Fall 2023 Newsletter

Colorado College Environmental Studies and Science Program

December 19, 2023

Letter from the Director

Dear Alumni and Friends,

I hope this newsletter finds you well!

Director of the Environmental Studies and Science Program, Dr. Corina McKendry

Program Updates

NEW EV421: Environmental Synthesis Format

EV421: Environmental Synthesis, long the capstone course for EV majors, has a new format! Instead of a one-block course, this year we have moved to a year-long adjunct focused on reflection on their college experience and thinking beyond CC. There are two main elements of the course:

Community service and environmentalism in action. We have established relationships with a number of environmentally-focused organizations in the Colorado Springs area. Each student has been paired with the organization they are most interested in, and over the course of the year will be engaging in 40 hours of volunteer work with that organization. The goal is to build a long-term connection with an organization (something that can be hard on the block!), give back to the community, and to see different ways that people engage with environmental action on the ground. As we have 45 students in the course, this will be 1800 hours of service across the year!

Thinking post-CC. For this element of the course, students are thinking through what they’ve learned in college, assessing their competencies, and getting ready for life beyond CC. One thing they’ve all done is reach out to EV alums about the work they are doing. Alums in various fields have also been Zooming into class to discuss their career and graduate school paths. A big thanks to all of you who have taken the time to talk with our students!

We are really excited about this new format. If you are interested in talking with the class about your career path, have job opportunities that would be relevant to our students, or just want to be available for them, please reach out to us and let us know!

Sincerely, Prof. Corina McKendry Director, Environmental Studies and Science Program

EV421: Environmental Synthesis Volunteering

Senior Volunteering Experience

"Our time at Flying Pig Farm has been an awesome experience! We just concluded the season with the annual Harvest Festival which is the primary fundraising event for the farm. After a successful semester planting, weeding, and spending time with goats, we are excited to rejoin in the spring!" - Charlotte Pulido and Portia Holt

"The environmental synthesis volunteer partnerships for me has been amazing. I have had the opportunity to learn more about holistic farming practices surrounded by great people at The Flying Pig Farm. I am excited for the continual opportunity to learn and help as much as I can at the farm through the rest of the year!" -Chuck Harrington

Faculty Updates

Assistant Professor Mike Angstadt

Prof. Mike Angstadt published " Can Domestic Environmental Courts Implement International Environmental Law? A Framework for Institutional Analysis " in the journal Transnational Environmental Law (July 2023). Congratulations Prof. Angstadt!

Associate Professor Amy Kohout

Prof. Amy Kohout (History Department/EV Affiliate) published her first book this year! Taking the Field: Soldiers, Nature, and Empire on American Frontiers (University of Nebraska, 2023) examines the intersection of ideas about nature and empire in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by tracing the ways soldiers in the U.S. Army made sense of the landscapes of their service in both the U.S. West and the Philippines. By following these imperial pathways back and forth across the Pacific, Kohout shows us how soldiers—through their writing, their labor, and all that they collected—played a critical role in shaping American ideas about both nature and empire, ideas that persist to the present. Congratulations Prof. Kohout!

Featured Courses Photos

As always, the Environmental Program continues to offer amazing field based classes and trips. Scroll down to see our tiger community in action!

EV209: Ecology and the Environment (abroad in Costa Rica) taught by Professor Miro Kummel

EV333: Atmospheric Dynamics taught by Assistant Professor Allison Lawman

EV356: Global Environmental Policy taught by Visiting Professor Michael Roth

Want more pictures? Check us out on Instagram: @ cc_ev_studiesandscience to stay updated with the EV Program and see more pictures!

Student Summer Research

We had over a dozen students this past summer do research with EV faculty at Colorado College and research experience for undergraduates (REU) at other universities. See below where a few of our EV majors share their summer research experience.

Kate Lamkin: REU student at East Carolina University

I'm incredibly grateful for my REU this summer. My REU was sponsored by East Carolina University, located at their Outer Banks campus of North Carolina. My project was centered upon modeling the effects of agriculture on water quality. More specifically, I used a hydrological model to simulate the movement of nutrients from farms into coastal estuaries. Not only did I gain interdisciplinary research experience, but I was also introduced to so many inspiring individuals involved in the environmental sector within and outside of academia. My REU continues to be incredibly helpful to me as I am currently working with one of my mentors to publish some of our research on hydrological modeling and will likely turn some of this into my senior thesis.

Lily Johnston: REU student at Princeton University and NOAA

This summer I was a Cooperative Institute for Modeling the Earth System (CIMES) Intern at Princeton and the NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL). The accurate prediction of clouds and precipitation is important to our daily activities and decision-making processes. Clouds and precipitation are notoriously difficult to predict and are a large source of error in weather prediction. I worked on the GFDL System for High-resolution prediction on the Earth-to-Local Domains (SHiELD) model which is used for cloud and precipitation forecasting. In my research I evaluated to what extent SHiELD’s accuracy was improved by doubling the spatial resolution from 13 km to 6.5 km resolution; resolution is the degree of refinement of a climate model grid (Neelin 2011). I found that SHiELD has potential for improving clouds and precipitation prediction through the use of higher resolutions. I used significance tests to assess if the differences between SHiELD and observations are significant. Through identification of significant differences, I proposed solutions for improving cloud and precipitation prediction in SHiELD. I am continuing this work as part of my senior thesis with Dr. Lawman and am now investigating how a coarser 25 km resolution affects the accuracy of SHiELD.

Zoey Rouche: CC Student Researcher with Mike Angstadt

In Colorado, climate change is increasing water scarcity, reducing stream flows and snowpack, and altering hydrological cycles. These factors, in combination with a growing population, increase pressures on the state’s water resources. In Colorado, all major disputes regarding water resources are currently resolved through a system of water courts; thus, they are crucial in preparing for and reacting to changes in water resources. This summer, Dr. Mike Angstadt and I investigated how the impacts of climate change are being addressed by Colorado’s water courts by examining the following question: how do the structural and procedural aspects of Colorado’s water courts influence their response to climate change? After interviewing experts in Colorado water law ranging from judges to engineers and attorneys, ultimately, we found that many respondents are confident in Colorado water court capacity to address strains on state water resources, identifying systemic strengths including judicial support and work ethic, water basin divisions, use of data, and the non-adversarial nature of these courts. However, many respondents also questioned court capacity to directly address the impacts of climate change and remain equitable/accessible to those most at risk for drought in the state, suggesting opportunities to further refine the system.

What are CC Alumni up to?

Rikki Held and Youth Group Secured 1st Massive Constitutional Climate Trial Win!

The Environmental Studies Program’s very own, Rikki Held '23, and a Montana youth group achieved a historic victory in the first-ever constitutional climate trial in the United States, with Our Children's Trust being one of three legal representatives. Held and her fellow plaintiffs argued that Montana’s endorsement of a fossil fuel-driven energy system violated their state constitutional rights to a “clean and healthful environment.” Climate impacts reported included severe wildfires, diminished snowpack, flooding, deteriorated air quality, and “hail and windstorms that damage crops and property.” The lawsuit argued that wildfires not only affect the environment but also the people of Montana, causing disruptions like burning “70 miles of powerline [causing the] power [to be] out for a couple of weeks.” Consequently, ranchers, including Held, faced challenges accessing water for their cattle in the hills, and due to the drought, there was reduced grazing, forcing cattle to travel farther. Climate change has also had a negative economic impact, such as Yellowstone National Park flooding leading to closed highways, impacting motel businesses.

On August 14, 2023, Judge Kathy Seeley's historic ruling declared Montana's emissions and climate change a substantial factor in environmental harm, deeming state statutes prohibiting greenhouse gas emissions analysis unconstitutional. This landmark victory highlights the power of youth-led movements and the importance of legal action in addressing environmental issues, demonstrating that determined individuals can create lasting change for present and future generations.

Rikki Held ’23 was named to the 2023 TIME100 Next – a list recognizing rising leaders in health, climate, the arts – for her work as the lead plaintiff in Held v. State of Montana. See her feature in the TIME100 by clicking the link here .

Congratulations Rikki, we are so proud of you!

For the full scoop on Rikki and her interview with CC Communications please click below.

Add to our Alumni Map!

We are working on building an interactive alumni map to increase networking among our Environmental Studies and Science community: if you are willing to share a bit about yourself and your work, please fill out the survey below and a pin with the attached information will pop on the map for other EV alumni to see!

Alumni Networking Survey

Click around on the map below and pins to not only see where CC alumni are living but a little bit about their careers and lifestyles!

Alumni Networking Map