| Going Green? More Than Ever. |
 Meredith Niles enjoys an afternoon break at the U.S. Botanic Garden. In short, this alumna’s carbon footprint is small, but her passion is outsized. Indeed, Meredith Niles (B.A. 2005) appears the classic portrait of an environmentalist: filled with an idealistic zeal to change the world and not yet jaded by cynicism, apathy and imposing odds. Except that there are plenty of environmentalists who look nothing like Niles — environmental activists who defy stereotypes and suppositions. People like Sharon Zamojski (B.Arch. 1989), who came to the movement at age 45 after reading about a career track — chief environmental officer — and realizing the position clicked for her. Or Sister Damien Marie Savino, F.S.E. (M.A. 2002, Ph.D. 2006), a Franciscan nun who worked for 12 years as an environmental engineer and who now uses her position as a university environmental science chair to help students understand Catholicism’s relationship with the natural sciences. Or David Hartke (B.S.Arch. 1982), an architect who started a nonprofit in 2003 to educate homebuilders about “green” building practices and now teaches such practices at Bucks County Community College in Pennsylvania. These days, the classic portrait of an environmentalist seems pretty hard to pin down. The environment is in some form of peril. That conventional wisdom seems firmly embedded in the current cultural zeitgeist. As societies increasingly witness real-time examples of environmental degradation, that concern has begun to transcend political, social and generational barriers. Concepts such as global warming and sustainability — defined as meeting current needs without compromising the resources of future generations — have become hot topics in the news. The urgent priority of creating viable clean-energy alternatives has been likened to this generation’s Manhattan Project, and, accordingly, public policymakers have placed such research at the top of government agendas. In this climate, young environmentalists are discovering their voices and veteran advocates are finally enjoying a receptive audience. Architects who have pushed green design for years are suddenly finding themselves in great demand. Lawyers and policymakers who have spent decades defending clean air and water laws are now training the next generation of litigators. And religious leaders are teaching their flocks the message of environmental stewardship — a mandate as old as the Bible, but given new voice by Pope Benedict XVI and his predecessor, Pope John Paul II. It should come as no surprise that many alums, educated at CUA about social justice and the responsibility of stewardship, are championing environmental causes. In fact, Catholicism has made unique contributions to modern-day environmental understandings, defining consumption patterns and waste as moral issues and promoting a sense of intergenerational responsibility. The importance of this aspect of Catholic teaching can be witnessed on a day-to-day basis as Catholic University expands environmental course offerings and pursues alternative energy sources and environmentally friendly buildings (see “A More Sustainable CUA”). Longtime courses have provided a foundation for environmental education at CUA, including the University Honors Program’s environmental studies track, first created in 1995, with its four courses dedicated to exploration of the environment as it relates to science, theology, economics and politics. In fact, Meredith Niles — who took the courses in that track — credits her career direction to an additional environmental course she completed at CUA: The Politics of Food. CUA alums — some recent grads and others longtime Cardinals — embody the many paths an environmentalist can take. Building Green  David Hartke with the structural insulated panels for the addition to his family home. On a biting day just before Thanksgiving, he brushes off the cold to gladly give a tour of his favorite architectural project of late: his own house in Havertown, Pa. The environmentally focused architect has spent the better part of the past year renovating the early 1900s farmhouse he and his wife purchased in 2008, retrofitting it with environmentally friendly technology for the latest in energy efficiency. Hartke pats the freshly covered earth in which his geothermal heat pump was recently installed. He delves into a mini-lesson on such pumps, which use the earth’s ability to store heat, enabling a consumer to transfer heat to and from the ground with minimal use of electricity. Hartke is a teacher at heart, the kind who teach because they can’t help it, because they’re so excited about their subject. Asked about the soon-to-be-constructed addition to his home, Hartke bounds toward the old garage, eager to demonstrate how the structural insulated panels and insulated concrete forms that will be used to construct the addition will minimize the amount of heat that can escape. For Hartke, it’s a coveted chance to practice on his own domicile the things he advocates to others every day. In 2003, the CUA alumnus formed the Keystone Green Building Initiative (KGBI) through his local Home Builders Asso-ciation of Bucks/Montgomery Counties. The goal was to educate builders that environmentalism wasn’t the enemy. When he first approached area home builders about starting a local green initiative, they were resistant. But what was once a small initiative of five people has now ballooned to 42 members — builders, arch-itects and landscape architects. “Everyone jumped on that bandwagon,” Hartke says with a smile. Now homebuilders come to KGBI to learn green building tips, where to get environmentally friendly supplies and who to hire as subcontractors. For Hartke, green is not just the future of architecture, it has been his past as well as being his present. Fifteen years ago, he co founded BrightRooms Inc., a Severna Park, Md., building company that specialized in energy-efficient structural insulated panels, home design and construction. In 2000, after several years with a Pennsylvania architecture firm, he co-founded the architecture and engineering firm Stampfl Hartke in order to focus almost solely on green architecture. These days, Hartke also finds time to teach several classes at Bucks County Community College as part of a sustainable-builder advisory program. As an adviser, Hartke educates others in the building industry about how to use resources such as energy and water more efficiently while reducing a building’s impact on the environment. The continuing-education courses attract a mix of architects, interior designers, engineers and builders. He calls his students his “co-instructors,” noting that in each class there is as much information-swapping about green systems among the students as there is teaching on his part.  Brian Baer strives to complement — not compete with — the environment. Baer believes that buildings should enhance, and work in tandem with, the environment. He seeks a better union of nature and man in every building he designs. Incorporating natural light, for instance, means using less artificial light, which is better for the environment but also better for the building’s inhabitants. “You create better architecture because instead of fighting nature you’re embracing it,” he says. He points to recent studies that show that natural light helps students learn better. Baer is not surprised by the findings. “Think of your child as a tree,” he says. “What does a tree need? Sunlight. It’s common sense.” Defending the Environment  As a professor, Alexandra Dunn gets to train hundreds of future environmental lawyers. Two years later, Dunn set her eyes on the nonprofit world, hoping for a more direct role in environmental issues. “I really wanted to be more engaged in the political process,” Dunn says. “I wanted to be much more of an out-there advocate.” She joined the American Chemistry Council as legal counsel, lobbying on Capitol Hill for reforms to hazardous waste and clean air laws, and went on to serve the National Association of Clean Water Agencies as general counsel. In the process, she gained an expertise in environmental justice, the movement to reduce inequitable environmental burdens borne by disadvantaged or minority groups (such as the likelihood of living in close proximity to hazardous waste sites). It’s an area in which she now teaches as assistant dean of environmental law programs and adjunct professor of law in environmental justice at Pace Law School in White Plains, N.Y. “Environmental justice is really about people’s rights to a clean environment and a healthy environment and how we pursue that,” Dunn says. “Those principles of justice were at the heart of so many of the teachings at CUA; I’m now teaching them to the next generation.” In her role at Pace, Dunn directs the school’s Center for Environmental Legal Studies in addition to teaching several environmental law courses. After years of working as a legal advocate for nonprofits, the CUA alumna sees the chance to help mold tomorrow’s environmental lawyers as “a dream come true.” “Each year I have the chance to impact almost 100 future environmental lawyers,” she says. Dunn, who is an officer of the American Bar Association’s 10,000-member Section of Environment, Energy and Resources, likes to point out that two of the section’s immediate past chairs were CUA law alumni. “CUA alums are clearly dominating the bar’s environmental leadership,” she maintains. Kevin Schwartz (J.D. 2007), like Dunn, entered CUA’s law school with a pre-existing interest in environmental law, but Schwartz’s career path illustrates how varied are the opportunities for those interested in the environment. He has been able to carve out a career using his law degree, his environmental sensibilities and an even more longstanding passion: a love for China and things Chinese. Schwartz jokes that his fascination with China started with kung fu movies as a child and morphed into politics and policy issues as an adult. After college, he moved to China, working for two years as an English instructor. He returned to the United States to enroll at the Columbus School of Law, and soon after began a concurrent master’s degree in Asian studies at George Washington University. Keeping his carbon footprint small, Schwartz would bike to Brookland from his home in Silver Spring, Md., each day, and then pedal across town to Foggy Bottom for his master’s courses at night. With both degrees now under his belt, he works with the U.S. Department of State as it cooperates with India and China on best practices exchange in the area of clean technology. “The United States has a lot of experience and expertise to share, and I have the privilege of taking part in that,” says Schwartz. “The goal is not to stop countries in their tracks, but to suggest how they can make the things we need in a way that doesn’t adversely impact the environment.” Changing the “E” in “CEO”  Sharon Zamojski with one of the energy-efficient lamps in her hotel’s newly renovated rooms. “That image stays with me to this day,” she says. “I have a photo of some of those roofs in my office.” Nearly 20 years after her Danish experience, Zamojski’s boss came into her office at the Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa in Hollywood, Fla., with a proposition. Would Zamojski, in addition to her role as architect and capital projects manager for the 36- story resort, spearhead a major environmental sustainability initiative for the property? Zamojski had just read an article about companies hiring “chief environmental officers” and the idea intrigued her. She thought of that old photo of the green roofs of Denmark, and she realized this was the kind of thing she’d been waiting two decades to do. Now colleagues and local media know Zamojski as the “Green Queen.” In 2008 as she began renovation of all 998 guest rooms of the resort, she saw to it that every item that was taken out of the rooms was recycled or reused. Everything from mattresses right down to brass door hinges were donated to the needy, given to liquidators or sent to recycling centers. Zamojski made sure not a single item ended up in a landfill. The rooms are now equipped with low-flow toilets, and the air conditioners are activated by sensors so that the thermostat setting is automatically raised when no one is in a room. Even the hotel’s menu has been altered: Organic and locally grown foods are now staples. The property is part of a pilot program to establish a LEED certification for hotels. The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System is a nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of energy-efficient buildings. Zamojski is now a member of a sustainability council to establish environmental standards for all the properties of Starwood North America (which manages the Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa.) She also participates in the Convention Industry Council’s APEX Initiative, which is developing and implementing industry-wide green practices for the meetings, conventions and exhibitions industry. For Zamojski, her new role as the “Green Queen” spills into her personal pursuits as well. Her great passion is eco-adventure travel and this fall she’ll journey to Peru to hike the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. Environmental Catholicism When people think of environmentalists, priests and nuns might not come to mind. But perhaps they should. Like his predecessor Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI has spoken out strongly about humanity’s moral obligation to protect the environment. His pontificate saw the 2007 creation of the Pontifical Council on Climate Change and Development. He has even had solar panels installed at the Vatican.  Sister Savino and her students participate in a tree-planting initiative near the Port of Houston. Silecchia points to Pope John Paul II’s 1990 World Day of Peace address as the modern-day moment when the Catholic Church stepped onto the international stage as an advocate for the environment. “In our day,” the Holy Father began, “there is a growing awareness that world peace is threatened not only by the arms race, regional conflicts and continued injustices among peoples and nations, but also by a lack of due respect for nature, by the plundering of natural resources and by a progressive decline in the quality of life.” “The modern Catholic argument sees the way we care for creation as going hand in hand with the way we care for each other,” Silecchia says. From that perspective, it is impossible to separate environmental degradation from the impact it has on the poor. This interrelationship is also a central tenet of the environmental justice movement. To take a longer view and look back over 2,000 years of Church teachings is to be instructed about the critical role of humans as stewards of creation, says Sister Damien Marie Savino. As chair of the Department of Environmental Science and Studies at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Sister Savino has used her CUA graduate work in environmental engineering and theology to help develop a new curriculum for her department, one that integrates Church teachings about creation into the students’ core curriculum. Environmental science and environmental studies majors are required to take several theologically oriented courses, including one called Theology of Creation and another titled Catholicism and the Natural and Social Sciences. Sister Savino says that most talk about the human role in nature can be lumped into two extremes: that we are no different from other creatures in the natural world or that we are the dominators and the natural world is for us to exploit as we deem fit. “Catholic tradition comes somewhere in between,” she says, “and it denotes our very special place in creation.” Sister Savino prefers to use the word “mediator” to describe the proper role of humans in creation, saying that — despite the fact that humans have created disturbances in a way that no other creature has — we have the capacity to make creation better by protecting and restoring the environment. Greening the Fork Meredith Niles has accomplished something at age 25 that many people never achieve: She has found a career path that she loves. “I wake up in the morning and I think, ‘I love my job,’ ” she says. On the wall above her desk is a large poster showing a car and a fork, with the text: “Which contributes more to global warming?” (Spoiler: It’s the fork.*) On this November day, Niles has just hung up from a phone interview with Martha Stewart Living Radio, talking with a reporter about some Thanksgiving dishes that are low on the carbon-footprint meter. Niles was hired as the inaugural director of the Cool Foods Campaign in 2008, with the task of starting a consumer-awareness and policy campaign about the connections between the food we eat and global warming (harvesting, transporting and packaging many crops results in greenhouse gas emissions). In just over a year, she has traveled to Africa twice and attended conferences and events all over the United States. Niles describes the position as part media outreach, part research and part policymaking. She is a frequent visitor to Capitol Hill, writes policy comments on government agriculture and environmental regulations, and is a weekly contributor for Grist, an online environmental newsletter. Niles even returned to CUA last fall to teach the students in chemistry Professor Aaron Barkatt’s honors course titled Environmental Science and Engineering. She spoke about food sustainability and climate change and asked each student to write an opinion piece on the economic, social and environmental sustainability of genetically engineered crops. She’ll return to Barkatt’s class this spring to lecture on water resources and pollution. Part of Niles’ outreach has included a partnership with the Santa Monica, Calif., city council on an initiative to promote the purchase of local foods within the school system and among Santa Monica businesses. The campaign is also working to facilitate a gardening program for the city’s students. Niles realizes that, for many people, completely revamping their lives to drastically reduce the carbon footprint of their diet is a tall order. For Niles, it’s enough to get people thinking about the little things. “It doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing approach,” she says. “Even if you just buy one organic item a week, that’s a great start.” In the same manner, David Hartke likes to suggest small water-saving upgrades, such as a low-flow toilet or a faucet aerator to reduce water flow in a sink, even to clients who might not otherwise plan to incorporate green measures in their home improvements. As environmentalists, he and others like him must be teachers. But more than that, they must lead by example. And that’s why, as winter turns to spring, Hartke is putting the finishing green touches on the last major project of his home renovation: the family’s kitchen. The appliances have met the Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star standards and the faucets have been equipped with aerators. The floors are covered with a sustainable surface — bamboo — and the countertops will be made of recycled glass composite. As the spring turns to summer, the Hartkes will rely on a ceiling fan in the kitchen to keep the room cool without air conditioning. The kitchen — that central hub of family life — will serve as a daily reminder, not just to Hartke and his wife, but to their three children, of the small things their family can do with respect to the environment. Not that his sons and daughter need much of a reminder. For them, it’s second nature. “The kids are going to be environmentalists just like their parents,” he says with a chuckle. “But they’re going to be way ahead of us.” *Eighteen percent of all greenhouse gas emissions are generated by the world’s animal-production system, while only 14 percent come from motorized transport. A More Sustainable CUA  Brian Alexander, director of CUA’s Office of Energy and Utilities Management, joins senior Kristen McCarron, head of the Green Club, at water fountains in the Millennium North residence hall. The students who live in that building won a recent competition among CUA residence halls to reduce water usage. The university also received an Award of Excellence from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for its efforts in a 2008 recycling competition that involved more than 400 colleges and universities across North America. CUA finished first among participating Washington, D.C.-area schools in several categories of the contest. In addition, CUA is taking decisive steps to create a more eco-friendly and sustainable campus at the structural, administrative and academic levels. Opus Hall, a new 400-bed residence hall that opened its doors in January, is a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-compliant building, featuring water-conserving showers and faucets, appliances that meet the EPA’s Energy Star standards, and state-of-the-art insulation. When it obtains LEED certification, it will be the first university residence hall in the D.C. area to have that status. The recent interior renovation of McGivney Hall (formerly called Keane Hall) also complies with several LEED principles, boasting Energy Star appliances and new highly insulated windows. In addition, CUA is making strides to help mitigate global warming and reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. In 2002, it became the first university in the region to purchase wind-generated power; 12 percent of its total electricity supply — enough to power 400 homes annually — came from a newly constructed wind farm in West Virginia. Since then, the university has increased and diversified the renewable-energy sources it draws upon. Today, the university purchases the equivalent of 30 percent of its electrical power from green sources including wind, solar and hydroelectric power. Through this mechanism, known as renewable-energy credits, CUA is investing in renewable-energy projects and helping to offset the expense of initiating new projects, such as wind farms, that will create clean energy. By annually purchasing a total of 12,900 mega-watt hours through these renewable-energy credits, CUA enables clean energy sources to displace approximately 87,000 tons of carbon dioxide that would otherwise be produced somewhere in the U.S. power grid. CUA is also striving to promote sustainability and environmental awareness inside the classroom, through longtime environmental studies courses as well as through new additions to the curricula. For example, the School of Architecture and Planning last year introduced a new Master of Science in Sustainable Design degree, one of only a few such master’s programs in the country. The two- semester program includes courses that explore greenhouse gas emissions and “zero-energy [architectural] design,” embodied energy (e.g., the total amount of energy needed to manufacture all the parts of a home, transport them and construct the home), life cycle analysis (gauging the environmental impact of a product’s existence), national and international sustainability rating systems, water conservation and management, and low energy building materials. The architecture and planning school also offers a new Master of City and Regional Planning degree that links design with policy to assist planners in the stewardship of the built, natural and cultural environments. In addition, the school has elevated Introduction to Sustainability to a required course for its sophomore students. Within the School of Engineering’s concentration in environmental engineering, several new courses are being offered, including Waste Water and Waste Treatment, which joins core curriculum courses that include Environmental Chemistry Lab and Principles of Environmental Science. The School of Theology and Religious Studies offers two relevant courses, as well: Religion and Ecology for undergraduates, and Theology and Ecology for graduate students. The first examines interrelated issues pertaining to religion, ecology, science and technology, touching on religious and ethical issues related to cosmology, nature, global environmental problems and types of ecological spirituality and theology. The second looks at what the Christian tradition and contemporary Christian thinkers have to offer the current ecological debate. CUA researchers are also leading the way scientifically: Under the direction of Frank Pao, professor and chair of the civil engineering department, CUA’s Center for Environment and Energy is working to develop a process to remove carbon dioxide from the emissions of power plants and manufacturing facilities. In 2003, CUA alumnus Thomas F. Rojas (B.A. 1983) gave the seed money to found the university’s Center for the Study of Energy and Environmental Stewardship under the direction of Kevin Forbes, associate professor and chair of the Department of Business and Economics. The center seeks to bring together scholars and researchers in many disciplines whose work involves the environmental impact of energy production and consumption. The center has hosted lectures by leading voices in energy and the environment, including Mike Tidwell, founder and director of the U.S. Climate Emergency Council. It also hosted an energy conference last November titled “United States Energy Policy in a World of Rising Energy Demands and Constrained Supplies.” Back to top |
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