Fall 2013 has been yet another busy semester full of activity. Over this semester we’ve had 5 committees working on implementing various components of the Sustainability Action Plan, with over 25 active student, staff, & faculty members participating. In addition, we have 15 student Eco-Reps working in the residence halls, 3 work study students and one intern. It’s been great!

Here’s a brief synopsis of what the committees have been working on:

Food/Purchasing Committee – working on gaining Fair Trade Campus Designation – presented resolution at SGA, Staff Council and Faculty Senate – all of whom passed a vote of support and we are now just awaiting final approval from the President’s cabinet;  working on creating a specific definition of “local” so that we can start accurately tabulating how much local food we are purchasing in Dining Services

Waste Committee – working on bottled water restriction – essentially stopping the sale of bottled water on campus and use at most catered events, starting March 8, 2014 (website coming soon); various other waste reduction efforts including: collecting clean scrap paper in labs & library for re-use, paper towel compost pilot, electronic waste collection in res halls, working on bringing compost collection to Lakeside

Green Revolving Fund Committee – soliciting project ideas for community fund (next deadline is March 15), progress on two projects: daylighting on 2^nd floor of Lakeside and low-voltage lighting in Wick classrooms

Academic Connections Committee – developing a “Sustainability Spirit” week to coincide with annual Kill-A-Watt Challenge (February 2014). Several teachable event opportunities. If anyone has suggestions on what to include (speakers, films, etc.) send them our way

Transportation Committee – Doing our best, within realistic constraints, to listen and respond to needs of community including:

• Adjusted shuttle timing, including:
  • Extending the late night shuttle schedule to accommodate late night employees and students;
  • Extending the direct Lakeside/Gilbane shuttle schedule until 9pm;
  • Temporarily opened the Summit metered parking lot for use by Zone 3 & 4 permit holders, until the Bader lot is closed as a result of the CCM building construction, slated to begin in March 2014
  • As of November 18^th, running a second shuttle from Lakeside to campus on a continuous loop basis from 7:30am to 6:00pm, Monday – Friday.
  • 15 free parking hours for use at metered lots for Zone 1 (Lakeside) permit holders.
  • Other items that we’re working on include:
    • College visitors will now be able to use metered lots, but in general, please still contact Carl Riden for a visitor parking permit…
    • Electric Vehicle charging capability
    • Bicycle parking upgrades
    • Formalizing feedback system – for now, please contact one of the committee members.

As a reminder, we stopped sending out our weekly e-bulletin, but we’ve replaced this with our very active blog, https://sustain.champlain.edu/ chock full of announcements, local and campus events, internship and job announcements, and much, much more. Be sure to subscribe to the blog to get a reminder when new items are posted.  And for those of you who are our FB friends, I’m sure you’ve figured out there’s a new driver in this seat. Thanks to Mariana Franzetti ’16 for getting the word out there even more!

I am looking forward to a great spring semester, with much more in store. To be sure to be in on all of the fun, make sure that your Outlook calendar is updated, or send me your available meeting times so that I can schedule our spring committee meetings.

Best,
Christina