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Environmental Studies Department |
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Campus Environmental Issues CommitteeSubcommittee on College Environmental Policy Statement October 13, 1999
The meeting began with a discussion of the goals of the project; some questions were - do we want to change Macalester or reflect where we are right now? Related: do we want to try to make ecological or environmental issues another "pillar" or core value of Macalester (along with internationalism, multiculturalism, academic excellence, and service) or do we want to begin with something less "ambitious" and begin moving the college to where environmentalism could be legitimately called a pillar of the college? A distinction was made between short and long run goals. The general feeling was that it might be the best strategy to begin with asserting environmental responsibility as a natural outcome of our core values, e.g., a key element of global citizenship and service, and move the college in the direction of having environmentalism as a true core value. But the college's strength in sciences and particular environmental sciences was noted as a strength that the college may already have, but is not "promoting" it as much as other core activities; e.g., our relation to the natural world is not a highlighted value or issue. There was some discussion of the planning process which President McPherson is beginning and how we can participate in that process with the environmental concerns as a key issue. No conclusions were made. The question was raised as to whether there were other college "policies" that would be comparable to this policy statement. Knowledge about this would allow us to have comparisons or a context for an environmental policy. Gabe agreed to look into this issue. The question was raised as to whether the Environmental Issues Committee has a standing in college "bylaws" or whatever or is just an "ad hoc" committee. Sarah agreed to talk to Mark Davis about the history and status of the EIC. How does the EIC compare with other comparable committees at the college? What resources are committed to this activity? The question was raised as to the general awareness around campus regarding the activities of the EIC and environmental issues in general. The view was expressed that the "environmental voice" is typically "drowned out" by other concerns, issues, etc. Why is this? Claudia agreed to talk to Al Romero about a story for the Mac Weekly about the EIC and related issues to get the word out. The meeting closed with a discussion of how we wanted to go about beginning to construct a policy or mission statement for Macalester. General feeling was that although statements from other colleges are useful we should make this a statement reflecting the particular situation at Macalester. It was suggested that we do some kind of a survey of key groups and/or individuals to see what their reaction would be to the notion of a policy statement, whether they had concerns about Mac's environmental practices, and what particular issues were important to them. It was pointed out that many students may not be aware of the large number of colleges and universities that have adopted environmental policies. Moving the college in this direction might be useful in recruiting environmentally concerned students to Mac. The group brainstormed briefly on issues of concern on campus that might be appropriate for focus in a policy statement. Issues included: food practices, landscaping and grounds, dorm life, energy use, material waste, water use, paper, etc. In terms of looking at other statements, Lindsey volunteered to review Northland College's sustainability statement and others committed to looking at policies on the International Institute for Sustainable Development web site at iisd1.iisd.ca/educate/policybank.asp/. Finally, Claudia agreed to look into emailing the Talloires Declaration to the full EIS committee for possible discussion at the next meeting, depending on the time available. The next meeting of the subcommittee was tentatively set for Wednesday, October 27 at noon in Carnegie 204. |
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