Sustainability conference offers attendees new ideas for collaboration

Three faculty members and six students attended the Upper Midwest Association for Campus Sustainability conference in September at Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota.

They were Alice Reznickova, director of sustainability; Jennifer DeBoer, assistant professor of business management; Ursula Dalinghaus, visiting professor of anthropology; and Sonja Brueggemann ’22, Valerie Doornbos ’21, Shreeya Gautum ’21, Kelsi Morris ’22, Adam Wronski ’20 and Serenity Zwaschka ’23.

Reznickova is a member of the association’s steering committee and presented the talk “Ripon College Catalyst: Sustainable Futures through General Education Curriculum.” The talk addressed Ripon’s Catalyst curriculum and how it ties into goals of sustainability.

Doornbos is an intern in the sustainability office on campus and found the conference to be very interesting. A talk about “unnatural” disasters and climate change adaption was particularly interesting for her.

“Ripon College has been working to strengthen our sustainability initiatives on campus,” Reznickova says. “I teach courses such as ENV 200: Sustainability Lab and ENV 200: All about Food that incorporate sustainability knowledge and competencies. This conference highlights the need for regional collaboration, and we are hoping Ripon College can join in the regional leadership in sustainability to address issues such as climate change, water pollution, food access and others.”

Zoe Hazel ’22
Friendship, Wisconsin