Washington College Magazine
Chiarappa on the Chesapeake
We invited Michael Chiarappa, the new director of the Center for the Environment and Society, to share his thoughts on the College's leadership role in the region.
How is Washington College positioned to play a stewardship role in the health of the Bay?
Michael Chiarappa's research focuses on maritime communities.
The Chesapeake Bay and the region defined by the Chesapeake Estuary are at the center of the modern environmental movement. There are few geographic areas that have been so fully infused with environmentalism's highly charged goals and sentiment. Washington College is inseparable from this legacy and, much to its credit, has established itself as a leader in using the Chesapeake Estuary as a means to address environmental issues. Our location, at a liberal arts college within the vitally important ecological context of Maryland's Eastern Shore, is ideal for an educational venture that aims to synthesize environmental consciousness into the experience, discourse and deliberation of everyday life.
The Chesapeake Bay is still in trouble—how can Washington College make a difference?
Given what has transpired in the past 25 years, we haven't made the progress we had hoped. That's reason enough for us to accelerate and move more boldly forward in figuring out a method of stewardship that will help keep the Bay healthy from the perspective of all users. I propose that we teach students the principles of ecology—of living relationships—in a way that's holistic, to bring an ecological dimension to the way they are being trained. The problems of the Bay are inextricably woven into culture, science, history and economics of the region—we should examine all those topics jointly. To help our students understand the ecological complexity of the region, we should give them an ecological mindset.
How do you imagine the CES will evolve under your direction?
My vision is two-pronged, encompassing community outreach and educational components. I would like the Center to do more projects that specifically examine maritime/ estuarine communities. We could work with a variety of stakeholders concerned with managing maritime venues and then involve our students in studying the ecology, the culture and history of the Chesapeake, the environmental planning issues. Here's what I'm thinking: wouldn't it be great to have a Chesapeake Semester? There's no substitute for the type of immersion that would take place when students focus for 15 weeks on issues relating to the Bay. To comprehend these issues requires such a holistic approach—one that policymakers should also use. It's also an exportable model that can be applied to other watersheds. It amounts to taking the strengths and beauty and problematic legacy of the Chesapeake Bay and translating them into an educational program that hopefully leads to a brighter day and helps people understand the complex problems that bear on our regional culture.
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