Paper created by student of St. Olaf professor Diane LeBlanc for her 2019 course on science writing. This set of papers address the effects of light pollution in Northfield.
Category Archives: Focus: Energy
Troublesome Night Lights
Paper created by student of St. Olaf professor Diane LeBlanc for her 2019 course on science writing. This set of papers address the effects of light pollution in Northfield.
Light Pollution in Northfield video
New innovations in LED lighting has created a jump in light pollution. The blue light of these LEDs can lead to more health problems for humans. This video was created to give an overview of light pollution, what it is, how it affects us and what we can do to combat it. To see video, follow this link: https://vimeo.com/296543107.
Created by Carleton College students Isaac Reynaldo, Lance Xiong, & Alan Zheng.
ENTS 310 – Topics in Sustainable Law and Policy
ENTS 310: Topics in Environmental Law and Policy
This seminar will examine topical issues in domestic and international environmental law and policy. We will aim to understand how environmental laws work to achieve policy objectives, with attention also to debates about the role of markets and community-based environmental management. The specific topics may change from year to year, but may include approaches to sustainable development, sustainable agriculture, protection of endangered species, and conservation and management of water resources. This course has no prerequisites and is suitable for students of environmental studies, political science, international relations and political economy.
6 credit; Social Inquiry; offered Spring 2018 · John C Dernbach
Spatial Misallocation of Utility-Scale Renewable Energy Across Minnesota
This 2018 senior project (by Carleton College environmental studies majors) creates a profitability model to analyze whether Minnesota’s utility-scale wind and solar facilities have been sited to maximize profitability, or whether other factors influence siting of these facilities.
Searching for Solar: Applying the Path of Least Resistance, a Case Study of Solar Gardens in Farming
This study investigates solar garden siting decision-making processes to examine why there are currently three solar gardens in Farmington, MN and no solar gardens in Lakeville, MN. As previous environmental justice literature has demonstrated, energy facilities are often distributed unequally across the landscape, placing greater burdens on low-income, minority communities–a siting pattern known as the Path of Least Resistance. With the recent growth of renewable energy across southern Minnesota, there remains limited knowledge on the solar garden siting process, and specifically whether there are any distributional or procedural injustices present in the siting process. Therefore, utilizing a common environmental justice framework, the Path of Least Resistance, we evaluated the political ability of citizens to resist solar garden sitings in order to answer our research questions: Do citizens in Farmington and Lakeville view solar gardens as locally undesirable land uses (LULUs)? And to what extent does differentiated political ability to resist solar garden sitings explain the development of three solar gardens in Farmington, MN and the lack of solar gardens in Lakeville, MN? To address this question, we conducted twenty-five semi-structured interviews with Farmington and Lakeville residents and decision-makers, as well as solar experts to determine the citizens’ sentiments regarding solar gardens and how decision-makers decide where to site solar gardens. Based on patterns identified in the interviews, most Farmington and Lakeville residents do not view solar gardens as undesirable land uses. Additionally, we discovered that decision-makers site solar gardens based on land value and availability and utility company coverage. Finally, we saw no evidence of differentiated political ability to resist solar garden sitings between Farmington and Lakeville, and therefore determined that the siting process for solar gardens does not appear to follow the Path of Least Resistance.
ISAIAH’s Statewide Climate Justice Launch
Join us to launch ISAIAH’s statewide Climate Justice platform in Northfield! At an event on Tuesday January 16th, at First United Church of Christ from 10:30a.m. – 12:00p.m., we will be announcing to elected leaders that Climate Justice is linked to Racial and Economic Equity. Over 100 faith leaders, community members, and college students are announcing that we are a diverse coalition with one agenda. We will be announcing our support for a 50% Clean Energy MN by 2030. This goal is doable. We can accomplish it together, and it is the next faithful step for us to take to together as a state. Register Here: https://isaiah.ourpowerbase.net/civicrm/event/register?reset=1&id=1452&cid=0
Papers from Carleton’s Environmental Ethics Course
Professor Kim Smith teaches a course called Environmental Ethics at Carleton College. This course is an introduction to the central ethical debates in environmental policy and practice, as well as some of the major traditions of environmental thought. It investigates such questions as whether we can have moral duties towards animals, ecosystems, or future generations; what is the ethical basis for wilderness preservation; and what is the relationship between environmentalism and social justice. The papers attached here were produced by students in Professor Smith’s course.
An Ethical Analysis of Carleton’s Geothermal Heating and Cooling Plan
This is a paper completed for Prof. Smith’s Fall 2016 Environmental Ethics class. In Fall 2016, Carleton College Board of Trustees approved a plan to replace Carleton’s current steam heating system with a geothermal heating and cooling system supplemented by a hot water boiler. This system will significantly reduce the college’s carbon emissions and put the College on track to meet its Climate Action Plan. However, implementing this new system will require Carleton to retire its steam boiler halfway through its engineered lifespan. This paper analyzes the ethical implications of this plan on both Carleton and its stakeholders.
Evaluating the Ethics of Carleton College Investing in Community Solar
Carleton College recently committed to being the primary investor in a local community solar array through Northfield Area Community Solar, and is considering investing in a larger project. Although on first glance these projects seem to align perfectly with Carleton’s goal of carbon neutrality by 2050, the reality is that the energy from these community solar projects cannot be counted towards Carleton’s carbon neutrality goals. Is it ethical for Carleton to invest in the large community solar project when the energy produced cannot count towards Carleton’s carbon neutrality goals? This paper analyzes this question using a corporate social responsibility framework.