Hello from the Sustainability Office, and happy spring! After an eventful Earth Week and a sad farewell to Alex Miller, our waste, food, outreach, data and energy, and policy and transportation teams are busy organizing campus events, reducing campus waste, and developing carbon offset plans!
Just two weeks ago, Grace Bassekle brought Michael Noble ‘77 to campus. Michael Noble is the executive at Fresh Energy, a non-profit in Minneapolis dedicated to the transition of clean, renewable energy. During his visit, he toured the East Energy Station and had lunch with Carleton students, discussing his journey from Carleton to Fresh Energy and sharing his work at the non-profit.
Grace also recently organized her first in a series of environmental justice roundtable discussions. At this event, Community Organizer Akira Yano spoke with Carleton students about the HERC incinerator in Minneapolis, a facility that is increasing air pollution in a low-income community of color. Grace is hoping to use these roundtable events to increase campus awareness around environmental justice, as well as promote conversations about environmental racism.
Over on our food team, Simran Kadam is working to make the food consumed at Carleton more ethical and sustainable. One of her main projects right now is the “Real Food Calculator” (RFC). RFC evaluates how “real” each food item is by determining whether it is humane, locally sourced, ecologically sound, or fair. In collaboration with CCE and Bon Appétit, Simran is using the RFC to keep Carleton accountable for all the food it is purchasing.
In another project focused on food sustainability, Elise Watt is working to increase the variety of plant-based options in the dining halls. By working with Bon Appétit to highlight a creative plant-based meal once a week, while also organizing an optional pledge to go meatless on Mondays, Elise is hoping to increase student interest in lower-carbon meal options.
In the energy and data sector, Beck Woollen and Jeremy Fleishhacker are working to correct Carleton’s energy metering system, which tracks campus electricity, heating, natural gas, and water usage. Beck will then use this data to construct an apparatus of heat maps for campus buildings to show a 15-minute breakdown of the energy, heat, and water usage of all campus buildings within a 24-hour period. Meanwhile, Jeremy will be converting this data into compact energy usage data reports so that the energy consumption of buildings across campus can be compared both to other buildings on campus, as well as buildings outside of Carleton. These projects are working in tandem with fully retrofitting Weitz with LEDs, which Jeremy and Beck are helping with by completing lighting audits of the building!
Beck is also collaborating with Elise to try and bring zero waste laundry detergent sheets to campus. They gave away samples of this detergent on Thursday in Sayles, and are hoping to receive feedback on the products over the next few weeks. Depending on the feedback, Beck will be creating a potential rollout frame for selling these products on campus!
Elise is also collaborating with Simran and Bon Appetit to reevaluate the effectiveness of the Green to Go program. A reminder to anyone reading this: RETURN YOUR G2GS!!!!!!!!!!
In a final attempt to reduce campus waste this term, Grace is working with Peter Sallinger to reduce bike waste on campus. Many Carleton students abandon their bikes when they return home for the summer, causing these bikes to end up in Carleton’s “bike graveyard”. With the help of Farmstead bike shop in Northfield, Grace and Peter are working to repair these bikes and redistribute them to prospective bike owners!
Peter and Beck are also both working on carbon offset plans. While Peter is working to advise Carleton’s Environmental Advisory Committee (EAC) on a carbon offset plan for the college, Beck is collaborating with Northfield community members to create a carbon offset plan for the city.
Beck is also working with Northfield to keep the city’s sustainability website up to date. This includes building out the zero waste plan on Northfield’s website by including an interactive version of the page, and by developing a list of resources on how individuals can reduce their waste using low-cost methods!
Finally, as the Sustainability Office works to incorporate the Carleton Organic Student Farm under its management, Simran is leading this transition by helping manage the farm’s student internship program. As a previous intern, she is creating training curriculum for the new interns while also overseeing farm operations.
As this update shows, we are very busy here at the Sustainability Office! If you want to learn more about our work or be notified about upcoming events from our office, go follow our Instagram @carletonsustain!
Until next time!
Carleton’s Sustainability Assistants