
Environment & Sustainability
Scientists have confirmed that human impact on global environments is not sustainable, making issues surrounding the environment and sustainability some of the most pressing of our time. Experts have proposed the term “Anthropocene” to describe a period of geologic time during which human beings’ effect on the planet and their environments have had a global impact. While individuals can make important strides toward sustainability through personal choices, only through collaboration and rapid change can we hope to build a sustainable relationship with our environments. The Lang Center offers a wide range of resources to help students explore these intersections such as our engaged scholarship courses, database of opportunities and clubs, and the President’s Sustainability Research Fellowship - a partnership with the President’s Office, the Office of Sustainability, and the Environmental Studies program.
Engaged Scholarship Examples
- Campus Coalition Concerning Chester (C4) / Chester Road Collaborative
Project Pericles-Funded Initiatives
Contact: Major Eason ‘23
The Campus Coalition Concerning Chester (C4) @ Swarthmore is a student-chapter organization dedicated to building alliances between local colleges and Chester Residents Concerned for Quality Living (CRCQL). Through these relationships, we hope to collectively spearhead and support initiatives that promote environmental justice in Pennsylvania. Furthermore, we hope to interrogate our own college communities’ complicities and roles in this injustice and implement institutional-level solutions for equitable waste management. C-4 mobilizes community and empowers all citizens to contribute to a sustainably just society.
- Crum Woods Restoration Project
President's Sustainability Research Fellowship Project
Contact: Chelsea Semper '22
The Crum Woods is an invaluable asset and resource to Swarthmore College due to its numerous uses for education, research, recreation, and relaxation. It is a part of Swarthmore College’s mission to promote stewardship of this land; however recent disturbances in the Crum have complicated the fulfillment of this goal. In 2011, the reinstallation of the CDCA Sewer Line, which runs in parallel to the Crum Creek through the middle of the woods, caused extensive damage and deforestation. In the decade since this ecological destruction, minimal restoration efforts have been executed to restore this area to the way it was before the reinstallation. Hence, the core mission of Chelsea Semper’s project was to improve the ecological functioning of the Crum Woods by creating a restoration plan for the Sewer Line Right of Way (ROW) that details how to successfully restore the ROW with native flora to recreate lost habitats. Another aspect of Chelsea’s project was community engagement, and pursuing ways to involve Swarthmore community members in this valuable restoration work. Chelsea fulfilled this goal by hosting a restoration tree planting in the Spring 2021 semester that garnered over 70 participants, and am currently continuing to work on ways to further include Swarthmore students, staff, and faculty in Crum Woods restoration efforts.
Connect
Lang Center Associates
Daniel Torres Balauro '23 | Martin Tomlinson '23 |
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Sign up for an appointment with them on the LCA appointment calendar.
Key Faculty and Staff
- Elizabeth Drake, Director of Sustainability
- Clare Hyre, Associate Director of Sustainability
- Hannah Ulloa, Climate Action Manager
- Chris Graves, Chair of Environmental Studies and Associate Professor of Synthetic Inorganic Chemistry & Environmental Studies
- Adrienne Benally, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies
- James Fenelon, Lang Visiting Professor for Issues of Social Change, Professor of Sociology
- Betsy Bolton, Professor and Department Chair of English Literature
- Giovanna Di Chiro, Professor of Environmental Studies and Environmental Justice & Climate Resilience Program Coordinator
- Carr Everbach, Professor of Engineering and Environmental Studies
- James Padilioni, Visiting Assistant Professor of Religion
- Mark Wallace, Professor of Religion
- Sustainability and Engaged Scholarship Fellows | Alex Flowers '21, Oswaldo Morales Solorzano '21
- Green Advisor Student Coordinators | Elena Lee '23, Juna Saito '25
Student Groups
- Garnet Go Green | Contacts: Contact: Eric Wagner, Men's Soccer Coach
- Chester Soular | Contact: Ariza Nanji ‘24
- Sync Up for Zero Waste (SZW) | Contacts: Hannah Stern Pait '23 and Sierra Jeska ‘22
- C4 (Campus Coalition Concerning Chester) | Contact: Major Eason ‘23
- Good Food Garden | Contact: Eva Krueger '24
- Beekeeping | Contact: Lara Cohen
- Herbivores | Contact: Joyce Ben ‘25
Learn
Relevant Courses
- ENVS 014. Environmental Issues in Native American Communities
- BIOL 009. Our Food
- ECON 176. Environmental Economics
- ENGL 058. Climate Fiction
- ENGR 035. Solar Energy System
- ENVS 008. Plants and People
- POLS 081. Global Environmental Governance
- PEAC 055. Climate Disruption, Conflict, and Peacemaking
- POLS 043B. Environmental Justice: Theory and Action
- RELG 022. Religion and Ecology
- ENGL 089B. Environmentally Engaged Literature: Pollutants, Fossil Fuels, and Atomic Bombs
- ENVS 092A. UNFCCC COP and International Climate Negotiations
- SOAN 020M. Race, Gender, Class and Environment
- PHYS 1C. Climate Change: Science and Responses
- BIOL 037. Conservation Biology
- ENGL 089E. Ecofeminism(s)
- ENVS 013. Our Trash
- ENVS 050. Indigenous Peoples and Climate Change Impacts
Act
On-Campus Opportunities
- Ecosphere
- Environmental Justice & Community Resilience (EJCR)
- President’s Sustainability Research Fellowship (PSRF)
- Green Advisor Program
- UN Conference Delegation
- ChesterSemester Fellowship
Off-Campus Opportunities
- Chester Residents Concerned for Quality Living (CRCQL)
- Sunrise Movement
- The Mountain Institute
- Natural Resources Defense Council
- Amazon Defense Coalition
- Penn Environment
- Ruth Bennett Community Farm
- Post Landfill Action Network
- Office of Environmental Policy and Compliance (DOI)
- Surfrider Foundation - Oahu Chapter
- Environmental Law Institute
- Real Food Generation
- Pulitzer Center
- Safecast
- Philadelphia Energy Authority
Grants
- Morris K. Udall Foundation Scholarship
- James H. Scheuer Summer Internship
- Doris Duke Conservation Scholars Program
- Lang Center Grants