Mellon Initiative

As part of the week of climate : CHANGE events our student volunteers will patch your favorite worn-out jeans while you wait and make them as good as new!

See the full schedule of events for the week or print a PDF copy of the schedule.

The event is being supported by a grant from the Mellon Foundation. 

Associated with the week of climate : CHANGE events, ‘Miss Representation' will be shown.  It is part of a festival of films dealing with social and environmental issues.  All films were produced by University Trustee Sarah Johnson Redlich.

From the ‘Miss Representation' website:

"Miss Representation brings together some of America's most influential women in politics, news, and entertainment to give us an inside look at the media's message. Miss Representation explores women's under-representation in positions of power by challenging the limited and often disparaging portrayal of women in the media. As one of the most persuasive and pervasive forces in our culture, media is educating yet another generation that women's primary value lies in their youth, beauty and sexuality-not in their capacity as leaders. Through the riveting perspectives of youth and the critical analysis of top scholars, Miss Representation will change the way you see media."

See the full schedule of events for the week or print a PDF copy of the schedule.

The event is being supported by a grant from the Mellon Foundation. 

As part of the week of climate : CHANGE events, guest Jerry Jenkins will give a talk on Climate Change in the Adirondacks.'

Jerry Jenkins is the author of "Climate Change in the Adirondacks: the Path to Sustainability" (Cornell University Press, 2010); "Acid Rain in the Adirondacks: An Environmental History," and "The Adirondack Atlas: A Geographic Portrait of the Adirondack Park."  More than any other person, Jerry Jenkins has used his vast knowledge from many branches of science to plot the future for the Adirondacks.  Jenkins lives in White Creek, N.Y. where he is the founder and director of the White Creek Field School.  He was trained in physics and philosophy, and has worked as a botanist and geographer for forty years. He has done botanical work in all 254 towns in Vermont, inventoried some 500,000 acres of Adirondack land that are now under conservation easements or in the Forest Preserve, and written extensively about plant identification and natural resource geography.  He has taught at Williams College.

See the full schedule of events for the week or print a PDF copy of the schedule.

As part of the week of climate : CHANGE events, Thea Alvin will be artist in residence.  Join her at lunchtime for her talk, 'Let’s change the climate’ and/or watch her in action all week long.

Vermont artist Thea has been a professional stone mason for 25 years, and mostly uses dry stone stacking to create sculptures and landscape installations. Her works include stunning stone arches, walls and ornamental spirals.  Alvin will be at St. Lawrence University all week and her challenge is using recyclable materials (bicycles and soda cans?) to create arches and a small house on campus.  Thea Alvin has traveled around the world teaching, building and learning from master masons.

See the full schedule of events for the week or print a PDF copy of the schedule.

The event is being supported by a grant from the Mellon Foundation.

As part of the week of climate : CHANGE events, guests Jerry Jenkins, Hal Thomas and Jon Montan, join St. Lawrence professor Amanda Lavigne for a panel discussion on understanding climate action plans and planning.

Jerry Jenkins is the author of "Climate Change in the Adirondacks: the Path to Sustainability" (Cornell University Press, 2010); "Acid Rain in the Adirondacks: An Environmental History," and "The Adirondack Atlas: A Geographic Portrait of the Adirondack Park."  More than any other person, Jerry Jenkins has used his vast knowledge from many branches of science to plot the future for the Adirondacks.  Jenkins lives in White Creek, N.Y. where he is the founder and director of the White Creek Field School.  He was trained in physics and philosophy, and has worked as a botanist and geographer for forty years. He has done botanical work in all 254 towns in Vermont, inventoried some 500,000 acres of Adirondack land that are now under conservation easements or in the Forest Preserve, and written extensively about plant identification and natural resource geography.  He has taught at Williams College.

Hal Thomas (SLU '74) is an environmental prosecutor for California Department of Fish and Game.  He was an attorney on the landmark case that forced the water utility agency for Los Angeles (LA Water and Power) to return water to streams of the Eastern Sierra to preserve fish habitat.  He has prosecuted many types of environmental crime.  He is an expert on the history of the development of the California legal code that entrusts protection of wildlife and its habitat to the State.  He can speak knowledgeably about the politics and realities of enforcing environmental laws.  He is also able to explain the California state climate action plan, Assembly Bill 32. 

Jon Montan (SLU '72) has been working for St. Lawrence County for over 30 years, in the Planning Office mostly on environmental topics and issues.  His working life has coincided with the rise in environmental awareness, beginning with Earth Day in 1970 and now focusing on climate change, peak oil and species extinctions resulting from human overpopulation.

See the full schedule of events for the week or print a PDF copy of the schedule.

The event is being supported by a grant from the Mellon Foundation.

Associated with the week of climate : CHANGE events, ‘Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors without Borders' will be shown.  It is part of a festival of films dealing with social and environmental issues.  All films were produced by University Trustee Sarah Johnson Redlich.

From the ‘Living in Emergency' website:

"For the first time ever, MSF gave a documentary crew uncensored access to its field operations. Set in war-torn Congo and post-conflict Liberia, "Living in Emergency" interweaves the stories of four doctors as they struggle to provide emergency medical care under extreme conditions. Two volunteers are new recruits: a 26-year-old Australian doctor stranded in a remote bush clinic and an American surgeon from Tennessee trying to cope under the load of emergency cases in a shattered capital city.

Two others are experienced field hands: a dynamic head of mission, valiantly trying to keep morale high and tensions under control, and an exhausted veteran, who has seen too much horror and wants out. Amid the chaos, each doctor must find their own way to face the challenges of the work, the tough choices, and the limits of their idealism."

See the full schedule of events for the week or print a PDF copy of the schedule.

The event is being supported by a grant from the Mellon Foundation.