ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES COMMITTEE
November 22, 1999
EMU Century Room D
ATTENDEES: Karyn Kaplan, Matthew Laskey, David Niles, Dan Udovic, John Bittner, Robyn
Hathcock, Jim Upshaw, Lanelle Common, Martha Ravits, Kay Coots, John Baldwin
The list serve will be updated soon and Karyn will E-mail everyone when it is ready. Robyn
has updated the subcommittee list on the website and asked for any suggestions and
comments.
Subcommittees:
Transportation: John Baldwin reported on the topics discussed:
Ways to avoid building more parking spaces
Jim asked if the subcommittee has recommended an incentive program for students not to
bring their cars such as waiving fees. David submitted a proposal last year which would
reward faculty and staff for using alternative transportation and is awaiting approval.
Marti felt that a monetary incentive would offer more direct and immediate rewards.
Parking and Transportation would need to be involved.
Karyn asked Matt to think about ways to get student input through a survey or other ways
to get the word out and creatively educate. How to get students to use the bus system and
what kinds of things would facilitate the process of getting students out of their cars.
There was conference in 1996 called Choices which employed a consulting group to look at
transportation system. Karyn asked David to obtain these findings so that she could
forward it to the committee.
George Hecht is talking with Dusty Miller about opening a Transportation Center in the
EMU. It was suggested that the new OPS Director be invited to a meeting once a more
specific direction is determined.
The subcommittee will meet again on Monday, December 6th
at 11:00. Linda will make the room reservation.
Education: The subcommittee did not meet. However, Karen has been working on
developing the Environmental Coordinators list serve for educational purposes. There are
around 180 department reps on the list which has been used mostly for exchanging recycling
information.
She is working to provide more information on buying environmentally friendly and products
made from recycled materials. This is very important with so much money going into new
building projects. For example the College of Business has specified that their building
will be a green project, whereas the Law School did not. The environmental policy does
address this issue; however, it is primarily advisory and therefore no enforcement or
consequences.
A construction and demolition brochure has been developed and Karyn is now included in the
pre-construction phase. She will bring this information to next month’s meeting.
The additional money coming into campus should be put to good use. More green buildings
would help educate and inspire. With 150 million dollars coming into campus, academics is
left neglected and yet a lot of money is going to add additional seating to the stadium.
Dan is concerned that the process must begin with choosing green architects which is
something University policy should implement. Kay suggested having Chris Ramey discuss
Planning’s role and that a new subcommittee be formed. The following members
volunteered:
Dan, John (Baldwin), Jim, Karyn and Robyn. Karyn will convene the first meeting.
Old Business:
Website Logo: The consensus last year had been to use a globe surrounded by
olive branches. The committee would like to see a hard copy of the image. Robyn will bring
a couple of examples to the next meeting.
Environmental Policy: Kay is talking to colleges/administrative units. She is
finding that some schools have a unique approach. Instead of a written document, the
School of Music, would like to invite Recycling and other environmentalists in to talk to
their freshman class. This may be an indication that the policy needs be revised once we
learn about alternative approaches.
New Business:
The company which was to provide bamboo paper for University letterhead has stopped
making it. They will be offering two tree free alternatives which have recycled content.
The Environmental Audit class is working with Wiley Chen to address the tech fee and
EMU’s paper use.
The next Environmental Issues Committee meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, December 15
at 11:00am in the EMU Upmqua Room.
Minutes submitted by Linda Johnson