In-person convocation and chapel, free coffee in the library and DIY waffles are back. But one pre-COVID campus staple has yet to see a rebound: composting.   The composting operation that once kept food waste from the dining hall out of the landfill was suspended over a year ago due to safety concerns around COVID-19 and new dining practices.  But this fall, students are noticing its absence.    “It is surprising to see how nothing is really happening,” said Jackson Steinmetz, a junior who volunteered with the composting initiative in the past. “All of the first and second-years have never seen composting...

By Caleb Gingerich • September 16, 2021 • News

Rising average temperatures. Longer warm season. Increased precipitation. These are just some of the climate changes that Indiana has been experiencing since 1895. The way things are projected to go, these and several other issues are expected to only grow in intensity and cause more problems in the future. So what can a small northern Indiana city do about it? It turns out quite a lot. In early 2019, a resolution was passed by Goshen Mayor Jeremy Stutsman and the Common Council. This resolution, called Resolution 2019-19, stated the intent to “create and implement a Climate Action Plan by 2021.”...

By Riley Borntreger • April 16, 2021 • Features

This past week, students and faculty involved with burning the Miller-Kratz Prairie slipped into their flame-resistant jumpsuits and donned a hard hat, goggles and a shroud to protect themselves. Backpack sprayers sat heavily on their shoulders, used to put out any stray flames that came too close to the green grass. The flattened prairie brush was their target.  There are protocols that have to be followed in order to keep the fire from running amok, junior environmental science major Josie Strader, one of the student prairie managers, explained.  “We first have to identify the direction the wind is coming from,...

By Liam Morris • March 25, 2021 • Features

Steve Shantz can turn on a lightbulb with his tongue, but that’s only a minor magic trick in comparison to his main stunt with LED lights at Goshen College.   Shantz and his team of student workers are nearing the completion of a multi-year project to switch campus over to LED lighting and drop the college’s energy usage to a new low.    Shantz, systems supervisor for the Physical Plant, committed to a college-wide transition to LED lights about two years ago.   The project is now 90% complete, and he plans to keep working until every light on campus has been upgraded,...

By Sierra Ross Richer • October 15, 2020 • Features

The eight-day, seventy-mile canoe trip that extends from the headwaters of the Elkhart River near Merry Lea all the way to Lake Michigan has been a highlight of the Sustainability Leadership Semester for the past eight years. “The amazing thing about sustainability is how interdisciplinary it is,” said Tom Hartzell, Merry Lea coordinator for residential programs & environmental science educator. “It connects to anything and everything, and the canoe trip is a great example of this. It’s a big highlight for a lot of students.” This year, due to COVID-19, there was some debate as to whether the trip was...

By Luke Vance • September 3, 2020 • Features

Joel Pontius, sustainability and environmental education professor at GC, is preparing to publish his first book on March 1 titled, Place-based Learning for the Plate: Hunting, Foraging, and Fishing for Food. Started from a childhood passion for biodiversity and spending time in the landscapes, Pontius believes that hunting, foraging and fishing are not only ways to feed our stomachs, but also ways to feed people’s curiosity.   Your book, Place-based Learning for the Plate: Hunting, Foraging, and Fishing for Food, how did it start? The book started with some friendships that I had with a couple of the co-editors, Mike...

By Nasim Rasoulipour • February 7, 2020 • Features

“It doesn’t have to smell, it doesn’t have to draw flies, and it doesn’t have to draw rodents.” Food waste, according to Glenn Gilbert, director of facilities, doesn’t have to be gross.  Gilbert’s face lights up and he speaks freely; he is obviously very passionate about composting.  Composting is often seen as a silver-bullet environmental solution; it is thought of as something that greatly reduces someone’s environmental footprint. However, composting on campus is largely necessary due to the large amount of uneaten food in the dining hall and in residence halls.  By the time your uneaten food reaches the compost,...

By Greta Lapp Klassen • February 7, 2020 • Features

Gardeners, foodies and lovers of seeds will gather in the Church-Chapel on Saturday for the second annual Michiana Regional Seed Swap.  The seed swap, organized by staff at the Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center, is a free educational event in which gardeners, businesses and community organizations working in the regional food system will share seeds, learn about new varieties and build relationships.  Marcos Stoltzfus, director of environmental education outreach, was inspired to organize the event after attending a seed swap in central Michigan. He was impressed by the diverse group of over 400 gardeners from Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and multiple...

By Gabe Miller • January 16, 2020 • News

Most people today don’t think that hair is valuable, especially after it’s been cut off, but Steve Shantz knows better. Shantz is a systems operations technician at the Goshen College Physical Plant, and for the past several years, once or twice a month, his barber has sent him a trash bag full of hair. Sometimes he sends it to the Physical Plant, other times he tosses it in Shantz’s yard as he drives past and other times he sweeps up all the hair when Shantz gets his own hair cut. “It’s an experiment,” Shantz said. “You know life is a...

By Violet Smucker • November 18, 2019 • Features

Conversation sparked last Wednesday, Nov. 13, as four panelists gathered for a discussion entitled, “Where sustainability and social justice meet.” Senior Lydia Dyck brought the panel together in order to carry out discussion between professionals and students on the topics of peace, justice and conflict studies (PJCS) and sustainability. The panel consisted of associate professor of sustainability and environmental education, Jonathon Schramm; sustainable food systems educator and Merry Lea farm manager, Jon Zirkle; professor and department chair of PJCS, Regina Shands Stoltzfus; and sustainable peace and development practitioner from Zimbabwe, Sibonokuhle Ncube. All panelists came to the event with varied...

By Nick Yutzy • November 13, 2019 • News

American Electric Power (AEP) is replacing its 95-year-old power grid transmission lines running from Albion all the way to Goshen.  The project started about two years ago, but the work in Goshen only began in late summer, with plans for the new towers in Goshen to be up and be feeding electricity to the city by December.  As owners of the nation’s largest electricity transmission system, AEP delivers electricity to nearly 5.4 million customers in 11 different states. AEP’s utility units in Indiana operate as Indiana Michigan Power (I&M). The current power line was created in 1925. To ensure power...

By Nasim Rasoulipour • November 1, 2019 • News

Goshen College students are often driven by a desire to improve the world. The Ecotiva Collective is the most recent example of this. Ecotiva, according to José Chiquito Galvan, a third year sustainability studies major and the founder of Ecotiva, is “a group of people who care about ecojustice and making sure that minorities or marginalized communities have a priority in the environmental movement and in emerging green economy.” Ecotiva is not an official nonprofit as of the date of writing, because the members are still deciding what kind of organization they wish Ecotiva to be. The project was officially...

By Patrick Webb • March 21, 2019 • Features

When I walked into an interview for an intern position my first year at Goshen College, I greeted Glenn Gilbert, director of facilities, and another man who looked at me through rimless glasses. He introduced himself as Lewis, or Lew Naylor, an adjunct professor of chemistry. Then, before he said another word, his phone let out a “ding” and he says to no one in particular, “I just got approved for a new patent!”   Naylor began a life of science over 50 years ago, starting his career as a high school chemistry teacher. He moved on to graduate school...

By Bryce Stopher • March 9, 2019 • Features

The last time Skye McKinnell, a senior environmental science major, spent a fall semester on campus was two years ago, in 2016. Back then, McKinnell lived in Goshen College’s Yoder residence hall. Since then, she’s spent a fall semester in China’s Sichuan province on SST, and now she’s at GC’s Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center as part of the college’s Sustainability Leadership Semester (SLS). SLS is a 15 credit, semester-long study of practical sustainable practices for people for whom doing is believing. “I think that SLS is really good for people that have to see something for it to be...

By Carter Mckay-Epp • September 26, 2018 • Features

Ryan Miller is a junior at Goshen College majoring in sustainable food systems. Miller currently holds two part-time jobs, which is normal for college students. What may surprise people is the uniqueness of his jobs and the routine he has developed to keep up with college and work. Miller works at a local dairy farm and at Violett Cemetery here in Goshen. On the same day Miller might help deliver a calf, dig a hole for a grave, and go to class afterward. He is always on the go, and he loves it that way. Although the combination of the...

By Cecilia Garcia • March 29, 2018 • Features