The Welcome Wagon

Our 2022 Environmental Leadership Academy at Dartmouth is off to a strong start! On move in day it was all hands on deck. Students and their luggage got settled with the help of facilitators, their families, and our trusty red wagon.

Soon, it was time to get down to business. Inspired by current market solutions and research into an early stage venture, our young entrepreneurs demonstrated their creativity by crafting their own sustainable product and initiative proposals. Highlights include a banana peel-based green concrete, biodegradable and carbon neutral makeup brushes, and kelp forest carbon sequestration.

Your average camper may not consider cap and trade a laugh riot, but we’re a unique bunch here at Sustainable Summer. With poker chips representing emissions permissions and a fist full of paper money the students hit the open market. One team suffered a quick irrecoverable loss but the players were generously “employed” by one of their competitors as unemployed interns tasked with rolling the dice.

With shared passions and infectious drive, friendships are fast forming. We’ve laughed our way through name games, hit the tennis courts, unanimously declared pellet ice the best ice, and…..Jeff broke out his David Attenborough impression. If you need us, we’ll be canoeing the Connecticut River. Catch you next week!

Until then, here are several other photos from the first three days!