ENVIRONMENTS & CHANGE

How do we envision sustainable and just futures in the face of a changing planet?

Environments and Change is a Learning Collaborative dedicated to addressing how we (as a campus community, within our disciplines, and in our broader society) should act on our responsibilities in the face of climate change.

We do this by strengthening our relationships with each other as collaborators; by deepening understanding of our shared environment; and by collectively imagining climate action rooted in place. We each bring a different lens to this work, and our individual backgrounds and perspectives create individual responsibilities that we work on collectively.

Environments and Change offers courses, organizes and facilitates formal events, informal gatherings, trainings, informal/drop-in opportunities, and more in order to promote student/staff/faculty collaborations.

Spring 2025 Courses

Sample of Affiliated Courses

CSI-0104-2: Changemaking in Urgent Times: Environments and Change with Jina Fast and javiera Benavente

NS-0287-1: Bees with Jenny VanWyk

NS-0157-1: Water Resources in the Built Environment with Christina Cianfrani

IA-0130-1: Look Ma, No Hands: An Introductory design class focused on assistive technology with Donna Cohn

LCSEM-0109-1: Microbes of the Farm with Julie Johnston

For more information about courses, check out The Hub

Fall 2025 Common Readings

"Fractals: The Relationship between the Small and the Large," in Emergent Strategy: shaping change, changing worlds by Adrienne Maree Brown

"Detroit, Place and Space to Begin Anew," chapter 4 in The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-First Century by Grace Lee Boggs and Scott Kurashige

"Imagination and transformations to sustainable and just futures" by Michele-Lee Moore and Manjana Milkoreit

Past Events

"A Tale of Two Tree Crops: Supply Chain Sustainability in Coffee and Apples"

Monday, February 19th, 12:00-1:00 pm, Cole CMC

Join us for a discussion with Whitney Kakos, Director of Supply Chain Sustainability at Keurig Dr Pepper (KDP) and alum Connor Stedman (04F), Senior Designer at Terra Genesis International, about their work together partnering with farmers to promote equitable and sustainable supply chains across KDP's supply chains. Snacks and coffee will be provided!

Chris Cianfrani, ccNS@hampshire.edu

Beehive Design Collective

Monday, February 19th, 4:00 pm, FPH Main Lecture Hall

In our workshops and presentations we use giant, portable murals to deconstruct complex issues of globalization, climate change, colonization, and resource extraction. We strive to provoke discussion, raise hard questions, and share hopeful stories about actions big and small we can take to build a better world.

Ethan Tupelo, etupelo@hampshire.edu

The Age of Sail 2.0

Thursday, March 7th, 6:00 pm, Center for Design

Satchel Douglas is a Senior Lead Project Engineer working on marine applications at ABB, a technology leader in electrification and automation. He received a degree in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering from Webb Institute. Among other experiences, Satchel co-founded a startup, Aloft Systems, developing modular, automated wind propulsion for the shipping industry.

Glenn Armitage, gsaDO@hampshire.edu

Upended Worlds: Telling Stories of Cultural and Ecological Change

A conversation with filmmakers Ken Burns and Kira Akerman

Thursday, March 28th, 2024 / 5:00 - 7:00 pm / FPH Main Lecture Hall

Join us for an evening with filmmakers Ken Burns (Hampshire 71F) and Kira Akerman, to discuss storytelling through cultural and ecological change. We will screen selections from Burns’ latest film, The American Buffalo (2023) and Akerman’s debut film Hollow Tree (2022), both stories about upended worlds, extractivism, and renewal across the American landscape. The screening will be followed by a conversation and audience Q&A moderated by Andrew S. Yang, Jonathan Lash Chair of Environmental Education & Sustainability at Hampshire College.

Past Student Projects

These students received seed funding from the Learning Collaboratives during the Fall 2023—Spring 2024 school year. Division noted was for that year.

Medium Format Photography

Broden Grimm | Div II

For this independent study project, Grimm is interested in exploring medium format photography, primarily focusing on BW 120. They are also shooting at least 2 or 3 rolls of color film and learning how to develop and scan color film. Grimm wants to improve their darkroom skills as well, and they want to experiment with how chemistry and light can be used to manipulate the outcome of the printed photo. Through this, they are looking to further develop their style of photography, begun in Photo 1. Themes include landscapes, geology, and grief.

Observations on Ecosystem Functionality Through Isopod Care

Adonis Dickey | Div I

Adonis wants to create a bioactive terrarium, as he further explores his question: “How do I better understand an ecosystem?”. The main focus of this terrarium would be isopods, and he is currently observing their relationships with plants as decomposers and making comparisons between this relationship and other less-seen relationships between different kingdoms of life within an ecosystem.

Anyone Can Garden: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Gardening and Battling Climate Change

Alexis Espinoza | Div I

The project combines the ever-mutating problem of climate change and the carbon emissions on campus. It integrates workshops of all skill levels for gardening, both in-dorm and outdoor, to build confidence within the community. This instilled confidence would maintain that, regardless of how big or small your contribution is, it is crucial to both be aware and to contribute positively to combatting the climate crisis. Growing some of our own food, at a small scale, is a crucial first step.

Get Connected

Coordinators

Kenneth Mulder, kmFAC@hampshire.edu, Associate Professor of Data Analysis and Modeling

Emily Landeck, erlFC@hampshire.edu, Director of Farm Center

Reid Pitman, srp22@hampshire.edu

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