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  • NARRATOR: THE U.S. ENVIRONEMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY CREATED A PARTNERSHIP WITH BENNINGTON

  • COLLEGE IN 2012 TO WORK CLOSELY WITH STUDENTS IN A CLASS CALLED SOLVING THE IMPOSSIBLE.

  • TAUGHT BY PROFESSOR SUSAN SGORBATI, STUDENTS STUDY INTRACTABLE PROBLEMS AND DEVELOP SKILLS

  • TO WORK TOWARD SOLUTIONS. THE EPA ASSISTS PROFESSOR SGORBATI EACH SEMESTER WITH ENVIRONMENTAL

  • PUBLIC POLICY PROBLEMS FOR THE STUDENTS TO WORK ON. ONE CLASS TACKLED THE ISSUE OF CLIMATE

  • CHANGE. We decided that we want to do a local project

  • on climate change and we raised this idea with our professor.

  • So I went to the village trustees in North Bennington our local town and asked David

  • Monks was there was a project that they were involved in that had to do with energy reduction

  • or that would be some way of addressing climate change.

  • Efficiency Vermont had publicized a program where they would help towns and villages to

  • install LED street lighting, which would not only save energy but is better lighting for

  • a lot of reasons. So a couple years ago I contacted Green Mountain Power to get a list

  • of all the street lights and there's a lot of things that Efficiency Vermont wanted you

  • to do to analyze the street lighting you had can you take out any? can you dim any? so the

  • first thing I do is I get this big stack of papers from Green Mountain Power with all

  • the street lights. So when Susan asked if I had any ideas I said well I have a great

  • one, that if the students are patient enough First we had to go and see if the street lamps

  • were actually there, and then see how the community members felt about LED and how they

  • felt about the amount of light in each area all sorts of logistical things. So I designed

  • this flyer, and on here is a little info graphic we found about LED lights and some information

  • about the project. Then we dropped this off on everybody's doors.

  • And they came to one of the trustees meetings and proposed this project and of course the

  • voting was pretty simple this is hard to turn down when they're willing to do all

  • this work for us for nothing. So they got the approval and went ahead.

  • And we gathered so many valuable things that we wouldn't gather otherwise if we were

  • not involved with the community as much. For example, we figured out that some of the lights

  • were 24 hours a day on. It's not something that's going to be

  • marked in the lists of the lights that we were given. The woman that we asked said they'd

  • been on for the last two years, so you can imagine how much money and, more importantly,

  • how much energy that's wasting. The last thing they did was they came, again,

  • to the trustees with all their documentation. They made a full presentation--a slideshow--explaining

  • that if this was going to save the village close to ten thousand dollars a year, that

  • Efficiency Vermont would pick up the cost of the conversion so there's zero cost to

  • the village, and then, they saidwe should vote on it! (laughs)--what's there to vote

  • on? It's going to reduce kilowatt hour usage

  • by 51,000 and remove about 60,000 pounds of carbon out of the air. So it's pretty significant

  • for just a small town of 108 fixtures. So by involving the students the project was

  • able to get completed in a very timely manner and is now in the que to be potentially replaced

  • within the year. NARRATOR: THROUGH THE PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN

  • BENNINGTON COLLEGE AND THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY, STUDENTS WERE ABLE TO LEARN ABOUT

  • CLIMATE CHANGE AND ADAPTING TO CLIMATE CHANGE AND THEN, PUT THAT KNOWLEDGE INTO PRACTICE.

  • ONE OF THE OUTCOMES OF THE PROJECT WOULD BE FOR THE STUDENTS TO CREATE A RESOURCE OF INFORMATION

  • THAT CAN BE USED BY OTHER SCHOOLS AND TOWNS TO DUPLICATE THE SUCCESS OF THE BENNINGTON

  • PROJECT WITHOUT HAVING TO START FROM SCRATCH. The issue of citizenship, to begin with that

  • one, is something that we really have to understand as not a choice--it's an obligation--it's

  • a responsibility. And if we, in higher education, think we have to shield our students from

  • the full implications of that responsibility, we're in trouble. We, on the contrary, it

  • seems that we have to develop their capacity to do it and do it brilliantly. Specifically

  • at this age--the age of undergraduates and circumstances of undergraduates--I think

  • they're uniquely positioned to engage the challenges and frankly the exhilaration of

  • what it means to really take on the kinds of challenges we're facing.

  • But they feel that this kind of work connects them to their future. It's not just an exercise

  • that they're getting a grade for. Personally, a lot of the times climate change

  • seems like this huge insurmountable issue and it's really hard to address that because,

  • well, where do you begin? So I think this project helped me see that there are very

  • accessible, and sometimes easy, ways to address it and establish small changes.

  • In Susan's class we've talked a lot about leverage points, like how to find spots in

  • this huge system that can really be turning points and change trajectory of where we're

  • going. So like this North Bennington project and like a college campus, I think communities

  • as leverage points is like a really valuable thing that I've learned.

  • Almost every week there is a new report, there's a new finding, that climate change is happening

  • even faster than we thought. I think we really need to provide young people ways to get involved

  • and actually do something. I think that feeling of really changing things really motivates

  • people to do even more, and that was the case for us.

  • I want to make a point here that what we're talking about isn't ultimately about Bennington

  • College. It's about the potential of students in classrooms all over this country to be

  • able to participate powerfully in actually making a difference in what's going on about

  • he kinds of issues that the Environmental Protection Agency represents.

NARRATOR: THE U.S. ENVIRONEMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY CREATED A PARTNERSHIP WITH BENNINGTON

Subtitles and vocabulary

B1 US project climate change climate street vermont college

Bennington College –LED Street Light Project

  • 53 5
    alex posted on 2016/03/23
Video vocabulary

Keywords

lead

US /lid/

UK /li:d/

  • noun
  • Wire for electricity, computer, etc.; cable
  • Information that could help to solve a crime
  • Main part in a play or movie
  • Heavy, gray metal element
  • Rope used to tie something to stop it escaping
  • Act of being at the front in a race or game
  • adjective
  • Being the main part in movies or plays
  • verb
  • To show the way or guide others
  • To be at the front of a race or game
  • To travel in front of; go in advance of others
work

US /wɚk/

UK /wɜ:k/

  • noun
  • The product of some artistic or literary endeavor
  • Everything created by an author, artist, musician
  • Activity you do in order to make money
  • Place of employment
  • Final product or result of a some labor or effort
  • verb
  • To bring into a specific state of success
  • To be functioning properly, e.g. a car
  • To do your job in your company or workplace
  • To make an effort to do something
  • To operate a machine or device
  • adjective
  • Activity completed in order to make money
issue

US /ˈɪʃu/

UK /'ɪʃu:/

  • noun
  • A person's children.
  • A point of disagreement or dispute.
  • Important topic discussed, debated or argued over
  • A copy of a magazine or newspaper published at a particular time.
  • Single edition of a magazine
  • The action of supplying or officially providing something.
  • An important topic or problem for debate or discussion.
  • verb
  • To make something available to be used or sold
  • To deliver a statement, etc. in an official manner
  • other
  • To send out or give out.
  • To officially produce or provide something.
  • other
  • To be produced or supplied.
change

US /tʃendʒ/

UK /tʃeɪndʒ/

  • noun
  • Exchange of one set of clothes for another
  • Money in the form of coins instead of paper
  • Money returned after giving too much
  • Act of making or becoming something else
  • verb
  • To exchange one set of clothes for another
  • To exchange one kind of money for another
  • To replace something with another thing
  • To make or become something else
  • To go from one train, bus, etc. and go to another
project

US /prəˈdʒɛkt/

UK /prəˈdʒekt/

  • noun
  • A planned undertaking, especially a major one such as a building, road, or dam.
  • A planned piece of work for specific purpose
  • Group of homes built by government for poor people
  • A specific task or activity with a defined start and end, undertaken to meet specific goals.
  • other
  • To present or promote (a particular view or image) of oneself or something else to the public.
  • To display (an image or film) on a screen or other surface.
  • To estimate or forecast (something) on the basis of current trends or data.
  • other
  • To extend outward beyond something else; protrude.
  • verb
  • To predict what will happen in the future
  • To plan, intend, or expect to do something.
  • To show something on a screen using light
  • To stick out past the edge of something
climate

US /ˈklaɪmɪt/

UK /ˈklaɪmət/

  • noun
  • Typical weather conditions in a particular place
  • other
  • The general attitudes, feelings, or opinions that people have at a particular time.
  • other
  • A region with particular weather conditions.
  • other
  • The typical weather conditions in an area over a long period.
involve

US /ɪnˈvɑlv/

UK /ɪn'vɒlv/

  • verb
  • Have or include (something) as a necessary or integral part or condition.
  • To have or be included as a part of something
  • Cause (a person or group) to take part in an event or activity.
  • other
  • To have or include (something) as a necessary or integral part or condition.
  • To cause (a person or group) to take part in an event or activity.
energy

US /ˈɛnədʒi/

UK /'enədʒɪ/

  • noun
  • Physical or mental strength
  • other
  • Power or capacity applied to perform a task in computing.
  • Resources used for power, fuel, etc., especially in economic terms.
  • Enthusiasm and determination.
  • The capacity to do work.
  • The strength and vitality required for sustained physical or mental activity.
  • The strength and vitality required for sustained physical or mental activity.
college

US /'kɑːlɪdʒ/

UK /'kɒlɪdʒ/

  • noun
  • School or educational institution for adults
  • An organized group of people with particular responsibilities, rights, or privileges.
  • An institution of higher education offering a range of academic degrees.
  • A constituent body of a university.
agency

US /ˈedʒənsi/

UK /'eɪdʒənsɪ/

  • noun
  • Business that provides some service for others

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