Fall 2014 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 35 active student, staff, & faculty members participating. In addition, we have 16 student Eco-Reps + 1 Eco-Rep Captain working in the residence halls, 3 work study students and one intern. It’s been great! A huge thank you to all for all your contributions.
Here’s a brief synopsis of what the committees and Eco-Reps have been working on:
Food/Purchasing Committee – hosted a fair trade banana event during late night in October; tracking 
Dining Hall food purchases to see how much is local, organic, etc. We hope to have a full academic years’ worth of data by the end of the year; discussing ideas for signage and products for new dining and bookstore area in new CCM building
Waste Committee – hosted 5th annual trash bash. See the results here.; Hosted screening of “Bag It: Is Your Life Too Plastic?” Updated waste bin inventory; held a Junk Mail reduction & recycled notebook making work party; Green Teams staffed six events; continuing to improve waste management systems at catered events
Green Revolving Fund Committee – shared story of anti-idling example from Robin Collins’ classes at Faculty Senate; approved two community projects: viewing window for Apiary and tools and set up materials for bike tuning room in Juniper Hall. Next round of proposals is due March 15.
Academic Connections Committee – surveyed faculty to find out who is currently teaching 
sustainability concepts in their classes (of those who responded: 14 Faculty teaching sustainability focused classes and 20 Faculty teaching classes with some sustainability content); created a map of recommended field trip sites; planning February 2015 Sustainability Month
Transportation Committee – Did our best, within realistic constraints, to listen and respond to needs of community such as adjusting shuttle pick up locations and schedule; voted to support the SGA’s resolution to support the Anti-Idle Policy proposed by Robin Collins; welcomed new staff member Nic Anderson aboard as our Sustainable Transportation Coordinator; promoted CATMA employee survey and increased participation by over 10% from two years ago; improved transportation infrastructure map.
Other events we hosted this fall include several Community Garden work parties and a great day of tabling by the Eco-Reps for Campus Sustainability Day.
To keep in the loop about all of our projects and more, please check out our blog, https://sustain.champlain.edu/ which is chock full of announcements, local and campus events, internship and job announcements, and much, much more. Unfortunately, the subscribe function does not work with our current Google settings, so be sure to check in time-to-time to see what’s happening. Our Facebook also has some great photos and other updates of our past and future efforts.
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 Google calendar is updated so that I can schedule our spring committee meetings. Haven’t been involved yet and want to be? Simply email me and let me know what committee you’re interested in.
Best,
Christina Erickson
Sustainability Director