March 2, 2004

Environmental Council

Minutes ofMarch 2, 2004 

Old Chapel 401  ~  4:30 p.m.

Attending:  Nan Jenks-Jay (co-Chair), Steve Trombulak (co-Chair), Connie Leach Bisson (Vice Chair), Jeff Munroe, David Stoll, Diane Munroe, Gail Smith, Ashley Clark, Erika Holsman, Ian Ausprey, Phil Aroneanu, Alyse Forrest, JS Woodward, Robin Dean, Andrea Hamre, Suzanne Nagi

Missing:  Anne Knowles, Charlotte Tate, Carolyn Barnwell, McKalyn Garrity, Kristin Fraser

Announcements:

Suzanne Nagi, Alyse Forrest and Connie Leach Bisson shared reflections from the Northeast Climate Conference.  Over 400 students attended this event at Harvard with eight students from Middlebury. 

Suzanne announced that EQ was hosting a campus-based organizer's training beginning at 7 p.m. on Friday and continuing on Saturday.

Connie shared that Krista Siringo, Chris Loeffler, Becky Potts '04, Lauren Miller '07 and alum Simon Issacs attended a Business Sustainability conference at Dartmouth hosted by their Business and Engineering schools.  The keynote was provided by former British Petroleum CEO Steve Percy (father of Middlebury student) and provided a framework for how the company is shifting from providing fossil fuel products to energy services. There were workshops about Micro-Financing, Greening the Supply Chain and Sustainable Partnerships.

Nan announced that Environmental Affairs will be dedicating some funds to support student research with faculty on environmental projects to replace funding previous providing through a Mellon grant.  A specific announcement about this opportunity will be coming soon.

1. Minutes ofFebruary 17, 2004
   The minutes of February 17 were accepted as presented.
   
   
2. Paper Reduction subcommittee
   The Paper Reduction subcommittee requested funds to purchase display ad space in The Campus Newspaper and Also magazine to highlight the paper consumption in the public computer labs and opportunities for reducing paper waste.  Nan offered to fund this cost ($125 for The Campus and $150 for Also) from an Environmental Affairs account.
   
   Ian presented a draft policy that the subcommittee had been developing. 
   Incremental paper use is increasing. Based on historical trends noted in the subcommittee's draft policy the number of pages per student jumped from 367 pages in 1996 to 634 pages in 1997.  Another jump occurred between 1998 with 590 pages and 1999 when the per capita paper consumption in computer labs increased to 815 pages.  In 2003, students consumed 722 pages per capita.  Nan asked whether the committee had any sense of what was going on across campus to cause this.  The committee is still exploring this but E-reserves started to be used about 4 years ago. 
   
   The committee surveyed 17 peer institutions that were using some sort of printing quota/charging system and 9 sent responses.  The charges ranged from $10-$25 per semester, or 400-800 pages for those using a quota system.  Students who reached their quota could pay for additional pages at a cost ranging from $0.05 - $0.14 per page.  Some institutions experienced a negative response at first but all reported satisfaction with their systems for regulating printing and Occidental College reported that printing dropped by up to 50%.  Nan noted that the west had experienced the same pattern with residential water use when it shifted to a metered system.  "It heightens one's consciousness about quantities used when having to pay for the amount used."
   
   Based on data available, the average per capita use at Middlebury is about 720 pages/year.  635 pages would be 80%.  Steve noted that there is really no objective way to know what the target reduction ought to be. 
   
   The committee is researching three different software systems.  Steve suggested that in preparing for this recommendation, it would be helpful to estimate the potential cost savings if paper use dropped from 720 to 650 pages.  This would save "x" per year.
   
   What type of data is available for feedback to faculty and staff? This could be incorporated into the environmental assessment.  Connie and Gail will look in to ways of providing information to employees regarding paper use trends.
   
   Erika wondered if the quota system might shift faculty back to using coursepacks.  Nan shared that we should explore unanticipated consequences.  How would less paper in the recycling stream affect revenues and operating costs since there would be less paper to handle?
   
   The co-Chairs thanked the Paper Reduction subcommittee, noting it was very exciting work.  Steve encouraged them to include quotes from other schools in their report.  Nan also noted that the issue of paper reduction is of concern to others including the Dean of Library and Information Services, Director of Communications, and Director of Organizational Effectiveness.  Ian shared that the subcommittee will meet on Monday at 4 pm in the Service Building if others wished to join this effort.
   
   3.  Environmental Grants
   Connie reported that seven grant proposals had been received on February 18th.  The subcommittee met the next day and sent a recommendation to the co-Chairs that each proposal receive some funding.  Connie summarized each proposal.  Grant letters were sent on Monday, with some requesting additional information before the formal award could be determined.
    
   FAIR BEANS – a student-led campaign seeks to make Fair Trade, shade-grown, organic coffee the only coffee served in all college dining halls, and that it be supplied by a local roaster.  Funding would be used to increase awareness of the benefits of Fair Trade coffee and send students to a Fair Trade regional conference.  They also hope to host a symposium on campus to enable greater exploration of the issues involved in specifying only Fair Trade coffee purchasing for the campus.
   
   CHILDREN'S GARDEN PROGRAM – Two college seniors in conjunction with Bob Osborne's PY401 class and under the auspices of the Middlebury College Organic Garden request funding to develop a Children's Garden environmental education program for elementary school children.  Students from PY401 will be involved in creating the curriculum and visiting area schools to present lessons to prepare the children to work in the garden in May.
   
   PHOTOGRAPHING THE MIDDLEBURY ENVIRONMENT--  A senior has requested funding to produce an educational, creative and provocative documentary of human/environment interactions at Middlebury College.  The proposal includes two independent but complementary photo essays:  a collection of nature photography telling stories from the landholdings of Middlebury College; and a series of humorous, critical and eccentric images highlighting energy and resource consumption at Middlebury.  The images from each project will be exhibited in College buildings at the end of the semester and then made available to Environmental Affairs, Environmental Studies, the Geography Department and relevant student organizations for their on-going use.
   
   COMPLETING MIDDLEBURY CAMPUS PUBLICATIONS' MOVE TOWARD ALL-DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY -- Four years ago 100% of the Middlebury Campus photographs were the product of traditional film processing – now it is approximately only one-third.  An environmental grant funded the newspaper's first purchase of a digital camera and they have purchase a second digital camera.  Now with responsibility for both a weekly newspaper and bimonthly magazine and a 50% larger staff, the demand for use of the two digital cameras has substantially increased.  With the purchase of another digital camera it is their goal to achieve 90% digital photography for the newspaper and 70% digital photography for the magazine this semester.  A longer range objective is to totally eliminate darkroom processing for both the newspaper and magazine by February, 2005.
   
   WIND TURBINE FEASIBILITY -- Proposed by a collaborative team including a first year and senior, ES faculty member, and staff members from LIS and Facilities Management, the applicants request funds to hire a wind consultant to assist in identifying the best site(s) for a small wind turbine (10KW) on the central campus, at Breadloaf or the Snow Bowl.  This consultant will help this team craft a proposal to bring before the Administration that includes information about the preferred site, a description of the technology, and outline of logistics and methodology for accomplishing the installation, and a budget.  If acceptable to the Administration, the applicants will then submit a proposal to the Vermont Public Service Department who are currently offering grant funds for small-scale wind projects at educational institutions on an 80% State- 20% applicant basis.

SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE INVESTING – Requested by two sophomores, this project seeks funding to examine the economic viability of SRI as a long-term investment strategy, tapping the expertise of an SRI consultant.  The applicants will assess the support for a Socially Responsible Investment initiative at Middlebury.  A diverse and integrated group of faculty, staff and students from the College would be formed to conduct a multi-tiered analysis, experiment with a sample portfolio, and present their findings in a comprehensive report that details a recommended course of action and timeline for the future. 

SLOW THE PLOUGH—Two sophomores, organic garden advisor Jay Leshinsky and J-term faculty member Nadine Barnicle requested funds to create displays to communicate the mission of Slow the Plough and how it interacts with academics, dining services, sustainability and student participation on campus.  Framed signs for the dining halls and a transportable display will be developed.

 
Connie will provide a summary of grant awards to the co-sponsoring Commons and will provide a press release to The Campus Newspaper.

1.  Fair Trade Coffee
   Phil will bring a draft resolution to the next meeting.

1. Next Meeting
   The Co-Chairs will talk with each subcommittee chair to determine the best use for the next Environmental Council meeting (March 16 at 4:30).  It is likely that this time will be dedicated to subcommittee work.

1. Next Year
   Nan asked members to think about how best to introduce the Environmental Council and its work to the new President and proceed with building an alliance with him or her.

The meeting adjourned at 5:40 p.m.

Attachment:  Draft Paper Reduction Subcommittee Policy Recommendation

For Consideration by the Environmental Council:

A Paper Reduction Subcommittee Policy Recommendation

Draft 1: March 2, 2004

Outline of the Paper Consumption Issue

Paper consumption on the Middlebury College campus has considerable environmental and economic consequences.  With the perspective of life-cycle analysis, the full environmental costs of paper may be illuminated: tremendous resources are used in the cultivation of trees, chemical processing, transportation, and waste disposal/recycling process.  A reduction in paper consumption reduces our environmental impact from paper at each of these stages.  Economically, excessive and wasteful paper consumption diverts resources that could be used more efficiently and productively. 

The Environmental Council's Paper Reduction subcommittee spent the fall of 2003 collecting data on public lab paper consumption, researching policies and reviewing quota and charge systems at other academic institutions, and generating educational materials. 

Statistics

As a result of our efforts, we discovered that 12% of all the paper printed in public labs, equaling about 171 pounds, is wasted in public labs each week (wasted is here defined as being thrown directly into recycling bins in the public labs themselves).  This equals 34 reams of paper and equals about two trees and a cost of $102.

We are continuing to research historical trends of paper consumption in public labs. Thus far, we have the following historical statistics for paper purchased for public labs:

Peer Institution Surveys

Between November 2003 and January 2004 we surveyed 17 peer institutions that had been previously identified as regulating computer print-offs via quota/charging systems. Sample questions are included in Appendix I. Nine institutions responded. Their responses combined with data from unresponsive school websites indicates that seven of the initially targeted institutions impose per semester print-off quotas while five schools maintain monetary thresholds. Students who eclipse these limits are allowed to print at an additional cost ranging from $.05 to $.14 per page. Representatives from the responding schools were unanimous in expressing their satisfaction with their regulatory software. Many indicated a dramatic decrease in the amount of waste found in computer labs. At Occidental College, for instance, total student printing declined by 50% during the first year of regulation measures.

Responsive institutions were also unanimous in the lack of severe resistance encountered from students and faculty when implementing their systems. Computing representatives indicated that while students were at first upset with the regulation, they came to realize the necessity of its implementation.

General Policy Recommendation

There is an observable trend among academic institutions to address the issue of excess paper consumption through quota and charging systems. As an institution with a national reputation for environmental stewardship and leadership, it is certainly time for Middlebury College to address this issue with a quota or charge system.  Therefore, our subcommittee recommends a quota system based on the current average per-student paper consumption is: 825 pages.  Taking the estimate of 12% waste, a recommended quota would be 726 pages annually. Students would be allocated 726 sheets of paper each year, beyond which each sheet would be billed to the student at cost determined by ITS to satisfactorily reimburse costs.