Notes from the Community Conversation: Striving for Sustainability

BY TODD MARTIN

On Wednesday, November 4, 2009, Green Mountain College students, faculty and staff gathered in the Gorge for the Community Conversation. The focus of the conversation was campus sustainability, more specifically, initiatives that Green Mountain College can take in the near future to improve the sustainability of the institution. Atop the handout distributed at the conversation was a goal for the institution that stated, “Become a national leader among small colleges in the higher education sustainability movement.” Below the goal was an aspiration that read, “To be the premier liberal arts college with an emphasis on integrating sustainability throughout the curriculum, co-curriculum, operations, facilities, and grounds.” After enjoying light refreshments, the community conversation got underway.

Provost Bill Throop spoke briefly about recent successes on the sustainability front here at Green Mountain College. Throop said that the community conversations in the past had focused on the problems and issues that the institution faced concerning sustainability. This time, however, Throop said that he wanted to focus on the things that we should be proud of. Some of the highlights included:

Complettion of the climate action plan intended to guide the college to climate neutrality in the 2010-2011 fiscal year.

Completion of a second carbon inventory.

The construction of the new biomass facility which should be completed by March 31, 2009 and is projected to significantly reduce the colleges carbon footprint.

Establishment of SAGE hall which is expected to receive LEED silver certification.

Establishment of the Renewable Energy and Ecological Design, REED, Certificate Program.

Launching of a Sustainable Business Leadership Certificate Program.

Increased Vermont food purchasing from $64,604 in 07-08 to $72,872 in 08-09, a 13% increase!

Replacement of 212 windows in residence halls with high efficiency windows.

The implementation of numerous Student Campus Greening Fund (SCGF) projects on campus.

The national recognition that Green Mountain College has recently received.

After highlighting these achievements and current actions on the sustainability front, the symposium broke off into eight groups. The groups allowed community members to express their concerns and ideas and to discuss critical areas of the institution that could be improved in order to promote sustainability. The groups were asked to first brainstorm ideas collectively, then to prioritize their lists and develop a course of action to achieve their initiatives. After the fifteen-minute group break-out session, the groups reconvened and a representative from each group presented their respective groups ideas and initiatives to the community.

The break out session yielded a number of interesting and ambitious ideas concerning the promotion of sustainability here at Green Mountain College. Many of the ideas could be easily achieved with minimal effort on behalf of the campus community. Some of the ideas that were developed:

Increase awareness of public transportation opportunities such as “The Bus” which runs through Poultney five times a day. Please visit www.thebus.com/routes.htm to learn more.

A program that requires a minimum of twenty hours of “green” community volunteer work annually.

Weatherize campus buildings.

Motion-censored lights in campus dorms,

Increase the availability of local food,into the dinning hall.

Allow students to stay on campus over breaks to reduce travel-related emissions.

The concerns of students, faculty and staff concerning sustainability here at Green Mountain did not go unheard. Several important members from the campus community attended the event and took note of peoples concerns and ideas in regards to the institutions sustainability. Amber Gerrard, the Campus Sustainability Coordinator, Steve Letendre, the chair of the Campus Sustainability Council (CSC), Tom Wheeler, president of the Student Campus Greening Fund (SCGF), as well as several environmentally minded professors attended the community conversation.

We have a strong community here at Green Mountain College. The institution as a whole has a strong commitment to minimizing its impact on the Earth, which is why many of our students are attracted to the college. Green Mountain has become a leader in sustainability at the higher education level. We are a nationally recognized institution for our environmental initiatives and reputation for passionate, environmental students. Our community conversations serve as an outlet to all campus community members to voice their concerns and ideas concerning sustainability to decision makers here on campus.

Our community conversations are immensely important to advancing sustainability here at Green Mountain College and should be attended by all who are concerned with the sustainability of the institution.

Short URL: http://www.themountaineer.org/?p=1071

Posted by editor_green on Nov 24, 2009 Filed under Green @ Green. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry