Lindsey K. Larson
Dartmouth College
Class of 2007

"What drives me to do what I do? There is an infinite variety of professions to select from during one’s short existence. I feel that if I’m going to dedicate myself to leaving a legacy of good work, being in an environmental field would be the best use of my life.”

“Being environmental does not necessarily warrant an abandonment of all luxuries in exchange for a shack in the woods. Rather, I would suggest that one merely needs to be aware of how actions, primarily consumption of resources, reverberate with the remainder of the global ecosystem.”

“I mean, who really needs television when you could go outside and observe the hum of a vibrant insect community or even the growth of a seed!”

Lindsey Larson works on Dartmouth College’s Organic Farm

Growing up in Topsfield, MA, a North Shore town that has retained its rural charm for more than three centuries, Lindsey Larson gravitated toward 4-H Club. During high school, she won many awards at the famous Topsfield Fair for her heirloom chickens and turkeys, eggs, flowers and vegetable canning.

“More than anyone, my mother, who is a horticulturalist, fostered a love of nature within me. And certainly, the hours I spent playing in the woods didn’t hurt, either!” she recalls. Raising poultry—owning and caring for 40 birds representing 20 different heritage and rare breeds—instilled in her a lifetime commitment to natural biodiversity.

Lindsey was also a standout student at Masconomet Regional High School, where she became its first Henry David Thoreau Scholar. Harvard College accepted her through its Early Action process. But when it became time to decide, Lindsey opted for Dartmouth. Instead of moving to urban Cambridge, she preferred to stay close to the outdoor world, amid the mountains, forests and lakes of New Hampshire and Vermont, which Dartmouth made more possible.

Now an Environmental Studies major in her junior year, Lindsey takes classes ranging from statistics to geopolitics in Southeast Asia. She may begin her thesis research during winter term at the University of Cambridge in England. “They have a few professors who are members of Bioecon, a group looking at the economic influences on biodiversity and conservation.” In the spring, she will return to Dartmouth, “because it’s such a lovely time of year there, and I would like to take some economic land and natural resource use classes.”

As an interesting aside, Lindsey’s major extracurricular activity is the Dartmouth Symphony Orchestra, where she plays the flute. Earlier this year, she and her fellow musicians performed in a concert that included Mozart’s Overture to La Clemenza di Tito, Saint-Saëns’ Violin Concerto No. 3 in B minor, Op. 61, and Kodály’s Hary Janos Suite.

While her future career plans are still developing, she is considering attending graduate school in England or South Africa. After that, “I would like to spend some extensive amounts of time on grassroots work, actually living in rural, indigenous communities. This may transition into working for an international NGO (non-government organization) of some form. My dream is to spend a little bit of time on every continent, including Antarctica” she concludes.

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