From Monday, April 21 through Saturday, April 26, Carleton celebrated Climate Action Week 2025. The week featured a variety of activities and events both on campus and in the city of Northfield to provide students with opportunities to engage in and learn about sustainability initiatives in the community.
Events include a Monday trip to Open Hands Farm to learn about sustainable agriculture, a Tuesday meeting with Northfield Mayor Erica Zweifel to hear about Northfield’s Climate Action Plan and other initiatives and a Saturday visit to Northfield Earth Day at Armory Square, which will feature the work of Carleton’s community science team that monitors water quality in the Cannon River.
Demetrius Blackmon-Jimenez ’24, a sustainability education associate, highlighted the importance of events such as Tuesday’s panel on zero waste, which featured panelists including Carleton’s Custodial Supervisor Rob Nechanicky, Grace Brosnan of Curbside Compost and a representative from Carleton’s Food Recovery Network. “At Carleton, we don’t think about waste at all,” said Blackmon-Jimenez. “It’s an aspect of sustainability that needs a little work from the student body.” The event included time for participants to work in small groups to consider efforts in the Carleton and Northfield communities that could help to advance zero waste initiatives.
Other events included Monday’s “Find a Job in Climate,” hosted by College to Climate through the Career Center. The workshop covered seven key ideas shaping climate careers, discussed the wide variety of jobs in the industry, and offered insights and education in pursuing this line of work. On Tuesday, the department of environmental studies also hosted their Comps symposium which featured five 25-minute presentations on topics such as sustainability in higher education and beavers in Minnesota’s North Shore.
On Friday, Carls A Drag (CAD) and the Sustainability Office will collaborate to host a Refashion show. Farren Groom ’27 explains that the event is intended to reframe the “don’t buy fast fashion” rhetoric into something that feels fun, creative and exciting. Many CAD members were planning to walk in the show and after CAD decided to move their show to spring term, it made sense to combine the two. Groom said that in future years, the Gender and Sexuality Center hopes to assist with this program.
On Thursday afternoon, Manager of Campus Energy Rob Hanson and Student Sustainability Associates hosted a campus green energy tour, discussing the variety of renewable energy sources that fuel Carleton’s campus.
Hanson explained that Carleton has two industrial-grade wind turbines along with solar panels on Lilac Hill Houses, James Hall and Cassat Hall, as well as geothermal bores under the Bald Spot, Mini Bald Spot and Bell Field. The first of the turbines was installed in 2004 and marked Carleton’s first serious investment in renewable energy. The turbine continues to function 21 years later, and its energy is currently sold to the local electric grid. Work is underway to determine the feasibility of shifting its energy to go directly to campus. Energy from the second turbine is connected directly to campus and accounts for about 20% of Carleton’s electricity use.
The bores were installed throughout 2017 and 2018 and marked an additional commitment to the future of Carleton’s campus as a sustainable environment. “Since [the geothermal bores] were installed, you wouldn’t really know we have it,” said Hanson. “You can’t see it like a wind turbine, it’s all underground, but it was a huge investment, a huge project, and if Carleton had decided it was too expensive we never would have changed.”
He said that Carleton’s early adoption of this kind of program puts them ahead of peer institutions that are only beginning to initiate these sorts of projects. Hanson explained that the geothermal bores are similar to thermal geysers, but instead of magma heating the water to high temperatures, the ground brings the water to around 55 degrees Fahrenheit. The water runs through long pipes dug deep under these fields; as its temperature rises, heat pumps consolidate the heat to bring some of the water to a high temperature, and some to a cold temperature. Depending on the season, the water is then used to heat or cool campus buildings. Since the installation of these bores, Carleton’s reliance on natural gas has decreased by nearly two-thirds.
Blackmon-Jimenez emphasizes that students need to be willing to engage with these programs and think about sustainability on campus. “A lot of work goes into these events and a lot of students could get a lot out of them if they gave them a chance,” he said.
He also highlighted the way that Climate Action Week and Earth Day can overshadow the necessity of year-round work on topics like green energy and waste reduction, a sentiment that others also emphasized. “I think we’re often desensitized to just how critical of a state our planet is in,” said Groom.
Both Blackmon-Jimenez and Groom said they want students to remember that their actions and choices can have an impact, for better or worse; and above all, their engagement on topics around sustainability and climate change matter.