Home »University Sustainability Committee »2018

September 28, 2018

Date/Time
Friday, 09/28/2018
Location
Galloway Business Building
Submitted By:
Alicen Flosi

Sustainability Committee Meeting

Minutes from Friday, Sept. 28, 2018

Present:

Alicen Flosi (Chair), Sgt. Jarrod Samford, Cpl. Todd Gillette, Danielle Aylor, Desi Bishop, Savannah Agee, Marc Paine, Dimples Jones, Medrick Russell, Yinka Jenmy, Edward Doan, Karen Kessinger, T-Yana Pierre, Todd Shaver, Gevorg Sargsyan

Sustainability - The United Nation’s 1987 Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future noted that sustainable development meets the needs of the present without compromising the needs of future generations.

Alicen showed the committee the LU sustainability website where many answers to sustainability questions can be found.  She then briefly mentioned some of the current initiatives:  recycling, LU Green Squad, community gardens, proposed bike program, marker recycling campaign, and paper straw campaign.

Committee members divided into groups to brainstorm goals for the University. We will encourage the university to be more aggressive in sustainability and adopt 5 and 10-year goals.

The teams developed the following list

  1. Eliminate of single-use plastics on campus – straws, bottles, bags, Styrofoam, etc.
  2. Creation of a paperless environment or at the least – reduce paper consumption
    1. Allow teachers to stop requiring hard copies
    2. Students bring their own devices for taking notes, completing coursework and exams
    3. Eliminate blank header sheet with printing in a lab or the library
    4. Set printers for double-sided printing if feasible
    5. Support paperless procedures for HR, Registrar’s office and other campus functions
  3. Hire an engineer to measure LU’s current carbon footprint [1]
  4. Community garden
    1. South Park Community Garden has been created. Although volunteers from LU will continue to work at the garden, the local community will be responsible for the planting and maintaining beds as well as distributing the harvest.
    2. LU Community Garden will be planted with flowers and food crops. Volunteers will work at the garden. Any fruits or vegetables that are available will be donated to the LU pantry.
    3. Create compost pile at South Park Community Garden
  5. Energy consumption
    1. Upgrade to energy efficient bulbs
    2. Install motion-sensors in all buildings
    3. Encourage LU community to ensure lights are off in empty rooms and solicit help from custodial and LUPD in turning off lights that are left on
    4. Encourage employees to turn off all lights, radios, and computers when away from their desk for 30 minutes or more
    5. Utilize software to shut down campus computers overnight, on weekends, and holidays.
  6. Water
    1. Upgrade drainage
    2. Collect water for reuse when possible
  7. Food
    1. Partner with City of Beaumont to donate excess food
    2. Allow reusable cups at all dining locations on campus and offer price reduction when used (as Starbucks does)
  8. Communication
    1. Speak to incoming students at orientations
  9. Curriculum
    1. Offer a multi-discipline certificate in sustainability
  10. Employees
    1. Strengthen work-from-home guidelines and offer to employees where feasible
  11. Earth Day Celebration
    1. Increase participation
  12. Transportation
    1. Provide electric car chargers and repair broken one
    2. Offer ride-share program/park and ride
    3. Bike rental program on campus
  13. Renewable energy
    1. 2025 goal – Solar and/or wind energy on campus providing 25% of energy needs
    2. 2030 goal – Solar and/or wind energy on campus providing 50% of energy needs
  14. Recycling
    1. Continue to increase recycling of: paper, plastics, cans, cardboard, batteries and e-waste on campus.
  15. Purchasing
    1. Create a policy to purchase only recycled paper
    2. Reduce outside printing and require it to be done on paper with partially recycled material
    3. Adopt an energy efficient appliance purchasing policy requiring purchase of Energy Star certified products in all areas for which an Energy Star rating exists.
  16. Construction
    1. Make one of the new structures LEED [2] qualified (not necessary to get LEED certificate, but built to the standards)

 [1] A carbon footprint is a measure of the impact our activities have on the environment and climate change.

[2] The LEED rating system is the standard for the design, construction, and operation of green buildings.

Attachments:

  • Current recycling program
  • Map of recycling containers
  • Bruntland Report definition of sustainability
  • Second Nature information
  • United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals
  • Top 10 Cool Schools
  • Carbon Neutrality

Meeting adjourned at 2:20