A friendly call for institutional responsibility

Author: Mike Ives '06.5

A week before Feb break, I attended a lecture at the Ilsley Public Library in Middlebury on "off the grid" energy systems given by Paul Kenyon, a mechanical engineer and freethinker from nearby Bridport. One of his big messages: it's possible to live in our modern world without paying the state for electricity. But while Paul's talk was clearly an exposition of some hip alternative energy systems so in vogue these days in crunchy, and even not-so-crunchy, circles - solar panels, wind turbines and composting toilets, to name a few - it was also a reminder that some of the most effective sustainable solutions available to us are in fact more accessible than we think, if a little less glamorous.

Take refrigerators, for instance: Paul calculates that installing an efficient fridge is the most practical step an Addison County home-owner can take towards lowering energy use - even more practical than installing a wind turbine or a solar panel. Likewise with storm windows and insulation - the energy savings are remarkable. If homeowners want to save money and reduce their ecological "footprint," he says, it makes more sense to spend a few weekends retrofitting existing appliances and fixtures than it does to pay someone to install a sexier, more aesthetically "environmental" gadget like a turbine.

This is not to say, of course, that wind turbines or solar panels are in any way a bad thing. But Paul's point is simply that they're often not the best thing, at least in the short term, for reducing energy use.

Silly as it may sound, this was a revelation for me. Like so many people in our college, town and country, I have been trained to equate "greenness" with technology I don't understand (hybrids, "clean" buses, biodiesel). Plus, I'm no homeowner, so I haven't yet learned how to glorify humdrum home improvement. Thus, sitting down after the lecture, I ran up against a tricky dilemma: how to apply these homesteader's principles to my own uber-bureacratic existence?

Well, Middlebury College is a much bigger home, which usually means it's more energy efficient than a smaller one. But the problem is that most of its residents don't pay the energy bill, at least directly, making it dangerously easy to live on campus without paying attention to energy consumption, both personal and institutional.

With our heads lost in the Middlebury bubble clouds, after all, it's easy to interpret a few well-publicized examples of on-campus do-goodiness as sign that we're "environmental" enough. A library built from local, sustainably harvested wood, a wind turbine and a green roof atop the new Atwater Dining Hall all indicate that the College is living up to its international reputation for ecological awareness - superficially, at least. It's hard to force ourselves to go beyond Middlebury's public facade to determine whether our institution is actually walking its own institutional walk or not.

And indeed, upon closer look, there's a lot out there to warm our little green hearts. Thanks to a few committed Sunday Night Groupies, the college recently agreed to lower thermostats by 2 degrees, from 70 to 68, for a projected savings of approximately $60,000. Another bunch of Sunday Nighters is working with President Leibowitz and the trustees to address the disturbing fact that neither the faculty nor the student body has any idea where our endowment is invested - Shell? Philip Morris? Lockheed Martin? Take your pick! Dining Services continues to set the national bar for environmentally conscious food service. And in a less publicized but equally important gesture of responsibility, the college has begun to replace a portion of our heating oil with locally harvested woodchips.

Great! It's nice to be reminded from time to time that people in positions of authority often mean what they say. But of course, we can go further. For starters, the college can retrofit off-campus homes with more efficient insulation, continue working towards socially responsible investment practices, and purchase even more local food.

As students, we too can take more responsibility for the way we live. Of course, no one is forcing us to keep our windows closed in winter, eat all the food on our plates, or take the Snow Bowl shuttle - but those things are easy and sensible, so why not make a conscious effort to do 'em?

I don't intend this article as a condescending dose of eco-fascism. Instead, let it be a friendly call for institutional responsibility on the part of students, faculty and administrators alike. Efficiency's the thing, says Paul: Let's take his advice and make sure the college community does all it can-not merely all it's obligated to-in its ongoing quest to exist in a way that makes the most sense.