Headwaters Magazine - Fall 2016

Headwaters The University of Vermont’s first Student-Run Environmental Publication

The Case for Divestment p. 15 Water is Life p. 17

Finding a home for bees on campus and beyond

By Jess Savage & Ian Lund Fall 2016

Who Cares About Bees?

“Sumatran Orangutan�

by Marisa Cigliano

MASTHEAD President Dan Kopin

Managing Designer Connor Brustofski Managing Editors Bryce Dzialo Paige Greenfield Olivia Langley Evan Leonard Jessica NeJame Caelyn Radziunas

@UVMHEADWATERS uvmheadwaters.org Contact us at uvmheadwaters@gmail.com Copyright © 2016 Headwaters Magazine All Rights Reserved.

All images (unless otherwise noted) courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Cover Photo by Nathaniel Sharp

Photo by Connor Brustofski

Treasurer Ian Lund

Contents Meeting some of the world’s first climate refugees.

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The Time is Now

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Justice on the Farm

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Race for Governor

Making sense of the issues inVT’s Gubernatorial race.

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Hop to It!

Your alternative source of protein.

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The Dawn Redwood

An ancient tree finds new life at UVM.

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Birding to Change the World

Birds connect UVM students and Burlington children.

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Local Pulse, Global Context

A limnologist with a global impact.

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Water is Life

Solidarity with pipeline protests.

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Who Cares About Bees?

Keeping bees healthy in the modern world.

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The Case for Divestment

Considering UVM’s fossil fuel investments.

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A Reality that Cannot be Ignored

Facing racial injustice in outdoor education.

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Mount Philo

Contemplating serenity in the mountains.

By Rebecca Goldstein

Doing right by migrant workers.

By Brenna Reagan

By Jessica NeJame

By Jillian Scannell

By Sadie Swieca

By Nathaniel Sharp

By Caelyn Radziunas

By Rob Persons

By Jess Savage & Ian Lund

By Adam Wechsler

By Sophie Bokelman

By Alyssa Mamuszka

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Dear Reader,

Welcome to Headwaters Magazine, the University of Vermont’s first student-run environmental publication. In your hands is our first print magazine, which features informed student commentaries on local, regional, and global environmental issues. Within these pages, you will read about the pain of climate refugees, the promise of a birding club at an elementary school, the plight of pollinators, and the prudence of divestment from fossil fuels.

We are a small organization of students dedicated to a simple idea: by participating in public discourse, our voices just might make a difference. Headwaters are the small sources from which rivers originate. With hopes that our ideas may flow into greater bodies of knowledge, we have chosen to put our pens to paper.

Gifford Pinchot, the first Chief of the United States Forest Service, observed: “Conservation means the wise use of the earth and its resources for the lasting good of men.” Following in Pinchot’s footsteps, we see the publication of a print magazine as a “wise use of the earth.” We believe our use of paper can lead to “lasting good,” the elevation of inquisitive student perspectives in the face of wicked problems, social and environmental, looming over us. In an age of digital media that often feels ephemeral, we want to bring thoughtfully rendered ideas into the hands of our readers.

This magazine was made possible by the generous support of many people, including but not limited to the Ian A.Worley Award for Creative and Independent Thinking in Environmental Studies selection committee, UVM’s Environmental Program, administrators and professors in the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, the Student Government Association at UVM, the Gund Institute for Ecological Economics, and the students who spent hours writing, editing, and designing these pages. Thank you for considering our ideas, and we hope you enjoy!

Sincerely,

Dan Kopin President, Headwaters Magazine University of Vermont ’17

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Fall 2016 Headwaters Magazine

“Javan Rhino”

by Marisa Cigliano

The Time is Now The story of America’s first climate refugees.

BY REBECCA GOLDSTEIN

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N AUGUST 16, 2016, the people of Shishmaref, Alaska voted on whether or not they should relocate their village. For decades, pressures from climate change, including sea level rise, coastland erosion, permafrost loss, and sea ice extent reductions, have damaged the integrity of the Sarichef Island, where Shishmaref is located. In the end, the people of Shishmaref voted, 89 to 78, to relocate. The Inupiat of Shishmaref are now among the first climate refugees in the United States.

The Inupiat established permanent settlements in Shishmaref, Alaska, 400 years ago. Even after the Inupiat transitioned away from a hunter-gatherer society, the approximately 650-person village upheld its traditions.

The Inupiat continue to hunt and fish for trade and subsistence. But today, reduced sea ice challenges their ability to access traditional foods like Whitefish and Tomcod. Floods and storm surges also eat away at the island. With dwindling access to food and land, the Inupiat cannot sustain their home for much longer. Although attempting to repair the island was estimated to cost less than relocating, restorations can only provide short-term relief. The Inupiat voted to leave their ancestral home, but the truth is they didn’t have a choice: they must go at a rough cost of $180 million.

Climate refugees, or climate migrants, are a new kind of refugee. Typically, refugees flee from war, oppressive governments, or environmental concerns such as natural disasters, droughts, and famines. Climate migrants are different in that they move due to permanent changes in climate conditions. Whereas environmental migrants can usually return home, climate refugees cannot return; their land is forever lost to climate change.

The first climate refugees departed from small island nations, like the Maldives in the Indian Ocean, where

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rising seas have displaced its inhabitants. Since the devastation of its submergence occurred across the world, a sense of loss was hardly palpable in the United States. But we should not wait until these problems are close to home: as Shishmaref shows, if you can see the problem it is already too late.

Displacement due to climate change is not restricted to Shishmaref. Eleven other Native American villages in Alaska currently face threats to their infrastructure and traditional lifestyles. Additionally, the Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw inhabitants of Isle de Jean Charles, Louisiana have already relocated due to rising seas. The unfortunate truth is that people with the smallest carbon footprints, like the Inupiat of Shishmaref, are often the most vulnerable to displacement.

Climate refugees are new to the United States, and we are not yet sure how to handle the problem. Fortunately, some action has been taken to address climate change in Alaskan communities. On January 21, 2015, President Obama signed Executive Order 13689, Enhancing Coordination of National Efforts in the Arctic, which addresses the importance of Arctic territory and its inhabitants. In the order, the Arctic Executive Steering Committee delegates executive departments and enhances coordination between federal, state, and Alaskan tribal governments on Arctic challenges.

The United States is still creating the organizational and policy capacity to handle displaced people. Events like the Symposium on Climate Displacement, Migration, and Relocation, which will take place in Honolulu in December, are essential to tackling the intricate organizational, policy, and legal dimensions of relocation. These large-scale events foster discussions between tribal nations, scientists, independent organizations, and policymakers on important issue like finding new village sites and ensuring Native American cultural longevity.

Climate change already affects us. Emissions produced decades ago are changing our coastlines, swallowing villages like Shishmaref and posing threats to coastal cities like New Orleans and Miami. Our fight against climate change will determine whether peoples in coastal regions across the world can practice their culture and livelihoods without fear of losing the places they call home.

Justice for Migrants Doing right by migrant workers on Vermont farms.

BY BRENNA REAGAN

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HILE VERMONT PRIDES ITSELF on its dairy industry, which makes up 70 percent of the state’s agricultural sales, there are countless injustices occurring against the foundation of this enterprise. The agricultural divisions of the Vermont government have passed agricultural regulation bills, but have not spoken to the issues faced by migrant farmworkers. As climate change raises difficult questions about local food, sustainable agricultural practices, and downsizing the scale of industrial agriculture, issues of injustice are also important to consider for the success of these changing systems.

Migrant Justice, or Justicia Migrante, is a human rights and food justice organization in Burlington, Vermont.

The group was founded in 2009 after a dairy farmworker was, “dragged into dairy machinery and strangled by his own clothing,” according to the New York Times. From 2011 to 2013, Migrant Justice worked to garner support for the enactment of Bill S-38, a Vermont policy that allows immigrants to access a driver’s license regardless of immigration status. Marita Canedo, a Migrant Justice representative in Burlington, Vermont, explained to me that driving allows an escape from isolation, and provides access to food and the ability to seek medical attention, fulfilling previously neglected needs.

According to Migrant Justice, there are between 1,200 and 1,500 farmworkers in Vermont that are undocumented migrant workers, most of whom seek jobs at dairy farms. They find dairy jobs in the northeast after escaping “their countries’ big oil companies [which have] taken control over natural resources, bringing the economy down, and closing doors to a better future,” explains Canedo.

For this population working at the base of the dairy supply chain in Vermont, blatant injustices are a norm. According to a 2014 Migrant Justice survey, close to 30 percent of dairy farm workers claim that they work seven or more hours a day without a break to eat, 40 percent do not have a day off, and 40 percent do not receive the Vermont minimum wage. 52 percent of the 46 cases addressed by Migrant Justice have witnessed situations in which paychecks were

withheld, stolen, or bounced.

Housing for the farmworkers is considered substandard and even inhumane, as noted in the Migrant Justice Survey, with 15 percent of respondents stating that their provided living conditions have insufficient heating and 20 percent saying that they do not have a bathroom or access to clean water. Some farmworkers have even expressed that they felt like “slaves” to this system.

In 2014, the Milk with Dignity program by Migrant Justice begun its campaign. They called upon Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream, due to the company’s advocacy for high standards of food sourcing and social justice, to mandate better treatment of workers in their supply chain. Migrant Justice noted that although the ice cream company had impressive commitments to rBGH-free cows, cage-free eggs, and fair-trade ingredients, Ben & Jerry’s had yet to take “action to ensure the farmworkers who put the cream in ice cream are treated with dignity and respect.” On June 19, 2014, the company responded to Migrant Justice’s campaign by signing an agreement to pay premiums to farms that fully abide by the Milk with Dignity Code of Conduct.

This campaign exemplifies the growing institutional support for Migrant Justice; however, the community of migrant farmworkers remains unstable and vulnerable. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recognizes that climate change will affect the poorest and most vulnerable populations who “depend on natural ecosystems to extract their food and income” as the effects of climate change are expected to interfere with “activities such as food production and outdoor work, degrading the performance of sustainable development.”

The migrant farmworker community will be directly affected by changes resulting from Vermont’s increased focus on organic, local, and fair farms in the face of climate change. Canedo emphasizes that “we know and constantly communicate, that if we want to have [a] world with better food, real food, fair food, we cannot forget the hands that bring the food to our tables. Our struggles are connected, and we all have the responsibility to raise awareness and bring change.”

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How the candidates for Governor stack up on environmental issues.

BY JESSICA NEJAME

Vermont Race for Governor 2016

With all of the dramatics of the presidential race, it is easy to lose track of issues closer to home.While most individuals would be able to tell you about Donald Trump’s latest inflammatory comment, they would be hard pressed to name candidates in Vermont’s gubernatorial election. Though it may lack the fanfare of the national election, this year’s gubernatorial race could be a game changer. The two major

party candidates have very different views when it comes to environmental issues, and depending on which contender takes the title of governor, Vermont residents (including University of Vermont students) might see some significant shifts in policy. Here is what you need to know about where these politicians stand on environmental issues.

Phil Scott

and shifting power to local communities when it comes to approving clean energy zoning requests. Scott supports the use of natural gas and solar power, but does not support the further expansion of wind power in the state. Also, he has expressed his opposition to the proposed Vermont carbon tax due to the increased cost of living that would ensue.

Regarding issues such as energy conservation and green building practices, Scott acknowledges that Vermont has consistently been a leader when it comes to pioneering new technologies and repeatedly affirms that he will not take steps to change what has already been done in the state to address environmental issues. However, his platform suggests that he will not be taking additional action to promote green policies and legislation.

Phil Scott’s conservative stance on environmental issues can be summed up with his own words: “I’m proud of our state’s history of environmental stewardship. Vermont is what it is today, in part, because we value clean air and water, and traditional industries like forest products and agriculture. But it is critical to find a balance between these values and the need to grow the economy.”

REPUBLICAN

Phil Scott is the Republican party nominee. Scott’s focus on the environment is intertwined with his focus on the economy.

Scott has demonstrated strong support for local businesses, even creating a line of stickers that read “Lt. Gov. Phil Scott asks you to buy local! It’s not just for hippies anymore!” He has also expressed vocal support for the Vermont agricultural sector, and has demonstrated his willingness to personally lend a hand when these local businesses are in trouble.

However, Scott has an inconsistent record when it comes to acknowledging the issue of climate change. In July 2016, he said in an online forum hosted by Vermont Public Radio on Reddit that “climate change is happening. And I believe as well it is a combination of man-made contributions as well as a natural phenomenon.” After receiving pressure from interest groups and even rival candidate Sue Minter, he admitted to “evolving” on the issue and stated in August that he does believe that global warming is occurring as a result of human activity.

In his economic plan, the Republican candidate lays out his proposals for clean and affordable energy in the state of Vermont. His ideas include rewarding energy efficiency

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Photo by Connor Brustofski

Sue Minter

include transportation fuels. While Sue Minter has spoken in support of a regional or national tax on carbon, she does not believe that now is the time for a state carbon tax. While her emphasis is on less controversial energy sources like solar, this candidate acknowledges that wind power is necessary for a sustainable energy economy, a position that gained her the support of environmentalist and author Bill McKibben.

Minter has also proposed a divestment from coal and reinvestment in clean energy.

Sue Minter’s environmental focus has not gone unnoticed, earning her the official support of forty Vermont environmental leaders like Darby Bradley, former president of the Vermont Land Trust, and Professor Michael Dworkin, director of the Institute for Energy and the Environment at Vermont Law School. Minter has also been endorsed by Vermont Conservation Voters (VCV), an organization that works to elect environmentally friendly candidates to office.

This candidate also speaks well to her own intentions: “Vermont’s economic prosperity, our public health, and our quality of life all depend upon clean water, clean energy, and a clean environment. I will continue Vermont’s tradition and legacy of environmental protection and leadership.”

While deciding who to vote for is a personal decision based on many factors, the environmental positions of each candidate are worth taking into account. Comparing Phil Scott with Sue Minter in regards to their positions on environmental issues demonstrates a clear discrepancy. Sue Minter has the stronger stance on environmental initiatives and proposals to improve the the quality of land, water, and air in Vermont. Both candidates are of course motivated to take

action to improve the well-being of Vermonters. For Phil Scott, this means taking measures to promote business and to prevent adding undue economic burdens. Sue Minter, on the other hand, sees economic success, public health, and quality of life as issues that all have their roots in a healthy and clean environment. It is up to Vermonters to decide on November 8th which of these positions rings true for them.

DEMOCRAT Sue Minter is the Democratic party nominee. Minter considers protecting the environment to be a key issue in her campaign, an issue deserving attention in its own right. As a former member of the White House Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience, she has a history of working to find environmental solutions.

Minter wants to strengthen Vermont’s food, farm, and forest production. Her proposals include providing no-interest loans to dairy farmers looking to transition to organic methods, continuing to work with state agencies to purchase local food for state institutions like schools (with the goal of achieving 20% local food within her first term), and supporting funds that offer grants to entrepreneurs in the agricultural and forestry fields.

The two main goals of Minter’s clean energy plan are to reduce peak energy demand and cut carbon pollution in the transportation sector. Her administration would look to expand the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) to

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Hop to It! Your alternative source of protein.

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BY JILLIAN SCANNELL

S A NEW COLLEGE STUDENT, I told myself I would step out of my comfort zone, which meant trying new things. So when this “thing” was a chocolate bar containing crickets, I went for it. And I liked it.

My mother? Not so much. My phone conversation with her the next morning went along the lines of: “Your father told me, I don’t want to talk about it… Are you really thinking of writing an article about it … Do you have to? …

Could you at least refer to them as something like I don’t know, lima beans? It makes me less queasy.”

Like my mother, many Americans find the idea of eating insects sickening, but the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations says that 20 percent of the world’s consumers already eat insects. This begs the question: what is it about these crunchy invertebrates that has some people hooked?

The chocolate bar was provided by Vermont’s first organic cricket farm, Tomorrow’s Harvest Farm, started by Steve and Jennifer Swanson.

After their first child was born, the Swansons began to wonder what was going into the food that they were eating. They began researching, and what they found was a food system that was harmful to human health and the health of the environment. Shocked by this discovery, Steve came across a 2013 report by the United Nations (UN) on edible insects.

Steve found that consuming crickets provided an alternative source of protein that would fulfill their diets and sustain the planet. “To meet the food and nutrition challenges of today and tomorrow,” the UN report reads, “we need to find new ways of growing food.”

When I talked with Steve on the phone he spoke of climate change resulting in “some pretty scary stuff.” He explained the sense of urgency to change the course we are on: “There is a small window of opportunity to get this right.”

Organic cricket farming addresses water shortages, overconsumption of natural resources, and emissions of greenhouse gases, three environmental challenges facing our Art by Connor Brustofski

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current food system. You do not have to look much farther than the West Coast to see the effects of water shortages, an impact of climate change, in the United States. The Public Policy Institute of California found that the four-year period between 2011 and 2015 was the driest since record keeping of began in 1895. One of the industries most affected by water shortages is that of livestock production. In contrast to the process of raising animals, crickets require far less water and fewer resources. According to the UN, crickets produce the same amount of protein as cattle but require 12 times less feed. Crickets can even turn human food waste into healthy, useable protein; it is the ultimate form of recycling.

The UN also found that animal agriculture accounts for 70 percent of all agricultural land surface of the planet, which includes land use for growing feed. Crickets take up a small amount of land surface and, with a life cycle of eight to twelve weeks, they are not around for long.

Most climate scientist agree that the main cause of climate change is humanity’s contribution to the greenhouse effect by emitting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. A significant portion of these emissions results from food production. Tomorrow’s Harvest’s website notes that “the average American eats 62 pounds of beef a year, which equates to over 21,000 pounds of carbon dioxide. To put that into perspective, the carbon dioxide emissions of your average car each year is less than half that, only 10,300 pounds.”

In the category of protein and nutrients, crickets are winning. Compared to beef, crickets contain two times the protein, five times the magnesium, three times the iron, and have as much calcium as milk. They are low in fat, have more potassium than bananas, contain as much vitamin B12 as there is in salmon, and are considered a complete protein containing all nine essential amino acids, more than avocado.

There is a new superfood in town; that is, if you can get these little guys in your town. Here in Vermont, we can.

Adding crickets into your diet really is as simple as “chocolate chirp cookies.” A cricket powder, soon to be launched by Tomorrow’s Harvest Farm, can be used to bake chocolate chirp cookies, cricket bread, or spicy cheddar cricket muffins. Saving the world by eating cookies? It’s an environmentalist’s dream. And who knows, crickets are considered “the gateway bug,” so eating crickets could even lead you to try other insects, too .

Maybe I will even convince my mother to allow “lima beans” at Thanksgiving this year.

The Dawn Redwood How an ancient Chinese tree is finding a new home at the University of Vermont.

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BY SADIE SWIECA

N A SUNNY DAY IN VERMONT, UVM students can be found sprawled out across campus. We students know how to take advantage of good weather; we understand what is in store for us in the winter. But how often do we put any thought into the tree that protects us from the sun and supports us as we climb up its high branches? Some environmentalists can identify every tree on campus, but for the everyday student, the extent of our knowledge, and any sort of classification process, starts and ends with whether or not the tree is good for climbing. Have you ever imagined that you could be climbing one our planet’s few living fossils?

The Dawn Redwood, Metasequioa glyptostroboides, was believed to have been extinct for almost 60 million years. The tree was only studied through fossils until 1943,

when it was rediscovered in a remote part of China. When scientists realized the live specimen was the fossil they had previously studied, they collected the Dawn Redwood’s seeds and spread them throughout the world. Now, this beautiful tree graces the UVM community with its presence on the Waterman Green (and arguably holds the title of best climbing tree).

The Dawn Redwood, however, is still a critically endangered conifer species, threatened by rice cultivation and regeneration difficulties. As you use its low, sturdy branches to climb higher into the sky, or gaze in awe at its brilliant red leaves in autumn, take a moment to truly appreciate this tree. Look at its fibrous bark that seems soft, yet strong.

Look at all the life this living fossil provides, and as you climb higher and higher, think about all the hurdles the Dawn Redwood has made to get here in Vermont. Consider all that it has endured to survive for millions of years, and is now here, on campus, to support you as you climb, and to shade you as you read. As you walk to class, look at the trees you pass every day a little more closely, and imagine the journeys these species took to get here. Climb with a sense of curiosity and gratitude — for we are a part of these trees’ magnificent stories, and they are a part of ours.

Photo by Connor Brustofski

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Birding to Change the World UVM program uses birding to connect students with Burlington children.

Every Wednesday, I hand my bird buddy Colby a pair of binoculars and talk to him about his week before we set off on an adventure. We marvel at grasshoppers hopping around our feet and Turkey Vultures circling above our heads. In just two outings, Colby has learned how to identify Turkey Vultures by their distinctive wing shape, and his knowledge of birds continues to increase.

I’m enrolled in “Birding to Change the World,” an Environmental Studies class that pairs college student mentors with elementary school students from Flynn Elementary School in the New North End of Burlington. This is not a lecture-style class; instead, the children and their mentors see each other as “co-explorers” learning about the natural world together. Every interaction with nature is a learning Photography by Nathaniel Sharp, Art by Connor Brustofski

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BY NATHANIEL SHARP experience for all students involved.

My co-explorer is helping me to see the world through new eyes. As we walk down the Burlington Bike Path, we stop to scan Lake Champlain for ducks and geese, our elbows perched on the railing and our binoculars pressed to our eyes.When we get to a particularly large patch of Jewelweed, known for its use in preventing the effects of poison ivy, Colby stops to harvest the flowers for the poison ivy medicine he plans to make with several other students. We are surrounded by birds, insects, frogs, and snakes as soon as we enter the Derway Island Nature Preserve, when a freefor-all of exploration ensues. The kids all have their own favorite patches of Derway. Some run off into the woods in search of their favorite tree or the fort they constructed last

week, others run to the Winooski riverbank and follow the tracks of herons and beavers in the mud. Colby and many others stick to the trails, moving Woolly Bear caterpillars out of harm’s way and stopping to view any birds that can be seen from the path.

Colby’s curiosity and enthusiasm are infectious; many of my classmates have never looked at nature in the same way as these children who are allowed to run wild and explore it. Lesson plans are thrown out the window and freedom of exploration is encouraged. Explorations develop into learning moments on many occasions, for example, when a dead robin is discovered or an unusual plant is found along the trail. Children are encouraged to question everything, and every week UVM students are sent home with two homework questions assigned by their Flynn bird buddies. So far I have been asked such questions as “What do Bald Eagles eat?” and “What are the 5 rarest leaves in Vermont?”.

The mind behind this class is UVM Professor Trish O’Kane. She, much like many of the birds seen at Derway, is a “Neotropical migrant.” After spending 10 years doing civil rights investigative journalism in Central America, she moved to Alabama, then New Orleans, then Wisconsin before finally arriving at UVM and introducing “Birding to Change the World.” O’Kane spearheaded a similar class at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with middle school students at an urban park. She has brought that same formula to UVM.

Trish believes that learning through experience in the outdoors is effective for both elementary school and college students because “it shows you, it doesn’t tell you.” She also declares that “any bird that provides a child with a portal to the outdoors is a teacher,” and there are certainly a lot of

teachers in Derway. Children with no interest in birds at the beginning of the class can already identify many of Vermont’s common species and even more importantly, they are learning about the importance of preserving good bird habitat like Derway.

One of the greatest successes of the class is that, without even being aware of it, children who rarely get the chance to go outside and explore the outdoors are developing an environmental ethic. Simply getting them outside causes them to engage with their environment, and then want to learn more about it and protect it. Many of the children in this class might have the opportunity to be first-generation college students, and they are beginning to realize that their passion for nature can take them all the way to college. Just recently, one of Trish’s former students set up a similar program at Hunt Middle School, which many of the children from Flynn Elementary will be attending in the coming years. Developing a pipeline that will keep these kids interested and engaged in the natural world through middle school and high school could lead them to be future college students with a passion for the environment.

The class has been a resounding success: there are even more children in attendance this semester than last, and, as Trish puts it, “children vote with their feet.” Even the younger students at Flynn are beginning to ask if they can join the nature club they have heard so much about from their older classmates. In just a few short weeks, I have seen first-hand how birding has changed the world of everyone involved in this class and I know it will continue to as long as students are willing to get outside and explore. As Colby puts it best, “Sometimes having fun means getting your hands dirty!”

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Local Pulse, Global Context

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onsider the impacts of climate change: events of a grand scale likely come to mind, such as glaciers crumbling as they weaken in the rising heat. Although powerful, these abstract images have a tendency to obstruct another reality of climate change: local climatic changes are already being witnessed at a minute level in phytoplankton, aquatic microorganisms which serve as excellent water quality indicators.

How these tiny organisms respond to the impacts of climate change is of concern to Dr. Jason Stockwell, Associate Professor in the University of Vermont’s Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources and Director of the Rubenstein Ecosystem Science Lab. Specifically, Stockwell is interested in investigating the effects of storms on lakes and examining how those effects transfer into biology. “Having a better idea of how storms may impact the function of lake systems at their basic, primary level of productivity has a lot of important implications for water quality,”

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Jason Stockwell is a limnologist with a global impact.

BY CAELYN RADZIUNAS

says Stockwell. “Hopefully what we find will be applicable to help look at storm impacts and their relationships to water quality or services that water systems provide to people.”

Stockwell is a Project Co-Lead for “Storm-Blitz,” a global research initiative to assess the effects of physical disturbances on water column stability and how those changes impact phytoplankton communities. Through a Storm-Blitz investigation, “Global Evaluation of the Impacts of Storms on freshwater Habitat and structure of phytoplankton Assemblages,” (GEISHA) he and his colleagues will analyze the responses of phytoplankton communities to storm events. This study will be performed in approximately 25 lakes across the world, ranging from France’s Lake Geneva to Lake Võrtsjärv in Estonia. Despite the international scope of this project, Stockwell’s focus lingers close to home. “We are going to see how the processes that might be happening in Lake Champlain - with regard to storm events - [fit] into what’s going on elsewhere in the world,” he explains.

Photography by Connor Brustofski

In 2013, Stockwell began his involvement with Storm-Blitz, when he was invited to join UVM colleague Dr. Beverley Wimple in attending a meeting of the Global Lake Ecology Observatory Network (GLEON).

GLEON, a grassroots community of experts in engineering, ecology, information technology, and limnology, seeks to understand how environmental changes affect lake processes. Of particular importance are major ecological events, such as abnormal weather patterns brought about by climate change. As the changing climate is expected to accelerate the hydrologic cycle, scientists anticipate an increase in either storm frequency or severity and duration. Among the goals of GLEON is to encourage and support global scientific collaborations; this vision is realized by the Storm-Blitz team with support from the Centre de Synthése et D’Analyse sur la Biodiversité in France and the USGS Power Center in Colorado.

Stockwell recalls from his first GLEON meeting; “one group was working on springtime — how the warming rates in spring may affect phytoplankton communities.”

After having been conceptualized for several years, Storm-Blitz was formalized at this 2013 meeting.

Phytoplankton communities, which can include toxic algal blooms, can function as indicators of water body health.

Eutrophic waters, hotbeds of phytoplankton productivity, increase the potential of illness in humans utilizing the water source, whether through recreational or daily use. Therefore, an understanding of these communities is essential in assessing water quality.

The specific effects of a changing climate on phytoplankton, and ultimately water quality, is a growing field of research. One of the greatest challenges to performing such a study is found in project scale. In order to infer information about water quality on a global level, the study must be just that: global.

Comprised of experts from a total of seven countries and three continents, Storm-Blitz seeks to provide such

a lens for analyzing the impact of changing meteorology patterns on freshwater systems. Having been closely monitored as part of the Lake Champlain Long-Term Monitoring Project (LTMP) since 1992, Lake Champlain stands out among the project’s 25 heavily studied lakes.

“It is very exciting,” says Stockwell. “We can get a local pulse in a global context.”

As a Project Co-Lead, Jason Stockwell will be overseeing two major components of the collaboration: data compilation and interpretation.

“There is no doubt the way people collected [the data] or the different equipment used, or the scales that they collected them at, they are all going to be different,” Stockwell explains. “What we are going to have to do is take all these data and try to integrate them and try to get them to a similar scale. Once we have the data compiled and in a standard format, then it’s going to be a matter of basically doing analyses, trying to look for signals of storm events.”

Professor Stockwell projects that the information gathered through the Storm-Blitz project has the potential to set the foundation for what he refers to as “forecast protocols” for future research. In addition to providing a common definition of “storms,” these protocols would set the parameters for detecting storm events.

“I hope the research produces new ways of looking at how lakes will respond to storm events; new frameworks for - not just storm events - but perhaps the timing of storm events.”

GEISHA, which is proposed to run until December 2019, seeks to provide insights into the ways in which storms affect the composition and viability of phytoplankton communities. With this information, researchers like Stockwell may develop a greater sense of how an increase in storm severity will impact the quality of our water systems. As storm events are predicted to swell to new extremes under the influence of climate change, the relevance of Storm-Blitz will only continue to increase.

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The Case for Divestment How can we best tackle the issue of UVM’s fossil fuel investments?

In 2015, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), one of the world’s most respected financial institutions, released a startling report. They estimated that globally, fossil fuel companies enjoyed subsidies of $5.3 trillion, which is more than the total health spending of all the governments in the world.

This figure is so large because it accounts for polluters not paying for the costs associated with the burning of fossil fuels, including the consequences of localized air pollution on human health, and the damage caused by floods, droughts, and storms intensified by climate change.

The World Health Organization estimates that air pollution caused 3 million premature deaths in 2012, the majority of which occurred in low- and middle-income countries. According to the IMF, cutting fuel subsidies would decrease the number of premature deaths by half and would decrease global carbon emissions by 20 percent.

In 2009, the G20 nations, which includes the United States, agreed to phase out fossil fuel subsidies. However, according to a report released in 2015 by Oil Change International and Overseas Development Institute, the United States has increased spending on subsidies by 35 percent since 2009, spending over $20 billion on subsidies annually.

“This very important analysis shatters the myth that fossil fuels are cheap by showing just how huge their real costs are,” Nicholas Stern, a renowned economist at the London School of Economics, said of the IMF report. “There is no justification for these enormous subsidies for fossil fuels, which distort markets and damages economies, particularly in poorer countries.” The Bloomberg Editorial Board agreed, and wrote an editorial entitled, “Fuel Subsidies Are The World’s Dumbest Policy.” By eliminating fossil fuel subsidies, we can afford to rebuild infrastructure, invest in renewable energy and education, and reduce poverty. For too long we have allowed fossil fuel companies to enjoy subsidies in the face of planetary destruction caused by their unregulated

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BY ADAM WECHSLER

carbon emissions.

Of course, fossil fuel companies know better.

Thanks to reporting by InsideClimate News and the Los Angeles Times, we are now aware that ExxonMobil, one of the world’s largest oil companies, knew about climate change since the 1970s and conducted extensive climate research.

Instead of protecting humanity, Exxon led the charge on climate denialism, doing everything they could to spread misinformation and block the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions. It is high time fossil fuel companies take responsibility for their actions.

Bill McKibben’s Rolling Stone article, “Global Warming’s Terrifying New Math,” was published to great fanfare in 2012. McKibben laid out three disturbing numbers: 2° Celsius, 565 Gigatons, and 2,795 Gigatons. The first number, 2° Celsius, was agreed upon in the 2009 Copenhagen Accord as the absolute maximum level of warming humans can afford to cause. In 2012, we had already raised temperatures by 0.8 degrees of warming, which caused much more damage than scientists predicted. The second number, 565 Gigatons, is the amount of carbon we can send to the atmosphere with some hope of remaining below the 2° limit. Lastly, the third number, 2,795 Gigatons, is the amount of carbon fossil fuel companies have in known coal and oil reserves, five times more than what we can safely burn.

McKibben’s article, now four years old, inspired an international fossil fuel divestment movement that hopes to stand up to the economic and political might of the fossil fuel industry. With the help of 350.org, a global environmental collective McKibben helped found at Middlebury College, the movement has experienced resounding success. In the four years since, over 500 institutions, representing $3.4 trillion in wealth, have pledged to divest from fossil fuel companies. Educational institutions, like Syracuse University, nonprofits, like Rockefeller Family Fund, and countries, like Norway, have already committed to divest. But during

the same period, our university, the University of Vermont, has retained its investments in dangerous fossil fuels.

Drawing from a 2016 report by Oil Change International this year, McKibben recently revisited the climate math he helped popularize. McKibben argues that if we are truly dedicated to preventing climate change, we cannot dig anymore coal mines, drill anymore oil wells, or build anymore pipelines. Instead, we need a managed decline away from fossil fuels, and focus on building a brighter, more sustainable future.

In 2013, the Burlington Free Press covered a proposal for UVM to divest from fossil fuels, reporting that 10 percent of UVM’s $338 million endowment was invested in fossil fuel companies. Vermont Student Climate Culture, a campus group devoted to fossil fuel divestment, worked with the Socially Responsible Investing Advisory Council to deliver a recommendation to the Board of Trustees and the Investment Sub-Committee (ISC) to divest from fossil fuels.

Their proposal was rejected. The ISC cited its “fiduciary responsibilities” to the University, and declined to forward the proposal to the Budget, Finance and Investments Committee, which would have made the final decision.

The ISC, tasked with management of the University’s investment decisions, does have a fiduciary responsibility to manage the growth of the University’s endowment, and ensure that funds are protected to support the academic mission and vision of UVM, meanwhile maximizing returns and minimizing risk. However, the longer UVM continues to invest in fossil fuel companies, the riskier the investment becomes and the more risk the ISC exposes to the endowment.

The same year as UVM rejected a divestment proposal, Bevis Longstreth, former Commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchanges Commission, wrote an eloquent article for The Huffington Post entitled “The Financial Case for Divestment of Fossil Fuel Companies by Endowment Fi-

duciaries.” Longstreth argues that knowing about the risks of climate change means we need to stop burning fossil fuels and challenge the entire business model of fossil fuel companies.

Citing the rise of grassroots activism, the proliferation of alternative forms of energy like solar and wind, and probable government regulation, investments in fossil fuel companies will become stranded assets; in other words, useless, damaging, and volatile investments. Longstreth states that anticipatory divestment will likely have unknown consequences for the portfolio in the short-term, but in the long run, knowing that fossil fuel companies will become bad investments, the short-term results are unimportant. The Board of Trustees and ISC should recognize this eventuality.

If UVM were serious to its commitment to the environment, the University would pursue ways to create a fossil-free portfolio over the coming years as other institutions have done.

Cambridge Associates, the investment advisor that manages UVM’s endowment, does not advocate for divestment, but has stated its willingness to work with its clients to develop fossil-free portfolios. The University therefore has the opportunity to continue to leverage its national reputation as a leader on environmental issues. Indeed, by sending representatives to the Paris Climate Change Conference in 2015, UVM acknowledges the severity of climate change and the mandate to reduce emissions. But the question is: will UVM do the right thing?

Even though our endowment remains small compared to other universities, we have a moral, financial, and environmental imperative to assist in the transition away from fossil fuels. We can no longer afford to keep supporting the fossil fuel industry. Too much is at stake. Every little amount we divest now will help future generations. Don’t we — at least — owe them that?

Art by Connor Brustofski

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Water is Life Solidarity with the North Dakota Pipeline protests.

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BY ROB PERSONS

n the windswept North Dakota plains almost one thousand people occupy a camp set up to last through the winter, determined not to disperse until construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline ends. Converging around the pipeline are familiar tensions: land rights disputes, Native American oppression, environmental racism, water pollution, and freedom of the press.

Proposed by Energy Transfer LLC, a Texas-based oil giant, the $3.78 billion pipeline project would transport 470,000 to 570,000 barrels of crude oil a day over 1,172 miles, crossing hundreds of bodies of water and four states.

Following the proposal of the pipeline, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, residents of North Dakota, who have lived near Lake Oahe for generations, filed a lawsuit against the United States Army Corps of Engineers, the federal agency that approved the project. The plaintiffs accuse the Army Corps of violating provisions of the Clean Water Act and National Environmental Policy Act. The Tribe also claims that the Army Corps of Engineers ignored Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, which requires federal agencies to consider the historical significance of properties, like the area surrounding Lake Oahe, that are involved in the completion of projects.

The Standing Rock Sioux, environmentalists, and countless other tribes have all fought the pipeline since its conception. The Standing Rock Tribe claims the project threatens its supply of fresh water in North Dakota and damages sacred and historic tribal lands. Protests against the pipeline have come under Lakota slogan, “Mni Wiconi,”

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which can be translated to “Water is Life”.

The Standing Rock Sioux Native American reserve was created in 1868 in the Treaty of Fort Laramie between the Great Sioux Nation and the U.S. government. In a sense, the controversy began immediately after, when the federal government reneged on the Treaty, claiming the Sioux land as its own. “A more ripe and rank case of dishonorable dealings,” wrote the Supreme Court of the federal government’s actions, “will never, in all probability, be found in our history.” The pipeline is being constructed over the same reapportioned property, inhabited by the tribe since long before the United States ever existed.

The protest reflects the unsavory, yet familiar story of profits prioritized over the well-being of the environment, as well as exploitation and disregard for the rights of Native Americans by the United States federal government.

The police presence surrounding the protectors’ camps is like that of an occupied zone, equipped with militarized trucks, weapons, gear, and manpower. In early September, footage captured by Democracy Now!’s Amy Goodman, showed private security guards hired by Energy Transfer LLC using mace and attack dogs against the Native American protesters.

Although the Army Corps of Engineers originally approved the project, the federal government made a joint statement halting further construction in the contested area around Lake Oahe following the release of the Democracy Now! footage and a growing call for an injunction on the pipeline construction. On Sunday, October 9, 2016, a ruling by a federal appeals court denied the Tribe’s request for an injunction, claiming the Tribe lacked evidence that the pipeline would cause irreparable damage or negatively impact public interest.

Over 200 indigenous tribes are represented at the Standing Rock camp, the largest gathering of native tribes in over a century. This act of solidarity among so many tribes sends a powerful message to the global community: marginalized people will not stand for the status-quo of economic violence and environmental degradation.

In 1887, the Oglala Lakota Chief, Crazy Horse, prophesied that seven generations in the future, the ‘Red Nation’ would unify and the earth would become one circle again. Another Lakota prophecy predicts the rise of a black snake, travelling across the land bringing great sorrow and destruction. With this historic unification of Native American tribes, and a growing environmental consciousness around the world, this prophecy may come true.

Feature Story Finding a place for pollinators on farms and campuses.

BY JESS SAVAGE & IAN LUND

P

eter Chlebowski, president and cofounder of the UVM Beekeepers, lifts the net protecting his face to lick the honey off the gloved tip of his finger.

As he does, an irate bee launches itself into Chlebowski’s net towards his neck. Chlebowski swiftly and calmly captures the bee between his fingers and the net, releasing it outside in the same movement. He continues his routine maintenance of the Beekeepers’ hives as if he had never been in danger.

The Beekeepers are a new organization on campus dedicated to promoting pollinator health. They currently have six beehives set up in UVM’s Horticulture Farm in South Burlington, with hopes to transfer the hives to UVM’s Athletic Campus by the end of the school year.

The club envisions more than setting up a permanent

home for bees on campus. They are in the process of making UVM a certified “Bee Campus.” Bee Campus USA, an offshoot of the non-profit Bee City USA, offers a certification program to eligible campuses and cities that promote the health of and create habitat for pollinators. If the UVM Beekeepers are successful, UVM will be the fifteenth Bee Campus in the United States and the first in New England.

The Bee Campus program is designed to utilize the benefits of a college campus to promote bee wellness and create a desperately needed sanctuary for pollinators. Each Bee Campus upholds seven commitments, involving events, signage, and college courses to facilitate a conversation about bees on campus and the surrounding community. Bees are subject to many natural and manmade challenges that are decimating their population.

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Bees are integral to our way of life; they are essentially the insect livestock. Scientists estimate that one of every three bites of food we eat is made possible by pollinators.

Our agricultural system depends on more than two million bee colonies in the United States trucked around the country to service monocultures, following blooming crops across the country. We need them.

In 2006, beekeepers noticed their bees were disappearing, leaving behind their honey, broods, and queen. This unexplained absconding of bees is called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). Since CCD was first observed, between 50 and 90 percent of colonies in beekeeping operations across the U.S. have been lost to the phenomenon.

But specific symptoms of CCD are difficult to distinguish from the normal die-off in overwintering colony collapse. What is clear is the collapse usually occurs about a week after bees exhibit bizarre, disoriented behavior. In the final stages of the collapse, the queen is usually found attended by only by a handful of newly hatched adult bees.

The honeycombs are deserted, as broods and reserves sit neglected.

CCD presents a curious case to scientists since there is no smoking gun. But a number of hypotheses, from monocultures to agrochemicals, have been put forward to explain these bizarre and frightening disappearances.

Two traditions of modern agriculture, monoculture and agrochemicals, also pose large-scale challenges for bees.

Monoculture, the practice of growing miles upon miles of a single crop, allows farmers to plant, maintain and harvest their crop with relative ease but with complicated ecological results. With only a single plant grown, the soil lacks a healthy diversity of nutrients. Additionally, the widespread uniformity leads to widespread vulnerability. When one monocrop is susceptible to disease or pests, the agent can spread easily throughout the entire crop, decimating farmers’ yields. Monoculture requires farmers to supplement their crops with inputs like synthetic fertilizer and pesticides, to artificially regenerate the soil and stave off any damaging pests respectively.

More importantly, monocrops decrease the diversity and abundance of floral blooms. Bees in the wild are able to maintain a varied diet over a longer period of time, as different flowers bloom at various times throughout the year. Bees do not have a choice of flower in monocultures, however, and once the bloom passes they have nothing left to eat. Monoculture results in stressed, malnourished bees with

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weak immune systems, and consequently, bees are more susceptible to the adverse effects of pesticides and diseases.

In the 1990s, Bayer, the German chemical and pharmaceutical company, introduced a new kind of pesticide called neonicotinoids. Instead of being sprayed, seeds are coated with the chemical before planting. The systemic toxin permeates all parts of the plant, including its pollen.

They cause four main symptoms in the targeted species: a weakened immune system, disoriented behavior, a loss of memory, and a loss of appetite or destruction of the entire digestive system.

Neonicotinoids are highly toxic to bees. Just by coming into contact with contaminated pollen, bees can ingest these systemically harmful chemicals or spread them around the hive. Exposure to neonicotinoids is a posited explanation for the abandoned hives of CCD. The damage to the nervous system of bees may cause them to forget how to get home. Autopsies on bees found near collapsed colonies reveal carcasses riddled with nearly every virus, fungus, and parasite known to afflict bees and a destroyed digestive system, characterized by a blackened, rotting gut.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the U.S. lost 42.1 percent of its bee colonies in 2014. Every year, however, the overall population remains about the same thanks to intensive artificial reproduction.

But given the incredible demand for bees, we won’t let them die: “Queen-rearing” is the fastest growing development in beekeeping. By splitting hives in two and forcing bees to raise new queens for new colonies before the original has a chance to fail, beekeepers are able to keep their populations precipitously stable.

This is called a technical fix, something that mitigates the consequences of a problem without addressing the root cause. Alternately, a structural fix focuses on identifying and changing things built into the system that cause parts of it to fail.

Dr. Taylor Ricketts, who researches native pollinators at the University of Vermont’s Gund Institute for Ecological Economics, understands the policy implications that the plight of bees presents.

“When I fly over the US and look down at the crop circles, I think: Where are the nests, where is the food, where are the pesticides? If you have those three filters, you can look at a landscape and say ‘that’s great for bees,’ or ‘that’s not great for bees.’

Monocultures take away bees’ habitat and diet in a fell swoop, and Ricketts perceives a need for a culture

shift. “There’s a kind of ethic that says good farmers should have a very clean, weed free, edge-to-edge, nothing messy type of farm,” he says. “That’s just the worst kind of farm from a bee’s point of view.”

Adapting land management to pollinators has been found to increase farmer’s yields in certain cases. Lands dedicated to pollinators are known as “pollinator strips.”

This year, Ricketts and his colleagues are concluding a five-year USDA-sponsored project, Ricketts says. “We’ve put up strips in nine different states to ask this question: Can we argue that it’s in the private interest of the farmer? That farmer doesn’t have to sacrifice anything or even feel warm and fuzzy about nature, it just can be an important input that pays back?”

Ricketts is optimistic. “Increasingly we’re showing that the cold hard economic analysis is one that pays.” A study on blueberry farms in Michigan found that farmers did not see a return on their investment at first, but by year three, their yields started going up and never went back.

Due to the hostile environment we’ve created for pollinators through agriculture, Ricketts isn’t surprised that pollinators, especially the heavily managed ones, are struggling. Like cows or chickens, Ricketts says, “we’ve domesticated [bees] in really high densities, push them really hard for production, and they get sick. And then we have to treat them for mites and viruses and bacteria and fungi, just like we have to treat cows for bacteria all the time.”

“I’m not sure, frankly, that it matters [what new disease is killing bees]. There are many stressors all landing on honey bees and whichever was the straw that broke the camel’s back, the back’s breaking and it doesn’t mean that we have to find that straw, we can work on any of the stressors and pull them back from that threshold.”

In 2012, the French government banned the neonicotinoid, Cruiser OCR, and the EU followed suit, though allowing four similar pesticides to continue to be used. But in light of increasing evidence linking the toxic chemicals to CCD, France is now on track to ban neonicotinoids completely by 2018.

Our government recognizes that bees are in trouble.

Though there are no laws banning neonicotinoids here, the USDA, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS), and Environmental Protection Agency all stress the importance of polli-

nators and connect the decline in their population to industrial agriculture. The FWS specifically advises beekeepers to keep colonies away from agrochemicals.

Last year, President Obama created a task force to make a “Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators.” Among the task force’s goals is keeping the honey bee population at “economically sustainable levels” and “restore or enhance millions of acres of land for pollinators through combined public and private action.”

Dedicating space to pollinators, albeit on a smaller scale, is one requirement needed to qualify as a certified Bee Campus. “We tore out the gardens next to Stafford Hall and turned them into a pollinator garden,” Chlebowski explains, “and a half-acre meadow will be planted with perennial and annual pollinator friendly plants.” Additionally, the Beekeepers will post signs identifying the pollinator-friendly plants, such as salvia, thyme, oregano, or basil. Chlebowski explains the introduction of gardens specifically dedicated to pollinators is more than symbolic, “it lets people know what they should go out and ask for” when planting their own gardens.

No matter how many gardens the Beekeepers can transform into spaces for pollinators, the fact remains that a single colony of bees needs acres of plants to pollinate, meaning just a couple gardens will not be enough.

With goals to create more safe spaces for bees, the Beekeepers hope to see this same type of program in Portland implemented at UVM and at a national level. “It is high time to consider these pollinators not merely as stinging insects,” says Chlebowski. “Bees are intrinsically intertwined with our food systems and must be supported for future generations.”

Art by Jess Savage, Photos by Peter Chlebowski

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A Reality that Cannot Be Ignored

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BY SOPHIE BOKELMAN

HROUGH THE EYES OF A CHILD my wooded backyard was vast. The trees loomed above my head and the small stream raged on for far longer than I could walk.

Under the rocks in the stream and on the forest floor lay small creatures for me to discover — crawfish, salamanders, and on a lucky day, a turtle. If I turned around, I could make out the shape of my suburban house through the trees; thus, I did my best to never turn around. I was an intrepid explorer surviving alone in the wilderness of my backyard.

The unkempt forest behind my home was the place where I grew to respect and love the outdoors. Although nothing grand in the eyes of most adults, it is the place I credit with fostering the environmental science student I am today. My passions, with roots established in my backyard, led me to a job with the Green Mountain Audubon Center in Huntington, Vermont — a picturesque New England nature center with hiking trails, rivers, and ponds, which hosts camps and day programs for children.

As staff at Audubon, we were encouraged to embrace our childlike love for the outdoors in order to relate to and inspire the next generation of environmentalists.

Throughout our week of training we participated in a slew of activities, including one in which we were instructed to draw a special place in nature remembered from our youth.

Without missing a beat, I began to draw the stream from my backyard. As I looked around, the other new staff members were busy drawing pictures of their own. There was no hesitation. We all knew our special childhood place.

There was something about this activity that stuck with me for the entire summer. All of us in the environmental field had a childhood place, somewhere that had sparked our passion at an extremely young age. But what if one of us did not have a place? Would we be struggling to draw the picture, feeling uncomfortable and out of place amongst our co-workers? I believe the answer to this is “no.” Rather, we would not be sitting there at all.

With this in mind, I returned to Audubon each week, my days spent out in the forest hiking, laughing, playing games, splashing in the river, exploring and adventuring 21

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with children; their eyes full of hope and inspiration for the world around them. Audubon was a sanctuary away from the hardships of daily life for the children and staff alike.

While I credit special places with inspiring future environmentalists, just as my wooded backyard inspired me, most of the people who enjoy these places look like I do.

A 2014 study by the Outdoor Foundation showed that 70 percent of those who participated in outdoor recreation in the United States were white, compared to 11 percent African-American, 7 percent Asian and 8 percent Hispanic.

Yet according to the U.S. Census Bureau, in that same year, only 62.2 percent of Americans were white. Another survey, performed by the Wyoming Survey and Analysis Center at the University of Wyoming, found that from 2008 to 2009, white-identifying visitors to national parks were overrepresented by a similar margin when compared to visitors of other races and ethnicities. Minority peoples in the United States are being systematically underrepresented in the world of outdoor education. Why is this?

The childhood drawing activity creeps back into my mind over and over again. If there is a genuine correlation between the woods in my backyard and the environmentalist I am today, then it is that I was not so much an exceptional child with an adventurous spirit; rather, I was privileged.

As a child, I never felt unsafe playing outside due to my skin color. If a child grows up in fear of being perceived as “lurking” around a neighborhood when they are simply exploring their world, then she may never have the chance to find her special childhood place. She may have no picture to draw. She may never become an environmentalist, a devastating loss.

Racial injustice is not limited to the environmental movement. In 2015, 40 percent of unarmed people shot and killed by police were black men, but black men represent only 7 percent of our country. These forms of systematic oppression extend to all aspects of life in our country, including outdoor education and recreation.

It is not just an act of injustice to make the environment a pleasure for only those with privilege; the exclusivity of outdoor education is a step backwards for the health of our planet. The climate crisis is only becoming more pressing, and all of us should have the opportunity to grow up with an inherent sense of caring for the natural world—a feeling of love and safety when surrounded by nature, not a feeling of exclusion or fear. Children must not be afraid to explore, and further, they must feel valued, accepted, and represented. To not take a stand against racism in the United States is to not take a stand in the environmental movement.

Reflections on Philo

BY ALYSSA MAMUSZKA I found myself alone. It was not necessarily a bad kind of alone - just alone. Mondays after class find me bent over my textbooks deep in the library, but not today. The sun was shining and the sky was so blue and deep it seemed almost surreal. The air was crisp and fresh on my skin after hours of sitting through class in stuffy lecture halls. I was alone, though it did not feel that way.

Mt. Philo is not a particularly tough hike, but since this was my first time out in weeks, my breath came in huffs. The trees stretched their limbs up, reaching for the last sunlit kisses of the day. I walked so quietly that the small creatures of the forest accepted me as one of their own. Chipmunks and squirrels scampered across my path, up trees, and under logs on deft feet. There was no one to interfere with the ways of the forest.

I walked under the canopy in the dappled sunlight, and found myself centered once again with my world, my life, and my body. My muscles tensed with exertion as I pushed through the last leg of the trek.

I stopped for a moment and sat on a boulder to sip water. A sharp rapping made me turn, and I spotted the vibrant red head of a woodpecker puncturing the trunk of a nearby tree. I breathed slowly and fully, tasting the air.

I felt it in my lungs and appreciated that I could take the moment to actually breathe and taste, to sit and be in the nature we so often take for granted. I poured more water between my lips and stood. To the top.

I stepped to the edge and hung my toes over the jagged rock that sloped sharply down, down, down. Wisps of hair flew around my head and face, and my arms sprouted goose bumps. The trees around me whispered their own secret language in the wind, a rustling of leaves and swaying of branches. I breathed again and looked up.

Mount Philo is not incredibly high, but standing on the top of that mountain should never go unappreciated.

Miles and miles of verdant fields, lush trees, and snaking roads

Art by Connor Brustofski

stretched out below me. Lake Champlain was a vast, silver puddle poured onto the green landscape, and the mountains, the mountains. I could have stared all day at the layers of sharp ridgelines pressed against the sky. What had I done to deserve such beauty, to live in a dream, to see it all for myself?

The wind awoke me in a new way, filling my lungs not only with life, but with a sense of enchantment that is not granted sparingly.

We each need a moment to ourselves in this world.

We need to go outside, even if just for a few faint moments, and really breathe. It is unfortunately far too easy to forget what is laying right in front of us; whether it be the sharp peaks of a mountainous expanse or just the soft sunlight on the ground.

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