College introduces new sustainability plans which include divestment from fossil fuels
In a letter shared with the community on Oct. 18, Mount Holyoke President Sonya Stephens outlined several new “climate action commitments,” including the decisions to divest from fossil fuels and take steps toward carbon neutrality. The letter was sent via email soon after the Board of Trustees’ October meeting. In addition to announcing new commitments and initiatives, Stephens enumerated past actions taken by the College towards achieving the recommendations of the Sustainability Task Force, which convened in 2017. The Task Force’s recommendations were approved by the Board of Trustees in 2018. They included achieving carbon neutrality by 2037, improving the energy efficiency of campus buildings and utilizing the campus as a “living laboratory for cross-disciplinary teaching, research and learning.”
Mount Holyoke hosts global conference on sustainability in higher education
Organized by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, the Global Conference on Sustainability in Higher Education is an annual conference that engages students, administrators, business partners and political leaders in critical discussions on the role of higher education and institutions in overcoming the challenges posed by climate change.
New York City Board of Health declares racism a public health crisis
The New York City Board of Health and Mental Hygiene passed a resolution as of Monday last week declaring racism a public health crisis. The step was taken six months after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared racism a serious health threat, a fact which became more apparent over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Smithsonian Magazine. The resolution, passed on Oct. 18, went into effect immediately.
Add to the history of ghost hunting by trying the latest technology
The beauty in ghost-hunting is its simplicity — and the wide availability of the technology it relies on. Take the case of the temperature gun: on a dark, cold night in the spring of 2019, I paraded around campus with a group of students from my Campus Sustainability course. Our mission was to identify buildings on campus that leaked heat due to insufficient insulation. In the tiny window of the temperature gun, we observed spine-chilling temperature changes around window frames and in the mortar between bricks where heat was escaping. The lack of energy efficiency in the College’s ancient buildings was not paranormal, but it certainly gave us a fright. With some extra time and the power of scientific discovery in our hands, we visited the famed “ghost room” on the fourth floor of Wilder Hall.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded to two scientists for their work on asymmetric organocatalysis
While mRNA vaccine researchers received global attention as favorites for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, according to Chemical and Engineering News, the prize was instead awarded to another field of research that has hugely benefited the pharmaceutical industry. On Oct. 6, the 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded jointly to Dr. Benjamin List and Dr. David W.C. MacMillan for their work on “asymmetric organocatalysis.”
New earth, environment and sustainability studies department to be developed
Earth-loving students of the future will not leave Mount Holyoke College with a degree in geology, geography or environmental studies, but rather earth, environment and sustainability studies. According to Chair of Environmental Studies Tim Farnham, students may join the new major starting in fall 2023.
Climate Activist Spotlight: Autumn Peltier
Autumn Peltier is a 17-year-old clean water advocate. She is Anishinaabe-kwe and comes from the Wikwemikong First Nation located on Manitoulin Island in northern Ontario, Canada. According to The Guardian, Peltier’s advocacy for water rights began at the age of eight when she attended a ceremony at the Serpent River Reservation, where signs in the bathrooms read, “do not drink the water” and “boil advisory in effect.”