Major corporations and businesses play a large role in society and culture. When we watch our favorite tv shows, we see ads that pop up now and again. People can often recall or describe mainstream fast food joint slogans and ads, or remember claims from soap ads, and they often buy from them.

Laura Romaniello / Art Director

However, when it comes to the ethics of where the materials of their products are coming from, it is often a topic of controversy. ConAgra foods is a perfect example.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, ConAgra foods, a major food distributor to supermarkets and restaurants, was sentenced for violating the Clean Water Act in 2006. This came after the company failed to report and document temperature readings of non-contact cooling water, which is used to cool air compressors. That liquid flowed from their facility into the Vermont River.

While there are many mainstream corporations with questionable business practices, there are some corporations that have made an effort to give back to their community and environment. In 2006, the same year ConAgra foods was convicted, a new type of corporation emerged: a benefit corporation, or b-corp.

Keene State College Environmental Studies Professor Dr. Thomas Webler said these corporations have a goal of maintaining and contributing to the public interest and even set a goal on what they want to positively impact.

So how do b-corps tie into environmental sustainability?

Webler says a lot of b-corps have the goal to be sustainable and have low impact on the earth. Many, he said, are small and family-owned.

“They tie in because sustainability is one key common interest that we all have. It’s in our common interest to live sustainably on this planet, and b-corporations can help us figure out how to do that,” Webler said.

Webler said not only do b-corps make an effort to give back to the community, they also make an effort to treat their workers fairly. Some b-corporations let their employees bring their children to work, sometimes even their dogs.

Often their workers get benefits as well.

Badger Balm, a company in Gilsum that was b-corp certified in 2011, is one of the corporations that allow their workers to bring their children.

Coordinator of Sustainability and Community Coordinator for Badger Balm Jessica Baum said the company facilitates a daycare program for the children of the employees. Even infants of employees can come with them to work and also gives mothers extended maternity leave that lasts between 6 weeks and 6 months. Badger Balm also does community service and donates 10 percent of their before-tax profits to non-profit organizations.

In order to become a b-corporation, the company must go through a process. To become certified, according to their website, they must first meet performance requirements.

The first thing they explore in that first step is to assess the impact the company would have on their stakeholders. After that, they must set up an assessment review and get a background check. Then the company must meet legal requirements.

Webler and Baum said this process takes a long time to go through. The minimum score that must be reached in the requirements to become a b-corp is 80. Badger Balm received a score of 141.

Baum said the company does an impact assessment every two years and does a waste assessment four times a year. The assessment, Baum said, found that only 5.4 percent of Badger’s waste goes into landfills while 94.6 percent is recycled or put into use. “We do all that because we want to make a difference in the world. That’s really our purpose here. We want to make a difference in the world and create a better healthier future for the people of the world and the planet itself,” Baum said.

Baum said she recently met with Keene State College Director of Sustainability Cary Gaunt and KSC Recycling Coordinator Matthew Bacon and talked about how they engage the community with their sustainable activities. They also compared ways Badger Balm and KSC manage waste.

Gaunt and Bacon came on one of the days the company was doing a waste assessment to observe how it’s accomplished. Baum said in the future, she hopes Badger Balm would partner with Keene State and purchase their renewable energy credits, which KSC produces.

Marketing Manager of the Monadnock Food Co-op Emerald Levick said the they sell products from 20 b-corporations. Some of the products that b-corporations offer are not always food-based.

Preserve, a b-corporation, sells razors, toothbrushes and other products that are made from recycled number five plastic, which can be recycled again and again. Even some of the soap, like Dr. Bronner’s, comes from b-corporations in the store.

Levick said she enjoys marketing those products. “I market the products and I feel good marketing those products because I know they are doing something better for the earth than alternatives,” Levick said.

In the end, Levick said everyone votes for what they want through their dollar. “Every time you choose to buy something, like Dr. Bronners over something like Dial or Dove, it creates a better market for these companies,” Levick said. “Your money is going into the market showing that it’s more important to you than a company that has very destructive behavior.”

Katherine Glosser can be contacted at kglosser@kscequinox.com.

The air we breathe is important to having a healthy life. Yet, many people who live in areas of low air pollution tend to take their clean air for granted.

The Trump administration recently repealed the Clean Air Act, which regulates the amount of toxins that are released in the air from fossil fuel companies. While people who backed the repeal said the Clean Air Act was based on false information of the anti-pollution law, environmental groups argued it will only contribute to the increase in pollution.

More than ever, the city of Keene needs to take action against air pollution.

Chair of Keene State College Environmental Studies Department Dr. Nora Traviss recently raised concerns about the quality of air in Keene. According to Traviss, in 2013, the air pollution exceeded the EPA’s health standards for about four days. Traviss said the air pollution is not equally dispersed in Keene. The pollution is in different patches in the city.

Since 2013 and 2014, her undergraduate students closely monitored the air quality. In 2013, her students explored about 500 points in Keene in order to determine why the particulate matter in the air was in certain areas of Keene.

In that study, they found suburban neighborhoods were more heavily polluted than other areas, while places like KSC had little air pollution.

In 2015, Traviss explored the health effects of air pollution on children’s health. While the study she conducted did not find a correlation between asthma and smoke levels, that doesn’t mean there are no health risks involved.

The main culprit of air pollution in Keene is the burning of wood in non-EPA certified wood stoves. Traviss said when wood is combusted, it creates carbon dioxide and water and combustion by-products.

One of the combustion by-products is particulate matter, which contains all the soot that doesn’t get combusted.

Traviss said Keene is a valley, and because of that, there is little wind that can blow away the harmful particulate matter that can be absorbed into our bodies. Because of this, air inversion occurs when heat rises and then sinks to the cold ground, which settles and doesn’t disperse. Particulate matter then remains close to the ground with little to no wind to carry it away.

Traviss said she and a select few of her students are leading a new study that started last semester. The study has expanded on more qualities of monitoring air pollution, such as being able to predict when air inversion is happening.

KSC environmental studies and geography major Aimee Krafft is one of the students who is intimately studying air quality and installing monitors that help determine whether or not the air is safe. Beginning last semester, Krafft, along with Traviss and her peers, drove around Keene to collect air quality data with air monitors. The air monitors that were installed in Keene can interact and warn locals about the air quality of Keene online. Krafft said one of those monitors happened to be on Water Street, and that she had an overall positive experience working on this study. “I feel like it was the first time that I actually got to go out into the field,” Krafft said. “We set up the monitors and we’ve just started to get data back in so… we’re just trying to process what we’re looking at, so it’s been a good experience.”

Traviss stressed using this data to make a local connection with air pollution  would help motivate people to lead a less polluted life. “That’s one of the reasons why we did it, we were happy to show a local connection and that might motivate people,” Travis said.

Environmental Studies Professor Dr. Thomas Webler said the solution is to motivate as many people as possible to use either an EPA-approved wood stove to decrease the amount of wood stove burning or to stop altogether.

However, he said establishing a law that prohibits wood stove burning is not the best solution. For people whose only source of heat is wood stove burning, he advised to only burn the dryest wood to decrease the particles in the air and to not damp down the stove. Another alternative is to burn fire in a place where there is a lot of moving air surrounding it to prevent air inversion.

Webler, Traviss and her students involved in her study are already making efforts to engage and educate the public about air pollution.

Webler is calling for a grant that will add more public interactive air quality monitors and help students continue their efforts in studying air pollution. The status of the grant will be revealed in the near future.

Webler and Traviss have also established a Facebook group that advocates for the reduction in wood stove burning and to improve Keene’s air. The group is called Keene Clean Air, and will be creating events that will help motivate people to reduce their use of wood stoves. The group is open to the public.

The repeal of the EPA’s Clean Air Act should not be seen as a death sentence or as a reason to panic. We shouldn’t have to fully rely on our government to help us keep the environment clean so we can have good health.

Webler stressed the need of having every individual person in the community make changes that can better improve our environment and the air we breathe.

“I think the most important message I like to get across here is that we can’t and shouldn’t expect the government to just tell us what we can and can’t do,” Webler said. “We can learn together by gathering our own data and making our own choices collectively as a community and coordinate our behavior ourselves.”

Katherine Glosser can be reached at kglosser@kscequinox.com.

Veteran’s Day is an widely celebrated holiday in the U.S., and Keene is no different. With many people who are either veterans or are people with family members who are going to or were deployed, it can be hard to laugh. That is why comedians PJ Walsh and Benari Poulten, from the comedic group the GI’s of Comedy, travel all around the nation and world to spread laughter. What distinguishes them from other comedians is that they are veterans.

LUKE SWEENEY / EQUINOX STAFF

On Veteran’s Day, the GI’s of Comedy came to Keene State College to do their stand-up routine. Roughly fourteen people showed up to the event held at the Night Owl Cafe in the Young Student Center. The first comedian to arrive at the event was Poulten.

“You guys are the heroes for coming out tonight,” he opened. He went on to reflect on his life as a comedian and veteran, never forgetting to interact with the crowd and bring humor into his stories. The crowd erupted in laughter as he told a story about his time at a New York City bar on Halloween.

“You can be whatever you want to be, but if you are going to dress up as a clown, consider what you’ll look like by the end of the night,” he joked as people laughed and clapped.

He went on to tell an animated story about his obsession with superman when he was three years old and how he wore a superhero outfit under his normal clothes. Poulten then talked about his humorous experiences while being deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Poulten said his military experience influenced his comedy and helped him become a better comedian.

“My military experience really showed me the value of being able to make people laugh” said Poulten. Poulten said he always wanted to do comedy. He wrote for a few shows on Comedy Central, the Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore and a sports comedy show called Garbage Time.

After Poulten did his comedy routine, Walsh stepped up to the plate. Walsh opened up by poking fun at the majority of the crowd for being at the back of the room. He said while the crowd was small he was glad they came. Walsh said he had no audience members at some of his shows.

He did a brief imitation of being a one man show by sitting on one of the empty seats and pretending to be himself acting like an audience member. He also talked about the time when he worked with Bill Clinton at the White House and his time being investigated by the FBI to get clearance before he worked for the White House.

Walsh highlighted the importance of comedy in military settings.

“Somebody told me statistically when comedy comes through, the suicide rate drops,” said Walsh.

Poulten added comedy also boosts the morale of other people. “I feel like if you come out to a show to be entertained, it’s my job to entertain you,” said Poulten.

KSC Sophomore, Emma Johansen who was in the audience said she would see their standup again and would bring her roommate.

“It was really funny, it was nice to come in and join after a long day just to relax and have fun. I got a good laugh,” said Johansen.

Walsh expressed his appreciation. He said loved seeing young people in the crowd.

“You guys make it worth the drive,” he said towards the end of the routine.

Walsh said he admires the millennial generation.

“I believe in your generation, I believe you guys will make so much of a difference in the world and I am excited about that and I apologize for mine” said Walsh.

Katherine Glosser can be contacted at kglosser@kscequinox.com

Global warming has become a hot topic for many ‒ from the environmental devastation to human impact on our air quality, to the increase in Earth’s global temperature.

While many scientists have proven that climate change is, in fact, man-made, there are still people who do not believe that.

Anna Magee / Equinox staff

According to the Pew Research Center, while 80 percent of Americans believe in man-made climate change, 20 percent do not. President Donald J. Trump is part of that 20 percent.

Trump has become a fierce and stubborn opponent of combating man-made climate change.

He has taken many actions against climate change, such as opting out of The Paris Agreement, which committed countries to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions.

According to an article in NPR, Trump’s reasoning for opting out of the agreement was because it was “a bad deal for the American people and it’s a bad deal for the environment.” Trump also pulled back Former President Barack Obama’s policies that took action against climate change and environmental pollution.

Some of these policies Trump rolled back include the freeze of coal leasing on public property and a mandate that calls for federal agencies to acknowledge the issue of the impact greenhouse gas emissions has in their statements involving environment.

According to Snopes, Trump has a long history of saying man-made climate change is a hoax. Trump’s view on climate change is not only wrong, it is also dangerous and could prove to be dangerous for the future of our country and the world.

According to National Aeronautic Space Agency (NASA), 97 percent of climate scientists who actively publish their findings believe climate change is man-made.

Satellites that have orbited Earth found countless information about how much earth has changed over the years.

This satellite data was gathered for years and that data concluded that earth is, in fact, experiencing man-made climate change.

In the nineteenth century, evidence of carbon dioxide and other gases trapping heat was demonstrated.

Not only can you find the evidence in satellite images, you can find the evidence in ice cores. Consider some of these findings.

Since global temperatures have increased, so has the melting of ice cores and glaciers.

According to NASA, ice cores in Greenland, Antarctica and tropical mountain glaciers showed that greenhouse gas levels have changed their structure.

According to a U.S. report in a NBC news article, the global temperature has risen by 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit and sea levels rose by eight inches since 1900.

Many countries have signed The Paris Agreement and have taken some action against climate change.

So why should the U.S. worry about climate change if other countries are already working on the solution?

First we must consider the United States’ contribution to global climate change.

According to the U.S. Greenhouse Gas Inventory Report: 1990-2015, the total amount of greenhouse gases the U.S. emitted in 2015 was over six billion metric tons.

This makes the United States the second biggest in carbon emissions. According to data from The New York Times, despite the U.S. only making up four percent of the world’s population, the country contributes to one-third of the world’s carbon emissions.

So how does our contribution to climate change affect us?

Our health will suffer, if climate change continues to happen.  According to the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), some of the health effects are heat-related illnesses, lung and heart illnesses, food, water and vector (parasitic, viral and bacterial) diseases and mental health issues.

Not only is our health impacted, so is our environment. A

n increase in wildfires, droughts, floods, heat waves, hurricanes, rising temperatures and ruined ecosystems will continue to increase if we continue on our path to destruction.

It will also impact the U.S. economy negatively.

According to National Geographic, 300 billion dollars in economic losses resulted from wildfires alone.

That is enough to pay for every U.S. student’s tuition.

According to the Economic Case for Climate Action in the United States, within the decade, the different weather conditions combined with health effects caused by climate change will cost the U.S. 360 billion dollars annually.

This, in turn, will cripple the U.S economy’s growth.

Keene, NH, has felt the impact of climate change. According to a report by the City of Keene in 2007, Keene has experienced changes due to climate change.

A change in flooding, annual snowfall, infestation of invasive plant and animal species and an increase in temperature are just a few of the environmental inconveniences Keene is experiencing.

This affects Keene’s economy and social environment.

While the Cities for Climate Protection Committee, a city-based group aimed to combating climate change through sustainable energy use, helped decrease the greenhouse gas emissions, further environmental actions still need to be taken by the rest of our community.

If we continue to turn a blind eye to climate change and take no more action against it, the world as we know it will continue to deteriorate. It is important, however, to not give up hope.

We can still instill change in our habits, propose ideas that can change how our society impacts our environment and continue to denounce Trump’s false statements about the lack of man-made climate change.

The more we take action and educate others, the more we can do something that could help save our planet. Let’s be the change we want to see in the world.

Katherine Glosser can be contacted at kglosser@kscequinox.com

Keene is seeing yet another increase in the use of Narcan- an opiate overdose reversing drug.

According to naloxoneinfo.org, Narcan blocks opiates from the opiate receptors in the brain.

Within five minutes, a person who once clung to death is now awake and alive. According to Keene Fire Chief Mark Howard, in the past month, the Narcan use increased from 4 to 12.

Howard said this is the highest number he has seen in the last two years. This year, there were four confirmed opiate-related deaths, with several deaths pending confirmation or nonconfirmation in the medical examiner’s office.

Howard said the death number in Keene could double in the next couple of months.

“It’s clear evidence that even with all of the work of local agencies, police, fire private agencies [and] state agencies that the problem is not going away,” said Howard.

KSC Associate Professor of Health Science John Finneran said he wasn’t surprised about the increase.

“One would expect it to rise. The more powerful the analgesic, the more powerful the opioid … the more Narcan is needed to required to reverse the overdose effects. So I would expect to see use of Narcan increase,” Finneran said.

Howard said Narcan use doesn’t always indicate opioid-related overdoses.

As a precaution, Narcan is administered in case the overdose is opiate related.

If the overdose isn’t opiate related, Narcan will not work. KSC junior Dante Diffendale said because people cannot fully tell whether the overdose is opiate-related and they administer Narcan, it delays the recovery of the patient, making them more likely to die.

Diffendale, who has been clean of opiates for eight years, said Narcan isn’t the only solution to the epidemic.

For him, helping people through their withdrawal symptoms and having more aftercare programs, as well as more rehabs would reduce the amount of overdoses.

“One of the reasons people are dying is because there’s no treatment, there’s no place to send these people when they want help. Most people who are addicts don’t have insurance, they don’t work a regular, on-the-books job, so it’s very hard for people to get into a rehab then figuring out how to get to the rehab because there is no funds or anything for transporting people to rehab,” said Diffendale.

Finneran said addicts are often stigmatized.

“Isn’t it interesting that maybe 30 years ago during the AIDS epidemic, when the virus was first initially being noticed, that there was terrible stigma put onto the people that were getting AIDS. There was a lot of discrimination and stigma against folks in the early days of the epidemic,” Finneran said.

“I am struck by how there seems to be parallels between that and the opioid epidemic today.”

Finneran said that while the opioid epidemic hasn’t penetrated Keene State’s campus, he knew a few students who got into trouble with opiates. “I’ve learned that people with alcoholism and addiction are not bad people trying to get good, they’re people having an illness that are trying to get well,” Finneran said.

Finneran said society cannot afford more losses of life to addiction. “When you lose somebody to addiction, you’re losing somebody that could be contributing to the problems that we face today in the future,” Finneran said.

Diffendale said he had friends who tried to open a rehab/transitional facility and the surrounding neighborhood opposed it because they did not want addicts to be around them.

He disagreed with their reasoning.

Diffendale and Howard said the lack of resources for addicts seeking treatment is a contributing factor to the increase in overdoses. “

Addicts are everywhere. You’ll see us walking down the street. You might see us in the stores. We’re already here and having a rehab/transitional living that’ll make it so that the people that want help can actually become productive members of society. They can go back to work to and find on-the-books jobs,” Diffendale said.

Katherine Glosser can be contacted at kglosser@kscequinox.com

Over 40 people arrived at the Redfern Arts Center on Sunday to watch a new music faculty member perform at a recital called the Faculty Recital Series: Voix de Paris. This runs like every typical college recital except this recital had a twist; instead of students performing the recital, it was a new faculty member and her colleague. People of many age ranges came to watch two people perform: Dr. Rebecca Hartka, a cello player and Keene State music faculty member and pianist Barbara Lysakowski. Young children, KSC students, faculty members and other adults watched as they performed.

The recital music is Paris-inspired with the songs being historically heard in salons in Paris. One of their musical performances was played in a theater performance that featured the sad love-struck clown Pierrot, who was in love with Columbine, a female clown who would often break his heart. Hartka said she was inspired to perform french music for her recital because of her love for it. Her obsession with french music began four years ago, when she received a french bell that was from the 1890s. From there, she developed a love and appreciation for french music.

KSC junior music major Geoffrey Edwards was one of two of Hartka’s students that came to see her recital. Edwards said he has been going to faculty recitals at Keene State since his first year and said he enjoys going to them. He expressed his admiration for Hartka’s work.

“I’ve always loved her music, she’s very expressive with how she performs. The collaboration between the piano player and the cello player is just incredible,” said Edwards.

Hartka felt it’s good for her students to come to her event.

“I think it was really good for them to see me in action because you can speak a whole bunch in your lessons about what to do, but actions speak louder than words, and they can also see that I’m human and I also make mistakes,” said Hartka. “I definitely had a few bloopers; it’s a normal part of the concert experience, but overall I feel pleased with the performance.”

Lysakowski has been playing the piano since she was six-years-old. She and Hartka were colleagues as faculty for All Newton Music School. Lysakowski said she felt a musical connection with Hartka, which inspired them to perform together at the faculty recital. Lysakowski said she, at first, felt fearful of how the audience would react to her work, but as she kept playing, her connection with the audience deepened.

“I felt I played better and better with every piece, feeling this great connection with the audience, and somehow, I was received well and encouraged to keep going,” said Lysakowski.

KSC music faculty member Marcia Lehninger said she came to the recital to support her friend and colleague Hartka. She and Hartka play music together. Lehninger said she found the performance to be beautiful and admired the experience of the performers.

“I would love to see more people come to these events because this is an incredible high-level performance,” said  Lehninger.

Hartka said she has played the cello for 33 years and that she loves the cello for its rich, dark sound that vibrates her whole body as she plays it. She said she felt it has a soulful, rich human quality to it and was happy with how the performance turned out.

“I felt that the audience was quite receptive and warm, and the piano’s beautiful, so generally, I would say great stage crew, everybody was really attentive so it was very nice,” said Hartka.

Edwards felt going to this recital would be enriching for other music students. “Being able to hear these professionals is an incredible experience for any musician, whether they are performing or if they’re listening. It’s worth the time and the performances are just incredible and we don’t get many opportunities like this,” said Edwards.

Katherine Glosser can be contacted at kglosser@kscequinox.com

Sexual assault and misconduct is a major problem occurring on college campuses. While there are many resources for victims and the education system has become more aggressive on sexual assault cases in college than they were decades ago, it still happens. According to Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network or RAINN, every 98 seconds someone becomes a victim of sexual abuse in the U.S..

That means 570 Americans become victims of sexual assault every day. Female college-aged students between the ages of 18 and 24 are at an elevated risk of sexual violence.

Male college-aged students are 78 percent more likely to experience sexual assault than non-students in the same age group.

Recently, Betsy DeVos, the secretary of education, made an announcement she wanted to make changes in how schools handle sexual assault victims. DeVos called to revise rules the Obama administration put out regarding school sexual assault.

While DeVos did not go into full detail about what specific changes she is going to make, she did express the changes she wanted to see happen. In a speech she gave at George Mason University, she expressed the need to have a balance of how schools handle sexual assault with both the reporting party and the accused.

She emphasized the need to protect the rights of the accused and to make sure they receive the due process of law. In her speech, she also mentioned the first amendment, saying punishing free speech by labeling it as harassment is unfair. She also criticized Obama’s approach to handling sexual assaults and protecting victims “went too far.”

While I do agree with her that both the victim and the accused need to be heard out and put through a fair trial, I think DeVos “went too far” with her approach to protecting the accused.

First and foremost, most of the people accused of sexual assault and sexual misconduct were actually guilty of it.

According to a decade-long study done by Violence Against Women, between two and 10 percent of the people reported for sexual assault were falsely accused. While it would be great to have no victims of false sexual assault accusations, making an effort to protect the two to 10 percent by making it harder for victims to get justice is not the way to go.

Doing so only protects the majority of the accused who have actually committed the acts and only creates more obstacles for the victims.

Her statement about free speech was also out of line. While it is okay to express your opinion on a matter, whether you agree or disagree with it, verbal sexual harassment is never okay. Saying sexual innuendos to a victim or referring to a person in a sexually derogative way should not be compared to free speech.

According to psychiatrists from Harvard University, a report suggests verbal abuse, whether sexual or otherwise, can be just as harmful as physical and sexual abuse.

The report published in the Harvard Mental Health Letter suggests that when verbal abuse is constant and severe, it increases the risk of someone getting post traumatic stress disorder.

It also increases the risk factor for other mental illnesses such as “depression, anger-hostility, and dissociation disorders.”

When it makes a person feel uncomfortable and vulnerable sexually, it should be dealt with to prevent future traumas.

No type of sexual abuse or harassment is okay. If DeVos plans to rescind some of Obama’s sexual assault policies, it will affect student victims everywhere, including Keene State College.

The best way to combat DeVos’ unfair approach is for students to express their frustration for this proposal.

Writing to DeVos, speaking up and educating the public about school sexual assault is a powerful way to prevent these changes from happening.

For KSC students who want to learn more about sexual violence and how to prevent it, Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) and Sexual Assault and Violence Education (SAVE) are great resources.

A KSC student who has experienced or witnessed sexual violence and abuse can go to the Counseling Center, talk with MCVP or the Monadnock Center for Violence Prevention, Campus Safety, the Title IX coordinator or contact your resident director or resident assistant.

Katherine Glosser can be contacted at kglosser@kscequinox.com

People always have an innate curiosity within them that is difficult to quench.

This especially rings true when it comes to creatures that live and function differently from humans.

Marine mammals have had a history of being both admired and feared by humans.

Orca whales, known for both their beauty and ferocity, live deep in the ocean where the average human would not venture. Dolphins are highly fascinating and intelligent creatures that can be hard to track.

Because of this, seeing these types of marine mammals in captivity is an opportunity many people would take. Who wouldn’t want to swim with a dolphin or see it perform acts that were seen as difficult and beautiful?

Seeing orca whales, who normally do not interact with people and are endangered, work with a trainer and perform with an audience, can be fascinating and mesmerizing. Seeing sea lions perform and make their signature noises can be entertaining to watch, however is it in the sea mammal’s best interest to perform or swim with humans?

I think not. Many orcas you watch perform at family-fun entertainment facilities were captured in the wild.

According to the Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC), there are about 60 captive orcas, and 45 percent of them were caught in the wild. Orcas in captivity live significantly shorter lives compared to orcas in the wild.

Since 1961, at least 156 wild orcas were forced into captivity.

As of now, 129 of these orcas are dead. Not including the 30 still-born and miscarried orca calves, at least 165 orcas died in captivity. WDC estimates SeaWorld had a total of 48 orcas die in their care.

According to the Marine Mammal Journal, 50 percent of orcas in captivity die at 6.1 years old. The average lifespan of wild orcas is 30 years, but some wild orcas can live between 50 and 60 years at the most for males and up to 100 for females, so why do they die in captivity? According to livescience.com, dozens of captive orcas have died from bacterial infections. The rate of pneumonia in captive orcas is caused by stress and with good reason. Captive orcas live in tanks that are 1/10,000th of one percent the size of their natural habitat. According to Keep Whales Wild, orcas travel up to 100 miles a day. If the orca wants to swim that equivalent in their tank, they would have to go 1,400 times around the tank’s circumference. This is like a person living in only two rooms for the rest of their lives without going outside and having no intellectual stimulation.

Dolphins don’t have it any easier. According to the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, between 1972 and 1994 over 2,300 bottlenose dolphins were captured for display purposes in the U.S. In Taiji, Japan, during the hunting season that lasts for six months, hunters go after dolphin pods and round them up in a net. According to The Los Angeles Times, most of the dolphins are slaughtered, but the better-looking dolphins are taken to aquariums and other places of entertainment. Dolphins are often dragged out of the water by their tail fins. The terrified dolphins often flail around, causing injuries to themselves trying to escape. Live dolphins are often sold for $50,000 a piece. While the International Marine Animal Trainers’ Association (IMATA) is against the slaughter of dolphins in Taiji, Japan, they still accept the capture of dolphins in Japan. The life of a dolphin living in captivity is often a difficult one. These dolphins can no longer communicate with one another, which is an important part of this social animal’s life causing extreme mental distress. According to the Legal Information Institute, the size requirement for the holding pens for dolphins have to be at least three times the body length of the dolphin, which ranges between 6 and 14 feet. This barely gives them any room to swim.

By paying for aquariums that hold these intelligent mammalian creatures captive or by paying to swim with a dolphin, it shows that one supports the cruel mistreatment and often deprived life of a captive sea mammal. These creatures have the same mental and social capacity as humans, yet they are always on the move and travel longer distances than us. To take that away from them is the equivalent of psychological torture. Disrupting these creatures in that way not only upsets them but disturbs the ecosystem around them. So instead of paying for their pain, pay for their rescue or fight against these practices by not paying for their torture.

Katherine can be contacted at kglosser@kscequinox.com.

Downtown Keene was bustling with people on Saturday when 43 bands came to play for the Keene Music Festival. Throughout Main Street from 10:45 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., bands including Psych Unit, Solar Sisters, Jake McKelvie and the Countertops, Lobotomobile and Michael Graham played live.

photos by Jake Paquin / Photo Editor

The Keene Music Festival was first founded in 2000 and has been held in Keene every year. People from all ages weren’t afraid to show their enjoyment. Parents with their kids in tow, dog walkers, people young and old, wandering adults and even students attended the festival.

More than 40 people gathered around the Central Square gazebo to watch Psych Unit, a band from Lebanon, New Hampshire, perform live. People clapped and cheered as the band’s vocalist Terri Didehbani finished singing her songs that she wrote the lyrics to, such as “Mona” and “Troubled.”

During the performance, a little girl danced in front of the gazebo. The young girl wasn’t the only one who danced to the music. An older gentleman danced to the music while other people swayed to Didehbani’s voice.

Didehbani, who works at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, along with a few other band members, said she has been a part of the band for about two months, making this the first time she performed at the Keene Music Festival. She said performing with the band is therapeutic.

photos by Jake Paquin / Photo Editor

“I think rock and roll heals the soul” said Didehbani. “I think it’s just a way you express your art, whether it’s through playing, listening, dancing, singing.”

Todd Gardner, a psychology nurse and the bass guitarist and co-founder of Psych Unit, said the band started in 2007. However, he didn’t perform with Psych Unit at the Music Festival until this year.

Psych Unit’s name, said Gardner, was inspired by both his work in a psychiatric unit, as well as their band being a form of therapy for them.

“Our band and our music stabilizes us, it’s a good positive thing, that’s really what it means,” said Gardner. Gardner said he was pleasantly surprised regarding the turnout.

photos by Jake Paquin / Photo Editor

“This was great; there was lots of people that seemed to be enthusiastic and seemed to enjoy our music. I was pleasantly surprised how many people showed up,” said Gardner.

Seventh grader and Keene resident Nicole Damon, who was at Psyche Unit’s live performance, expressed her appreciation for the music festival. Damon said she has been going to the music almost every year.

“I just really like the music fest because everyone is here and I like how they have spread out bands in different areas and it’s just fun to be around a lot of people and just hang out and listen to music,” said Damon.

Keene State College senior Tyler Croteau said he came to the music festival for not only the local bands, but to see his friend’s band, Jake McKelvie and the Countertops, perform live. This would be his first year he came to the music festival. Croteau said he wouldn’t change anything about the festival. He said he would recommend other people to go to the festival because it’s a great way to get to know the downtown area.

“I think they would have a blast. It’s a good way to get to know Main Street if you’re a new student,” said Croteau.

Katherine Glosser can be contacted at kglosser@kscequinox.com.

Since the 2016 Presidential Election, the topic of immigrants and refugees have become a heated and widely debated topic.

On April 19, a panel called Becoming Allies: Refugees and Immigrants in Keene was held to talk about refugee experiences and the process of resettling in New Hampshire.

The panelists were people from different New Hampshire organizations that help out refugees and immigrants adjust to American life.

KSC lecturer of the Sociology and Anthropology Department Nicole Wengerd  organized the event.

Luke stergiou / senior photographer

The panelists included a refugee and Resettlement Coordinator of Ascentria Services Jay Sharma, Program Director of the International Institute of New England Molly Carr, Coordinator of Welcoming Manchester Lindsey Shaffer, Director of Welcoming New Hampshire Eva Castillo and members from the Keene Immigrant and Refugee Partnership, Wendy Scott Keeney and Joe Shapiro.

Wengerd said she hoped this event would give students a look at the issues refugees face in the community.

“I think the goal of this was really to have students and community members be able to sit in the same room and learn about the problem in our community and what we can do about it,” said Wengerd.

“So really understanding the problem and understanding the experience of refugees and immigrants and that whole process and also learning about how you can get involved right here in Keene.”

Carr gave a presentation about the process of becoming a refugee in America and her experiences in working in Africa to help out displaced people in refugee camps.

According to Carr, there are 65 million displaced people, or people who were forced to leave their home because of a life or death situation. Shaffer talked about her organization, Welcoming Manchester, and how it helps out refugees living in Manchester. According to Shaffer, six percent of America’s immigrants are refugees.

Sharma talked about his experience as a refugee from Bhutan and his path to becoming a part of Ascentria Services to help resettle refugees.

Castillo talked about her personal experience coming to America from Venezuela as well as her organization and the importance of diversity.

Luke stergiou / senior photographer

Keeney and Shapiro talked about politics and how it has an impact on refugees and immigrants. They also organized a small group discussion with the panel’s audience.

The panelists took a few questions and comments from the audience with some of them sharing their own knowledge and personal experiences related to immigrants and refugees.

Keene State College (KSC) senior Marissa Depolo said there is some stigma about refugees and people need to be more educated about it.

“I think that people have a vision in their head on what a refugee is and I don’t think that people realize what they actually look like and reasons for coming and other things of that nature,” said Depolo.

“I think that a lot of people don’t know about it. I’m not as educated as I should be about it and I think that’s part of the reason why there is such a stigma because people don’t know.”

Shaffer expressed to not  see refugees just as people in need, “It’s not about giving to those in need but just respecting one another as human beings and helping one another out in any way that we can.” said Shaffer.

Katherine Glosser can be contacted at kglosser@kscequinox.com