The Goal of WND:
These dinners are an opportunity for students, faculty, members of the administration, and greater community members to come together and discuss important environmental issues over a sustainable, healthy, and delicious meal. Topics of the dinners can range from organic farming, to solar technology, to climate policy, to college sustainability practices. The goal is to educate and inspire discussion. Each dinner begins at 7:00pm in Cutter Shabazz, the affinity house next door, which has a larger living room space that we are able to use for dinner. People can get food, find a seat, and introduce themselves. We introduce the meal, describing where each element came from and how that adds to the sustainability of the meal, and we introduce the speaker. The speaker talks for about 20-30 minutes. Afterward is time for questions, discussion, and eating more food! We can usually expect anywhere from 30 to over 70 people at each dinner, so it is a great opportunity to share expertise, experiences, or a vision. Job In General: The three people that are in charge of WND should:
Delegate when necessary so all residents participate in WND, speaker ideas, and prep work. What's been done: Fall 2009: Mr. and Mrs.Sanford-Long - Owners of Luna Bleu Farm. Two organic farmers from VT, who spoke to us about the idea of local and organic agriculture. Professor Terry Osborne- Spoke on how "internal" human environments (cognitive, emotional, spiritual; mind, heart, soul) play into sustainable living and learning. Professor Peart and Anne Kapuchinski- Lead a discussion about what new classes students would like to see in the sustainability minor. Professor Howarth- "The Prospects for Copenhagen". His talk focused on the challenges of achieving international cooperation on climate stabilization policy. Kaile Lambe, Miranda Carter- Talked to us about organizing rallies, and activism in general.
Useful Resources:
Marissa Knodel '09- Sustainability Programs Specialist Kathy Lambert-Sustainability Coordinator
Krista Beron-Residential Life (Affinities Cluster) (She's really nice)
Things We Wish We Had Known:
THINK about the outcome from each WND planned: How much of an effect will this have on the students/campus/community? Is there any way to make those changes more pronounced?
It is important to be very proactive early in the term to find WND speakers for each week. Finding speakers for the next term is also helpful for future programmers, especially for the first few weeks of the new term.
Direction We Envision: For programming, I think the main things discussed this term centered around the need to continue Wednesday Night Dinners, but possibly with a system to accept/suggest donations to offset their cost. The idea was thrown out there to combine the WND's and workshops-possibly alternating every other week. Ie: One week a professor lectures to the group, the next a member of the community shows them how to insulate windows.The setup of WND has been a topic of discussion- Should we have a big ring of chairs and an akward open space in the middle? Should we break into smaller groups for discussion? Etc. With a big open circle of people the discussions usually fall on the shoulders of only a few people. Secondly if we break into smaller discussion groups after the talk, then people that need to leave early have an opportune time to do so. However, for some reason we did not execute the small disucssion group format in the fall. Maybe because it seems to forced? I think it'd be great to give it a try, especially with a topic that promotes a lot of discussion and with a big group (so early on in the term). Possibilities for Next Term: Professor Coleen Fox- She couldn't do a WND in the fall because she was too busy, sounded very interested in speaking at the SLC at some later date. Professor Frank Magilligan- He also could not do a WND in the fall (too busy), but was interested in speaking during the winter. Chris Soderquist- a community member who is on the Hanover Sustainability Committee. He is a computer science genius and environmentalist. He has developed a series of webinars on understanding climate change in a number of ways called "Modeling for Environmental Sustainability." You can watch them here: http://www.iseesystems.com/community/WebSeminars/ModelingSustainability.aspx. He has expressed interest in doing a presentation for students and said that he would love to attend a WND. This recommendation was from Marissa Knodel the Sustainability Programs Specialist, get in touch with her for his contact info! Professor Lee Lynd- Engineering prof who is an expert on the production of energy from plant biomass and conducts leading research on microbial cellulose utilization. Basically he's super cool and a leading researcher in biofuels. Get him to come speak! Jed Davis- Director of Sustainability for Cabot Cheese! He did a tour of the Cabot cheese factory for Ecovores/Chubbers during the Fall of 2009. He was excited about the opportunity to visit Hanover and would probably love to speak at a WND. His email is Jdavis@cabotcheese.coop, phone is 802-371-1260 (direct). |