Most people measure the distance between countries in miles or kilometers. Carolyn Szum '01 measures it in degrees of environmental peril.

When she recently traveled to Shanghai, China, the smog-choked skyscrapers of the metropolis were a far cry from the crystalline vistas of Mayflower Hill.

"At Colby, and living in New Hampshire, it's pristine," she said. "It's gorgeous. The air is not filthy. Then being in Shanghai, it was like, "Wow. This is a big deal.' The sky is always gray, and it's hard to see the sun."

The Amherst, N.H., native was in Shanghai as part of an effort to prevent an already bad air pollution problem from getting even worse.

Szum's employer, the environmental consulting firm ICF Consulting, based in Fairfax, Va., sent her to Shanghai last January as part of a four-person team charged with informing property owners and business heads about energy-saving and eco-friendly building management methods. Her efforts were part of the Environmental Protection Agency-funded program eeBuildings (Energy Efficient Buildings), whose mission is to protect the global atmosphere by giving developing countries tools to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

"It's a very simple yet effective thing that we're doing," Szum said. "If Shanghai commercial buildings saved ten percent of energy, it would be equivalent to taking about thirty-seven thousand cars off the road each year."

As a research assistant, Szum was in charge of making sure everything went smoothly as her group made PowerPoint presentations on useful energy-saving methods. A translator simultaneously conveyed that information in Chinese. Rather than hyping flashy new technology, the eeBuildings team's suggestions included ideas as simple as heating and cooling systems that stop and start at preset times and motion-activated lights that turn off when you leave the room.

Szum said she and her co-workers received overwhelmingly positive feedback; at no point did she feel her suggestions were unsolicited advice. For example, the vice chairman of the Association of Shanghai Property Managers said in a closing statement to eeBuildings staff and 60 Association members that he'd just been told by the municipal government that the city was facing an energy shortage of 800,000 kilowatt hours. It was time, he told his members, to take action to reduce energy consumption.

Szum would rather talk about environmental problems than personal triumphs. But according to co-workers, she was most junior ICF employee sent to China (by more than 10 years), selected from a horde of young staffers who were eager to be sent abroad. And she was assigned to the trip after being at ICF for only about a year. "It was much sooner than I ever expected," she said. "I think an academic background in international studies helped. [The project] is like the definition of a liberal arts education. . . . The more open you can be and the more perspectives you can bring to your work, the better you can be."

She credits two Colby courses formative in paving the road for her auspicious start in environmental consulting: Beth DeSombre's international environmental law course and Tom Tietenburg's course on environmental economics. Szum learned in the course of her studies at Colby that the environment is an issue that knows no borders. As such, it is the ultimate starting point for cooperation between countries. "We share one atmosphere, we share oceans," she said. "That necessitates, on every level, cooperation in order to preserve these resources."

Szum's work at Colby, combined with her efforts with ICF, have solidified a powerful ideology for this young professional that extends beyond the environment. Her main concern, she said, is that "people on the fifth floor talk to people on the fourth floor."

"It begins with a small handshake--you know, sharing a little bit of expertise. Then the relationship grows from there."

--Braxton Williams 99