A p r i l 2 0 1 1
I n s i d e T h i s I s s u e
The   Spatial   Analysis   Lab   2
Avery   Brook   Watershed
Research
3
ENV   312   Capstone
Projects
4 ‐ 5
6   New   Visiting   Assistant
Professor
Lessons   from    Japan   7
Uncovering   History     8
Re ‐ thinking   the   Amazon   9
Earth   Week   2012
On   Living   Sustainably      at   Smith
10
10
Art   and   the   Environment   11
The Environmental
Science & Policy
Program:
L. David Smith,
Director
Joanne Benkley,
Coordinator
Bass Hall 107/
CEEDS, Wright Hall x 3951
Jon caris
SAL Coordinator
Sabin-reed 115
X3042
Sarah Loomis,
Academic Assistant
Wright Hall 005
X 3352
ES&P student intern and newsletter editor
Hester Garskovas, ‘12
As a senior who is only a few months from graduation, I have spent a lot of time reflecting on my undergraduate education.
Some of the highlights include courses like
Environmental Ethics, U.S. Environmental
History & Policy, Marine Ecology, and the core
ENV courses. While I have loved my time at
Smith, one of my most memorable experiences was going abroad last spring. I attended the
School for Field Studies, Centre for Rainforest
Studies program in Yungaburra, Queensland,
Australia where I spent 3 months living in the rainforest with 21 other U.S. students. When the group arrived at the centre at the beginning of the semester, we immediately began extreme weather preparations because cyclone Yasi was projected to directly hit our site. Luckily, the cyclone turned further south and we were in lock-down for less than 24 hours. However, the experience quickly brought the group together and made the trials of living in the rainforest much easier: poisonous snakes and spiders, everything you own getting moldy and constantly damp from the incredibly high heat and humidity, and the internet and running water going out from time to time.
Looking back at my experience, it is difficult to believe it actually happened. It was incredible and helped shape my environmental interests and future goals. We went on trips to the Daintree, the outback (Chillagoe), and the Great Barrier
Reef. Being able to learn about a technique, species, or ecosystem and then going out to see it first-hand helped me gain a greater understanding of the topics covered. It helped me connect with the material in a way I was not expecting.
Additionally, I designed and carried out a directed research project about the knowledge gap between science and the public with regards to climate change. I researched scientific climate change studies and compared that data to my findings on the knowledge held by average citizens in the Australian Wet Tropics. The purpose was to identify any potential barriers in communication between scientists and the public. My findings revealed that the public holds a wide range of views about climate change, its causes, and the level of concern people should have. Thus, there are inconsistencies in environmental education.
Having the freedom to design my own project allowed me to determine what my true environmental interests are and has helped shape my graduate school focus.
(
Continued   on   page   3)

P a g e 2 S p r i n g 2 0 1 2
At the end of this past summer, as the renovations of
Clark Science Center wound down, the new Spatial
Analysis Lab (SAL) opened in Sabin-Reed, providing
Smith students and faculty with a modern facility for coursework and research focused on Geographic
Information Systems (GIS). The lab features 20 new workstations, a lectern PC, and a stereo display for threedimensional visualization of landscapes and other geographic data. Jon Caris, Smith’s GIS specialist, keeps the lab running smoothly through consultation with students and faculty, training of student lab assistants, and development of new tools for spatial analysis across campus. As a new professor in the Department of
Geosciences, I arrived just in time to incorporate the new lab as a key component of my courses, most notably
“Modeling Our World: An Introduction to Geographic
Information Systems” this spring. About a third of the students enrolled in the course are ES&P majors, with biology and engineering also strongly represented. The course is designed as a broad overview of GIS, providing students with substantial hands-on experience with the extensive capabilities of ArcGIS, the industry-standard software package. The course culminates with independent projects in which students investigate the relationships between multiple datasets linked by geography.
This academic year, eight courses in five departments offered at Smith have used the SAL as an essential part of
"The   purple   centroid   of   this   map   represent   which
Northamptonites   would   be   affected   by   a   100   year   flood   of   the   Connecticut   River."   ‐ Camille   Dwyer   ‘14   their curriculum. ES&P Postdoctoral Fellow and
Lecturer Julie Busa describes the use of GIS in
Environmental Integration course (ENV 201/202):
“(We) used the SAL this past fall to explore two environmental problems: food access, and global climate change. In conjunction with SAL coordinator, Jon Caris,
I developed two lab activities to allow students with no previous experience to jump into GIS and get a feel for what a powerful tool GIS can be in helping us better understand and address environmental issues. Armed with some background understanding of the food deserts concept, my students took supermarket data, public transport maps, and population demographics for
Springfield and Northampton and used these to locate communities that may have a hard time accessing healthy food. Later in the term, we used maps of current and predicted global climate data to compare the impacts of global climate change under some of the different IPCC scenarios and investigate the location and numbers of people around the world who were likely to be severely impacted by changes in sea level or precipitation under each option.”
In addition to enhancing a wide array of courses, the
SAL supports faculty across campus in their research, further emphasizing the range of disciplines to which
GIS can be applied. And, beyond aiding teaching and research, Jon Caris and a team of other Smith staff members from the Botanical Gardens and Facilities
Management have been using GIS as a basis for organizing landscape data on the Smith campus. GIS is an ideal means of integrating tree and plant characteristics with other aspects of college infrastructure. All newly collected data by the Botanical
Gardens are being added to a GIS database, working toward an overarching goal of developing a comprehensive web of spatial information that can be shared among many departments and offices across campus.
The Spatial Analysis Lab is located in Sabin-Reed 104.
Please stop by when you’re in the area to see how students, faculty, and staff are working to better understand the world around us, and keep up to date on lab activities through its website, www.science.smith.edu/sal.
Loveless
Assistant
S m i t h C o l l e g e

P a g e 3 S p r i n g 2 0 1 2
I began working for Professor Newton as a STRIDE student during my sophomore year. Our work centers on the study of water samples collected in the field. Having studied some chemistry and beginning my environmental major, the study of how the sources of water were being affected by climate and the surrounding area piqued my interest. Located in the Conway State Forest, the Avery
Brook Watershed system consists of ponds dammed by beavers, inlet streams, and groundwater seeps, and is the main contributor to the Northampton Reservoir. Located
20 kilometers south is the Mt. Tom coal burning power plant, a likely source of mercury pollution. Samples are taken from twelve different locations (See figure 1.) throughout the watershed and analyzed for cations (Ca,
Na, Mg, & K), dissolved oxygen, pH, dissolved organic carbon (DOC), anions (F, Cl, NO
3
, & SO
4
), metals [Zn,
Fe, Mn, & Ba], and alkalinity. We can use these sampling methods to analyze chemical changes happening in the water. We compare the samples taken at different times of the year and also compare those samples collected from beaver ponds and those collected from streams. Some of these analyses can also be used to determine whether or not conditions are right for the methylation of the mercury in the area, though we do not test for mercury concentration. Methylmercury is a very serious toxin that bioaccumulates in wildlife and can cause serious health risks.
In the months to come I will be focusing on studying all aspects of the water chemistry, especially DOC and mercury levels. It is known that higher temperatures in streams and ponds lead to higher biological activity. This increased level of biological activity could lead to higher rates of decomposition that could increase the levels of DOC. In this particular research project, I will test the hypothesis that if discharge levels in the Avery Brook watershed increase, then it is likely that mercury and DOC concentration levels will increase as well. Complete data of the nearby climate will be collected by the Ada and Archibald
MacLeish Field Station, a gauge station on the watershed, and the mapping of underlying rock formations.
(
Continued   from   page   1)
With half of a semester left before graduation, I am enjoying my courses and trying to get the most out of Smith while focusing on the future. I have learned a great deal about myself while pursuing my interests in the environment and cannot wait to continue to learn more in graduate school. I am so grateful that ES&P is now a major. Even as a double major I was still able to go abroad and gain new perspectives. The ES&P program has allowed me to pursue my interests in the environment from various disciplines and has opened my eyes to all the possibilities for the future.
- Jaimi Inskeep ‘12
Area   of   the   Avery   Brook   Watershed   with   each   sampling   site   labeled

P a g e 4 S p r i n g 2 0 1 2
We are researching the potential environmental impacts of casinos in Massachusetts. There is little direct research on this topic, so we are coming at it from several different angles. First, we are exploring the history of the casino bill in Massachusetts and the major debates that have surrounded it. Second, we are looking into any environmental issues surrounding casinos in nearby states: Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun in Connecticut, Bethlehem
Sands in Pennsylvania, and Oxford Casino in Maine. Third, we are looking at comparative industries – ski resorts, golf courses – to get an idea of their environmental impact. We are also closely examining the proposed areas of casino development in Massachusetts, focusing specifically on Palmer. And finally, we are composing a series of recommendations of our own for the future development of casinos in Massachusetts. Our ultimate argument is that while environmental impact is not currently a topic of large discussion concerning casinos, it should be; casinos can and should be built and run in an environmentally sustainable way.
-Lucy McAuliffe ‘12, Rebecca Chazin ‘12, Ngozika Onuzo ‘12, Rosa Goldman ‘12
The closure of the Glendale Landfill in Northampton, Massachusetts has been contested for many years. During the most recent discussion on whether the landfill should expand or close, a ballot initiative was voted upon with the final decision being that the landfill will not be expanded. The activism demonstrated by locals around the landfill to get the initiative on the ballot and voted against raised the question of NIMBY-ism and of what to do with trash in Northampton and nearby municipalities once the landfill closes. The pressure to close the landfill, along with the prospect of residents paying more money to ship trash further afield, has led the municipality and
Northampton institutions to consider ways of reducing, recycling, and composting waste. This paper examines the means by which Northampton entities are currently pursuing these options and what possible future paths might be taken, with a particular emphasis on the role of entities and institutions at the local, state, and regional levels.
- Rebekah Garder ‘12, Elizabeth Moran ‘12, Ali Ankudowich ‘12, Jaimi Inskeep ‘12
S m i t h C o l l e g e

P a g e 5 S p r i n g 2 0 1 2
Smith College’s 240 acre Ada and Archibald MacLeish Field Station in Whately,
Massachusetts was purchased in XX with environmental education and research in mind, but there is currently no protection for the property against development. In this project, we are examining how and why this area of land could benefit from a conservation restriction. The Field Station is not currently under any kind of land use protection but is being utilized by the college in sustainable ways. MacLeish is becoming an important asset of the college as the number of multiple academic classes using the field station increases. It is currently used by faculty from departments and programs across the academic divisions, including geology, dance, environmental science, biology, and even art. Preserving the land would insure that Smith students and the general public will continue to be able to enjoy the undeveloped natural habitats at MacLeish. We will be investigating the history of and biodiversity of the land, current land use, potential opposition to establishing a conservation restriction on the land, and the effects of land conservation on the Whately and Smith College communities at large in order to determine the best strategy for protecting MacLeish.
-Victoria ‘12,
The Smith College landscape is far from just the backdrop of the college; it is a nationally renowned and historically significant landscape that is also an educational resource, a draw for prospective students, a sacred place for alumnae, and current home to 2,700 students. The importance of this landscape, and its many functions and stakeholders, make adopting sustainable landscape management practices at Smith a challenge. Despite these obstacles, the Smith College
Grounds department has made considerable steps towards more sustainable operations by using environmentallyfriendly fertilizers and appropriate grasses, in addition to avoiding de-icers and pest management techniques that would harm the local environment. Smith has the potential to be even more resource and energy efficient by updating the irrigation system and replacing gas-powered carts with electric carts that can be charged at a solar charging station.
These options will involve the cooperation of many stakeholders and will require much consideration of the design and function of the Smith landscape. Increasing sustainability efforts for the Smith landscape will significantly increase the overall visibility of sustainability actions on campus, better reflecting the College’s commitment to environmental stewardship
‐ Brittany Innis ‘12, Courtney Faria ’12, Jenna Zukswert ’12, Meghan Smith ‘12
We’d love to hear from you! Please send comments and contributions to enviro@smith.edu
Environmental Science and Policy Program
Smith College
Bass Hall 107

P a g e 6 S p r i n g 2 0 1 2
A new professor will be joining the ES&P department. This is a key position because the new hire will be the first full time Environmental Science and Policy faculty member in the department. Currently, the major is taught by professors pulled from a variety of other departments. As a result of this important designation the new faculty member will be an Influential part of the major and will be responsible for teaching the first and last courses required for the major. This March there were three candidates on campus and each gave a lecture open to the public. The audience at each of the lectures was filled with ES&P students and faculty munching on pizza at these lunchtime talks. The public lectures were the most visible step of the hiring process which takes months. I had the opportunity to attend each of their presentations.
The first candidate gave a lecture called Learning to Add: Understanding Complex Toxic Exposures . He spoke about public health and toxicology. I was amazed when he described the synergistic effects of tiny doses. It’s frightening to know that two almost insignificant doses of two different chemicals can interact with each other in a way that makes the result extremely powerful. He explained how hard it is for risk assessment because there are so many tiny doses everywhere in everyday life. Furniture, paint, rugs all have flame retardant chemicals, the food we eat is packed in plastic or contains preservatives.
The second lecture was called Are Automobile Air Pollution Standards Working?
This candidate was doing research on pollution from cars. He explained how the exhaust from cars changes in the atmosphere.
His laboratory measures different car models that were built before and after the Clean Air Act regulations.
The third presentation was Factory, Forest and Farm: Combining Archeology and Environmental History in
Southern New England. The candidate had done research on an old factory building. She had pictures of the worn floorboards and explained that this was where the workers walked back and forth tending the machines. She told a story of an industrial accident that happened in the building, when a young woman lost her fingers in an electric loom. I found her research very valuable because knowing the history of a place increases personal ties to it and can foster a more conservation minded attitude.
Faculty positions are controlled by the Provost. Although it would be great if ES&P would get a professor with full time tenure; so far the Provost has granted a 2 year position. In an interview Don
Baumer Government Professor, said, “We are hopeful that it will be converted to a longer term position but there is no assurance.” The search committee includes faculty from the natural sciences and social sciences. They defined a position, advertised it, and narrowed down the selection from the many applications received. Three candidates were chosen to come to Smith to meet with administrators, faculty, staff and students. The opinions of students are strongly taken into consideration. A small group of 5 students met with each aspiring Smith professor. Don Baumer said,
"If there was somebody that we liked but the students really didn't like we could well change our mind." It's reassuring to know that smith includes students in the hiring process for professors. When the advising committee met to discuss their thoughts and they were very pleased with the choices, it will be a tough decision.
-Hester Garskovas ‘12
Environmental Science and Policy Department Intern
S m i t h C o l l e g e

P a g e 7 S p r i n g 2 0 1 2
A day after arriving in the northern suburbs of Kyoto, surrounded by busy school athletic grounds and by scenic green mountains, I found my way to the subway station under a sweltering-hot sun, anxious to meet the forty students who were to spend the 2011-12 academic year in
Japan as part of the Associated Kyoto Program. In an un-air
-conditioned classroom of Doshisha University, we introduced ourselves in various levels of Japanese proficiency and shared our respective interests and academic backgrounds. Eight of these American study-abroad students and one Japanese student from Doshisha were to be my companions in a new course, titled Waste and Pollution in Japan: Chemistry and Society .
Densely populated, industrialized, and challenged by a nuclear disaster, Japan presented us with unique opportunities for studying resource use, waste management, and environmental pollution. Our case studies started with
Japan’s rapid industrialization in the 1960s and the health crises that prompted environmental protections. They included Minamata Disease, where fishermen and their families suffered convulsions and deformations from eating fish contaminated with methyl mercury, and Itai-itai disease, where women downstream from a mine suffered bonebrittling cadmium poisoning. Lessons from Japan’s history with pollution informed further discussions about Japanese environmental movements and the role of citizen action, media and government responses to concerns about dioxins from waste incinerators, and the complex factors that led to the recent nuclear crisis in Fukushima. incinerator housed in a whimsical and bright mosaiccovered building, to a dingy recycling plant that employed disabled workers, to a waste-water treatment plant that generated stone-like building materials from leftover
The farthest-flung field trip took us to Yokkaichi, a city with a panoramic view of petrochemical factories. As a response to asthma and other health problems due to air pollution in the 1960s, the city instituted pollution monitoring and controls, and eventually started the
International Center for Environmental Technology
Transfer (ICETT), a cooperative effort between government, industry, and academia to prevent pollution in industrializing countries, particularly in Asia. We were honored to visit ICETT, and left with inspiration of how measurements of environmental pollutants and lessons learned from pollution disasters can lead to citizen awareness and more sustainable development. It is my hope that the course’s nine students and I will similarly translate the environmental lessons from our time in Japan to our future academic activities and careers.
- Shizuka Hsieh
The course was conducted in English
(thankfully, for me), but otherwise this environmental chemistry course made the most of our presence in Japan.
Students brought observations about how carefully their host families separated trash, about the culture of meticulous and detailed food packaging, and about a pervasive awareness of household water and energy conservation.
Students brought questions about food safety, and polled their host families about attitudes and concerns. Almost every two weeks, we embarked on field trips: to a waste
Photo   of   us   on   the   river   bank   across   from   the   factory   skyline   in   Yokkaichi

P a g e 8 S p r i n g 2 0 1 2
Map   of   the   proposed   building   site,   Whately.
There is an old dirt road that runs straight through the MacLeish Field
Station, running north from West Whately into Conway. It is barely wide enough to drive a car down and is almost completely enclosed by forest. Only the crumbling stonewalls that run along either side of it and branch off into the woods hint that this is no ordinary path. Two hundred years ago it was a major highway in Whately that traveled through pastures and farmland on a hill dotted with homesteads.
European colonists first settled the land around Poplar Hill Road, as this path is called, by the mid to late 18 th century, and the traces they left on the landscape can still be found today. I have learned a lot about the first inhabitants of Poplar Hill Rd this semester by researching the historical property deeds that pertain to the tracts of land that comprise Smith’s Field Station.
Courtesy   of   Reid   Bertone ‐ Johnson
There is a lot of information to be gleaned from property deeds. They tell us who bought the land and who sold it, what buildings are on it and who has owned it in the past. The descriptions of property boundaries in historical deeds are quite arcane and rambling, but they sometimes contain exciting tidbits. I have discovered that there were apple trees growing near Poplar Hill Rd in 1790, and that there was maple sugar production in the area, perhaps using the old growth maple forest that can still be found on MacLeish today. In the mid 1800s a vein of lead was uncovered on the western side of the highway. The land was leased to prospectors in search of ‘mineral and fossil substances’, and the miners left deep pits in the ground that are still easy to find today.
The most exciting discoveries I have made from the deeds relate to the people who once lived where the Field Station is now. I have been able to match many of the names on the historic deeds to the extensive genealogies and historical comments found in A History of the Town of Whately, Mass, published by James Crafts in 1899. For example, one tract of land on the western side of the road is referred to as the ‘Todd lot’ or the ‘Todd Farm’ in deeds dating back to
1859. The Todd in question is Asa Todd, a preacher who lived on this lot from 1791 to 1803 and served as the minister at the Baptist Church down the road. It seems he left quite an impression, for although he only lived on the farm for a decade and didn’t even build the house he lived in on the property, his name remained attached to the site for more than a century. The discovery of Asa also led to the discovery of the homestead. The Todd farm is now covered in forest that all but conceals the slight L-shaped depression that was likely the cellar hole of a homestead, and the faint outline of a road leading to it. Asa Todd may have been one of the last inhabitants of the place. As James
Crafts notes, in 1899 the house was ‘long since gone’.
-Meredith
MacLeish Field Station Intern
S m i t h C o l l e g e

P a g e 9 S p r i n g 2 0 1 2
Last spring, I spent the semester in the Brazilian Amazon studying natural resource management and human ecology with the School for International Training (SIT). Most people think of the Amazon as one dense jungle, but when I flew into Belem, the base city of the program, I noticed with surprise that the way the skyscrapers rose up from the water’s edge reminded me of New York. Instead of the Hudson, the river I flew over was a muddy offshoot of the Amazon, so wide at some points that I couldn’t see across.
Throughout the next few months, I had my fair share of ‘jungle’ experiences. One night, we were surprised in our room by a metallic blue beetle the size of a tennis ball with horns that made it look vaguely like a rhinoceros. We tapped the ground in front of us with sticks to scare away poisonous snakes as we clambered through the undergrowth counting ants for one research project. When we were sleeping in our hammocks in a riverboat, sometimes a storm would erupt with pounding rain that would send our hammocks crashing into each other and occasionally we would see purple lightning on the horizon.
However, the main impression that stuck with me was the rich diversity of cultures and of interests in the region.
There are large urban centers like Belem, the city we were based in, and Manaus, a city five days up the river by boat.
At the same time, there are indigenous communities that still haven’t made contact with other Brazilians. There are also river villages-- traditional communities whose inhabitants are descendants of indigenous people and settlers from various waves of colonization/development attempts. These communities have small-scale agriculture, but they also still get a large portion of their food from hunting, fishing, and gathering. In the southern part of the state, more recent immigrants to the region mostly pursue cattle ranching because land is cheap and cows are a less risky investment than crops in a place where the land has low fertility and quick transportation to markets can be difficult. Meanwhile, large mining companies see the region as a resource for bauxite, iron, and gold. The government sees the potential for several hydropower projects along the powerful rivers, and hopes to build 60 facilities within the next 30 years.
When I told my Brazilian friends that I was going to the Amazon, one responded sarcastically,
“Are you going to save it?” For years, saving the
Amazon and saving the rainforest have been catchphrases for international environmental groups. The Amazon occupies such a large place in the collective imagination that I think much of the diversity of the region is overlooked. This experience convinced me that there is certainly not one solution or one group of people to blame for deforestation in the Amazon. Combating environmental problems will take a myriad of responses, each of which will have to take into account local opinion/knowledge, ecological constraints and economic forces. My professor noted that in many cases, solutions exist—what is lacking is communication, access and accountability. Change is occurring at a fast rate in the region. When I asked my professor what he thought the Amazon would be like in thirty years, he replied that the Amazon is big—there will still be forest.
Large swathes of it are protected already. He predicted that what will be lost first is the cultural diversity as those who don’t conform to the traditional model of development are given no other choice.
Elizabeth ‘12
S m i t h C o l l e g e

P a g e 1 0 S p r i n g 2 0 1 2
The Sustainability Reps, Green Team, Student Government Association (via its Sustainability Chair) and Bike Kitchen worked together this year to create a series of events during the week before Earth Day (Monday April 16 - Saturday 21, which we called Earth Week). We organized a few presentations, and a carnival on Saturday open to the entire Smith and
Northampton communities. We have three goals for Earth Week. First, to get Smithies' attention we avoided lectures and movie showings and rather worked to create engaging, dynamic and interactive activities to start conversations and provide information about issues. Second, We experimented with creating WASTE FREE activities which means that we didn’t use paper/plastic cups/plates/utensils when we served food and instead asked participants to bring their own supplies since we will provided a limited amount; and the presentations were made out of recycled material and nothing was printed that was not meaningful artistically or meant to be preserved for a long time. This has been a big challenge and everyone had to be very creative. Our hope is that these standards will catch on and in the future all orgs/departments on campus will conduct solely waste free events. Our last focus point was to foster a sustainable community. Many student orgs worked together this year with the hope that our collective Earth Week activities will motivate sustainable behavior. This takes readjusting our community's psychology and perspective on daily activities, and must be done to individuals at a large scale for the benefit of our environment and fellow human beings.
-Brenda Delamonica ‘12 Sustainability Representatives Facilitator
Office of Environmental Sustainability
Smith College tries to focus on many aspects of sustainability through coursework, talks, and student leadership. The sustainability representatives in each House meet to talk about problems in the Houses, and suggest possible solutions. We try to raise awareness about global and local issues and get the students involved, whether it’s going to a talk or participating in Earth Week. We’ve distributed shower timers, encouraged composting in dining halls, and tried to help house residents understand what can and cannot be recycled at Smith. Often solutions to sustainability issues in houses don’t need to be drastic; my room on the third floor is warm enough in the winter that my roommate and I don’t turn on the radiator. Earlier in the year, our heat wouldn’t turn off so Facilities Management came and replaced a valve.
One small piece of plastic completely fixed the problem, reducing the College’s use of heating fuel (and the associated global effects) and making life much more comfortable.
Classes at Smith try to integrate environmental perspectives into nearly every area of study. From the physical aspects that we think of as related to global warming, to the political and economic impact, to the way different cultures treat the problems that arise, the course catalog offered about seventyfive classes in the 2011-2012 year that count toward the
Environmental Science and Policy major. The Five College catalog more than doubles this number. These courses are not about just making sure the planet stays habitable; they are about the impact environmental issues have on people around the world, and future generations. If students can learn to take all this into consideration no matter what their careers turn out to be, there will be a strong foundation upon which to build social and political change.
S m i t h C o l l e g e

P a g e 1 1 S p r i n g 2 0 1 2
I took a long time to settle on my course of study in my first few years at Smith, and only decided to pursue the
Environmental Science and Policy (ES&P) major last fall when it was officially established. I didn’t have a clear idea at first of what I wanted to focus on within the major, but in the end, my electives have all dealt with the ways in which humans relate and respond to environmental change. I did not previously have much social science background, but I decided to pursue electives in that area, such as Environmental Justice in the Age of Climate Change (at Hampshire) and Social Justice, the
Environment, and the Corporation, because it seemed like the best way to combine my interest in the environment with an exploration of human experience.
As a Studio Art minor, I’m always looking for ways to combine my interests in art and the environment. This spring I completed a special studies in photography, and this has caused me to think a lot about what it means for humans to intervene in the environment. Part of my work involved creating a series of photographs of casual, everyday human alterations of the landscape -- objects that are left lying around, or land that is manipulated and then forgotten. Although I don’t know yet what I’ll be doing after graduation, I’d like to keep approaching environmental issues through the visual arts
(for me this means photography in particular). Art has long been used as a social medium for all sorts of issues, and the scope of environmental art is constantly expanding. The arts have so much power to communicate environmental issues, and I find it really fascinating to look at the issues I learn about in my ES&P classes through that lens.
-Rosa Goldman ‘12
Rosa’s   images   are   all   medium   format   film,   and   are   part   of   a   larger   series
which   can   be   viewed   at   http://cargocollective.com/rosagoldman.
S m i t h C o l l e g e