Haverford College
AC-8: Campus as a Living Laboratory

The Committee for Environmental Responsibility runs outreach events all through the Do It In the Dark competition, ranging from Bike Repair workshops to a clothing swap. The members of the Committee for Enviornmental Responsibility lead these workshops, learning how to lead sustainability initiaves while teaching community members important information and skills.

The Environmental studies major requires a praxis course in which students complete 4-5 hours of feildwork per week partner with local organizations.

The Committee for Environmental Responsibility runs a "Do It In The Dark" competition pitting buildings against each other and collecting data from the buildings on energy usage to report out to the community. This furthers student understanding of the building-by-building energy impact of the school.

A class of 2023 physics major, environmental studies minor wrote her thesis about designing a microgrid for Haverford. She now has a career in decarbonization and green energy and continues to collaborate with Haverford on sustainability efforts. 

Introductory environmental studies courses tour the Haverfarm to gain an understanding of local food systems. In the PE Haverfarm course students learn how to farm at the Haverfarm.

Many classes use the arboretum as a living laboratory during the academic year. One example is ENVS 328 (Botany) which uses the campus woodlands to teach students about plant identification and sustainable agriculture. 

Also, the class Kombucha 101 which took place in ealry March 2024 was taught by a member of the arboretum staff. More information can be found here: https://haver.blog/2024/04/01/somethings-brewing-in-the-arboretum/

Addtionally, the Commitee for Environmental Responsibilty works improve waste streams on campus. 

Students work at the re-use store where they learn about second hand purchasing and mutual aid.

A member of the class of 2025 created an exhibit in the library about the history of transportation at Haverford. Through photographs, newspaper clippings, and correspondence across three display cases, the exhibit reconstructed the development of transportation at Haverford from the heyday of railroads to the rise of personal vehicles. The exhibit spanned 1866 to 1977. It began with railroads at Haverford in the mid-to late-19th century, highlighted the popularity of bikes in the early 20th century, and ended with the emergence of the Blue Bus and parking on campus in the 1970s. More information can be found here: https://haver.blog/2023/11/20/max-champlin-25-explores-haverfords-rails-and-roads/

The student-run bike share records patterns of use to determine best practices.

The Committee for Environmental Responsibility's waste working group conducted a waste audit that resulted in better recycling signage.

The Environmental Studies course ENVS 204 (Environmental Studies Praxis) uitilizes the campus waterways and woodlands to teach students about water pollution (how it is measured and understood) and forestry health.

In the course ENVS 397 (Environmental Studies Senior Capstone) several students developed projects looking at sustainability issues in local streams (water pollution), food systems, and forests.

The Council on Sustainability and Social Responsibility is studying how best to apply the proceeds of Haverford's internal carbon tax for climate benefit. This council consists students and staff. 

An economics course allows students an opportunity to develop local "impact investing" proposals as a different mode in which to deploy college resources. The focus of the course is to not only gain an understanding of the theory and practice of impact investing across its many components, but also to gain practical experience by assessing a particular set of potential impact investments, making formal presentations of findings to an investment committee leading to a recommendation for investment to a partnering foundation.