Smith College
Environmental Science and Policy News
SPRING 2008
This is Bat Country
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
Mark Your CalendarES&P Events
2
Mountain Top Removal
3
Earth Day: A History
4
GreenSmith–
A Community Garden
for Smith? and the MA
Power Shift Conference
5
Focus the Nation at
Smith
6
Policy Solutions to
Climate Change
7
Climate Change:
Science and Solutions
8
Meet the ES&P Interns
9
Afloat for the Summer–
in a Classroom
10
Meet the New ES&P
Faculty
11
Photos this page: Sylvia Vega (‘09)
Above::
Orange-thighed tree frog.
Upper middle:
Close-up of a minibat in the study.
Bottom middle:
Sylvia with a bat.
Environmental Science
and Policy Program
Smith College
Northampton, MA 01063
Joanne Benkley, Coordinator
Bass Hall Room 107
enviro@email.smith.edu
By Alana Miller (‘10)
T
here is something
about bats that makes
most people cringe. Myths
about bats being bloodthirsty vampires or dirty
little “rats with wings” just
waiting to entangle themselves in your hair abound.
But Sylvia Vega (‘09), who
spent last semester in Australia assured me, “They are
actually really cute- the
small little bats.” She
would know, after having
spent weeks studying native
bats in Australia.
lizard, and bats. While at first
she was a bit uneasy about
studying bats, she was comforted by their small size. The
student group focused on
several species of minibats,
which measure a few inches
explained, the animal’s wingspan can reveal a lot about
where it lives and the type of
environment it needs to live.
For example, bats with
smaller wingspans live in
areas of dense trees, whereas
those with larger wings likely
live in more open regions.
T
his determination can be
an important one in areas of Australia where cattle
ranching has destroyed large
tracts of land, leaving patches
of forest in varying states of
plant density. While Sylvia
and her fellow students studylvia, a Biological Sciin length, as opposed to
ied bat ecology, another
ences major and Envimegabats, which can grow
group focused on a manageronmental Science and Polover a foot long.
ment issue: the impact of caticy minor, hadn’t been all
tle ranching on forested habiuring the day, Sylvia
that interested in field work
and the other research- tat. That group, together with
before studying abroad, but
local ranchers, investigated
ers would walk through the
she had an incredible exrainforest setting harp traps to potential land-use comproperience. For a full semesmises which would allow
ter, she and two dozen
ranchers to continue ranching
other students in the School
while also preserving more
for Field Studies program
forested landscape for bats
(SFS) lived and studied
and other creatures.
deep in the heart of the
Australian rainforest. Lesn speaking with Sylvia it
sons took on a whole new
was clear that while she
meaning for the students
enjoyed the academic portion
since most classes were
of the SFS program and the
taught outside in the very
exciting research she was able
environment they were
to participate in, the highlight
studying.
of her semester was living in a
rainforest among its animal
or the final month of
inhabitants. She and the other
the program, the stustudents lived in a cabin in the
dents were divided into
catch the bats. After an aniforest proper. They regularly
groups to conduct research
mal was caught, the researchsaw flocks of wild cockatoos,
on the wildlife in the
ers would determine the spehopping kangaroos, and the
region. Sylvia’s group studcies and take measurements
ied skinks, a type of small
(Continued on page 10)
of each individual. As Sylvia
S
D
I
F
Page 2
Mark your calendar for upcoming ES&P Events !
Smith Women in the Environment: An alumnae symposium and tea
Wednesday, April 9 at 4:15 p.m. in Campus Center Room 205
Four women who work in the environment and policy fields return to Smith to discuss their career paths,
offer advice, and answer questions for students interested in an environmental career.
They work in very different areas of the environmental field, including:
∗ environmental policy and analysis
∗ ecology
∗ environmental entrepreneurship
∗ sustainability
∗ natural resources and land conservation
∗ the media
∗ education
∗ environmentally and socially responsible investing
Some of the organizations these women represent(ed) include:
Duke University, the U.S. Department of Defense, IceStone, LLC., Easthampton High School, U. S. Department
of the Interior, National Public Radio, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and Verité.
Alumnae participants pictured are:
above left, Miranda Magagnini (‘82),
above right, Laurie Sanders (‘88),
left, Elizabeth Callaghan (‘04).
Environmental Science & Policy Program Lunchbag(s)
…about things environmental
Environmental Science and Policy Program seminar (EVS 300)
Final Project Presentations
Two Tuesdays!
April 22nd AND April 29th
12:15- 4 p.m.
Campus Center 205
Come for lunch and stay as long as you can…
SPRING 2007
Page 3
Like Taking Icing Off a Cake: Mountaintop Removal
By Alana Miller (‘10)
T
he Industrial Revolution marked the beginning of a new era for the Western World. With a boom in industry and
production, society turned to coal as the energy source for heat, metal work and transportation. In order to keep up
with the endlessly growing demand, more cost-effective procedures of coal mining have been developed and techniques
have “advanced” from tunnels, to surface mining, to the newest Mountain Top Removal (MTR) system. This method,
while cost-effective, has had devastating consequences for the environment.
C
I
urrently the United States gets over half of its electricity and nearly a quarter of its energy from coal. Unfortunately,
coal-fired power plants are the largest emitter of CO2, the principal global warming pollutant, and many other pollutants, including sulfur dioxide, which causes air pollution, soot and acid rain (Sierra Club).
www.sierraclub.org/sierra/coal/learnmore.asp
t isn’t just the burning of coal that we should be worried about, but also the method of extraction. Mountain top removal involves clear cutting the forests on top of a mountain (or several mountains) and often removing topsoil as
well. Explosives are then set into the earth, blasting off between 800 and 1000 feet of the mountaintop to reveal a thin
seam of coal. If you think of a mountain as being like a layer cake with the coal as the icing, they throw away the cake, get
the icing, throw away the cake, and get the icing, until its all gone” is how Vernon Haltom, Co-director of the grassroots
organization Coal River Mountain Watch described the process in an interview on Democracy Now. The blasting leaves
thousands of tons of debris and rubble from the former mountain, which huge machines then dump into adjacent valleys.
This waste creates a “valley fill” in which entire valleys are completely filled in- entire ecosystems and anything in them
destroyed in one fell swoop- including the rivers or streams that ran through them. (Mountain Justice Summer).
T
here are clearly numerous environmental implications in this process of
coal mining including deforestation, air, land and water pollution, as well as
dangers to people living in the area or working in the mine itself. The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) assessment states that between 1985 and
2001, 7% of Appalachia’s forests were destroyed by MTR. The EPA also estimates that valley fills have covered more than 1,200 miles of streams in Appalachia and another 1,000 will be filled within the next decade. Dams holding back
the sludge water from filled-in streams are hazardous for nearby residents, who
also are at risk to health problems from pollution and toxins.
D
espite many reports on the negative environmental effects associated with
MTR legislation regulating the mining process seems to only get more
lenient.
In August of 2007 alone, the Bush administration proposed, “exempting
Mountain top removal in Appalachia
coal mining wastes from a 1983 regulation known as the Stream Buffer Zone
which prohibits mining activities from disturbing areas within 100 feet of streams”. The government claims that with such
changes they seek only to clarify existing laws. The reality, however, is that without the restrictions currently in the law,
the amount of damage MTR operations can inflict upon the earth will go unchecked.
L
oosening legislation in favor of big coal companies and environmentally devastating technologies is not looking towards America’s future, but rather her past. Even ignoring mountain top removal’s horrible impact on the environment, coal’s role in global warming should turn us towards other energy sources. Instead of focusing on short-term,
quick-fixes to address our energy needs, which will leave us with the added burdens of environmental degredation and
pollution, we need our government to re-focus and begin investing in other, possibly renewable, energy sources, which
could eventually be even more profitable than coal. Countries like Canada, the UK and Germany are leading the charge
by turning towards cleaner fuels like natural gas and wind energy. Between 1990 and 2001 alone, “Germany cut coal use
by 41 percent” and the UK by 40 percent (Earth Policy Institute 2003). As one of the wealthiest, most powerful nations
in the world, we have the technology needed to replace coal; it is just a matter of where we invest our money and resources. Let’s be sure to let our policy makers know that we want them to look towards the future- our collective future
together on earth– when they make those decisions.
Page 4
SMITH COLLEGE ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
AND POLICY PROGRAM NEWSLETTER
EARTH DAY: A History
Excerpted with permission- www.earthday.net
E
arth Day -- Each year April 22
marks the anniversary of the birth
of the modern environmental movement in 1970. Among other things, 1970
in the U.S. brought with it the Kent
State shootings, the advent of fiber optics, Apollo 13, the Beatles' last album,
the death of Jimi Hendrix, the birth of
Mariah Carey, and the meltdown of fuel
rods in the Savannah River nuclear plant
near Aiken, South Carolina -- an incident not acknowledged for 18 years.
Americans to take to the streets, parks,
and auditoriums to demonstrate for a
healthy, sustainable environment. Denis
Hayes, the national coordinator, and his
staff organized massive coast-to-coast
rallies. Thousands of colleges and universities organized protests against the
deterioration of the environment.
Groups that had been fighting against
oil spills, polluting factories and power
plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, the loss of wilderness, and the
extinction of wildlife suddenly realized
they shared common values. Earth Day
t was into such a world that the first
1970 also achieved a rare political alignEarth Day was born. Earth Day
ment, enlisting support from Republifounder Gaylord Nelson, then a U.S.
cans and Democrats, rich and poor, city
Senator from Wisconsin, proposed the
slickers and farmers, tycoons and labor
first nationwide environmental protest
leaders. The first Earth Day led to the
"to shake up the political establishment
creation of the United States Environand force this issue onto the national
agenda. It was a gamble," he recalls, "but mental Protection Agency and the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water, and
it worked." At the time, Americans
Endangered Species acts.
were slurping leaded gas through massive V8 sedans. Industry belched out
smoke and sludge with little fear of legal
wenty years later a group of enviconsequences or bad press. Air pollution
ronmental leaders asked Denis
was commonly accepted as the smell of Hayes to organize another big campaign.
prosperity. Environment was a word
This time, Earth Day went global, mobithat appeared more often in spelling
lizing 200 million people in 141 counbees than on the evening news.
tries and lifting the status of environmental issues on to the world stage.
Earth Day 1990 gave a huge boost to
arth Day 1970 turned that all
recycling efforts worldwide and helped
around by motivating 20 million
I
T
E
pave the way for the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janiero.
A
s the millennium approached,
Hayes agreed to spearhead another campaign, this time focused on
global warming and a push for clean
energy. For 2000, Earth Day had the
Internet to help link activists around
the world. By the time April 22nd
rolled around, 5,000 environmental
groups around the world were on
board, reaching out to hundreds of
millions of people in a record 184
countries. Events varied: A talking
drum chain traveled from village to
village in Gabon, Africa, for example,
while hundreds of thousands of people gathered on the National Mall in
Washington, D.C., USA. Earth Day
2000 sent the message loud and clear
that citizens the world 'round wanted
quick and decisive action on clean
energy.
T
he fight for a clean environment
continues today. We invite you
to be a part of this history and a part
of Earth Day. Discover energy you
didn't even know you had. Channel it
into building a clean, healthy, diverse
world for generations to come. Join
your fellow citizens at an Earth Day
celebration this April!
Earth Day at Smith College
Join us Tuesday April 22nd for lunchtime and afternoon festivities in celebration of our Earth:
Food, arts & crafts, games, activities and more!
Chapin Lawn. Rain location– Davis Ballroom.
Organized by Smith Environmental Coalition (SEC):
Agricultural Activists, Bike Kitchen, Engineers for a Sustainable World, Gaia, Hillel, MASSPIRG, Recycling
For more information or to help plan the events, contact Alana at amiller@smith.edu
SPRING 2007
Page 5
GreenSmith: Join the Coalition!
Working towards a just, sustainable future
www.smith.edu/green
Putting Down Roots: The Hopeful Beginnings of a Community Garden at Smith
By Caroline Henderson (‘11) and Hannah Dunning (‘09)
A
bout a year ago, a group of students began conversations about starting a community garden somewhere on Smith
Campus. Those conversations have turned into concrete plans; there is now a dedicated group of students trying
to establish a garden on the Smith campus. Our group aims for the garden to be a practical academic tool, an outlet for
community engagement, and a model of sustainability. These priorities will culminate in an educational experiment,
allowing us to put Smith’s commitment to sustainability into practice and mobilize the community to promote cohesion
and continuity. This garden will revive the historical tradition of students growing victory gardens, while giving it
modern-day relevance.
The popularity of community gardens has spread across the country, especially on college campuses. Mount Holyoke
recently celebrated a successful first year of their garden. Other small, liberal arts private schools like Yale, Bowdoin,
and Dickinson Colleges have invested resources and energy into successful community gardens.
The Smith garden project will serve several purposes on campus. It will be an educational resource for a variety of departments and programs on campus, including Anthropology, Biology, Engineering, Environmental Science and Policy,
Geology, History, Landscape Studies and Sociology. Plants will be both utilitarian and decorative, such as edible ornamentals. The garden will tangibly connect us with our landscape, allowing us to partake in it, to learn about, and interact
with natural systems that support and enrich our lives. It also has great potential as a model of sustainable land use.
We plan to make the best of our short New England growing season by growing seedlings in the Spring for an early
start and planting late-harvesting crops such as root vegetables and squash. Ideally two or three students will remain on
campus over the summer, managing the garden and engaging volunteers. Crops we harvest, both during the summer
and the fall semester, will be stored and prepared for a Harvest Dinner at the end of October.
We’re working hard to secure a garden site and the approval of the Botanical Gardens and Campus Planning Committee and hope to begin gardening this semester. At this point, the project needs your support! If you would like to view
our proposal, volunteer, or have any comments, questions or feedback, please send us an email at
smithgarden@gmail.com.
Massachusetts Power Shift (MAPS): April 11-14th By Alana Miller (‘10)
F
Have you Heard?
This fall Smith College
brought its new website
GreenSmith online!
ortunately, most students now understand the science and consequences of global
warming and are ready to do something to stop it. Last November over 6,000 students
from around the country met in D.C for Power Shift—the first ever national conference on
climate change. That was just the beginning, and this April, Massachusetts Power Shift
(MAPS) will rock the capitol as hundreds, if not thousands, of students come together and
demand a just, sustainable future. The goal of MAPS is the passage of the Global Warming
Solutions Act, a historical bill that would make Massachusetts a leader in fighting climate
change, as it sets carbon reduction targets deemed necessary by scientists—a 20% reduction
by the year 2020, and an 80% reduction by 2050 (see pg 7 ). A series of workshops, panels
and speakers on Saturday and Sunday April 12 and 13th will lead up to a massive lobby day
on Monday April 14th, where students will meet with their Representatives and demand
strong legislation to stop global warming!
Conceived of as THE place
to go for information
related to the environment
and sustainability at Smith,
the site features a regularly
updated events page, info
about campus sustainability
initiatives, relevant academic
programs and research and
much, much more!
Here at Smith we hope to bring 50 students to the conference! Join us for this exciting
summit -contact Alana Miller (amiller@smith.edu) to get involved. www.masspowershift.org
Check it out at:
www.smith.edu/green
Page 6
SMITH COLLEGE ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
AND POLICY PROGRAM NEWSLETTER
Focus the Nation at Smith College
B
ack in Fall 2006, the Environmental Science and Policy Program hosted a lunchtime lecture by
Eban Goodstein, professor of economics at Lewis and Clark University
titled “Seen Inconvenient Truth?
Now What?”. Goodstein’s talk at
Smith was one of the first of many
given at campuses around the country to raise interest in a national initiative called Focus the Nation; a national teach-in designed to engage
people all across America on January
31, 2008, in a conversation about
how the U.S. can best address the
very real problem of global warming.
I
n the brief year since that talk it
seems many more people understand that climate change will likely
be the defining issue of their lifetime.
Ordinary citizens “get” that for the
first time actions they take or do not
take will directly affect the future of
the planet. It was this sense of urgency that inspired a group of faculty, staff and students to work together during the Fall 2007 semester
to organize Smith’s Focus the Nation- a day of events designed to engage as many members of the Smith
community as possible in the discussion of global warming solutions.
H
ere at Smith the day started with a
keynote presentation on climate
change and human conflict by Michael
Klare, Five College Professor of Peace
and World Security Studies. Klare’s talk
was followed by two series of concurrent breakout sessions, in which hundreds of campus and Northampton
community members attended workshops led by faculty, staff, community
organizers and students. Participants
engaged in constructive discussion about
“For days afterwards, I heard people across
campus sharing what they learned in the
break-out sessions and the other events.”
-Rouwenna Lamm, ‘08
a broad number of topics relating to
global warming solutions, including how
race and class relate to a sustainable future; to the psychology behind activism;
to climate change on the U.S./Mexico
border. These topics allowed participants to step beyond the basic facts
about greenhouse gas emissions and
contemplate the innumerable ties between climate change and our society.
S
uccess! On January 31st, 2008,
over 1,900 colleges, universities,
schools, faith organizations, civic
groups, and others held events as
part of the Focus the Nation campaign. By conservative estimates,
more than a million people joined in
this civil engagement, holding conversations about real solutions and
their possible consequences with
politicians at all levels of local, state
and national government, college
presidents, scientists and each other.
Community members talk about the issues in the
morning break-out session about race and class.
O
ther events throughout the day
were designed to engage community members in the conversation about
global warming solutions in other ways.
These included a bike-to-battery set up
in front of the Campus Center where
passers-by could listen to music and drink
fresh apple juice made by machines
pedal-powered by students from the Bike
Kitchen; a fun game of “The Climate in
Jeopardy” between teams of administra-
The “Climate in Jeopardy” teams get to know
each other before the game begins.
tors, faculty, staff and students; a voter
registration table, complete with fact
sheets on presidential candidate platforms
on global warming; and a reading of part
of the original play “Winter Requiem”
written by Rachel Lerner-Ley (‘08).
T
he sunny, energy-filled day culminated with a legislative roundtable
where the ideas and policy solutions compiled during the day’s sessions were presented to those most able to act upon
them. The panel was moderated by Smith
Provost Susan Bourque, and included
Smith College President Carol T. Christ,
David Dionne (Green Rainbow Party),
Northampton Mayor Mary Claire Higgins, Isaac Mass (Republican State Committeeman), and Senator Stanley
Rosenberg (D-Amherst).
E
ach of the twenty breakout sessions
came away with solutions participants believe should be implemented as
soon as possible in order to fight global
warming. Below are some of the pro(Continued on page 12)
SPRING 2007
Page 7
Policy Solutions to Climate Change
By Alana Miller (‘10) and Rosalie Ray (‘10)
I
t is going to take a lot of effort to
avoid the worst effects of climate
change, but we already have the technology and knowledge of how to
achieve a sustainable future- now we
just need the political will to enact and
enforce the policies to guarantee it.
Some of these policy solutions are
being implemented now- everything
from individual actions and College
policy to local initiatives and State and
Federal policy. Two policies you should
know about are the College and University President’s Climate Commitment (CUPCC), a pledge recently
signed by President Christ for Smith
College, and the Global Warming Solutions Act, a historic piece of legislation
currently moving through the Massachusetts legislature.
O
ver the past several years, numerous individuals, communities and
organizations have stepped forward to
help fight climate change- mainly in
response to the growing sense of urgency from the scientific and environmental communities and the lack of
political leadership in government. Colleges and universities, often impelled by
dedicated students, faculty and staff,
have begun to realize the important
leadership role they play in this sphere to promote ecological literacy, help
develop solutions, and provide a model
of sustainable living. This realization
has led presidents of many institutions
to sign the CUPCC, a groundwork plan
for schools to eventually become carbon neutral.
T
he CUPCC states that through a
series of steps each campus will
completely reduce its production of
greenhouse gas emissions. The plan
includes:
* Taking an inventory of greenhouse emissions
* Setting targets and milestones to achieve climate neutrality
* Choosing from short-term actions to quickly
reduce emissions
* Incorporating sustainability in the College
curriculum
T
similar policies pass on a larger scale.
Action to stop global warming must
ultimately be mandated at a federal and
international level, but for now a number of states are taking the lead. California, Hawaii, New Jersey and Florida
have stepped up to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to levels scientists
conclude necessary to avoid the worst
effects of global warming— specifically
cutting emissions 20% by the year
2020, and 80% by the year 2050.
he College has already started
down the path towards carbon
neutrality. Following the start of the
College’s partnership with Clean AirCool Planet in 2004, the first campuswide greenhouse gas emissions inventory was taken. The inventory report,
written by Elizabeth Thomas (‘05), can
be found on the GreenSmith website.
(www.smith.edu/green) Since then,
Smith College has been in the process of
trying to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, most notably with the installation
of a cogeneration plant. The plant,
scheduled to come online later this year
will reduce Smith’s greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 35%.
ere in Massachusetts, a groundbreaking bill called the Global
Warming Solutions Act (GWSA) would
limit Massachusetts’ emissions to those
scientific levels and set up a series of
committees and studies to determine
how to meet these standards. This bill
would make Massachusetts a world
leader in stopping climate change and
provide a model for the national legislation we need.
T
T
his spring, members of the student
group Engineers for a Sustainable
World (Najia Ahmed ('09), Margo Kulkarni ('10), Rosalie Ray ('10), Jessica Wilbarger ('08), and Elisabeth Wolfe ('10))
will update the greenhouse gas inventory
and use the data in a special studies project with engineering Professor Donna
Riley. The inventory update will help the
College evaluate whether the various
campaigns to reduce electricity use in
the dorms have been effective, and provide detailed guidance for future steps
we might take to reduce more emissions.
The inventory process also dovetails
nicely with the City of Northampton’s
efforts at updating their own greenhouse
gas inventory, as part of their ongoing
Sustainability Plan.
W
hile so much activity to reduce
emissions on the Smith campus
is very exciting, it is also critical that
H
his bill has lots of momentum
and in March we hope to have it
pass favorably out of the Senate!
Students across the state are working to
make sure it gets through both the
Senate and House as a strong bill that
includes the above mentioned targets
of 20% by 2020 and 80% by 2050. We
hope this bill will pass by Earth Day
and have been lobbying our representatives to help make it happen.
P
lease join us in some of our many
efforts on campus, and most
importantly, come to MAssachusetts
Power Shift (MAPS) in April -a statewide conference in Boston dedicated to
the passage of the GWSA. (Please see
page 5 for more information about
MAPS).
Page 8
SMITH COLLEGE ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
AND POLICY PROGRAM NEWSLETTER
Climate Change: Science and Solutions
8th National Conference on Science, Policy and the Environment
By Maribeth Kniffin, ‘08
F
rom January 16th–18th 2008, I
attended the National Council for
Science and the Environment’s 8th annual
conference in Washington, D.C. titled
“Climate Change: Science and Solutions.”
This conference was exceptionally well
organized as it brought together a great
diversity of speakers and participants.
While the conference speakers mainly
consisted of professional and academic
scientists ranging from climatologists,
biologists, geologists, and engineers (to
name a few), they also included policy
makers, an indigenous woman from the
Arctic Circle, and student activists. Such
diversity incorporated a wide range of
ideas in the three-day discussion concerning the “civilizational challenge” of climate change.
T
hroughout the conference, I had the
opportunity to attend numerous
keynote and plenary presentations as well
as breakout sessions, all of which were
provocative and encouraged active involvement in climate change solutions. In
the first breakout session I attended,
Eban Goodstein, professor at Lewis and
Clark University and project director of
Focus the Nation, described Focus the
Nation, the national climate change
teach-in that took place on January 31,
2008. He also led a discussion about what
we as a nation can do after the event to
mobilize the masses of our country to
participate in the necessary steps to reduce our national carbon footprint.
A
second notable speaker was Mohan
Munasinghe, vice chair of the UN
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) and chairman of the
Munasinghe Institute for Development
(MIND). Munasinghe described the challenging process of formulating the
IPCC’s reports, including the 4th Assessment Report that received the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize along with Al Gore for
work on climate change. His presentation
outlined the irony of how developing
nations contribute the most CO2 emis-
sions, yet many poor coastal nations and
island communities are the ones which
now suffer, and will continue to suffer
the most, unfairly penalizing the poor.
During his talk Munasinghe provided
methods for developing solutions to climate change that embrace economics,
and include environmental and social
interactions of local and global communities.
O
ne particular highlight of the conference for me was a speech by
Sarah James, an indigenous woman from
the Arctic Circle who has served on the
Alaskan Gwitch’in Steering Committee
and is a Goldman Environmental Prize
Awardee. Working against the threat of
oil development in the coastal plain of
the Arctic Refuge, she strives to educate
the public and policymakers on the need
The conference left me in awe
of the job our generation has before us
and motivated to do something about it.
to protect the Gwich’in Nation’s sacred
territories. Although she is not a scientist,
she exhibited vast knowledge about the
astounding signs of climate change within
her community and its surroundings,
such as the Arctic’s melting ice that has
affected fishing availability and the resulting change in wolf behavior. Knowledge
of the land is embedded within her as a
result of generations of her people having
depended upon the natural world, especially the Caribou, for survival. The dynamics between her profound knowledge
and that of the countless scientists’ attending the conference were a grand example of the varied forms of expertise in
the world.
T
he three day conference was packed
full of amazing people and discussions. The final day incorporated a panel
of representatives from each of the Democratic presidential candidates
(Republican candidates were invited but
chose not to participate), including candidate Dennis Kucinich himself. Other
inspiring speakers included Thomas
Lovejoy, president of the H. John Heinz
Center for Science, Economics, and the
Environment; Jessy Tolkan, campaign
director of the Energy Action Coalition;
James Rogers, CEO of Duke Energy
Corporation; and Stephen Schneider,
world renowned climatologist from
Stanford University. I also had the opportunity to act as the volunteer note
taker in a breakout session titled Climate
Change and Forest Management.
The overarching theme of the
conference was two-fold. First, it echoed that we as a global nation need to
take urgent action to limit amount of
CO2 emissions. In fact, several speakers
stated that we need to “do with energy
what we did in space,” while others
claimed that we need to have an “arms
race on energy efficiency.” The second
theme articulated that improving the
communication between scientists and
the public is an integral part promoting
action among the masses. The conference left me in awe of the job our generation has before us and motivated to
do something about it.
I
t was an honor to attend this conference as a representative of Smith
College. I thank the Environmental
Science and Policy Program for the
financial support which allowed me to
participate in this exciting national
discussion in Washington, D.C. I also
encourage other Smithies to take advantage of this annual national conference
in future years. It may change your life.
The ES&P program regularly supports
students who wish to attend relevant
conferences. Contact Joanne Benkley
for more information or an application.
Next year’s NCSE conference topic is
Biodiversity. Go to NCSEonline.org for
details.
SPRING 2007
Page 9
MEET THE ES&P INTERNS
HANNAH BELSKY (‘10) is an Economics major and Study of Women and Gender
minor. As a member of Smith College's MassPIRG, Hannah helps mobilize students to fight
climate change. Before coming to Smith, Hannah served on the Environmental Justice Committee of the Sierra Student Coalition, where she worked to ensure the youth environmental
movement's commitment to anti-oppression. Hannah is also interning at Verité this semester,
a labor auditing and research non-profit in Amherst, MA. She is an avid cross-country skier,
hiker, and (amateur) filmmaker. Hannah plans to study abroad in Israel in the Fall. Hannah
has helped develop and maintains the GreenSmith website. Officially hired to work for the
College Committee on Sustainability, she is supervised by Joanne Benkley in the ES&P office.
As the Web Intern for the Environmental Science and Policy department,
ALEXANDRA GORIN (’08) melds her HTML knowledge with her
passion for the environment to produce the department’s newest face. Her
studies in economics and engineering science have allowed her to integrate
technical comprehension and business understanding. Over this past Interterm, Alexandra traveled to Peru to study both the organic and fair trade
coffee markets, and traditional agricultural techniques; culminating in an
analysis of the role these markets play in Peru’s overall economic development. She is currently working on a study of wind turbine technology in the
context of present energy markets to determine their viability as a commercial
energy source. As a native Californian, Alexandra enjoys snowboarding in the
Sierras and hiking in Yosemite. After graduating this year, she hopes to pursue a career working in energy market technological development.
ALANA MILLER ('10) is a Latin American Studies major, ES&P minor. Her
academic concentration is social revolutions in Mexico. She plans to study abroad in
Puebla in the Spring of 2009. Alana is active in the climate movement and involved in
several organizations both on and off campus dedicated to stopping global warming.
She focuses primarily on coordinating MassPIRG's global warming campaign, working
to engage students to make Smith more energy efficient, and to help pass statewide
legislation. She is active in the growing Massachusetts climate movement and hopes to
see schools across the state working together to reach the same goals. Outside of those
interests, she spends some time everyday at Smith's barn with her horse, Tango. Alana
plans to take next semester off to work in New Mexico to help make climate change a
key issue in the November Presidential elections.
RACHEL NEURATH ('09) is currently in Mystic, Connecticut with the WilliamsMystic Maritime Studies Program, which she highly recommends. At Smith, Rachel studies geology and environmental science with a self-designed major in Earth and Environmental Science. Yes, she likes rocks. But her real interest is in climate change. Last semester, Rachel studied Holocene climate change at Kampoosa Bog in Stockbridge, Massachusetts with Professor Robert Newton of the Geology Department. This semester she
is looking at sea-level change at a salt marsh near Mystic. When she is not tromping
through bogs and marshes, Rachel loves backpacking, canoeing, and baking bread.
Page 10
SMITH COLLEGE ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
AND POLICY PROGRAM NEWSLETTER
Afloat for the Summer -in a Classroom
By Marie McLane, ’08
A
fter my first year at Smith I
wanted to find a job or internship
near my hometown in the Pacific
Northwest. In particular, I hoped to
find something that involved sailing or
that was environmentally related. When
I came across the Sound Experience
program it matched all my interests;
working on a tall ship sailing around
Puget Sound in Washington, and teaching marine science to youth and the
public. Since that first summer I have
spent several weeks each year volunteering with the organization, and plan
to work with them again next fall.
S
ound Experience is a non-profit
organization that operates the tall
ship Adventuress; a schooner that is 133
to capture whale specimens for the
Smithsonian. However, one disaster
after another led the schooner to be
abandoned in San Francisco where it
was refitted and used as a bar pilot for
many years. The Adventuress is now a
national historic landmark, and is used
to educate the public about the natural
science and history of the Puget Sound.
T
he mission of the program is to
“help people discover Puget Sound
and learn from its majesty and vulnerability.” As a deckhand/educator
aboard the Adventuress my job is to help
sail the ship, lead a watch, and teach
basic marine science. The groups that
sail on the Adventuress range from elementary classes, to city councils, to
youth in drug rehab, to homeless kids
from the Seattle area. The programs
vary from a quick 3-hour sail to a full
week on the water. All groups are
taught about watersheds and the Puget
Sound, plankton and marine mammals,
and nautical skills such as navigation and
sail theory.
M
The Adventuress under sail.
feet length over all, and with 5,478 sq.
feet of sail. Built in 1913, it was originally designed to sail to the Bering sea
(cont’d from page 1)
occasional platypus as they went about
their daily business. At night they often
heard animals rustling in the bushes usually a small kangaroo-like marsupial
called a Red-legged Pademelon.
W
ould Sylvia recommend a semester abroad with SFS?
Absolutely! If you are interested in an
experience of a lifetime, you too should
diatoms and dinoflagellates are used
together with a microscope to identify
the catch from the plankton tows.
ost groups have very little knowledge of marine life or the Puget
Sound environment, and being on the
swaying, tilting sailboat can be very distracting to the younger children, so as
educators we are always trying to make
lessons as interactive as possible. For
example, skits and dances about the lifecycle of a barnacle are common, and
large canvas posters with paintings of
Shipmates: Marie (middle) and two friends
at the Tacoma Tall Ships festival, 2005
W
ith 30-40 people living together
aboard the boat, life can be very
difficult at times, yet it is also very powerful and rewarding. The boat is used
as a miniature earth in which we are
aware of how many gallons of water
and waste and how many pounds of
food we are using every day. The kids
have often never thought of the earth
as a closed system and it is amazing to
watch them adapt and change throughout even a few days aboard the ship.
T
he sailing season aboard the Adventuress runs from March through
November, and staff are generally hired
for 2-3 month positions, although
month long internships are available
and volunteers are more than welcome.
More information can be found at
www.soundexp.org.
consider one of the many exciting
study abroad options available to Smith
students.
The School for Field Studies is just one
of many approved study abroad
options with an environmental focus
offered at Smith.
For more information, please visit:
www.smith.edu/studyabroad/
programs.html
Beautiful Australia. Photo: Sylvia Vega (09)
SPRING 2007
Page 11
MEET THE ‘NEW’ FACULTY HELPING STEER ES&P
NATHANAEL FORTUNE
N
at Fortune is an Associate Professor in the Physics Department. His environmentrelated research has recently been focused on a solar energy test site located on the
roof of McConnell Hall. This Spring he and his Physics 100 students are looking at different
types of solar devices that have been producing hot water for McConnell hall since they
were installed in the fall; they are interested specifically in how well the devices work under
different weather conditions. Professor Fortune hopes that this project will both help track
energy use on campus and examine what types of solar devices would work best on different
buildings at Smith in the future. He is also interested in creating small, portable energy
efficient buildings that can be manufactured and put together locally, without highly specialized equipment or labor. Professor Fortune is Co-chair of Massachusetts’ Green Rainbow Party and sits on the Energy
Committee in his hometown of Whately.
MICHELLE JOFFROY
M
ichelle Joffroy is an Associate Professor in the Spanish Department. She is also affiliated
with both Latin American Studies and the Study of Women and Gender. She currently
teaches two classes related to the environment on the U.S/Mexico border, both pre- and postNAFTA. In her classes she looks at environmental degradation from development around
maquiladoras (factories making goods for export), and the resulting air, water and soil pollutioncontamination that affects not only the health of workers in the maquiladoras but also the people
living in the colonias, or very poor settlements, nearby. Professor Joffroy’s motivation for being
involved in ES&P is rooted in her interest in Latin America and the global South. She believes
that questions of how we view ourselves here in the U.S and how we address global issues like
climate change and sustainability must include a Southern perspective. In Spring 2009 Professor Joffroy will teach a class on
women and activism in Latin America with a focus on the environment.
PAUL VOSS
P
aul Voss is an Assistant Professor in the Engineering Program. He teaches courses on air
pollution, continuum mechanics, and co-teaches the intro engineering course, which this Fall
incorporated a design project on solar houses. His research focuses on the atmosphere, including the
climate, pollution transport and miniature flight vehicles. He has developed state-of the-art balloons
that can measure various atmospheric features like pollutants, temperature, wind and air quality. He
recently released such a balloon in arctic Norway, and has done similar projects in the U.S and Mexico. He is currently helping develop a specialized research station at Smith’s Whately property, looking at chemistry-climate connections by measuring air quality through ozone and aerosols.
DID YOU KNOW...
• The United States produces and uses 1/3 of the world’s paper supply.
• Forests in the southeastern U.S. now supply a quarter of the total global amount of paper.
• Producing one tom of paper requires 2-3 times its weight in trees.
• Making paper from recycled content creases 74% less air pollution and 35% less water pollution.
WE STRONGLY ENCOURAGE RECYCLING
(Continued from page 6)
Page 12
posed solutions which were presented to political leaders and
the President of the College at the evening panel:
1) Take dramatic steps to reduce CO2 emissions on all possible
fronts– including transportation, housing, technology development, conservation & efficiency.
2) Require better economic accounting of the costs of CO2
emissions and other contributors to climate change. All options
need to be considered. Some ideas were full cost accounting,
carbon tax, and cap and trade systems.
3) Many countries, states, communities and institutions have
already made positive strides to slowing climate change. We need
to look to these models.
4) Dramatic increase in research, development, and implementation of renewable energy technologies is necessary and we
support increased government funding for new energy, building,
and transportation technologies.
Focus the Nation at Smith: Students and staff enjoy
the sunny day and ‘pedal’ some fresh juice at a stand
sponsored by the student group Bike Kitchen. Standing is the group’s leader, Elisabeth Wolfe (‘10).
The Environmental Science and Policy Program
is an interdisciplinary program that ties together the
natural sciences, humanities, and social sciences with a
faculty steering committee from across these disciplines.
Each semester, the ES&P program hosts a variety of
events, ranging from film screenings to lectures.
SoWho’s Involved in the Program?
Interim Director, SP08: Amy Rhodes (Geology)
Program Coordinator: Joanne Benkley
Spatial Analysis Lab Coordinator: Jon Caris
Steering Committee/ Faculty Advisers:
Donald Baumer (Government)
Nathanael Fortune (Physics)
Maureen Fagan (Chemistry)
Elliot Fratkin (Anthropology)
Andrew Guswa (Engineering)
Virginia Hayssen (Biology)
Shizuka Hsieh (Chemistry)
Michelle Joffroy (Spanish and Portuguese)
Leslie King (Sociology)
David Newbury (History)
Robert Newton (Geology)
Paulette Peckol (Biology)
Jeffry Ramsey (Philosophy)
L. David Smith (Biological Sciences)
Paul Voss (Engineering)
Gregory White (Government)
ES&P Student Editor: Alana Miller ‘10
We’d love to hear from you! Send comments and contributions to us at the address below left.
Environmental Science and Policy Program
Smith College
Bass Hall 107
Tel: 413.585.3951
Fax: 413.585.3786
enviro@email.smith.edu
TO: