Projects & Programs

Public Events
Each semester noted guest speakers, which have included author Barry Lopez, Native American rights activist Winona LaDuke, and environmental health expert Sandra Steingraber, engage the community in dialogue on critical environmental issues.  With this year's focus on water, environment and leadership, we will bring to campus inspiring professionals working creatively toward a more equitable, just, and ecologically sound world.

Environmental Leadership Series
New this year, this program will bring to campus  professionals in different walks of life whose work and goals place them in the role of environmental leaders striving in different ways to create a more sustainable and just society.  Come learn about their work, their careers, and their professional goals. This series aims to educate students across the disciplinary spectrum about important environmental issues, and to create an aspirational and mentoring quality to each speaking event.

Curricular Trail
More than 300 acres of Mount Holyoke’s 800-acre campus comprise a rural, undeveloped landscape of lakes, streams, forests, marsh, shrub wetlands, forested wetlands, and vernal pools. These habitats are home to hundreds of animal species, including beavers, otters, American eel, and coyotes. These diverse environments and life forms exist in close proximity to areas of rapid development, providing students with opportunities to study a variety of ecological processes and their responses to human activities. The center collects data on a rich array of environmental phenomena. “Curricular trail” sensors monitor weather, water flow and water quality (in Stony Brook, and Upper and Lower lakes), forest composition, and invasive species on campus. Fish and invertebrate surveys are also done. Dr. Leszek Bledzki oversees data collection and the training of students. Courses in biology, ecology, environmental science, physical geography, geology, and history have used the data sets to study subjects ranging from changes in weather patterns and water quality to biodiversity and community structure. Students have also used the center’s data for original research.

Interpretive Trail
We are in the first steps of planning guided interpretive trails, which would include campus and area cultural history in addition to ecology. We will work in collaboration with the Botanic Garden and with interested faculty, staff, and students.

Student-Alumnae Mentor Network
With the Alumnae Association,  the Center for the Environment is developing a network in which alumnae and students can speak with one another and connect about career or graduate school opportunities, life and social choices, personal passions and concerns, and more. Alumnae-student retreats or workshops, internships, community service experiences, or summer jobs will be an eventual outcome of this network.

Film Series
The Center for the Environment is sponsoring campus showings of timely, provocative films followed by talk-back dialogues.

Roots of Community Festival: Environment, Equality, Economics
This outdoor spring festival on Skinner Green features local and regional organizations promoting environmental education and sustainability.

Volunteer Opportunities
Looking to make a connection? The Center for the Environment connects social and environmental organizations in the valley, as well as area schools, to create meaningful and positive experiences for students and school communities.

Kill-a-Watt Competition
The Kill-a-Watt Energy Conservation Competition is one of the nation's longest running programs for reducing college students’ ecological footprints. Each month the MHC residence hall that has decreased its energy use the most, compared to the same month the year before, wins $100. The Kill-A-Watt competition is a collaborative effort between the Environmental Stewardship program, the Environmental Action Coalition (EAC), the Center for the Environment, and Facilities Management.

RecycleMania
RecycleMania is a 10-week competition in which colleges and universities across the country promote recycling (bottles, paper, cardboard, etc.) and waste reduction. The school with the highest recycling rate per person will receive a trophy, as well as a half-page announcement in the newspaper of every participating college and university. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Wastewise program, the sponsor of the event, keeps score. More about RecycleMania at MHC...

For more information on any of these projects and programs, please contact center-environment@mtholyoke.edu.