Location: Hill Lounge, Sayles-Hill Campus Center

Time: 8 – 9 am


Members Present: Martha Larson (co-chair), Elliot Hanson ‘23, Ella Stack ‘22, Beck Woollen ‘23, Tamnnet Kidanu, Arjendu Pattanayak, Avi Bailon ‘23, Erica Zweifel, Kate Meyer, Aaron Swoboda (co-chair), Alex Miller

Members Absent: None

Guests: Grace Bassekle ‘24, Peter Sallinger ‘24

Secretary: Alex Miller

Agenda:

  1. Introductions & Welcome
  2. Introduction to the Environmental Advisory Committee
  3. Potential topics for the EAC for this academic year
  4. Discussion from the group: Thoughts on the EAC 2020 memo or other ideas
    1. Case Study: Carbon Offsets
  5. Wrap Up

Notes: 

  1. Introduction to the Environmental Advisory Committee: 
    1. Funding for projects, Sustainability Assistants, Sustainability Revolving Fund, and Climate Action Week
    2. Advisory for various sustainability initiatives on campus
    3. Sustainability is in the deepest corner of facilities, would like to see a top-down and whole-institution approach for holistic sustainability. 
  2. Potential topics for the EAC: 
    1. Student housing plan
    2. Wind & solar sourcing
    3. Carbon Offsets
  3. Discussion from the group: Thoughts on the EAC 2020 memo or other ideas
    1. Kate: Sustainable Investment & Divestment 
      1. EAC could endorse a divestment movement and send to the President’s office and Carleton’s Responsible Investment Committee (CRIC)
      2. Student Divestment group meeting with the President Byerly next week. 
    2. Erica & Alex: Rewriting CAP 2.0 to be a campus-wide focused plan and centered around environmental justice 
    3. Arjendu: Urgency, adaptation, and resiliency. Who can we influence to push this along? Sustainability across the curriculum
    4. Beck: Holistic sustainability plan, teeth of the plan, implementation across the board. Who writes it? 
      1. Does the EAC become the task force or does the group assign it elsewhere? 
    5. Ella: Who is the audience for the CAP? Can students be the audience? 
      1. Originally, it was part of Martha’s work plan and charge, but now
    6. Tamnnet: Promotions and job positioning for sustainability
    7. Beck: Town hall or other conversation for keeping the Carleton Community Engaged 
    8. Grace: How can the College assist the students in the climate crisis?
    9. Kate: Tie environmental justice, what is our connection with the IDE plan? Sustainability can’t be thought of without ethics, justice is the foundation. 
    10. Peter: Policy writing includes consulting with people most impacted by climate change
    11. Ella: Productive conversation with Admissions last year, window with travel or others as a “build back better” plan
  4. Case Study: Carbon Offsets
    1. Sample policy that will have EAC input. 
    2. Focusing on transportation emissions, particularly air travel. We know that this won’t go away, especially off-campus studies or professional development. 
    3. Previous college stance: Carbon offsets are not something that we want to do as a strategy (Bowdin) for overall carbon reduction, but could be applied toward air travel (as stated in the 2010 CAP). 
    4. Potential projects: carbon sequestration research here on campus, purchasing off the market. 
    5. Peter’s project: Air travel for students to come and from campus, upwards of 6 times a year. Offsetting these emissions with a student funded-fund using their dining dollars. This pool could be used for local projects or market-based purchases. 
    6. Sample colleges: Middleburry, Bowdin, UCLA, Macalester
    7. What is the College’s role in policy and advocacy?