Inside Higher Ed starts of a recent article entitled The Gold Standard for Green Standards with the sentence, "Justin Bates makes the rounds on his campus carrying a sack of light bulbs. They are compact fluorescent models — the kind that use less energy than the standard incandescent ones found in many dorm rooms". Go Justin. Read the rest of the article here
Two major events occured today to elevate sustainability to the forefront of Williams. The first was President Schapiro's announcement to the college of the Climate Action Plan. The trustees met this weekend to discuss and unanimously passed a plan to reduce college CO2 emissions 10% below 1990 levels (or about 50% below today's levels) by 2020. That letter can be found here
The second item was the release of the College Sustainability Report Card. The Report Card examines and grades 100 schools across the United States and Canada on criteria including climate change policies, green building, and investment practices. It was produced by the Sustainable Endowments Initiative which is run by Mark Orlowski '04. I'm not sure if his connection to Williams swayed his organization's report, but Williams was one of only 4 schools to recieve an A-, the highest grade awarded. More can be found and the full report can be downlaoded here or here
The high school slide show is available to download. You can get it by clicking on the following link:
http://www.filehosting.cc/?d=0E0D2C65. Scroll down, fill in the three numbers, wait 30 seconds and then click 'download file'. Sorry for the invonvenience, but that's what it takes to do something for free.
It takes about 40 minutes to run through and emphasizes the science and effects of climate change before moving on to the possibilities for student action individually, in their school and in politics.
Please suggest changes and corrections, since there's a lot of room for improvement.
Over 120 students from the north east gathered at Middlebury College to discuss plans to shift their colleges to carbon neutrality. The weekend was held by Middlebury students working with the Sierra Student Coalition, the Campus Climate Challenge, Step It Up 2007 and Focus the Nation to inspire and educate student activists. The conference was entirely student run and many thanks go out to Middlebury students for making it all possible.
I got there late, so I missed a lot of the early talks, but the later ones I attended on education, organizing with an action plan and leapfrogging towards distant goals were all very informative. The best part might have been Saturday night, where we had dinner and hung out in the envi house. Good food and good beer was provided by Middlebury and lots of people just wanted to talk about the awesome things they were doing. It was a great way to peer into how other schools were organized and hear lots of amazing ideas. But even cooler was to feel like we were in part of a movement. The power of so many motivated people was palpable and many students said they felt like it was a life changing experience. Some compared it to the civil rights movement in its scope, ambition and support, and I would be inclined (optimistically) to agree. At the end we gathered in the middle of their science library for more snacks, greeting people and saying farewell, and of course some of Middlebury's classic climate action songs and dances. 
Most of our good ideas and goals from the weekend can be found on a Willipedia page here. If you are a Williams student please edit and update this document so that we can have some unifying goals to work from.
One final thought on climate action. I admire the ambition that goes into calling something 'carbon neutral'. It means a large monetary and institutional commitment. But its also a loose term. A school might be able to become carbon neutral overnight for as little as $300,000 a year if they simply purchase enough carbon credits to offset their operation. Sort of a modern day buying-of-indulgences. Middlebury is going to use carbon offsets for a large portion of its emissions, but they are using a time frame of the next 10 years to also make other changes. The issue becomes that its not clear how much they are changing and how much they are just offsetting. They aren't just doing offsets, which means education and infrastructure changes will be important, but its not clear to the casual observer how much they can save through efficiency measures.
Why not divide it up. Offset all of Campus immediately to do our part in achieving 'carbon neutrality' and at the same time work to reduce our Campus Emission Reduction by setting goals for local cuts in energy use. With these twin strategies the school would be doing its part immediately for the larger picture while being held to very high and obvious standards of operation at home.
Justin Bates starts his talk on global warming in the Berkshires at Mt. Greylock High School
Thursday marked the second day of the Williams regional outreach program. Five Ephs spoke to six periods of classes and one period of lunch at Mt. Greylock High School, reaching about 250 students and inspiring the creation of an environmental club at the school. The talk was based on the slide show developed over our Winter Study class on student activism with professor Singham. The show is intended to bring up some scary and local possible effects of climate change and then turn the focus to student climate action movement. The goal is to inspire students to become leader and motivate their schools and communities to reduce energy use, seek alternative energy sources and raise awareness on the issue.
When we arrived at the school, all we had was contact with a few teachers through email and a presentation that none of them had seen. By the time we left the students had already created an environmental club, they had their first important discussions on what they wanted to work on and we had over 30 email addresses to add to our contact lists.
The class periods before lunch were led by Williams students giving the presentation for the first time, offering them a valuable, 'trial by fire' learning experience into speaking to groups of students in an engaging manner. Then the lunch discussion involved 10 students who were interested learning whether it was possible to motivate students, even Mt. Greylock students, to act on climate change. We assured these potential leaders that a very wide range of people can become invested in climate change, but they must be approached on their own terms. Not everyone will come to a meeting and table to get signatures on a petition. Rather, students interested in engineering should be engaged in installing solar panels or producing bio-diesel and students who have more talent at art or theatre can use their skills to raise awareness and reach people in a different way.
In talking to this group of students I sensed it was very important to emphasize the group aspect of climate action, and really activism in general. Acting as individuals can be extremely frustrating, and pleas to the student body as a whole are rarely effective (if only everyone did this one small thing, then...). Instead, cultivating a group with a strong sense of membership and momentum, while being inclusive and fun is the best way to expand the scope and effectiveness of student actions.
By the time we left after the last bell our table at the front was crowded by dozens of students signing up their email address and asking lots of good questions. Maybe the most rewarding part for me was giving away the last two DO IT IN THE DARK stickers. We had given them out as prizes for answering questions correctly throughout the day and they were a hot item, probably for their scandalous nature. I thought the best way to give them out was based on a quick question: "Who is going to do the best climate action in the next month?" People's hands jumped up to say things like "convince my family to switch to CFL bulbs", "write a letter to the editor of the newspaper", and "sign my school up for Focus the Nation." I couldn't have been more pleased by the energy.
Four Williams climate action heroes drove down to Monument Mountain Regional High School in Great Barrington today. We visited four classes to present our slide show and talk about student involvement in global warming. I have given the slide show a few times, and Becca, John Dingee and Collette all took a turn of giving it themselves. The reactions were very good, especially when we gave out DO IT IN THE DARK bumper stickers to anyone who got a question right. We also had lots of props like hats, CFLs, posters and movies which kept the students entertained. The 9th and 10th graders were excellent, asking very good questions and looked very interested. 
Perhaps the highlight of my day was speaking to 5 students during their lunch period about what sorts of activism they'd already started on. They have a newly formed club, and at first they said they didn't have much of a plan. But once we started talking about projects like recycling and emissions reductions they knew exactly what they were talking about and how to go about doing it. I was very impressed and could only offer a few words of encouragement. We were sure to encourage them to sign up for Focus the Nation and the Campus Climate Challenge, if only for the resources available on those websites.
Tomorrow we're off to Mt. Greylock High School right here in Williamstown. Another long day, lots more climate action heroes to inspire.
Also, check out my Op-Ed in the Record today. (awaiting link)
After the civil rights bill was passed, King turned to focus his energies on deeper problems with American society. We don't heat about these efforts as much because, I think, they are more difficult to solve and lie closer to our core cultural values. He spoke of poverty and worker's rights and criticized America's use of violence in the world. And he urged us to turn away from a consumer society to a people centered society. These two articles say all this much better than I can, so read itsgettinghotinhere.org and FAIR.
Some might say that King is often co opted by many different causes for social justice, and that is as it should be. In fact he stood for many causes and cared about deeply about them all. We have thus far applied temporary bandages (civil rights act, endangered species act, Americans with disabilities act, EPA regulations, etc) to try and fix a bleeding cut. That wound continues to bleed injustice, however indirectly. Are we going to keep adding bandages or are we going to heal the wound?
Biggest meeting yet of the Thursday Night Group Juggernaut! 35 people total showed up, with some drifting in and out to check it out, and others excited about getting involved. Some came because of Jared Diamond last night, others because they'd been meaning to for a while, and still others because their friends dragged them.
We split up into 3 groups again. The first (with Justin) is working on the climate action plan announcement, most likely set for early spring semester. There will be life-size cut-outs of Morty advocating for a cleaner climate, T-shirts that read "Amherst sucks energy (front) Amherst blows CO2 (back)", a 'get some action' party and of course posters, fliers and other information.
The second group (with Adrian) is polishing our ongoing CFL exchange. It is set to receive its second batch of 1000 bulbs and begin a comprehensive plan of notifying dorms before the exchange and then posting a sticker on all doors that have been done. This will show a dorm that everyone is involved and doing something. 
The third group (with Julia/Morgan) completed its first project of our "do something" campaign with 120 color posters, printed on re-used paper that went up on campus tonight. After an exciting discussion about a pledge/bumper sticker campaign to reduce driving on campus, we opted to continue to focus on energy, which we know more about here. The project will consist of a pledge and sticker to the extent of shutting off devices when you leave your room. We're hoping to have this project coincide with the climate action plan's announcement.
Although its easy to talk about ideas for projects, TNG has been exciting thus far because of its successes (light bulbs, posters, movie showing, etc) and the ability of people to get involved easily. In most group meetings 20 people sit and listen to the same few people talk. This gets boring. For us, you're involved the moment we get going and everything you have to say or idea you have will get listened to and considered.
I was so excited about it all that I forget to get a big group picture to post here. Alas, some other time.
Happy climate action...
Two schools are lined up for Williams students to come speak. Great Barrington's Monument High School and Mt. Greylock High School are both on board, probably for next week. In addition, the superintendents of all of Berkshire county are being emailed about our offer.
For those of you who don't know, this involves going to a school to do a slide show on climate change and student activism to several classes. Then we have lunch with students interested in taking on more of a leadership role. We try and use Focus the Nation and the Campus Climate Challenge are our two action plans.
In other news, the CFL exchange is continuing as we speak. The announcement of the climate action plan is going to be heralded by public art (such as a polar bear made from incandescent lightbulbs) and big, cardboard cut-outs of Morty. Tonight a group of 8th graders from North Adams gave a presentation on global warming to a packed crowd in Griffin 6, attended by students, community members and a local senator. Later this week we'll be rolling out a poster campaign, tentatively called the 'do something' campgaign. See example below. 
Friday night the Nordic ski team and friends convened in the Mission dining hall to take over the big TV from the football players. We popped in the Al Gore movie and watched it over dinner, much to the consternation of a few of our neighboring tables. Of course we asked if it was OK to change the TV first and they agreed, but some of the football players that came later weren't as happy as their friends.
While we watched we were privy to the interesting conversation going on. A few of them were trying to deny the existence of climate change, while some of their friends were a little more insist ant. The defining argument came down to "...all I know is its 60 degrees outside in January."
I'd call it a successful event. Next week I want to show Who Killed the Electric Car the same way. Perhaps more to follow.
The college will have a new dean, and I, for one, couldn't be happier about their choice. I know Karen a little and I think she will be very interested in making changes to the college that reflect the needs of a warming world and a more aware student body.
To the Williams Community,
I am delighted to report that, after consulting with the Faculty Steering Committee, I have offered the position of Dean of the College to Karen Merrill of the History Department and she has accepted.
Karen will take on primary responsibility for all aspects of student life on July 1 after Nancy Roseman's seven years of remarkable service as Dean. Nancy had announced earlier her intent to return to fulltime teaching and research.
In addition to Karen's distinguished work as a teacher and award-winning scholar she has administrative experience as Director of the Center for Environmental Studies. She also has served on the College's Committee on Academic Standing, the Committee on Pedagogy and Evaluation, and the Stetson-Sawyer Planning Committee.
Williams is fortunate to have someone of her ability to carry on the College's long tradition of calling on members of the faculty to fill senior administrative positions.
I hope you will join me in thanking Nancy and Karen for the important work done, and yet to come, on behalf of all Williams students.
Best regards,
M. Schapiro
The Union of Concerned Scientists released a report on Wednesday accusing Exxon Mobil of spending millions of dollars to manipulate public opinion on the seriousness of global warming.
“Many of the tactics, and even some of the same organizations and actors used by Exxon Mobil to mislead the public, draw upon the tobacco industry’s 40-year disinformation campaign,” the report said. link
Winter Study is here. This year that means hardcore activism and we hit the ground running today. 12 students are signed up for our course on student activism in global warming. We come from all different experience levels, but people seem very motivated and excited to work on lots of projects that are going on. Number one will be outreach to highschools, but we'll also be working on a photo presentation from affected peoples in Scandinavia and preparing for the announcement of the Williams climate action plan. Here we go...
