Sustainability Committee – September 13, 2010
Attendees
- Joe Bell
- Emily Branch
- Chrissy Cooley
- Romey Haberle
- Susan Harmon
- Alysa Henry
- Kjirsten Kennedy
- Dave Kohler
- Kristen Labs
- Kevin O’Brien
- Nicole Scheer
- Marion Sharp
- Kenny Stancil
- Josh Stromberg
I. Announcements
A. Amy Young’s PR Class will be conducting a project working to identify the personality of Sustainability at PLU. Members of the committee should expect to be contacted for an interview.
B. The PLU 2020 Forums on November 10 (11.15-1.15) and November 11 (3.40-5.40 pm) should include opportunities to talk about the role of sustainability in the long-range plan. Hopefully we can have members of the committee at both.
C. unPLUg is Oct. 1- Nov. 30th
-Get baseline energy consumption #’s to halls, Sustainability Directors
-We need to think about how something like this could translate to academic buildings. -Nicole suggested the precedent of the “Green Office Honor System Checklist.”
– The Live Green Pledge needs to be put into Google forms on the website
D. Susan reported that TacomaACTS has requested to collaborate with the Business School. She will keep us posted.
II. Take Back the Tap/One Less Mug
Nalgenes coming – Kenny has talked to Linda Nylan about stocking the TBTT bottles in Old Main Market next to the disposable water bottles as promotion.
One Less Cup will roll out in January
More fill stations are needed on campus, especially in Olson
Committee would be interested in contributing to a Wang symposium on water to build on these campaigns. The Wang Center is still talking about the topic for its next symposium.
We will continue to be sure to include the pledge with every event at which bottles and mugs are sold.
III. Fellows
A. Josh/Bike Coop
Hired manager
Open hours Tues and Friday, Classes once a month
Lute Loop for Bikes September 24th
Have a compressor
Seattle Bike Supply acct. is up
B. Mackenzie
Rain Garden in the Bioswale region near Neeb
C. Emma
Bus Ridership project has not started yet
Landscaping on campus
Neeb Meadow has been mowed, looking into re-landscaping
Biology Labs have adopted space near MBR
This topic needs to be placed as a future agenda item for more discussion.
Officers
The committee elected two officers:
Secretary – Brian Naasz
Treasurer – Student for Student Green Fee – Kenny Stancil
EnergyStar/EPEAT – Temp Set Policy Endorsements
The committee endorsed both policies presented by Dave & Chrissy.
Kevin will write a letter communicating these endorsements to Dr. Tonn.
Summarizing PLU’s Sustainability Commitments
A subcommittee was formed to gather and present the key information about PLU’s sustainability commitments into a single document we could use to spread the word about where the campus is headed.
Kjirsten, Susan, Chrissy, Nicole, and Romey volunteered to work together on this.
They will present a draft at our Nov. Meeting
Sustainability in Curriculum
The committee began a discussion about what it would take to ensure that every student’s educational experience at PLU includes sustainability, as stipulated in our existing ACUPCC & STARS commitments.
Brainstorming:
Sakai training so that courses can go paperless?
Sustainability incorporated into required courses such as Writing 101s or 190s?
More ways to make study away students aware of their carbon footprints? Possibility of including carbon offsets in travel fees?
Incorporate sustainability-related service learning into more classes?
Dr. Bill Teska is working on a grant to the Department of Education focused on Environmental & Social Sustainability at PLU. The committee will be named as helping to conduct workshops on sustainability for teaching faculty. Kevin will continue to be in touch with Bill about this.
Sustainability at PLU 