Connecticut College Magazine, September/October 1992
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Connecticut College Digital Commons @ Connecticut College Linda Lear Center for Special Collections & Alumni News Archives 9-1992 Connecticut College Magazine, September/October 1992 Connecticut College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.conncoll.edu/alumnews Recommended Citation Connecticut College, "Connecticut College Magazine, September/October 1992" (1992). Alumni News. 344. https://digitalcommons.conncoll.edu/alumnews/344 This Magazine is brought to you for free and open access by the Linda Lear Center for Special Collections & Archives at Digital Commons @ Connecticut College. It has been accepted for inclusion in Alumni News by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Connecticut College. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The views expressed in this paper are solely those of the author. l J,;1/11111c 2 I .\'11111bcr 2 Scprc111bcr I Oaolwr 1992 Human to human and human to environment relationships: Challenges for the 21st century Convocation address to the Co1111ecticut College community, Palmer Auditorium, eptember 3, 1992 am a member of a fragile pecie till new to the earth the younge t creature of any cale, here only a few moments as "I evolutionary time is measured. We are only tentatively et in place, error-prone, at ri k of fumbling, in real danger at the moment of leaving behind only a thin layer of our fo ils, radioac tive at that." These words are from Lewis Thomas's mo t recent book, 11,e Fragile pedes. For the la t four decade , a an ecologi t and environ mentali t, I have been ob erving the impacts of thi "fragile pecie " on the world environment, and now I wish to hare with you a few of the challenge which I feel you hould think about eriou ly. You tand at the thre hold of life. What you do personally matters. Professor Nlerlng will be trading his customaryseat at area tidal You hould approach every day a if the fate of the world depends marshesfor a seat In the president's office this semester while upon you. ince you and I are pan of the problem, we are obvi- college President Gaudlanl Is on study leave. ou ly important in finding the olution . As Dr. Thomas tate , we are till learning and tiU fumbling, and yet we have been amazingly ucce ful at increasing our numbers. With your every heart beat three more human are added to the world' population. By tomorrow at thi time there will be over 250,0 0 more of us, mo t from the le developed countrie . However, the minority from countrie ljke ours will conswne O percent of the world' re ource and produce mo t of the environmental degradation. In 50 years, within your lifetime, it i predicted that the human family will double to 11 billion. Our challenge i to not let this predic tion become a reality ince the earth' carrying capacity has already been reached in the opiruon of many ecologi ts. hould our future goal be quantity or quality of life? What do you think? That leads u to our next challenge - to realize that we are ju t one pecie , part of a much larger diverse family of life compri ing ome 1.5 million pecie that have ju t a much right to continue to live as we do. In fact, we are the only pecies capable of insuring the continued urvival of the 40- 0 million life forms that have not even been di covered or identified. How do we know which one may be critical to our very urvival or, as in Ray Bradbury' great hort tory will the death of one butterfly alter the course of hi tory? From the human perspective, what if the pink periwinkle, a little flower from Madagascar, had become extinct? It might have meant no treatment for leukemia and Hodgkjn' disea e. Thousands of pecies, both plant and animal, may be of direct benefit to humankjnd. And this diversity concept can be ell.'tended to cultural diversity at the human eco y tern level a we trive to increa e it at onnecticut CoUege within our tudent body and faculty. Each of us must realize that he or he i part of a complex living y tern that , ould continue to function quite beautifuUy without us and that our third chaJJenge i therefore to work to, ard a sustainable earth ociety that mimic the natural y terns aJJ around u . A society that will persist after each of u i gone. That is why over the past two decade , many of us have been triving to create an Environmental Model here at onnecticut oUege where each of us can examine hi or her lifestyle and make the nece sary adjustments that are compatible with the environment and one another. Your years at onnecticut oUege will be among your mo t preciou in tem1S of feUow tudent and faculty interaction. We will trive to give you the ba ic tools to deal with the e challenge - synthe i of idea and information re pect for dif ferent viewpoints, creative thinkjng, and an ability to look holi tically at problems. Regardle of your major or your future vocation - doctor, teacher, home manager, ocial worker, ani t -you are part of the earth fanilly. Connecticut CoUege i a microco m where human to human relationshjp a weU as human to environment relationship can be tested o that they can be translated into the larger world. You mu t not just live 011 the earth, you must live with the earth. Will you leave it a little better than you found it? Remember the words of John Donne, po sibly one of the first, although unrecognized, ecolo gi : " o man is an Iland, intire of it elfe ... " We are all in this world game together -no one can e cape the re pon ibility and, although the future challenge confronting u may eem overwhelming and ometime even di couraging, over the years I have tried to remain a tempered optimi t and have taken great comfort from the, ords of Rene Dubos, "Trend i not de tiny." - William A. iering, Katharine Blunt Profe or of Botany and Acting Pre ident of the oUege ConnecticutCollegeMagazine Vo/11111e 2 I 11111ber 2 (:on tents September/October 1992 Co-Editors: Lisa Brownell and Charle B. LuceJr. Assistant Editor/Class Notes: Mary Farrar 2 In the Mail Contributing Writers: 4 Perception/ An pdate Joseph P. ilve tri, Lee White, Marcy DubrofT 6 Campus View Assistant: Liz Gallagher Books Features Design: 12 Ted Bertz Graphic De ign 14 Verbatim/ Marion E. Doro Dawn Drosko ki. De igner Photography: Paul Horton 16 Note from the Field Editorial Board Blanche Mc rary Boyd teven A. ulbertson OUR TOWN: Two views of the college' host city - one past, one present Warren Erickson '7-1 laire L. Gaudiani '66 New London Sleigh Ride by Milton Moore Amy Gross'63 New London's pro perou whaling era did not break a 2 -year-long Leslie Margolin ·77 economic cycle of boom and bu t, but it did yield up a few great citizens Kristi Vaughan '75 • fa Offirio: whose public works endure. Lisa Browncl.1 harles B. LuceJr. Citizen Conn by Ellen Liber1na11 Director of College Relations The college works to shake its community image of a genteel outsider. hri topher T. ory Executive Dlrec1or, Alumni Association Kristin tahlschmidt Lambert'69 '77 Alumni Association Executive Board The Challenge to Engage by A1111 R11111age Luce President: Le lie A. Margolin '77; With each graduating clas , the college Alumni Association grow - and Vice President: Virginia Bergquist o do the services it offer . Landry '70; ecretary/Trea urer: Daniel Hirs hhom '79; Alumni Trustees: Kevon opeland '76, Warren Erickson '7-1 and Elizabeth Mclane McKinney '52; Director : Riding the Internet by Gregg TeHe1111epe Louise tevenson Andersen'41 Cowabunga, dude! For ome, "Keyboard urfing" is the hip way to pend ( ominating), amuel Bottum ' 9 (Undergraduate/Young Alumni), aturday night. Mamy Morri Krause '66 (AAGP), Catherine YoungJames '75 (Minority Affairs), Eric Kaplan' 5 38 Portfolio: Consagras in ontext (Admi ions). Jane ilverstein Root '60 (Syke ociery), Barbara 41 trother' 7 ( lub ). fa Offirio: Bridget M. Bernard, Director of 46 pecial Program ; Lisa Brownell, Director of Alumni Publications: 57/67 Peer Martha lampitt Merrill '84, Director of las es/Reunions: Andrew . harp' 9, Director of lub /Educational Program ; Kri tin tahlschmidt Lambert '69, Executive Director On the cover: "View of New London from FortTrumbull," 1854, Frederick L. Allen, Lyman Allyn Art Museum, New London, Conn. Gift of the Nameaug Fire Company. Reproduced by permission. Photo by Paul Horton. Story on page 18. IN THE MA I l ConnecticutCollegeMagazine Alumni OHice Staff Bridget M. Bernard, Director/Special Programs; Anne A. Chappell, Aclmini trative Assistant to Director/Clubs/Educational Programs; Martha lampitt MerriU '84, Director/ Alumni Programs; Andrew . harp '89, Director/ lubs/Educational Programs; arol Geluso, Administrative The new environmentalism or ye aide allowing each of35,000 U. chemical, Assistant to Director/ Alumni Programs; environmentality? pharmaceutical and other plants to Lori Ann Craska, Administrative Assistant I admire the re ilience of EPA increase their emissions of toxic to Executive Director. Director William ReiUy ["Verbatim" poUucants. JuJy/ August] to tand before both the uch i Mr. Reilly' effectivenes ConnecticutcollegeMagaziue is a joint onnecricut CoUege community at within the administration as"zealous publication of the onnecticut College Alumni Association and onnecticur commencement and the international regulatory reformer." College. The mis ion of the magazine i to community in Rio De Janero at the While Mr. Reilly mentions the maintain tie between the college, its United Nation Conference on administration's commitment to"com alumni and all other constituents, and to Environment and Development munity-right-to-know" laws, these big report on i uesof importance to these (UN ED) as a repre entative of an poUuters are able to increase their groups.