Office of Sustainability Newsletter University of Vermont NEWS FLASH!

News from the University of Vermont Office of Sustainability
Summer 2009
Office of Sustainability Newsletter
University of Vermont
In This Issue
Focus the Nation/Earth
Week
SGA Gains New Eco
Focus
Environmental Forum
Update
Clean Energy Fund
Update
Reflecting on 08-09 EcoReps Program
Campus Sustainability
Course Update
Quick Links
Office of Sustainability
Website
Email us
NEWS FLASH!
The Office of Sustainability moved its office from 284 East Avenue to the
fourth floor of Billings Center, next to the Community-University Partnership
Service-Learning (CUPS) Office.
See past newsletters on the Office of Sustainability website under "email
archives".
Focus the Nation/Earth Week
Earth Week at UVM kicked off on Monday, April 20th with a panel
discussion on "Creating a Green Economy for UVM/Burlington and
Vermont," which featured UVM President Dan Fogel, State Senator Kesha
Ram, and UVM professor Bob Costanza. This week long series of environmental sustainability events also coincided with Focus the Nation.
Students, teachers, faculty and community members alike were out in full
force to educate and engage in discussions about climate change and our
nation's response to this pressing issue. Focus the Nation started in January
2008 as a national teach-in conducted at high schools, colleges, and
universities across the country. The intent was to discuss and generate
solutions about global warming from an interdisciplinary perspective.
Similar to Powershift, Focus the Nation is grounded in the passion of the
students and youth activists who joined together to share their vision and take
action toward creating a global sustainable future.
This year the movement broke
into
two
individual
organizations, Focus the Nation
and the National Teach-In. The
National Teach-In day occurred
in February, however UVM
decided to continue both events
in the same week with a series
of speakers, panels, films,
lectures and student activism.
Students
Bring your own bottles banner (photo courtesy of Christina Erickson)
and environmental organizations set up tables around the Davis Center to
educate and gain support for their causes and projects. The events also
engaged the community by having workshops on "greening your workplace",
bike tuning, and community volunteer projects. The keynote speaker of the
Focus the Nation, Tanya Fields, spoke on Earth Day on sustainability in
environmental justice communities. Fields is a young activist and social
entrepreneur, who works closely alongside Majora Carter as the outreach
coordinator for Sustainable South Bronx.
The week ended with a Student Speak Out in front of the Bailey Howe
library on Friday afternoon. Students shared their thoughts, ideas, and stories
regarding Earth Week, climate change, and the environment, and being part
of a movement. Ethan Bond Watts, the event MC, spoke passionately about
the spirit and fervor on our campus and called for a "new environmentalism"
with the youth leading the movement. The enthusiasm was high all week and
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News from the University of Vermont Office of Sustainability
doesn't show signs of stopping just yet. -Katherine Devine
SGA gains new ECO focus
The results are in from the recent SGA
elections. The student body demanded
a more environmentally minded
senate; and in early April, a group of
26 students called the ECO-Coalition
(aka ECO-Block) ran with a fresh
new platform. The group entitled the
Emergent Change Organizers (ECO)
ran for the next academic year's SGA
Senate seats with the idea that sudden change needs to occur. "We are the
environmental university and our SGA needs to reflect the views of students"
says Naani Shiva, a newly elected senator.
The group started when Tyler Wilkson-Ray sent out an email urging students
to organize and run a new campaign. The respondents met in Slade and
began brainstorming ways to gain signatures and support. When word got out
the response was overwhelming and all 26 members of the coalition were
elected as SGA Senators. The group is spread out through all seven
committees working to bring an ecological and sustainable perspective to
SGA resolutions. "I think there is tremendous potential for student activists
on campus to make many positive changes through many different avenues
including the SGA," says Shiva. The Committee on Diversity, Equity, and
Environmental Ethics (CODEEE), which Shiva is a part of, are working on
the idea of utilizing the campus greens for student-run gardens. Since being
elected, the group has met twice to discuss future plans and resolutions.
-Katherine Devine
Environmental Forum Update: Undergraduate
Research Presentations
The last Environmental Forum meeting of the 2008-2009 academic year took
place on April 23rd at the Chittenden Bank room. In this meeting, the Office
of Sustainability announced that they had moved to the fourth floor of the
Billings Center, next to the CUPS office. Gioia Thompson, Director, gave a
Year in Review on the Office's campus initiatives and briefly mentioned their
project management system called BaseCamp, a web-based application that
helps the staff keep track of their various projects. In June, Gioia will be
traveling to Denver, CO to attend a three-day workshop led by the Rocky
Mountain Institute for a select group of campus sustainability practitioners.
Nell Campbell, one of the Office's sustainability fellows, worked on UVM's
greenhouse gas inventory, assessed the university's transportation demand
management program, and was a teaching assistant for ENVS 295: Campus
Sustainability this spring.
Christina Erickson, another sustainability fellow, focused her work on
education and outreach at UVM. This semester she worked with Dan
Bellhumeur, a senior and OoS intern, to create a carbon calculator for
students to assess their carbon footprint residing on-campus. They hope to
pilot this calculator in the upcoming fall semester. This spring, she also
launched a carbon reduction challenge for Greek houses on campus.
Mieko Ozeki, Sustainability Projects Coordinator, gave an update on Clean
Energy Fund committee's progress on creating its governance structure and
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News from the University of Vermont Office of Sustainability
decision making process for picking renewable energy projects. She is also
coordinating the 6th Annual Northeast Campus Sustainability Consortium
Conference, which UVM will be hosting on October 26-27, 2009. After the Office of Sustainability's year in review report to the group, two
seniors presented on their undergraduate projects. Dexter Locke, a senior in
the Rubenstein School, presented his project titled "Campus Houses'
Environmental and Financial Costs." A third of the houses on campus, which included mostly wood framed houses, are historical landmarks. The average
age of these buildings was 120 years. These houses are inefficient because
they are not included in UVM's central heating plant. and yet it is feasible to
meter these buildings. The projected cost to keep these buildings maintained
in the year 2015 is approximately $6.3 million. Although a financial burden,
these buildings emit only 0.78% of the university's total greenhouse gas
emissions and take up just 4.9% of the total campus square footage. UVM
must eventually put a plan into action in regards to the long term
maintenance of these buildings.
Mike Kelly, a senior in Environmental Studies and in Studio Art, presented
his creative arts thesis and the process he went through to make it. His piece
is hanging in the Davis Center's Sustainability Gallery. The piece, which is a
mural sized wooden sculpture of the world map, was chosen to represent the
environmental stewardship of the Davis Center. All of the wood used in the
piece was either grown sustainably in the USA or recycled from UVM's art
department.
Erica Spiegel, Recycling coordinator, spoke about a service project she had
graphic design class work on. This year, they chose to create signage to help
reduce the amount of paper towels used in the residence halls. Their objective
was to promote the idea of bringing your own hand towel. Erica sought
feedback from the audience with the hopes of choosing a design to use in
residence halls this coming fall.
-Colleen Rose Schmitt
There will be no more Environmental Forum Meetings this year.
Have a great summer!
Updates from the Clean Energy Fund Committee
The Clean Energy Fund Committee was formed in the
fall and met once a month during the spring semester.
The
Committee
membership
includes: four
undergraduate students (appointed by the SGA, Office
of Sustainability, and Campus Energy Group), two
graduate students (appointed by the Graduate Student
Senate and Office of Sustainability), one faculty
representative from the Faculty Senate, the Director of
Physical Plant, and an appointee from Capital
Planning. This year the Committee focused on
developing criteria and procedures for reviewing clean
energy project proposals prior to announcing a request for proposals to the
UVM community. They created bylaws that defined the Committee's
responsibilities, election of chairpersons, and voting process during earlier
meetings. In the last two sessions, they voted on criteria for clean energy
project proposals as well as develop a timetable for reviewing and submitting
their recommendations to the VP of Finance and Administration, for final
approval of projects, during the 2009-2010 academic year.
The mission of the Clean Energy Fund is to finance new clean energy
projects on the UVM campus and beyond. The source of the fund is a student
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News from the University of Vermont Office of Sustainability
fee dedicated to clean energy projects; this dedicated fee is part of a
comprehensive fee that UVM collects each semester from full-time
undergraduate and graduate students.
-Mieko Ozeki, Sustainability Projects Coordinator.
Reflecting on the 2008-2009 Eco-Reps Program
This year marked the fifth full year of the Eco-Reps Program on campus,
after the initial pilot project in April
2004. As a relatively young program,
we strive to utilize feedback and learn
from each year to constantly improve
our organization and delivery of the
"green living" message, especially
around waste reduction and energy
conservation. In August, the Program was a stop on the RA Training Resource Scavenger
Hunt, which provided the opportunity to let all 130 RAs find out what EcoReps is all about. This was an important step, as RAs in the past indicated
low levels of understanding about the program's structure and purpose.
The goal is to have an Eco-Rep for each of the residence halls (or clusters in
case of the smaller residences). While in the past we relied solely on
applicants from each building and therefore ended up with gaps in coverage,
this year we hired particularly enthusiastic students that were willing to work
in buildings other than those in which they lived in - and had 100% coverage
across campus. This was met with relative success, but we've learned that it
is still best to have an Eco-Rep in residence, so that there are more of those
by-chance conversations, in the hallways, recycling rooms, and lounges.
The Eco-Reps are charged with co-sponsoring two events over the year with
their Hall Council and/or Residential Life staff. Over the year there were
clothing swaps, trivia nights, and contra dances. Waste sorts in nearly every
complex showed that on average, over half of what's found in the trash
should have been recycled or composted. We still have work to do! Our
annual fall light bulb swaps continued to be a popular way of talking with
students about energy conservation in their rooms, starting with their
personal lights. While maintaining a focus on the residential
student experience, the Eco-Reps Program
saw some expansion this year. Two of the
Eco-Reps developed and delivered a
presentation on green living practices to a
sorority house, and the Davis Center
sponsored the first non-residential Eco-Rep
to work on projects including recycled
paper notepads, waste monitoring, and
expanded composting locations. Next year
, Sodexho/Dining Services will also host an
Eco-Rep.
(Photo: Eco-Reps Olivia Bulger ('12) and Sarah
Lundy ('12) prepare for a light bulb swap.)
Finally, the UVM Eco-Reps Program continues to be model for other college
campuses that are starting their own eco-reps programs, and is part of a
growing national network of peer-to-peer sustainability outreach programs.
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News from the University of Vermont Office of Sustainability
This year the UVM program was featured in two panels at national and
regional conferences on campus sustainability.
To see more about the program, including photos from this year's events and
activities, check out www.uvm.edu/ecoreps
-Christina Erickson, Eco-Reps Program Coordinator
Campus Sustainability Course Update
This spring semester brought the fourth version of a class
focused on UVM's environmental management performance.
The class, now titled "Campus Sustainability" and taught by
Ralph Stuart and Michelle Smith Mullarkey, consisted of 14
undergraduate junior and senior students from the
Rubenstein School, CAS, and CALS. As a new twist from
previous years the class was designated as a ServiceLearning (SL) course and partnered with UVM's Office of
Sustainability (OoS). To help facilitate this partnership,
Sustainability Fellow Nell Campbell acted both as a liaison
from the OoS as well as a Service-Learning Teaching
Assistant for the class.
The goal of the Service-Learning partnership was for
students from the class to update the content and
appearance of the Tracking UVM report. Tracking UVM is a
reader-friendly and concise environmental performance
report that Gioia Thompson published in 2002. By updating
the report with current information, students helped identify
the direction of UVM's environmental progress. The course
was therefore divided into two segments: the first to help
familiarize students with the environmental impact of
various campus operations, and the second to use this new
knowledge to develop a "Re-Tracking UVM" report for the
OoS.
In the first half of the semester, students in the class
attended on-campus field trips and presentations on many
aspects of UVM's operations, including hazardous waste
management, green buildings, transportation, local foods,
greenhouse gases, and others. In the second half of the
semester, the students divided into five groups to focus on
updating the following areas of the Tracking UVM report:
Overview, Facilities, Materials, Energy and Air Pollution, and
Academics and Culture, the latter of which is a new section
proposed by the class.
On May 5th, the class presented their findings to the members of the OoS as
well as a selection of UVM's senior administration, including Richard Cate,
Vice President for Administration of Finance, Bill Ballard, Associate Vice
President for Administrative and Facilities Services, and Bob Vaughan,
Director of Capital Planning and Management. This work will be the basis
for a complete update of Tracking UVM, a project that will be undertaken by
a Sustainability Fellow in the upcoming academic year.
-Nell Campbell
The mission of the Office of Sustainability is to foster sustainable
development and promote environmental responsibility at the University by
strategically bridging the academic activities of teaching, research, and
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News from the University of Vermont Office of Sustainability
outreach with the operations of the University.
Questions? Comments? Anything else you would like to see in here?
Office of Sustainability
The University of Vermont
401 Billings Center
48 University Place
phone: (802) 656-0906 fax: (802) 656-1075
email: [email protected]
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