Environmental Council
Minutes of April 29, 2003
Present: Nan Jenks-Jay (Chair); Connie Leach Bisson (Vice Chair); Andi Lloyd, Helen Young, David West, Diane Munroe, Charlotte Tate, JS Woodward, Doug Dagan, Nick Benjamin, Suzanne Nagi, Jesi Warren
Missing: Gail Smith, Megan Smith, Andrea Hamre
Guest: Asher Burns-Burg
1. Announcements
Bill McKibben is featured in this week's Seven Days "Mr. Green Genes"
Andi Lloyd (Biology) was the recipient of the 2003 Perkins Award for Excellence in Teaching. The award honors outstanding teaching performance in science and mathematics.
Doug Dagan, Dave Ginevan and Connie represented the College at the EPA Environmental Merit Award ceremony in Boston on Tuesday, April 22nd.
Nan thanked everyone on the Environmental Council for their hard work, noting that it had been a busy and productive year.
2. CRI Working Group Progress Report
Nan distributed an Executive Summary from the CRI Working Group's Progress Report and then summarized their work since January. Twenty people had formed into a well functioning group that operated with a strong dynamic. They charted a huge course of action and stayed on task. The Working Group was co-chaired by Bob Huth and Nan. Two of the CRI's main tools were the emissions inventory developed by Doug Dagan and the report produced by the J Term class. The Working Group has recommended an initial goal of reducing carbon emissions to 8% below 1990 levels by 2012. This would require a 35% reduction from 2000-01 levels. They included a portfolio of 18 strategies to meet this goal that fall into the categories of education, institutional change, infrastructure and offsets. Some of the strategies could be implemented immediately while others will require further research.
This summer, the CRI will shift into research mode. The College is moving forward with a biomass feasibility study that will be conducted by the Biomass Energy Resource Center in conjunction with members of the CRI. In addition, the College will undertake a parallel analysis of the sustainable forestry potential of the project using private consultants and staff from the Vermont Department of Forest and Parks. A core group of Working Group members who are on campus this summer will serve in an advisory role and the full Working Group will reconvene in the fall.
The Working Group also initiated a system for measuring both the carbon reduction and financial aspects of the CRI. Bob Osborne also hopes to conduct assessments of behavioral and attitudinal change or shifts. From the beginning, the Working Group has recognized that it could have even broader impact through replication and is planning to share its process with other institutions. Several members of the CRI presented a similar progress report to the Community Council yesterday, where there was continued interest and support for the initiative. A copy of the Progress Report will be available for Environmental Council members once final editing is completed.
Nan noted Env. Council members who had also participated on the CRI Working Group (Doug Dagan, Helen Young, Connie Leach Bisson, and Nan as co-Chair). She then introduced Asher Burns-Burg who had joined the EC for the CRI presentation and thanked him for all he had brought to the committee. Asher noted that Nan had covered the highlights of the past five months well and stressed the importance of continuing the momentum, noting the need to integrate coordination of the project into a staff position and to hire a student to undertake much of the education through the Commons.
A question was asked about the College's air conditioning policy. Nan shared that the Thermal Comfort policy recommended by the Air Conditioning Committee had been accepted and would be implemented immediately. One change to the policy was the authorization to accept appeals or change the policy. Bob Huth is responsible for all non-academic spaces and Ron Liebowitz for academic areas. The focus of the policy was to provide comfort. It does not recommend air conditioning for residential areas but prioritizes teaching areas of the Language School.
3. Environmental Policy
Charlotte and Connie highlighted the changes made to the Environmental Policy based on suggestions from EC members at the April 1, 2003 meeting. After a short discussion Doug moved and Andi seconded that the changes to the Environmental Policy be approved as presented to be forwarded on to the President for his consideration. The vote was unanimous. (Approved Environmental Policy attached.)
4. Environmental Council Purposes and Membership
Charlotte and Connie reviewed the changes to this document. There was discussion about the process for appointing a community member and concern that much of the EC's work may not be particularly interesting to a community member. The EC decided to remove the community member but add an alumna or alumnus that was living within the region. Diane suggested inviting someone from the community to participate in a subcommittee when the focus was pertinent to the town or region.
Doug moved and Andi seconded that the document be revised as discussed during today's meeting and then forwarded to the President for his consideration. The motion carried unanimously. (Approved Environmental Council Purposes and Membership attached.)
5. Committee Reports
Purchasing and Consumption
The Subcommittee did a lot of information gathering that may carry over into policy or guidelines development in the future. They will be providing a reference binder to Purchasing, Operations and the Campus Sustainability Coordinator with websites and information about Environmentally Preferable Purchasing. The subcommittee did not have time to develop a paper reduction program. There was a suggestion of developing this in conjunction with the CRI next year.
Land Use
The Lands Subcommittee will be meeting with Tom Corbin next week to review their draft Guidelines for a Land Stewardship Policy. Then they will meet with Ron Liebowitz to see if the Administration will present it to the Trustees. It would be helpful to have an endorsement from the Environmental Council. The Subcommittee used the "Guiding Principles", developed by the Environmental Council to address sustainable design and construction that was endorsed by the Trustees, as its model.
This policy focuses on non-campus lands (outside the area of the main campus) and excludes non-domestic lands. They used the ES 401 fall senior seminar work as their springboard.
Five principles:
- environmental sustainability
- fiscally responsible
- aesthetics – traditional (pastoral) Vermont landscape
- part of broader ecosystem
- compatible uses
Lands given to the College as gifts – allow opportunity to consider the parcel for ecological conservation or restoration before selling.
Categories of land: residential properties, byway corridors, forest lands, agricultural lands, recreational lands, commercial holdings, lands given in gifts, research sites
A Land Management Plan will be written for each category and will conform to the Guiding Principles for Land Stewardship.
A concern was raised whether staff would be able to write individual land management plans and/or an annual report. This issue will be explored further. Helen Young asked whether we knew enough in Bullet 4 since "resilience" is not measurable. (*Lands are managed in ways that reduce the fragmentation of native ecological communities and enhance the resilience of those communities.) The subcommittee will rework this section.
Doug motioned, seconded by David West that the Environmental Council support moving the Land Stewardship Policy forward. The motion was unanimously endorsed.
Education
This subcommittee had limited activities this year due to lack of members. Next year, it might be useful to look at partnering with the Carbon Reduction Initiative to assist with the educational component of their plan.
6. Seniors
Nan acknowledged the three seniors on the Environmental Council (Doug Dagan, Jesi Warren, and Ben Wessler) and thanked them for their many contributions. Connie distributed a small gift to each.
Environmental Council members should let Connie know if they would like to continue to serve on the Council next year.
ENVIRONMENTAL POLICIES
The College trustees, in May 1995, endorsed the following mission statement prepared by the Environmental Council:
"Middlebury College as a liberal arts institution is committed to environmental mindfulness and stewardship in all its activities. This commitment arises from a sense of concerned citizenship and moral duty and from a desire to teach and lead by example. The College gives a high priority to integrating environmental awareness and responsibility into the daily life of the institution. Respect and care for the environment, sustainable living, and intergenerational responsibility are among the fundamental values that guide planning, decision making, and procedures. All individuals in this academic community have personal responsibility for the way their actions affect the local and global environment."
These environmental values are a systemic part of the vision and operation of Middlebury College. This community both celebrates and is challenged by Middlebury's Environmental Peak of Excellence, seeking ways to responsibly transcribe this ethic into action and leadership for the common good.
As a College we are committed to:
*consistently assessing and improving our environmental performance
*integrating environmental concernsand sustainable development principles into all planning and design decisions, as well as maintenance andmanagement of our infrastructure and lands
* addressing the challenges of becoming a pedestrian campus
* employing the goal of making environmentally and fiscally responsible purchasing choices, recognizing entire life cycles for energy and material resources
* supporting the local economy and community through environmental education, purchasing, and other College operations
* encouraging and facilitating research on environmental sustainability while maintaining support for existing campus sustainability programs
* supporting initiatives of students in building Middlebury's Environmental Peak of Excellence
* ensuring that academic, co-curricular and institutional training programs enable students and employees to develop their environmental awareness and their understanding of the importance of environmental responsibility
* utilizing the residential Commons system to build vibrant communities of students who are environmentally responsible citizens and have an understanding of and respect for this bioregion
challenging every College member to share the environmental valuesthat develop through teaching, learning, working, research and living at Middlebury withwider lifetime communities around the world
Links to Middlebury College Environmental Initiatives
Carbon Reduction Initiative
Composting
Cornerstone
Deconstruction
Dining Services Environmental programs
Emissions Inventory
Environmental Council
Environmental Grants
Environment Peak of Excellence
Environmental Studies
Graduation Pledge
Green Certified Wood
Guiding Principles
Land Stewardship Policy
Recycling
State of the Environment Report 1998
Sustainable Design & Construction Standards
Wind Monitoring Project
B. Environmental Council
1. Purposes
a. To promote lifelong environmental awareness among faculty, staff, students and alumni.
b. To make policy recommendations to the President of the College designed to:
i. insure a safe and healthy environment for all who live and work on the College campus.
ii. promote environmentally sound ecological (air, land and water) stewardship practices.
iii. promote throughout the College community conservation of resources, energy efficiency, waste reduction and recycling, pollution prevention, increased reliance on renewable resources, and other measures consistent with sustainable living.
iv. further long-range environmental planning by the College.
v. assist the College in carrying out its civic responsibilities in the area of the environment.
c.oversee a biannual College-wide assessment process to ensure strong environmental performance and share the assessment with members of the College community.
d. encourage faculty to provide students opportunities within the framework of academic courses to conduct research on campus and local environmental issues; and to ensure that such research is shared with the Environmental Council and appropriate officials within and outside the College so that it can be used to formulate improved policies and programs.
e. design and coordinate environmental programs on campus as directed by the President.
2. Membership
Members are appointed to the Environmental Council as follows (continuing membership is encouraged):
a. Director of Environmental Affairs shall automatically be chair.
b. Campus Sustainability Coordinator shall automatically be vice chair and project coordinator.
c. The President may appoint a member of the College community to serve as co-chair of the council.
d. Seven student representatives shall be appointed by the Student Government Association, through the appointment process in the fall. If replacements are needed in the spring, this process will be repeated. The Environmental Council shall supply the SGA with criteria, students shall apply to the SGA, and an Environmental Council representative can sit on the interviewing committee without a vote.
e. Three or four staff representatives shall be appointed by the Staff Council during the summer. The Environmental Council shall supply the Staff Council with criteria and recommendations and staff will apply to the Staff Council during the summer.
f. Three or four faculty representatives shall be appointed by the Faculty Council (Committee on Committees) as part of the regular faculty committee appointment process. The Environmental Council will supply the Faculty Council with criteria and recommendations.
g. One alumnus/a shall be appointed by members of the Environmental Council.
h. Members of the town community may be appointed to subcommittees on an as-needed basis.
Members are expected to attend Environmental Council meetings on a regular basis and actively participate on one or more subcommittees. Inactive members will be replaced.