Updates from the Sustainability Working Group

50th Anniversary of Earth Day

April 22, 2020

Dear Hamilton Community:

Hamilton’s Sustainability Working Group, which has been hard at work crafting a revitalized sustainability strategy for the College, invites you to celebrate Earth Day by considering the positive impact the environmental movement has had on the local and global community over the last five decades. At Hamilton, prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, our student sustainability coordinators, in collaboration with the Student Assembly and several student clubs, were preparing to celebrate Earth Day’s 50th anniversary with a week-long slate of events.

While many of our efforts are temporarily paused, Hamilton’s formal sustainability program will continue when we resume activity on campus. The student coordinators are already looking toward that day. In the meantime, we have accomplishments to be proud of on College Hill. In the spirit of Earth Day, and to reduce our carbon footprint, Hamilton in recent years has planted more than a thousand native hardwood trees in sections of the old golf course, created a pollinator garden near Rogers Estate, and launched a forest improvement project in the Reservoir Tract that includes planting native hardwoods. We look forward to continuing our environmental progress when we return to our beautiful campus. The current crisis clearly shows how interconnected we all are and how we must work together to sustain the health and well-being of our planet.

Brian Hansen

Facilitator Sustainability Working Group and
College director of environmental protection, safety and sustainability