Unique program houses environmental research

By Fritz Klug

News Editor
Between 274 acres of natural preserve and 137 acres of a business park sits a white, 19th century Italianate house.

A greenhouse and organic garden are in the backyard. In the front yard is a silver and gold sign that all buildings at Western Michigan University have to identify them.

The sign identifies the  Gibbs House for Environmental Research and Education which received the sign few months ago.

“It’s recycled, too,” house coordinator Remy Long said.

Long has lived in the house for the past two years.

The sign gives recognition to one of the university’s most unique — and overlooked — research programs.

Students apply in February to live in the house the following fall and conduct research for projects that relate to the environment and how people can make better use of natural recourses.

“Our main focus is increasing the sustainability of the home and surrounding area,” Long said. “During the day, you go to class, but when you come home, you work on the things that we study.”

That includes comparing composting systems, energy conservation, and living an overall sustainable lifestyle.

Each fellow has a faculty advisor who guides him/her with their research, with whom they are also enrolled for a three-credit, year-long independent study.

Long said it is important for potential research fellows to think about the feasibility of the project, in terms of funding and time.

Long said it also helps to meet with him and discuss ideas for potential projects.

But the house is not just for environmental studies majors.

Any student who wants to work on a project that is related to the environment can live in the house.

One fellow in the past retrofitted and refurbished the living room to fit the historical period when the house was built.

A business major, Long said, could do a public relations project for the house. One of the current fellows, Andrew Weissenborn, is doing a poetry and photography project.

“There is room for creativity,” Long said.

The house currently has six fellows, but Long said the best balance is one coordinator and four fellows.

They are chosen by Long and the advisory board, which includes environmental studies professors Charles Ide, Ph.D., Harold Glasser, Ph.D., Steven Kohler, Ph.D., and Cari DeLong, natural areas and preserves coordinator.

The house is run through the Environmental Institute, of which Ide is the director.

Ide has been involved with the house since it’s conception in 2003, and has been the main advisor for the past three years.

“The whole idea putting it together was to create a really positive place and make environmental education and research the theme of daily life,” Ide said.

He added that he has seen students who have lived in the house mature and move onto bigger and better things because of it.

“It helps students see through the ethereal cloud,” he said.

Last August, Roxanne Sortzi moved into the house to research the chemicals in the invasive plant garlic mustard that seep into the soil.

“It’s nice because it gets me outdoors and I have an excuse to do work,” Sortzi said.

For the last three years Sortzi lived in the Knollwood/Lafayette area west of campus.

“It’s a party area, you’re not really able to be productive,” she said.

Not being an environmental studies major, Sortzi said she has learned ways to live more sustainably and also what it is like to live in a community of different people.

The distance from campus shouldn’t be an issue for potential fellows, Long said.

“It’s a three minute walk to the Parkview [campus] and the bus [at] the college of engineering, the metro bus goes by, and across the street from 274 acres of true bliss.”

The program is continuing to undergo changes. Next year, fellows will begin to pay a $1,000 binding investment into the house.

The money will be put into a Gibbs House account and be used for improvements in the house or for research if a fellow is unable to secure outside funding for a project.

“It shows that [the fellows] are dedicated,” Long said. “They are investing in the success of the program.”

While the fellows live in the house, Long said that it’s essentially a community house, available for anyone to come and use, whether it be for a group meeting or just to hang out.

The house also has 15 plots available for people to rent and work for the summer. It has an automatic rainwater cistern.

“We want it to be a hub of community environmentalism,” Long said.

Applications are due by Feb. 19. More information can be obtained from Long directly, by his e-mail, remy.t.long@wmich.edu, or by visiting the Gibbs House Web site at http://tr.im/N7Bp.

Short URL: http://www.westernherald.com/?p=14612

Posted by HeraldAdmin on Feb 7 2010. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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