The Bard CEP Eco Reader

Igniting Hearts and Minds: The Wilderness as a Playground for Learning

Living in the Hudson Valley for nearly half of my life, I’ve had plenty of opportunity to enjoy the great outdoors.  For many children today, however, living even just a few feet away from the natural environment is not motivation enough to take the time and experience it.   Through …

Conservation in Cairns: It Takes a Community

  Cairns is a small city that sits on the east coast of northern Queensland, Australia – head a bit further east (I recommend you take a boat) and you’re greeted by the wonders of the Great Barrier Reef. Drive north, and you’ll find yourself among the Daintree, the oldest …

Lessons in Local Land Conservation

“What’s a land trust?” is the response I get almost every time someone asks me about my internship. I’m always happy to explain, but I often wonder how the work of land trusts around the country can go unnoticed by so many? As I work towards my master’s degree at …

Hope and Resilience in the Face of Climate Change: My Year at the Hudson River Estuary Program

When most people think of Climate Change, they imagine things like starving polar bears on thinning sea ice, or a wreck of debris after a major hurricane on the Gulf Coast.  This is certainly one aspect of the Climate Crisis.  However, there’s another more personal and immediate reality unfolding every …

Community Science–Empowering Citizens to Protect their Water

We are all connected by our need for water. We rely on water to produce the food we eat, to create the clothes we wear, and to support our daily lives. Yet we don’t all share equal access to clean and safe water. As a part of my Bard CEP …

What’s in your water?–What we all need to know about DPBs

Do you know what’s in your drinking water? It may be more than you realize. We disinfect our drinking water to protect us from organisms we can’t see. From boiling water to sand filters, water treatment dates back to the 18th century, and treating drinking water has saved countless lives. …

In Pursuit of Purpose: The Impact Finance Industry

Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country~John F. Kennedy The purposes of a person’s heart are deep waters, but one who has insight draws them out~Proverbs 20:5 There is some good in this world…and it’s worth fighting for~Samwise Gamgee The search …

Life Lessons in Leadership

About 2 years into my first “real job” out of college, I was having a weekend visit with my mother and complaining about an executive at the energy efficiency implementation company I worked for. “She micromanages everything but doesn’t even know what we do all day!” I remember exclaiming. “She …

Theory into Practice: Bard CEP Learning and Interning at Sustainable Silicon Valley

I hit return as we test if the account has been deactivated; when the account no longer registers the email address, it signals the end of my six-month internship with Sustainable Silicon Valley (SSV). Two days later, as I’m climbing up 39,000 feet at a cruising speed of 560 mph, …

Angie Fyfe: Forging the Tools for Climate Justice

Local Governments for Sustainability ICLEI is quite possibly the most important NGO you’ve never heard of.  The acronym stands, or at least stood, for the ‘International Coalition for Local Environmental Initiatives.’  ICLEI these days more often goes by ‘ICLEI: Local Governments for Sustainability.’  The organization is a global nonprofit aiming …