Editorial: Green Issue 2.0

If last year’s Green Issue was meant to be a groundbreaking endeavor, we at The Campus are even more excited about this year’s incarnation. While last year’s issue appeared as a novelty, albeit an important and resourceful one, this second-annual issue represents someting more. In some ways, it is a partly selfish pursuit to establish our own green tradition ­— however, it is simultaneously a confirmation that we are serious about continuing to highlight the numerous green topics that exist daily on our idyllic campus. Like last year, each section of the paper, from News to Sports, Opinions to Arts, had more than enough content to fill an entire edition — but unlike last year, we have decided not to devote an entire issue to environmental sustainability.

The reason for this is that to say Middlebury is defined by its environmentalism is to compartmentalize a student body that is diverse enough to evade any such blanket statement. Like saying we are an “outdoorsy” school, or an “athletic” school, or a “liberal” school, saying we are an “environmentally conscious” school shoves aside a significant part of our population that does not share the fervor that many members of our community show toward environmental issues. Undoubtedly these students are as much a part of Middlebury as Sunday Night Group, and their contributions are no less significant towards our institutional awareness and reputation. Last year, by neglecting important campus events such as play openings and NESCAC championships, we fell short of the mandate of our constitution to “provide unbiased information on campus news and events.”

This year, we are continuing to cover our normal range of topics, while nonetheless highlighting the environmental consciousness that is an important part of Middlebury’s identity and history. In doing so, our goal is to cover more important green topics with more in-depth coverage than we did last year, all while continuing to provide the campus community with up-to-date news and information. Another place where this year is different than last is that we have not significantly “greened” our production process, and while we recognize the inherent paradox of printing a Green Issue on dead trees, we are cognizant of how simply covering these topics has helped open our eyes to the subtleties of environmentalism. Now we turn the lights off when we leave, and the computers off when we are finished — small changes, but important steps in our institutional quest to help promote both environmental and economic sustainability. Our hope is that our Green

Issue promotes the same awareness amongst our readers that it has within our own ranks.