About
This project explores the climate/environmental action histories of various liberal arts collegiate institutions: Carleton College, Hamilton College, and Vassar College. The guiding principle behind the completion of this project was the visualization of each of our institutions’ involvement and action in climate and environmental action endeavors. In order to complete this project, newspaper articles, infrastructural change records, and planning documents, including Climate Action Plans, were gathered from each institution.
Those resources have ultimately been used to: visualize and analyze the process of climate change mitigation and sustainability on the campuses of these collegiate institutions, and particularly in reference to the Climate Action Plans, been used to compare the various institutional approaches/foci toward climate/environmental action.
The finalized product of this project can be seen in the TimelineJS Timelines, Voyant Tools Visualizations, and Analyses & Interpretations tabs below.
The two primary tools and processes used in the completion of this project were Voyant Tools and TimelineJS from Knight Lab. TimelineJS was used in order to create the final timelines displaying various, key, climate/environmental justice and initiative events and resources at each of the collegiate institutions of the members involved in the creation and finalization of this project. TimelineJS was a clean and user, and end-user, friendly solution to our timeline needs. As a tool it readily provided a Google Spreadsheet template that could be readily inputted with timeline entries by specifying the date, providing a title for the event/timeline marker, inputting a summative or descriptive text relating to the event/timeline marker, and inserting a link to an accompanying image. Once the spreadsheets were completely finalized with desired event markers, the Google Spreadsheets were published to the web and a link of the Spreadsheets dropped into TimelineJS to generate and populate the timelines.
This process of turning the resources and events into timeline markers that could then be read by TimelineJS required the summation or description of an event or resource. This ultimately results in a derivative of the original resource or event information being displayed in the timeline rather than the original. Therefore it became rather pertinent to make the sources or the subject resources of the timeline markers easily accessible in another manner, such as this project group did in the provision of source documentation.
We chose to utilize this timeline approach because the focus of our project lay on the progression of climate and environmental action at our institutions over time, and that was best represented, presented, and measured in a time based manner, with a timeline being the best and easiest solution. TimelineJS was specifically chosen due to the ease and speed of producing a timeline through its use, which was especially important given the short timeframe this project was conceived and completed under.
Voyant Tools was used in a supportive manner to provide a quantitative analysis of the group’s institutions’ approaches to climate/environmental action to this project. It was used in order to perform a textual analysis of the Climate Action Plans (CAPs) of the project group’s respective institutions. CAPs were chosen for analysis, as opposed to other institutional documents, because of their standardized nature as well as the fact that they ultimately outline different pathways to the same or similar goals. This standardization makes it easier to analyze the differences between the plans in a way that provides relevant data.
The analysis was completed by constructing a corpus of the CAPs from our various institutions in Voyant Tools and then using the available Voyant tools to analyze the documents. The documents were converted from PDFs into plain text files, and then uploaded into the corpus as three separate documents. Selected analytic visualizations, such as the “Links” and “Trends” visuals are presented in the final product of our project. The corpus has been edited for clarification and redundancies.
These timelines provide an interactive approach to the climate/environmental action history of each college. Each timeline begins with the founding of the college and highlights climate action events throughout the college’s history. The terminology of climate action and environmental studies has changed and developed over time and that is reflected in each timeline by skewing the frequency of events to be more recent. The timelines feature both institutional and student-led initiatives for climate action.
These visualizations provide a comparative textual analysis of each college’s climate action plan, they compare the plans against each other in search of similarities and patterns, and helps identify what is prioritized/crucial to institutionalized climate action at each college.
The Voyant visualizations showed that the terms “actions,” initiative,” and “solutions” were all frequently used in Hamilton College’s, Vassar College’s, and Carleton College’s climate action plans. But Vassar’s climate action plan emphasizes these words the most out of the three institutions. The visualizations also indicate what each school has chosen to focus on. Carleton has listed and ranked its focuses. Vassar’s main focus is electric energy. Hamilton is the only school to not focus on electric energy. Some of the other popular words were: “carbon, emissions, climate, energy, sustainability, campus” After looking through the links function, these popular words were more often connected to terms like “students” and “studies,” indicating that these colleges heavily rely on their student body and outside research to accomplish these goals. Although the climate action plans place importance on the students, the timelines that we have put together show that it is the students (and their responses to global movements) who reveal the shortcomings of the plans and institutional response.
From our timelines, we found that:
Hamilton College has taken a strong stance in favor of climate action and achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. These actions started to take place in the early 2000s. The timeline showed increased actions in 2007 to 2009 and 2018 to 2020. Of these actions Hamilton has built LEED certified buildings and purchased electric and hybrid vehicles for campus transportation and security purposes. Hamilton has also taken many steps to facilitate student involvement and leadership in sustainability and climate action. These steps involve developing a student farm, a fashion show in which students create clothes from recycled materials, and the annual cram and scram in which students donate unwanted dorm supplies to the sale for other students to purchase and reuse. Similarly, there has been momentum in the climate action movement developed by Hamilton students independently from the administration. These initiatives include student research on climate change as well as student-led organizations such as Hamilton’s sunrise movement.
Efficient and up-to-date energy use has been a major focus in Carleton’s history; for example, the college was one of the first colleges to implement a wind turbine. The campus created an atmosphere of environmental awareness that led many activists and speakers to come to campus, even before the 2011 climate action plan. The Carleton Responsibility Investment Committee (CRIC), along with students, faculty, staff, and community members with vested interest advises decisions about investments, which has resulted in action and inaction in terms of climate change. The climate action plan focuses on improvements in energy use and campus culture, while the students and community have expanded the climate action to include activism for environmental justice and ethical investments.
Vassar’s student-led climate action movements definitely had an effect on whether or not a climate action plan would’ve even been published: Vassar SEED, the leader of many of the more recent climate movements and protests on Vassar’s campus, was a major player in the introduction of the Climate Change minor and helped Vassar declare a climate emergency. This all occurred mere months before the release of the current CAP and Carbon Neutrality Pledge. The plan is still relatively new compared to the other colleges, as it was only published in 2020, so many of the more easily documentable action steps haven’t had time to take effect.
In order to develop a set of data to answer our research questions, we used Voyant Tools, which utilizes distance reading techniques to perform textual analysis, and KnightLabs JS, which creates timelines from datasets. KnightLabs JS helped us to assemble data sets in chronological order and view the data sets in a comprehensive way. Voyant Tools helped us to view differences between climate action plans in order to determine how the three schools that we focused on differ with respect to their approaches to addressing climate change. Neither of these tools hindered our ability to analyze or understand our data, however, they served different purposes within our project. While the dataset of articles was used in conjunction with the Voyant analysis, the articles themselves were manually analyzed by our group members. This analysis, in conjunction with the Voyant analysis, was used to make a determination to the success of each school’s approach. KnightLabs JS was used to present our data in a comprehensive and approachable manner to our audience. It was more of an explanatory artifact in the sense that the timeline itself did not directly affect the findings of our analysis.
We noticed that it was difficult to find digital information on climate action/sustainability movements from any period of time that wasn’t relatively recent. In order to develop a more informed answer to our research question, it would be beneficial to assemble data collected from a larger time frame. This raises the question of how we can better account for previous decades of student organizing and administrative support of climate justice. Perhaps there are records at our institutions that just aren’t digitized or accessible to the general population that could be accessed in some other way. Our project was limited by our inability (in most cases) to be on campus and, as a result, our lack of physical access to archives.
Two major DH approaches we learned about during this course that we sought to employ throughout our project were computational analysis and Data Feminism’s idea of embracing pluralism. Computational analysis was a key feature of our methods and analysis and helped us to address our texts at different levels of scale. We used text analysis to break down the process of reading to focus on the patterns and relationships between the words and phrases. We used sources from various sources in an attempt to capture the many perspectives and people involved in climate action movements at our campuses. By utilizing text from both the actual climate action plan and student-created sources, we were able to explore the various roles that different populations on campus (students, administration, president, faculty, etc.) hold in regards to the climate crisis.
Overall, our project has shown us a lot about how our respective institutions are actually handling the climate crisis. A lot more needs to be done – instead of just discussed. All of our Climate Action Plans (CAPs) were lacking in developing actual solutions to climate issues or forming new initiatives on campus, and Vassar’s CAP was notably missing alternative energy solutions. Through our project, we have been able to better connect our institutions and compare the ways they are striving for climate justice. If we could expand this project to include more institutions, we could better facilitate ways for our colleges to work together in creating environmental regulations, supporting each other’s climate justice movements, and in holding each other accountable to the standards the CAPs layout. Unfortunately, this project really highlights the way in which CAPs have not been incorporated into the environmental justice movement at an institutional level. It also highlights how campus communities react to CAPs, and how those reactions usually lead to activism in the form of protests, research, and student-led initiatives . Climate justice is impossible to achieve at the individual level, but by connecting our schools we can begin to create a coalition that will work to make these Climate Action Plans a reality.
Acknowledgements
This project was collated and completed by Cora Blackwell, Devin Dufour, Emily Ly, Mike Kombate, Dana Russel, and Chloe Truebenbach, with instruction and assistance from José Vergara, and all other instructors from the 2021 LACOL Digital Humanities Summer Course, as well as with assistance from the following two Teachers’ Assistants: Jacob Clark, Marcella Lees.
Additional thanks goes to the Carleton College, Hamilton College, and Vassar College Digital Collections managed and collated by each institutions’ collegiate archives.
Project Sources & References
Climate Action Plans
Environmental Advisory Committee at Carleton College. (2021, April 13). Climate Action Plan (CAP) Review 2020 – Carleton College. Carleton. https://www.carleton.edu/committees/environmental/climate-action-plan-cap-review-2020/.
Hamilton College. (2017). Hamilton Climate Action Plan. Clinton, NY. https://www.hamilton.edu/documents/Final%20Draft%20Hamilton%20Climate%20Action%20Plan%203Apr2017.pdf.
Vassar College, Elizabeth Bradley. (2020). Carbon Neutrality. Sustainability – Carbon Neutrality | Vassar College. https://www.vassar.edu/sustainability/carbon-neutrality.
Resources: Carleton College
(1969-2021). Academic Catalog Series. Carleton College Digital Collections. Carleton College Gould Library, Northfield, Minnesota. https://contentdm.carleton.edu/digital/collection/ACAT
(n.d.). Retrieved from https://buildingos.com/s/carleton/storyboard7073/?chapterId=41693
Bork, B. (1976, February 26). Carleton’s summer school offers courses in wide variety of areas. The Carletonian. http://edu.arcasearch.com/usmncarcd/startArcaApp/
Campus Handbook. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://apps.carleton.edu/handbook/financial/?policy_id=1027297.
Carleton, S. A. (n.d.). Take Action – Carleton College. Retrieved from https://www.carleton.edu/sustainability/take-action/
Management, F. (n.d.). Construction Design Standards – Carleton College. Retrieved from https://www.carleton.edu/facilities/project-management/construction-design-standards-2/
Management, F. (n.d.). Water Reports – Carleton College. Retrieved from https://www.carleton.edu/facilities/energy-and-sustainability/energy/water-report/
Plan, C. C. (n.d.). Carleton Utilities History – Carleton College. Retrieved from https://www.carleton.edu/geothermal/
Plan, C. C. (n.d.). Charts & Graphs – Carleton College. Retrieved from https://www.carleton.edu/geothermal/charts/
Woollen, B. (2021, May 30). Carleton celebrates end of steam use after 111 years. The Carletonian. https://thecarletonian.com/2021/05/30/carleton-celebrates-end-of-steam-use-after-111-years/
Zimmerman, E. (2021, May 30). A hard look at Carleton’s endowment. The Carletonian. https://thecarletonian.com/2021/05/30/a-hard-look-at-carletons-endowment/
Resources: Hamilton College
(2004, April 14),. Adirondack Leaders Talk About Park’s Future. Hamilton College. https://www.hamilton.edu/news/story/adirondack-leaders-talk-about-parks-future
(2004, March 1),. Pulitzer Prize Winning Author Richard Rhodes to Speak at Hamilton College. Hamilton College. https://www.hamilton.edu/news/story/pulitzer-prize-winning-author-richard-rhodes-to-speak-at-hamilton-college
(2006, January 18). Skyrocketing Energy Costs with Geothermal Systems. Hamilton College. https://www.hamilton.edu/news/story/hamilton-college-arrests-skyrocketing-energy-costs-with-geothermal-systems
Barrie, V. (2011, October 14). Campus Meets Climate Action Plan Goal Four Years Early. Hamilton College. https://www.hamilton.edu/news/story/climate-action-plan-met-four-years-ahead-of-goal.
(2006, April 10). Making Waves: The Save Seafood Tour Coming to Hamilton. Hamilton College. https://www.hamilton.edu/news/story/making-waves-the-save-seafood-tour-coming-to-hamilton
(2007, October 29). Community Farm Garden Gets Started on Campus. Hamilton College. https://www.hamilton.edu/news/story/community-farm-garden-gets-started-on-campus.
(2008, January 8). Campus Safety Hybrid SUV Is Easier on the Environment. Hamilton College. https://www.hamilton.edu/news/story/campus-safety-hybrid-suv-is-easier-on-the-environment.
(2009, May 22). Second Ham Cram & Scram Collects Tons. Hamilton College. https://www.hamilton.edu/news/story/second-ham-cram-scram-collects-tons
(2017, June 5). Hamilton Affirms Its Climate Commitment. Hamilton College. https://www.hamilton.edu/news/story/hamilton-affirms-its-climate-commitment
(2017, June 5). Hamilton Affirms Its Climate Commitment. Hamilton College. https://www.hamilton.edu/news/story/hamilton-affirms-its-climate-commitment.
(2019, April 22). May the Forest Be With You. Hamilton College. https://www.hamilton.edu/news/story/reforestation-earth-day
Barrie, V. (2011, January 13). KJ Exceeds Predicted Energy Savings. Hamilton College. https://www.hamilton.edu/news/story/kj-exceeds-predicted-energy-savings.
Barrie, V. (2021, July 16). Three Professors Earn Digital Pedagogy Fellowships. Hamilton College. https://www.hamilton.edu/news/story/digital-pedagogy-fellowships-oaxaca-racism.
Barrie, Vige. (2018, October 31). Owl-banding: Another Sustainability Initiative.https://www.hamilton.edu/news/story/owl-banding-saw-whet-woods-sustainability-migration
Barrie, Vige. (2019, October 18). Hamilton Installs 20 Vehicle-Charging Stations. Hamilton College. https://www.hamilton.edu/news/story/vehicle-charging-stations-nyserda-national-grid
Barrie, Vige. 2005, August 3. Collapse of Antarctic Ice Shelf Unprecedented. Hamilton College. https://www.hamilton.edu/news/story/collapse-of-antarctic-ice-shelf-unprecedented.
Dunn, P. (2011, April 11). Sadove Center Awarded LEED Gold Certification. Hamilton College. https://www.hamilton.edu/news/story/sadove-center-awarded-leed-gold-certification.
Dupuis, J. (2018, August 16). Global Climate Strike: Turning Environmental Passion into Action. Hamilton College. https://www.hamilton.edu/news/story/turning-environmental-passion-into-action
Dupuis, Julia. (2018, August 3). From Farm to Table: How Local Foods Are Taking Root in Central New York. Hamilton College. https://www.hamilton.edu/news/story/from-farm-to-table-how-local-foods-are-taking-root-in-central-new-york
Foster, H. (2018, April 23). Branching Out on the Golf Course. Hamilton College. https://www.hamilton.edu/news/story/branching-out-on-the-golf-course.
Foster, Holly. (2018, March 30). Trash Trending. Hamilton College. https://www.hamilton.edu/news/story/sustainability-fashion-show-recyclable-trash-trending
Georges, T. (2015, June 11). Hamilton Community Farm Cultivates More Than Fresh Produce. Hamilton College. https://www.hamilton.edu/news/story/hamilton-community-farm-cultivates-more-than-fresh-produce.
Hamilton College Sunrise Movement. (2020). About: Sunrise Movement Hamilton College. Sunrise Movement Hamilton College. https://www.sunrisehamilton.org/about-1.
Hamilton College Sustainability Committee. (2009, January). Hamilton College Stewardship Report. Hamilton College. https://www.hamilton.edu/sustainability/stewardshipreport.pdf.
Hamilton College Sustainability Committee. (2021, July 24). Sustainability Working Group. https://www.hamilton.edu/campuslife/sustainability/sustainability-working-group.
Hawley, N. (2020, November 25). Hamilton College students present climate change findings. Rome Sentinel. https://romesentinel.com/stories/hamilton-college-students-present-climate-change-findings,107036.
Militello, L. (2019, September 20). Global Climate Strike: A Call to Action on the Hill. Hamilton College. https://www.hamilton.edu/news/story/global-climate-strike-call-to-action
Militello, Libby. (2019, September 20). Global Climate Strike: A Call to Action on the Hill. Hamilton College. https://www.hamilton.edu/news/story/global-climate-strike-call-to-action
Robinson, E. (2021, June 14). Growing Closer to Carbon Neutrality. Hamilton College. https://www.hamilton.edu/news/story/growing-closer-to-carbon-neutrality.
Robinson, Evan. (2021, June 14). Growing Closer to Carbon Neutrality. Hamilton College. https://www.hamilton.edu/news/story/growing-closer-to-carbon-neutrality.
Sustainable Endowments Institute. (2010). Hamilton College College Sustainability Report Card 2010. Hamilton College – Green Report Card 2010. http://www.greenreportcard.org/report-card-2010/schools/hamilton-college.html.
Resources: Vassar College
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Hoffmann, M. (2019, February 13). Join now: Fight for national climate action at Vassar – The Miscellany News. Miscellanynews.org. https://miscellanynews.org/2019/02/13/opinions/join-now-fight-for-national-climate-action-at-vassar/
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