Green giants
By Mary Howard '85
What does it mean to be green? For seven Wheaton graduates who are addressing a range of environmental issues-from building locally based, self-reliant food economies to promoting the use of renewable energy-it means putting the earth first in their work and lives. "It's about putting into the pot as much as you take out," says Andrew Harkness '06, who makes biodiesel fuel for a living. Though the green issues they address may differ, their passion for their work does not. As United Church of Christ minister and organic farmer Kathryn ("Kate") Stevens '69 says, "This is exactly what I want to be doing."
Living green
Though she grew up in New York City, Amy Young Todisco '85, president and owner of Green Living Now, LLC, was introduced to healthy foods at an early age. "My mom was a follower of [nutrition guru] Adelle Davis," she says. At the age of 14, Todisco, her mother and sister went on a brown rice fast, and she began shopping at health food stores.
But it was 15 years ago, when she was pregnant with her daughter, that the seeds for Todisco's life's work were sown. She found a book titled The Nontoxic Baby and began reading about the toxic chemicals found in everyday products like shampoo and dish soap. "That's when my quest to find truly safer household products began," she writes on her Web site, www.greenlivingnow.com.
Her love of research, honed when she was a psychology major at Wheaton, led her to investigate not only healthy alternatives to traditional cleaning products, but also the causes behind high cancer rates in her town. "I went from being a polarity massage therapist to an activist, almost overnight," says Todisco. She founded the Marblehead (Mass.) Cancer Prevention Project and launched her community's first Earth Day celebration.
A move to Vermont and a stint running a nonprofit organization for Seventh Generation, a company that produces green cleaning products, followed before Todisco started her own nonprofit, the Consumer's Healthy Home Center. "My goal was to raise enough money to hire independent toxicologists to test a variety of household products for their inhalation health effects," she says, adding that consumers end up being the test subjects because manufacturers "aren't testing their products before they hit the shelves."
She had a great board, but Todisco found that keeping a nonprofit organization afloat was too much of a struggle. So in 2004, she founded Green Living Now, LLC, where she sells healthy cleaning and personal care products and offers information about green living.
"I'm really picky about what I offer," she says. "I won't sell anything that I haven't researched and used myself." Products offered on her site have to be completely nontoxic as well as effective, and their packaging must be recyclable. "I'm particularly annoyed by companies that pretend to be 'nontoxic,' 'organic' and 'natural,' while using many of the same toxic chemicals as conventional companies," Todisco notes.
In addition to running Green Living Now, Todisco offers consulting sessions for individuals and companies pursuing a greener lifestyle. She's training to become a life coach and is writing a book on how to live green on a budget.
In November 2006, the producer of The Oprah Winfrey Show, asked Todisco to be a guest on the show. "They were doing a show on people who live a green life."
Unfortunately, the episode was canceled, but Todisco is keeping in touch with the producer. "I'm hoping that my book-to-be will appeal to Oprah and her audience. It is one of my personal goals to be a guest on her show."
On a mission
In her freshman biology class, Kathryn ("Kate") Stevens '69 was given a small quadrant of land to observe for the semester. "I wrote a report on it," says the minister, organic gardener and activist. Though her environmental work did not start until years later, she finds herself frequently talking about her Biology 101 experience. "It was an important part of my time [at Wheaton]."
For 15 years, Stevens and her partner, John Hoffman, lived in Dorchester, Mass., where Stevens immersed herself in the problems of the inner city-poverty, drug addiction, homelessness-as an activist for social change. But in the mid-'90s, at Hoffman's urging, the couple purchased a 100-acre farm in Charlemont, Mass. Hoffman wanted to farm, and in 1996, Wilder Brook Farm offered its first CSA (community supported agriculture), where consumers purchase a share of the farm and receive a basket of produce weekly from June through October.
"We grow everything except corn," says Stevens, who was a history major at Wheaton. The farm currently has more than 40 shareholders and also grows produce for low-income senior citizens. Hoffman is the main farmer, but Stevens is involved in all aspects of Wilder Brook and grows flowers to give away to shareholders each summer.
When she first heard environmentalist Bill McKibben (author of The End of Nature) speak, she sobbed. "I knew I had to do something [about the environment]," she says. Stevens serves as minister of the First Congregational United Church of Christ in Ashfield, Mass., and is a faith-based organizer of several environmental groups, including Religious Witness for the Earth. Ten years ago, she was arrested for protesting against oil drilling in Alaska outside the U.S. Department of Energy in Washington, D.C.
Last May, Stevens helped organize and participated in an eight-day Interfaith Walk for Climate Rescue from Northampton to Boston. "It was fantastic," she says. "We had programs every night and an interfaith service at the end of the walk." More than 300 walkers participated in the event.
She was inspired to create a food co-op of locally grown, winter storage crops, and she holds local food potlucks and lectures at her church. Stevens and Hoffman shop locally, buy used clothes and heat their water with solar power.
"My faith, my understanding of creation and the magnificence of creation, informs my concern for the environment," she says. "I feel the interconnectedness, the oneness, of all beings on Earth very deeply."
The power of one
Megan Amsler '93, executive director of Cape & Islands Self-Reliance Corporation, was speaking to her son's fourth-grade class when he raised his hand and asked, "How come we don't use solar power or wind turbines? Why don't you drive a biodiesel car?"
"All of the advocating that I do came back at me in that moment," says Amsler.
Being green, she says, means doing what you can for the environment. Though solar and wind power are not practical for her current home, she now drives a biodiesel car. "Maybe you can't do biodiesel, but you can use compact fluorescent lightbulbs. It's all about reducing your ecological footprint," says Amsler, who makes a game out of seeing how little electricity she can use each month.
After graduating from Wheaton, Amsler landed an internship with Ocean Arks International, where she worked on an ecological wastewater treatment project that included an off-grid lake restorer. "It was my introduction to hands-on experience with wind and solar power," she says. And that exposure, along with being raised on an organic farm, set the tone for her future work.
Executive director of Cape & Islands Self-Reliance (www.reliance.org) since 2001, she devotes herself to educating the public about renewable energy and environmentally sound technologies. The organization conducts workshops on solar and wind power for businesses and individuals, runs a heating oil cooperative and promotes the use of biodiesel fuel. They established Cape Cod as a Million Solar Roofs partner, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, and they facilitate the installation of local renewable energy projects.
Though there are only four staff members in the organization, their accomplishments are impressive. "We do a lot through collaboration as members of the Cape and Islands Renewable Energy Collaborative," says Amsler.
Self-Reliance has installed three wind turbines as part of hands-on installer workshops, including two at the technical high schools on the Cape. "Overall, we are committed to growing the clean energy workforce to support the expanding industry. We want trained people to be doing good installations."
A sociology and French major, Amsler says her Wheaton education helps her every day. "I look at things from a sociological perspective, and it helps me understand the way other people think and why they do what they do."
Driven to problem solve
"A bit of me is very mechanical," says Andrew Harkness '06, who was a European history major at Wheaton. "I've always loved to tinker and problem solve." When the Ipswich, Mass., native heard that his college roommate's father was running a car on B-20 (20 percent biodiesel, 80 percent regular diesel), it peaked his interest. "I started researching and experimenting and made my first batch of biodiesel in a blender. I started with a liter, then I figured out how to make five gallons." By his senior year, Harkness was driving "an old beater diesel" car on biodiesel he had made.
"I've always been conscious about the environment. I've always recycled. I'm happier outdoors than in the city." His concern for the environment spurred him on to learn more about biodiesel and its benefits to the planet.
"It was at Wheaton that I learned how to research, how to weed out the bad answers," says Harkness, who credits Associate Professor of History Anni Baker with motivating him and giving him direction.
After graduation, Harkness started Northeast Biofuel Solutions, making and selling residential biodiesel processors. Though he had success in his small business, several months ago Harkness accepted an offer from MBP Bioenergy LLC, based in North Conway, N.H., to partner with their company as vice president for bioenergy. "Now, I kick out a couple thousand gallons of biodiesel a day," he says.
Harkness takes a very practical look at environmentalism. "I really think that to make a difference, you have to be able to make a profit." Good environmental practices coupled with good business sense will have more impact in the long run, he says.
"There's no silver bullet to the [global warming] problem." Biodiesel and renewable energy sources, like solar and tidal power, are a "piece of the puzzle," says Harkness. "Being green is all about sustainability. It's about buying locally grown food, turning the heat down, and turning the lights off when you leave a room."
Giving more, taking less
Columbia, S.C., native Nathan Herring '05 strives to live a simple life. "You don't have anything coming in, so don't leave anything behind," he says. An actor, writer and director currently freelancing at the Trustus Theatre in Columbia, Herring walks or bikes instead of drives, buys used clothes and tries to reuse as much as possible. "Recycling is good," he says, "but it takes energy to recycle. It's better to reuse your things over and over again."
A psychology major, Herring says he was "pretty green" coming into Wheaton. But a "Religion and Ecology" course he took with Assistant Professor of Religion Barbara Darling-Smith inspired him. "She talked about 'leavers,' who leave the world like they found it, and 'takers,' who destroy the environment."
For the past few years, Herring has been working part-time with Clean Vibes, an environmentally friendly company that cleans up after music festivals. Along with fellow alumnae/i Megan Luce '03 and Josh Arnold '05, he has worked at the Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, Tenn., for the past three summers, helping Clean Vibes divert as much waste as possible from landfills, through composting and reuse or recycling of materials.
After the trash is cleaned up, the Clean Vibes crew scours the land for every last cigarette butt or bottle cap. "At the end of the festivals, it looks like a giant landfill, but when we're done cleaning, it's pristine farmland," he says.
With trash cans placed no further than 20 feet apart, it shocks Herring to see festivalgoers throw trash on the ground. "Once, I saw a fan throw a bottle on the ground, and he said, 'Clean Vibes will get that.'" But education is part of Clean Vibes' mission, and Herring makes a point of talking to fans about the importance of respecting the earth. "People think that their one SUV or their one piece of litter won't matter, but it all adds up," he says.
Raising awareness
In the decathlon of environmentalism, Joshua Arnold '05 is a gold medalist. At 25, the global sustainability major (self-designed) has started a nonprofit, GALA (Global Awareness, Local Action), serves on his town's energy committee, works as a sales representative for Recycled Office Products, is the manager for Clean Vibes (going on seven years) and serves on a youth delegation to the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development. But the Wolfeboro, N.H., resident is uncomfortable being called "green."
"It evokes a bit of sarcasm and pessimism in me," he says. Arnold worries that commercializing the movement will dilute its potential impact. "I'm concerned about people believing that they can buy their way out of the current environmental crisis, and I think that is the mentality the whole 'green' movement really encourages."
His efforts with GALA (www.galacommunity.org) focus on building community through ecologically sound practices. "We're trying to increase social capital while reducing ecological impact," he says. GALA offers a monthly film series, potluck suppers and workshops on homesteading techniques like composting, wool spinning and native foraging. They've created a "Buy Wisely Locally" guide and work with their town government to establish indicators of sustainable development. "It's my hope that the GALA model can be used by other communities," he says.
Arnold is very grateful that Wheaton allowed him to develop his own major. He studied public and environmental policy and even spent a semester at Naropa University in Boulder, Colo., a Buddhist-inspired institution that brought a "contemplative approach" to Arnold's environmental education.
When he's not running his nonprofit, cleaning up at music festivals or selling recycled office supplies, Arnold shovels snow, splits wood and works as a substitute teacher. His limited downtime is spent hiking, playing music or tinkering with his "bio-Benz," a Mercedes diesel that runs on 100 percent vegetable oil. "I call her Shirley, as in 'slowly but Shirley.'"
Gaining a global perspective
In her freshman year at Wheaton, Megan Luce '03 took a class with Jack Dempsey, an adjunct professor in the English department, called "Language as Empowerment."
"I learned then that being able to verbalize your thoughts-whether through speech or writing-puts one in a place of power," says Luce, who is working on her master's degree in service leadership and management at SIT Graduate Institute in Brattleboro, Vt. Luce, whose research interests focus on the crossroads of environmentalism and social justice, hopes to work in advocacy training and education. "I definitely see international work as part of my future," she says.
Luce has already spent quite a bit of time abroad. During a three-year stint teaching English in Taiwan, she was amazed at how the heavily populated island deals with waste management. "They have a very intense system," she says, recalling separate bins for trash, recycling, compost and used clothes. "What I learned about recycling in Taiwan was very applicable to my work with Clean Vibes at the music festivals."
The English major spent two months in the western part of Australia volunteering for an organic farm and learning about biodynamic farming practices and permaculture. "I was inspired," she says. Last winter, Luce worked on organic and traditional farms in South America, mainly in Argentina. "I love vegetable and fruit farming," she says. "I think it is very important to reconnect to our food sources." A vegan, Luce confesses that she wasn't as excited about her time on a dairy farm in Chile, "though I learned a lot."
As a member of the SIT Environmental Working Group, Luce helped organize a conference on social and ecological renewal, People, Plants, Possibilities. Held on March 22 in Brattleboro, the conference brought together academics, professionals, students and the public to address issues of environmental and social justice. "I'm very interested in combining the science side of environmentalism with the social side," she says.
Mary Howard is a freelance writer and editor, who lives in southeastern Connecticut.
