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Environmental Studies Department |
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Campus Environmental Issues Committee February 24, 2000
a. Heather Crawford and Kelly Forney reported that they are checking into how paper is being used and trying to get printer default settings to print on both sides of the paper. They are finding out that nobody really knows how paper is being used on campus. b. Cristina Salazar and Justin Harbison reported that they are still doing research on surface pollution. c. Andrea Tietmeyer, Brian Kramer, and Megan Kelly reported that their topic of Procurement Policies was changed to Solar Energy on campus. Initially they focused on the top eight major purchases and try to make purchasing environmental friendly. They found that this topic would be hard to pursue so they are going back to their original topic of Solar Energy by trying to make solar energy more feasible for the college. d. Sarah Wisness and Margaret Woodward reported on their topic of what goes into the making of food and how much is thrown away. They are checking into the possibility of a rooftop garden and also checking into prices for organic food. e. Claudia Curran and Lee Droberg reported on their topic of reducing energy. They will be meeting with David Bergstrom. f. Jessica Steinberg and Chase Rude are checking into fund-raising for energy savings. g. Karen Martin and Fitz-David Smith met with the college’s treasurer and found out about the College’s investments for the endowment. They will be checking with other colleges to see what they have done. h. Andy Miller and Claudia Curran met with Jerry Nelson who works for the Grounds Department to find out what type of chemicals is used on the grounds. They found out that there are no specific policies regarding chemical use. i. Kira Pascoe and Sarah Ullmer reported on their topic of Environmental Awareness. An informational sheet is going out informing people about CEIC and the Talloires Declaration. There will also be a banner explaining Earth Week. There was a discussion on which week would be designated Earth Week on campus and it was decided that the week following Earth Day would be better. Al Romero then read a letter from President McPherson regarding being able to print two pages onto one page, which will be used as first "EnviroBit of the Week." Sarah also mentioned that there will be a potluck for Environmental Studies majors on Friday, February 25, at 5:00 P.M. 2. Message from President McPherson Al Romero read a message from President Mike McPherson: "Dan (Hornbach) shared me with your memo to your committee about implementing the declaration. It seems to me that the implementation plan should be part of the decision to sign on with the Declaration, if we think signing entails these commitments from the College. As you'll see in tomorrow's Weekly, if you don't already now, I have worked out with FAC that an augmented version of the Long Range Planning Committee will serve as my advisor on social responsibility issues. If they are not overwhelmed by sweatshop issues, it would be good to bring them into the conversation." 3. Message from M. Dickinson Al Romero read a message from M. Dickinson: "Al - my apologies but I am not going to be able be at the meeting again today and then (...) I am not back until Monday, March 14. I saw the meeting notes about implementation/signing and one thing that hits me is how we get information out to the various campus constituencies prior to the signing? We need to inform faculty, staff and students - and administration. How? A couple of suggestions I have for staff are:
My suggestion implicitly assumes that there would be a team of presenters from the committee and not me alone!" Al Romero said that he would contact the President regarding those ideas. 4. Policy Subcommittee Report Brett Smith pointed out that when we sign the Talloires Declaration, it should be meaningful. The Policy Subcommitee made the following suggestions:
Brett Smith suggested that diverse groups should sign the Talloires Declaration. He also asked about getting on the agenda for the Trustee meeting in March. We should try to get together with a trustee to inform him/her what is going on. Sara Ullmer suggested getting together once a month and inform trustees/alumni what is going on with CEIC. Al Romero suggested getting a refined version of the Policies’ subcommittee recommendations soon. 5. Others Jessica Steinberg and Aaron Reser met with G. Lensing from Bon Appetite about how much coffee would cost for the student center. They sent out flyers to departments about buying coffee in bulk and also informing students that they can buy coffee in bulk also. Brett Smith asked if information regarding all aspects of environmental concerns (for example, coffee, energy, and paper usage) can be summarized into numbers. People can associate and remember numbers more than anything else. Brett Smith also asked about the Macalester ecological footprint, how much land it takes to support food, energy, etc. Sarah Ullmer stated that a form is going out that will be used to figure out Macalester’s footprint. Janet Ebaugh said that the committee should find out what Weyerhaeuser is doing to be energy conscious. |
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