Location: Facilities Conference Room
Time: 12:00 pm
Present Dan Hernandez, Martha Larson, Rhys Lindmark, Ray McGaughey, Chris Remley, George Vrtis, Sydney Weydemeyer
Absent Fadi Hakim, Kim Smith, Ryan Noe
Secretary: Sydney Weydemeyer
I. Meeting Minute Approval
Minutes from the February 10, 2011 EAC meeting were approved.
II. AASHE Call for Papers- 2011 Conference
Martha Larson advertised the AASHE Call for Papers for their 2011 Conference and suggested that presentations from Dan Hernandez’s class Ecosystems Ecology, Aaron Swoboda’s class ECON 268 – Cost / Benefit Analysis, or any STA projects would be excellent submissions. Martha said it would be great for Carleton to be represented at the conference.
III. EAC Budget Revisions Approval
Martha Larson re-visited the budget allocations proposed by the EAC budget sub-committee earlier this term. She said this model assumes the current budget carry-over will continue to carry-over next year. A motion was made and approved to accept the proposed budget allocations.
IV. Trayless Survey Results
Michelle Hesterberg and Alex Lai presented more comprehensive results from the survey carried out in the Winter of 2011 to evaluate the campus climate about being trayless in LDC. There were 339 surveys collected from 12 total meals in Burton and LDC. Michelle said that there had been a 20% reduction of food waste in the LDC on Trayless Tuesdays. Martha Larson asked if there will be continued data collection on food waste to support the objectives of this initiative. Michelle replied that Bon Apetit is still measuring the waste but she and Alex Lai will gather that data and report back to the EAC. In a response to Dan Hernandez’s question asking whose approval was needed for going trayless, Michelle replied that approval was needed by Bon Apetit, Fred Rogers, Dan Bergeson and CSA. Michelle said that a resolution would be requested of CSA to continue Trayless Tuesdays in LDC through the end of this academic year and to be completely trayless in LDC beginning in Fall Term 2011. Sydney Weydemeyer asked why a resolution and not a referendum was being requested of CSA. Michelle replied that the survey did the work a referendum would otherwise do; the survey also shows additional “gray” area that a yes / no referendum cannot provide. The referendum would make the issue polarized and not represent the opinions of a more random, and still comprehensive, selection of students that was able to be reached through the survey.
V. EAC Funding: Outcomes
a. Real Food Challenge Workshops
Rose Cobb Cherneff gave a short presentation on the results of the EAC funded Real Food Challenge Workshops. Rose said there was a great turnout at both workshops- they were so popular that she suggested the “campaign planning” workshop be repeated for more clubs and organizations on Carleton’s campus.
b. Real Food Calculator
The EAC funded this project in the 2009-2010 school year and the work was carried out in Fall Term 2010. Rose Cobb Cherneff examined four weeks of Bon Apetit invoices to figure out how much “real food” was used in the dining halls. Real food is defined as humanely produced, ecologically sound, produced under fair working conditions and local. In the fall of 2010, real food was calculated to be 18% of total food used in the dining halls. The goal by 2020 is to be using real food for 20% of total food used in the dining halls. Rose said that Carleton is on the higher end of real food used in dining halls compared to other colleges nation-wide. Ray McGaughey asked what the next step was for this project. Rose replied that the 18% would be used for creating a plan for how to manage this number in creative and economic ways to increase it to the target of 20% by 2020. Lindsay Guthrie is continuing the study during winter term 2011.
c. Green Wars Results
Nina Whitney presented on the results of Green Wars. The energy use during Green Wars week was compared to the energy usage of the preceding baseline week on a per dorm basis. Nina commented on the shift from Green Wars being a month long initiative to the week long initiative used this year. The Green Wars committee believes one week is better than one month because it is easier for people to stay focused and excited about the event. Hannah Heavenrich asked about building awareness versus building habits and suggested that Green Wars should have the larger goal of building habits. Libby Nachman replied that realistically habit building is much harder and seeking awareness on campus is still a valuable goal. Dan Hernandez suggested doing more data reading on the meters during the weeks after Green Wars to study actual habit building. Green Wars organizers said they would find out if we can take one more week of meter readings. Chris Remley suggested converting the data into a monetary value to show results that resonate with people in an easier fashion. Additional recognition such as a banner in Sayles was also suggested.
VI. EAC Funding: New Requests
a. Green Wars Prizes
Libby Nachman said that a request for funding of Green Wars prizes would be submitted as soon as the total dollar amount was determined. This amount is based off the wining dorms’ choice of either Kurry Kabob or ice cream Sundays as a prize. Martha Larson will send out a vote request via email once the final amount of this request is determined.
b. Study Break Raffle Prizes
Laura Henry is seeking funding for either coffee mugs or water bottles for study break raffle prizes. Laura is still unclear about which prize to use and will make an official request in Spring 2011 after evaluating the different costs. Martha Larson will send out a vote request via email once the final amount of this request is determined.
VII. Sustainable Revolving Fund Proposal: Engineers Without Borders Biodiesel Reactor
Martha Larson gave an update on the request for funding of a biodiesel reactor for Engineers Without Borders. The annual operating costs must be taken into account and the SRF committee suggested that perhaps this project should ask the SRF to cover capital costs plus a fixed number of operating years after which time the costs would need to be covered in a more long-term way, such as a permanent student work position(s). Additionally, the capital costs of the reactor must be added to number of years of expected operation.
VIII. Old Business
a. Stewsie Nominations
Martha Larson informed the EAC that the campaign for nominations will begin 1st week of Spring 2011. Please send any recommendations to Martha Larson – there are two awards, one for a student and one for faculty/staff.
b. SOPE Green Roof Proposal
Ray McGaughey told EAC that there was a meeting with SOPE members and Steve Spehn from facilities about logistics/ general information about the green roof. Ray did not know the results of the meeting. The EAC will be updated in the near future.
c. Climate Action Plan
There will be CAP presentations in numerous venues around campus seeking feedback on the report. Ray McGaughey suggested a presentation at SOPE and Rhys Lindmark suggested a presentation at CSA during spring term.
d. Campus Parking for Electric Vehicles
This discussion will be continued at a later date.
e. STARS Sub-committee
Martha Larson is seeking sub-committee members to review the AASHE STARS rating system and determine if / when Carleton should register to participate.