ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES COMMITTEE
April 19, 2004
EMU Board Room

ATTENDEES: Dorene Steggell, JR Gaddis, Anne Forrestel, Ben Farrell, Karyn Kaplan, Christine Thompson, Bob Jones, Steve Mital

Guests: Katie Coombes & Margaret Gielniewski – Campus Clean Energy Project

Announcements

• Vera Kewene initiated discussions with Dan Williams about the educational opportunity to promote green buildings at Lillis. Anne explained that originally plans for the atrium contained a kiosk with energy monitor and other information about the building. Consensus at the College of Business is to implement this project fall term (the new dean starts in July). Dan has also requested an endorsement from the EIC. Discussion followed about creating a broader coordinated effort that could include Moss Street Children’s Center, the EMU solar panels, the bioswale, etc.
• ESSLP energy project -- students are putting together a virtual tour highlighting alternative energy on campus. It’s designed as a complement to the sustainability tour. They are also using Virage software to create a high tech web page of their energy presentation with split screen and indexing capabilities.
• Sustainability hero election results: Kyle Allred, Vera Kewene, Steve Mital, and Peter Reppe received the highest number of votes; followed by Hilde Kleinhans, Facilities Services Exterior Team, the Environmental Studies Services Learning Program, and the Ecological Design Center.
• The Education for Sustainability (EFS) network is hosting a conference in Portland in October. Steve asked for ideas and stories to be included in a presentation. The focus will be on campus operations and facilities, research, community service, and student involvement in sustainability efforts. He will send an email with further details.

Subcommittee

Dorene suggested that Steve, Christine, and Anne form a subcommittee to look at the coordination issues raised in the first announcement. They agreed.

Presentation on the Campus Clean Energy Project

Katie Coombes & Margaret Gielniewski represent a group of students who are trying to convince the administration to purchase 20% clean energy. They received backing from Green Peace and Enviro Citizens and are applying to become a recognized student group. The group is petitioning students to show support for purchasing wind-generated energy. Their goals are to increase fees by $7.50 for the 2004-05 school year, get university matching funds for 2005-06 to pay for another 20%, and from 2006-07 to insure that conservation programs reduce overall energy use and free up funds to purchase additional wind power. The group would like EIC’s support.

Anne asked why the goal for conservation begins in 2006. Christine pointed out that conversation efforts began years ago; however, it appears the group’s goal is to connect savings to the purchase of wind power. The key would be to convince UO and Facilities Services to use the savings for this purpose. Karyn recommended that the group meet with ASUO executives about the student fee process, also talk to Kyle Allred and Courtney Height, research Lewis and Clark’s successful program, and to focus on conservation efforts (i.e., turning off lights and computers). Steve also suggested they contact Sara Mazze for information or to help with the survey that ESSLP is conducting.

Capital Campaign and CASL Funding

The committee reviewed the proposal that Karyn wrote and submitted to George Hecht in December, 2002. There were questions about the status of this and other environmental and sustainability proposals in the capital campaign database. In an effort to understand the campaign process, Dorene offered to contact the University Advancement office and invite them to speak at our next meeting.

Implementation of the Comprehensive Environmental Policy

The committee reviewed the Environmental Energy Audit that was prepared by an Environmental Studies class in 2000. A number of things are being done in part as a response to this audit: the ESSLP energy presentation; new employees receive a packet of information on recycling, transportation, resource conservation tips, etc. Karyn has sent the policy to the department environmental coordinator list several times.

There is a need for personnel to gather data on a regular basis to track transportation trends, energy and paper usage, etc. Josh Skov is a good resource for benchmarking information and advice on identifying key sustainability indicators on campus.

Final Report

Dorene will bring a draft of the year-end report to the next meeting for review.

The next Environmental Issues Committee meeting will be held on May 10, from 1:30 – 3:00 p.m. in the EMU Board Room.