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About Brown Environmental Leadership Lab (BELL)

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What is BELL?

  • Are you overwhelmed by the environmental challenges facing the world?
  • Are you interested in understanding how biology, geology, chemistry and environmental policy intersect?
  • Are you passionate about protecting the environment, and do you want the scientific knowledge and leadership skills needed to take action?
  • Do you learn best by getting your hands dirty?

BELL is a unique outdoor learning laboratory designed to help students continue their growth as active and effective environmental leaders.  BELL is part of the Leadership Institute, a program with a mission to promote students’ development in three areas: knowledge, skills and attitudes.

Knowledge

  • Program content draws from a variety of academic disciplines including biology, chemistry, geology, physics and engineering, economics and leadership theory.  Equal emphasis is placed on the environmental and leadership components of the class.
  • Each BELL program explores several environmental issues in some depth.  The focal issues of the program change year to year in order to remain current.  The background material covered is selected for its relevance to these specific issues.  Past topics/projects include: impacts of aquaculture on the Bay, the economics of wind power, solar shower design and construction, eutrophication and fish kills in Narragansett Bay and large-scale energy issues in the Northeast.

Skills

  • The program develops leadership and science process skills through activities, workshops, field trips, and a day on a ropes course. 
  • Leadership skills include: public speaking, problem-solving, effective communication, and working with groups.
  • Science process skills include: observation, inference, experimental design, and data analysis.

Attitudes 

  • At BELL we make a conscious effort to live in a way that reflects what we teach.  We consider our inputs and outputs, such as energy consumption, water use, waste generation/disposal, food consumption.
  • Students learn and practice steps they can take to make a positive difference in their home communities.  We see BELL as a 24-hour laboratory for sustainable living. 
  • Students spend the majority of their time outdoors, where they kayak, explore, reflect and play.  These experiences afford students a unique opportunity to develop a personal connection to the environment that they are studying.
  • Students are introduced to local activists who are making a difference by taking action in their communities. 
  • BELL students form their own support/research network of young people who are motivated and working to create change.

Life at BELL

  • Students live on the 372 acre Haffenreffer Estate in Bristol, RI.  Haffenreffer contains both forest and coastline habitat and is an active research site for scientists from the biology, environmental science and anthropology departments. 
  • The Haffenreffer Estate is located 15 miles south of Brown's campus on the cobble beaches of Narragansett Bay.  A 147-square-mile estuary with 256 miles of shoreline, Narragansett Bay is of national significance as a spawning ground, nursery and habitat for hundreds of species, including the Kemp's ridley sea turtle, a federally-endangered species of sea turtles.
  • Narragansett Bay and the Haffenreffer Estate provide an ideal setting for learning about human impacts on the environment.  The Bay is one of the most biologically diverse and productive ecosystems on earth; its watershed, that is, the larger area of land that drains into the Bay, has one of the highest densities of human population in the country.  The region is extremely vulnerable to human impact, and is an excellent place to learn about the challenges of protecting the environment while trying to meet many different human needs.
  • Students sleep in bunk beds in large tents on wooden platforms overlooking the water.  They have access at all hours to a multi-purpose building with showers, bathrooms, a kitchen and dining room, a living room area, and an indoor classroom.  The grounds include volleyball and bocce courts as well as open fields for frisbee, soccer, whiffle ball and other recreational activities.
  • Each day is slightly different, but the basic schedule begins at 8 in the morning, ends at 10 in the evening, and includes field research, educational sessions on the environment and leadership, and time for team-building, recreation and reflection.
     
  • Students leave the property several times for field trips, including a visit to Brown's campus in Providence, RI.

Who are BELL students?

BELL students are interested in the environment, adventurous, and want to take active leadership roles as they challenge themselves both physically and intellectually. They are often interested in environmental science and policy, biology, chemistry or geology. We look for students with a diversity of experiences, emotional maturity and a track record of interest in collaborative activities.

Sustainable Development and Field Ecology
BELL has two courses.  While each has a distinct focus, both courses help students develop the leadership skills they need to tackle pressing environmental problems in their home communities. 

Brown University/Office of Summer & Continuing Studies 42 Charlesfield St., Providence, RI Summer@Brown.edu