Chapter Directory > College of Menominee Nation
"CMN SEEDS" » Keshena, Wisconsin
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Coming from a land-based culture and having a very intimate knowledge of the forest and environmental fabric of life, students at the College of Menominee Nation are very knowledgeable and interested in environmental issues. The Chapter's purpose is to establish a student-controlled and run campus organization that allows students to address the environmental and social issues that are important to them and the local community. A second purpose is to provide students with experiential learning opportunities outside of the classroom to diverse geographical locations. |
Plans for 2007-2008
- We will continue to sell our fair trade, organic, shade-grown and bird friendly coffee. Our college is in the midst of building a new campus library. Within those plans the college has designated a permanent space for CMN SEEDS to set up their coffee cart. This will give us great exposure and more permanency on campus.
- Just Coffee (the organization we buy our coffee from in Madison, WI.) wants to organize a delegation from Madison to come visit the Menominee Indian Reservation and take a tour of the world famous Menominee forest. They are planning on making the visit in the summer.
- CMN SEEDS would like to plan another trip to Chiapas next year to continue our relationship with the coffee cooperatives there.
2006-2007 Activities
- CMN SEEDS had a very successful academic year. We once again concentrated our efforts on selling coffee from two indigenous cooperatives in the state of Chiapas, Mexico. These cooperatives are dedicated to growing organic, shade-grown, bird friendly, fair trade coffee. We set up our coffee cart in the school atrium, Student Commons, community events and regional pow-wows. The profit from the coffee went to support the communities of Maya Vinic and Yachil in Chiapas as well as help sustain and raise funds for our SEEDS chapter. Most people on our campus now know about this type of coffee and how it is much more environmentally friendly than standard coffee brands. We also hosted a screening of the movie “Black Gold” which is a powerful movie about the relationship between coffee, the global economy and the environment.
Part of the profits of our coffee sales was used to finance a trip of 7 SEEDS students and their advisor for a week long trip to Chiapas, Mexico to visit the communities we support. This was an extremely powerful experience for the students and opened their eyes to the linkages between consumer behavior, environmental degradation, poverty, human rights and global economics. The trip was organized by Just Coffee in Madison. They were delighted to lead our group because they said it was the first time they ever had the chance to connect indigenous people from Central America with those in North America. All the students expressed their amazement at the parallels that exist between their respective histories. This was an experience that all involved felt that we should do on an annual basis if the necessary funds are available.
"Faculty/Student Trip to Attend the Greening of the Campus Conference" |
This project supported four persons to attend the "Greening of the Campus VI" conference in Muncie, Indiana in September 2005. It is a unique conference that allows college and universities the chance to serve as exemplars of best practices in the management of their own use of resources in the communities of which they are a part. We attended and learned from the conference, and also presented a paper, "The Influence of Environmental Ethics on the Institutional Development of a Tribal College." |
"Faculty Development in GPS and GIS" |
Dr. Bill Van Lopik, Chapter Advisor, attended two trainings in 2004 to learn how to use new GPS/GIS software. The result of this training is that students will be taught to use the new software during their Introduction to Geographic Information Systems course that is taught each spring semester. |
Faculty Advisor
William Van Lopik, PhD
Professor
Sustainable Development Institute
College of Menominee Nation
PO BOx 1179
Keshena, WI 54135
