There was much enthusiasm for the "Free Store" and the subcommittee will look into creating a permanent location and set-up.
Many thanks to the members of the Council, Facilities Management, John Stepanion and Student Activities.
ENVIRONMENTAL VIDEO SCRIPT
Time: 5-7 min
Voice: narrator - Howie?
music: ? Good for intro / conclusion, but probably distracting otherwise
Cost: $10 / hour
Finishing Date: january
Overall Goals: Short, informative, fairly interesting film to show to incoming students in orientation, to new staff in staff orientation, to new faculty?, and possibly to other schools interested in what we are doing (not a priority in developing film).
interviews - SHORT COMMENTS. Name and some sort of title on screen as they talk.
Section titles - (centered, all caps - no intro or conclusion) Probably a good idea. But only up briefly and no voice reading what they say. Maybe also for getting involved section. (EQ, OCJ, etc.)
SCRIPT:
INTRODUCTION
Middlebury College is committed to environmental mindfulness and stewardship in all its activities. This commitment arises from a sense of concerned citizenship and moral duty and from a desire to teach and lead by example. The College gives a high priority to integrating environmental awareness and responsibility into the daily life of the institution. Respect and care for the environment, sustainable living, and intergenerational responsibility are among the fundamental values that guide planning, decision making, and procedures. All individuals in this academic community have personal responsibility for the way their actions affect the local and global environment.
President McCardell - (comment on desire for Middlebury to be a leader in environmental studies and in the way we run the school...)
RECYCLING
Middlebury has been recycling since 1989, when students organized a pilot recycling program. Today, the program is still run mainly by students, a factor that has contributed to its success. About 35 percent of Middlebury's waste stream is diverted to recycling thanks to the hard work of the recycling team and the consistent efforts of everyone on campus to separate their waste.
Recycling Worker - (comment on how program works.
We take the recycling truck around to the residence halls and pick up recycling from each building once or twice a week. Then we bring it back to the recycling center to be sorted and bailed and delivered to market. end with positive comment about the program.)
Student - (comment on ease of sorting. We used to have to sort in several different bins, but now we just separate paper in one bin and containers in another)
Even though Middlebury is extremely good at recycling, we can not forget the need to reduce and reuse whenever possible. Some ways you can help include choosing items with less packaging, removing yourself from unwanted mailing lists, and reusing packaging whenever possible.
Buying recycled products is also helpful, because it maintains the value of recycled materials. The Middlebury College bookstore offers a wide selection of recycled products.
COMPOSTING
Middlebury also has made a commitment to composting its food waste. 25 percent of our waste is diverted to composting thanks to the efforts of Middlebury workers and the people who eat in the dining halls.
Dining worker - (comment on how we compost. We collect cooking scraps for composting in the kitchen and leftovers in the dishroom and bring them down to the container. Paper towels from the rest rooms on campus are added to the food to absorb extra moisture.
While Middlebury is proud of its composting program, we need to remember to waste as little food as possible. A little bit of leftovers on everyone's plate adds up to a lot of waste every day. Remember to take only what you will eat; You can always go back for more.
ENERGY & WATER CONSERVATION
Middlebury has made great strides in energy and water conservation over the years. The College has worked to utilize technologies such as energy saving lighting, and low flow shower heads and toilets. Careful maintenance of the heating plant also helps us conserve energy.
Jon Woodbury or Mike Wakefield? - (success of energy reduction - only go so far - need help of all individuals in College community)
Individual actions may not seem to amount to much, but collectively they make a big difference. Keeping the heat in your room at a comfortable level, turning it down when you are not in the room, and keeping your window closed are simple ways to reduce our use of energy. You can also help conserve water by turning off the faucet when it is not in use, and taking shorter showers.
WAYS TO GET INVOLVED
For those who want to get more involved in environmental concerns at Middlebury, there are many avenues to explore.
Students can join Environmental Quality, an activist organization dedicated to improving awareness about environmental issues.
EQ member - (blurb on EQ - mission, activities, earth week, etc.)
For those seeking to live more sustainably, the Ecology House offers a community living and dining alternative.
Weybridge member(s) - (what it is like to live in Weybridge, what food plan means, etc..)
Anyone can submit their writing to the Otter Creek Journal, MiddleburyÕs environmental magazine. Published twice a year, the OCJ features critical and experiential essay, poetry, interviews, and artwork from students, faculty, and staff.
The Middlebury Environmental Council is an advisory council to the President of the College. Composed of faculty, staff, and students, this body has coordinated efforts to initiate and strengthen environmental programs on campus and has worked to increase environmental awareness throughout the College community.
Professor John Elder - (Comment on environmental council and its functions - what we are involved in, mission, etc.)
The Environmental Council has established a network of faculty, staff, and students who serve as Environmental Liaisons. These representatives provide information to people in their residence halls or academic buildings about environmental initiatives, report leaks or other facilities problems, and notify the Environmental Coordinator about problems with recycling. They are an invaluable resource for the facilities management team, who work to maintain the environmental commitment and quality we have come to expect at Middlebury.
CONCLUSION
Middlebury College has taken a leadership role by making a commitment to environmental mindfulness throughout all its activities. The efforts of each member of the College community are what make this vision a reality. Thank you for consciously choosing to be a part of our efforts.
If you have any questions or want to know more about how to get involved with environmental issues at Middlebury, please contact the Environmental Coordinator.
Respectfully submitted by Jen Hazen, 6 November, 1996.
The Subcommittee met on 30 September to review and plan projects for the coming year. Our goals are to provide events and information dissemination in the most effective manner to the college community. The following is a summary of the projects we talked about in our meeting, but does not limit us from adding others that the Council or other members of the College Community suggest.
Projects we will not continue:
Green Tickets
We feel that the Green Tickets competition was not very effective and too time consuming and decided not to continue this year.
Projects we will continue:
Green Cup Competition
This event was not run last year, but would be an interesting contest to replace the Green Ticket competition for the student body. The Green Cup will be a contest to reduce energy consumption (and possibly water consumption, if easily quantifiable). The contest would be structured as a competition between commons so that differences in insulation between buildings would be somewhat washed. Scoring will probably be done on a basis of percentage reduction from last yearÕs usage per capita in each commons. We would like to hold the contest in the month of January as it is early enough in winter that the awareness gained through the competition will last through the colder months and because it is a traditionally high usage month. Although the contest is on a commons level, the prizes should be tailored towards the individual because individual action is required to win. One suggestion was a $5 gift certificate to the Crest Room. Other suggestions and sources of funding would be appreciated.
Environmental Liaison
Formerly known as "Environmental Monitor," this position was renamed to change the image from "cop" to "facilitator." The program will generally be run the same as before, with one or two Liaisons per building, charged with relating problems with energy, water, and recycling to Facilities Management, and with the dissemination of information to people in their area.
Speakers
Steven Rockefeller has arranged for a lecture on behalf of last year's Environmental Council. We are interested in bringing one or two more speakers to campus in the coming year, perhaps one sometime this fall. We would love suggestions from the Council as to content and individuals you would like to see come here.
Informational Posters / Table Tents
We will try to minimize the distribution of posters which add to the clutter on campus, but will maintain the board space in the mailroom as an information area. We also will continue the use of informational table tents in the dining halls, beginning with one on CUPPS.
Energy Use Board in McCullough
We are not sure who maintains this area, though Jen Hazen does not have the key. If anyone knows, please tell us since the information on there is about 6 months old.
Earth Week
This special time of year is where we will focus much of our energy this spring. Maggie is checking with EQ to see what events they are planning and how we can work together with them to make the week a success. (EQ meets Wednesdays at 7PM if anyone is interested in attending.)
Dining Service Events
Cheryl Lacey has indicated that Dining Services would like to continue to host candlelight dinners every Wednesday in Winter term. A table tent will be developed that explains the amount of energy saved by keeping the lights off for those evenings. We are also working to get student groups to volunteer to wash dishes at the midnight breakfasts in Proctor during finals week. Cheryl has also indicated an interest in improving the CUPPS gift program, and providing more education along with it, to make it more effective.
Environmental Fair
To be most effective, we decided to move this event out of Earth Week and hold it prior to winter and the holiday season, when the campus needs a dose of environmental education. We plan to hold the Fair on November 21, from 11-5 or 6, in McCullough, in conjunction with National Use Less Stuff Day. We hope to revitalize interest in the Fair by having a theme, and our focus this fall will be on Reduction (of energy, packaging, food waste, etc.) Displays will center around this theme, hopefully including the following: a display by MIDDdining on food waste, a display by the Middlebury Co-op on reducing food packaging, decorations made of recycled materials by art students, junk mail reduction postcard signing, free cardboard boxes and peanuts, envelope making from scrap paper, and hopefully a "swap shop" resembling a store of items donated prior to the Fair. We want to make the event more interactive and exciting, perhaps providing a forum for attendees to vote on environmental products they might like to see on campus, and providing musical entertainment if possible. We want to make sure that we publicize well and get a great turnout for what promises to be an exciting event. This event is coming up soon and we would appreciate the help of all members of the Council on making it happen!
New Projects:
"Ad Space" in the Campus and MIDDdining Newsletter
Maggie is working with the Campus to receive a space where the Council can report information weekly to the community and Cheryl plans to put a corresponding piece of information in the MIDDdining Newsletter. This will hopefully replace the use of informational posters (except for when we have events we need to advertise) and actually inform more of the student body of our efforts.
New Informational Video
Jen Hazen will be working with the film department to develop a new video about Middlebury and the Environment that will be appropriate to present to new students in Res. Life orientation and to new Employees in Employee Orientation, as well as to other schools interested in our program.
E-Mail Announcement
We are investigating the possibility of putting announcements onto the blurb that comes up when you open your E-mail account.
Respectfully submitted by Jen Hazen
10 October 1996
Return to Minutes List Page
Return to Environmental Council Homepage