The Long Awaited CEAP Poster Session Post

IT"S FINALLY HERE!

The first blog post from Scott this year.

I wanted to debrief the happenings of the CEAP poster session that occurred last Dec. 3rd.

First of all, a little introduction to CEAP: CEAP (pronounced "seep") stands for the Calvin Environmental Assessment Program. Bi-yearly students and cooperating teachers collect data from environmental studies they've done around Calvin and the surrounding community. The studies are then published on posters and displayed in the Science Building for an event called the poster session.

This years poster session was kicked off with a lecture given by Prof. Keith Grasman. His speech, entitled, "Canaries in the Coal Mine: Lessons from Fish-Eating Birds about Pollution in the Great Lakes," described the many ways bird populations of the Great Lakes have been afflicted in the past decades. Chemical scares from DDT and PCB's have caused population depletion and reproductive problems in certain bird species. Although actions have been taken to reduce these chemicals and revive the bird populations, various other chemical pollutants still plague the Great Lakes. Prof. Grasman enumerated the problems bird populations face today and hypothesized several solutions. He also described some of the work he and his classes had personally done in this field of study. The speech was an hour long and very informative, accompanied by a detailed slideshow.

The poster session was next. A problem was suddenly presented for me though. The cookies and coffee the Catering Service had promised were not set up, and there were ten minutes remaining before people crowded into the Science Building Atrium for the poster session. I had to take drastic action. I ran up the stairs to the 2nd floor scanning up and down the hallways for any sign of the cookie and coffee cart. There was nothing in sight. So I briskly walked out the door and peered across Commons lawn for any movement. Nothing. It was over. There was no cart. There would be no cookies and coffee. Just when all hope seemed lost, I walked downstairs to find two nice students with gold Calvin College Catering name-tags setting up tables and refreshments. I was saved. With the refreshments set up, the poster session could go on.

At the poster session, over a dozen students presented on subjects ranging from the architectural development of the business districts on Wealthy and Cherry street to the energy consumption of Calvin College campus facilities. Spectators could wander around from poster to poster, asking questions, listening to the students talk, or just reading the posters. The posters were colorful and informative and the presenters were enthusiastic about their material.

Overall the poster session was great. I hope to advertise a bit better this coming semester to attract a larger audience. But I look forward to working on it again.

Students of Our Surroundings

In the wave of crime scene investigator shows on television, the message has been communicated loud and clear: human beings always leave traces of themselves wherever they go. This is true in both a physical and spiritual sense. Whether it is our fingerprints, traces of hair or other physical relics of ourselves, our presence is written like a text on the landscapes that we travel. But we also leave ourselves behind in the intangibles like ingenuity and creativity that we apply to the spaces and buildings that we create. Like artists that have a unique style and approach, so also do all human persons as they craft and carve out the space of their lives and affect this world that they wrestle with existence in. I wonder, though, do the places and spaces we live in also affect us in turn. That is, are we merely creators of the architecture of this world, writing a story about ourselves, or do we also assume the position of students and open ourselves up to being affected by buildings, rooms, communities, and neighborhoods? Do we not only write the stories of our lives into this world, but also read from some text outside of ourselves, and seek to learn and grow from it?

In one week I will be graduating from Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. As I reflect on my time here, I consider the ways in which I have contributed to this community with papers, discussions, and other labors. But I am also drawn to thinking about how I am the product of a very specific kind of place and community in a certain design and time. Explicitly I have been shaped by fellow students, professors, staff, administrators, and friends. But more subtly I believe that this physical space, this collection of buildings, the dynamic movement of people throughout, have also affected me. When I first arrived at Calvin, I was disoriented by the layout of the campus because there was no central building. Instead, campus architects had designed the commons lawn to be the center of campus. Over the years I have grown to be comfortable with this arrangement, even regarding it as second nature. I sometimes have to remind myself that when visitors ask me where places are on campus that it in fact is not an easy place to navigate. I wonder though, has this particular example of structure and design affected me in significant ways. Has this campus taught me to be comfortable with ambiguity, and how the absence of physical buildings can in fact make room for the presence of people and all the wonder that that entails?

If it is true that we not only affect and inscribe ourselves on the places we create, but are also affected by those places and spaces as well, then this should give us pause as we consider our building endeavors, where we live, where we work, and where we play. These are not insignificant decisions. There are myriads of things in life that are outside of our control that will undoubtedly affect and shape us, but we can give some thought in advance to the environments in which we place ourselves and also give ourselves up to being affected by.

Will Calvin College live up to its Christian commitment to take care of God's creation?

This image was taken from the cover of Grand Rapids Magazine, wherein a feature story details how West Michigan, and particularly Grand Rapids has displayed an extraordinary commitment to environmental sustainability. From Mayor George Heartwell's efforts to purchase 100% renewable energy for all government buildings in Grand Rapids to Guy Bazzani of Bazzani Associates designing some of the most innovative environmentally sustainable buildings in the country to the new Metropolitan Health Hospital integrating key environmentally sound technologies into its operations and building to the outstanding example of local companies like Herman Miller that are working to eliminate all waste from their operations by 2020; Grand Rapids, and Western Michigan, generally, is doing some amazing work to improve our impact on this world and manage natural and limited resources more effectively.

But while the Grand Rapids community continues to display forward thinking and progress with regards to an improved commitment to environmental sustainability, I do not see the same commitment being displayed here at Calvin College in Grand Rapids. It is true that in 2004 the college completed the Vincent and Helen Bunker Interpretive Center that makes use of cutting edge technologies to showcase environmentally sustainable practice. Indeed, the college should be applauded for construction of this building. However, since the completion of this building, Calvin College's commitment to the environment has been less clear, in fact, there are signs of regression in its commitment to the environment.

Take a quick walking tour of the campus, and you will be astonished by the amount of new construction taking place. In the past year the foundations and framework for the new Spoelhof Fieldhouse Complex have been completed, as well as a completely new extension to the existing dorm of Kalsbeek-Huizenga. Additionally, plans are in place to completely renovate the interior of the Fine Arts Center as well as construct an entirely new building that will serve as Student Commons. In short, Calvin College is undergoing massive building projects as it continues to grow and change. But does Calvin display the same commitment in these building projects as it did in the construction of the Bunker Interpretive Center?

The answer to that question is not nearly so clear. While the Bunker Interpretive center is a LEED certified building, exemplifying some of the highest standards in the building industry for environmental sustainability, the new buildings are not forecasted to be LEED certified. Surveying the web pages revealing news, progress, pictures, and statements about the new buildings, there is little hint of any substantial commitment to environmental sustainability (http://www.calvin.edu/campaign/priorities/fieldhouse/). Certainly one hopeful sign is that one floor within the new dorm wing will be reserved for students passionate about environmental stewardship. My growing fear, though, is that Calvin College does not exercise a consistent ethic of environmental care. Instead, administration adopts a utilitarian analysis wherein an emphasis on environmental care is only warranted when it will help the bottom line, which more often than not seems to be about the economics. Undoubtedly, the new buildings will be great for glossy publications that the college sends out to attract prospective students, but in the meantime, are we taking care of the natural environment that our campus exists within and affects?

If the administration fails to exhibit as equally strong of an environmental commitment to new buildings and building renovations as they did with the Bunker Interpretive center, they threaten to reduce the Bunker Interpretive Center to a mere token effort instead of a monument representing the beginning of something truly transformational and powerful happening here on Calvin College's campus in Grand Rapids, Michigan. So while, as the Grand Rapids Magazine article highlights, West Michigan, and especially Grand Rapids, is showing strong signs of "going green," Calvin has yet to prove itself in such respect. Moreover, for Calvin College, in particular, the stakes are not merely whether they will join a national awakening to environmental stewardship or not, but rather, will they live up to their asserted claims of a Christian commitment to stewardship of creation and daily efforts to bring about Shalom, that future day when all of humanity, God, and nature will exist in right relationship with one another.