Environmental Council
Minutes of December 2, 2003
Old Chapel Room 401
Attending: Connie Leach Bisson (Vice Chair), Anne Knowles, Jeff Munroe, David Stoll, Diane Munroe, Charlotte Tate, Phil Aroneanu, JS Woodward, Kristin Fraser, Suzanne Nagi, Andrea Hamre, Carolyn Barnwell, Ashley Clark, McKalyn Garrity
Absent: Steve Trombulak (Co-Chair), Nan Jenks-Jay (Co-Chair), Gail Smith, Erika Holsman, Robin Dean, Alysse Forest, Asher Burns-Burg
The meeting convened at 5:25 after the completion of subcommittee meetings.
1. The minutes of November 18, 2003 were unanimously accepted as written.
2. Committee Updates
Paper Reduction – Phil reported on the analysis of paper tracked from computer labs during the full week before Thanksgiving. Overall, 141,541 pages were printed and 17,100 (12%) were discarded to recycling bins in the lab areas. Starr Library lobby users discarded the largest percentage of paper at 6,200 sheets (27%). The committee plans to focus on education during J-Term by creating posters and table tents, and hopefully getting the background for the computer screen changed to include new messages about paper reduction.
The subcommittee is also planning an open meeting on Tuesday, January 6th at 4 pm (location to be announced) to discuss potential components to a paper reduction policy or guideline. In particular, they will invite staff from LIS. In addition, they will continue to document the experiences of other schools that have already implemented a quota or pay per page system.
Earth Charter—The subcommittee has sent out letters to all the schools that endorsed the Earth Charter. During J-Term they plan to talk with faculty on campus to learn what they think about the Earth Charter. They will also be assessing what the college has already accomplished that endorses the Earth Charter.
Land Use – A member of the subcommittee is participating on the biomass subcommittee of the Carbon Reduction Initiative. The College has contracted with Vermont Family Forests to study whether there is a sustainable supply of wood in the area that could fuel a biomass (woodchip boiler) facility for the college. Forestland owned by the College could represent a portion of this fuel source.
There still has not been a reply from the Administration on the draft Land Use Policy. Connie said that she would check in with Steve about this since Provost Ron Liebowitz will be on leave for the first half of 2004. Anne reported that on the GIS front there had been a meeting with Steve Weber, Pam Norton, and Tom Corbin and they were very supportive of the idea of creating a campus GIS map. Pam has been working on a database that she will provide to Anne for her class to use in the spring. Steve will provide parcel data. Bill Hegman will work with Pam, Steve and a staff person from the Regional Planning Commission to ready the materials for the class.
Environmental Assessment – The subcommittee continues to enhance its categories and the indicators within each category for this year's environmental assessment. They have also detailed key contacts to work with for each category. During J-Term they hope to survey students on a variety of issues and are also exploring some sort of survey for employees. The subcommittee plans to begin collecting data for the assessment by working first with the Academics category as staff from the Mellon Foundation will be on campus conducting a review of the ES program and are interested in similar data. Mellon sent a 2-page list of indicators that they would like data on. The subcommittee members will work with others from ES and Institutional research to gather this information.
3. Meeting dates in January
EC members determined that Tuesdays at the same time would continue to be a good meeting time. Meetings will be held on Tuesday, January 13th and January 27th from 4:30-5:45 p.m. (Connie will confirm a meeting location.)
4. Feedback on the Environmental Fair
Phil shared that he thought it was great to have the various environmental organizations featured and the inclusion of the Dining Services people. The challenge remains how to reach people who are not involved in environmental projects. People felt that the Woodstove Lounge space in Proctor may be a better venue for future Environmental Fairs. It was also noted that there were less participants from beyond the campus. Connie shared that eight businesses connected to supplying food to Dining Services were invited but only one business (Gleason Grains) was able to attend due to their own busy holiday schedules.