Sustainable Smith

In 1886, Florence Merriam Bailey, a student concerned about the plight of birds, started the Smith College Audubon Society and began weaving the fabric of sustainability at Smith that can now be found across all aspects of the college—in academics, operations, research and student life. Smith prepares women through active learning and societal engagement to foster and lead sustainable, just communities and to make significant and lasting contributions to address the critical issues of the times. Like Florence, students are frequently at the heart of sustainability issues on campus. You’ll find their stories throughout these pages.

Explore Sustainability at Smith

Academics

Students engaged in sustainability coursework

Get Involved

Action and Impact

Students taking action in sustainability

For Faculty

Center for the Environment (CEEDS)

Center for the Environment, Ecological Design & Sustainability, Smith College

MacLeish Field Station

It’s Easy Being Green

Judy Cardell

Professor of Engineering

Cardell is a specialist in the analysis and design of electric power systems and energy markets, which means her work is multi-faceted, involving economics and policy as well as engineering.

Cardell is particularly interested in wind power, calling it “much more interesting, with more uncertainty” than solar power. She spent many years consulting with colleagues at Cornell about integrating wind power into the power grid. One of the challenges in relying more on renewable sources of energy is that they’re more variable than a power plant usually is. When there’s no wind, there’s no wind power. Cardell and her colleagues assessed when it made sense economically to add wind into the grid and how much.

Carbon Neutral by 2030

We are committed to acting against climate change and achieving carbon neutrality by 2030. Carbon neutrality means achieving net zero carbon emissions by sequestering or offsetting the equivalent amount of carbon or greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as we release. Since the early 2000’s we have been reducing our energy consumption (demand) and cleaning up our energy supply with renewable generation sources.

Learn More About Our Commitment to Carbon Neutrality