Sustainable eating: Seasonal produce and composting

Graphic by Brianna Stockwell ’28

By Sam McKay ’29

Science & Environment Editor

What is seasonal eating? Seasonal eating is the practice of choosing to eat crops — preferably local — that are in season. Depending on where you live, this can be very difficult, particularly in New England where winters make growing any food challenging. It is also hard to practice seasonal eating while living on campus and relying on the College for meals. However, next time you go to the store, keep in mind the seasonality of different crops. If you don’t know, there are many helpful lists and charts online; in New England right now, apples, corn, potatoes and pumpkins are in peak season! 

Seasonal eating goes hand and hand with buying locally, since local farms mainly grow in-season crops instead of out-of-season crops that take  a lot more money and maintenance. As well as supporting your neighbors, buying from local farmers helps the environment, especially when we encourage in-season foods. Although the College can’t buy only from local businesses, we do get a large percentage of our food from New England farms. As of 2020, 20% of the College’s food purchases are sustainable. While this may not seem like a lot, it is a significant amount for an institution to put towards sustainable eating.

Who benefits from seasonal eating, you might ask? Everybody! Local farmers get more support, reliance on Big Agriculture decreases, and your stomach is happier! Eating fresh, locally grown produce is much better for you; it’s full of nutrients that most industrially grown crops don’t have enough of, and often has a much richer flavor. Even your wallet benefits because it’s typically more affordable to eat locally in season. Local crops are accessible at farmers markets and local grocery stores, and since the produce isn’t shipped as far — and doesn’t have to be stored — the cost is lower. 

 In South Hadley, we have very acidic soil, with a topsoil pH of 4.6 and very fast draining soil, which  can cause untreated sewage to leak into groundwater very easily. High soil acidity is often caused by harvesting high-yielding crops and leaching. These issues can be mitigated by composting, using that compost and other organic matter as fertilizer, and implementing proper drainage structures. 

While this can help mitigate the issue, preventing acidic soil is much easier: All you have to do is start with these suggestions and rotate your crops seasonally. Soil health is very important for happy crops, so it’s important to rotate crops in order to balance chemicals, pH levels, enhance drainage, and so much more.

Compost, let’s talk about it. Composting can be a closed loop of sustainability. Excess food scraps go in the compost which, after a while, is used as soil in a seasonal garden. The garden then produces healthier, happier crops and the cycle continues. Composting can fix a lot of soil issues and reduce waste. More things can be composted than you might first think, including coffee grounds, hair, non-glossy cardboard, leaves, grass clippings and more. Mount Holyoke College does a shockingly good job composting our massive amounts of food waste. All uneaten food goes to an anaerobic composting complex that turns our waste into power for a farm nearby. While this process is not flawless and some material still gets thrown out, it is a very important aspect of the College’s sustainability program. 

Household gardens are a great way to eat seasonally and sustainably. Less than a quarter acre is needed to grow enough fruits, vegetables and even eggs to almost entirely sustain a family of four. Though most families don’t have the money, time or abilities to plant and upkeep a garden larger than a raised-bed garden, if those who can, do, we would be in a much better position. Families could share any excess with the community. Although Mount Holyoke has a garden, it is almost exclusively inedible. 

If you’re feeling a bit helpless in the environmental struggles — and even if you aren’t — here’s what you can do: Buy from local farmers, go to farmers markets on the weekends, grow a garden at your house and educate yourself! Keeping ourselves educated keeps us responsible and staying responsible makes a greener future much more likely. We can’t fix problems if we don’t know about them. Learn what fruits and veggies are sustainably grown, native to where you live, and support your neighbors. Stay environmentally conscious, pookies.

Sophie Francis ’28 contributed fact-checking.

The Creature Feature, featuring: Spooky spotted orbweavers!

Graphic by Madeleine Diesl ’28

By Madeleine Diesl ’28

Copy Chief

If you’ve ever been to Mandelle or 1837 halls, you’ve likely crossed over the white pedestrian bridge known among students as “Spider Bridge.” Located atop the waterfall on the southern side of Lower Lake, Spider Bridge gets its name from the dozens of spotted orbweaver spiders — scientific name Neoscona crucifera —  that make their webs on its wooden slats. 

Though they may seem creepy, spotted orbweavers are harmless. In fact, in addition to being an essential native species, these spiders can actually be beneficial to humans by catching and eating harmful insects such as mosquitoes. 

From far away, spotted orbweavers appear orangeish-brown and a little under an inch long. However, anyone brave enough to get a closer look at one of these spiders will notice that they have small brown hairs on their abdomen and legs. Two white spots can be found on the underside of their abdomen, and their legs are striped; these can be useful fieldmarks for someone unsure of what spider they’re looking at.

But why is Spider Bridge such prime real estate for spotted orbweavers? It’s likely a combination of a few things. Firstly, the streetlamps on the bridge attract many flying insects for the spiders to eat, and the stagnant lake below likely has the same effect. Also, spotted orbweavers are known to make their webs on trees or manmade structures with lots of corners, so a bridge is a perfect candidate. 

Spotted orbweaver webs are characteristically circular and can span up to two feet across, often appearing similar to the stereotypical spider web depicted in media. One fun fact about spotted orbweaver webs is that the females, which are nocturnal, consume their webs for nutrients in the morning and rebuild them every night. This means that the webs on Spider Bridge at night might look different each time you cross. Plus, most of the spotted orbweavers you will see are female, as the males are smaller and do not build webs. In other words, each night on Spider Bridge is one big, spooky girl dinner in which the girls are spiders, the dinner is bugs and the whole thing gets devoured by morning.

Sophie Francis ’28 contributed fact-checking.

Exploring student reliance on generative AI at MHC

Graphic by Brianna Stockwell ’28

By Gianna Akter ’29

S&E Writer

Schools across the globe have seen an increase in the use of generative AI with the rise of models such as Claude and ChatGPT. From professors themselves to the student body, many have become reliant on these AI tools to assist with grading or “brainstorming” ideas. The rise of generative AI has brought with it questions: If, when and how should AI be utilized in higher education?

At Mount Holyoke College, many students have voiced opposition to the introduction of AI, such as through a student flyer posted on campus.  However, many professors have chosen to allow AI usage through the implementation of tools such as Gemini, which Mount Holyoke has enabled in student accounts. The College's official policy for the “ethical use of AI” acknowledges concerns over its implementation in education — though allows its usage so long as it supports human values, avoids bias, discrimination and plagiarism while also perpetuating fairness, equity and integrity. This also means each professor can mitigate its use in accordance with their individual policies, sometimes prohibiting it from classes altogether.

Amid debate about whether AI should be used or allowed in academic settings, it may be helpful to consider what drives students to use AI for their assignments. Academic stress has been shown to lead to increased dependency on generative AI tools in higher education, according to Li Zhang and Yunxue Deng in “Stressed minds, smart tools: How academic expectation stress fuels generative AI dependency in Chinese higher education.” 

This may be related to a phenomenon called “cognitive offloading,” where people use external tools to reduce the mental effort required for a task or assignment or to free up room to concentrate on other tasks, according to an article by the American Psychological Association.  The temptation to offload using AI when academics get overwhelming can be ever-present, whether that be from a hefty work schedule, rigorous coursework, or something else entirely.

Mount Holyoke student Erin Mihok ’29 observed how high school students in the summer program she worked at thought about AI, saying, “I noticed that a few of [the highschoolers] were disappointed that we had a 'no AI' policy. Something I’ve heard echoed by many students … is the reluctance to spend time on tasks or assignments when AI could just do it for them.”

While many have argued that AI has become an encouragement for students to cheat, according to Artificial Intelligence Governance Professional Matthew Wemyss, researchers have found that AI actually has not affected the cheating rates among students; it has just become another method. Thus, many of the reasons why students choose to cheat using AI are the same reasons students choose to cheat using other methods. 

A 2021 meta-analysis by researchers Megan Krou, Carlton Fong, and Meagan Hoff found that students who were more extrinsically motivated, meaning they acted in pursuit of good grades or other external rewards, demonstrated higher levels of academic dishonesty. 

Meanwhile, students who were more intrinsically motivated, meaning they acted in pursuit of self-satisfaction or based on their individual interests, demonstrated lower levels of academic dishonesty. These findings could suggest that academic dishonesty, including the unauthorized use of AI, could be decreased in the classroom by fostering an academic environment where students are encouraged to prioritize intrinsic motivations like content mastery and personal growth, rather than grades in an environment where each student gets a learning experience that is individualized and personal. 

As discussion continues over whether AI should have a place in higher education, and, if not, what should be done to limit AI usage, it’s important to acknowledge where students that utilize generative AI may be coming from. For students that may be struggling with stress, overwhelm or pressure to succeed academically, Mount Holyoke offers various support systems on campus, such as wellness initiative groups, office hours, peer study groups and campus tutors.

Quill Nishi-Leonard ’27 contributed fact-checking.

Annual Five College Geology Faculty Symposium held at Smith College

Photo by Madeleine Diesl ’28

Dr. Pei Zhang discusses the human impacts of dust storms in southern New Mexico and beyond.

By Madeleine Diesl ’28

Copy Chief

At 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 22, the Five College Consortium held its 46th annual Geology Faculty Symposium at Smith College. Every year, geoscience faculty from the Five Colleges — in addition to Williams College — meet up to “showcase the spectrum of original research and discovery underway in the area and provide opportunities for cross-fertilization of ideas among earth scientists,” according to the Five College Consortium website. Students and faculty from all six colleges attended to listen to the presentations and mingle with fellow geoscientists. 

Much support was expressed for Hampshire College in light of its impending closure. In fact, the first presentation of each Five College Geology Faculty Symposium is titled the “John Reid Memorial Lecture” after the late Hampshire College geologist. Reid, who passed away in 2003, was a prominent professor of geology at Hampshire and a valued member of the Five College community. This year, the John Reid Memorial Lecture was given by Smith College Professor of Geosciences Amy Rhodes in honor of her recently retired colleague, Robert M. Newton. Newton, who was in attendance, stood and gave a short speech about the importance of the Five College community during such tough times. Rhodes then commenced with her lecture, titled “From walkways to the pond: Tracing road salt through Smith’s campus.”

The second of the five lectures was given by Alice Bradley of Williams College. Williams College, though not included in the Five College Consortium, participates in the symposium due to its proximity. Bradley’s talk was called “Detecting stability: Using ICESat-2 to find grounded ridges in coastal sea ice.”

Next, Mount Holyoke’s very own Assistant Professor of Geology and Geography, Pei Zhang, gave her lecture on dust storms: “When and how does a dry lake emit dust? Observations from southern New Mexico.” Zhang, who was newly hired as a tenure-track professor this year, is teaching “GEOG-224: Atmosphere and Weather” this semester, though her research is mainly focused on sediment transport and sand dune geomorphology. 

The penultimate lecture was given by Assistant Professor Victor Guevara of Amherst College about the orogeny of the Himalayas. The talk was titled, “Rapid heating during crustal exhumation of the Nanga Parbat Massif.”

Finally, the last lecture of the night was given by University of Massachusetts Amherst Professor Julie Brigham-Grette, who worked with Indigenous communities in Alaska to better understand how climate change is affecting the local villages. Her talk was titled, “Age matters: Surficial mapping on the outer Yukon-Kuskokwim delta to assess coastal erosion vulnerability and permafrost thaw.”

Mount Holyoke College students had many positive things to say about the event. Yan Hernandez ’28 shared, “I think it’s beautiful that, after almost 40 years, colleagues and friends still gather to talk about how wonderful John Reid Jr. was. … You can tell how much they admired him as a professor and friend.” He also mentioned that the symposium always teaches them “something new about geochemistry.”

Hernandez finished on a positive note: “I think it’s wonderful that the [Five Colleges] are more than just a consortium.” 

Quill Nishi-Leonard ’27 contributed fact-checking.

Temperature pillow project unveiled at Clapp Laboratory party

By Madeleine Diesl ’28

Copy Chief

On Thursday, May 7, students and faculty gathered by the Clapp Laboratory third floor stairwell to enjoy pillow-themed snacks and celebrate the hard work of Geoscience Technician and Staff Instructor Dr. Claire Pless, as well as the twenty-six students and alums who have been working with her on a science-arts fusion that has become known as the “Temperature Pillow Project.” Now, the product — thirty-four crocheted, knitted and sewn pillows, each representing a different year of South Hadley monthly temperatures — is complete.

“The project is a display of how the average temperature has changed in South Hadley over the past thirty-eight years or so,” Pless explained in an email interview with Mount Holyoke News. “Each pillow is crocheted or knit by a student [or myself] for a single year, with each row representing the average monthly temperature. The colors [were] assigned by 5 degrees Fahrenheit increments, going from cooler colors to warmer, from below 20 degrees to 80 degrees.” This resulted in each pillow having a unique pattern of colors.

Pless then elaborated further on the process of making the pillows. “The G&G department supplied the materials, which we first had to portion out into the colors needed for each year and distribute to each student. Once the students had their squares made, I sewed and stuffed them into pillows. The pillows are labeled with the student's name, class year, the year they represent, and for the significant La Niña or El Niño years, an ‘A’ or ‘O’ respectively.”

According to NOAA, La Niña and El Niño are global climate patterns that occur irregularly every few years. In the northeastern U.S., El Niño events are characterized by warm, dry weather, while La Niña causes cooler temperatures and heightened precipitation. This winter, for example, New England experienced La Niña conditions.

“I got the idea for the project when I went to a conference about a year ago,” Pless said. “The session was on interactive pedagogy and one person had an ongoing temperature blanket that had a hexagon representing the average temperature for each of the last ten years. I had done my own temperature blanket of daily high and low temperatures for the full year of 2021 and was interested by the idea of a project that I could include student crocheters on.”

Pless expressed surprise at the number of interested students. “I expected this to be a maximum of [around] ten students in the Geology department, but once I advertised it, I got so much more interest in it than that initial expectation, and it got sent to the knitting club, so it became more of a campus-wide project.”

When asked if recent climate change could be observed in the pillows, Pless said that “the trend of increasing warmth that we may have expected to see in this project, while there, is not as distinct as it could have been.” She explained that this was likely due to the fact that the project used “the average temperatures for a full month, rather than displaying the highs and lows.” Temperature data was collected from temperature-blanket.com.

However, there were some interesting years recorded. Specifically, Pless mentioned that 1992 was an “unusually cool [year], with summer temperatures not getting above an average of 65 degrees.”

“We know, geologically, that in 1991, the volcano Pinatubo erupted, sending ash particles into the atmosphere, where they stayed and circled the globe, causing a cooling effect that was seen in 1992,” Pless explained. “That was the coolest thing I saw in this project.”

2000 also revealed itself to be an unusually chilly year, but the reason for this is uncertain, Pless said.

“This project could potentially continue … which is a neat prospect,” Pless added. She mentioned that there was not yet a pillow for the year 2025, so that could be a good start.

If you’re interested in taking a look at some of these pillows, they can be found on the couches in the third floor landing of Clapp Laboratory, as well as scattered about the environmental studies, geology and geography lounge.

Maeve McCorry ’28 contributed fact-checking.

Corpse flower ‘Pangy’ blooms beautifully after 3 years

Gianna Akter ’29 

Staff writer

Early morning, April 14, 2026, Mount Holyoke College’s beloved corpse flower — Amorphophallus titanum, nicknamed “Pangy” — had its triennial blooming. The endangered specimen drew quite a crowd, with students, faculty and community members alike coming to see and smell the rare spectacle in person at the Talcott Greenhouse, where the plant is on display. 

“I think that people are drawn to [Pangy] because it is so unique in its appearance and scent,” Jessie Blum, the greenhouse supervisor responsible for the living collection, shared in an interview with Mount Holyoke News. “[It has a] very short flowering period.” 

According to Blum, Pangy was added to the living collection in 2020 when it was a “corm,” or an underground, food storage organ which is similar to a bulb. Pangy was given to Mount Holyoke College by Dartmouth College's Life Sciences Greenhouse, and has grown to be almost six feet tall in the six years it has spent here. Once a corpse flower reaches maturity, it can start to flower. This is Pangy’s second flowering, with its first occurring in 2023. 

“I think they need time and patience, as they don't tend to follow a strict timeline on flowering or putting up a leaf or going dormant," Blum elaborated, highlighting optimal care and environment for the corpse flower. “I think in ideal conditions, which are warm temps and high humidity, these plants can flower every 3-5 years. That said, this is only my second flower ever so we'll see!” 

While Pangy has become the staple nickname for the corpse flower, Blum highlights that the name was coined by Mount Holyoke in honor of “Pangy Day,” an annual celebration for the last day of Spring classes, and was not given by Dartmouth College. 

“The first time this plant flowered for us, back in 2023, we didn't know whether it was a leaf bud or a flower bud until Pangy Day,” Blum explained. “Thus, we thought it was fitting to name the plant Pangy.” 

Pangy’s flowering is especially exciting with the knowledge that there are fewer than 162 individual corpse plants in the wild, according to the nature journal Biodiversity and Conservation. The endangerment comes from several factors, varying from habitat loss and deforestation to inbreeding. 

“They are native to Sumatra, Indonesia,” Blum said. “A lot of [botanic gardens] have multiple plants, and also share pollen with each other to create a little more genetic diversity within the cultivated plants.” 

There are conservation initiatives among several botanic gardens, such as the Chicago Botanic Garden Initiative, to cultivate, study and promote genetic diversity in these plants through managing pollination and sharing specimens with other institutions, much like how Pangy came into the care of the Talcott Greenhouse. 

“I love that we have such a diverse collection of plants here and that there are so many fascinating stories that they can tell us!”  Blum explained, emphasizing the diverse vegetation and conservation at the greenhouse. “I really enjoy watching Pangy grow prior to the inflorescence opening up and also seeing everyone's reactions when they come to view it.” 

Hopefully, we will see Pangy have its third successful blossoming soon to learn more about this fascinating plant.

Madeleine Diesl ’28 contributed fact-checking.

BIOL-200 to be taken off the roster next academic year

Mary Grahn ’28

Science & Environment Editor

Starting next year, BIOL-200 “Introductory Biology II: How Organisms Develop with Laboratory” will no longer be offered by the department of biological sciences. For decades, the class played a significant role in the curriculum for multiple majors at Mount Holyoke College — such as Biological Sciences, Biochemistry and Neuroscience & Behavior — strengthening the students’ foundational understanding of biological concepts and preparing them for more specialized courses.

The class, which was taught by professors Rachel Fink and Amy Frary for over 20 years, focused on developmental biology. It covered topics such as embryology and genetics. Students in BIOL-200 got to design their own experiments and complete labs dissecting specimens that included fruit and leaves.

The curriculum change was announced last November in an email sent to students across the affected majors. Since the announcement, students have had a variety of different responses to the curriculum change.

Biology Club President Natalija Radosavljevic ’28 shared her perspective on the different ways that students have viewed the class in an email to Mount Holyoke News.

“As the president of the Biology Club, I have heard varying opinions about this course.” Radosavljevic said.

“Some people really enjoyed how in-depth it went, and a lot of my plant biology-focused friends really enjoyed the labs and designing their own experiments. However, I [have] heard from many people that the class wasn't at all engaging for their interests.”

For Radosavljevic, the class was not a favorite. As someone passionate about human biology, she found a lot of the course material to fall outside her interests. But despite the qualms she had with the class as an individual, Radosavljevic explained that many students had positive experiences with the class.

“People enjoyed the way the lectures were co-taught by two different professors. I have heard that the lecture style was engaging [to many] and that some enjoyed the level of depth that the class covered.”

Moreover, Radosavljevic shared that she left the course with some valuable takeaways.

“I think what was covered in lecture for BIOL-200 was meaningful and gave a sufficient background to embryology and development, and genetics.”

Moving forward, students who have completed BIOL-165, BIOL-145 or NEURO-100 can enroll in one of many other courses offered at the 200-level in the department. For more information about how this will impact individual students, students can contact the Mount Holyoke Department of Biological Sciences or an academic advisor.

Maeve McCorry ’28 contributed fact-checking.

Spring at MHC starts off spring with the 54th annual Spring Flower Show

Photo by Madeleine Diesel ’28

BY MADELEINE DIESL ’28

COPY CHIEF

After an especially long, cold and wet winter, spring has officially sprung at Mount Holyoke College. The snow has melted, the birds are singing and the Mount Holyoke Botanic Garden is holding its 54th annual Spring Flower Show in the Talcott Greenhouse. This year, the show ran from March 7 to 22, open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. daily.

Three types of flowers in particular stole the show: Tulips, daffodils and hyacinths. 

Tulips, a perennial staple, are plants of the genus Tulipa, which encompasses more than seventy-five different species. Even within these species, tulips boast a large diversity of color and form. There were dozens of varieties of tulips at the Flower Show, from velvety purple blooms to spiky orange flowers with petals that looked like fire. 

Daffodils, with their cheery yellow hue, are well known in Massachusetts for being some of the first flowers to bloom in the early spring. The common name for the Narcissus genus, daffodils contain even more species than tulips do. Morphologically, daffodils are unique because of their large corona — the crown-shaped, trumpetlike center of the flower — and hooked stem. Alongside the typical yellow flowers, the Botanic Garden displayed bright white daffodils with contrasting orange coronae. 

Hyacinths are known for their clustered flowers and strong fragrance; if you noticed a floral scent while walking past the greenhouse, that was likely the hyacinths at work. Unlike the previously mentioned flowers, there are only a few species in the Hyacinthus genus, yet there are still a large variety of colors. Most of the hyacinths at the Botanic Garden were a deep purple hue, but there were also pink, white and blue ones. 

The science behind flowers is just as fascinating as their appearance. Flowers serve as the reproductive organs of angiosperms, or flowering plants. In the wild, their large diversity of size, shape and color is partially a result of their coevolution with specific pollinators. For example, a flat, yellow flower might attract a bumblebee, while a long, red flower would be more suited to pollination by a hummingbird. The giant blooms that can be found at the Flower Show and in most American gardens are mostly due to selective breeding by farmers to create the best smelling, biggest, most appealing flowers possible; there is no selective pressure to appeal to a certain pollinator when a human is willing to do all of the work.

In addition to the hundreds of blooms on display, the Botanic Garden was also selling potted bulbs of the Narcissus, Muscari and Scilla genera for $5 each. Though the show is over now, members of the Mount Holyoke community can still stop by the greenhouse any day from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. to see their vast collection of plants.

Maeve McCorry ’28 contributed fact checking.