
This past summer Jessie Turner, Class 2013, received a Psi Upsilon Fellowship from Bowdoin’s Environmental Studies Department to work with Friends of Casco Bay. Friends of Casco Bay is an independent, community-based non-profit that uses scientific evidence for change to improve and protect the environmental health of Casco Bay …

To mark the 40th year of Bowdoin’s Environmental Studies program, juniors Erica Berry and Walter Wuthmann teamed up last semester to research the College’s history of environmentalism.
They found that this history correlates with a national trend over the past four decades of Americans assuming a greater sense of environmental responsibility, as well as engaging in more urgent questioning of what makes education relevant and effective.
Berry and Wuthmann, who are both English and E.S. majors, describe environmentalism at Bowdoin as “a story of how influential students, professors, and administrators responded to national trends with the constant intent to create a program that could effectively prepare students to face the most pressing question of the modern era: how can humanity inhabit this world without completely degrading and destroying the very resources we depend upon for life?”
While they originally started out just trying to establish a chronological history of the College’s environmental studies program in advance of a departmental review, both students said they quickly became curious about the program’s origins …

Congratulations to David Bruce, Class 2013, an ES and Econ major who is a 2013 recipient of the Watson Fellowship!
The Thomas J. Watson Fellowship offers college graduates of "unusual promise" a year of independent, purposeful exploration and travel -- in international settings new to them -- to enhance their capacity for resourcefulness, imagination, openness, and leadership and to foster their humane and effective participation in the world community.
David's project is titled "Vulnerability and Resilience: Depicting Coastal Cities in the Face of Environmental Disaster." His proposal will takes him to seven cities in five different countries (Argentina, Netherlands, Thailand, India, New Zealand), both developed and developing …

Congratulations Erica Berry! Berry ’14 is one of just 50 college sophomores and juniors around the country who has been named a 2013 Udall Scholar. One of the criteria for students receiving the $5,000 Udall scholarship is a commitment to the environment.
Berry, an English and environmental studies major, describes in her Udall application that she strives to “write narrative nonfiction about the intersections between the ever-shifting environment and humanity.” She points out that scientific developments on their own can be futile in prompting action …

Introduction to GIS students present maps to local professionals, Fall 2012

photo credit: Urban Lab webpage
Sam “David” Bruce ‘13 is taking advantage of a new Bowdoin fellowship to gain experience in the imaginative field of sustainable architecture and urban design. This summer he is helping to fashion cutting-edge buildings and infrastructure that could one day recycle resources, reduce waste and cut pollution.
Bruce is the first recipient of the Cooke fellowship, established last year by Chester W …

Ecological and Economic Recovery of the Kennebec and Androscoggin rivers, estuary, and nearshore marine environment
Danny Lowinger '12 was awarded a fellowship, summer 2011 to work with faculty and other students from Bowdoin, Bates and the University of Southern Maine on "Maine Rivers, Estuaries and Coastal Fisheries," a project funded by the National Science Foundation’s Office of Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (ESPCoR) through a grant to the University of Maine's Sustainability Solutions Initiative.
Danny's project abstract:The Kennebec and Androscoggin Rivers in Maine provide a variety of ecosystem services, such as commercial and recreational fishing, boating and hydropower. Historically, alewives traveled upstream on the rivers to spawn, while supporting a commercial inshore cod fishery …

Within minutes of walking off campus, Bowdoin students can be sitting in an old-growth pine forest or watching ducks from a small footbridge. But too often, distracted by their academic work or the myriad activities happening on campus, they don’t get outside to explore.
Leah Wang ’12, an environmental studies and economics major, is trying to change this and broaden students’ natural history experience …

This past weekend, I went to Merrymeeting Bay with my classmates and the professors of Introduction to Environmental Studies to conduct research. On a beautiful Sunday morning, we started our day off with breakfast in the Environmental Studies Common Room in Adams Hall and a short presentation about what we would do for the remainder of the day …

In the fall of 2010, seven students participated in an independent study that helped develop a methodology for assessing the vulnerability of coastal structures to global climate change in order to make informed decisions for adaptation.

Community Matters in Maine, Poster Symposium, Summer 2011
Bowdoin students are learning that community service and environmental stewardship are dual paths that often cross.
The intersections of these journeys have provided rich learning opportunities for students involved in the Community Matters in Maine Summer Fellowship and Psi Upsilon Environmental Fellowship programs, coordinated by the the Joseph McKeen Center for the Common Good and Environmental Studies Program.
Sixteen fellows working with numerous organizations from Portland to Augusta recently showcased their work through posters and brief presentations in Maine Lounge, Moulton Union. …

Crystal Spring Farm: A Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust Property
Grace Hodge ’13 says if you’re aware of environmental issues, it’s hard not to feel a sense of responsibility to take some action. Which is exactly what she’s committed to doing.
Hodge is one of several Bowdoin students this summer who received a Community Matters in Maine Psi Upsilon Fellowship through the McKeen Center for the Common Good and Environmental Studies department …

Photo credit: Data Driven Detroit, Census 2000-2010 mapping tool
Last fall (2012), Charlie Cubeta ’13 traveled for four months with the study-abroad program, IHP: Cities in the 21st Century, visiting four far-flung cities: Detroit, Sao Paulo, Cape Town and Hanoi.
In Detroit, Cubeta was introduced to Kurt Metzger, “an experienced demographer and mini-celebrity among Detroit professionals,” Cubeta says, who directs a nonprofit called Data Driven Detroit. Inspired by Metzger’s mission, Cubeta received a fellowship from the Preston Public Interest Career Fund to work for “D3″ this summer …

Community Matters in Maine Psi Upsilon Environmental Fellowship applications are now available on line.

Katy Shaw ’11 spent her summer as a Psi Upsilon fellow working for the Maine League of Conservation Voters in 2009. Through her fellowship, she strengthened her research skills and developed a greater familiarity with how to interpret and analyze legislation …
Big business is often blamed for environmental degradation, but two students are turning to the for-profit world to fulfill their ambitions to help the environment. This summer Emi Gaal ’15 is working for an international energy corporation — one that is building renewable energy plants …
Every year, the Environmental Studies department promotes its summer fellowships to Bowdoin students hoping to engage with non-profits, firms, and municipal offices to gain hands-on experience within the environmental field.
The Sustainability and Environmental Justice Fellowships allow students to work at an off campus location of choice, while the Community Matters in Maine program places students in positions at pre-selected, local organizations. Additionally, students interested in conducting community- based research have the option of applying for the Cooke Fellowship, a compelling opportunity to explore an environmentally focused interest at a location of choice.
These three competitive fellowship programs allow students to explore the various trajectories of environment-related careers, be they in government, non-profits, private enterprise, or scientific sectors …

This February, Alithea McFarlane '14 and Courtney Payne '15 organized an event designed to explore the meaning of the Environmental Justice movement. The day-long event, held at the Schwartz Outdoor Leadership Center, hosted a panel of 15 experts, including professors, alumni, and outside speakers who collectively addressed three main topics: conservation politics, environmental health, and empowering future generations …
The Environmental Studies program offers two fellowship programs that place ES majors in stipended summer internships - the Psi Upsilon Community Matters in Maine and Logan Environmental Fellowships and the Psi Upsilon Sustainability/Environmental Justice Fellowships.
Some of these students work with a Maine non-profit organization, or governmental agency to explore an environmental career that might be of interest to them. The Sustainability Fellowship provides students with the opportunity to explore the topic of sustainability by working directly with an organization, agency or company that is focusing on the transition to a more sustainable society …

Big business is often blamed for environmental degradation, but two students are turning to the for-profit world to fulfill their ambitions to help the environment. This summer Emi Gaal ’15 is working for an international energy corporation — one that is building renewable energy plants …

The student-led Bowdoin Green Athletics group is hosting a major recycling event called the Game Day Challenge at the homecoming football game this Saturday. Initiated by the EPA, the nationwide Game Day Challenge gives colleges and universities the opportunity to promote waste reduction at home football games. During the game, volunteers help spectators sort their recyclables, compostable items, and leftover trash into the proper bins …

This semester, for the first time, Bowdoin’s popular environmental studies intro class included a unit on food and agriculture. Along with studying issues such as pollution, fisheries and climate change, students in ENVS 1101 also are learning about the nitrogen cycle, the industrialization of agriculture, the green revolution, food deserts, public health, and the politics and ethics of our food system.
“Food and agriculture are at the nexus of the many challenges that we as a community, a country and a planet face,” Associate Professor of History and Environmental Studies Matt Klingle said …