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(10/14/10 4:06am)
In a weekend jam-packed with Panthers home athletic action, both Middlebury golf teams took their shows on the road to other NESCAC venues. The women completed their fall season at Williams in the Williams Fall Classic. The men played at Hamilton in the Hamilton Fall Invitational. The men’s team will play in the NESCAC match play next weekend at Wesleyan to finish out their fall season.
The men’s team placed second at Hamilton with a combined two-day score of 612 behind Manhattanville College who scored 609 for the weekend. Jim Levins ’11, Brian Cady ’11 and Rob Donahue ’14 all tied for 16th place with two-day scores of 154. They were followed by William Prince ’13 and Max Alley ’14, who placed 20th and 26th respectively.
The women’s team finished third this weekend with a score of 671. Williams finished first with a two-day score of 663 and Amherst finished second with a score of 665. Flora Weeks ’12 and Keeley Levins ’13 tied for third place with two-day scores of 160. Next was Jessica Bluestein ’11 in 12th place with a score of 171, followed by Caroline Kenter ’14 in 17th place and Kaitlin Surdoval ’12 in 43rd place with scores of 180 and 230 respectively.
The second day of play at the Williams Invitational was the one-day NESCAC Women’s golf tournament. Although Williams won the two-day tournament, they placed third behind both Middlebury and Amherst in the NESCAC tournament based on Sunday’s scores. Middlebury placed second on Sunday with a score of 326, pushing Williams to third with a score of 331 and just losing to Amherst who scored a 320.
The women’s second-place finish comes as an especially sweet end to the fall season after their struggles last fall, when they lost several key players and finished near the bottom of most of the tournaments they played in. The remarkable turnaround can attributed in no short part to the hard work and effort the team put in during the offseason and the bond they’ve developed as a team playing together this fall.
“Williams had a great season and it was really rewarding to place ahead of such a strong team in NESCAC,” said Kenter. “Although our season is really short we have definitely become closer as a team and I am excited for the spring.”
(10/14/10 4:05am)
On the 10th day of the 10th month of this millennium’s 10th year, Middlebury celebrated 350.org’s Global Work Party with a morning yoga session at the Mahaney Center for the Arts.
As an ongoing project to reduce the carbon dioxide level in our atmosphere to under 350 parts per million — the safe upper limit of CO2 for the environment — activists around the world built solar panels, planted trees and erected windmills on this day of change and action. However, an eclectic group of community, faculty and students (with their visiting parents) found that environmental change first comes from our understanding of the relationship between body and earth.
On the relevance of yoga, Kathleen and William F. Truscott Professor of Dance Andrea Olsen stated, “[It is] not just about world energy conservation […] but about our own body’s energy.” Olsen teaches Body and Earth, a course designed to highlight the importance of the body as a medium to understand our surroundings. This past Sunday morning, she hosted and participated in the Global Work Party yoga event while Russell Comstock, co-Director of Metta Earth Institute, led the room of 29 through various meditative postures and exercises.
With mats strewn around in a large circle, Comstock began the event with a brief introduction about reclaiming the connection between nature and yoga as well as about how we can make a change in this world by first reaffirming the link between ourselves and the environment. After a few breathing exercises and the Sun Salutation, he also explained, “Creativity is maximized at the borders of chaos.” Currently, we are at a point of environmental chaos, and it’s quite amazing to see all the initiatives and creative actions that the people around the world have taken and are still taking.
Compared with planting trees or launching local gardens, this yoga session had no tangible outcome, but actions without real belief lack integrity. So, as an event meant to spark subsequent action, it highlighted the importance of awareness, as well as our intimate connection to the earth. Only by first understanding this can we truly embrace our duties to the environment and to the world.
(10/14/10 4:05am)
In 188 different countries, people joined together at 7,347 Global Work Parties across the globe. Groups gathered to celebrate the environment, and to inspire political leaders across the world to take action and to curb the effects of global warming. The College’s Sunday Night Group and local community members coordinated and planned the events of 10/10/10 with help from 350.org, an international environmental organization.
“Today is only a humble part of a lifetimes work,” said Jon Isham, associate professor of economics, who is also involved with 350.org. “Today is a great start and a day to get recommitted to politics.”
Isham believes the most important step in achieving 350.org’s goal of “350” is forcing politicians to listen and to take action, so climate changes can be controlled. This number represents the amount of carbon dioxide in parts per million that is safe for our environment. Everyone must get to work so the world can get to 350.
“We all understand numbers, and this is the most famous number in the world,” said Isham.
After weeks of preparation, community members gathered on the Town Green last Sunday afternoon. To begin the festivities, a drum circle played several West African pieces. The drummers, who have been taking classes together every Thursday for the last 12 years, played djembes or tall drums.
“Our drumming is a community builder,” said Louise Brynn, one of the drummers and a resident of Bristol, Vt.
Fellow drummer from Salisbury, Vt., Netaka White, echoes Brynn, as he believes that the music is not a performance, but rather a loose gathering of community drummers. Laura Asermily, the Middlebury Energy Coordinator, asked the group to open the 10/10/10 celebration. Following the drumming, Isham and Asmerily both spoke to the crowds. Their speeches, along with a photo, were sent to the 350.org leaders in Washington, D.C.
Numerous pamphlets were available for the community, including a booklet called the Low Carbon Diet. This 30-day program teaches people how to save money and energy by, for example, eating less red meat and being more fuel-efficient.
Asermily also organized a Carbon Buster Fashion Show and had volunteers dress up like “Carbon Cuttin’ Cats.” She talked about reducing waste, using energy efficient light bulbs, air sealing and insulating houses, reducing the amount of hot water being used and “thinking before you go,” which is an effort to off-set air travel and encourage biking.
“Forty-six percent is the number on my mind,” said Asermily. “This is the amount of carbon emission related to transportation in Middlebury.”
She advocates modifying transportation and instructs locals about proper space heating methods by “buttoning-up” their houses, as she believes these are two significant ways to reduce the levels of atmospheric carbon. Asermily met with an energy auditor and in the last three years, she has been weatherizing her home. The changes cut her fuel bill by one-third; she has saved 900 dollars per year and now uses 300 gallons less of oil.
“It is about efficiency and conservation,” said Asermily, who weatherized her home by insulating her attic and basement, and sealing her windows. She has also cut an additional 200 gallons of oil by installing a wood stove in her fireplace and placing solar panels on her roof.
Asermily feels efficiency is “environmentally benign.” Her current projects, “Way to Go,” which inspires locals to bike ride and walk instead of driving, and “Efficiency Vermont,” which offers businesses free energy visits, aim to provide people with the necessary information and resources to change their actions. By teaching small businesses about the benefits of saving energy and weatherizing offices, they will save thousands of dollars and help control climate changes. This is why Asermily offers free home and business energy visits; she wants people to make alterations to the space heating and cooling in their homes.
On Sunday, she spoke to a group at the Isley Library about “buttoning up Middlebury.” She discussed the importance of home efficiency because 56 percent of Middlebury’s carbon emissions are due to space heating and cooling.
“People are too dependent on their cars in rural Vermont,” she said. “We need to take local action.”
Middlebury residents also participated in the festivities by taking a solar tour of the town. The walk aimed to spread knowledge to the community about the importance of solar energy. Asermily highlighted the option of group net metering, a process in which neighbors invest in solar energy together.
The day’s events would also not have been possible without the contributions from Sunday Night Group. In addition to singing a catchy tune to engage community members, the club was also involved in canvassing and hoped to register green voters. One member, Audrey Tolbert ’13, talked about the College’s involvement in “Race to Replace” and “Dorm Storm” events. These campaigns seek to register voters who believe in electing green candidates in the upcoming Vermont elections. The college teamed up with fellow schools, including Bennington, Johnson State College and the University of Vermont, to raise awareness about 10/10/10 and to get students excited about voting for clean energy.
“There is only so much we can do on the campus,” said Olivia Noble ’13, another member of the Sunday Night Group. “We need to expand our work into the town and into Addison County, and to integrate all areas.”
Some left the Town Green and went to an elementary school in Cornwall, Vt. to plant a vegetable garden, while others took a hike or participated in gleaning activities.
Asermily realizes it is hard to change habits, but asserts that all must get involved to reach the goal of 350. It starts on a local level.
“We need another political revolution,” said Isham. “We did it with slavery and the Progressive Era.”
The environment is next.
(10/14/10 4:05am)
This weekend, the Panthers competed in the Open New England Championships. The race took place in Boston, where the men’s and women’s cross country teams competed along with 46 other teams. This event included schools from all three divisions, and is usually dominated by D-I teams.
Despite the intensity of the competition, the Panthers once again had a phenomenal day. The team captured one of the highest places Middlebury has ever taken at New Englands, finishing third overall. The women ran a 5K race, with Amanda Lee ’11 finishing first for Middlebury in a time of 18:17, good enough for 24th place overall.
Just behind her was Colette Whitney ’14 in 26th and Madie Hubbell ’14 in 30th, continuing the Panther tradition of running in a tight pack. Addie Tousley ’13 also finished strong, in 38th place, as did teammates Claire McIIvennie ’12, who took 45th, Katie Rominger ’14 who came in 72nd and Emily Attwood ’14 (91st). Coach Aldrich was thrilled with the performance of his women’s team at New Englands.
“To finish ahead of all but two of the D-I schools in New England was phenomenal. What made the women’s performance even more impressive was that four of our top seven in the varsity race were first-year runners who ran with the maturity, confidence and poise of seniors. The race was very fast, and our top five women averaged significantly faster than last year’s team.”
According to Aldrich, the men’s race was good, but could have gone better.
“This race was not even close to being indicative of the ability of [the men’s] team,” said Aldrich. He cited the caliber of the competition, an extremely fast start and running too conservatively as things that may have hindered the Panther men from displaying their full prowess on the course this weekend.
However, he is optimistic for the Panthers’ performance in the weeks ahead, and is confident that the men will be able to improve upon these things and see significant progress in their championship races at the end of the year.
The Panther first-years did very well in the race, securing three of the top seven Middlebury finishes. The team finished ninth in the D-III division and 24th overall. The men ran an 8K race, and Michael Schmidt ’12 was the first Panther across the line with a time of 24:54, taking 12th place overall.
Behind him was Greg Krathwohl ’14 in 130th, Nate Sans ’14 in 140th and Jack Davies ’13 close behind in 142nd. Rounding out the top seven were Sam Miller ’12 in 172nd, Leif Castern ’14 in 212th and Patrick Hebble ’13 in 225th. Schmidt’s time, according to Aldrich, is one of the fastest individual finishes in Middlebury’s history.
“In the men’s race, Schmidt ran an exceptional race, posting one of the top individual finishes in our school’s history. His race was one of the single most impressive individual performances I have witnessed in my 36 years at Middlebury.”
Up next for the Panthers is the Albany Invitational on Oct. 16.
(10/14/10 4:04am)
With fall break almost here, anxiety is high across campus as students count down the minutes until, for four days, they are free from work and loosed to enjoy the Vermont fall foliage. For those opting to remain in Middlebury for the break, there are countless outings to enjoy. The Middlebury Antique Center and Happy Valley Orchards are just two possible destinations.
Francis and Dianne Stevens moved to Middlebury from Boston 35 years ago. The two have always enjoyed perusing through flea markets and their curiosity sparked the couple’s decision to open the Middlebury Antique Center, located at 3255 Route 7 South in East Middlebury, Vt. Customers from all over the United States have visited the store, but Francis also has customers who venture into the shop once a month or even once a week.
“We have 50 dealers who sell here,” said Francis. “Some of them are from California, and there are some from Arizona and New Jersey. We have a wide variety.”
The store, which sells everything from jewelry to furniture to brass to fishing lures, is renowned for its artwork.
“We are unique in that we offer pieces of quality,” said Francis, who believes his four-year-old German Shepherd Husky, Dutchess, is an invaluable part of his business as well.
Dutchess greets customers and remembers certain people each time they come to the store.
The couple, who has owned the shop for 24 years, travels to auctions across the country to find antiques. The antique center is open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
A seven-minute drive from the Stevens’ two-story antique shop sits Happy Valley Orchards. Mary and Stan Pratt bought the orchard in 1998, after leasing land in Cornwall, Vt.
“We actually live on Happy Valley Road, and we named our Cornwall orchard after the road,” said Mary. “But it has caused much confusion ever since we moved to Middlebury because everyone thinks the orchard is on Happy Valley Road.” On the contrary, the orchard is located at 217 Quarry Road.
Both husband and wife have farming experience. Mary lived in Bridport, Vt., eight miles west of campus, on a dairy farm. Her father-in-law was once a trainer at the Morgan Horse Farm in Middlebury, and Stan worked for Centennial Pine, where he was involved in seasonal planting.
“Needless to say, we both love farming,” she said.
Mary is also a bookkeeper, as she says the 14 acres of land are not enough to make a living. Stan is one of the ice rink managers and Zamboni drivers at the College.
Apples are planted from mid-May until Columbus Day, and picking starts in late August. Unfortunately, this year’s apples have been a poor batch, as the fruit matured three weeks early. There are also fewer apples due to the fluctuating weather in the spring. The warm April weather caused the apples to blossom earlier than usual, and when the May frost hit, those blossoms were susceptible to the temperature changes. The cold air killed many blossoms, especially those at the bottom of the trees.
Though Happy Valley Orchards is open through November 23, Mary warns that apple-picking season is almost finished.
“We have 70 to 80 different varieties of apples,” she said. “Stan and I love planting the vintage old-fashioned varieties.” The couple began planting such “heritage” types, like the Baldwin apple and the Cox Orange Pippin one, about eight years ago.
Yet the most popular apple is the Honey Crisp. Mary said it has peaked in popularity in the last 10 years because of it crunchy taste, and because it stays hard for a long period of time, compared to other types like McIntosh.
“My favorite apple is the McIntosh because of my New England upbringing,” said Mary. “I seem to enjoy the milder and sweeter taste.”
Interestingly, the Pratts cannot grow Granny Smith apples because the growing season in Vermont is too short.
“We have removed some of the trees that the old owners planted,” said Mary. “But we plant semi-dwarf and not dwarf trees, which are mainly used for commercial use because there is a romantic feeling attached to a big tree.”
The couple also blends together several varieties of apples to make their famous cider, which is offered in the dining halls and at the Grille, as well as at Otter Creek Bakery and Noonie’s Deli.
“All of our retail products are sold locally,” said Mary.
The Pratts also sell pumpkins and winter vegetables, like squash, from Foster Brothers Farm. Cider doughnuts are a favorite for many customers too. The orchard charges $10 for half a bushel of apples during the week, and $8 during the weekend.
The Pratts, who also grow peach, plum and cherry trees, stay updated on “apple news” by following the research at Cornell University, as the school is invested in agriculture. They are also members of the Vermont Fruit Tree Growers and learn from speakers who attend the organization’s meetings.
(10/14/10 4:04am)
After a change of both time and venue for Middlebury’s match against St. Michael’s College last weekend the MCRC fought their way to a final score of 60-8. The game provided the opportunity for some different players to prove their worth and for others to receive the much-needed rest that is crucial to this team’s ongoing success.
“It was a good opportunity for us to rest some players with injuries and to get some guys on the field that hadn’t had the chance yet,” said co-captain Brian Sirkia ’12.5. While there was great play from many men on the field Sebastien Damberg-Ott ’12.5, who added two tries to the scoreboard, and Michael Pappa ’11, did exceptionally well.
“Seb had a great game, and Pappa made his presence felt every time he had the ball in hand by always going forward and gaining ground,” said Sirkia. “They both have been working really hard all fall so it was great to see them capitalize when they got the opportunity to play.”
The Middlebury College men’s rugby team got off to a fairly chaotic start and continued to seem disheveled for most of the game. Despite the confusion they were able to score try after try out of muddled situations through hard work and determination.
“There were phases were we played our game but we couldn’t do it consistently,” said Drew Harasimowicz ’11.
Although the Panthers were somewhat frustrated with their play against St. Michael’s they were overpowering the Purple Knights and scoring many tries.
“St. Michael’s could not adjust to our strength of our clean, organized and punishing defensive wall,” said Sam Harrison ’11 who added a try to the scoreboard and continues to show great tackling in every game. Other tries were scored by Nat Kelner ’12, Allen Stafford ’13.5, Danny Powers ’11.5, Kennedy Mugo ’12, Luke Dauner ’13 and Jack Maher ’12.
“We had mistakes here and there, more than we would have hoped for, but we are still proving ourselves as the dominant force in the Northeast and in the country,” said Harrison.
The Middlebury College Rugby Club hosts their Alumni Reunion Weekend this upcoming Oct. 15-17. With a large portion of support coming from their alumni every year the MCRC is focused on making it an exceptional time and showing everyone what a talented squad they have this season.
“We have a hard game coming up this weekend against URI, so we will be back to full strength as we prepare for them this week,” said Harasimowicz.
Always looking for room in which to improve the MCRC plan to focus in practice with the same intensity they bring to every game. The Panthers are still striving to push their level of play up to the heights they know they can reach as a team, and with heart and determination they are climbing higher each week.
(10/14/10 4:03am)
A staple of the theatrical calendar each year, the First-Year Show showcases Middlebury’s freshest dramatic talent. This production, the 15th of its kind, was no exception to the trajectory; Hepburn Zoo afforded small audiences of friends and family gathered Oct. 7-9 with a personal experience, and with eight scenes exploring love, an equally intimate theme.
First-year shows are often the initiation of a Middlebury actor’s career, as they step onto the college stage for the first time. Alum’s are called in to direct these productions; in this instance Caitlin Dennis ’06.5 left work in D.C. to return to Middlebury as director for This Kind of Close. Other experienced theatre hands aid the show through various backstage roles, making the production an exposition of cross-generational skill.
Going from audition to opening night in just five weeks with a group of unacquainted actors is no small achievement, especially when tackling as broad a theme as love. The format of eight scenes with simple set transitions between each proved a perfect medium for different types of engagements: from exploring how bereavement effects love, to finding your soul mate in a bar. Deliciously rendered awkwardness and the comedy of miscommunication recurred in each scene. This was a funny show, but with humor pitched appropriately so as not to neglect the tenderness of the interactions.
A great success of the show was its approachability, as each scene took a new angle on intimacy and relationships. It was well chosen for the family weekend. Although mature performances prevailed throughout, perhaps the most successful and appreciated scenes were those that touched upon the most innocent moments. The performances of Matt Ball ’14 and Kristina Johansson ’14 drew torrents of laughter in the penultimate scene of Saturday night’s show as they recreated the awkwardness of early adolescence in Rajiv Joseph’s “Gruesome Playground Injuries.” An optimistic resolution was achieved at the end of the show with the return of two initial characters in a silent embrace.
Another memorable feature of the production was the somewhat surreal set transitions; great white shapes that, with the help of the first-year actors-come–robots, unearthed the furnishings for each scene. The largely domestic settings helped ground the scenes in reality and served not to detract from the central strength of the show: enormously compelling acting. Congratulations are due to all those involved.
(10/14/10 4:03am)
It started with a small truck. Robin Igenthron hated commuting by car to Boston from Middlebury for his job at Electronicycle. He had his trucking license, so he bought a truck and began collecting used computers and televisions himself, saving them to be recycled. Soon, he started to review online purchasing requests for specific electronic parts from overseas. It was clear to Igenthron that technology, despite its benefits to society, also had a negative effect on the environment. There remained a need to recycle electronics responsibly.
“Mexicans can’t figure out why Americans are throwing out working televisions,” said Igenthron, who didn’t understand it either. He took action and put his ambitions to the test in May 2003 when he founded Good Point Recycling, an electronics recycling company, where he is now the CEO.
The company’s business model is surprisingly simple. Good Point gets used televisions and computers from hospitals, universities, states, towns and individuals. It also receives purchase orders online from its partners all over the world. Though the default is to recycle the electronics, Good Point is able to export parts that people overseas can reuse. In this way, the company provides a vital service to people who deserve affordable electronics, but who may not have access to them. Good Point benefits, as well.
“Reuse is only 22 percent,” said Igenthron. “But that 22 percent brings in 70 percent of income.”
Part of Good Point’s work is getting the parts to its partners, but the company also attracts people from all over the world (visitors have come from Egypt and Senegal) to its Middlebury facility to teach them about how to recycle properly in their countries. Furthermore, if parts are exported to a company’s facility in Mexico, for example, and it turns out they are not useable, Good Point pays for them to be recycled.
For Igenthron himself, the personal benefits of doing so much good for others and for the environment are enormous.
“This is my dream job,” he said. “I couldn’t decide between international relations, philosophy or environmental studies. This is a really great place to practice all three.”
After graduating from Carleton College in 1984 with a degree in international relations, Igenthron joined the Peace Corps and traveled to Africa, where he visited the Congo and Cameroon. He returned to the United States when criticism for unjust trading practices in the coffee industry was on the rise. From what he learned in Africa, Igenthron knew that boycotting coffee was not the solution.
“The idea is not to stop dealing with them,” he said. “It’s to share with them, visit them and come up with trade that works on both sides.”
Igenthron also knew that tech jobs were excellent employment in developing countries. He saw the rapid development of the Internet in the U.S., especially compared to poorer nations, and did not think it made sense that people in those countries had to buy new computers.
Igenthron went on to receive a degree in Nonprofit Management from Boston University in 1990, and served as the Recreational Director for the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection from 1992 to 1999. It was in this position that he began to experiment with electronics management and investigating recycling practices. When his wife, Armelle Crouzières-Igenthron, got a job teaching French at Middlebury College, Igenthron immediately connected with the Vermont environment. He knew it was the perfect place for the birth of Good Point, especially with the community of eager college students, many of whom had critical language skills that enabled the company to provide a service to people around the world.
“We’re just really lucky to have the proximity of Middlebury College,” said Igenthron. “As result of the Middlebury students we’ve been able to get tests they need done in Malaysia translated to labor force in Vermont. We give Middlebury College alumni a lot of credit for [Good Point] having succeeded like it has.”
Igenthron has trusted students from the beginning. His first two employees were students from the College that he met at First Citizens Bank and hired for the summer of 2003. Since then, the company has grown gradually. Good Point expanded to a 50,000 square foot facility in Middlebury to manage their programs in Rhode Island, Long Island, Boston, New Hampshire and Vermont. The company also has a facility in Mexico, completely managed by a women’s cooperative, where it employs 10 people.
Yet Igenthron admits Good Point has struggled recently.
“The recession was really, really hard on us,” he said. “We’re walking wounded.”
In October 2008, just before the crisis, Good Point bought a $1.3 million factory in Middlebury Industrial Park. According to Igenthron, the unfortunate timing led to a “scary year in 2009.” Good Point survived at a time when many other local companies did not, but it now faces trouble getting the financing it needs to grow.
“It’s really hard to get money to buy trucks,” said Igenthron. “No one is lending.”
Yet Igenthron remains optimistic, noting that electronic recycling is a rising business. And while many other companies force people overseas to buy electronic parts, knowing that not all of them are usable, Good Point is one of the few companies that provides responsible services.
“Good Point is probably best known in the U.S. for adopting the middle road,” said Igenthron, who is often invited to speak at other colleges and universities.
Forbes Magazine also recently profiled Good Point. The article, written by a reporter covering India, attracted many Indian investors.
While Good Point and the electronics recycling movement grow, Igenthron stays grounded. He remains committed to providing an affordable service that is in high demand.
“Mining stuff to break it and throw it away is just not sustainable,” he said. “It’s a relatively new idea and it’s a really bad one. What we’re doing is really the only way folks in poor countries are going to get online and really the only way Americans are going to stop this mining and disposing cycle that’s destroying the planet.”
(10/14/10 4:03am)
We’re all about The Campus’ Green Issue, but given the current amount of sustainability in professional and major college sports we didn’t feel a though it would be appropriate to sing the praises of environmentalism. Since golf courses are given more water than third world countries and tailgating football produces more trash than New Jersey, we felt we needed to go a different route. So we are going to follow suit with the rest of the sports world and ignore the issue entirely. Instead, we present the top 10 sports franchises of all time – that wear green.
10. San Jose Sharks – They have a history of choking in the playoffs and can barely be considered green. 10th it is…
9. Jacksonville Jaguars – See above: Sharks, San Jose.
8. Seattle SuperSonics – This team was very green; I definitely have childhood memories of Shawn Kemp and Gary Payton doing work in Sonics colors. Their fans must not have loved the color so much however, because the team has since been moved to Oklahoma City and changed its name and colors.
7. Milwaukee Bucks – Their green throwback jerseys look pretty great, unfortunately they haven’t been relevant in years and are a long way away. Also this team isn’t particularly emblematic of green, thus the low ranking.
6. Philadelphia Eagles – They used to wear more green, but they were terrible. During the Andy Reid years, they’ve become one of the more consistently successful teams in the NFL but wear more of a teal color. Also I hate them.
5. Michigan State - The most successful college program that uses green across the board, the Spartans have won six national championships in football, three national championships in hockey, and two in basketball. However, the only reason they are ranked this high is that they have one of the purest and classiest green and white uniforms in sports.
4. Oakland Athletics – Between nine World Series titles and Dennis Eckersley’s mustache, they have to rank near the top. A franchise made famous for the reimagining of baseball statistics, they’ve managed to stay relevant and competitive with big market teams by spending less green and wearing a lot of it.
3. New York Jets – “Gang Green” as they are called, have only green and white in their uniforms. The association to the color is undeniable but they do play second fiddle in their city and have struggled to put up long stretches of success throughout their history to be a truly emblematic franchise like…
2. Green Bay Packers – It’s all in the name here – hailing from a city appropriately named for this column the Packers hold the distinction of being the most recognizable green team in football. In the late 90s and early 00s at the height of Favre’s popularity, Packer green was everywhere. Of course winning the first two Super Bowls doesn’t hurt.
1. Boston Celtics – We love to antagonize New England sports fans, but they get the W here. The Celtics are the winningest franchise in the history of their sport and have done it for over 60 years in green. 10 MVP awards have been won in Celtic green and there aren’t many fan bases more representative of their teams color than the proud Irish population of Boston. Congrats Celtics fans, your prize for being the greenest team in the land is Shaq for a season. Enjoy.
(10/14/10 4:02am)
In honor of former head coach Gail Smith, who holds a record 107 wins during her tenure that lasted from 1983 to 1999, Middlebury hosted its first home competition of the year on a beautiful Parents Weekend and had a very strong showing. The Panthers had three weeks to prepare since their last tournament and did not disappoint the many fans in attendance.
Middlebury’s top doubles team of sophomores Leah Kepping ’13 and Brittney Faber ’13 dominated their group stage, winning 8-1, 8-1, and 8-0 against two sides from Trinity and one from Amherst. They proceeded to beat another Amherst duo in the quarterfinals, 8-5. Kepping and Faber found themselves in a deep hole in the semi-final match, down 7 games to 3 and 15-40 against another Amherst squad serving for the match point. However, the Panthers managed to force the game into deuce and rallied to win six straight games for the victory, shocking their opponents.
The Middlebury duo had to face yet another Amherst side in the championship, the same Lord Jeffs that knocked out Kepping and Faber in the ITA semi-finals three weeks before. In a hard-fought battle with many close games, freshmen Jordan Brewer and Gabby Devlin from Amherst took the crown.
“We made great strides compared to last year’s tournament, which is definitely a confidence booster for the competition in this upcoming weekend,” said Kepping. “Brittney and I are incredibly excited about our ability to come back in the semi-final match, and we can’t wait to have another go at the Amherst team that beat us in the final.”
That opportunity may come this weekend, when Middlebury travels to Amherst for the New England Women’s Intercollegiate Tennis Tournament, where teams from every D-III school in the region will be competing. The NEWITT caps off the short fall season for intercollegiate tennis competition, which resumes in the spring.
“Any time in the fall when we really start to come together as a team and everyone is really motivated, I feel like we have accomplished quite a bit,” said Head Coach Mike Morgan, who is proud of the direction his team is moving in. Despite the short season, he has seen many improvements and knows his team is working to meet the rest of their goals.
The doubles team of Dorrie Paradies ’14 and captain Sally Wilkey ’12 also won one match against Skidmore in the group stage and knocked out Amherst and Rochester sides in the consolation bracket. They also fell to yet another Amherst duo in a close match, 9-7, to conclude their weekend.
Coach Morgan did not hesitate to praise Paradies’ work ethic on the court. The only first-year, she is improving tremendously, and Coach Morgan is excited to see what she and Wilky can do this upcoming weekend. Although they have not quite yet found the results they’re looking for, the team knows that they will come.
“The team is pretty fired up and motivated going into the last week of the fall. You can’t ask for much more than that,” said coach Morgan.
The Middlebury women’s tennis team will be looking to build off their experiences at the NEWITT this weekend in Amherst, hopefully with the chance to take down some of the Lord Jeffs that came up to Vermont for the event.
(10/14/10 4:01am)
The 18th-ranked Panthers field hockey team continued their resurgence on Saturday with a 4-1 home victory over the NESCAC rival and 17th-ranked Lord Jeffs. The Middlebury win snapped Amherst’s five-game winning streak and came just four days after the team shut out Union 4-0, increasing their winning streak to four games.
Lauren Greer ’13 had three of Middlebury’s goals in Saturday’s match and assisted the other, while Becca Shaw ’12 saved 11 of the 12 shots fired at her, the only goal allowed coming off an Amherst penalty corner late in the game.
“The win was very emotional for all of us,” said Coach Katharine DeLorenzo. “We maximized our strengths on the offensive end and played a strong unit with purpose for most of the game”.
Surprisingly, the game was a defensive stalemate for much of the first half of play. Amherst (6-3) continuously reached their scoring zone but failed to get the ball passed Shaw’s excellent goaltending, while Middlebury (5-3) struggled to reach the scoring zone at all. The Panthers finally ended the stalemate with just seven minutes left in the half. The scoring play started when Charlotte Gardiner ’13 found Greer inside the scoring zone on a beautiful, field-spanning pass. Greer quickly found Elinore O’Brien ’14 wide open for the easy, un-savable score that gave the team a 1-0 lead going into the half.
From the beginning of the second-half whistle to the end of the game, Middlebury, led by Greer, showed the offensive dominance that made them such a highly ranked team going into the season.
“We used our new formation that spreads the field out and really accentuates people’s strengths,” said Greer of the Panthers’ offensive resurgence. Less than three minutes into the half she took full advantage of the new spread offensive, driving past all of the Lord Jeff defenders. With only the goalie to beat, Greer fired a shot from the left side that found the upper right corner of the net for the unassisted goal, giving Middlebury a 2-0 lead. Nine minutes later Greer put home her second goal of the game off a rebound that bounced off the Amherst goalie’s pads. She would score her third goal in similar fashion, finishing off another successful Panther attack and giving the team a 4-0 advantage with less than eight minutes left to play.
Greer earned NESCAC Player of the Week honors for her stellar contributions to the Panthers’ win over Amhersst.
By the time the Lord Jeffs finally got on the scoreboard, it was too late for a comeback, as the surging Panthers sealed their fourth victory in a row 4-1. Despite the difference in score, however, the Lord Jeffs held a 12-7 shot advantage as well as a 10-6 penalty corner advantage, making the victory a testament to Shaw’s stellar performance in goal as well as of Middlebury’s ability to take advantage of every shot they are given.
“Now that we know we are capable of playing that kind of field hockey, the possibilities are endless,” Greer said after the game. “I’m confident that the kind of energy we created Saturday will carry us through the rest of the season.” The Panthers face a series of road games before returning to Kohn Field the week of Homecoming to take on St. Lawrence on Wednesday and Bates on Homecoming Saturday.
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“Organic isn’t some high-in-the-sky idea; green isn’t some exotic goal,” said Larry Plesent, CEO of Vermont Soap Organics. “It’s just what you do.”
For the past 18 years, Vermont Soap Organics has manufactured organic, all-natural cleaning products and soaps. At the company’s Outlet Store and Factory, located on Exchange Street in Middlebury, customers can buy reduced-price products. Inside the store, bathtubs of organic bar soap, bottles of natural yoga mat cleanser and foamy hand soap surround visitors.
Plesent led me on a factory tour where organic raw materials are processed into foamy products. He pointed out Vermont Soap’s most recent achievement which was being packaged during my visit: FungaSoap. In collaboration with a podiatrist, Plesent and his team have spent the past seven years creating a soap that fights fungal infections. The popular manufacturer PediFix has picked up the product and will distribute it to stores all over the world.
Plesent’s decision to enter the soap-making business was prompted by his days working as a window washer. He noticed that cleaning solutions gave him rashes, which persisted even after testing a slew of soaps. Frustrated with the products on the market, Plesent became committed to creating an all-natural, irritant-free soap.
His search for the ideal base for cleaning products resulted in Liquid Sunshine, a combination of saponified organic coconut, olive and jojoba oils, essential oils, organic aloe vera and rosemary extract. Liquid Sunshine revolutionized all-natural cleaning solutions and created the world’s first all-natural shower gel.
Most cleaning products are primarily composed of Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS), a chemical compound classified as a primary skin irritant, but the base for Vermont Soap Organics’ varieties of bar soap is composed of coconut, palm, olive and palm kernel oils. The 200-year-old process to make a bar of organic soap takes approximately a month. Concentrated, natural essential oils are added to give products scents like “citrus sunrise” and “lavender swirl.”
A biology and chemistry student, Plesent takes a scientific approach to his company’s “green” practices. He sees a correlation between the introduction of synthetic molecules from factories in the past century and increases in health and environmental problems. According to Plesent, the clothes you wear, the shampoo you use and the air you breathe are composed of synthetic molecules, which are possible carcinogens.
“If you want to be green, you’re going to have to think about molecules,” he said.
Vermont Soap Organics is also linked to the global economy. Natural materials are imported from Colombia, Brazil, the Philippines and West Africa.
Plesent established economic and personal connections in West Africa when he traveled to Ghana and Guinea. A non-governmental agency looking for experienced soap makers to teach the trade to an African village approached Plesent. He became interested in traditional methods of shea butter production and traveled to Guinea to observe and document the process in which oils are extracted from shea nuts. Shea butter aids burns, skin irritations and wrinkles.
In addition to the company’s retail outlet and website, Vermont Soaps distributes products to independent retail stores and Whole Foods in New England. Although Wal-Mart wanted to use his company to build the chain’s organic household product line, Plesent refused because they would have had to outsource production.
“Green is a process, not a result,” said Plesent.
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When one thinks of Beethoven, the first things that come to mind are the heroic tours de force bursting from each symphony and the piano sonatas that so many have come to regard as the meat of the classical canon. Only after these grand works does one mention the intimate side of Beethoven.
Yet as Till Fellner took the stage, it was immediately apparent that a different Beethoven performance was in store. The opening notes, a rocking melody in E major, begin an intensely personal message to the listener, straight from the composer to the audience, with Till Fellner as the catalyst. This message, a letter imbued with a masterful palate of emotion and color, was written through the night, closing with a painful farewell through a crippling conflict of stillness and movement manifested in an unending trill.
Beethoven’s late piano sonatas introduce us to a new man. The heroics of his middle period are still present throughout the music, but a new sense of structure begins to surface in his writing. By his late period, Beethoven was a man crippled both by hearing impairments and inspiration. He began to express himself through music differently, intimately linked to the structures of the past, but with extremely personal subjects. Just before his late period in 1816, Beethoven began an intense study of the music of Bach and Handel, two of the greatest Baroque composers of the 18th century. Consequently, many Baroque forms, most notably fugue and theme and variations, began to appear in Beethoven’s work.
The three piano sonatas performed by Fellner were no exception. Theme and variation movements closed two of the sonatas, with a fugue commanding two other movements.
Despite working with such a classical canvas, Beethoven paints with a new brush, contrasting within two measures the exposed delicacy of a Mozart sonata with the romantic gustiness of a Chopin ballade. Till Fellner seamlessly coalesced these two distinct styles through a unique technique; he picked each note off the piano as he would a grape from the vine. At some points, he was treating the piano almost like a violin, massaging each note, giving it the utmost care. The bare twinkling from the upper registers in Op. 111 shone through perfectly, in stark contrast with the deep rumblings from the lower register that Beethoven adored. Novice pianists, when playing Beethoven, often fall into the trap of letting the bass command the texture of the piece. However, Fellner grasped the contrast between the upper and lower sonorities with masterful skill, never letting the bass blur the delicate melodies woven with the right hand. Fellner also shaped the subtle countermelodies beautifully — countermelodies that are easily lost in passages with a thicker texture.
Although ripe with skill and endurance, Fellner wound up a bit short when asked for an inspired interpretation. The wonderful counterpoint conversation between the adagio and fugue in the third movement of Op. 110 was passed off as basic differing subjects; the return of the fugue, rather than transporting the listener to an entirely new atmosphere, simply seemed to reintroduce the fugue upside down. In many places, the notation was taken too literally, and little attention was paid to the entire message Beethoven was writing. Fortunately, the variations of Op. 109 and 111 let Fellner balance his skill and interpretation, which created a beautiful outcome.
The final three sonatas Beethoven wrote were compositional masterpieces, illustrating his complete and utter mastery over the forms. The sonata-form movements were brief and poignant, the variations were lengthy and innovative, and the variety of textures and motives were an accumulation of years of study and composition. These sonatas clearly exposed the history of music and the unique place Beethoven held between the classical and romantic periods.
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Green, aside from being the color of the fields, is not a characteristic usually associated with sports; however, students and faculty alike are working to change this image. Middlebury’s commitment to sustainability initiatives is incredibly broad-based and student-centric, as is evinced by the participation of the athletic department in the College’s goal to reduce its carbon footprint. Each team, for example, chooses a Sustainability Liaison, and these representatives meet regularly to discuss improvements as well as ways to raise awareness.
This fall, football’s “green liaison” Andrew Durfee ’11 is spearheading an event over Homecoming weekend to promote sustainability in athletics. The Green Weekend, taking place Oct. 23, will focus on providing information and encouraging students to adopt greener lifestyles. To that effect, Durfee and his co-planner, Katie Romanov ’11, have arranged to set up booths at every home athletic event, where volunteers will educate passersby on the green initiatives of the College as well as distribute green shoelaces made out of recycled plastic and “Go Midd Go Green” wristbands. These freebies come with strings attached, however: students, alumni and parents must write a sustainability pledge on a leaf-shaped piece of paper in order to receive the laces. Durfee and Romanov plan to display these pledges in a public location on campus as a reminder for all to honor their pledges.
Additionally, the Green Weekend organizers will be working with the new Residential Sustainability Coordinators to provide local foods at the booths. This dovetails nicely with the RSC’s environmental theme of the month, Sustainable Food and Agriculture.
“The goal of the weekend is to reach out to as many people as possible,” said Durfee. “We strongly believe that this event would bring the eco-kids and the athletes together in a high profile event during a high profile weekend (Homecoming) and would result in a broad benefit for the campus community.”
Just as athletics is not something traditionally associated with the green movement, Durfee himself is a newcomer to environmental concerns. He credits a class taken with Professor of Psychology Michelle McCauley, Environmental Problems and Human Behaviors, as being his introduction to sustainability, and has since taken impressive strides to include more of the campus within the College’s sustainability umbrella.
“Middlebury College is on the forefront of sustainability in many ways, but has yet to effectively engage the athletics department in environmental awareness and action,” said Romanov. “I really wanted to involve athletics because if you can change just a small part of athlete’s behaviors, it can make a huge difference,” added Durfee.
To that effect, the Sustainability Liaisons have discussed other changes in the operations of the athletic department, such as introducing a cleats drive at the end of every season as part of a “reuse a shoe” initiative. The old cleats could be reprocessed and recycled into turf or other recycled materials. Furthermore, an overarching goal in athletics is to decrease the car traffic on campus and promote more bike traffic, and efforts are being made to encourage athletes not to drive to practice. The practice fields are a bit of a hike, but local traffic is responsible for a fairly significant emissions footprint and taking the extra 10-15 minutes to walk over could make a noticeable difference.
Sustainability is relevant to every department and organization on campus, and the Athletics Department is making a concerted effort to help fulfill the College’s carbon neutrality goal, involving a broader cross-section of the campus in the process.
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For the College’s students, environmental awareness is not a new topic. However, to actually see human destruction against the genuinely beautiful backdrop of nature is horrifying. The 2010 summer exhibition of Ansel Adams and Edmund Bertynsky’s photography at the Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vt. evoked many shocked feelings from museum-goers.
The exhibit was showcased in Shelburne because of the efforts of Museum President Stephan Jost. The photographers have varying styles and the purpose of bringing the two artists’ work together was to juxtapose the diverse messages conveyed by landscape photography.
Adams’ photographs are black and white prints, and most were shot primarily in Yosemite National Park. Inspired by George Fiske’s work published in 1888, Adams spent the better part of his career at Yosemite. He called it “a glitter of green and golden wonder in a vast edifice of stone and space.”
Bertynsky’s collection, on the other hand, is comprised of large and vivid colored canvasses. He initially found his vision during an “oil epiphany” he had in 1997, and he was fascinated by the idea that humans continue to live such comfortable lives despite the fact that they are often aware that “the world is suffering for [their] success.”
Adams’ photographs depict nature’s power and draw spectators into the picture. The photographs beckon to people, asking them to explore paths through snowy trees, or to follow a sparkling, leaf-strewn stream. Dramatic images of towering trees and cascading waterfalls hang on the wall next to his gentle images of dainty white flowers growing on the forest floor. Photos, such as “Water and Foam,” where Adams captures a unique spiral pattern floating on the surface of a puddle of water, illustrate the intense yet delicate details of nature. He shot in black and white because he believed that it put the beauty and rawness of the natural scenery just out of human reach.
Burtynsky’s work is more direct than Adams’. His photos make a clear and progressive statement about the human need to be environmentally aware. He views nature in the presence of mankind. Massive images of oilfields, refineries, cityscapes and car manufacturers pop with symmetry and intense hues of red, blue and burnt brown. Burtynsky lines the frame up in a way that makes the images seem boundless. It is no easy task to look at imposing machinery, rivers of murky oil, heaping piles of compressed garbage cubes and endless buildings without feeling guilt and shame. The photographer does not seek to evoke ashamed sentiments, but rather he wants to draw humans closer to their lifestyle.
Both artists show us nature in the most real sense. While Burtynsky’s photos are cruder than Adams’, both photographers seek to highlight both sides of the environment. Ultimately, Adams and Burtynskys’ photographs send similar messages, and each artist says that caring for the earth is vital, so humans can distance themselves from the devastating effects seen in Burtynsky’s pieces and progress to the beauty that Adams depicts.
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As Middlebury College sends its graduates off into the real world each May and February, the question “What will they do next?” is often on people’s minds. After spending four years at a school where sustainability is an integral part of the College’s mission, it is only natural that some Middlebury alumni dedicate their post-graduate efforts to professions in the environmental sector. Terri Elofson Bly ’96 approached this commitment to being “green” in a unique way.
Bly was working as a clinical psychologist and a human resources consultant in 2008 when she was first struck with the idea to create The Nature of Beauty, the online and in-store business based out of St. Paul, Minn. that she now owns, which sells natural, organic and environmentally-responsible beauty and personal care products. As a clinical psychologist, Bly worked with gastric bypass surgery patients before and after their surgeries and she noticed that women in particular were suffering from what seemed like a never-ending list of chronic conditions, many of which were only peripherally related to their weight. Around that time author Mark Shapiro published Exposed, revealing research linking everyday chemicals to hormone disruption, especially estrogen. Bly knew that obesity and estrogen were linked, and she began to wonder what damage different kinds of chemicals could be doing to women’s health.
“The evidence linking chemicals and women’s health was far too compelling to do nothing about it,” said Bly. “In what was the most impulsive, devil-may-care leap of faith I’ve ever taken in my life, I decided to create an online store and boutique in St. Paul where women could find a large and varied collection of beautiful and effective skin care, hair care and makeup, staffed by someone who could answer their questions about ingredients, safety, research and then offer them truly fantastic alternatives.”
Bly’s company, The Nature of Beauty, has two primary goals: to educate men and women about the chemicals in everyday beauty and personal care products and to have beautiful, high-performance alternatives to offer. She strives to have a collection of products that are accessible to people of all budgets.
“The best part of starting The Nature of Beauty has been the men and women I have met in this industry,” said Bly.
Of these people she named Rose-Marie Swift, creator of RMS Beauty and one of the busiest celebrity makeup artists in the business, as one of her heroes, sharing an anecdote illustrating what an incredible woman Swift is: when Bly expressed interest in carrying Swift’s line of natural beauty products, Swift invited Bly to her apartment in Manhattan and gave her a mini makeover while chatting about what she had used on Gisele Bundchen the day before. Bly was pleased to see that she was treated as though she was just as important as the supermodels Swift spends most of her time with.
“That kind of passion and down-to-earth quality is so rare in the beauty industry,” said Bly.
Bly also emphasized that her Middlebury education has affected her professional pursuits. She majored in theater and psychology but feels it was not so much the subjects she studied specifically, but rather the critical thinking skills and the emphasis on writing that have helped her career.
“I’m not sure I would have been as passionate about environmental and women’s issues had it not been for an education that encouraged me to question assumptions and examine issues from a much more critical point of view,” said Bly.
Bly cited the “sky’s the limit” approach to life that Middlebury’s atmosphere fostered as one of the keys to her success, as it gave her the confidence to pursue her dreams.
“[At Middlebury], I saw just how high the bar could be set and how reaching it had largely to do with your belief in yourself,” she said. “I learned that I could survive major setbacks and how to keep going when I really wanted to give up and go on; in other words, I learned resilience.”
Bly offered some advice for students interesting in owning their own businesses or pursuing pro-environmental initiatives, though she has a different take on what “green” means.
“I find it interesting that ‘green’ is associated with tree-hugging hippies, because I think environmental sustainability is about as practical and grounded in reality as it gets,” said Bly. “I tend to regard the things I do that may be classified as ‘green’ as simply being ‘mindful.’”
Bly believes that green business initiatives are the future, but she does caution others that “being an entrepreneur is not for the weak-hearted. You need to be passionate about whatever it is you’re doing or selling, because there will be times when your passion is all you have.”
Still, she finds that even in the most difficult moments, there is nothing comparable to owning your own business and realizing your true potential — it can be truly exhilarating.
The Nature of Beauty, LTD has been voted “Best Green Beauty” by Minnesota Monthly Magazine. To purchase Bly’s products, visit Natureofbeauty.com, or to learn more, visit Natureofbeautyblog.com. You can also follow The Nature of Beauty on Twitter, @NatureofBeauty or find them on Facebook.
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Climate change is a contentious issue framed by questions across social, economic, cultural, political, scientific and ethical realms. Was the early ripening of apples in Vermont this year a product of global warming? Maybe, maybe not. Will it happen again next year? How much will sea level rise in the 21st century? How long until no glaciers remain in Glacier National Park? When they are gone, will it still be known as “Glacier National Park?” Can we correlate events like Hurricane Katrina or the recent floods in Pakistan to warming oceans? It makes sense intuitively that the warmer Indian Ocean produced more evaporation than usual, and this caused a stronger-than-normal monsoon, which led to tragic events in Pakistan, but can we be certain of the cause? We can also question potential sources of error in climate proxies used to provide temperature records from the recent geological past, or the role that policy should play in responding to carbon emissions, or how the average citizen should respond.
The myriad questions and uncertainties surrounding climate change and its impacts on humans and ecosystems are pretty well known, and the uncertainties embedded in these questions form much of the fodder for debate and global warming skepticism; however, in the complicated world of climate change and global warming, there is one certainty and that is the effect of carbon dioxide on the temperature of the atmosphere.
The molecular structure of CO2 causes heat to be “absorbed” and “trapped” in the atmosphere, and there can be no doubt that higher concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere will trap more heat. The question, “Will increasing CO2 in the atmosphere cause the Earth’s atmosphere to warm?” is not a difficult one. The answer is based on fundamental laws of chemistry and physics, and trying to argue against the role of CO2 in Earth’s atmospheric heat balance would be comparable to trying to disprove the Law of Gravity.
The great 19th century chemist Arrhenius knew that increasing CO2 in air would cause warming, and here is why. The sun sends energy to the Earth in the form of radiation across the electromagnetic spectrum, much of which occurs as ultraviolet (UV) radiation, visible light and infrared (IR) radiation. We can feel the effect of UV rays when they burn our skin, and we can see the visible part of the spectrum.
When UV rays strike the surface of the Earth, their energy is transformed to IR radiation, which carries heat away from the surface, upward into the air, in the direction of outer space. IR radiation is something we can all feel when we sense the heat emitted from hot pavement or bedrock surfaces. As IR rays travel away from Earth’s surface towards outer space, they encounter gases in the atmosphere.
Nothing really happens when this radiation encounters nitrogen or oxygen molecules, but when IR radiation encounters CO2, it causes bonds in the symmetrical CO2 molecules to stretch and bend. (Other molecules also behave in this way, including water, ozone and methane.) Heat is re-radiated outward in all directions, some back towards the surface of the Earth.
This re-radiated energy represents heat that would have otherwise left the atmosphere for outer space. The name for this phenomenon is the Greenhouse Effect — without it, Earth’s average surface temperature would be about -17 oC, and life as we know it would not exist.
However, too much of a good thing means Earth’s average temperature is rising to levels not seen for hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of years. If we seek to maintain the climate and ecosystems in which humans and other species have evolved and prospered, we must do something to control the CO2 content of the atmosphere.
Pete Ryan is a Professor of Geology
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If the green masthead or eco-centric content has not tipped you off, you are reading our third annual green issue. Alongside our usual news articles and sports stories, we are offering a variety of content focusing on global and local environmental issues. We look at local 10/10/10 events, feature a spread on the sustainability coordinators and investigate the progress of the biomass facility. Many professors, concerned students and policymakers have contributed content to this issue in order to spark discussion on the complex topics under the green umbrella. Given that the environment is integral to the Middlebury experience, we produce our paper this week hoping to align with and contribute to our college’s sustainability goals.
Environmental awareness is a fundamental part of the College whether or not everyone chooses to be involved. Middlebury has a long-standing commitment to environmental study and policy — we created the first environmental studies program at a liberal arts college and our esteemed President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz was recently named one of Time’s “10 Best College Presidents” because of his dedication to reducing the school’s carbon footprint. That campaign to reach carbon neutrality by 2016 also ensures that the environment will continue to be a concern for years to come. With all of the green initiatives going on at Middlebury, every issue of The Campus could be a green issue, but for this issue especially, we want to do our part to further the College’s sustainability goals.
As green as we want to be, have you noticed the major flaw in this issue? It is printed on paper. Lots of paper. Despite the fact that our environmental content is housed in an unsustainable format, we defend our print edition. We are at least printed on 100 percent recycled newsprint with soy-based inks so that when you are done reading, you may compost your copy of The Campus. Additionally, we want people to read our newspaper. While we stand by our online platform with pride, we are aware that most of our readership accesses The Campus through the print edition. While mainstream journalism has shifted its primary focus to an online medium, collegiate newspapers remain print-oriented either by choice or because of lack of resources. Eventually switching our emphasis to an online format is the most eco-friendly option, of course. Not only would this cut down on paper waste, but the type of content and frequency of updated stories would increase exponentially. Whether or not an online edition would garner the same readership has yet to be seen, but we hope our website will continue to attract more readers.
Though we could not go completely paperless, in examining our plans to actually print on more paper than usual to accomodate all of our extra green content, we decided we could at least use as little paper as possible and limit this issue to the minimum number of pages our printer allows. Consequently, much of this week’s content can be found online only — we hope you will still read it. And to reduce The Campus’ carbon footprint, instead of letting our regular delivery specialists drive your favorite student weekly around campus, this morning at 6:30 a.m several dedicated Campus editors hand-delivered this issue on foot. Enjoy.
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It has indeed occurred to me that the position I’ll soon take towards this question will be attacked. Critics and sympathizers alike will accuse me of writing what is both a topical critique, and an assessment lacking requisite emphasis on potentially potent solutions. I do not deny either. My attempting to outline a whole host of complex issues in the space of a limited word-count op-ed should not neglect my offer to engage anyone interested in pursuant rhetorical debate. Nonetheless this written polemic, having been expressly penned for The Campus’s “Green Issue,” seems to be a necessary disruption for Middlebury’s environmental discourse.
The first point, one that I believe cannot be avoided by any critically-thinking environmentalist, is that capitalism itself is unsustainable. This assertion pertains to both the operation of Middlebury College (a corporation “working towards sustainability”) by means of an exploitative endowment portfolio, as well as the entire workings of the system itself. Capitalism is an economic system based on perpetual growth and expansion, with new markets to be created and goods to be sold. Last time I checked, we were living on a planet with an overwhelming list of biophysical limits.
The pursuit of GDP and growth as a universal tool of political economy are being proven wrong by an overwhelming list of accelerating ecological catastrophes of which climate change is only one of many (biodiversity, clear-cutting, desertification, global fisheries etc.) If greenhouse gas abatement is solved at the expense of carbon markets and emissions trading, it will only fuel the concentration in power behind complex, globally-traded financial instruments. Remember that the global financial crisis of 2007-(?) was the not the first — nor will it be the last- crisis of capital to rock our increasingly globalizing world. And while I have no doubt in humanity’s ability to solve problems with profound ingenuity, standard techno-fixes rarely come without unintentionally creating problems elsewhere. As noted academic David Harvey likes to put it, “Capitalism never solves it’s own problems, it simply moves them around geographically.”
Yet the ideological arch of contemporary American politics refuses to acknowledge such contradictions. Sustainability is a politicized buzzword irresponsibly thrown about on both “the left” and “the right.” Furthermore, Democrats and Republicans are both captive prisoners of a corporatist state, failing not only in enacting progressive policy changes, but even in the more basic act of protecting our cherished civil liberties. We are living in a country where corporations have the same rights as an individual. A country where imperialist wars are fought to protect “our American way of life” — not our civil rights — but a front, to be sure, for economic exploitation and market capitalization.
By their very global nature, climate change negotiations are subject to the cooperation and whim of international civil society, negotiations which the U.S has overtly and publicly sought to undermine. Safe with the knowledge that a changing climate will disproportionately affect the global south, our government can sit back and watch as all the cherished tenets of universalism collapse into greedy bickering. With food security becoming the dominant immediate concern of people the world over, the fact that U.S cereal grain production is set to increase in a warming world should give even the most hardened optimist a moment of pause.
The biggest problem here on campus is that most people play into this short-circuit, where their activism empowers the very people who stand in the way of making real systemic changes. Incrementalism and democratic activism only result in “feel-good” moral politics where nothing is actually accomplished save for the individual’s moral absolvency. Lifestyle politics abound on this campus, but serve as nothing more than a dangerous façade for change. Dangerous, because by believing in the legitimate agency of their actions as individuals, they actually play into the hands of those very forces they claim to oppose. Dangerous more so because Middlebury students are exactly the engaged and empathic people the world needs most in this fight.
Our economic system, moving at the direction of transnational organizations and multinational corporations, will need a strong dose of direct democracy in this coming decade. Nobody in this world wants to see their environment degraded, but without the agency or power to stop these forces, their worlds literally crumple around them. We will need to confront these growing problems by recognizing the only realistic option for survival. Already citizens of the world are calling for system change, not climate change.
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The dictionary definition of “sustainable” is “able to be upheld or defended.” However, the question of what we’re trying to sustain varies from person to person, whether it be the human race, natural resources or the earth itself. This question is what makes sustainability a banner under which people governed by all ideologies can gather.
The Residential Sustainability Coordinator Program (RSC Program) focuses the efforts of students on campus on education and initiative in support of sustainability. The program members consist of Head RSCs, one for each Commons, and first-year RSCs, five or six to each Commons. Though participants in a very new program, they have a lot of hope for its future on campus.
“More classes now just because of the times and popular culture contain some element of ‘how do we sustain ourselves for the future,’ ‘ how do we look at this in the broader context’ and that is why we are a liberal arts school, that’s why we are in Vermont,” said Sarah Simonds ’11, head RSC of Ross Commons. “I think that we are just providing a new channel to live and embody that not just in the classroom and not just on paper but in the way we live our lives and the way we continue outside of Middlebury.”
Starting small, the program this year is focusing its energies nearly entirely on first-year students, the hope being that as each year passes students will incorporate living sustainably into their daily lives until the whole school has some form of environmental consciousness.
“The point of this is to get every first-year on campus excited about being sustainable on campus. They’re going to be sophomores next year … it won’t just be focused on freshmen, it will be focused on freshmen with these sophomores that are already tuned in,” said Simonds. “Hopefully four years from now the whole campus will be tuned in and the RSC program will be the means through which everyone on campus can relate to sustainability.
Part of the goal of the RSC program is to aid Middlebury in reaching carbon neutrality by 2016. Some might fear it is an undertaking too immense, however the RSCs see it as something to strive for and to give the expansive job of educating about sustainability some direction.
“With the carbon neutrality of 2016 here there’s something to work for it’s not just go out and do this there’s an ultimate end goal,” said James “Jak” Knelman ’12, head RSC of Cook Commons.
Whether it is an environmental documentary or a late night snack and a chat about sustainability, the RSC program is looking to transcend all areas of education, every different group of students and become a uniting force on campus.
“I would like to see more of a united effort because there’s a lot of kids who do their part and there are a lot of kids who might ignore it,” said Joseph Putko ’12, head RSC of Wonnacott Commons. “My goals are just to make the RSC program well-known.”
Jak Knelman '12 — Cook Commons
Head RSC of Cook Commons James “Jak” Knelman ’12 is out to convert the non-believers. As an environmental studies major, Knelman wants to erase the “green and crunchy” and “tree-hugging” stereotypes and make living sustainably valuable to all students on campus.
“Sustainability is not just this far left political spectrum that people like to plot … it transcends many realms, whether it’s economics, social justice or environmental issues,” Knelman said. “It’s a pretty important thing in many ways and it’s just becoming understood that its not just one spectrum of people.”
While Middlebury College has a reputation for being sustainable, not all its students have jumped on the environmental bandwagon. Through the RSC program, Knelman and his fellow head coordinators try to address simple issues on campus that can make living sustainably easy for the skeptics and the apathetic.
“If we make it easy for [students], maybe it’s something that they’ll adopt and hopefully care about,” Knelman said.
Knelman and the Cook first-year RSCs are working on projects like getting shower timers on the first-year halls in Battell and signs in the laundry rooms to remind people that “bright colors” and “cold water” are synonymous.
“I really enjoy planning and then carrying out something, although it’s the first month [and we] essentially we haven’t really done much,” said Knelman. “Hopefully you’ll see more things around campus with our seal on them.”
While Knelman enjoys making these small changes on campus, they are not the means through which he believes the RSC Program will really affect the student body.
“I think awareness is a huge thing … if you get this awareness out and let people know what’s going on I think we can get to a better [place] and hopefully that will build and that will snowball and students will know what’s going on and start demanding different things,” said Knelman. “If the students are backing these [changes] the administration that has already been backing [them] will continue to back [them].”
Knelman believes student awareness comes down to energy consumption: the lights in dorm rooms, the showers, laundry, food, etc.
“There are some essential things that you need to have and some nonessential things that you want to have and that’s totally understandable,” said Knelman. “But there’s the things that are not so hard to cut out.”
Fostering change is a difficult task, but Knelman sees this as a great opportunity to take small steps in a new direction.
Joe Putko '12 — Wonnacott Commons
Head RSC of Wonnacott Commons Joseph Putko ’12 sees sustainability from a slightly different perspective than most environmentalists. While he has applied his devotion to astronomy to all areas of his life, it has become a main motive for his belief in sustainable living.
It all began with Putko’s idol, American astronomer Carl Sagan. Sagan asked that the Voyager 1 spacecraft, launched in 1977 to take pictures of Saturn, turn its camera as it emerged from behind Saturn so as to take a picture of the Earth. The camera captured a pale blue dot — the first photograph of Earth. Sagan sees this as a defining moment for humans in understanding the cosmos. In his book Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space, Sagan said, “For me, [the image of ‘our tiny world’] underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve every known.” For Putko, Sagan’s words have become the backbone to his belief in sustainability.
“I can essentially derive all my values from astronomy, so I wish I could share or encourage people to try and gain some of that cosmic perspective,” Putko said. “I took a class here called Faith, Freedom and Ecology, and one thing that we had presented to us was that [environmental change] is going to take almost a change in faith — not a change in technology or behavior. It has to start with faith, your values.”
While not necessarily a conservationist, Putko found the RSC program to be the perfect way to get involved on campus due to its large overlap with the commons system.
“I’m a first-year counselor (FYC), I was last year … and last year I sort of was an RSC in some ways,” Putko said. “I would encourage everyone to recycle and made sure people were turning off the T.V. in the lounge … but I don’t think all FYCs made those steps. So I was like, ‘Well [being an RSC] would be pretty convenient as an FYC since I would be working with a group of first-years … and then its something I care about — sustainability.”
Since taking the position as head RSC, Putko has already made strides in raising awareness about sustainability with his first-years. Though not yet implemented, he has gained approval to add compost bins to every hall in Battell. Together with waste management and the custodial staff, there is now a new system in place for collecting and transporting compost to the recycling center. On a more personal level, Putko is working with Weybridge house to organize a Wonnacott dinner in promotion of sustainability education.
As far as Putko’s future in the RSC program, his goals are not astronomical.
“My goals are to do my part as an RSC, to contribute to Middlebury’s larger goal of sustainability and as far as each month goes — I know I’ll have ideas,” said Putko. “I’m not trying to grab people and shake them. I am when it comes to astronomy but when it comes to sustainability, I’m not … I wish I could share or encourage people to try and gain some of that cosmic perspective.”
Sarah Simonds '11 — Ross Commons
For Head RSC of Ross Commons Sarah Simonds ’11, sustainability is all about energy — not just conserving it, but approaching this important issue with excitement and passion. In participating in the RSC program, she has found that energy in her first-year RSC counterparts.
“First-years have so much energy and we all remember that, but you start declaring majors and you start thinking about your thesis and it is so hard to have that beautiful naïve vision of change and excitement and empowerment that you get when you first come to college,” said Simonds. “I think that’s something that we’re trying to capture in this program.”
Together, Simonds and her first-year RSCs work closely to integrate sustainability into the lives of other first-years, especially.
“[I] basically provide the connecting link between the first-year RSCs who have all these ideas and are in touch with their peers, but they don’t know how to get to a place where they’re acting on their ideas,” said Simonds. “I help them make it happen.”
As an environmental studies major, sustainability is an issue “very close to [Simond’s] heart,” though not the main reason for her entering the RSC program.
“I’ve always felt really close to the Ross community and was active in Commons Council before I went abroad but it’s hard to keep that continuity going,” said Simonds. “So when I got an email about the RSC program over the summer, it seemed like the perfect way to get back involved in the commons system, which I really do love.”
While the commons system is an important factor in promoting the integrative qualities of the RSC Program, Simonds hopes that the RSC Program can enhance the effectiveness of the Commons system itself. She sees each new RSC initiative as a chance to increase participation and interest in the Ross Commons community.
“This year Ross council is very focused on family and that’s kind of their central platform … we as the Ross RSCs are really focused on nourishing that [relationship],” said Simonds, “which is why we’re having our food sustainability event as part of the fireplace café. We’re going to have it in Ross commons, have it be something that people come down in their pajamas for, eat some apple crisp and talk about local farmers.”
Though the RSC program is driven by the College’s lofty goal of carbon neutrality by 2016, Simonds’ goals are more basic — having an impact on the lives of the first-years as well as channeling their energy towards tangible changes on campus.
“I would love to see the five freshmen that I’m working with — and in extension all the freshmen in Hadley — go into sophomore year feeling like from day one they were a part of a bigger image of sustainability and that they really are making an impact on this College and by proxy on the world,” she said.
Abigail Borah '13 — Brainerd Commons
Head RSC for Brainerd Commons Abigail Borah sees environmentalism as ever-present in the political sphere. For Borah, the RSC program was an excellent way to bring her off-campus efforts to campus in order to benefit first-years. This summer, Borah worked on the Race to Replace Vermont Yankee campaign as well as on a grassroots campaign to push for clean energy solutions and strong gubernatorial candidates who supported environmental issues.
“You can’t talk about ‘environmentalism,’ ‘localism,’ ‘movement building’ or ‘community,’ without strengthening the roots with the people around you,” said Borah. “This starts at home. For college students, that’s in the dorms.”
As anyone political knows, one needs a strong support base to run a good campaign. Borah’s first active move on campus in her campaign for sustainability is to build support among students, especially those not typically involved.
“My goal as an RSC is to support freshman as they discover opportunities for conceptualizing and actualizing their environmental ideas on campus,” said Borah.
Next, one needs support and involvement of organizations.
“I see the position as RSC a way to connect and coordinate work of sustainability-oriented groups,” said Borah. “There’s a lot of great work being done on campus already, and while I think liberals lend themselves to a diversity of projects and ideas, it’s helpful to stop and talk about what each of us is doing, in hopes of supporting and challenging one another.”
Borah cites student groups like the Solar Decathlon as organizations that have integrated sustainability with many other facets of education: architecture, design and media.
A campaign needs incentive and initiative to unite its supporters. For the month of October, Borah is taking the theme of “food” to heart, organizing a “local snack night” with Vermont cheese, apples and cider, a volunteer gardening work-day and improvements to the dining hall.
“For me, food serves as a universal axis point for talking about sustainability; everyone needs to eat,” Borah said.
Along with these delicious events, Borah and her co-workers are working on a “Clean Plate Club” project, which would assign points for students in each commons who did not waste dining hall food. In addition, Borah hopes to create a “pilot commons garden to provide fresh fruit and vegetables for commons events.”
While Borah’s work with environmentalism on campus is widespread and integrative in its methodology, her outlook on the importance of sustainability is rather scientific.
“I see sustainability as a balancing out — Newton’s opposite and equal force,” Borah said. “Sustainability is … forging a mutually beneficial coexistence of two (seemingly) contradictory forces, people and their natural environment. We take, so we must give. We fight, so we must reconcile. We reap, so we must plant. It’s the middle way. It’s about respecting the dignity of what was and preserving what will be by acting with what is now.”
With all the action Borah is taking towards promoting sustainability, it cannot be long before Middlebury reacts.
Ian Trombulak '12 — Atwater Commons
With a father like Professor of Environmental & Biosphere Studies Stephen Trombulak, it is no wonder that Head RSC of Atwater Commons Ian Trombulak ’12 has the sustainability bug. While he has never taken an environmental studies class nor become involved in on-campus sustainability projects, Trombulak needs no reminder on how to be sustainable.
“Ever since I’ve been old enough to listen to and understand dinner table conversations, I’ve gotten the environmentally friendly message,” said Trombulak.
Trombulak has every intention of passing the message along, just as his father did. In becoming an RSC, he has taken his first step in helping the student body realize the importance of sustainability.
“In my history classes, I have been profoundly affected by the sacrifices past generations have made so that we can enjoy the quality of life that we do,” said Trombulak. “I find it borderline immoral for anyone to continue at their current rate of consumption without concern for the mess our children and grandchildren will have to clean up … Ultimately, I want to be able to look my grandchildren in the eye and tell them honestly that I did everything I could to provide a safe and stable planet for them to live on, just like I had.”
While Trombulak places emphasis on the events and initiatives the RSC program is stimulating on campus, he finds that instilling these sustainability values into every student’s consciousness is the most important goal. Just as living sustainably has become second nature to him, he believes that is the only real way Middlebury will see legitimate change.
“More than any behavioral change, there needs to be an attitude shift on this campus and beyond. Even at Middlebury, which is considered to be a very green institution, there are people who aren’t concerned, and don’t care to be concerned, with environmental issues,” said Trombulak. “There’s also a tendency … to ignore these issues simply because we can. No alarm will go off when you put a recyclable plastic bottle in the trash, and no one is going to shut your shower off after 10 minutes on the dot. We are provided with what feel like unlimited resources, and it is absolutely crucial to remind ourselves that this is not the case.”
While Trombulak recognizes that the RSC Program is in its youth and its impact on campus remains small at the moment, he is energized by the excitement in the class of first-years on which the Program is largely focused this year.
“[They] give me hope for the future of this College.”
The future of sustainability at the College and the world is perpetually an issue for Trombulak, however he has no immediate goals as a Head RSC. This year is only the beginning and while it has started slow, he looks forward to being surprised in May.
“I expect this to be a situation where by the end of the year, I’m thinking, ‘Wow, this was transformative in ways I never even imagined.’”