Scouting

Consider the Impact of Your Future Career

Life after Middlebury

CO2 Admission of early ChatGPT models (2023)

Environmental Strain: AI consumes massive energy and water resources for computation and cooling, contributing to carbon emissions and straining local resources where data centers are concentrated. Worker Exploitation: AI development relies on low-paid labor in underregulated conditions worker exploitation. Bias and Power Imbalances: AI systems can perpetuate social biases, and the concentration of AI technology and resources among a few powerful entities risks increasing inequality and limiting democratic access to technology.

OpenAI

San Francisco, CA - 6 Alumni Actively Working for OpenAI

LEGO is a private toys manufacturer that sells all across the world and also operates multiple amusement parks. LEGO partners with the World Wild LIfe Fund to help gather materials that are more environmentally friendly for their toys. LEGO pledges to invest a portion of their profits to reduce their carbon footprint. 100% of the energy LEGO uses to make their toys comes from renewable energy.But LEGO is also environmental destruction:

LEGO

Billund, Denmark - 1 Alumnit Actively Working for LEGO

Beijing, China - no currently employed Midd alums

Over the past 20 years, more than 20,000 members, through environmental education, family energy conservation, ecological communities, legal rights protection and policy advocacy, have rebuilt the connection between people and nature, protecting the precious ecological environment. Friends of Nature has three working entities in Beijing, 22 member groups distributed across the country, and has established multiple cross-institutional action platforms based on specific business promotion.

Friends of Nature

About: Clim8 is a sustainable finance company that invests in renewables and a sustainable future. Clim8 gives their clients regular investment services and provides extra opportunities to contribute to protecting the environment. The investments go straight towards clean water, energy technology, sustainable food, smart mobility, and the circular economy which is in accordance with the UN Paris Climate Agreement goals. CLOSED CUSTOMER ACCOUNTS IN 2023: Failed to keep business going.

Clim8

France - no currently employed Midd alums,

Environmental Racism: Bank of America, the number one financier of oil and gas in the Amazon for 2023 according to “Banking on Climate Chaos,” has an ESRM policy that does not affect the majority of their financing in the Amazon.

Bank of America

Amazon Rainforest, South America - 72 Alumni Actively Working for Bank of America

Racial bias: A firearm manufacturer which has seen investment funding from Middlebury's endowment account, is involved in providing countries, such as Israel, with arms, and has negotiated numerous defense contracts with the American government.At least 62 contracts negotiated with the US government between 2008 and 2024 with its main clients being the US and Israeli governments.

Sturm, Ruger & CO

Fairfield, CT, USA- No active Midd alum

About: Trine is a Swedish crowdfunding investing platform includes funding solar energy projects to eradicate energy deficiencies across underdeveloped countries, enabling people to invest in solar energy in growing markets.Mission: Trine wants consumers to make a profit while they are investing in social and environmental impacts. Plan: The Trine platform has a customer choose a loan and invest a minimum of $25. Then, investors receive their investment back with interest with Trine’s aim to give customers back triple of their investment returns.

Trine

Sweden - no currently employed Midd alums

New Yorker Deep Dive into CIA

The CIA is a U.S. federal agency tasked with gathering intelligence for national security and conducting covert operations.Interventions in Foreign Governments: The CIA has been involved in multiple covert interventions aimed at overthrowing or influencing foreign governments, often supporting authoritarian regimes over democratically elected leaders, leading to regime instability. Examples: Iran, 1953 (1), Guatemala, 1954 (2) "Enhanced Interrogation" Techniques: After 9/11, the CIA implemented controversial "enhanced interrogation" techniques on terror suspects, later identified as torture. Techniques like waterboarding, confinement, and sleep deprivation were used, with limited evidence of effectiveness in preventing terrorism.

Central Intellegence Agency (CIA)

Langley, Virginia - Actively Recruits Middlebury Alum

An aerospace and defence company. Racial and environmental bias: The US government’s $2.3 billion aid plan to Ukraine and Israel was given directly to Lockheed Martin and others (Bloomberg). - Profits from the ongoing war in Israel and Gaza (Middlebury Campus) ; 42 million tons of debris caused by bombing in Gaza - Supplying weapons to the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen (Middle East Eye)

Lockheed Martin

Bethesda, MD, USA - 7 Alumni Actively Working for Lockheed Martin

Multinational investment company. Major shareholders for companies like Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Exxon, Pfizer, Nvidia, Meta, and Tesla. Although Blackrock publicly supports climate action, the firm continues to invest heavily in fossil fuel industries, contributing to global environmental harm. Critics argue that BlackRock’s influence on corporations could be used more effectively to drive greener practices, but its financial interests in oil, coal, and gas show otherwise.Environmental Racism: $1.16 billion in fossil fuel investments 55 holdings in fossil fuel companies

Blackrock

- New York, NY, USA 27 Alumni Actively Working for Blackrock

About: N26 is a digital bank corporation that is committed to an environmental and sustainability impact. Environmental Justice Focuses: N26 offers a green account where consumers can contribute directly to environmental projects with their bank account. N26 partners with multiple organizations to support reforestation, ocean clean-up, and renewable energy initiatives. N26 uses eco-friendly materials for its cards and wants to minimize its carbon footprint. Only available in European countries

N26

Germany - no currently employed Midd alums

COVID-19 Vaccine Development: Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine, helped save millions of lives globally. Its mRNA technology, proved effective and became a breakthrough for vaccine science, enabling rapid responses to evolving variants​.Inequitable Distirbution of Vaccines: High-income countries secured most of the available vaccine doses through advance purchase agreements, leaving LMICs to rely on donations and programs like COVAX. By mid-2021, over 75% of vaccines had been administered in just 10 countries, while some LMICs had vaccinated less than 1% of their populations. Unequal vaccine distribution allowed COVID-19 variants to emerge and spread globally, prolonging the pandemic and undermining global recovery efforts.

Pfizer Inc.

New York City, NY - 9 Alumni Actively Working for Pfizer Inc.

Anti-biased: A corporation on Handshake for Middlebury. They use 100% renewable energy. Majority of current employees believe that Audax is beneficial to society. However, the starting pay is not as high as their counterparts in Goldman Sachs, etc., and some state working there is a challenging work life balance.Audax is reported to be developing a "DEI roadmap." Audax was sued $250 million in damages last year:

Audax Group

Boston, MA, USA - 3 Alumni Actively Working for Audax Group

Salesforce is an American cloud-based software company based in San Francisco that sells customer relationship management software and applications concerning sales, customer service, artificial intelligence, and analytics. Climate Action: Salesforce is committed to a climate action plan that aims to achieve near-net zero emissions by 2030 through emissions reduction, carbon removal, regulation and policy, ecosystem restoration, education, and innovation. In 2023 it announced 100% renewable energy across its value chain.

Salesforce

San Francisco, CA - 24 Alumni Actively Working for Salesforce

Goose Creek Ventures is a company founded by Middlebury executive scholar Frank Van Gansbeke. Focused on “sustainable finance.”Specifically the company invests in FinTech, MedTech and Sustainable Development on a global scale.

Goose Creek Ventures

Vermont, USA

IRRI is an international agricultural research and training organization with its headquarters in Los Baños, Laguna, in the Philippines, and offices in seventeen countries. IRRI is known for its work in developing rice varieties that contributed to the Green Revolution in the 1960s which preempted the famine in Asia. The institute, established in 1960 aims to reduce poverty and hunger, improve the health of rice farmers and consumers, and ensure environmental sustainability of rice farming.

Philippines - no currently employed Midd alums

International Rice Research Institute (IRRI)

Environmental actions: Patagonia joined the Zero Emission Maritime Buyers Alliance (ZEMBA) along with other businesses to purchase zero-emissions maritime fuel in bulk.Environmental Pledges: By 2025, we will eliminate virgin petroleum material in our products and only use preferred materials. By 2025, our packaging will be 100% reusable, home compostable, renewable or easily recyclable. By 2040, we will be net zero* across our entire business.

Patagonia

Ventura,CA, USA - 4 Alumni Actively Working for Patagonia

Artificial Intelligence (AI) GenerationEnvironmental Strain: devloping and running AI uses large amounts of energy - "the metaverse requires many times higher energy and generates significantly higher carbon footprint" (Science Direct); "67% of [survey] respondents believed that the energy required to power the metaverse will have a negative impact on their carbon footprint” (Science Direct) Bias: No people of color or women on advisory council (peopleofcolorintech); has potential to widen the racial economic gap in US by $43 billion each year (mckinsey); re-introduces racism into the algorhythm (NIH)

META Headquarters

Menlo Park, CA - 47 Alumni Actively Working for META

Accenture is a global company that aids governments and organizations in improving performance. Employees work in strategy, consulting, technology, and operations in tandem with many different fields, such as healthcare consulting, financial services, and energy consulting. Since 2007, Accenture has addressed the effects of climate change globally and have set goals and expectations for the corporation considering their global impact. Accenture represents one of 1,100 companies that have signed the UNGC’s Business Ambition for 1.5° Pledge and they are striving to achieve net-zero emissions by 2025.

Accenture:

San Francisco, CA - 48 Midd alumn employed

Palestine & Israel - 19 Alumni working for Capital One, 35 working for Wells Fargo, 47 working for Bank of America

Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and Capital One

Elbit Systems Ltd:

• Produces 85% of the IDF's land equipment and drones used by the Israeli Air Force
• Israeli forces use Elbit weapons in Gaza and other areas, contributing to significant civilian casualties.

These companies are part of a consortium of lenders that sent a collective $500 million dollars to Elbit Systems Ltd — an Isreali Weapons Manufacturer. This loan, provided in two portions totaling $100 million and $454 million, supported Elbit's U.S. subsidiary, Elbit Systems of America.

Funded by Bank of America, 72 Midd alum, scouts Midd students

Environmental Strain: The Willow Project in the North Slope of Alaska is an oil drilling project conducted by Conoco Phillips, and approved by the national government. This project has substantial environmental implications, as the consumption of the oil produced from the drilling is projected to result in 277 million tons of carbon emissions. Racism: Drilling in these lands also impacts Native Alaskans, who rely on the land for subsistence and have a cultural connection to it.

Conoco Phillips

North Slope of Alaska - no currently employed Midd alums

Triodos Bank is a finance tech company that promotes sustainability and resource efficiency. Since there is an increasing public concern about environmental impact, Triodos only finances green economy enterprises. Triodos shows that ethical options also belong to their investors’ key demands.Racial activism: Triodos Bank has a Black Lives Matter statement on its website, and is no longer active on X because of the platform's “racism” and “lack of moderation”. Transparency: Triodos publishes a database of every organization it lends to.

Triodos Bank

UK - no currently employed Midd alums

Environmental Racism: funds Formosa Plastics' toxic and racist petrochemical complex

Racial bias: An American firearm manufacturer which has seen investment funding from Middlebury's endowment account, has been involved in providing countries, such as Israel, with arms, and has negotiated numerous defense contracts with the American government.At least 62 contracts negotiated with the US government between 2008 and 2024 with it's main clients being the US and Israeli governments.

JP Morgan & Chase

Fairfield,CT, USA - 58 Alumni Actively Working for JP Morgan & Chase

Shanghai, China - 2 Midd alums

Wall Street Tequila is a premier full-service career consulting company, focusing on helping students to fulfill various career developmental needs but mostly finance and consulting. As this map suggests, the detrimental impact of financial sector in social and environmental makes WST's target to send top students into the finance industry concerning.

Wall Street Tequila

China - no currently employed Midd alums

This is the world’s largest solar glass manufacturer. As well as promoting and supporting renewable energy in business, with a target to meet 40% of annual global demand for new PV installations by 2050, Xinyi Solar also reduced energy and water consumption in 2022 by 15.1% and 7.8%, respectively. The solar farm projects reduce of 3.64 million tonnes of CO2 emissions, equivalent to 92.6% of GHG emissions from solar glass production in the same period. Among its many farms, the world’s first large-scale floating solar farm in Xinyi, which has the potential to save 28,000 tonnes of standard coal every year.

Xinyi Solar

Woman started bank with headquarters in London. Starling Bank is a finance tech company that leads US markets and wants to go green and choose more planet-friendly options. The bank is branchless, paperless, and operates on renewable energy. Starling Bank was the first company to issue cards using recycled plastic. Starling Bank has joined the Tech Zero task force to help cut their carbon emissions. Starling Bank plants trees and works to prevent deforestation.Racist complaints: Starling Bank fined £29m for 'shockingly lax' financial crime controls:

Starling Bank

London,UK - no currently employed Midd alums

About: TreeCard was a finance tech startup corporation that promoted environmentally friendly spending habits. Environmental Justice Focuses: TreeCard focused on reducing plastic use and promoting reforestation. TreeCard claimed to put 80% of their profits towards reforestation projects and made their cards using recycled plastic and sustainable sourced wood. New focuses: Remains commited to planting trees. Provides consumers with points to plant trees by walking and making in-app purchases.

TreeCard

UK - no currently employed Midd alums

Summer internship opportunity in South Africa. This consulting-focused program offers a hands-on experience where students can select their project to work on over 6-8 weeks, either virtually or in Cape Town. Participants collaborate with South African startups and companies on issues such as gender empowerment, climate change, environmental restoration, and economic development. Middlebury has dedicated funding for this initiative and diiVe prioritizes Middlebury students over applicants from other universities. Many Midd students have referred to this as “one of the only ethical internships” available and many have found the experience transformative.

diiVe

Cape Town, South Africa, Midd internship

Beginnings: The aspiration of addressing maternal deaths in Nigeria, which were mostly caused by blood shortages, led Temie Giwa-Tubosun to found LifeBank in 2015. LifeBank developed an online platform that enabled hospitals to connect and purchase blood from local blood banks and fulfilled those orders through an around the clock team of dispatch riders.Impact: Connects blood banks to hospitals and provides high quality, fast, 24/7 available access to blood plasma and blood products, vaccines, oxygen tanks and several other life-saving medical consumables.

LifeBank

Lagos, Nigeria, 1 Midd Alum Actively Working for LifeBank

Environmental Racism: Financer of extreme energy development. Bias: In 2016, the Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth charged the firm with “dishonest and unethical” practices for these sales contests, which encouraged brokers to push SBLs. Brokers earned cash bonuses for meeting sales targets,creating a conflict of interest. This practice reportedly led to a significant increase in loan origination volume, raising questions about prioritizing profits over clients. In January 2024, Morgan Stanley admitted to making false statements regarding block trades. The firm was found to have promised sellers confidentiality while disclosing that information to buy-side investors, allowing them to trade ahead of the block sales. This manipulation not only harmed sellers but also violated principles of fair market conduct.

Morgan Stanley

Massachusetts, USA - 61 Alumni Actively Working for Morgan Stanley

HSBC is a finance corporation that in 2020 won Investment Banking of the Year for Sustainability and Investment Bank of the Year for Green/Climate Action Bonds...Yet, according to indigenousclimateaction: "HSBC (now owned by @rbc) is a major funder of The Sunshine Project by Formosa Plastics, a proposed $9.4 billion plastics plant & one of the largest in the world, subjecting the residents of Louisiana (aka Cancer Alley) to an added 800 tons of hazardous air pollutants every year. Community opposition (@risestjames) won a major court victory to cancel air pollution permits that would have allowed the building of this proposed petrochemical complex.#EnvironmentalRacism is not a good investment!"

HSBC

London, UK - 10 Midd alums

Kaladera, India - 3 Alumni Acitvely Working for Coca-Cola

Water Depletion: drawing large amounts of water in water-scarce regions, impacting local water resources and communities.Human rights: violated workers' rights in countries such as Colombia, Turkey, Guatemala and Russia. Plastic waste health impact: These effects are being felt in Kaladera in Rajasthan, India and El Salvador.

Coca-Cola

Technology, software, computing company; AI developersEnvironmental Strain: Investing in gas/oil companies by providing AI tools to improve efficiency - “[other companies] and Google — are helping the fossil fuel industry extract, process, and distribute oil and gas more quickly and cheaply, by furnishing the industry with cloud hosting services, custom artificial intelligence software, and machine learning tools” (Grist) - "Rather than declining, its emissions grew 13% in 2023 over the year before. Compared to its baseline year of 2019, emissions have soared 48%" (AP News) Bias: Pollution from oil/gas extraction disproportionately affects POC globally who are closer geographically to extraction sites--subjects foreign peoples and economically disadvantaged people to toxins

Google

Mountain View, CA - 112 Alumni Actively Working for Google

Yemen - At least 75 Alumni Actively Working for the US Government

Proxy war: The United States directly paid for Saudi Arabia’s creation of a civil war in Yemen which has been considered the worst humanitarian crisis in the entire world. “Hundreds of thousands of Yemenis have been killed and some four million people displaced. According to the United Nations, 21.6 million people in the country require humanitarian assistance and 80 percent of the population struggles to put food on the table.” According to the US State Department, “Saudi Arabia is the United States’ largest foreign military sales (FMS) customer, with more than $100 billion in active FMS cases. Additional support promotes closer cultural, educational, and institutional ties between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia” meaning that the American government is directly responsible for ruining the lives of millions (and will likely affect many more as Russia is now also involved)

US Government

More than 50% of Danone’s global sales are covered by B Corp certification, showing that the company has made significant progress to reach the highest social and environmental criteria. Operating in over 120 countries with around 100,000 employees, Danone reported an annual revenue of $41.98 billion. The company’s sustainability goals encompass achieving carbon neutrality, using 100% recycled, recyclable, or compostable packaging, and reducing water usage and waste production. They produce dairy products, water, and other consumer food items, with brands like Activia and Evian.Environmental Racism: Their carbon offsets are criticized:

Danone

Paris, France - no currently employed Midd alums

American investment company

Environmental Strain: $104 billion invested in 12 of the most devastating fossil fuel projects. Top two investor in oil and gas, and largest investor in the coal industry. Racism: Vanguard has faced mass criticism for investing in Chinese companies that potentially violate human rights violations, is a top shareholder in Israel's Elbit defense system, and has about 77 Billion dollars invested in military contractors like Lockheed Martin and Boeing.

Vanguard

Malvern, PA - 8 employed Midd alums

Environmental neutrality: Headquarters location is in California. Aspirations is a finance company with core values in saving the environment and divesting in oil industries. Whenever a consumer uses Aspiration to make a purchase, Aspiration rounds up that purchase number and spends it on planting a tree. Their goal is to plant 100 million trees and rid of millions of pounds of carbon dioxide.Tim Newell will partner with Aspirations and make a new company, still called Aspirations, and will invest extensively in new climate-friendly products and features.

Aspirations

CA, USA - no currently employed Midd alums, will soon merge with former Tesla Fintech Head

Middle East - 84 Alumni Actively Working for Goldman Sachs

Goldman has worked closely with Saudi Arabia and other authoritarian governments, managing sovereign wealth funds and providing financial services that bolster the power of regimes linked to human rights abuses, such as those involved in the war in Yemen and the Khashoggi killing.

The firm has facilitated sovereign loans and debt restructuring for Middle Eastern nations, often profiting while placing these countries under heavy debt burdens. Such debt restricts economic freedom, prioritizing repayments over social programs and at times destabilizing local economies.Goldman’s involvement in oil and commodity markets can drive price volatility, impacting oil-dependent Middle Eastern economies. Sharp price swings often force governments into austerity measures, which intensify social unrest and destabilize the region.

Goldman Sachs

WWF is based in western Switzerland and tackles hundreds of environmental threats to conserve and preserve greenspaces, endangered species, and human rights. They cooperate with local conservation organizations, partner with and advise large businesses, and accept charity.

World Wildlife Fund (WWF)

Switzerland, 6 Midd alums

Environmental Strain: The infrastructure and electricity needed for these technologies create new challenges for meeting sustainability commitments across the tech sector (NPR) The same week that Microsoft made its carbon-negative announcement, it sponsored an oil conference in Saudi Arabia. A 2020 Greenpeace report digging into tech companies’ work with the oil and gas industry – such as providing software to support fossil fuel extraction – found that its contract with ExxonMobil ‘could lead to emissions greater than 20% of Microsoft’s annual carbon footprint. (Guardian)

Microsoft

Permian Basin, Texas, USA 45 Alumni Actively Working for Microsoft

Labor Conditions: Reportedly poor working conditions, particularly in its warehouses, where employees report high-pressure environments, long hours, and limited breaks.

Amazon is a globally operated online retailer and technology company. It sells a wide range of products, from books and electronics to clothing and household items, through its website. In addition to its retail business, Amazon offers services like Amazon Prime for fast shipping and streaming, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) for cloud computing. Environmental Waste: Amazon has received criticism for excessive packaging waste and the carbon footprint of its vast delivery network. Amazon has made pledges to improve sustainability, such as aiming for net-zero carbon by 2040. However, its rapid expansion and consumption-driven business say otherwise.

AMAZON

Seattle, WA - 54 Midd Alums