ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES COMMITTEE
February 16, 2004
EMU Board Room

ATTENDEES: Dorene Steggell, Anne Forrestel, Joni Herbst, Robyn Hathcock, Kay Coots, Steve Mital, Ben Farrell, Karyn Kaplan, J. R. Gaddis, Christine Thompson, Cheri Smith, Chris Jones, Josh Ruddick

• Trainsong Neighbors meeting on February 18^th, at 7:00 p.m. Brian Jennison from LRAPA will discuss the Best Work Practices Agreement between LRAPA and J.H. Baxter Company.
• On February 26^th the CEO of Seventh Generation will be in Lillis 182 at 7:00 p.m.
• KLCC will air a series on sustainability the week of February 16th at 7:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. The entire program will air again on Saturday.

Review of the Comprehensive Environmental Policy

Changes to the Follow Up, Review, and Update section: replace are required to with shall; delete the two references of within one year from the date of ratification of this policy; replace invited with encouraged; delete for improvement.

Strategies for improving implementation:

• Goal is to educate the university community about this policy in order to help give direction to those who are interested in improving their environmental practices.
• Encourage all units to look at the policy once a year (for example on Earth Day) to determine how it relates their unit and what they can do in the following year to move forward in a spirit of progress.
• A sustainability coordinator would help to encourage and monitor campus-wide progress.

A template for creating sub-policies is available on the Environmental Health and Safety web page. Dorene asked Linda to incorporate the changes and e-mail the corrected copy to the committee.

Sustainability Heroes

Six heroes have been featured on the web site. The next six are Jo Rogers, Mick Westrick, Jim Hutchison, Christine Thompson, and Stan Jones. A list of future nominees was distributed and discussed. Additions and corrections: add Exterior Team, and Hildegard Kleinhaus specifically; change Solar Information Center to Ecological Design Center. Linda will update for continued discussion at the next meeting.

Agenda Items for March

Earth Day Preparation

Feedback for Dan Williams on Draft Sustainability Plan

(Karyn will e-mail copy prior to meeting; also noted that Dan said funding is not available for sustainability coordinator this year)

The next Environmental Issues Committee meeting will be held on March 18, from 2:30 – 4:00 a.m. in the EMU Board Room.