Environmental Council
Minutes ofDecember 1, 2005
Old Chapel 401
Attending: Nan Jenks-Jay, Diane Munroe, Matt Landis, Aaron Tucker, Austin Levihn-Coon, Bobby Levine, Alexandra Coleman, Don Mitchell, Nick Dickerson, Moriah Helms, Charlotte Tate, Caitlin Matthews, Katie Flagg, Glenn Andres, Drew Macan, Jon Warnow, Jack Byrne, Brenda Ellis.
Meeting began at 4:30.
Nan introduced Jack Byrne who has been hired as the Campus Sustainability Coordinator. Jack gave a brief biography and said how much he appreciated the warm and enthusiastic response he's received from the many people he has met over the first two days on the job.
Announcements
Nan encouraged anyone interested to consider applying for the National Wildlife Federation Campus Ecology Student Fellowships. The application deadline is December 20. Several Middlebury students have been awarded fellowships for some great projects. More info at: http://www.nwf.org/campusEcology/dspFellowships.cfm
Dec 8th is the deadline for comments on how the College should respond to International Paper's proposed tire burn test permit.
Diane's Service Learning class project: "72 Hours of Light" will receive a Governor's Award for Environmental Excellence – Congratulations! Governor Douglas will present the award to the class members on December 8th at the Vermont Statehouse. Thanks to Efficiency Vermont for nominating the project.
Jon reports that 130 Middlebury students will be traveling tomorrow to attend the UN Climate Change Conference underway in Montreal, where officials are reviewing and updating the Kyoto protocol on lowering greenhouse gas emissions.
Caitlin updated the Council on the minus 2 degree campaign. Great progress has been made – a recent survey garnered an amazing 1,081 responses. Seventy- two percent of those surveyed would support a 2 degree (F) reduction in classroom and dormitory thermostats in winter. The next step is to work with George McPhail, Eli Berman, Patrick, and Tim Spears to get their backing. Environmental Council support and comment on a letter explaining the need and request for implementing the change is needed – stay tuned.
Austin reports for the social investing committee that a letter to President Lebowitz has been sent, and we are awaiting his response.
Alexandra shared information from the New Jersey Partnership for Sustainable Education about their recycle media project "Sustainomania."
Campus environmental grants
Nan provided information about the campus environmental grants for 2005-06. The President has made $25,000 available to the Council for the program. It does not have to be granted entirely in 2005-06, some can be carried over into the next fiscal year if need be. Grants will be made in two categories: a) the Council will solicit proposals from areas with known needs for capital investment; and b) in response to a general campus wide request for proposals to be made after invited proposals are identified.
Nan mentioned some prospects for invited proposals: The Midd Alumni magazine, which goes out to 40,000 recipients, could be printed more sustainably by Mohawk Printing which derives much of its energy from wind power and manufactures GreenSeal certified recycled paper (to be clarified later). Could subsidize switch for $2,000. We could assist Breadloaf Campus with a solar power system for wireless internet service. And the college will be purchasing a gas-electric hybrid vehicle for the campus rental fleet. We could put a GPS navigator in the car to add to the interest in using the vehicle – our goal would be to make it the most requested vehicle on campus. Biodiesel - seniors vote $15,000 for biodiesel bus rides. Bobby Levine mentioned that we could help fund the replacement of all the remaining residential hall light bulbs with compact florescent bulbs for about $4,000 which would both save money and reduce emissions. If the college were to replace 3,000 incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescents, at two hour per day usage, the college would save $75,000 per year and reduce carbon emissions by 6,000 metric tons per year.
The Grants subcommittee should meet to decide how and where to communicate about the grants program. We want to reach into all recesses as much as possible to make people aware of the opportunity and to encourage collaboration on submitting proposals.
Project Subcommittees
The Council members sorted themselves into the following subcommittees and then met to put together their goals and tasks for the coming year:
- Tree mapping
Nan Jenks-Jay, Matt Landis
- Environmental Grants
Alex Coleman, Caitlin Matthews, Jack Byrne, Diane Munro, Nan Jenks-Jay, Charlotte Tate
- College Lands & Stewardship
Nick Dickerson, Matt Landis, Diane Munro, Charlotte Tate, Nan Jenks-Jay
- Increasing Local Foods
Nan will talk to Jay Leshinsky about helping with this.
- Environmental Orientations
Caitlin Matthews, Drew McCann, Bobby Levine, Don Mitchell
- Pedestrian Campus
Jon Warnow, Moriah Helms, Glenn Andres, Brenda Ellis,
- Carbon Reduction
Aaron Tucker, Katie Flagg, Alexandra Coleman, Austen Levihn-Coon, Brendan Sullivan, Jack Byrne