Sustainability News by Date
Results 1-14 of 14
November 2022
11-01-2022
Photo: Aly Criscuolo MBA ’19.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bard Graduate Programs,Environmental/Sustainability | Institutes(s): Bard MBA in Sustainability |
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bard Graduate Programs,Environmental/Sustainability | Institutes(s): Bard MBA in Sustainability |
October 2022
10-04-2022
All of the sampling was conducted as a joint Bard Summer Research Institute project between Dueker’s lab and Perron's lab in summer 2015. Lab members included: Marco Spodek ’17, Beckett Lansbury ’16, Yuejiao Wan ’17, Pola Kuhn ’17, Haley Goss-Holmes ’17. Coauthors Azulai and Reid worked on this project both as undergraduate and post-baccalaureate students.
“This project demonstrates the power of community asking scientific questions, and academia–students, faculty, and staff–being able to help answer those questions through careful observational and applied research,” said Dueker. “Our hope is that this database serves as a tool for researchers and communities around the world trying to respond to stewardship challenges in a science-based and community-accessible way.”
Photo: Team of students who participated in the Saw Kill sample collection for this study. (L-R) Becket Landsbury ’16, Pola Khun ’17, Clea Shumer, Daniela Azulai ’17, Haley Goss-Holmes ’17, Yuejiao Wan ’17, and Marco Spodek ’17.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni,Faculty | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Biology Program,Division of Science, Math, and Computing,Environmental and Urban Studies Program,Environmental/Sustainability,Office of Undergraduate Research | Institutes(s): Center for Environmental Sciences and Humanities |
Meta: Type(s): Alumni,Faculty | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Biology Program,Division of Science, Math, and Computing,Environmental and Urban Studies Program,Environmental/Sustainability,Office of Undergraduate Research | Institutes(s): Center for Environmental Sciences and Humanities |
September 2022
09-05-2022
Why do civic engagement leaders get involved in the work they do? What keeps them going in the face of challenges? In this series, What Is Your Why?, the Bard College Center for Civic Engagement highlights campus and local changemakers. In this episode, Chief Sustainability Officer Laurie Husted talks with Vice President of Civic Engagement Erin Cannan about her roles at Bard and in the Town of Red Hook. She discusses the transformative, newly passed federal climate legislation, and how ocean and climate scientist Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson inspires her to find purpose and joy.
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Achieving climate solutions can feel like a daunting task. Where does one start? Read this article from Generation 180, featuring the venn diagram created by Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, which Laurie Husted mentioned in her interview.
What else is happening at the Center for Civic Engagement this month? Join us for the "Who's on the Ballot?" series. Meet the candidates for office and ask questions about the issues that matter to you the most.
Read More
Achieving climate solutions can feel like a daunting task. Where does one start? Read this article from Generation 180, featuring the venn diagram created by Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, which Laurie Husted mentioned in her interview.
What else is happening at the Center for Civic Engagement this month? Join us for the "Who's on the Ballot?" series. Meet the candidates for office and ask questions about the issues that matter to you the most.
Meta: Type(s): Staff | Subject(s): Environmental/Sustainability | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
June 2022
06-01-2022
Photo: Bard students volunteer to reduce waste during move-out week.
Meta: Type(s): General,Student | Subject(s): Community Engagement,Environmental/Sustainability,Student |
Meta: Type(s): General,Student | Subject(s): Community Engagement,Environmental/Sustainability,Student |
May 2022
05-17-2022
Meta: Type(s): Faculty | Subject(s): Environmental and Urban Studies Program,Environmental/Sustainability,Faculty |
05-10-2022
Bard Senior Vice President and CFO Taun Toay Discusses the College’s Sustainability Efforts in an Interview for DOE’s Better Climate Challenge “Decarbonization Download” Series
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recognized Bard College for committing to reduce portfolio-wide greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% within 10 years and to work with DOE to share successful solutions and decarbonization strategies. As a partner in DOE’s Better Climate Challenge, Bard College is one of only 50 organizations across the U.S. economy that are stepping up to the Challenge and driving real-world action toward a low-carbon future. As a place of higher education, Bard College’s campus and buildings are its biggest carbon footprint. Bard is the only small liberal arts college in the country that is converting its built environment to carbon neutral as a Better Climate Challenge partner.
Bard College has set ambitious pollution reduction goals including to cut energy use in campus buildings through efficient lighting and HVAC retrofits, to eliminate fossil fuels by converting to geothermal, to generate 10% of electricity with on-campus solar (and micro hydropower), and to purchase off-site renewable electricity for the remaining 90%. This will be supported by Net Zero design goals for all new construction. As Bard College undertakes this challenge, DOE will support its efforts with technical assistance, peer-to-peer learning opportunities, and a platform for the organization to demonstrate its commitment to being part of the solution to climate change.
“Better Climate Challenge partners like Bard College are committing to decarbonize across their portfolio of buildings, plants, and fleets and share effective strategies to transition our economy to clean energy,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “Their leadership and innovation are crucial in our collective fight against climate change while strengthening the U.S. economy.”
“Colleges and universities should take leadership roles on such pressing issues as global climate change,” said Bard College President Leon Botstein. “We’re gratified to be working with the Department of Energy as we move forward with our ambitious goals, and we encourage others in higher education to follow suit.”
“Bard is pleased to join a who’s who of 80 global companies committed to mitigating climate change. As an early adopter of geothermal and narrowing in on our carbon neutrality target, Bard is the only college to represent higher education along with four universities throughout the nation to be a first mover with the DOE,” said Taun Toay, senior vice president and chief financial officer of Bard College.
“Decarbonization Download: 5Qs with Bard College” is a video interview featuring Toay discussing Bard College’s sustainability goals, including the development of a Climate & Energy Master Plan that will provide a roadmap to transform campus infrastructure from being dependent on fossil fuels to being operated on 100% renewable energy. Watch the interview here.
In March, Bard College also launched the Worldwide Teach-In on Climate and Justice, a flagship event organized by the Graduate Programs in Sustainability (GPS) at Bard College, with support from the Open Society University Network. Bard’s Worldwide Teach-In on Climate and Justice brought together climate-concerned educators and students at universities and high schools from around the globe for bottom-up conversations about changing the future. Building on a foundation of more than 300 participating organizations this year from Liberia to Colombia, Taiwan to Vienna, and Florida to Alaska, the teach-in organizers hope to engage 1,000 colleges, universities, and other institutions next year, targeting at least 100,000 participants worldwide.
The DOE Better Climate Challenge is the government platform that provides transparency, accountability, technical assistance, and collaboration to identify decarbonization pathways and provide recognition for leadership across the US economy. The Better Climate Challenge builds on over a decade of DOE experience through the Better Buildings Initiative. Through Better Buildings, DOE partners with public and private sector organizations to make commercial, public, industrial, and residential buildings more efficient, thereby saving billions of dollars on energy bills, reducing emissions, and creating thousands of jobs. To date, more than 950 Better Buildings partners have shared their innovative approaches and strategies for adopting energy efficient technologies. Discover more than 3,000 of these solutions in the Better Buildings Solution Center.
Photo: Bard Senior Vice President and CFO Taun Toay discusses the College’s sustainability efforts in an interview for DOE’s Better Climate Challenge “Decarbonization Download” series.
Meta: Type(s): General,Staff,Video | Subject(s): Campus and Facilities,Community Engagement,Environmental/Sustainability | Institutes(s): Bard Center for Environmental Policy,Bard MBA in Sustainability,Center for Civic Engagement |
Meta: Type(s): General,Staff,Video | Subject(s): Campus and Facilities,Community Engagement,Environmental/Sustainability | Institutes(s): Bard Center for Environmental Policy,Bard MBA in Sustainability,Center for Civic Engagement |
05-10-2022
“What I think about as we celebrate our progress is that we inherited decisions that were made before we were born, and we are passing on a legacy to people who aren’t born yet,” said Erin Cannan, vice president for civic engagement at Bard. “What do we want this moment to mean for them?”
Photo: Red Hook, NY. Photo by Daniel Case
Meta: Type(s): Article,Faculty,General,Staff | Subject(s): Community Engagement,Environmental/Sustainability | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement |
Meta: Type(s): Article,Faculty,General,Staff | Subject(s): Community Engagement,Environmental/Sustainability | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement |
April 2022
04-26-2022
Learn More
Photo: Maya Whalen-Kipp MS ’20.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bard Graduate Programs,Bardians at Work,Environmental/Sustainability |
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bard Graduate Programs,Bardians at Work,Environmental/Sustainability |
04-13-2022
Dr. Beate Liepert is a climate scientist who pioneered research on the phenomenon of “global dimming,” a decline in the amount of sun reaching the Earth’s surface, which has implications on the planet’s water and carbon cycles. She comes to Bard from the Seattle area, where she worked for and founded start-ups in the clean tech and insure tech fields, and was a lecturer in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Seattle University. The start-ups included CLIWEN LLC, a climate, energy, and weather consulting concern; and Lumen LLC, a company that developed design solutions for solar cells. She also served as a research scientist at True Flood Risk LLC in New York, NorthWest Research Associates in Seattle, and the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University. Her work centers on basic questions of climate variability, from interannual to centennial time scales. Research interests also include taking measurements of aerosols and solar radiation and investigating climate effects on ecosystems.
Additional activities have included serving as editor for Environmental Research Letters, a UK-based journal; proposal review panelist and proposal reviewer for the National Science Foundation; presenting at more than 50 international conferences and university colloquia; and authoring reviews and articles for journals including Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Climate, Frontiers, International Journal of Climatology, Nature, Science, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, and Global and Planetary Change, among many others. She has been interviewed on CNN and numerous international TV broadcasts; was a featured scientist in the BBC documentary Dimming the Sun, which also aired on PBS; and was profiled in a “Talk of the Town” essay in the New Yorker. Professor Liepert is the recipient of the 2016 WINGS World Quest “Women of Discovery” Earth Award and in 2015 she delivered a Distinguished Scientist Lecture at Bard on “Dimming the Sun: How Clouds and Air Pollution Affect Global Climate.”
Diploma, Institute of Meteorology and Institute of Bioclimatology and Air Pollution Research, Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich; Doctor rer. nat., Institute of Meteorology, Department of Physics, Ludwig-Maximilians University; postdoctoral research scientist, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University; certificate program in fine arts, Parsons School of Design.
Photo: Beate Liepert. Photo by Barbie Hull Photography
Meta: Type(s): Faculty | Subject(s): Academics,Division of Science, Math, and Computing,Environmental and Urban Studies Program,Environmental/Sustainability,Faculty,Physics Program | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
Meta: Type(s): Faculty | Subject(s): Academics,Division of Science, Math, and Computing,Environmental and Urban Studies Program,Environmental/Sustainability,Faculty,Physics Program | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
04-07-2022
KAQI began in January 2020 as a partnership between Bard’s Community Science Lab and the City of Kingston Conservation Advisory Council’s Air Quality Subcommittee to conduct a first-ever Kingston-centered air quality study. Since then, Kingston residents and Bard College students, staff, and faculty have conducted air quality monitoring in both indoor and outdoor environments.
KAQI’s main monitoring efforts focus on a regional assessment of air pollution from fine particulate matter (PM2.5), as measured from the roof of the Andy Murphy Neighborhood Center on Broadway in Kingston. PM 2.5 is made up of microscopic particles that are the products of burning fuel, and is released into the air through exhausts from oil burners, gas burners, automobiles, cooking, grilling, and both indoor and outdoor wood burning. PM 2.5 particles are so tiny, they stay suspended in the air for long periods of time, allowing them to travel long distances before depositing. When these particles are inhaled, they can enter the bloodstream through the lungs, creating or exacerbating health issues. The World Health Organization (WHO) states that “Small particulate pollution has health impacts even at very low concentrations–indeed no threshold has been identified below which no damage to health is observed.”
After two full years of monitoring, KAQI found that while many signs point to Kingston’s overall air quality being decent, conditions do sometimes reach unhealthy levels for some individuals, and there is certainly room for improvement.
Two important measures of PM2.5 air quality are the annual mean standard and the 24-hour average standard. For the period of measurement, Kingston met both the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) and the WHO’s annual mean standard. While the city was well below the EPA’s standard, it was much closer to the WHO’s stricter standard. For the 24-hour standard, Kingston met the EPA’s criteria, but was over the WHO’s 24-hour standard. For context, as of 2019, 99% of the world’s population was living in locations that do not meet the WHO’s air quality standards.
Long term trends can only really be evaluated on a multi-year time scale. These first two years of monitoring will provide a baseline for KAQI’s monitoring efforts in the next few years, and allow them to assess how Kingston particulate matter pollution levels are changing over time.
You can see these findings and more detail at the Center for Environmental Sciences and Humanities website: https://cesh.bard.edu/kingston-air-quality-initiative-kaqi/.
The Center for Environmental Sciences and Humanities at Bard College, in collaboration with KAQI, has developed a dashboard that allows Kingston residents to access real-time information about their city’s air quality. The current PM2.5 and PM10 conditions are shown and interpreted, and one can see the air quality sensor’s reading from the past 12 hours. A separate page allows users to explore the hourly readings of particulate matter from the whole Andy Murphy Neighborhood Center dataset.
The dashboard can be found at: https://tributary.shinyapps.io/AMNC_live/
“KAQI is an important model for ways that academic institutions can contribute concretely to the communities who surround and support them,” said Eli Dueker, Director of Bard’s Center for Environmental Sciences and Humanities. “We are combining serious efforts to monitor long-term air quality in Kingston with tools that allow us to put the data in front of residents in real time and give them feedback about what is going on in their city today.”
“This Kingston Air Quality Initiative monitoring project is such an important step that Kingston is taking toward assuring that its residents will breathe clean air into the future. This project responds to the need for both regional and neighborhood monitoring so that all residents’ air quality is taken into account. That the initiative focuses on PM 2.5 is especially important,” said Judith Enck, former EPA Regional Administrator.
Emily Flynn, City of Kingston Director of Health and Wellness, added “As we know, air quality can have significant impacts for respiratory infections, heart disease, stroke and lung cancer, and more severely affects people who are already ill. We applaud the work of the Center for Environmental Science and Humanities at Bard and thank them for their work here in Kingston.”
“Through the Kingston Air Quality Initiative dashboard, the Bard Center for Environmental Sciences and Humanities has provided a valuable tool to the City of Kingston and its residents: the ability to assess the health hazards posed by air pollution in real time. The long-term trend data recorded will be a resource for decision makers to see the patterns of air quality within the city and to understand the impacts of local changes on air quality.” said Nick Hvozda, Interim Director of the Ulster County Department of the Environment.
These figures demonstrate daily pm2.5 averages for 2020 and 2021. Each point represents a single day, with vertical lines representing the range of variation in hourly readings that day (if no vertical line visible, the variation was smaller than the graphic point). The blue line provides a smoothing line to give a sense of seasonal trends.
For more information or ways to get involved, visit https://kingston-ny.gov/airquality or https://cesh.bard.edu/kingston-air-quality-initiative-kaqi/
Photo: Dr. Eli Dueker installing a MetOne 212-2 particle profiler atop the Andy Murphy Neighborhood Center in Midtown Kingston. Courtesy City of Kingston
Meta: Type(s): Faculty | Subject(s): Community Engagement,Division of Science, Math, and Computing,Environmental and Urban Studies Program,Environmental/Sustainability | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement,Center for Environmental Sciences and Humanities |
Meta: Type(s): Faculty | Subject(s): Community Engagement,Division of Science, Math, and Computing,Environmental and Urban Studies Program,Environmental/Sustainability | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement,Center for Environmental Sciences and Humanities |
04-04-2022
Bard alum Karianne Canfield ’20 helped facilitate a teach-in session on “Dealing with Climate Depression.” Following the discussion, a student said that this was the first time they had felt empowered to address their deep anxiety about the planet heating up, and what it meant for their future.
Bard College students enjoy a low-carbon dinner ahead of the Worldwide Teach-In on Climate and Justice
Dr. Eban Goodstein at Bard, one of the directors of the global teach-in, said, “We are living at a moment of extraordinary agency, with the tools at hand to solve the energy half of climate change by 2030. The teach-in is moving young people from despair about climate change to engagement.” He added: “As voters, volunteers, interns and in their career choices as artists, activists, scientists, or business people, young people are working to stop climate change.”
The Bard College headline event began with a “low-carbon” dinner and a dance performance. Over the next three hours, 25 faculty from multiple disciplines joined students in discussions including “Climate and Justice,” “Climate Stories and Songs,” “Climate Science: What You Need to Know,” and “Food Systems and Climate Solutions.” Students also learned about New York State’s ambitious climate law, and were invited to provide public comment.
Project Director Eban Goodstein addresses the audience.
In the Philippines, there were teach-ins at eight different locations. Adrienne Hangad, who helped organize an event at the Open University in Manila, was most engaged with the discussion about women and climate solutions. Prompted by a pre-teach-in discussion noting the absence of a climate change “anthem,” a team of Filipino organizers composed a powerful song, “Change Climate Change,” that was played at the event.
In Kyrgyzstan, climate workshops were held at 15 sites across the capital city of Bishkek. And from April 20 to 21, there will be an Africa-wide teach-in based in dozens of cities and towns, organized by the African Network of Young Leaders for Peace and Sustainable Development.
Associate Professor of Music Whitney Slaten speaks with a group during one of the break-out sessions.
Commenting on her teach-in experience, Sofía Gómez, a student from Bogotá, Colombia, said, “I'm a strong believer in a mandatory class on climate change in schools and universities. This information allows us to open our eyes to how close we are to the climate crisis.” Khadija Ghanizada, a Bard student, added, “The teach-in was a window of hope for students. Most students I interact with are scared of climate change but also skeptical of the authorities and the work they are doing to mitigate it. We talked about how to push those in power to do their job in combating climate change.”
Building on a foundation of more than 300 participating organizations this year, the teach-in organizers hope to engage 1,000 colleges, universities, and other institutions next year, targeting at least 100,000 participants. “There are tens of thousands of climate-concerned educators around the world,” said Project Director Goodstein. “The teach-in provides a global platform for us to work together, to equip the rising generation with the tools and mindset to solve the climate crisis.”
The Worldwide Teach-In on Climate and Justice, and Bard’s flagship event, is a project of the Graduate Programs in Sustainability (GPS) at Bard College, with support from the Open Society University Network. GPS degree programs include MS degrees in Environmental Policy and Climate Science and Policy; the MEd in Environmental Education, and the MBA in Sustainability, ranked the #1 Green MBA for 2021 and 2022, and among the top 10 MBAs nationwide for Nonprofit Management for both years by the Princeton Review.
Photo: Photos by AnnAnn Puttithanasorn ’23
Meta: Type(s): Student | Subject(s): Bard Graduate Programs,Community Engagement,Environmental/Sustainability | Institutes(s): Bard Center for Environmental Policy,Bard MBA in Sustainability,Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement,OSUN |
Meta: Type(s): Student | Subject(s): Bard Graduate Programs,Community Engagement,Environmental/Sustainability | Institutes(s): Bard Center for Environmental Policy,Bard MBA in Sustainability,Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement,OSUN |
February 2022
02-22-2022
Photo: Gidon Eshel.
Meta: Type(s): Faculty | Subject(s): Division of Science, Math, and Computing,Environmental and Urban Studies Program,Environmental/Sustainability | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
Meta: Type(s): Faculty | Subject(s): Division of Science, Math, and Computing,Environmental and Urban Studies Program,Environmental/Sustainability | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
02-15-2022
“We are so grateful to have this support from the Alden Trust. Continuing the essential analytical capacity of our labs is important. And with this funding, we are able to expand the range of experiments that are possible, providing many more opportunities for interdisciplinary teaching and research at Bard,” said Associate Dean of the College and Associate Professor of Chemistry Emily McLaughlin.
Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GCMS) provides the technology to separate mixtures, and to identify and quantify pure compounds and individual components of mixtures for applications ranging across scientific disciplines. At Bard, this type of instrument has been central to the science curriculum for over 25 years. The acquisition of an upgraded gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer impacts the undergraduate teaching and learning experience in substantial ways—including in research and curricular work in chemistry, biology, environmental studies, and Bard’s Citizen Science Program, in which all first-year students take part.
The enhanced capabilities of the new GCMS will facilitate ongoing and new collaborations among faculty and students, including the ability effectively sample aqueous environmental samples for volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The GCMS has been a central part of analytical chemistry at the College, resulting in work presented at local, regional, and national conferences and manuscripts published in peer-reviewed journals.
Photo: Maddie Nye ’19 working on an instrument similar to a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer in Bard’s Chemistry Program. Photo by Pete Mauney ’93 MFA ’00
Meta: Type(s): General | Subject(s): Academics,Biology Program,Chemistry Program,Division of Science, Math, and Computing,Environmental/Sustainability,Grants | Institutes(s): Citizen Science |
Meta: Type(s): General | Subject(s): Academics,Biology Program,Chemistry Program,Division of Science, Math, and Computing,Environmental/Sustainability,Grants | Institutes(s): Citizen Science |
January 2022
01-18-2022
Students chose from a dozen engagement opportunities on campus on Saturday, January 15. They included creating compost stations for residence halls—a new project by the Bard Office of Sustainability and part of a comprehensive campus effort to reduce waste. Student volunteers also assembled PECS boards (Picture Exchange Communication System) for Ramapo for Children, a local community partner. PECS boards are an essential tool for nonverbal students and their instructors at Ramapo. Other efforts included planting microgreens, sorting donations at the campus FreeUse store, and deep cleaning the Sawkill Coffee House so that Red Hook Responds can use it to distribute meals to those in need this winter.
On Monday, the College hosted virtual conference panels and workshops responding to Martin Luther King’s legacy of activism and social justice. More than 220 students attended panels on social entrepreneurship with Bard alumni/ae and guests from Bard’s international partner campuses who have turned their activism into civically engaged careers. In the afternoon, students joined several workshops on a range of topics, including defending student voting rights, literacy and justice, advocating for farm workers rights, and disability justice in the health care system.
Photo: The microgreens workshop during the MLK Day of Engagement. Photo by Jonathan Asiedu ’24
Meta: Type(s): Student | Subject(s): Community Engagement,Environmental/Sustainability | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement |
Meta: Type(s): Student | Subject(s): Community Engagement,Environmental/Sustainability | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement |
Results 1-14 of 14