Green Column

It would be an understatement to say that sports are a big part of life at the College. About 28 percent of the student body plays a varsity sport, and most others are involved in some type of club or intramural activity. It’s safe to say, then, that athletes have significant influence on many aspects of the campus social scene, from what’s happening on Saturday night to rush hour in the dining hall. With this social influence, however, comes that typical, negative athlete stereotype — “jock,” “lax bro” or what have you — that pervades most college campuses. The situation at Middlebury is not much different. As an athlete myself, I’m familiar with these stereotypes and also with the reality that many of these labels are untrue.
One thing athletes are definitely not known for is being green. Maybe we play on green fields, but to our community, that’s the extent of our environmental involvement. In the past several years, however, this stigma is slowly beginning to change at Middlebury. It started, believe it or not, with some lacrosse players who wanted to become the country’s first carbon-neutral lacrosse team. The team managed to offset the environmental costs of travel, supplies and even the heat in their coach’s office. From there, it became a domino effect. The Nordic ski team created an eco-friendly truck that ran on dining hall waste, the hockey team started using reusable cups and members of other teams are no longer driving to practice, but walking instead. The athletic department now has its own sustainability director, Andrew Gardner, and each team has its own student sustainability liaison.
Though our green efforts haven’t exactly eradicated the stereotype, we’re working on it. Just this past weekend — the biggest athletic weekend all year — the sustainability liaisons worked to create what was called “Green Weekend.” With efforts headed by seniors Andrew Durfee ’11 and Katie Romanov ’11, the aim of Green Weekend was to spread environmental awareness and encourage greener lifestyles on campus and beyond. Booths were set up at each athletic contest on Saturday where volunteers gave out green shoelaces made out of recycled plastic and “Go Midd Go Green” wristbands. In order to receive these green goodies, however, students and alumni alike had to write a sustainability pledge on leaf-shaped piece of paper. The women’s soccer, men’s rugby and football teams all partook in wearing these green laces during their athletic contests. The sustainability liaisons hope to have a Green Weekend for every athletic season, so hopefully even more teams will be involved this coming winter. Depending on funding, they’re also working to possibly invest in green tape, wrap, and ribbons that athletes could wear for this weekend during their contests.
Homecoming weekend is possibly the most fundamental example of the social influence of athletics on campus. Every year hundreds of alumni from all over the world come to campus a special weekend of athletics. This homecoming, however, was a bit greener than usual, and, though this may come as a surprise to the student body, we have our athletes to thank for it.
Though I’ve talked a lot about stereotypes and labels, what’s most important to the students here is making a difference. Athletes are a big part of this college and this campus, and, in turn, we have the ability — perhaps more than other groups — to make an impact. As athletes, we are part of a bigger team than those simply defined by the sport we play. Now, it’s our responsibility to make that not a team of excess, but a green team.