Professor of Enviormental Studies David Orr and his students are hoping the soon-to-be-published Campus Ecology Report will be a breath of fresh air for a community concerned about its environment.
Through his Oberlin and the Biosphere class, Environmental Studies Professor David Orr has been conducting studies for the past 10 years on College resources.
Since the summer of 1988, students and faculty have been involved in a variety of studies that have sought to evaluate the use of food, energy, water and other materials within the campus community.
These efforts have generated a report that assesses the environmental state of the campus and seeks to make recommendations to the College administration for the conscientious use of resources on campus.
For the past semester, Orr and assistant Brad Masi have been working with four students to consolidate and update the information contained in these previous studies. This information, assembled in what Orr has termed "The Campus Ecology Report," emphasizes the moral commitment of the College to the surrounding environment.
"The College is obligated to minimize the environmental impact it has on the community so that it does not undermine the world its students are going to inherit," Orr said.
The College also has a financial incentive to follow the recommendations set forth in the upcoming report, according to Orr. If the administration does in fact adopt these resource-saving techniques, an enormous sum of money will be saved on a yearly basis.
Sophomore Nicole Palmer, one of the students involved in the seminar, said she feels the hands-on research was a good experience.
"It was interesting putting together the Campus Ecology Report and learning what the school can do to prevent waste," she said.
The study completed by Orr and his students is the preliminary step in the process of controlling waste at Oberlin.
Orr said he hopes that after this study is released, a committee will be formed to review the findings and implement the procedures that will have a positive environmental impact.
"The campus is just the right size to study resource flows," Orr said. "If successful, the recommendations made by the Campus Ecology Report could be used on a larger scale."
Orr and his students have produced a report that contains information from previous years of research. His effort to improve the College and its surrounding environment has been a long process. It will continue with the involvement of Oberlin in the Black River Watershed Project.
The project's aim is to put together a book that will be published professionally sometime next year. The book will contain environmental information on the Black River and the surrounding area of Lorain County. It will include oral histories of the River and will discuss the economical uses of the area.
Palmer will continue her involvement with an internship this summer, in which she will conduct research and help write the book.
"The Black River is pretty polluted. The book will contain suggestions on how it can be cleaned up," Palmer said.
Copyright © 1998, The Oberlin Review.
Volume 126, Number 22, April 24, 1998
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