This year the Campus Environmental Issues Committee was involved in many continuing
projects, while establishing new directions, which were guided by past year
goals and accomplishments. The committee Chairperson this past year was Karyn
Kaplan. The committee focused on the work of the sub-committees, which will
be reviewed in this report.
Lack of involvement from the student population continues to be an on-going
challenge and frustration. There was interest at the beginning of the academic
year, with one of the students being elected as a Co-Chair. The student dropped
out with no word and no other students were involved.
Overall, the committee has undergone re-evaluation this year in taking things
to the next level, as shown here. Once again, it has been an effective year
for the Campus Environmental Issues Committee. There are many accomplishments
and much more work to be done. In retrospect, the past years have found the
committee establishing some basic fundamental directions such as in getting
the word out and determining how to develop a foundation for the future. This
year was a transition to the next level. The committee has found itself focusing
on implementation of the Campus Environmental Policies and education.
Additional things have been happening on campus that are an expansion of the
committee work:
Transportation alternatives have been getting addressed through the new Bicycle
Coordinator position. David Niles, Bike Coordinator, has been regularly participating
in the committee. He has been keeping us posted on these issues. It is exciting
to see the commitment extend to the campus in the form of providing opportunities
for reduced car use. The committee has been impressed to see all the covered
and expanded bike parking.
The Facilities Dept. recently formed a Resource Conservation Team to review
systems and create awareness in order to reduce the overall resource impact
on campus and in the greater community. This is an exciting new venture which
will once again, reinforce the efforts of the committee by working as part of
the University team to create a conservation oriented campus environment.
SPECIAL EVENTS
This year involved some unique, yet telling, opportunities for the Environmental
Issues Committee:
-A team of Administrators from Shasta College came to the UO for a full-day
visit on the wide range of environmental practices in progress and already implemented.
Several members from the Committee participated in hosting this group: Karyn
Kaplan, Recycling Program Manager, organized the day and presented information
on the waste reduction and recycling efforts on campus; Dr. John Baldwin, Environmental
Studies Professor, spent time presenting an overview of the Environmental Studies
Department and the Institute for Sustainable Environment; Teresa Spezio presented
the Environmental Audit Class; Kay Coots, Director of EH&S, presented the
Environmental Policy and Hazardous material handling and JR Gaddis, Director
of Printing and Mark Dixon, Printing Operations Manager, presented the Recycled
Paper Policy along with a tour of the Printing facilities and information on
all of the waste reduction and recycling practices that have been implemented
in Printing.
This day was a show and tell for all of the hard work that the committee has
done and continues to do. All in all, it was a wonderful experience for the
committee and re-affirmed that the work we are doing has a far reaching impact.
This day presented a reflection on how far we have come and also on how the
UO is leading the nation on campus environmental issues. Bringing all of these
players together was an outstanding exercise in recognition of the strong committed
team we have established on campus and through the Campus Environmental Issues
Committee.
-The Committee hosted a small teleconference on "Greening the Campus".
This was put on by the Partnership for Environmental Technology in Education.
-The highlight of the year was the Campus Environmental Policy Symposium. This
was done as a result of the work of the Environmental Policy sub-committee.
Several committee members worked hard to put on a first class event. The symposium
presented the campus community with information on the impending implementation
process for the environmental policy. This was well-received and several deans
and directors attended this training. This was an excellent starting place to
begin the implementation and education process. Many departments have been working
on this process and have begun to take steps that were presented at the symposium.
Thanks to Dan Williams for supporting this process and event and for also taking
the time to provide the opening remarks.
-The Environmental Citizen of the Year awards were presented by Dan Williams,
at the Campus Environmental Policy Symposium as follows:
The team of Cara Darling (Printing) and Terrie Penfold (Purchasing Support).
Cara and Terrie worked together to get 8 truckloads of recycled paper that not
only has an increased amount of post consumer and pre-consumer recycled content,
but that saved the University over $12,000 in paper costs from purchasing other
recycled paper or virgin paper. Not only does this support the recycling process
by creating a demand for recycled paper collected at the university, but it
increased the recycled content from other papers we've used in the past AND
through their hard work and determination, this was done with a huge financial
(and resource) benefit to the University of Oregon.
Mark Dixon (Printing) has worked very hard over the last year to put the University
in the forefront of using tree and chlorine-free alternatives in the University
letterhead. Due to Mark's hard work and determination in working with manufacturers
through product testing, the University is now going to use tree-free farmed
bamboo paper for its letterheads and business cards. Mark has worked on the
recycled paper policy and has taken it to the next level. Not only has he researched
and introduced this wonderful paper to the university, he is currently working
with the manufacturer to produce this tree-free paper with recycled content
so that it continues to support the paper recycling efforts to which we have
committed.
SUB-COMMITTEE REPORTS
EDUCATION
The education sub-committee continued to work with a journalism class and put
together more advertisements to be used for environmental education purposes.
Thanx again to Dan Williams, for funding these ads in the Daily Emerald. This
on-going project continues to create opportunities for students to be involved
while providing some impressive accomplishments for their resume through the
use of these ads in the paper and also as promotional information.
The Environmental Audit class was revived from prior years of work to establish
this class. Teresa Spezio has agreed to teach the class and the funding was
found through the Environmental Studies Department.
Another sub-committee member has been working with the Campus newsletter, News
and Views, to get our meetings and symposium/special events, listed on the campus
calendar and expand the opportunity to get the campus involved in environmental
awareness. This is an area which is expanding for the committee. With the Campus
Environmental policies, there are more opportunities for the committee to do
education and promotion.
RECYCLED PAPER POLICY IMPLEMENTATION
The Recycled Paper Policy sub-committee worked on education and awareness to
compliment the implementation process. The policy was put out to all the campus
Recycling Department Contacts, on the EIC web site and also went out to all
departments. Additionally, as a compliment to the sub-committee, the Dept. of
Printing worked with industry on making tree-free paper a regular part of the
University through its use for all University letterhead and business cards
and is currently working with industry to expand the tree-free paper to include
recycled content.
Other accomplishments include: creation and distribution of "Did you Know?"
decals for all campus copy machines. These decals remind folks about steps they
can take in adhering to the Recycled Paper Policy including how to make a double-sided
copy when photocopying; continued education on this issue through forms of campus
communication; the acquisition of a replacement 100% post consumer copy paper
for campus use (replacing the defunct 100% unbleached recycled paper) ;posting
of the policy at Printing and Campus Copy and finally the acquisition of tree-free
copy papers for customer purchase and use.
ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
The Campus Environmental Policy sub-committee worked on the documents for reporting
and also individual area background information. This was synthesized into the
Campus Environmental Policy Symposium and was presented to the Campus on April
20. Additionally, the information was put out on the EIC webpage for department
reference. The sub-committee will continue to move forward with education and
implementation projects for upcoming year.
COMMUNICATIONS
This sub-committee had a productive year. The EIC web site was re-vamped and
still continues to evolve. Some changes include: addition of the minutes and
a complete section on the Environmental Policies including implementation forms
and subsequent handouts on each area of implementation.
Additionally, this sub-committee is working on a logo for the EIC. The committee
is in the process of reviewing the ideas of the sub-committee.
Here is the latest info. on the EIC webpage and subsequent links on EIC projects:
Environmental Issues Committee Homepage
Recycled Paper Policy
Environmental Policy
Handouts from Environmental Symposium
(Sub-Policy Model also on this page)
UO Environmental
Studies Program
TRANSPORTATION
The Transportation Subcommittee is working on an agenda to encourage members
of the campus community to: walk, bike, bus, and carpool to campus. Work is
being done to formulate a list of methods to 1) encourage and 2 )measure progress
toward these goals. This list includes: incentives through paychecks for purchasing
bikes, bikeracks, and raingear (perhaps bybringing in local bike shops), fostering
formation of carpools through census-taking and social events at the start of
the academic year, and offering flex-time when possible to allow staff to change
clothes, cool down, or get to work from outlying car-parking or bike-parking
spaces. Additional incentives might include financial discounts or vacation
time as rewards. Discussion with the Campus Bicycle Coordinator, has included:
setting up a webpage and incentives for walking or biking through credits toward
"duck bucks" on faculty and staff ID cards. Toward this end, we suggest
making the Bicycle Coordinator an ex-officio member of the EIC next year.
COMMITTEE CHAIRS
Connie French and Karyn Kaplan were voted to Co-Chair the committee for the
upcoming 1999-2000 academic year.
FUTURE GOALS
-Re-evaluate Committee involvement. The attending committee members would like
to stimulate more active involvement and participation from committee members.
It was noted that several people appointed to the committee do not attend meetings
or participate in any sub-committees. The Committee would like to do more public
relations to encourage more participation in the committee from the campus community.
The biggest concern is the lack of student participation. Here are some ideas
the committee has for stimulating this involvement:
-Work on supporting the Bicycle Coordinator in developing bicycle program and promoting
alternatives to car use especially for commuting to campus.
-Set-up opportunities for feedback from the campus community. Create places where people
can provide feedback to the Committee on campus environmental concerns. This idea involves
something like putting "environmental concern" boxes in key locations around
campus. Additionally, something will be added to the web site to provide the committee
with some input.
-Finish Committee logo.
-Continue Environmental Policy implementation and education.
-Establish a dialogue with people involved (at least Pac 10 schools for a start) on
cooperative purchasing of tree-free and 100% recycled papers. Continue work with
international manufacturer on creating a tree-free recycled content paper.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS
-Continue on all committee projects for upcoming year
-The Committee has met to discuss the overuse of paper from the campus printers.
Evidently, with the new age of computers on campus, the amount of paper waste being
generated has caused tremendous expense and waste. With this in mind, the library began
charging for printing and thus, has reduced the amount of printing from student computers
by 80%. BUT, there are other computer labs on campus where students can print for free. At
the EMU, it is still free to make copies and since the new charge was instituted at the
Library, the amount of paper being generated at the EMU lab has skyrocketed. The Committee
is very concerned about this and would like to make the following recommendations:
-Appoint the Bicycle Coordinator as an ex-officio.
-The committee agreed to continue to meet during the summer in order to be organized and
directed when the new committee convenes in the Fall.
The committee would appreciate feedback on these issues. Additionally, if we can be of any
assistance on this, or any other issue, please let us know.
Thank you for all of your continued support of the Campus Environmental Issues Committee.