The Connecticut River Watershed flows from the New Hampshire-Canada border all the way to where it meets the ocean on the Connecticut coast. Towards its southern border lies Stony Brook, one of the river’s distributaries that flows through the Mount Holyoke College campus. The entirety of the Stony Brook Watershed has only four impoundments, or dams — three of which are located here on campus.
The lush botanical gardens, lakes and hillocks stitching together the buildings at Mount Holyoke provide spaces for students to decompress, take part in age-old traditions and build new memories — all integral parts of one’s academic experience. Green spaces, like those mentioned above, are recreational areas, which the EPA website says aim to “enhance the beauty and environmental quality of neighborhoods.” The Enrollment Services branch of EAB, a technology and research oriented firm formerly named the Educational Advisory Board, shows that green spaces affect students’ college decisions.
This past week, Sept. 20 to 26, was Climate Week NYC, an event that aimed to collectively pressure businesses and governments towards action in response to climate change. Last Wednesday night, seven talk show hosts participated in “Climate Night,” an event coordinated by veteran producer and writer Steve Bodow. The night brought together shows on various networks including Jimmy Kimmel Live, Late Night With Seth Meyers, The Late Late Show with James Corden, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, The Daily Show With Trevor Noah and Full Frontal With Samantha Bee.
Vandana Shiva is a 68-year-old Indian environmental activist with a focus on food sovereignty. Shiva went to school for physics, later pursuing research in the intersection of science, technology and environmental policy. She has written over twenty books, with her first, titled “Staying Alive,” linking the abuse of nature with that of marginalized women living in rural India. This study lead to her future co-authored book “Ecofeminism,” which aims to show how gender, nature and oppression intersect.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought to light the power dynamics that exist between countries with large tourism economies and the rest of the world. On Aug. 23, the governor of Hawai’i asked travelers to abstain from vacationing on the islands through the end of October in an effort to limit the spread of COVID-19. These concerns about the impacts of tourism extend also into an ethical debate about the negative effects that large influxes of tourists can have on local communities. As more attention is given to the roles and responsibilities tourists hold in protecting the health of vacation hot spot communities, there is also an opportunity to reflect on the environmental consequences of tourism.
Amariyanna “Mari” Copeny, known to many as “Little Miss Flint,” is a 14-year-old activist based in Flint, Michigan. Her activism began at just eight years old, when she first became aware of the undrinkable water in her hometown, in which high levels of lead were detected. Copeny began to gain national attention when she wrote a letter to then-President Barack Obama to convince him to come to Flint and see the water crisis firsthand. This letter prompted Obama’s May 2016 visit to Flint. After his visit, he declared a federal state of emergency for the Michigan town and allocated $100 million in aid to address the issue.
By Helen Gloege ’23
Staff Writer
Swedish activist Greta Thunberg has become a household name around the world. Thunberg is famous within climate activist communities for her organizing work and calls for action against climate change. In 2018, at the age of 15, Thunberg began spending her days outside the Swedish Parliament to call for action on climate change. Initially, she was alone in her protests, until other students began to participate in similar demonstrations within their own communities. This is where her well-known slogan “Skolstrejk för klimatet” (School Strike for Climate) originated. After the December 2018 general elections in Sweden, Thunberg and others moved to striking only on Fridays. This became Fridays for Future, an organized school climate strike movement which has now taken place for almost three and a half years. In addition to inspiring many young activists, Thunberg has also been given many honors and awards, including but not limited to being Time’s Person of the Year and three consecutive nominations for a Nobel Peace Prize between 2019-21.
