How chemicals impact the environment has been a topic that has fascinated Dave Galvin ('75) since his undergraduate days at Colby, where he double-majored in Biology and Environmental Studies [note: ES was available as a stand-alone major back then]. He spent a Watson Fellowship year based at the British Museum studying the use of plants and animals as indicators of pollution. After that he settled in Seattle, where he works now as manager of the largest local program in the United States that focuses on "small-quantity" hazardous wastes -- those generated by small businesses and by households through use of consumer products. Dave coined the term "household hazardous waste" in 1980, and has been a national leader on the safe management of hazardous chemicals from homes and small businesses ever since. He has negotiated reformulations of products with major manufacturers in order to reduce or eliminate hazardous chemical ingredients, and has been an advocate for products and programs that reduce hazardous chemical exposures as well as releases into the environment. One recent project involves the sweep-out of dangerous, unstable old chemicals from school science labs in the Seattle area. Pesticide reduction is another major focus of his work.

"Colby gave me a great grounding in the sciences as well as abilities to look broadly across complex issues, learn new subjects easily and synthesize information. Access to faculty was superb, where back-and-forth learning occurred. I was challenged, supported and encouraged -- no global problem was too big or daunting to consider taking on."

Dave was the founding president of the North American Hazardous Materials Management Association. He lives with he wife MarySue (also Colby '75) and two kids on a houseboat in Seattle and commutes to work by kayak -- you might have seen him in the public television special called "Affluenza."

For more information about Dave's program, visit his website at http://www.metrokc.gov/hazwaste/.

Karyl Brewster-Geisz graduated in 1993 with a love for environmental science but without a clear sense of what to do next. After working as both a field chemist and a research assistant at the IES, she got her Masters in Fisheries Science. In 1995, she began working as a contractor for the National Marine Fisheries Service. Karyl is now a fishery management specialist in a unique division within the NOAA Fisheries - The Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Management Division.

Now a full-time employee, Karyl leads the the team that writes the regulations for the sharks and commercial swordfish (i.e. the fishery highlighted in The Perfect Storm). Due to the migratory nature of these fish, Karyl must consider state, national, and international boundary concerns when writing regulations, as well as the social and economic impact of management measures. Karyl now fully understands that fishing is one of the toughest, most stressful jobs out there. She works to keep fisheries sustainable while ensuring fishermen the ability to survive.

Tim Glidden ('74) currently directs the Land for Maine's Future Program which funds land conservation projects throughout Maine. Over the past 15 years, LMF has supported the protection of over 130,000 acres of Maine's best! Tim has had the good fortune recently to be part of successful efforts to acquire a spectacular 50 mile lake and river corridor along Spednic Lake and the St. Croix River in Washington County. The program has also been able to protect the largest remaining block of forest land south of Sebago Lake through an 8600 acre "working forest" easement. This easement protects recreation opportunities and several important threatened and endangered species while walso stabilizing the forested land base that is important to local forest-based businesses.

Tim works with a very small staff and has had the pleasure of working with dedicated conservationists in many other state agencies and local land trusts all over Maine. Says Tim, "It's been incrediably rewarding to be able to have such a tangible impact on Maine's future. This is truly work that requires thinking from the long-term prespective of the "seventh generation" on the best Iroquois tradidiont."

For Tim, his time at Colby "laid a wonderful foundation for my current work from philosophizing with Dr. Gustave Todrank to botanizing with Dr. Tom Gilbert to just roaming the Maine countryside.

Learn more about the State of Maine's Remediation and Waste Management programs at the DEP.