Environmental Advisory Committee
Minutes for November 3, 2008
Present: Erika Bailey-Johnson, Mitch Davidson, Ryan Hilmer , Asher Kingery, Mark Lawrence, Rich
Marsolek, Crystal Middendorf, Amy Piekarski, Dave Souba, Andrew Spaeth, Rabi Vandergon, Vince
Vohnout, Derek Webb, Patrick Welle
Convener: Erika Bailey-Johnson
1) Recap of Last Meeting Held 9/18/08
* changes to committee by-laws [Derek and Erika will continue to work on wording]
* brief discussion about whether co-conveners should be voting members; determined
that all will be non-voting members unless there is a tie; in the case of a tie the
Sustainability Coordinator will vote
* co-conveners will be self-nominated [Erika will seek nominations for the student and nonstudent co-conveners via e-mail]
2) SFE Report
* “Do it in the Dark” Energy Savings Campaign going on through the month of November;
residence halls and off-campus residence will compete to reduce their electricity consumption by the
most per capita; brief discussion of “Traveling Trophy” idea, Pat Welle thought to ask the Modeling
Department to make a huge light switch in the “off” position that states “This dorm gets off the most”.
[Erika will check with the Modeling Dept]
* Going trayless; BSU Dining Hall will be going trayless beginning in November; a discussion
was held about the many benefits and whether we will be able to measure our benefits [Dave will
check on this]
* Concerns with certain GMW’s was brought up; it was reinforced that supervisors should hold
them accountable and that position descriptions must be clearly defined [Rabi will check on a
mediator]
* Take-out containers; BSU Dining Services will begin using biodegradable take-out containers
in November instead of the Styrofoam; Student Senate passed two bills approving this change and
also going trayless
* Anna Carlson presented her campus carbon footprint data to SFE
3) Monitoring Energy Use On The Web
* the questions was raised whether we could monitor energy use on a website; care would
have to be taken to normalize the data; thought it would tie in nicely with the “Do it in the Dark”
campaign [Andy will check on feasibility]
4) Zero Waste
* the campus has very good records of the amount and cost of our waste stream to use a
baseline to reduce waste
3) Sustainability Coordinator Report
* Green Team; Erika would like a small group of committed individuals to meet with on a
regular basis to discuss ideas and select Mini-Grant recipients; a discussion was held about whether
students should be on the team (perhaps a conflict of interest?), but was determined that one student
should be on the team to provide a student perspective, and would be beneficial to be a member of
the Student Senate; Pat Welle and Mark Lawrence expressed an interest in being on the team [Erika
will see if any other EAC members are interested in being on the team]
* discussion was held about the Sustainable Campus Endowment; determined that this
would be a special project different from the Mini-Grants; money may go towards the
“Do it in the Dark” campaign
* Green Fee; Sustainability Coordinator is in charge of Green Fee distribution; Erika is making
recommendations to Student Senate, SFE, administration, and the EAC and asking for input; the
recommendation is to use the Green Fee money for projects proposed by the Sustainability
Coordinator, for Mini-Grants, and for Employment
* Sustainability Employment; discussion about a limit of 10 hours per student per
semester, might be better to limit the total amount of projects instead; concerns were
raised about abuse of the system
* Green Fee Mini-Grants; need an award date on the application; should be noted how
funds are dispersed; question about the number of signatures; wording should be
changed from “Faculty Advisor” to “Project Advisor”; discussion held about the “Target
Areas” and whether they are broad enough [Erika and Mark will meet to discuss options
for “Target Areas”]
Respectfully submitted
Erika Bailey-Johnson