Environmental Council
Minutes of March 2, 2006
4:30 pm Old Chapel, Rm 401
Present: Jack Byrne, Glenn Andres, Nan Jenks-Jay, Matt Landis, Diane Munroe, Don Mitchell, Alex Shays Coleman, Katie Flagg, Aaron Tucker
Other Attendees: Tom Corbin, Mike Moser
Minutes of February 16 meeting
Don moved to accept the minutes, Aaron seconded and the minutes were accepted unanimously.
Updates and Announcements
Nan reported that the Lands Committee has reviewed the previous recommendations for policies related to managing college lands which have not yet been adopted (they were developed during the transition from the previous to current administration and trustees). The Committee is in the process of updating it and identifying the areas where it connects to the draft strategic plan. Their goal is to have a revised version for adoption this summer.
Don reported that the Environmental Extravaganza that the Council organized with Environmental Studies and Sunday Night Group students for new Febbs was held on Feb. 21 and was a great success. About 20 new students attended. The highlight of the evening was a well-done skit the SNG students performed. The plot was about a female student trying to decide if she was attracted to a male student who tries to impress her by: bragging about his Hummer SUV, and printing out all his emails to show how popular he is, and turning up the heat so he can walk around in his room bare chested and in shorts and by opening the window when it gets too hot…..Offstage students narrated the thoughts the two characters are having about each other as they interact and in the end the girl falls for another student who comes to her room as part of the compact fluorescent light bulb exchange currently underway. Jack will get the video tape of the skit and put a segment on the EA website.
Glenn mentioned that the college master plan committee has selected a firm to do the plan – the Michael Dennis group of Boston. The college will also be hiring a sustainability consultant to provide that perspective throughout the process of developing the master plan. He suggested that we share concerns we have about the planning process and what kinds of skills and knowledge we'd like to see in such a consultant to help in defining who would be a good choice.
Collaboration With Carbon Reduction Initiative Working Group
Carbon Reduction Initiative - Summary of Proposed Collaboration Between Environmental Council and Carbon Reduction Initiative Working Group.
Mike Moser and Tom Corbin attended to discuss how the EC might play a role in building momentum for implementation of unfinished projects in a portfolio of carbon reduction projects produced by students and faculty in 2003. Tom gave a brief history of the effort.
Based on work done by faculty and students in prior years, the Middlebury College Trustees passed a resolution in 2000 stating their commitment to bring college emissions of greenhouse gases down to a level equal to 10% below its 1990 emissions. In 2003, a carbon reduction portfolio of projects was developed by faculty and students in an environmental studies class and a Carbon Reduction Working Group was developed to begin implementation of the highest priority projects.
Among the carbon reduction projects was to add a biomass gasification boiler to the college's heating facilities, a move that would put the college significantly down the path of the way to meeting its carbon reduction goals. The task force devoted a significant amount of time to getting that initiative underway while it worked with staff, faculty and students to accomplish some of the other priorities. Much has been accomplished with planning and designing for the biomass gasification project and recently, a new task group was formed to focus solely on that project.
As a result of the focus on biomass, project momentum has been lost for pushing forward with other portfolio projects. The co-chairs of the Carbon Reduction Task Force met recently with the Environmental Council to seek their involvement in helping revive the effort to implement other projects in the portfolio. Members of the EC agreed that it could play a catalytic role with the Working Group co-chairs to develop a strategy for continued implementation of the carbon reduction portfolio.
The goal of this collaboration would be to:
• clarify where we are with respect to meeting our carbon reduction goals,
• acknowledge and celebrate what has been accomplished,
• review the portfolio in light of changes that have occurred since it was developed
• define priorities for implementation and what is needed, and most importantly,
• recommend how and by whom these priorities should be implemented.
It was recognized that we need to be cognizant of what could be accomplished by the EC as it is not structured to take on long-term working group projects. The practical outcome for its role would be to help the Working Group find ways to move forward over the long-term in accomplishing its goals. The EC agreed that its carbon reduction committee and members of other committees (such as the orientation committee) could work on this through the end of the Spring 06 term.
As a follow up to this meeting Jack will meet with Tom and Mike and develop a recommendation for how this collaboration could proceed.
Environmental Grants Committee Recommendations for Funding
Jack reported that the EC received 29 proposals in response to its request for proposals totaling $32, 443 in requests. The Grants Committee (Jack Byrne, Diane Munroe, Charlotte Tate, and Franci Farnsworth) met recently to review the proposals and to recommend which to fund. Jack distributed a summary of all the proposals received and the committee's recommendations (see attached). The Grants Committee is recommending full or partial funding for 15 of the proposals (four of which were for different pieces of the Midd8 event which the Committee recommends combining into one pool and providing the maximum grant of $1,500 to be used on items which the event organizers determine are most critical). The total maximum amount that would be committed would be $9,450. This is in addition to $4,500 previously awarded to proposals invited by the EC for a total maximum of $13,950.
Don moved to accept the recommendations of the Grants Committee. Matt seconded and the motion passed unanimously. Jack will send out letters to each of the proposers informing them of the Council's decision and follow up with those that will require changes in the proposed projects based on suggestions made by the reviewers.
The meeting adjourned at 6:00 pm.