Shrinking Footprints :: Carleton College

Earth Tub

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 11:29:50 -0500

Those dedicated SOPEers are at it again. After convincing the dining hall to use silverware made of corn, revitalizing the green roof, and founding the Sustainability Revolving Fund, SOPE has installed a new eco-friendly project on campus.

Click here to find out what it is.

Carleton Rideshare Site goes live!

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 13:27:25 -0500

As of today, Carleton's new rideshare website is up and running! This website, created by Amy Wilson '08 for her ENTS capstone, features an interactive map that allows you to see who, in the Carleton community, lives near your home address, what your transportation options are in traveling to and from campus, and what the environmental impacts of commuting to Carleton are. This site is a fantastic resource for travel and for the study of transportation at Carleton and beyond. Faculty and staff can log in to see whether there are potential rideshare partners who live near them and students can use the site to see whether they can share rides at the beginning and end of breaks with other students. Check out the new site and make use of it in planning your vehicle travel to and from campus!

The site: https://apps.carleton.edu/campus/rideshare/

Carleton Green Fund Initiative Passes by Resounding Margin

Fri, 30 May 2008 08:26:46 -0500

The Carleton administration and the Carleton Student Association (CSA) Senate usually follow the philosophy that Carleton students vote with their feet when it comes to environmental activism and education on the campus. Record turnout at environmental events, concerns about the environmental effects of Carleton’s food and appliance purchasing, and continued interest in the College’s Environment & Technology Studies program are all indicative that concern for the environment is becoming an entrenched Carleton value. However, last week students got the opportunity to actually vote for more environmental programming—and the results were astonishing.

When asked in a recent Senate election whether they would support the allocation of a portion of the Student Activity Fee to a “Green Fund,” an unprecedented 82.3% of those who voted said “yes.” This is one of the highest positive proportion of responses in the history of student referenda at Carleton. The Green Fund will be utilized by students and their organizations to fund environmentally-sustainable decisions and initiatives, and will be debuting on campus next fall, so get excited!

Pocket Gopher, Prairie Engineer

Wed, 28 May 2008 11:16:41 -0500

As spring begins to turn to summer, a whole new world is blooming in the arb. This is especially evident throughout the prairies as wildflowers and grasses start to bloom. But there is strong competition amongst the many different species of flowers and grasses for space, and many seeds need some help in order to germinate.

There is a surprising animal which provides the opportunity for many of these plants to thrive in such a crowded environment. That animal is the Plains Pocket Gopher, Geomys bursarius. An unsightly tan-colored gopher reaching up to 13 inches in length, it has short legs with huge feet and long teeth made for digging. Rarely seen above ground, it is identified by the mounds it leaves when it burrows. These mounds are about a foot in diameter and have a distinct shape resembling a horseshoe and can be found throughout the prairies in the arb.

A green lining to high fuel prices

Wed, 28 May 2008 10:49:32 -0500

As gasoline approaches a national average of $4.00 per gallon, very few people, even among the most ardent environmentalists, are completely welcoming and celebrating high gas prices. After all, increases in fuel costs disproportionately affect lower income individuals, many of whom spend a higher percentage of their income on energy sources like electricity and gasoline. Additionally, most earth-minded individuals are just as subject to a faltering economy as anyone else. Those things being said, though, there is a bright spot in the rise at the pumps—Americans are reducing the amount that they drive.

Rare and Beautiful Species Observed in the Arb

Wed, 21 May 2008 09:21:19 -0500

The Arb just had a thoroughly action-packed week. Last Friday, your arb naturalists spotted a rare wood turtle (Glyptemys insculpta) on the banks of the Cannon. The first sightings of these turtles occurred in the late nineties, with just six recorded between 1996 and 1999. We had seen none since, until this one, a young, approximately eight-year-old female. If unfamiliar with these elusive beasts, you can begin picturing them from their name, for they look like carved wood, and inhabit woods along rivers. Wood turtles can solve mazes as well as rats, and this remarkable intelligence has made them desirable in experiments and as pets. The combination of this use and habitat degradation has made wood turtles a threatened species in Minnesota. Their continued presence in the Arb bodes well for the Arb’s success as an ecological restoration project.

ENTS Capstone Symposium this Week

Thu, 15 May 2008 16:48:39 -0500

This week, senior concentrators in Environmental and Technology Studies (ENTS) will present their capstone projects. As always, the capstone projects this year vary greatly in topic, reflecting the rich diversity of academic disciplines with which the ENTS program is engaged. This event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.

Here is the schedule:

ENTS Capstone Symposium
May 22-23, 4:30-6:15
Willis Hall 205

Thursday, May 22

4:30 "In Search of Darwin," Amanda Smith
4:50 "Examining How We Think About Technology," John Heydinger
5:10 "Commuting to Carleton: The Present, the Possible, and the Impacts," Amy Wilson
5:30 "Incorporating Stakeholders into Ecosystem Service Conservation," Bessie Schwarz

Friday, May 23

4:30 "Using GIS Technology to Resolve Land Use Conflict:
A Case Study of Development in the Moosehead Lake Region," Emma Glidden-Lyon
4:50 "The Ames Mill Today: Policy Suggestions for the Northfield City Council," Shannon Carcelli
5:10 "Jatropha Production in Koulikoro, Mali: A Proposed Study of
a Weed and its Agricultural, Economic, and Energy Benefits," Tim Singer
5:30 "Discovering Trash," Dylan Welch
5:50 "Uganda: An Exploration of Urban Agriculture," Natalie Coleman

Senator Amy Klobuchar Speaks on Climate Change at St. Olaf

Tue, 13 May 2008 10:43:07 -0500

This past Saturday, Irwin Hall at St. Olaf was full of St. Olaf students and faculty along with a handful of Carleton students eagerly waiting to hear what Amy Klobuchar had to say on climate change. She began by showing some fun video clips about her visit to Greenland last summer in which, decked out in rain gear, she floats in fishing boats around icebergs. As the video is geared towards kids, Klobuchar frequently uses it when she speaks at schools about climate change.

Though Greenland’s melting ice sheets may not seem directly linked to the lives of Minnesotans, Klobuchar made the issue if rising global temperature hit home by drawing a connection with the decreasing water levels that we are currently experiencing in the Great Lakes. She explained that barge traffic is an essential part of the economy and supplies many jobs in northern Minnesota. The dropping water level of Lake Superior has already done damage to the barge traffic industry.

When Klobuchar approached the issue of what is being done to address such problems, she made it clear that leadership is coming from individual states, not Washington. It was evident that she feels that Minnesota is doing its part to be a leader on climate change. She was beaming as she referenced Minnesota’s renewable energy standard which commits the state to using 25% renewables by the year 2025.

Annual Arb Bird Count this Saturday!

Tue, 13 May 2008 10:21:00 -0500

At this time of year, the arb serves as an important stopover point for many migrant bird species. Check them out soon, before they continue northward, or are obscured by spring foliage! Among the species recently reported in the arb are Yellow-rumped Warblers, Orange-crowned Warblers, American Redstarts and Blue-gray Gnatcatchers. Most of these small, colorful birds are neotropical migrants which have spent the winter in Central or Southern America, and are currently en route to their nesting grounds in Canadian boreal forests.

In addition to these temporary visitors, the arb is also full of recently returned birds here to stay for the summer. Baltimore orioles can be spotted in pairs, beginning the process of constructing their distinctive, hanging nests. Male Red-winged Blackbirds are staking claim to pieces of marsh and shore-line, hoping to attract females with their territory and song. Eastern Bluebirds have colonized many of the bird boxes established in the arb. And now for a piece of bird trivia: Bluebirds (and, for that matter, all birds that appear blue in color) don’t actually have any blue pigments in their feathers. The blue that we perceive when looking at these birds is actually the result of structural color, or the physical alteration of light achieved by certain feather structures. If you looked at a backlit Bluebird feather, it wouldn’t appear blue at all, instead it would be a dull brown.

Just as a reminder, this Saturday is Carleton’s annual arboretum bird count, and everyone is welcome to participate! Meet at the tennis courts parking lot in the lower arb at 6 am with your binoculars and field guide, if you have them. Email arb director Nancy Braker (nbraker) with any questions.

Former Carleton professor speaks on environmental justice

Mon, 12 May 2008 10:43:47 -0500

Last Thursday, Dale Jamieson returned to Carleton to give a talk on climate change and environmental justice. Jamieson, who was formerly the Henry R. Luce Professor of Human Dimensions of Global Change at Carleton and is now the chair of the Environmental Studies Department at NYU, called climate change the “most complex, profound, and important” environmental justice issue that exists today.

To continue reading, click the link below. To see the video of Dr. Jamieson's talk, click here.

Bon Appétit’s Online Low Carbon Calculator

Mon, 12 May 2008 09:35:54 -0500

This summer, Carleton’s dinning halls will switch to a new dinning service, Bon Appétit. Bon Appétit advertises its “food services for a sustainable future”. While it will be up to Carls to see for themselves just how environmentally sustainable Bon Appetit’s food is, they sure do have a very cool website related to determining the environmental impact of meals. Simply drag each dish or food item into a digital frying pan and the site will calculate carbon dioxide equivalent points (grams of carbon dioxide equivalent greenhouse gases emitted to put that food on your plate). I used this handy tool to determine that I can cut my carbon emission in half by choosing a veggie omelet over a meat and cheese omelet. And, it is very specific. For example, when selecting fruit you can select whether fruits are seasonal or tropical and when selecting meats, you can specify the cut (deli slices, tenderloin, prime rib, etc). Through testing out various combinations of food, I learned that a grilled tenderloin beef dinner has one of the largest carbon footprints of all meals. The sight also includes meal specific tips on how to go on low carbon diet (such as, “lose the cheese on that burger”)
To begin exploring the carbon impact of your own diet, check out:
http://www.eatlowcarbon.org