The Colby Echo

Issue date: 4/23/08 Section: Green Page

Media Credit: facebook.com Kerry Whittaker '08

Kerry Whittaker serves as the Green Dorm's Head Resident for the 2007-2008 school year. Here, she sat down with News Editor (and resident) Beth Ponsot to discuss her experience with environmental activism and education at the College.

How has your experience at the College changed your beliefs or feelings about the environment and the issues that impact the environment?

Before I came to Colby, I envisioned myself as a Biology and Music major. Four years ago, global warming and environmentalism was not part of my daily internal and external dialogues. Colby exposed me to the complexity of an environmental ethic, and the science behind it. Now, as an environmental science and English major, I find it hard to separate the intellectual discourse of environmental issues from my daily lifestyle. Through the classroom, professors have encouraged me to examine my relationship to the natural world on scientific, economic, social, and personal levels.

Environmentalism seeps into every aspect of myself-it forces me to see the connections between what I think, what I eat, who I inspire, where I walk, and those resources that sustain my life. Since arriving at Colby, I've been surrounded by peers who fuel my energy towards personal sustainability-to live greener each day and inspire others to do the same. I've been amazed at the ways in which a single person can start a social buzz.

A single person can learn more, each day, about how to lighten their impact on our earth, and spread that to the greater community. I feel blessed to have been in a place, Colby, Maine, where I could develop my relationship with the natural world. These past four years, inspiring people and ideas have encouraged me to explore the complex relationship between humans and our earth; I'd like to help heal that relationship in the future through my own lifestyle choices, language, science, personal and communal energy.

What can the average student do to live in a more environmentally-friendly way?

I see increasing activist energy from Colby students. The 2011 first-years impressed me especially. As a first-year, I knew little about environmental living, let alone established the voice of activism to promote green initiatives. As a Colby student, I encourage dialogue as a powerful tool towards sustainability. We learn from discussion, and generate powerful ideas for viable solutions. Spreading the word of environmental solutions is one of the most environmentally friendly acts. On a more tangible scale, make recycling part of our collective morality! Thou shall not waste. Watch your water use. Encourage composting in your dorms. Re-use paper. Recycle out-of-date posters (you can bring them to the Campus Life Office). Ride a bike. Spread green ideas to the greater community. Support local agriculture. Get to know your local ecosystem. Use green products-Dr. Bronner's, Tom's of Maine, O-Nature-L detergent. Explore the arboretum, mountains, rivers, beaches with a mind towards conserving them through every drop of water you save, every sheet of paper you recycle.

Have a strong communication with the leaders and planners of Colby. BE a leader of a greener Colby. We're at an institution that listens to student perspectives. Use your resources to jolt those great environmental ideas into action. Know the power of your words and actions. Shape your school to reflect a more sustainable world.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools