Environmental Council
Minutes of September 29, 2005
Old Chapel 401 4:30-5:40
Attending: Nan Jenks-Jay (Chair), Jay Leshinsky ( Temporary Vice Chair), Glenn Andres, Don Mitchell, Matt Landis, Brenda Ellis, Charlotte Tate, Alexandra Coleman, Robert Levine, Austin Levihn-Coon, Aaron Tucker, Caitlin Matthews, Marie Horbar, Katie Flagg, Moriah Helms, Nick Dickerson, Jon Warnow.
Missing: Diane Munroe
The meeting began at 4:35.
Welcome
Nan welcomed the Environmental Council and asked that everyone introduce him or herself.
History
Nan provided a brief history of the Environmental Council. The Environmental Council began as the Energy Council in the 1970's. Through significant efforts in efficiency and conservation and infrastructure investment including co-generation at the central heating plant, dramatic energy savings were achieved and the Energy Council was discontinued. In the early 1990's, the Council was re-constituted with a broader charge and renamed the Environmental Council.
The Environmental Council is a standing committee of the College and reports directly to the President. It may recommend policy to go to the President or the President's Executive Council. Important recent projects initiated or overseen by the Council were the Carbon Reduction Initiative, Environmental Grants program and the Audit of College Sustainability. Over the past 7 years $75,000 of Environmental Grant funds were awarded to student, staff and faculty projects.
Nan mentioned that President Liebowitz was trying to schedule time to participate in at least two E.C. meetings this year. He is committed to funding the Environmental Grants program and the money available for the current grant year should be in the Council account very soon. Nan noted that Middlebury is a leader in campus sustainability and the Environmental Council keeps Middlebury on the leading edge.
Highlights of Environmental Council 2004-05
Charlotte Tate, a staff member of the Environmental Council since 2000-01 provided a summary of work undertaken by the EC in 04-05. The subcommittees for 2004-05 were: the Cornwall Path. Pedestrian Campus, Purchasing, Alternative Gifts Fair and Environmental Grants.
Environmental Affairs dedicated $2000 to the Environmental Grants funding. The Environmental Grants subcommittee creatively used this amount to award 8 environmental grants in the spring; 7 $100 mini grants were awarded plus 1 $500 mini grant ($100 for each Commons). The following grants were funded.
Clothes drying Rack
Yellow Bikes Bike Work Stand
Greenhouse Water Collection
Humanely Manage Feral Cats
Local Foods for ES Colloquium
Salad Spinner Bicycle
Campus Climate Change Education
Composting Bags/Colloquium lunches
The Council members were also asked to generate a list of 5 things they would like to see on campus by 2012. This process helped identify the following missing pieces. Transportation related emissions had not been addressed as part of the Pedestrian Campus, CSO could offer more environmental internships, ES majors could benefit from more community support and there was a need for workshops addressing technical issues
(e.g. How to build a green roof, how to modify a vehicle to use bio fuel).
Announcements
Bobby Levine announced that he is the new 'Yellow bikes Coordinator. He also announced his efforts to institutionalize environmental awareness as part of the new student orientation process.
Current issues
Nan mentioned that several of the Council initiatives had been taken up by the new task forces that were part of the administration's strategic planning process. Some of the E.C. sub-committee reports were embedded in those task force reports. The direction taken by these groups may not be known for a while. Charlotte suggested that the Council may need to take up issues not addressed by the strategic planning groups.
There have been rumors that the College made a decision about the Cornwall Path, but the council hasn't received any notification. Tom McGinn is currently the contact person at Facilities for this item and Jay will ask him to join us at our next meeting for an update.
Nan mentioned that the Land Policy has been "fallow" for the past few years and may be an issued to be revived. She also mentioned Middlebury's recycling and reuse programs as one of the things we do well. Even with the focus on green buildings Middlebury's energy use has spiked with the opening of Bi-Centennial Hall and the new library. Glenn mentioned that air conditioning is one of the issues being approached more thoughtfully in new buildings.
Nan related how the College is looking at different methods of carbon reduction. Bio-diesel is being used in some gators and in some small buildings, there is a solar panel on Farrell House and the new wind turbine is measuring electrical generation at the recycling center. The College is using the GEM electric vehicles and co-generates 15% of its electricity from steam from the boiler.
The College has some achievements in Pedestrian Campus initiatives (shuttles and collaboration with ACTR), but there is no comprehensive transportation plan. We weren't able to purchase ZIP cars because of high insurance costs for students under 25. In other sustainability initiatives Dining Services buys 25-33% of its food from local vendors or distributors. Pam Fogg and Nadine Barnicle are working on a paper reduction initiative and have found sources for 100% post consumer recycled, non chlorine paper.
Nan closed by suggesting that the members think about their particular areas of interest and send them to Jay electronically before the next meeting.
The meeting adjourned at 5:40 p.m.
Minutes of October 13, 2005
Old Chapel 401 4:30-5:40
Attending: Nan Jenks-Jay (Chair), Jay Leshinsky ( Temporary Vice Chair), Glenn Andres, Don Mitchell, Matt Landis, Diane Munroe, Charlotte Tate, Alexandra Coleman, Austin Levihn-Coon, Aaron Tucker, Caitlin Matthews, Marie Horbar, Katie Flagg, Moriah Helms, Nick Dickerson, Jon Warnow.
Not present: Drew Macan, Brenda Ellis.
The meeting began at 4:35.
Announcements
Nan announced that President Liebowitz allocated $25,000 for the Environmental Grant program. Glenn announced a series of lectures entitled Architecture &... "Remaking the Way We Make Things". The first lecture is "Building Momentum: Green Design Comes of Age on October 26th at 7 PM. Nan announced that our Central Heating Plant co-generation system (Combined Heat and Power Plant) has won a 2005 Energy Star Award. This award is presented on behalf of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy.
Cornwall Path
Nan welcomed guests Anne Knowles, Tom Corbin, Tom McGinn and Luther Tenny. Anne is chair of the Cornwall Path subcommittee and presented a history of the project including a summary of the spring 2005 findings of the subcommittee. Their recommendation was to build a path along Route 125 staying off road through College property to James Road. Also MALT was given a right-of-way through the Rockefeller property which would allow the path to continue to Lemmon Fair Road. The Athletic Department also gave its support to this project. Anne reported the Town of Cornwall did a study of possible town path along Route 30 or Route 125. The engineer's report from that study is to be released on October 14, 2005. Anne asked for a summary of the College's position on the path. Nan passed around a letter of June 23rd, 2005 from Bob Huth, Executive Vice President and Treasure of the College which stated his preference to participate in a widening of Route 125 based upon the model of the Route 23 widening in 2000. Tom Corbin added that the College had concerns about safety and maintenance of an off road path. There are also issues of the path going through wetland and farmlands. There was a discussion of availability of State funding for widening Route 125. Anne said that DOT told the subcommittee that there wasn't money for widening Route 125 in the near future. Tom McGinn stated that there was a fund at the DOT for local initiatives and that it needed to be pursued through the Addison County Regional Planning Commission. Nan suggested that when Susan Personette's planning process is completed that path can be included as a formal part of the College planning process.
Glenn suggested that this project can be an opportunity for collaboration among the College, Cornwall and the State of Vermont rather than solely a College project. Tom McGinn said that the College's goal was to make Route 125 safer and if the DOT got involved that could even include leveling the two hummocks on Route 125. Nan suggested that Tom Corbin, Tom McGinn, Luther Tenny and Anne Knowles study the Cornwall report and after evaluating it send an electronic update to the Environmental Council. The Council can use the findings to craft a letter of support for the next phase of the project.
Other Items
Tom McGinn mentioned that a proposal for a hydro-generation of electricity at Lake Pleiad for the Snow Bowl might be a good demonstration project, but was not economically feasible. Tom also reported that the Trustees endorsed Facilities' Biomass boiler presentation and the project will move ahead. Caitlin Matthews reported that the Sunday Night student group was trying to establish a 2 Degrees Program that would lower thermostats in certain dorms around campus. Jon Warnow wanted to know if anyone knew why previous efforts to reduce set points have failed. Tom offered that it could be related to different set points in different buildings. He offered data from Facilities that could help with the 2 degrees project. Charlotte Tate suggested that energy saving hints (like closing windows) could be more effective if groups other than the E.C. also communicated them around campus.
Tom also mentioned the proposed Brainerd Commons "pool party" which had many positive attributes, but one troubling energy use aspect. The pool temperature was to be raised 6 degrees for the pool party. It will take about 400 gallons of oil to raise the temperature of the 275,000 gallons of water in the pool by 6 degrees for that one evening. It will take a week to accomplish this, and another week for it to cool down to standard temp. As a benchmark, the average house has a 275-gallon oil tank, and one fill-up will heat an average house for about a month. Discussion ensured about the best way to turn this into a "teachable moment". Nan asked if the Council would like to take a position on this issue. Is there a precedent for the Environmental Council to take a stand on specific issues? In the recent past the Council did take a position about printer use in dorms. Diane recommended that two students serving on the Environmental Council, who are from Brainerd Commons agreed to talk to their Commons about the environmental concerns about this activity Nan will write a letter to Susan Personette about the E.C. position on this issue.
Jay reviewed the process for discussing and choosing the Council's "areas of interest for the upcoming year. Since little time was left in the meeting Jay will share people's ideas by e-mail so they can be reviewed before the next meeting.
Nan recounted that the 10 year report made 46 recommendations, most of which have been accomplished. With the College's strategic planning task force reports due soon this could be a time for the Council to work as efficiently as possible without many subcommittee meetings and pursue initiatives that can be accomplished this year.
The meeting adjourned at 5:45 p.m.
Minutes of October 27, 2005
Guests: Ron Liebowitz, Pam Fogg, Nadine Barnicle
First order of business: approved the minutes from the previous meeting
Nadine and Pam – invited to discuss paper project
Pam Fogg, Maggie Payne, and Nan began discussions of paper use on campus in regards to publications and printing, especially considering that the College has plans for a new campaign starting next yearNadine is a consultant hired to work on the paper use projectPam is working on a national level to infuse sustainability within a national design organizationNadine briefly presented the project, which strives to develop an institution-wide sustainability program for the production of printing and publishingExamining the economic, technological, institutional, and environmental aspects of printing and publishing on campusConsidering taking this program to other institutions of higher education eventuallyPlan to: look at sustainable paper industry practices, characterize today's campus practices, and query other institutions in green printingBriefly spoke about pulp and paper industry; explained that the school has looked at Mohawk Paper Company in Albany, NY, which uses wind power almost exclusively and has a large line of recycled paper, very little waste, a strong environmental record, and is committed to only buying North American pulpIdentified other companies that the College is considering negations with – Boise Cascade, International Paper, Neenah, Monadnak, othersExplained that $58,500 spent on paper for copiers and printers in 2004 fiscal yearTouched on a survey sent out to all coordinators on campus that indicated that availability is the most important factor in selecting paper for usSpoke with reprographics – open to sustainable practicesMany current publications are moving towards partial ore complete recycled contentIdentified paper allowances and duplex printing as current methods working to minimize paper consumption, and explained that we should look into responsible fiber sourcing and maximizing recycled contentNext steps include targeting paper suppliers, getting more information from other schools, characterizing student use from prior research, creating strategies for implementation, and crafting a time frameNadine and Pam answers questions from the Council, noting that the biggest paper user on campus is the library; briefly discussed the College's relationship with International Paper and the social implications of that business relationship; noted that most printers on campus use soy based ink with petroleum content.Explained that the project still needs to address communication issuesCharlotte expressed interest in paper reductionBrenda Ellis from LIS explained that the library has ordered paper tracking technology and software that will help reduce paper waste in library printing by requiring users to release print jobs at the computer at library printersTouched on printing quota
Update on the Brainerd Pool Party
Moriah and Nick reported on communications with Brainerd Commons – miscommunication with the Commons Council meant that the EC's message didn't get throughCharlotte Tate reported that, after communicating with folks on campus, the temperature of the pool is being raised from 81 to 87 degrees for the partyQuestion raised of how to mitigate the impact that this event is havingCommunicated some sense of relief that the degrees raised has been slightly amended and lowered, but a lot of money and energy is being spentAaron Tucker suggested the council buy green tags, Bobby Levine suggested offsets as a financially reasonable moveDecided to send Moriah and Nick to Commons meeting for a follow up discussion
Environmental Grants
President Liebowitz's office has given $25,000 for environmental grants this yearVolunteers taken to be on working group to chart out means for soliciting grantsDiscussed balancing manageable, smaller projects and larger amounts of moneyAlso want to balance new ideas and creative learning experiences with tangible projects, such as the magazine, hybrid cars, et cetera