Handmade award trophies resembling cairns-, stacks of rocks typically used to mark hiking trails, were awarded to studio art and Thayer School of Engineering professor Jack Wilson, Morgan Curtis ’14 and Dartmouth Dining Services associate director Don Reed for their “trailblazing” work at last night’s third annual Sustainability Awards, a part of the College’s Earth Week celebrations.
To open the ceremony, sustainability director Rosi Kerr ’97 noted that the sustainability office internship program has expanded to 30 interns. She also highlighted the sustainability sale, which earned about $45,000 and kept 800 refrigerators out of landfills, as well as the start of the student sustainability office.
Other recent efforts include the pop-up bike shop and the “Tap-a-palooza” campaign, which won funding for Dartmouth to develop water bottle fill stations across campus, including in Greek houses.
Programming for Earth Week included a CamelBak sale, a sustainability and social justice dinner and a dinner hosted by Ecovores on global clean water. Today’s “Farm Fresh Friday” event, held on Beta Alpha Omega fraternity’s front lawn, will feature music and food from local vendors.
At last night’s dinner, Wilson won the faculty award for his work on the $300 house project, which helps generate economic housing strategies in Haiti, and for incorporating sustainability into his architecture and engineering courses.
Julia McElhinney ’14, who worked with Wilson as a presidential scholar, said Wilson has a hands-on approach to teaching sustainability, which he introduced to her in an introductory architecture class and an engineering class.
Wilson explained his interest in combining environmental solutions with local community needs, especially in developing countries.
“It’s easy to say don’t use kerosene or charcoal,” he said. “You need to get to know communities and what they face to really help.”
Reed won the staff award, presented by environmental studies professor Michael Cox. Considered the leading sustainability voice in DDS, Reed works to promote sustainability in vendor contracts.
Because of his work, nearly a fifth of all food and beverage items at Dartmouth are regionally sourced.
Curtis received the student award for her involvement in a range of campus sustainability initiatives, including the Big Green Bus, EcoReps, the divestment campaign and for building mentorship and community in the sustainability program.
Sustainability, she said, has defined her Dartmouth experience.
“I can’t imagine having gone through these last four years without the support of everyone here, with people who are so reflective, critically-thinking and solutions-oriented,” Curtis said.
Over the past four years, she added, she has seen a community form on campus around issues of sustainability.
Environmental studies program chair Anne Kapuscinski said the awards ceremony highlighted the progress of the sustainability movement on campus.
“People think that sustainability is just about protecting the environment, but it’s more deeply about the two-way interconnection between people and nature,” she said.
She said a people-oriented and inspiration-based, not a defensive or reactionary approach to environmental concerns, can “achieve the dramatic transition to sustainability our civilization needs.”
Award nominees were selected through an open, campus-wide process, after which the sustainability office narrowed down the candidates. A committee of eight student, staff and faculty members selected winners.
The event concluded with a performance by the Aires, singing a sustainability-friendly rendition of “Come go Green with Me.”
