A few summers ago, a friend and I were getting hot and heavy spur of the moment in the backseat of his vintage Cadillac (no seatbelts and at least as roomy as a dorm mattress!). It was nighttime in heavily forested rural North Carolina, so neither of us could see a thing until he opened his door to ...
Since the current economic downturn began two years ago, the College administration has constantly searched for ways to cut costs while still maintaining the core elements of the Middlebury experience. As a leader in the “green” community, the College has worked hard to preserve its sustainability ...
It is no surprise that many Middlebury graduates go on to pursue careers relating to the environment, sustainability or climate change (or all three). Scholars-in-residence like Bill McKibben and organizations like Sunday Night Group and Weybridge House encourage activism and environmental interest, ...
Correction Appended “Ophthalmologist and writer — coffee growers?” Middlebury College Writer-in-Residence Julia Alvarez applied a tone of self-deprecating humor when she spoke about the unexpected endeavor she and her husband, Bill Eichner, undertook in 1997. Traveling to the Dominican Republic ...
Energy Solutions Co-op coffee hour Nov. 20, 9 –11 a.m. Join Middlebury town Energy Coordinator Laura Asermily and drop by Carol’s Hungry Mind on Friday to ask about the Middlebury Co-op’s renewable energy efforts and offers. Feel free to share your ideas for the Co-op and any feedback on our ...
Putting together the second green issue of The Campus raised the question, “Just how green is the town of Middlebury?” The College is touted for its environmental awareness and Vermont is nationally known as one of the greenest states, but how does Middlebury fit into the picture? We sought experts ...
Brighter Planet, Middlebury’s only environmental awareness company, had its beginnings right here at the College on the Hill. Associate Professor of Economics Jon Isham created the company with two of his students who, for a class project, had proposed an idea for an environmental firm. While most ...
I spent three hours in lab last Thursday removing nodules from the roots of bean plants. I loved it. At one point, I turned to the people in my lab group and exclaimed, “This reminds me of digging for potatoes! Have you ever done that? It’s so fun. Like digging for buried treasure.” Sometimes ...
In a warehouse off Exchange Street in Middlebury, towers of old computer parts sit awaiting shipment to Malaysia. Last year, over four million pounds of such components made their way through the warehouse doors. This is the extent of Middlebury’s Good Point Recycling, one of the nation’s leading ...
Dear Middlebury Campus, As a member of the community of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., the idea that the seas could rise with global warming is very distressing. After seeing the recent photograph of the government of the Maldives signing a petition underwater to promote climate change in Copenhagen, ...
Let’s name the animals no longer with us, except in language: start with the dodo, the Haitian long-tongued bat, the dwarf emu, the laughing owl, the eastern buffalo. And then animals like the nukupuu, the lorikeet, the broad-faced potoroo, whose absences don’t sadden me as much as I can’t put ...
It is a risky business to apologize to your daughter via a newspaper column. First, of all, she is likely to find it embarrassing. To be honest, since she was about 11, my daughter has found any public acknowledgement of the fact that I was her father to be more or less unbearable. I was even required ...
I’m packing for the trip to Copenhagen, site next month of arguably the most important international negotiations in the planet’s history. There will be big rallies, speeches to give, delegates from every corner of the world, grand conference halls, lots of press. But I’ll be thinking, often, ...
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 ...
The dismal state of the environment these days has me down in the dumps. In fact, it has depressed me so that I’ve been forced to drink (I imagine no one saw that coming). With climate change (and governments’ inability to do anything about it — world leaders agreed this week to not decide on ...
Whose parents do not remember the quadrupling of the price of gas, the stock market crash, the government’s request to ban Christmas lights and the mandated national maximum speed limit of 55 mph during the 1973 oil crisis? The OPEC countries’ oil embargo countered the prevailing perception of the ...
2009 was supposed to be the year of climate action. Last February, after the inspiring election of Barack Obama and an overwhelmingly Democratic Congress, I could taste success. I knew in my heart of hearts that this would be the year that we’d get lasting climate and clean energy legislation. This ...