Smith College
Environmental Science and Policy News
Restoring the Landscape
One Community at a Time
By Carolyn V. Whiting (‘10)
FALL 2009
Inside this issue:
Greening Smith: Taking 2
Steps Towards a More
Sustainable Campus
Praise for Wangari
Maathai and Unbowed
3
Focus: ES&P Steering
4-5
Committee Faculty and
Their Spring 2010
Courses
Writing for the
Environment
6
NOAA Summer
Internship Program
6
Alumna Spotlight
7
Student Poetry and
Prose
8, 10
The Environmental Science &
Policy Program Offices are
located in Bass Hall:
Joanne Benkley, Coordinator
ES&P Program
Room 107
x 3951
Jon Caris, Coordinator
Spatial Analysis Lab
Room 109
x 3042
The Spatial Analysis Lab
Room 103
G
reat things are happening in the tropical
latitudes in Northern Queensland, Australia to correct for
some seemingly irreparable
mistakes. The history might
sound familiar, but the
contemporary responses to
the ecosystem changes
caused by European settlers
are exciting.
are not uncommon for these
organizations, it was clear
that the heart of these
groups were not the zealous
college students, but the
locals themselves. It was the
everyday soccer moms,
retired schoolteachers and
sympathetic farmers who
were invested in restoring
their land to the way it
should be. Many of them
y semester abroad
understood the benefits of a
gave me the privilege
tropical rainforest for the
of experiencing some
profitable tourist inof the inner workings
dustry, but I would be
of conservation
hard pressed to find
groups who are trying
an individual at those
to save and restore
meetings who wasn’t
tropical rainforests in
also volunteering bethe region. As was
cause they wanted to
the case on many
ensure Lumholtz’s
other continents,
Tree Kangaroos and
European explorers
cassowaries were
arrived in Australia in Carolyn on Pyramid Mountain overlooking the
granted their intrinsic
the relatively recent
right to exist. It’s
Atherton Tablelands, QLD, Australia.
past and immediately
worthwhile to get exbegan to alter the land’s
spared in the rush to make the cited about these restoration
remarkably longstanding
groups not only because they
Australian rainforest look like
ecological and cultural
are an example of a commupastoral England are the only
history. Hunting and garplaces some of these spectacu- nity that is united by envidening enthusiasts are reronmental awareness, but
lar species exist today.
sponsible for introducing
also because they are
s part of the School For
hundreds of Australia’s most
successful at achieving their
Field Studies semester
menacing pests such as pigs,
goals.
program, students volunteer
rabbits, foxes, and horrenne of their priorities is
dously invasive plant species weekly at different rainforest
restoration centers by cleaning
to connect rainforest
like Lantana camara in the
seeds to be germinated, plantfragments along waterways
tropical Northeast. The
ing seedlings and tending
to prevent isolation and pronaturally existing barriers of
newly generated forests to
tect fragile riparian zones.
entry to invaders, such as
provide more habitat for native After convincing farmers to
large tracts of mature rain(Continued on page 9)
species. Although newcomers
forest, were removed by
M
settlers who cleared land for
cropping, making it even
harder for native species to
continue living alongside the
uninvited guests. Massive Red
cedar (Toona ciliata) trees, that
to an American might invoke
memories of family vacations
to Sequoia National Park, were
systematically removed from
the forests to sell on the market and to make room for
farms. Today the few small
parcels of land that were
A
O
Page 2
Greening Smith: Taking Steps Towards a More Sustainable Campus
Story and photos by Alana Miller (‘10)
T
he Smith College community is
constantly striving to be more
sustainable in every day operations.
While there is always more to be done,
many great programs are already in
place to reduce our negative impact on
the Earth's resources. These efforts
span many areas of life at Smith- from
the houses we live in, to the food we
eat, to the buildings we study in.
Unfortunately these efforts frequently
fall below the radar of busy students,
but the behind the scenes work of
dedicated faculty, staff and students is
quite impressive. Here are just some of
the cool things happening on campus:
Dining Services:
I
met with Ann Finley, manager of
several dining halls on campus and
one of the many staff people who have
been active in promoting sustainable
practices in their departments. Ann
was instrumental in establishing the
composting program, which is now in
its third year and an “enormous success.” The program currently allows
students and staff in seven out of the
eleven campus dining halls to compost
their food waste; it is hoped that all
dining locations on campus (including
the Campus Center and the Faculty
Club) will be incorporated into the program by the end of this academic year.
The EPA estimates that Americans
throw away more than 25% of food
that is prepared, making food waste the
third largest component of the country’s waste stream, just after paper and
yard waste. One obvious benefit of
composting is that instead of food
waste ending up in a landfill it is allowed to decompose into nutrient rich
organic matter which can then be
added back into the soil to grow more
food. The compost program at Smith
diverts food waste from the garbage
disposal and the trash and instead
delivers it to a local farmer in Westhampton who can then use it to make
compost. Ann says the situation is
ideal – Smith can achieve some of its
sustainability goals without having to
work through a middle corporation and
the program is mutually beneficial for
both the school and the farmer.
“Smith’s food waste currently weighs
in at 20,000 pounds a month ….
That’s 10 tons of waste each month
that we are purchasing, shipping
and preparing, only to have it
thrown in a bin. “
*Milk is hormone free and comes
from an independent Connecticut
farm
*All coffee is purchased from a local
business owned by women and is all
fair trade organic
*Yogurt at Northrop/Gillett comes
from grass fed cows on a small dairy
farm in the Berkshires
W
hile it is great that we get to
recycle much of our food
waste, the sheer quantity of food that
we’re preparing and then throwing
away is staggering. Smith’s food waste
currently weighs in at 20,000 pounds a
month and will rise with the addition of
more houses. That’s 10 tons of waste
each month that we are purchasing,
shipping and preparing only to have it
thrown in a bin. Ann estimates that
students frequently end up throwing
away one third of the food they put on
their plates. It is hard to be mindful
when seemingly endless quantities of
food magically appear every meal, but
remembering all the resources that
went into the food is really important.
If we all make an effort to take only as
much food as we will actually eat we
can eliminate a lot of needless waste.
S
mith’s dining services works to
incorporate sustainable practices
into our dining experience in others
way, too. Below are some cool examples that you might not be aware of:
*Used grease is picked up each week to
be recycled
Did you know? Not all houses with a scrap
bucket are part of the compost program.
Unless there is a “compost tips” sign posted
near the bucket (see picture above) the
food simply gets put down the garbage
disposal at the end of each day.
In houses that do compost, you can include
food and napkins, but be careful not to
dump in plastic or foil, and especially not
cutlery – this damages the farmer’s equipment when he goes to plow his fields!
Public buildings:
S
mith is making increasing efforts
to include clean energy in the mix
of electricity produced for the campus.
This October, Smith finalized plans to
(Continued on page 9)
Page 3
Praise for Wangari Maathai and Unbowed
By Tara Noyes (’12 )
U
nbowed is the memoir of
Wangari Maathai, a
prominent Kenyan environmentalist and human rights
activist. Ms. Maathai was the
first environmentalist and the
first African woman to receive
the Nobel Peace Prize, which
she won in 2004 through her
founding of and working with
the Green Belt Movement. This
movement empowers rural Kenyan
women to plant and care for tree seedlings, which in turn grow into the groves
they so depend on for firewood, shade,
and sustainable farmland. In addition to
her environmental work, Ms. Maathai has
also worked tirelessly against the oppressive and corrupt Kenyan government for
various women’s and human rights
causes. She has been publicly humiliated,
jailed, and even beaten almost to the
point of death for her actions, but she has
never stopped.
M
s. Maathai grew up in a rural Kikuyu village (Kikuyu being one of
the prominent ethnic groups of Kenya,)
where she learned about the many tasks
reserved for women; cooking, collecting
firewood, planting and harvesting, etc.
She greatly enjoyed the prosperous fertile
land on which she lived, worked, and
played. She gives an example in her book
about a great fig tree next to a stream in
which she loved to look at the frog eggs.
She attended a Catholic girl’s school, and
was eventually chosen as one of the
Kenyan students brought to the U.S. for
college through a program started by
President Kennedy. After 6 years of
education in the U.S., she returned to
Kenya to find that, among many other
new problems, her fig tree had been cut
down and her stream had dried up.
M
s. Maathai worked as a biology
professor at the University of
Nairobi and was the wife of a politician
before committing full-time to her
various causes. She began simply by
noticing the problems that her country
was facing and listening to the people talk
of their troubles. She took all of
these issues to heart and
worked tirelessly to empower
the people around her to fight
for what they wanted and
needed. At first, it was the environmental issues troubling the
villagers. She made the connection between the deforestation
that was taking the Kenyan
countryside by storm and problems like infertile land, drought, erosion, and even malnutrition. This inspired her to show the women facing
these problems how to take action to
solve the problems themselves. She
knew this was much more effective
than waiting around for the corrupt
government or professional foresters to
do something about the problem.
Since its founding, the Green Belt Movement has established 6,000 tree nurseries
and planted over 30 million trees in
Kenya, and has expanded to other
countries in Africa and beyond.
her Kikuyu roots, and has dedicated
her life to work for the people of her
homeland. She was educated enough
to figure out the connection between
the fig tree and the stream (the trees
roots had broken into an underground
spring, causing the water to rise up
and flow aboveground,) but never, like
many educated urban Kenyans, turned
her nose up at the problems of the
rural people. Her knowledge and her
passion held equal importance in inspiring the work she did. I would
highly recommend reading her memoir, Unbowed, to learn more about this
amazing woman and the wonderful
things she has accomplished for her
people, her country, and her planet.
For more information on the Green
Belt Movement, visit
http://greenbeltmovement.org
W
ith her environmental work as
her foundation, Ms. Maathai
has expanded her work to include many
women’s and human rights causes. For
example, she served as chairman for
the National Council of Women of
Kenya. She also makes it a point to
focus on the human rights and justice
aspects of environmental conservation,
including fighting against unlawful or
unethical deforestation. It seems that if
Ms. Maathai hears about a problem she
is unable to stop herself from fighting
tirelessly to fix it, despite her already
full workload. She has organized and
participated in many demonstrations
against the government, including one
to free political prisoners and one to
save a prominent park in
Nairobi
from corporate development.
T
he most inspiring thing to me
about Wangari Maathai is her
ability to combine two very different
cultures to work in her favor. Even
with her urban lifestyle and Western
education, she never lost touch with
Women planting seedlings for the Green
Belt Movement.
Tara Noyes is a sophomore music
major and ES&P minor. She is an
intern for the Environmental Science
and Policy Program this year. Tara
read Unbowed in professor Elliot
Fratkin’s anthropology course “Africa:
Population, Health, and Environmental Issues,” which she thoroughly
enjoys, and is taking to fulfill the
Environmental Policy requirement for
her ES&P minor. She hopes to spend
next fall in Kenya and Tanzania with
the School for Field Studies’
Comparative Community Wildlife
Management Program.
Page 4
Focus: ES&P Steering Committee Faculty and Their Spring Courses
By Marina Zaiats (‘10)
The Professor: Nathanael Fortune, Physics
Professor Fortune received a B.A. in Physics with Honors and a minor in Philosophy of
Science from Swarthmore College and completed his Ph.D. in Physics at Boston University. His interest in the “physics of global warming and climate instability” led him to
become more interested in the “physics of solar energy technologies, including "passive"
solar technologies like solar house design.” PHY 100 provides students with the theoretical and practical skills to “assess what their household's energy demands are, how
they can be reduced, and what fraction of the remaining energy demand could be met
by solar energy.” Students will then learn how to design and properly "size" a system to
produce solar energy to meet those needs. Professor Fortune challenges his students to
“use basic physics concepts to explain to others how the system would work in language they can understand.”
The Course: PHY 100 Solar Energy and Sustainability U.S. reliance on non-renewable resources to satisfy its growing
energy demands comes at a severe environmental, economic, and political cost. Are there alternatives? Are they affordable?
This course offers a hands-on exploration of renewable energy technologies, with an emphasis on the underlying physical
principles. Students will study and use systems that generate electrical power from the sun, wind, and water; they will investigate how to store and distribute this energy (both off-grid and on); and they will consider how to make use of these technologies and their understanding of the underlying physics to design, model, and construct a solar powered building.
The Professor: Leslie King, Sociology
Associate professor King received her B.A. in French from Hunter College and a Ph.D. in sociology
from the University of Illinois. Professor King believes that “environmental problems are social problems because they are the result of human decision making” and that “environmental problems we
currently have on our hands can only be addressed via multiple disciplines.” Her course on World
Population strives to evoke an “appreciation for how power dynamics and inequalities affect and are
affected by demographic trends” and carry home the message that “it is not just a question of how
many people there are (though that is not irrelevant) but also how they live and where they live.”
The Course: SOC 232 World Population
This course will introduce students to environmental, economic, feminist, and nationalist perspectives
on population growth and decline. We will examine current population trends and processes (fertility,
mortality, and migration) and consider the social, political, economic, and environmental implications of those trends.
Soc 232 will also provide an overview of various sources of demographic data as well as basic demographic methods.
The Professor: Michelle Joffroy, Spanish and Portuguese
Associate Professor Joffroy completed her Ph.D. studies at the University of Arizona
and teaches courses in the Spanish and Portuguese Department. SPN 372 will explore
“social movements in Latin America from a gender and justice perspective.” The
content of the course will provide the students with “an artistic lens with which to
view environmental concerns.” Professor Joffroy hopes to engage the students in a
conversation about topics that “when taken apart seem very different, but actually
speak deeply to one another.”
The Course: SPN 372 Latin America & Iberian Studies: Women & Environmental Justice This multi-disciplinary course explores key debates and theoretical
approaches involved in understanding environmental concerns, as well as the role of
art and cultural production in social movements, in Latin America from a gender and
justice perspective. With Latin American women's and environmental movements as our lens, we will map the politics and
poetics of environmental justice in Latin America from the early 20th century to the present. Through films, memoirs, ethnography, music and narrative fiction we will explore how women's cultural and social activisms have articulated the multiple
ways that gender, class and race mediate paradigms of political-environmental justice.
FALL 2009
Page 5
The Professors:
Amy Larson Rhodes, Geosciences
Associate Professor Rhodes received her B.A. from Smith College, with a major in
Geology and a minor in Marine Science. She earned her M.S. and Ph.D. from Dartmouth College. Professor Rhodes was initially interested in the geochemistry of
rocks and ore deposits but upon coming to teach at Smith she applied her training
as a geochemist to broader environmental issues. She enjoys working on environmental problems because of their “relevance to communities, and because of the
opportunity to work with other scientists in related disciplines.” She hopes FYS
177 will give students the tools to “consider environmental problems from a variety of viewpoints” and that “by looking at past environmental
issues, and the approaches taken to solve those problems, students may recognize that they
can work positively to help remedy many of today's environmental problems.”
David Smith, Biological Sciences,
Director, Environmental Science and Policy Program
Associate Professor Smith received a B.A. in Biology and minor in History from the University of Virginia, his M.S. in Marine Science from the University of South Carolina, and his
Ph.D. in Zoology at the University of Maryland. Professor Smith believes that it is "critical
that students have an appreciation of the rate and scale of human-generated environmental
changes over the last century." His goals for the FYS class are to "provide students with scientific and social perspectives on the challenges associated with these changes and help them
to develop the analytical and communication skills necessary to find sustainable alternatives."
He sees interdisciplinary skills as being critical additions to a students toolbox for work in any environmental field, and is
currently leading the development of a major which will address those needs.
The Co-taught Course: FYS 177 Global Environmental Changes and Challenges
This multi-disciplinary course examines how humans have changed Earth’s four vital spheres (biosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere) over the last century, and the social, scientific and political challenges posed by these environmental
alterations. We will reflect on how differing worldviews have influenced our past actions and may determine our future
trajectory. Readings and discussions will examine the scientific evidence, environmental writings, and national and international responses to the environmental crisis that confront humanity. Students will investigate strategies for mitigating
damage, conserving resources and restoring natural function.
The Professor: Susan Sayre, Economics
Assistant professor Sayre received her B.A. in Economics and Religion from
Swarthmore College and her M.S. and Ph.D. in Agriculture and Resource
Economics from University of California, Berkeley. Environmental Economics explores “the causes of environmental degradation and the role that
markets can play in both causing and solving pollution problems.” Professor
Sayre intends for students walk away with “a quantitative skills set” and an
understanding of how to apply economic analysis skills to environmental and
resource questions.
The Course: ECO 284 Environmental Economics
This course will examine the causes of environmental degradation and the
role that markets can play in both causing and solving pollution problems and
issues of resource allocation and sustainability. The efficiency, equity, and impact on economic growth of current and
proposed future environmental legislation will also be considered. Prerequisite: 250 or permission of the instructor.
Photo Credits: Fortune, Rhodes, Smith– Joanne Benkley; King– Changxin Fang, ‘05; Joffroy-Alana Miller; Sayre- Tara Noyes
Page 6
Writing for the Environment by Rebecca Benson ‘10
T
his summer I chose to use my Smith PRAXIS funding to work in the field of environmental journalism. At Smith I am an English major and environmental science and policy minor, and I have always thought about a possible career in environmental journalism. I started looking for internships by searching the websites of environmentally focused magazines, blogs, and news sources I
have read for years. I searched for a position that would allow me to live at home yet be more than just an office drudge- getting coffee, filing or sorting mail; I knew I needed to find a small company. I ended up interning for E: The Environmental Magazine,
which I have been reading since my dad first brought it home when I was little and explained endangered species to me.
A
Credit: R. Benson
day in the life at E, as the staffers fondly called it, entailed getting to work and finding out my project for the day. Each project
usually involved a lot of research, both on the computer and through the plethora of environmental books available in the office.
Throughout the course of the week I would also write articles for E’s weekly e-newsletter Our Planet Weekly. I almost always got to
choose what I would write about, and topics included everything from cap and trade to eco
shopping bags. This was one of my favorite parts of the internship. Getting to write articles
that were actually published was a huge opportunity and one I thoroughly enjoyed. My other
favorite part was the out-of-office, keeping-up-with-current-events work, or what I thought
of as the perks. Interns at E are sent to events, shows, lectures and other events as part of
the internship. During my time at E, I was able to attend the opening gala of the World Science Festival in New York City at which E.O. Wilson, an eminent evolutionary biologist,
two-time Pulitzer prize winner, and ardent conservationist, was honored. I heard molecular
biologist James Watson speak, and met Neil DeGrasse, host of NOVA. Another week I
went to a Waterkeeper Alliance conference at SUNY Maritime College and heard President
Bill Clinton speak on pressing water issues of our time. I was able to take advantage of every opportunity that came my way.
Y
et, during the average day I was mostly copy editing or reading about topics like eco-baby toys and the newest organic fruit
punch, not exactly thrilling work. It made me realize though what working in the journalism industry is actually like. There are
days when all you do is sit in the office and edit, and if you are pressed for time and writers are not getting their articles in you have to
fill in the gap with a piece about low-flow shower heads; it’s not all glamorous. But, the thing about summer internships is that they
provide excellent opportunities to “try on” a career for a limited time with no real consequence. In this case, I was also able to meet
people I never would have otherwise, and go places I would have never been if not for E, and I’ll always be grateful for that.
E
NOAA Internship Program- Summer Opportunities for Smith Students
ach year, thanks to a generous
gift from Agnes Shedd Andreae
’32 and her family, the Environmental Science and Policy Program
provides a number of students with
an internship and a stipend to work
with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
NOAA is a broad government
agency that works to protect the
health of the environment and responsibly manage the nation’s coastal
and marine resources. Smith students
work with NOAA researchers in a
variety of settings, including wildlife
sanctuaries, coastal research labs and
aboard sea-going vessels.
F
our Smith students participated in
the NOAA internship program in
2009. From Virginia to Washington
state, students gained hands-on experience through their research and policy
work. Nina Schwartzman ‘10, and
Ellen Maley ‘11 conducted aerosol
chemistry analysis of atmospheric particles as part of long term climate chemistry research in Seattle, WA. Elizabeth
Moncure ’11 examined oyster mortality
in the Delaware Bay in Norfolk, VA,
contributing data towards eventual oyster restoration, and Catherine Buchalski ‘11 spent her summer in Wells, ME
assessing whether Ecads (free-floating
algae which reproduces asexually) affect
the abundance of invasive species in the
salt marshes there.
P
ast interns have participated in
coastal and estuarine conferences,
developed and implemented models to
predict how natural processes affect oil
spill movement, studied fish habitat
utilization off the Georgia coast, and
evaluated pollutions’ effects on marine
plants.
N
OAA internship announcements
and application information is
advertised in late January via the ES&P
student email list.
Questions? Contact:
Joanne Benkley,
ES&P Program Coordinator
jbenkley@smith.edu
Page 7
FALL 2009
Alumna Spotlight: Changxin Fang, ‘05
By Tara Noyes (’12 )
A
s I walked down the first floor
hallway of Bass Hall on my way to
my new job as Environmental Science
and Policy Program intern, one of the
first things I noticed was a large
wooden polar bear covered in signatures hanging on the wall. Also written
on the bear is “Sign me to save my
home from drilling.” When I asked
Joanne Benkley, the ES&P Program
Coordinator (and my boss) about the
bear, she told me it was a project designed to help prevent oil drilling in
Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) which was led by notable
Smith alumna and former ES&P intern,
Changxin Fang ’05. She also told me
about some of the other great projects
spearheaded by this one very determined student. I was instantly inspired
and amazed, and knew I wanted to
learn more.
S
ome of Changxin’s many accomplishments at Smith include leading a successful petition against drilling
in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge (ANWR) for MassPIRG, the
implementation of a campus-wide
‘paperless’ week and then month, and
the founding of the student group
Clean Energy for Smith!.
C
hangxin’s drive to educate others
about the connection between
national security, clean energy, and ecological preservation in the aftermath of
September 11, 2001 inspired the start
of a campus-wide petition to save
ANWR. With the help of Smith’s student chapter of MassPIRG, she handed
out pamphlets and fact sheets, organized a faculty panel, and collected over
1,500 signatures and letters which she
sent to Senator Kerry, who agreed to
support the bill to protect ANWR.
“I grew up in Shanghai, China where I had
very little exposure to natural environments.
...the most important thing Smithies
The city was gigantic and pollution was high.
In China I had never seen a forest, a blue sky,
can do while they are on campus is to
or a sky full of stars. When I came to the US
dream big and 'proceed confidently in
when I was nine, I was very moved by the
the direction of your dreams' (Thoreau).
abundance of nature. I would spend hours in
the summer staring at clouds out the window
or take long walks alone in
hangxin’s paperless campaign
the forest. Nature was an endless source of
started when she was the ES&P
delight and inspiration, reinforced over time by
my study of literature … .” -Changxin Fang intern in 2003. She noticed that student mailboxes were always flooded
with paper announcements that just
hangxin’s accomplishments are
proof that great passion can drive ended up in the recycling bin. She
brainstormed with students in the
one to do truly great things. She dedienvironmental group, GAIA, and then
cated much of her time at Smith to
wrote to President Christ to ask that
environmental causes, spearheading a
the College support a ban on paper
number of changes we Smithies now
flyers and other printed material for a
take for granted. Since her graduation
week. Instead of individual announcein 2005 with a degree in English Lanments and flyers about events and
guage and Literature and with most of
the required courses for a minor in En- other College business being sent to
each community member as was then
vironmental Science and Policy under
her belt, she has continued to work for the norm, during that week she and
Joanne Benkley instead compiled a
and study the environment, and plans
daily email ‘newsletter’, which was then
to do so in the future.
sent to every Smith GroupWise ac-
C
C
count. While Changxin was abroad the
next year, she learned that the idea had
been so well received that ‘paperless’
week had been extended to an entire
month, and that the online events calendar and bi-weekly edigest messages
that we take for granted now were in
the process of being instituted.
O
ne of Changxin’s last and perhaps
greatest accomplishments at
Smith was her founding and running of
the student group Clean Energy for
Smith! in 2004. She wrote a 40 page
proposal on methods of financing
renewable energy, obtained a $2,000
grant for her campaign, educated the
student body about clean, renewable
energy, and eventually gathered 1,800
student signatures in favor of renewable energy for Smith. All of this led to
tens of thousands of kilowatts of clean
energy being donated to or purchased
by the college. In fact, the student
body voted in favor of her proposal to
add a new student fee specifically in
support of the College purchasing 20%
of its energy from renewable sources.
While this change didn’t come to pass
because the financial burden of making
this a reality would have been too great
for the College, the group Clean Energy for Smith! is still working to make
Smith a more sustainable campus.
S
ince graduating, Changxin has continued to work with environmental
groups like The World Resources Institute and Think Energy. She also got her
Masters in Creative Writing from the
University of Utah and has had poems
published in major poetry reviews and
journals. She is now working on publishing her own poetry book, Garden of
Beautiful Transgressions. Although already
a successful poet, Changxin decided
against getting her Ph.D. in English
Literature, realizing that environmental
work was her true calling. She is cur(Continued on page 8)
Page 8
(Continued from page 7)
rently studying towards her Master’s of
Environmental Management from the
Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies with a concentration on
urban ecology and environmental
design. While in school she is working
as a research assistant for the Yale Office of Sustainability on a plan to compost the University’s organic waste.
After graduation, Changxin hopes to
continue such work with a city or an
academic institution, advising them on
sustainability issues.
I
find Changxin’s story very inspiring. If it weren’t for her passion and
hard work, a number of the College’s
‘green’ efforts may never have come
about– including current initiatives
like the solar panels in the Campus
Center. One has to wonder if the
College would have been ready to
make that leap without the ground
having been prepared by Changxin.
She is a great example not only of the
wonderful things Smithies can accomplish out in the world after graduation,
but how our efforts here and now can
have a real impact of the future of our
environment, whether here on
campus, in Alaska, or over the entire
planet. Hearing Changxin’s story
gives me feel confidence that my own
involvement with the ES&P Program
will help me to make a positive
difference in the world.
“Being at Smith was a powerful experience
in shaping my environmental awareness and
developing my leadership skills. I was
surrounded by fellow students who were
passionate about social causes. The supportive
community made me feel like I could make a
difference and I was offered a wealth of
resources to develop my potential. I think that
the most important thing Smithies can do
while they are on campus is to dream big and
'proceed confidently in the direction of your
dreams' (Thoreau). At the same time, (it’s
important to) plan carefully so that you avoid
burnout and have a good support system (for)
when you are really stressed and busy.”
-Changxin Fang
Hands and Bulbs
“It’s amazing what you can do when you start fiddling with these bulbs”
- Persuading Bulbs to Bloom, The New York Times
Filled with dirt and bulbs,
my hands are gardens.
Small ceramic pots for roots,
even canals run through them
bringing water down
heart shaped and long paths.
Old and smooth
they count, write, point and
plant. They are sundried
smelling like cherries and cherry
sodas on hot afternoons, every
Spring,
these hands wake,
aching and asking to dig.
- Rebecca Benson, ‘10
The Environmental Science and Policy Program
is an interdisciplinary program that ties together the
natural sciences, humanities, and social sciences.
Each semester, the ES&P program hosts a variety of
events, ranging from film screenings to lectures. Visit
www.science.smith.edu/departments/esp to learn more.
Who’s Involved in the Program?
Director: L. David Smith (Biological Sciences)
Program Coordinator: Joanne Benkley
Spatial Analysis Lab Coordinator: Jon Caris
Steering Committee/ Faculty Advisers:
Donald Baumer (Government)
Nathanael Fortune (Physics)
Elliot Fratkin (Anthropology)
Andrew Guswa (Engineering)
Virginia Hayssen (Biological Sciences)
Shizuka Hsieh (Chemistry)
Michelle Joffroy (Spanish and Portuguese)
Leslie King (Sociology)
David Newbury (History)
Robert Newton (GeoSciences)
Paulette Peckol (Biological Sciences)
Jeffry Ramsey (Philosophy)
Amy Rhodes (GeoSciences)
Susan Stratton Sayre (Economics)
Paul Voss (Engineering)
Gregory White (Government)
Page 9
FALL 2009
Greening Smith (Continued from page 2)
install an array of solar panels on the
Campus Center roof. The system will
be part of a power purchase agreement
wherein a solar company will own the
panels and Smith will purchase the energy they generate, thus eliminating the
need for up front investment on the
part of the College. The agreement
with the solar company enables the
College to purchase energy generated
by the panels for 14 cents/kwh for the
next 20 years. By contrast, the College
already pays 16 cents/kwh for “dirty”
energy and energy prices have been
steadily rising. The new solar panels are
being installed now on the southeast
roof of the Campus Center just above
the Carroll room.
is efficiency, where relatively small
investments can yield a lot of savings
in both energy and money. Most
recently, lighting in the Indoor Track
and Tennis facility (ITT) was switched
to fluorescent lights, which will reduce
Smith’s greenhouse gas emissions by
about 162 tons per year. The projected annual savings from the change
(which cost $42,000) means the new
lights will pay for themselves in just
over 4 years. As has been reported
elsewhere, all walk-in coolers were
also recently upgraded in the dining
halls, a project initiated by the research
of Ada Comstock Scholar Kerry Valentine ‘10J. The new cooler improvements will reduce Smith’s output of
greenhouse gases by about 75 tons
each year, and have a payback of less
than 4 years.
Awareness events:
T
The Campus Center with an arrow
indicating the site of the proposed solar panels.
P
urchasing clean energy is great,
but the first step in sustainability
he Smith community is also
always involved in the political
arena of sustainability, pushing the
state and the country to do more to
stop global warming. Over family
weekend in October, hundreds of
Smith community members participated in events organized as part of a
world-wide international day of
climate action to help raise awareness
about the number 350 and call for
action on climate change. (See more
at www.350.org) Scientists agree that
350 parts per million (ppm) is the safe
upper limit for the amount of carbon
dioxide our Earth can handle. We're
Students and family members stand
together against climate change during a
Smith“350”event at the Campus Center.
currently at about 390 ppm which
means we need serious, immediate
action to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. At Smith, events included a
house recycled art installation competition, a mass bike ride around campus
and through town, and a campus-wide
photo with participants spelling out
‘350’ with their bodies. ²
To get involved in an environmental
group on campus, please see
www.Smith.edu/Green/Groups.php
Restoring the Landscape (Continued from page 1)
allow restoration groups to re-vegetate the area flanking each side of the waterway (which is not always an easy task), they
collect locally found seeds, grow them into seedlings and plant huge numbers of them on tree planting days. Sometimes up
to a hundred people volunteer to help out. A few even bring sandwiches to share for “smoko” break. Bit by bit, the success
of their efforts can be seen from aerial photographs (visit http://www.treat.net.au for examples).
B
ack here at home, I often feel burdened and frustrated with the bombardment of environmental problems we hear
about and experience. Toxic algal blooms, the invasion of the damaging Asian Longhorn Beetle, melting glaciers and
disappearing polar bears, landfills – it seems never ending. My experience with the rainforest restoration organizations in
Australia left me with a profound respect for the real potential even a small group of people has to make tangible, positive
changes to their landscape. Personally, I no longer believe that the challenges our generation is being asked to respond to are
beyond our capabilities. ²
For more information on the School for Field Studies, see their website at www.fieldstudies.org or visit the Office for International Studies
Page 10
Reflections on a Summer in Nicaragua -Student Prose
Gabriella della Croce is a junior transfer student from Nyack, NY
who is designing her own major in Environmental Policy &
Science. Gabriella spent the summer in Nicaragua where she
studied Spanish, and researched economically practical organic
farming practices for La Base, a micro-credit NGO.
T
he bus is rattling. Salsa is blaring above the
engine. Papaya trees are blooming small
white flowers, and leaf cutter ants are carrying
green scraps on their backs in long lines. A few
cows amble off the highway when we roar
though the countryside beeping the horn.
Sometimes we have to stop completely and wait
for them to move. Clothes are drying on lines
outside of wood shacks on the roadside. Then
there is the rain last night, pounding on the metal
roof like drumbeats. Small lizards are scurrying
across our walls, and they chirp like little birds.
They happen to be adorable, as well as important household predators. Someone told me that
they even eat cockroaches.
T
he season is fading, but the din of ripe fruit still
surprises me sometimes. The mangos fall from
our tree onto the zinc roof with a loud crash and then
roll onto the patio, if we’re lucky. Otherwise, they get
stuck in the rain gutter. They sound almost like flesh
smacking against stone. At first I found this unsettling, particularly in the middle of the night, but now
it’s just like a very slow arrangement of drumbeats
punctuating the noise of this happy construction zone
I call home. And green or sweet, they are unbearably
luscious and Edenic hanging from the trees here.
They taste of cardamom.
F
T
Photo credit: G. della Croce
his farm in Nicaragua raises cattle using an intensive
rotational grazing system. Grass growth and its consumption are studied carefully to increase production while
keeping the pasture healthy. Managing pasture in this way
improves the land's productivity over time and also sends
milk production per acre up dramatically in comparison to
other, more conventional practices. One of the biggest
challenges in increasing rotational grazing is how long
investments in such new practices need to become
established before they pay off for smaller-scale producers.
ew lessons stuck with me like seed dispersal. I
always think about how half of the things we eat
have evolved precisely to attract or repel animals like
us for their own ends. And I have always wondered
who mangos trees expect to carry their unwieldy pits
away. Monkeys were my first guess, but I finally
looked it up and was surprised to learn that apparently bats are also responsible for spreading some
smaller fruited mango trees. I saw some hanging in a
cave behind a friend's backyard waterfall. They flew
right by my face when the dog barked.
Sign up for the ES&P
e-mail listserv to get
regular information about
environmental events,
internships, post-Smith
opportunities and more!
Contact us at
enviro@smith.edu!
ES&P Student Contributors: Alana Miller, Tara Noyes, Marina Zaiats.
Layout and editing: Joanne Benkley, Tara Noyes, and David Smith.
We’d love to hear from you!
Please send comments, story ideas, and contributions to
enviro@smith.edu