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February 7, 2003
ENST 480 Paving the Way for Green Strides at Colgate
The ENST 480
course is designed as a way for students from the geography, biology, economics,
and geology branches of the ENST program to collaborate in a single classroom.
This seminar course is intended to take an interdisciplinary approach to a
specific environmental issue, and this year’s focus is on the
environmental health of the Colgate campus. Students in this and last
semester’s seminars were charged with performing a campus-wide
environmental audit, a task which professors hoped would provide the students
with a practical experience and the Colgate community with helpful data
collection and analysis regarding their environmental friendliness.
Last
semester, Bob Turner led the ENST seminar students in the first projects of this
year’s campus audit. Projects included an assessment of Colgate’s
heating plant, a calculation of Colgate’s greenhouse gas emissions, an
examination of the University’s electricity usage, a measurement of indoor
air quality in campus buildings, and a survey of student environmental opinions
and behaviors. Students worked throughout the semester with faculty and staff
to complete analyses and proposals for improvements for each aspect of
Colgate’s environmental foundations. Their results made their debut in an
end-of-the-semester brown bag lunch, and then at the Green Summit this January.
Blair Goodridge, a senior environmental biology student in last semester’s
seminar reflects, “I think that the benefit of last semester’s ENST
480 class was that it brought to the table these issues that affect the Colgate
community, while at the same time it paved the way for the creation of the Green
Summit, providing venues for all the different people involved to talk about
those issues.”
This semester’s class is taking a more
specified approach to environmental issues on campus. Projects include a
detailed look at transportation issues on campus, an examination of possible
improvements to Creative Arts House as a way to create a green building standard
for the university, an assessment of Colgate dining’s waste stream, and a
more detailed survey to students, faculty and staff. Many of the specific plans
come directly or indirectly from the recent Green Summit, according to seminar
professor John Novak. He believes the plan will be effective in taking small
environmental steps that will result in bigger, long-term changes.
Many faculty and staff on campus see the ENST 480 seminar as an
important source of research and initiative on campus, and hope to further
integrate the students’ work into workable environmental action plans.
Emily Boyd, Program Assistant for Environmental Studies says “Student
projects are a valuable resource here,” and expresses her certainty that
links will be made between administrative plans and student work. “Timing
is good to be doing these projects,” stated Professor Novak, “and
there is a willingness of the administration to focus on environmental
progress.
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