Photo: Fred LeBlanc Thomas L. Millette, associate professor of geography and director of MHC's Center for Environmental Literacy, with constant companion Elaaga.

If sediment runoff and buildup in Mount Holyoke's lakes continues unchecked, Lower Lake will be a soccer field in the foreseeable future, warns Thomas L. Millette, associate professor of geography. Millette vows that he won't let that happen, and he has made water quality of the campus's lakes and streams among his top priorities as he begins his first year as director of MHC's Center for Environmental Literacy (CEL). Established in 1997 as an outgrowth of The Plan for Mount Holyoke 2003, the CEL has taken big steps in the areas of environmental assessment, restoration, and education. In his three-year term as director, Millette hopes to build on former director Aaron Ellison's foundational work and to identify and secure funding for new initiatives.

The leadership position at the CEL is a natural role for Millette, who combined an eclectic background in geomorphology (land features), physics, and computer science to become a pioneer in gathering geographic information by satellite and developing software to analyze rapidly that remotely collected data and imagery. He went on to use these technology tools to help the United States Forest Service, NASA, the United Nations, and other organizations with environmental projects ranging from water resource management in Pakistan, to natural resource allocation and desertification in Africa, to pipeline routing and energy development in the Arctic.

Photo: Jennifer Adams The Center for Environmental Literacy is located in Talcott Greenhouse.

Founder of the College's geoprocessing laboratory, Millette has led equally diverse projects at MHC. Several years ago, he competed against much larger institutions to win an Environmental Protection Agency project to map the land cover of Vermont's Lake Champlain basin. Currently, he is working with students on an analysis of South Hadley that will be used in planning a bike path to Amherst. Creating a Geographic Information System (GIS), or layered map, of South Hadley's physical features will be challenging, says Millette, but that is only part of the project. Students must also cope with nontechnical aspects, such as accounting for the "not in my backyard" perspective that is a common stumbling block to developing such projects.

As the CEL director, Millette will continue to educate students via local and regional projects through the geoprocessing lab, while also focusing on environmental projects on MHC's own campus. In addition to sediment buildup in the lakes and streams, he will tackle the challenge of invasive plants, such as the floating water chestnut, which could obliterate all native species on campus within the next couple of decades (and spell disaster for native animal species). He will calculate MHC's emissions of gases known to contribute to climate change and ecosystem disturbance, then develop a "Kyoto Protocol" proposal to reduce those emissions by 7 percent from 1990 levels. He will also consider energy use, kitchen waste, water use. . . . In short, he will analyze the College's overall environmental impact, then consider ways of restoring damaged areas and minimizing future impact. In the computer labs, for example, he might ask, "How much paper is wasted? Would it be cost effective to buy duplexing printers, or could we discipline ourselves to print rough drafts on both sides of the paper?" All across campus, Millette will consider, "What is MHC doing, and how can we do it better?"

It will be a long process, with Millette serving as adviser—not, he insists, as preacher or policeman, certainly not as prophet of a mythical "magic bullet." Fortunately, Millette finds great joy in the slow journey toward a healthy, sustainable environment. His goal is that the MHC community will find joy in that process too. He hopes that students will leave MHC with an awareness of environmental issues; the ability to see the environmental impact of personal, corporate, and political decisions; and the courage to be advocates for incremental change. Having secured a $300,000 Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant to integrate environmental content across the curriculum, Millette is well on his way toward building this kind of environmental literacy among MHC students.

Since last September, Millette and two postdoctoral fellows who are supported by the Mellon grant have been creating curriculum "modules" —units of lesson plans, data, maps, notes, and exercises—that could be integrated into courses across the College without creating a burden of research and planning for faculty members. Because the curriculum units will be derived from MHC's own campus, students will come to understand that environmental issues aren't distant and abstract, and faculty will be able to say, "let's step outside"—rather than "let's drive to Vermont"—when they want to look at rocks, water quality, vegetation, and habitats. And because the units will be designed for classes beyond the sciences, many or all MHC students will be introduced to essential environmental principles. "They all need to know them," said Millette, "so that they will be able to deal with the unwise decision making of all the generations before them, so that we don't end up paying for a breath of fresh air from a mask or a drink of water from a bottle, so that we don't have to go to war over natural resources."

Community members will benefit from this curriculum work as well. As part of the project, the CEL will develop interpretive trails through campus, along which students and community members alike will be able to read about and see examples of basic ecological principles. Graphic panels might ask, "What is soil respiration?" or "What is an endangered species?" providing natural stopping points for discussion and learning.

Millette jokingly refers to himself as "one of the green people on campus," meaning that he serves as a voice for the environment in policy decisions and building plans. In the long run, though, Millette would like his ever-repeated question, "What are its environmental implications?" to be on the lips of the entire MHC community, flowing right along with, "Is it cost effective?" and "What are its academic/ intellectual implications?" It's a shift in thinking that is already under way, said Millette, pointing to the "green" science center and to the dozens of campus planning meetings he attends. "Within the next five to ten years," said Millette, "we may not only ask the right questions, but we'll know how to answer them too."

This profile is one of a series that College Street Journal will run on the staff of the Center for Environmental Literacy.