bring the team to the next level. Both girls were abroad for part of last year, and therefore missed half of the 2009-2010 swim season.
On the men’s side, John Dillon ’10 arrives back at Middlebury stronger than ever and looks forward to making a large contribution in the swimming lanes this year.
With strong team chemistry combined with individual determination and hard work, the Panthers have the chance to be formidable in the pool this winter.
It will be exciting to see them compete this season, and interesting to see which rookies make an impression in this upcoming meet and throughout the season.
Squash
Middlebury squash has progressed drastically over the past four years. First, the program stole longtime rival coach John Illig from Bowdoin. His enthusiasm and recruiting prowess have fueled this recent success. Along with Coach Illig’s arrival, the program made the transition from club to varsity. While the change was mostly superficial, the name change reflects the increasing dedication and focus of the team.
Last year, both the men and women pushed Middlebury to new heights in the national rankings. Middlebury’s mens team went from the bottom of the C-flight (24th) to the top (17th) during the 2008-2009 season, while the women jumped from 18th to 13th. While the Panthers look to continue their previous success, the focus is all on the future.
“The goal is to maintain this upward trajectory and move up to the B-flight,” said captain Simon Keyes ’10. “The preseason kept everyone in good shape and thirsty to play, while an individual tournament two weeks ago at Bowdoin gave everyone a taste of what they have been thinking about all off-season. I think everyone is really excited.”
Coach Illig has placed continued development of the talent pipeline as a top priority. There is no junior varsity squash and, as such, even the lowest players on the bracket get the same exposure to Coach Illig as the players at the top. Theses “vagues,” as they are known on the team, range from new first-years trying out the sport to seniors who are trying to make the jump from recreational to competitive play.
Both the men and the women are losing their top players from last season in JP Sardi ’09 and Sally Hatfield ’09, but the infusion of new talent is apparent. Both teams boast four new first-years, including several that may be expected to make immediate contributions near the top of the ladder. This talented crop of young players on both teams really stands to benefit from the hard work and determination exuded by their elders.
This year, the teams play host to several key matches against teams like Amherst and St. Lawrence. The program has high hopes as it continues to scale the ranks of college squash.
(11/19/09 4:33am)
For anyone that’s stepped onto Middlebury’s campus, the bent toward environmental awareness quickly becomes apparent. Reminders to save energy grace signs above light switches, a plethora of recycling bins dot dorm rooms and offices and even the toilets in the Axinn Center save water by reneging on the routine downward push of the handle. And if students were not already breathing, thinking and sleeping “green,” the environment has even seeped its way into academics. Students are now able to make any major they’d like “green,” with environmental studies running the gamut from specialties in literature to economics.
It is no surprise, then, that the environmental spirit has now infiltrated the Film and Media Culture department. This Winter Term, Associate Professor of Film and Media Culture and American Studies Jason Mittell will offer a class titled “Sustainable TV: Producing Environmental Media,” that will ask students to “produce a nonfiction television program discussing sustainability and energy issues.”
With the College’s involvement last year with Planet Forward, Mittell became inspired to create this type of course.
Frank Sesno ’77, former CNN anchor and current journalism and public affairs professor at George Washington Universtiy, began Planet Forward as a way to spread the message of environmental awareness through media methods. Designed as a Web site where people can generate a dialogue about climate issues, the project has become an example of how pivotal a role media can play in the public sphere. People give their opinions not only through mere writing, but use video content to generate a message.
“The goal is to hear from a variety of people who aren’t getting their voices heard otherwise,” Mittell said
Last December, Sesno arrived at the College to generate enthusiasm among students about creating videos for his Web site, which by then had become a successful endeavor. Five videos appeared on the Web-site in March, and can still be seen at http://www.planetforward.org.
“Two of those videos ended up getting chosen for the PBS special that aired in April,” Mittell said. “And one of them was actually the most popular video on the site.”
That video was called “Going Under,” a two-and-a-half minute animation “about Bangladesh being submerged under water.” Created by Farhan Ahmed ’09, Luisa Covaria ’09, Ioana Literat ’09 and Louis Lobel ’08.5, the short uses collage-like figures to send a warning about the havoc that will result from the melting icebergs. After the video became popular, the students received the opportunity to see the taping of the PBS special, and Ahmed even made an appearance on the show in a panel discussion with Carol Browner, the director of the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy.
When Mittell later saw Sesno at last year’s commencement, they hatched a plan for a class to unite the issues of environmental studies and media students had only been doing in their spare time.
“One of the impetuses of the course is to generate material for Planet Forward,” Mittell said. “Every one of the short segments that they produce can be submitted to Planet Forward. It’s up to the students whether they want to or not, obviously. The idea would be they would create things that would go into Planet Forward, that potentially, when they do their next taping, which will be in April, again we could have Middlebury participation, which would be really great — a really great opportunity for our students.”
Changing his title from “professor” to “executive producer” who will only have final say in the products generated, Mittell emphasizes that student choice will dominate how the class works. In a largely collaborative model, students will have the opportunity to create what they want, switch roles as they please and play at different ways of production.
Unfortunately for students, one freedom they will not have is the power to procure a celebrity spokesperson like Al Gore or Leonardo DiCaprio. Although Middlebury might appear to be riding the wave of the use of media to instigate environmental awareness, Mittell believes that media retains a power even when separated from the celebrity culture that has powered it recently in such films as “An Inconvenient Truth” and “11th Hour.”
“I think one of the challenges that the environmental movement has faced,” Mittell explained, “is that they’ve been branded as something for celebrities — sort of, ‘It’s chic to drive a Prius.’”
Without a celebrity behind the project, the professor still envisions the course as a powerful tool to spread environmental activism.
“I think that one of the other problems is that the issue is too global to make a difference,” he said. “So what I really want to have happen is make this a sort-of grass roots media project focused at least in part on local actions and local decisions [in order to] make it empowering for people to say, ‘Okay, watching this makes me think of here are some things I can do, here are some changes I can make in my life, here are some things I can advocate for that will make a difference.’”
If the projects are successful, Mittell intends to have a screening here on campus in the spring. In that way, the movies will continue to educate and raise awareness about what students believe are the central issues of climate action.
Although Mittell himself admits to never being centrally involved in the environmental movement, he sees media as one of the foremost forms for spreading such knowledge.
“I’m always interested in thinking about how you can use moving images and media to make social criticism or commentary,” he said.
(11/19/09 4:22am)
“I believe that, more and more in the 21st century, conflict will be driven over resource competition rather than ideology or politics,” Professor Michael Klare, professor and director of peace and world security studies, began his lecture on last Thursday, Nov. 12.
Klare spoke about the future of geopolitics and natural resources during his lecture, titled “The New Geopolitics of Energy: Beyond the Crisis.” Klare has authored numerous books and is a correspondent for The Nation, a contributing editor to Current History.
He supported this initial assertion by highlighting that wars have historically occurred over disputed resources. In this century, though, the ratio of supply and demand is rapidly changing and shows no potential for reversal. Klare cites this as a result of the drastic increase of the per capita share of the GDP in developing Asia, from $1,600 in 1990 to an anticipated $12,000. The emergence of this new middle class will boost automobile sales and consequently increase the demand on sources of energy. “China is predicted by 2015 to be the number one consumer of energy, passing the U.S., which has tremendous implications for the world economy, the environment and U.S.-Chinese relations, [especially for] the possibility of conflict,” stated Klare.
He also discussed how population growth has immense implications for the supply and demand ratio. The global population is expected to reach two billion people by 2050, all of whom will need land, food, water, and building materials. The challenge is finding clean, safe, and efficient ways to provide for the impending crisis.
Klare proceeded to discuss the status of petroleum and other sources of energy, concluding that clean energy must be developed if the world is to sustain peaceful life. “Petroleum is the single most important resource in international commerce, providing 40 percent of all oil,” said Klare. “Natural gas will last longer, but is a limited substance [that] will peak in production before the end of this century. Coal is less abundant than generally perceived and will peak mid-century.”
Klare proposed that the U.S. and China could develop clean energy together, an endeavor that would benefit both countries through shared cost and alteration of the dynamic to halt the potential for ultimate conflict. However, this would eliminate clean technologies from the status of commodity and lessen the potential for development resulting from competition.
“Though his suggestion that China and the U.S. work together could help disperse the risk involved with investing in new technologies,” said Litsey Corona ’11.5, who attended the lecture. “I’m not sure how likely it is that each country will engage in sharing technological findings that could put them ahead in the energy market.”
While it is unclear what the future of U.S.- Chinese relations will hold, Klare made a compelling argument for collaboration.“China continues to rely on coal for its primary source of energy,” he explained. “Carbon Dioxide emissions will impact global climate change, the global economy and China’s purchases of imported energy. Americans will have to pay higher prices for oil and other fuels,” said Klare.
Klare also clarified that his fear of future conflict is embedded in the future change in relations. “At the present time we are not at a genuine adversarial relationship with China,” he continued. “Competition over energy will become more intense if relations between Washington and Beijing deteriorate.”
He discussed how the fear of conflict can turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy and how, as a result, measures should be taken to ensure the continuance of peaceful relations.
“I especially liked when he talked about the future relationship between the U.S.A. and China and that the psychology is what really has to change,” said Jakob Terwitte ’13.
This altered psychology, if ever achieved, would have enormous implications for energy production, the environment and international relations.
(11/19/09 4:13am)
“Climate change is the challenge of our time,” Pier LaFarge ’10.5 emphasized throughout our conversation. “Students at Middlebury have a great opportunity to become engaged on various levels of action.”
At 2 a.m. on a Friday afternoon, one would think a senior Feb would much rather embrace a much needed weekend retreat than acquiesce to a Campus interview, but LaFarge enthusiastically embraced the opportunity to discuss his activist role on campus and the current debate on climate policy.
The Rhode Island native arrived at Middlebury after what he believed was the typical Febmester of erratic endeavors — everything from backpacking in the Swiss Alps to conservation work in Costa Rica. When posed the banal question of “Why Middlebury?” Lafarge couldn’t help but smile.
“Middlebury is such an encompassing and involved place, La Farge said. “People really want to be here. There is a huge sense of community not found in many other places.”
LaFarge seized the opportunities that Middlebury offered. During President Barack Obama’s campaign, he worked as an intern for 1Sky, an organization that advocates federal action to stop global warming. On campus, LaFarge is active in the Middlebury Mountain Club, especially with the recent initiative to reinstate the MiddView program in first-year orientation.
“We are waiting for Finance Committee approval, but we are closer to getting MiddView back,” said LaFarge, who adamantly explained his rationale for trying to rescue the program.
“MiddView is an integral part of coming to Middlebury,” said LaFarge. “It’s a three-day, focused experience where nervous first-years, in a healthy social context, can engage with each other and upperclassmen. Most importantly, incoming students have the chance to discuss their fears, which turn out to not be singular to any one person — everyone is talking about the same thing,” said LaFarge. “MiddView reflects the best parts of the Middlebury community — connecting to the landscape and the people.”
Getting back to discussing his sincere interest in climate change and environmental policy, LaFarge gave a brief history of the evolution of his passion.
“My father was an environmentalist and outdoorsman,” he explained. “He worked in both land and water conservation. His legacy has helped inspire me to follow in a similar activist vein. In high school, I began to engage with issues dealing with sustainable energy and climate change. I researched different environmental policies for my senior project.”
While in college, the environmental policy major has expanded this interest to a desire to “bring policy focus and awareness on a relatable level back to campus.”
LaFarge is particularly motivated to help erase the stigma associated with labels like “environmental” or “climate change.”
“We need to unpack climate change into its functional parts, making the debate much more palatable for everyone around the country,” explained LaFarge. “Approaching the issue from a deconstructed view is extremely beneficial — breaking it into energy efficiency, green jobs, pollution regulation, investment in transportation infrastructure and renewable resources, etc.”
LaFarge plans to focus his thesis on ways in which climate policy can be filtered through the philosophy of conservative states.
“Agriculture in the United States has a lot to lose from climate change,” said LaFarge. “As rain patterns change and droughts become more frequent, growing crops will get harder and more expensive.” LaFarge added, “Addressing climate change at the national level has the ability to bring good jobs back to struggling rural communities through investment in the renewable energy industry. Legislation will also open up a bunch of income opportunities for American farmers in areas like biomass and carbon sequestration.”
When asked how students who are not necessarily well-versed on environmental policy can get involved, LaFarge explained that the first step towards understanding the climate crisis is to educate oneself. He encourages people to go out and read up on scientific developments and current policy debates.
“There is so much space and opportunity to get involved, any student can make change in numerous ways whether it’s contacting their senator or joining climate action organizations.”
Wanting to make one point extremely clear, LaFarge reiterated, “The debate has moved beyond debating the science behind climate change. What we’re talking about now is ‘how fast’ and ‘how hard’ the effects will hit. This challenge is about working to keep the pace of climate change within the bounds of what our systems can handle.”
(11/19/09 3:56am)
It is no surprise that many Middlebury graduates go on to pursue careers relating to the environment, sustainability or climate change (or all three). Scholars-in-residence like Bill McKibben and organizations like Sunday Night Group and Weybridge House encourage activism and environmental interest, and provide students with impressive credentials to bolster their résumés. Middlebury alumni have played pivotal roles jumpstarting environmental NGOs and movements like 350.org that are global in scale and are shaping international environmental policy today. While there are no doubt hundreds of alums currently involved in environmental work of one kind or another, the following profiles provide a brief sample of just a few. (Seniors, take note.)
Bennett Konesni ’04.5
After helping to start the Middlebury College Organic Garden (MCOG) while studying at Middlebury, Konesni’s passion for gardening has translated to his newest project — the founding of Sylvester Manor, a 243-acre educational farm located on an old plantation on Shelter Island, N.Y. “Our mission is to preserve and interpret the property,” Konesni said. “And to encourage a culture of food that is delicious, joyful and fair.” His uncle inherited the property and when Konesni suggested creating something similar to Shelburne Farms, there was no stopping them.
“I really enjoy designing things, then trying them out to see how they work.” Konesni said. “I guess I’m a little bit of an inventor in that way, whether it’s systems in the fields, a barn layout or an efficient office space.”
Konesni graduated with a triple joint major in music, anthropology and environmental studies with a focus in human ecology. After founding the farm, he now works as its executive director and is in charge of daily administrative duties, athough he tries to spend as much time as possible in the fields.
He cites his experience starting and managing MCOG as the one that ultimately encouraged him to continue to pursue farming and local foods.
“The experience of starting the garden, from navigating the college bureaucracy to building a shed to harvesting and selling our first produce, has prepared me extremely well for my life as an entrepreneur,” he said.
More than anything, Konesni said that his professors and classmates pushed him to pursue his interests — to grow, question and improve constantly.
“Professionals like Jay Leshinsky reinforced our budding knowledge and professors like Bill McKibben, John Elder, Anne Knowles and Jon Isham urged us on and fed us ideas to consider,” Konesni said. “Finally, though, it’s my Middlebury classmates. The encouragement and ideas that they have given me has been the best Middlebury gift of all.”
Konesni encourages all of us to visit the organic garden. “Get your hands in the soil and all of your other projects, classes, and relationships will improve,” he said. “It’s a powerful place — go explore it.”
Elizabeth A. Baer ’04
A former environmental studies & policy major, Baer is putting her degree to good use at Conservation International, an environmental non-profit based in Washington, D.C. Baer works in the Center for Environmental Leadership in Business on a team called Conservation Tools for Business.
“My team develops tools and methodologies for companies to help companies shrink, green and offset ecological impacts in their supply chains — the chain of growers, producers, transporters, exporters, processors and others who are involved in making products and delivering services for a company,” Baer said.
“We do this by helping companies develop targets for how they would like their suppliers’ performance to change, methods for building capacity in the supply chain, incentives to encourage performance improvement, monitoring methods to track change, and approaches to report on and communicate about changes with the public so that consumers can make more informed buying decisions,” she explained.
Baer enjoys the ways in which her work can have far-reaching implications, as even small changes made by major international companies like Starbucks, Wal-Mart or McDonald’s can have enormous effects.
While she has always considered herself to be environmentally conscious, she credits Middlebury with putting her consciousness into a global context and grounding it in science.
“It’s an extraordinarily exciting time to be in the environmental field,” Baer said. “We’re facing critical global challenges, certainly, and the science only tells us that things are getting worse. But at the same time, we’re seeing more and more companies, individuals and nations engaged in environmental issues than ever before.”
“The world is beginning to understand that environment is not an ‘either-or’ proposition, but that if we can shift our way of thinking and operating, ‘win-win’ solutions exist for us to develop sustainably while protecting the natural resources we rely on to thrive,” she continued. “The question now is whether we have the will to make the right choices and to implement the necessary changes quickly enough.”
Jason Kowalski ’07
After working to organize Step It Up 2007 with other Middlebury graduates and Scholar-in-Residence in Environmental Studies Bill McKibben, Kowalski now works as a policy coordinator at 1Sky, a start-up grassroots campaign urging congress to pass strong climate legislation as soon as possible.
“My role is to make sure legislators on Capitol Hill hear the demand for action coming from their constituents,” said the former English major. “And also to make sure advocates around the country have the tools they need to apply pressure to the legislative process. Overall, it’s a mix of lobbying, policy analysis and working with our grassroots network.”
Kowalski describes his experiences at Middlebury as key to his current career trajectory. “Working with great professors like Jon Isham really got me thinking about what I was learning in the classroom and how I could apply it to the real world.”
After taking science and economics courses, Kowalski worked with friends and professors to calculate the College’s carbon footprint and figure out how much it would cost to switch from dirty oil to sustainably harvested biomass.
“A combination of student support, solid relationships with the administration and economic analysis led to a triumphant ‘yes’ vote in 2007 from the Board of Trustees to move forward with the aggressive carbon reduction agenda being implemented on campus right now,” Jason said.
In many ways, Kowalski argues, Middlebury’s carbon neutrality initiative closely mirrors the battle underway in Washington right now — “only,” as Kowalski says, “Capitol Hill is much more hostile than Old Chapel.”
Bonnie Frye Hemphill ’08
After graduating in 2008, Hemphill finds herself working at Climate Solutions in Seattle as a fellow in business partnerships. A small non-profit working to accelerate practical and profitable solutions to global warming was a perfect fit for Hemphill after four years of involvement with Middlebury’s SNG.
“I give many of my classes and professors a good deal of thanks,” Hemphill said. “But far and away, I learned the most from Middlebury’s student climate activism. The basic skills of organizing — inspiring diverse folks to mobilize around abstract goals, conducting large group debates and cold-call phonebanking the media to show up at events — have all proven invaluable.”
At Climate Solutions, Bonnie coordinates the Business Leaders for Climate Solutions program with campaign planning, research, administrative, communications and networking support. “It’s a network of more than 550 northwest businesspeople making the case for building the clean economy,” Hemphill said. “It was just 125 at this time last year.”
Her work allows her to be involved in a number of projects at once, including drafting an op-ed for a utility CEO to publish in a local paper supporting Senate action or clean energy investment; researching green tax incentives; helping a group of businesspeople put together a trip to Washington, D.C., to testify before Congress about successful alternative energy projects; and, of course, reorganizing the database.
“Though I am pretty tired at the end of the day,” Hemphill said. “I can honestly say I love it. I took full advantage of Middlebury’s remarkable resources and networks to jump from school to my work here.”
Julie Baroody ’03.5
After graduation, Baroody envisioned herself working in international public health, but the former international studies major now considers herself very lucky to have found the Rainforest Alliance (RA). The RA is an international conservation organization that strives to conserve biodiversity and ensure sustainable livelihoods by transforming land-use practices, business practices and consumer behavior.
“My current role is as coordinator of the RA’s climate activities,” Baroody said. “I’m thrilled to be part of the new and rapidly growing forest carbon community, with my colleagues finding ways to ensure credible reductions of greenhouse gas emissions through avoiding deforestation and forest degradation.”
While at Middlebury, Baroody was involved in environmental groups on campus, though she did not major in envrionmental studies.
“I lived in Weybridge House and attended ES colloquia regularly, and discussed environmental issues all the time with my peers,” Baroody said. “To me, integrating environmental issues into daily life, instead of focusing on them as something special or separate, is the only way to truly address some of the biggest challenges faced by individuals, communities, businesses and all the governments of the world.”
David Barker ’06
Barker has spent the past two years working as a project manager for the New York City Parks Department helping to implement a program called Schoolyards to Playgrounds as part of the mayor’s 30-year sustainability plan known as PlaNYC.
“The mayor wants all New Yorkers to live within a 10-minute walk of a park and since there’s not a lot of vacant, available land in the city, he saw the opening of 265 schoolyards (locked after school hours and on the weekends) as a practical way to accomplish this goal,” Barker said.
In his own words, Barker “has worn a lot of different hats for the team,” from attending participatory design meetings with schools to coordinating with different agencies during construction to make sure it does not interfere with other projects to responding to requests about the status of each project from public officials, civic groups and City Hall.
“I really wanted to be involved with something tangible after graduation,” Barker said. “There’s nothing better than seeing a barren asphalt yard be turned into a vibrant community space. The feedback from the schools and communities has been incredibly rewarding. At a recent ribbon cutting, the kids wrote each of us thank-you notes describing their favorite amenities. It’s work that rarely feels like work.”
While Middlebury did not provide the former Campus features editor with the technical know-how to interact with a team of architects, engineers and construction staff, it helped in other ways. “It taught me to look at the big picture, to communicate effectively through writing and public speaking and to juggle multiple tasks at once.”
Tyler Lohman ’08.5
After graduating with a joint major in geography and German, Lohman now works in New York, N.Y., as the general manager, sustainability director and chief operating officer of Dos Toros, a brand new taqueria in Manhattan.
While he does his fair share of burrito rolling — “I’m pretty solid: the trick is to use your pinkies at the end” — much of his time is spent scheduling, doing payroll, advertising, marketing and other customer relations duties. However, his true passion lies in making the company as “green” as possible.
“Being the Midd alum that I am, I don the few Patagucci and Pradagonia items that I own and have started to make the restaurant as sustainable as physically and fiscally possible.” Lohman said.
The taqueria currently features salvaged furniture, energy-efficient lightbulbs, low water usage toilets and faucets and greenware. In addition, the ceiling is constructed from tin found on the side of the road, all food waste is composted and even the used deep fryer oil gets turned into biodiesel — and, of course, the restaurant serves only local organic beans and sustainably raised chicken.
“Middlebury has influenced every move and decision I’ve made,” Lohman said. “While at school I knew I was learning things I believed in, but I did the work slightly more for the sake of the grade and what I thought the teachers wanted. But now, in the ‘real world,’ I’ve realized that I indeed do have very strong personal beliefs and tremendous drive to initiate my own projects — skills that I definitely picked up at Middlebury.”
(11/19/09 2:53am)
Putting together the second green issue of The Campus raised the question, “Just how green is the town of Middlebury?” The College is touted for its environmental awareness and Vermont is nationally known as one of the greenest states, but how does Middlebury fit into the picture? We sought experts on the subject and found three who know a lot about the area and a lot about being green: Patti Prairie, CEO of the local environmental firm Brighter Planet; Jonathan Corcorran, president of the Addison County Relocalization Network (ACoRN); and Fred Dunnington, town planner.
— Lea Calderon-Guthe, Local News Editor
Enviornmental Awareness: Deirdre Sackett
A majority of Vermont’s towns share the same ecologically aware mindset as Middlebury’s. Yet what makes a town like Middlebury so environmentally conscious? The key to this town’s ecological awareness lies in its close-knit community, according to Brighter Planet CEO Patti Prairie.
The Middlebury-based environmental firm recently partnered with the 350 Challenge campaign, a popular and influential environmental campaign that originated at the College. Brighter Planet’s goal as part of the 350 Challenge was to receive 350 new bloggers. The company was initially insecure about the number of bloggers it would receive, but as time went on and the word spread, Brighter Planet found it had little to fear.
“We’re now over 3,500 [bloggers] in a year in a half,” said Prairie.
That’s 10 times the number the company expected.
Prairie considers it the power of the Middlebury community at work. She explained that bloggers who joined the campaign received a virtual badge that was displayed on their blogs and Web pages. Friends and family members noticed the attractive badges and, by word of mouth, discovered and joined Brighter Planet’s campaign.
“People help each other,” Prairie noted about Middlebury’s community. With such a strong following, it is evident that Middlebury as a town is concerned not only with the town’s environmentalism but also with global environmental awareness.
Prairie also noted that the College has influenced the town’s environmentalism in a positive way, especially with the newly built biomass facility that reduces the College’s carbon footprint by 40 percent.
“My sense is that [the town of Middlebury] is on the leading edge of environmentalism,” she said.
She still suggests that residents visit her company’s website, http://www.brighterplanet.com, so that they can calculate their carbon footprint and ways to reduce it.
Overall, Prairie credits the power of community and the College with making Middlebury such an environmentally conscious town.
Local Food: Lea Calderon-Guthe
Eating local foods is a simple way to go green and support the local community, especially in agriculturally rich Addison County, the area for which Middlebury is the shire town. Jonathan Corcorran cited the county’s long history of farming as an advantage for the local food movement in the area over other parts of the state with less developed farming communities, but he also said that Addison County still has a ways to go.
“I’ve heard that three to five percent of the foods purchased in Vermont are locally grown and produced, so there’s huge room for improvement, huge, and I think that’s really the bottom line,” said Corcorran.
“I would say that’s probably reflected here in Addison County — the number might be a little higher, maybe it’s seven percent, really nobody knows — but there’s definitely a committed core group of localvores here.”
With eight Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs that allow people to pay a discounted price for a share of a farm’s crops each season, four farmers’ markets and over half the county’s restaurants belonging to the Vermont Fresh Network, meaning they serve a certain amount of local food, Addison County residents have a lot of options in the area for eating locally. These options provide to the residents, but they also exist because community members asked for them, which might explain why Corcorran calls the area “a very interesting new model anchored by local demand.”
Corcorran showed pride in a community that “gets it,” that seems to understand the basic principles of eating local to keep money in the local economy and farms “working, productive and hopefully prosperous.” But he stressed some more abstract concepts that he wishes the wider community were more aware of.
“Food touches everybody,” said Corcorran. “It’s more than just new opportunities — it’s about changing our culture. We’re having to ask the simple question that people have always asked: ‘Where is our food going to come from?’ It’s about restoring dignity and respect to farming, and also beginning to treat the land on which we live with greater respect. We can’t farm the way we’re farming now and expect to have something in three generations. We’re going to have to reimagine what agriculture is.”
Until everyone gets the bigger picture, however, Corcorran is content to push for smaller gains.
“I’m not a 100 percent localvore, but I think it’s that we’re at three percent,” he said. “Shoot, why can’t we get to 20 percent? Why can’t we get to 25 percent? I don’t think we need to be purists about this, we just need to be sensible, and I think that’s the direction we’re moving in.”
Town Initiatives: Lea Calderon-Guthe
“Is Middlebury green? We’re trying to be,” said town planner Fred Dunnington.
Not many towns can boast their own Climate Action Plan, but the Middlebury Area Global Warming Action Coalition (MAGWAC) has been working to implement the town’s plan since 2006 with the goal of reducing town greenhouse gas emissions by at least 10 percent below 2002 levels by 2012. MAGWAC, headed up by town energy coordinator Laura Asermily, has been responsible for two campaigns, the Way to Go campaign, which promotes carbon-conscious transportation, and the Energy First campaign, which promotes energy saving and alternative energy use. From the two campaigns have sprung such initiatives as the Green Expo, in its third year in March 2010; a Local Solutions Energy Resource Directory; the Earth Day Fair; and expanded shuttle bus services from Addison County Transit Resource (ACTR). Dunnington traced the town’s green habits all the way back to the 1980s.
“There was a proposal for a hydro[electricity] project in response to the earlier oil crisis a couple decades ago,” said Dunnington. “At that time, the town said, ‘We should be energy efficient.’ [Current green initiatives]are just a new wave of this — the town has always been fairly advanced and attuned to [energy efficiency], which is only natural in a community that has a connection with an academic institution like the College that’s attuned to what’s going on in the world. We’re blessed by that.”
But where the College has a large endowment and a deep-pocketed Board of Trustees, the town is dependent on the slimmer wallets of its voters, which can limit how much the town will spend on going green.
“The problem is,” said Dunninton. “The town is stretching as hard as it can in this time of economic stress to keep a level tax rate and fund a major town improvement, the bridge, so the voters are not able to easily take on other new investment. The College is in a position to be even more advanced in its knowledge and research and its financial resources. We benefit from that and work with the College and support everything they do, and we think about how might their projects work for an organization of our scale.”
An example of the town following in the College’s footsteps is the current plan for a district biomass project that would heat Porter Hospital and municipal buildings. The town is also looking at a new pumping system that could use the heat from the 50-degree water currently expelled by the wastewater treatment facility to heat a slab in an equipment storage building.
“This is out-of-the-box stuff,” said Dunnington. “It’s not done that often, but we’re thinking about creative ways to use the infrastructure that we have. I think people in Middlebury are very receptive to alternative energy initiatives, especially if they’re demonstrated to be cost-effective.”
(11/19/09 2:05am)
Dear Middlebury Campus,
As a member of the community of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., the idea that the seas could rise with global warming is very distressing. After seeing the recent photograph of the government of the Maldives signing a petition underwater to promote climate change in Copenhagen, I realized this is a very big issue where I come from, too. Not only is Florida very close to sea level, it is one of the areas most affected by storms in the world, and with a steadily rising sea level, these storms could become more deadly than they already are.
If world leaders can agree to lower the CO2 emissions and other greenhouse gases
in the atmosphere and slow down or stop global warming, then this would be a huge step forward. If global warming slowed down or stopped, it would be beneficial for everyone, not just the countries with the highest sea levels. If nothing is done, this world will see millions of homes destroyed and people displaced, uprooted and forced to find a new way of life. These leaders need to agree on a plan and find a solution so that when I want to visit my home in Palm Beach Gardens, I don’t have to wear a scuba suit.
Thanks,
Andrew Ackerman ’13
(11/19/09 2:02am)
It is a risky business to apologize to your daughter via a newspaper column. First, of all, she is likely to find it embarrassing. To be honest, since she was about 11, my daughter has found any public acknowledgement of the fact that I was her father to be more or less unbearable. I was even required since about pre-K to turn off the radio when we drove into the carpool lane at school so that no one would be tempted to look into the car and see human evidence that she didn’t actually live alone, on her own in a Beanie Baby-filled duplex somewhere. (This may also have had something to do with my taste in music … although come to think of it, I haven’t been allowed to choose the songs we played on the car radio since Joanna could talk.)
Joanna, of course, is her name. She is the one I am apologizing to.
But what I want to apologize for is something slightly more serious. Jo, I’m afraid I blew it. We blew it. I’m afraid we’ve let you down even more unhappily then when I tripped while carrying you on my shoulders a couple weeks before your fifth birthday. (And you know I’ve never gotten over that.) We got distracted while trying to make sure that you and your sister had enough dresses to wear to all those bar and bat mitzvahs and, because it wasn’t all selflessness, I’ve got to admit that some of the distractions were due to our own efforts to get ahead in life, you know, working to build up the number of hits our names would generate when entered on Google (which is the only true metric of the impact we make in our lives, right?)
And the cost of letting ourselves get distracted was somewhat more egregious than the cost of my parents not really paying much attention to me after my baby sister was born. I mean, I was emotionally scarred and ended up being a little needy. That’s not good. But the cost of our screw-up was destroying the entire planet Earth.
Which is serious, even if you are not a polar bear. (I don’t mean to make light. There is nothing funny about a drowning polar bear. Unless you’re a seal.)
Now, I know what you’re thinking, Jo. You’re thinking I’m trying to overstate this for dramatic effect. But here are the facts (which I acknowledge you and most of your fellow students already know): virtually every credible scientist who has studied the problem has concluded that spiking CO2 content in the atmosphere is contributing climatic anomalies that are going to have very serious consequences. We can debate whether global warming is plateauing or even whether it is cyclical. But there is no denying that Arctic ice caps are shrinking vastly more rapidly than any projections made even as recently as a few years ago and similar problems are taking a toll in precious and fragile locations like the glaciers high up in the Himalayas.
Three rivers flow from those heights — the Ganges, the Mekong (along which you once cruised) and the Yangtze. Something like three billion people depend on those waters and should their flows be impeded, should their levels fall, it would be a social, economic, humanitarian and security catastrophe. There are credible estimates that temperature rise of three degrees in this century could result in the dislocation of over 700 million people. This makes it a potential historical turning point for humankind and a challenge on a scale exceeding all those that have ever come before.
Now, I know you are saying, “yes, I know. I go to Middlebury. We’re greener than Kermit the Frog. We get it.” And I know that two-thirds of Americans under 30 agree this is a critical priority. But less than half of Americans over 50 get it (regrettably, I am part of this group, which is pretty much past our “sell by” date). And here in Washington, well, no one gets much. I follow this stuff for a living and I have to tell you right now it looks pretty bleak that the U.S. government is going to do what it must to seriously address this issue.
I once ran a political campaign’s policy operation and when I told the candidate that perhaps the single most important thing he could do was embrace the idea of a gasoline tax or a carbon tax, he literally blanched. Then he changed the subject. Now, he is among those likely to block cap and trade legislation in the current Congress, and he’s one of the alleged good guys, a Democrat. Heck, the President himself, who ran on promises of doing something about this, looks like he is going to backtrack from a demand that we set emissions limits or put a price on carbon and what’s the result going to be? Stalling progress on the rest of the world doing anything about it, that’s what. When the world meets in Copenhagen, we’ll end up with a pale face-saving deal that essentially punts these decisions down the road.
Now you hear talk about trying to slow emissions without setting limits or putting a real price on carbon. And frankly, while that is certainly better than doing nothing (China just released a state-sponsored study suggesting they should reduce emissions four to five percent a year through 2050; they are more forward-leaning on some of these issues than we are) it’s not going to do the trick.
Without these measures, carbon levels will rise and then water levels will rise and the climate will shift and other than those who like the idea of summer sailing at the North Pole, it’s not going to be a happy time.
So, what do you get besides an apology? Well, advice, of course. I’m a parent, I can’t help it. My generation has failed to meet its responsibilities. But your generation gets it. To me, the only way this issue resonates in Washington is if people start figuring it in their political cost-benefit analysis. Someone needs to send the message that millions of voters between 18 and 35 consider action on this issue to be a litmus test. They need to make it hurt to do nothing. They need to make platitudes and pork unacceptable alternatives. They need to say, “fix it or we will change the game right now” and right now, the message we are getting is just not loud enough. It’s too soft. The crowds are too small. The political efforts are too much at the margins. No politician in America thinks they will lose their job if they get this wrong. They need to know different, to be proven different.
It is embarrassing for a parent to turn to a child to ask for help, especially if the reason is his own failure and that of his fellow parents. But trust me, you will someday have children (not too soon, please) and when you love them as much as your parents love you, you will not forgive yourself for having failed to rise to this challenge. I know you can do it. I mean you got us to let you have your own car up there in Middlebury, and Lord knows we hated that idea even as we were somehow made to do it. That’s power. Multiply that by 50 million or so and that’s the power of America aged 18-35.
Gandhi is alleged to have said that “when the people lead, the leaders will follow.” While this may be true, and who am I to quibble with Gandhi, over the course of my life, you have proven to me that it is even more clear that when the children lead, the parents will follow. We may pretend at the time like we are doing the leading. But in this case, as in so many others (see the car comment above), we know the truth, right?
