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October 26, 2020

Date/Time
Monday, 10/26/2020
Location
Online
Submitted By:
Alicen Flosi

LU Sustainability Committee - Minutes – 10/26/2020

Online TEAMS meeting began at 3:05 pm, 10/26/2020

Present:  Alicen Flosi, Chair; Marc Paine; Karen Corwin; Jennifer Ravey; Gevorg Sargsyan; Stefan Krause; Taliah Belcher

The Committee discussed having at least 3 goals:

  1. Hold some type of Earth Day celebration in April, preferably Thursday, April, 22nd, 2021.
  2. Research and discuss with LU Administration the possibility of bringing recycling back on campus.
  3. Begin the Department Sustainability Program in Spring 2021.

Within those goals, the following were discussed:

  • Recycling – revisit the idea of outside grants to assist with costs; perhaps the office of sponsored programs can help find programs.
  • Earth Day Ideas – of course, all planning will have to wait until we see what the pandemic situation is in the Spring, but meanwhile, the committee came up with the following ideas:
    • Contests where students can win prizes for sustainable inventions, art or clothing made from repurposing items, sustainable food, etc. We might be able to ask vendors to sponsor the events, judge, and donate prizes.
    • Vendors might be willing to have booths to give away swag and food.
    • Biking or Walking Event
    • Band performance (maybe leading the walking event)
    • Tik-tok or other social media contest with a green theme

A fourth goal was added:

  1. Identify operational areas on campus that could implement sustainable practices.

Within that goal, the following were discussed:

  • IT – use of headers on printouts, shutting down computers remotely
  • Entire campus – paper consumption
  • Dining Services – reusable containers; use of Styrofoam, plastic bags, straws, single-use plastic utensils, cups, lids
  • Custodial Services – green cleaning supplies
  • Purchasing – have a tab for recycled/sustainable items for local or state vendors
  • Construction – continued installation of water bottle fillers on campus and schedule for replacing lights with motion-activated controls
  • Residence Halls – buy nothing and donation opportunities, fix/repair gently used items, book exchange
  • Marketing/Visibility – stickers leading people from the elevators to the stairs to encourage use of stairs, etc.

The committee will meet again in January.