About
Middlebury is one of the country's top liberal arts colleges. It offers its students a broad curriculum embracing the arts, humanities, literature, foreign languages, social sciences, and natural sciences. Middlebury is an institution with a long-standing international focus, a place where education reflects a sense of looking outward, and a realization that the traditional insularity of the United States is something of the past. We seek to bring to Middlebury those who wish not only to learn about themselves and their own traditions, but also to see beyond the bounds of class, culture, region, or nation. Indeed, the central purpose of a Middlebury education is precisely to transcend oneself and one's own concerns. This transcendence may come for some through the study of other cultures; for some through the study of the environment; for others it will come through inquiry into such fields as physics or philosophy, mathematics or music.
Strategy
Middlebury College has set a goal of carbon neutrality by 2016. It's annual emissions of greenhouse gases are about 30,000 metric tonnes. The implementation strategy adopted by the College relies on a switch of the fuels it uses for heating, cooling and cooking from fossil based to renewables. Toward that end, the College recently built a $12 million biomass gasification system which uses wood chips from nearby forests and mills. This has cut Middlebury College's carbon footprint by 40 per cent, or 12,500 metric tonnes, cut fuel costs by $750,000/yr. and has put $800,000 new money into the local economy. The strategy also calls for campaigns to affect energy conservation behavior, energy efficiency improvements in building performance, and finding ways to increase carbon sequestration on college farm and forest lands.
[ Back to Top ]
Photo Gallery