Campus Climate Action Corps 2023-24
Beginning in November 2023, the University partnered with Campus Compact’s Campus Climate Action Corps AmeriCorps project. As a host site, the University selected a Climate Action Leader, Evelyn, to serve through July 31st, 2024. The Campus Climate Action Corps (CCAC) Project aims to build the capacity of campuses and their community partners to create change that leads to increased energy efficiency and improvements for at-risk ecosystems by implementing local solutions for underserved households and communities. Our 2023-24 team includes Michael Iversen (Associate Director for Sustainability & Energy Management), Evelyn Laferriere, and two Environmental Studies students.
Scroll to learn about our projects & check out our photos and videos!
Climate Action Leader Blog
Stay up to date with what the CCAC team has been working on!
I started my journey as the CCAC Climate Action Leader at St. Lawrence on November 13th, 2023. As I'm writing this, it's January 26th, 2024 - how time flies!
So far, I've been trained as an Energy Navigator Volunteer by the Cornell Cooperative Extension of St. Lawrence County (see my blog post about this on Campus Compact's website), relearned the basics of ArcGIS with the help of Carol Cady, and learned how to use a HydroLab water quality monitoring with Professor Brad Baldwin.
While the icy winter weather is slowing down progress on our water quality monitoring and bike rack mapping projects, the St. Lawrence CCAC team and I have still managed to keep busy. We have around 10 signups by faculty and staff for home energy walkthrough visits, which we will be starting next week. I presented on energy efficiency to the Environmental Club at Canton's high school, and I have been working with CCE and the North Country Children's Museum to plan two events in March. And, I've been collaborating with students to plan an event in April that will include sustainability student groups from SLU, SUNY Canton, Clarkson, and SUNY Potsdam!
I am excited to continue attending the Village of Canton's Sustainability Committee meetings and making connections with folks in the community. Stay tuned for more to come!
It's February and it is still snowing, a lot. It's cold out, but pretty. In these cold months, it's really important that people's homes are insulated well. Heating bills can get really high when heating systems are working to compensate for drafty homes.
So far, I've done eight home energy walkthroughs. It has been great for Keegan, Ellie, and me (and Nolan/Doug from Cornell Cooperative Extension when Keegan and Ellie aren't available) to talk with community members about their concerns and interests in renewable energy/heating. We share DIY fixes, like window caulking, draft stoppers for doors, smart power strips to reduce electricity use, and pipe insulation. We also discuss rebates, incentives, and tax credits, and we connect them with Nolan, the Energy Advisor for the county.
Besides home energy walkthroughs, I've also been working on planning events & outreach campaigns. In April, I'm hosting a Four Campus Sustainability Mixer with students from SLU, Clarkson, SUNY Potsdam, and SUNY Canton. I'm hoping that students from all four schools will come and share what their environmental clubs are working on, and take time to brainstorm and plan collaborations with other schools. I'm also working with a Community Based Learning Student to host an Energy Efficiency Competition between all the theme cottages on campus. We'll be tabling and hosting a trivia night too to help educate students about reducing energy usage.
In the spring, we will pick up with our water quality monitoring project. I'm working with Nature Up North and two CBL students to re-establish the MOW the Grasse community science project. I've started writing a report containing historic land use and pollution sources on the Grasse River, as well as previous research completed. I will add in our sampling results as we get them in the warmer months.
Looking forward to continuing all these projects, and for all the events and public outreach to come!
It is finally starting to get warm outside! Yay! Though, it is a little early in the season for 60 degree weather; the North Country is certainly experiencing the effects of climate change.
Nevertheless, the nice weather means that our water quality monitoring project, in collaboration with Nature Up North, can pick back up. Dan French, NUN's Project Manager, is supervising two Community Based Learning students who are helping to re-establish NUN's Mow the Grasse Community Science Project.
Dan, Mike Iversen, and I were able to test one location on the Grasse and one location on the Little River in December. On March 6th, unfortunately the one chilly and rainy day of the week, the two CBL students were able to put on waders and practice using the Hydrolab. We were able to test the same location in the Little River.
Throughout the rest of the semester, we are hoping to get the students out to multiple sampling sites, and to use NUN's test kits, which are what community members use during the MOW the Grasse project. The two students worked with Dan to revise the MOW the Grasse Field Handbook, and they will put it to the test. Then, over the summer, Dan and I have the goal of working with community partners, like Grasse River Heritage and the St. Lawrence Land Trust, to continue monitoring the water.
In the meantime, I have been working on a report detailing historic land use, pollution sources and concerns, previous research, and our current project. I am hoping to include all the data we collect during the remainder of the semester. Then, ideally, data collected by community partners will be displayed on the Nature Up North website. Data that we have collected with the HydroLab is available on this ArcGIS map. The report will hopefully be available on this webpage in April or May.
I am so excited to be working with NUN and students on this project, and I've gotten to learn a lot about the history of Canton and the Grasse River. More things to come!
Starting in February, I began working with Abby, a Community Based Learning (CBL) student here at St. Lawrence. CBL courses partner students with local non-profits and other volunteer opportunities and provide hands-on, real world learning experiences. Abby was partnered with me and my CCAC projects, and she and I have had a lot of fun coming up with projects, outreach events, and more.
The first project we established was an energy efficiency competition between the Theme Houses on campus. We have their electricity use from March-April 2023, and we'll be comparing it with their use from March-April 2024 to see which house was able to reduce their usage by the largest percent. The winning house gets power strips that can be turned off, hopefully to help reduce electricity consumption even more.
We are basing last year's electricity use on the electricity bills from the utility company. As a backup plan for this year's use (especially if the meter reading this year is estimated and not an actual read), we went exploring and took pictures of the electric meters at each theme house. We'll go out again in April and use the numbers to calculate their usage over the month of March. Unfortunately, not all of the meters were working properly, and some were too dirty to read. We'll try our best to get accurate data and have a fair competition -- but, no matter what happens, we learned a lot and what to consider if this project runs again next year.
Abby and I also tabled twice in the Student Center with handouts about being more energy efficient in your dorm. And, we're hosting an Energy Efficiency Trivia Night on April 2nd! Hopefully we will get a good turnout.
Finally, our last project that we are brainstorming is related to literature about climate change and the environment. We are hoping to compile favorite books, poems, and stories from the campus community. And, we'd like to create a collection of poems written by campus community members regarding their feelings and emotions about climate change.
I'm excited to see what we can accomplish in the last month of the semester! It has been a great experience so far:)
SLU Green Reading Collection
In celebration of Earth Month, we asked the campus to share their favorite works of literature related to the environment and climate change. The relationship between literature & the environment has historically been (and continues to be) an important part of the Environmental Movement in the US and climate activism. According to the Chair of the English Department, Professor Sarah Gates, “The literary community has been responding seriously and with powerful works to the issues of environmental degradation and looming catastrophe since at least the 19th century, with Transcendentalist writers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau in the US and the Romantic poets of England such as William Wordsworth and Samuel T. Coleridge… And here at SLU, one of the most successful combined majors is the English-Environmental Studies major, in which this literature is studied and students are given opportunities to write more of it themselves.”
Literature Courses that touch on this topic offered at SLU:
American Romanticism, British Romanticism, American Literature and the Environment, Contemporary Literature and the Environment, Poets in the Natural World, Environmental Film, Planetary Modernisms, Lord of Fantasy: J.R.R. Tolkien and the Creation of Middle-earth, J.R.R. Tolkien, Post-Apocalyptic Literature and Film, and more.
Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv
"One of my favorites is Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv. It talks about a concept called Nature Deficit Disorder (not a DSM diagnosis), but how we can help our stress by experiencing nature. It is a good read and very thought provoking." - Dr. Jodi Canfield
"The Hermit's Story" by Rick Bass
"I will nominate Rick Bass’s short story, “The Hermit’s Story." Enjoy!" - Professor Paul Graham
The Story of More by Hope Jahren
Dr. Eissenstat also recommends The Sixth Extinction, by Elizabeth Kolbert, and Losing Earth, by Nathaniel Rich.
New York 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson
“New York 2140 is a science fiction/mystery set in 22nd Century Manhattan, which has been radically transformed by the rising seas. It is a story about how ordinary people and whole cities might be forced to adapt to dramatic climate change. Woven throughout are insights on how economics and financial institutions helped to create the problem—but could help to solve it.” - John Payne (John also recommends Termination Shock by Neal Stephenson)
Dr. Coupland's Favorites!
Dr. Coupland shared a picture of many of her favorite pieces of environmental literature.
Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton
“Questions about technology and surveillance, land-use, and the climate crisis loom as characters grapple with their own morals, motivations, and desires. I’m not doing it justice, but if it hasn’t been included yet, it would make a great addition.” - Olivia White
Soil by Camille Dungy
“I would recommend last year’s Soil, a gorgeous garden memoir-manifesto from the poet Camille Dungy (a former Writers Series visiting reader!). The book tells the story of Dungy’s efforts to diversify her garden and offers a celebration of the value of a diverse, intersectional approach to how we talk across our differences about nature and the planet’s future.” - Dr. Sarah Barber
The Overstory by Richard Powers
Dr. Mark Sturges recommends The Overstory by Richard Powers.
RIPRAP by Gary Snyder
“Gary Snyder is usually associated with the Beat literary scene of the 1950’s, but it is fair to say he is one of the most significant voices in the poetry of the American landscape and ecological matters. He had a keen eye for detail, and was well versed not only in American literary traditions, but the literary traditions of Asian societies. He was a prolific author and RIPRAP would be a great place to start an extended exploration of his work—his book of essays, Practices of the Wild, is a particular gem in his oeuvre.” - Paul Doty
"Walking" by Henry David Thoreau
“This beautifully constructed essay is an eloquent, at times humorous argument for the importance of time spent in nature, especially wild nature. “[In] Wilderness is the preservation of the world,” he says in this essay, and in particular he extolls the value of swamps (wetlands) for the future of America. At the end of the essay there are four “parables,” as I like to call them. The first one comments on how the logging of the forests around Concord, Massachusetts has greatly reduced the number of migratory birds who used to roost in them. The effect on the human population, Thoreau claims, has been that “our winged thoughts are turned to poultry.” The loss of wilderness creates a habitat suitable for only chickens, and pedestrian ideas.” - Dr. Kathleen Stein
The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson
Assistant Director for Sustainability & Energy Management, Michael Iversen, recommends this book!
A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There by Aldo Leopold
“I believe that A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There by Aldo Leopold is one of the most important environmental books ever written. I find the older I get and the more I see the world change, the more I connect with this collection of essays. The book includes observations of joyful geese in spring floods, the wandering tracks of a skunk, and warnings not to take what we have now for granted. Leopold writes about ‘learning to think like a mountain’ to see the long-term effects of our actions, that in altering the land we should maintain biodiversity as ‘to keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution on intelligent tinkering’, and that ‘We face the question whether a still higher ‘standard of living’ is worth its cost in things natural, wild, and free.’ Recently his essay The Good Oak has repeated in my head as I’ve begun to stack wood for next winter and plant trees for winters decades away: ‘There are two spiritual dangers in not owning a farm. One is the danger of supposing breakfast comes from the grocery, and the other that heat comes from the furnace.’” - Dr. Kristine Hoffman
CCAC Project 1: Home Energy Efficiency
In partnership with the Cornell Cooperative Extension of St. Lawrence County and the North Country Clean Energy Hub, Evelyn and two Environmental Studies students were trained via the Energy Navigator Volunteer program. Using their training, the team connects with households and provides education about energy efficiency, DIY improvements, and available incentives/programs. Reach out to Nick Hamilton-Honey at CCE to learn more about having a Navigator visit your home, or to sign up to become a volunteer!
CCAC Project 2: Water Quality Monitoring on the Grasse & Little Rivers
CCAC aims to improve at-risk ecosystems in underserved areas. The Grasse and Little Rivers are prominent environmental features near campus, but data on the health and potential pollution concerns on the rivers is outdated. We’ve partnered with Nature Up North’s MOW the Grass citizen science project to collect water quality data, with the goal of getting community members involved and making data readily available. Along with Nature Up North’s test kits, we’ve also been able to monitor water quality using Biology Professor Brad Baldwin’s HydroLab equipment. To learn how to get involved with the project, visit Nature Up North’s website.
CCAC Project 3: Bike & Pedestrian Mobility Plan
To help encourage walking and biking on campus & in the Village of Canton, and to provide data that can help support infrastructure improvements, our team is working to create an interactive map of all the bike racks available on campus, in town, and on SUNY Canton’s campus. This data will be shared with the Canton Complete Streets Task Force. Additional data on sidewalk and bike lane conditions will be added as the project continues.
CCAC Education Events & Community Partnerships
One of CCAC’s main goals is to raise awareness and address urgent climate issues in underserved communities. To meet this goal, Evelyn has organized community- and campus-based environmental education events. These include a collaboration with the North Country Children’s Museum, meeting with HC Williams Senior High School’s environmental club, and plans for a mixer event between sustainability groups from SLU, Clarkson, SUNY Potsdam, and SUNY Canton.
As a CCAC host site, our team has been able to work with the Canton Sustainability Committee on Climate Smart Communities and Clean Energy Communities projects, the Canton Complete Streets Task Force, Nature Up North, the Cornell Cooperative Extension of St. Lawrence County & the North Country Regional Clean Energy Hub, the North Country Children’s Museum, and student groups across four college campuses located in the county.
