Environmental Advisory Committee
Meeting Minutes
April 1, 2009
I. Introductions
Attendance: Erika Bailey-Johnson, Scott Borchers, Nancy Haugen, Ryan Hilmer, Asher
Kingery, Rich Marsolek, Crystal Middendorf, Chinwuba Okafor, Amy Peikarski, Andrew Spaeth,
Christine Sazama, Pat Welle
II. SFE Report
Earth Day Celebration on campus will be held on April 22nd. We have finalized times and
locations for most of the activities.
1 – 3 PM Global Climate Change and Social Justice presented by local artist Shannon Murray
in the AIRC Gathering Place.
4 – 6 PM Lakeshore Cleanup- meet by the Lower Lakeside Union by Satgast Hall. Garbage
bags, a few canoes, and a few pairs of gloves will be provided.
6 PM Food will begin to be served by Lower Lakeside Union Lawn. Picnic style with free
buffalo burgers, chips and salsa, veggies and dip will be provided for all students. Part of this is being
paid for by the green fee. Donations and students for the environment are covering the rest.
6:30PM Live Music begins. Starting with Shannon Murray and followed by local artist Caleb
Erickson. Another band will be playing after Caleb. In conjunction with music there will be lawn
games, educational displays and a bonfire with smores provided.
Trayless is going very well. From January 13th to the end of February we have saved an
estimated 14,750 gals of water, 2200 KWH of electricity, and 2,700 lbs. of food waste. This is about
environmental stewardship, but also will help be economically beneficial.
Mini-grants: SFE and Duck’s Unlimited is teaming up to help build wood duck houses and put
them in local wetlands. DU wrote the mini grant to pay for supplies.
The Kill-A-Watt project is also beginning yet this school year. It will be a way to begin to gauge
electricity usage and inefficiencies in different buildings across campus. Any faculty or staff interested
in participating should speak to Andrew Spaeth.
III. Sustainability Coordinator Report
1. Nuts and Bolts- GMW appreciation day setup is in the works. Carol Neilson and student
senate have taken a lead on the project as well. Erika is looking for potential speakers and help. The
group was told that initially the program would be funded through University money, but Erika soon
found that there was a policy against buying food for University employees with University money.
She had suggested two options: one in which we go in search of donations and fund raising
opportunities to still offer a meal at the GMW appreciation, or that the budget be downsized and
administration and other private donations would cover the costs.
Discussion: Suggestion was made that we keep it simple for the first year. We would not want to set a
precedent for a huge program and that be the expectation for years to come. We don’t want to
discourage or cause disparities among GMW’s and other important employees that don’t get an
appreciation day. Based on the time period we have before the end of the year the suggestion was
made to keep it simple this year and lower the budget to not include a full meal. A possibility of
appetizers or something similar to what was served at the Presidents signing of the climate
commitment was also suggested. The consensus was made to use outside funding and stick with a
smaller budget with the possibility of expanding in the future.
2. SAFAC Budget Presentation
Green Fee Proposed Budget FY10
$24,000 Salary
$6000 Other stuff (consulting, feasibility studies, renewable energy investments)
$5000 Mini Grants
$2000 Reusable Mugs
$1400 Sustainability Employment
$1000 Earth Day
$600 Traditional Skills Training Events
$40,000 Total
3. NTC (Northwest Technical College)
Erika has been meeting for the past 3 weeks with NTC and BSU about courses in renewable
energy, Pat Welle also attended the meeting. Currently one for Renewable energy entrepreneurship
certification is in the works for next fall at NTC. NTC can start programs quickly after the curriculum
has been developed and courses outlined. Erika is very excited about this opportunity for our
community and is looking to expand and develop a two-year program for renewable energy
technicians.
4. Schools Cutting Carbon
Erika, Asher Kingery, Dave Bahr, Mitch Davidson, Mike Dody, and Andrew Spaeth participated
in the Energy Audit last week. Oak Hall, Hobson Union, and Rec Center were all audited. The tools
used included a temperature monitor, light meter, and thermal imaging camera. The purpose was to
find out which buildings may be the easiest to retrofit for a future $20,000 grant we may be receiving.
A report from the audit will be received in the next two or three weeks. 103 schools participated in the
program and 10 of the 103 will receive the $20,000 grant mentioned before. A climate change team
will be heading up the grant writing and process. The team will consist of BSU students, faculty, and
staff. Input and participation will be greatly appreciated as this program moves forward. A commuter
survey is part of this and will be submitted to the human subjects committee very soon. Commuter
data (emissions from travel) is the hardest to change, but plays a large role in our total emissions.
Erika will keep us updated when she finds out more information. On a side note Dr. Bahr’s mustache
looks really cool on a thermal imaging camera.
5. Native Plants
This Thursday (tomorrow) at 9:30 Am there will be a meeting about native plants on campus.
The focus will be a few different areas of campus that would be easy to convert. In front of the library
is one location they are looking to utilize perennials. There has been support for this project from both
students, administration, and other parties. The benefits are substantial to reducing mowing and
replacing gardens with new plants every year. There are both environmental and economic benefits
from planting more native vegetation. More information needs to be collected and sites need to be
determined. Crystal had also presented this idea to residential life last year. Students may be writing
a mini-grant to obtain the plants.
6. Smoke-free campus
There have been many discussion initiated on campus about going smoke free. Erika is
hesitant about the policy, but believes improvements can be made. She will be attending a seminar
on May 6th in Hibbing about what other campuses have done.
Discussion: Enforcement is an issue and a member suggested that security would not play that role.
Other ideas were brought up about the issues of peer pressure. It was suggested that it would be
best if the effort was student led. A coalition of student organizations has been working on the project.
Student Senate will be collecting more student input before the year is over. It was mentioned that we
have also come a long way from where we were in years past. At one time smoking was allowed in
the classroom and in offices. At one time Erika’s office was the smoke room. The issue of addiction
and helping people cope was also brought up. It was mentioned that the cigarette tax went up to one
dollar per pack today. It was brought up to have no-smoking zones better defined on campus property
(i.e. 15 foot rule).
7. MCEC (Minnesota Campus Energy Challenge)
This is still in the works. We may have a really big advantage because of the purchase of a
new boiler and because Maple Hall is now offline.
8. Solar Installation
Site assessment has been completed and the best location looks to be near the satellite dish
in front of Bangsberg hall. The installation will cover the amount of electricity consumed by the
Superlab in Decker Hall. Estimates for the project are currently being done and Erika will know prices
in about one week.
9. Bottled Water
Christine Sazama: Washington University recently banned the sale of water bottles on its
campus. Many universities have been trying to get on board. Very big schools are taking interest
including schools in Seattle,etc. In order to appeal to students many schools are doing taste testing
between tap and bottled water, a tower of consumption with a couple days worth of plastic bottles
collected, repairing all water fountains, testing the quality of the tap water, made large maps including
locations of drinking fountains on campus, and having large jugs of fresh drinking water available in
‘common’ areas (such as the lower union or at a hockey game). Some students initially reacted at
Washington University saying that they were taking away a healthy option. However, banning bottled
water has shown to make everyone more aware of where free sources of drinking water are available
and encourage the protection of clean water sources. It was also stated that almost 95% of bottles
purchased are eventually thrown in the garbage and not recycled. ‘Think Outside the Bottle’ is a
comprehensive guide to doing this project.
Discussion: It was suggested to start with parts of what Washington University has done and work
from there. There was agreement from a majority of the group to pursue that idea. It was also strongly
suggested that we keep the end goal of banning the sale of bottled water on campus. Water is going
to be the most valuable resource on the planet.
Respectfully submitted by Andrew Spaeth