Environmental Studies Talks Promote Innovation

Standing in front of a crowd of some 50 faculty, students and community members during lunch last Thursday, Oct. 25, Executive Director of Équiterre and Ashoka Fellow Sidney Ribaux explained how his organization, Équiterre, built the greenest building in Canada with no money, land or building experience.

The process began some 10 years after Équiterre’s inauguration. The organization was founded in 1993 by a young group of idealists infused with energy from the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro.

For the first 10 years of their existence, as they began to grow and establish themselves in Québec as one of the leading advocates for climate and energy solutions, environmental education, food system reform and policy change, the non-profit was based out of a decrepit building that leaked in heavy rains. They were focused on using their limited budget for their projects, as any office space would do.

But in 2002, Équiterre’s Board of Directors decided it was time for an upgrade.

“The board told me ‘You can’t go on working in these conditions,’” said Ribeaux. They gave me that mandate to move the organization to a new building. And then they added: ‘And you’re going to make this an educational project, and you’re going to make sure that your move is exemplary.’”

“We didn’t own land,” Ribeaux continued. “[We were] not a large non-profit, [nor] a large land-owner. I had no money. Our annual budget was a million dollars, but we weren’t accumulating anything. We had no loose money to invest, and had no idea how to go about building anything concrete really, apart from an educational campaign. The only thing we did have that helped was community. All we had, as a non-profit organization, was the ability to mobilize people and organizations — governments, non-profits and businesses.”

Ribaux spent the next 30 minutes explaining how Équiterre and its partner organizations went about building the greenest building in Canada, la Maison du Développement Durable — a building constructed to LEED Platinum standards — which opened its doors on Oct. 6, 2011.

Ribaux was invited to the College as a guest lecturer in the Howard E. Woodin Colloquium Series, a speaker series sponsored by the environmental studies program.

The series is named in honor of Professor Howard Woodin, one of the four founders of the College’s environmental studies program. The Colloquium’s purpose is to bring in people who are working on advanced or innovative projects in the environmental field and foster discussion and conversation around environmental problems and solutions.

“In some ways it’s the centerpiece of environmental studies and environmental affairs in the sense that every week its a gathering place for students, staff, faculty and community members to learn from each other,” said Director of Environmental Studies, Faculty Director of the Middlebury Center for Social Entrepreneurship and Professor of Economics Jon Isham.

“We have people from far away, people from the region, faculty and students themselves present; it’s a chance to talk about challenges and opportunities in the area of environmental studies and sustainability. We’re insanely proud of it. Everyone on this campus should know about this opportunity. Grab a lunch, come to Hillcrest from 12:30 to 1:30 on Thursday, and you’ll learn something.”

Virginia Wiltshire-Gordon ’16 has only missed one of the Woodin lectures this year and spoke enthusiastically of the series.

“I love going to the Hillcrest talks,” she said. “They’ve covered a broad range of environmental topics — a discussion about collaboration, the presentation of a river management study, conversations about public environmental education — the range really reflects the scope of the environmental studies program.”

Wiltshire-Gordon also noted that, in addition to the many interesting speakers, the series can help students connect with professors.

“It’s also a great time to get to know my professors outside of class,” she said. “I’ve seen both my biology and economics professors there and have been able to talk with them about what we heard. It’s great to see that they are so engaged in the community, [and it is] great to have the opportunity to learn alongside of them.”

Community engagement is an integral piece of the Woodin Colloquium, and it was a sentiment echoed by Ribaux as he wrapped up his presentation:

“We [built la Maison du Développement Durable] because of the partnerships that we created, because of the community that we mobilized.

We ended up with the building, but more importantly, we’ve ended up with a much stronger community, that’s now supporting everything we’re doing and helping us move forward.”