Conservation Council

Conservation Council Meeting Notes Monday 11/2

Attendees: Louise Gava, Rick Scott, Brad Baldwin, Ryan Gillard, Alle Wingerter, Chloe Whalen, Amanda Lavigne

1.      Wrapping Up the 350 wood display

Timeline:

• Friday 11/6 - FacOps will move all wood + rack to back of SC
• Sunday 11/8 - Students will set up display inside SC
• M-F 11/9-11/13 - Raffle tickets will be sold in SC from 12-1 and out-of-pocket by CC members
• Friday 11/13 - Raffle drawing will occur at 1 pm, display will be disassembled and wood will be picked up by winner

Tasks:

• Rick:
  • contact FacOps and request that ALL of the wood plus the wood rack (from behind WC and what was on the green by the SC but is now in a loader bucket at FacOps) be moved to a pile at the back of the SC (near the door that leads to the hallway between the Pub and the Winston Room) in an out of the way place this Friday afternoon 11/6.
  • The wood will be covered with a trap to try and let it dry off somewhat before it gets moved inside.
• Alle, Ryan, Wes, and Chloe
  • use their connections within the student body to find able and willing bodies to

§  move the wood rack into the SC, set it up in front of the fireplace, move the 40 or so pieces of wood from the pile behind the SC into the rack, and set up the accompanying 3 posters on Sunday afternoon 11/8 (no time was designated yet).

§  sit at a table M-F from 12-1 and sell raffle tickets. 

§  reverse the set up process on Friday afternoon 11/13 after the raffle drawing at 1 pm - move the wood  and the wood rack back to the staging area outside the door of the SC.  The wood will be picked up by the raffle winner that afternoon, or the following day.

• Louise:
  • revise raffle tickets - really think only 1.5 face cords of wood there
  • print 30 raffle tickets
• Amanda:
  • Create and print 3^rd poster explaining biogenic vs fossil carbon, the raffle, and incorporating pictures from the wood sawing event - will send a draft poster around for comment by Friday, and will set up printing with Lou Z. in GIS lab for Friday afternoon.
  • Procure funds for a small bank for the raffle ticket sales in the SC
  • Move the sawhorses to the ESL on Tuesday
• Brad/Chloe/Catherine (?):
  • Advertise the raffle

§  Brad - a message through FacStaff

§  Chloe - a message posted on SLUWIRE

§  Catherine - any other suggestions?

2.      Comments on Draft policies:

First, with what "voice" are we writing, what is the perspective we are using to put these policies on the table?

The combined voice of students, staff and faculty that is represented by our Tri-partied committee will carry the most weight

So, the policy recommendations will be written by the Conservation Council.

Similarly, we need to understand who our audience is - and need to be sure to include/allow comments from those who will be most affected before going through the designated vetting channels for the CC i.e. the Faculty Council, senior staff, BOT, etc.

Brad - My feeling is that we should include an overall "principle" within these policy recommendations, that St. Lawrence, as an institution of higher education, is obligated to act as an example, that we should be a progressive demonstration and set the example.  That even though there will be "push back" and that some of these will challenge established "norms" like a finely manicured lawn, that we should be making the hard decisions because of our educational mission.

This also gives the CC the opportunity to have an impact beyond our energy conservation charge, in that we can specifically define other areas of impact within the Grounds policy, for example.  Planting for Biodiversity, for example,  

This is a great chance, but we need to be careful and start with the energy focus as defined by our charge, then slide some others in under the radar, to avoid criticism

Louise - These ideas DO show support in the Web-based "suggestions box" Idea Connect (?) and were discussed in the Recession Task Force meeting last week, so people are talking about them.

Rick - We will have to be careful to understand some of the major criticism and how these policies will affect certain jobs - also, relating things to existing policies such a village ordinances, etc.

Brad - pointing out that money can be saved whenever energy is saved is also important.

Do we need to think about framing this in a larger context? Getting down to the specifics that we are discussing today is very important but dropping a policy without doing the background work to justify our recommendations will reduce the weight of the document and put us in a defensive vs offensive position. 

Perhaps the existing Environmental Action Plan can give us the larger, broader document base that we need, and that a little leg work on the research side of things coupled with input on an electronic document is a good place to focus our efforts for the next chunk of time. 

Also pointing out how to incorporate the educational layer of some of the policy recs, such as the no-mow zones, could help garner support for the policy recs.

Let's use the inputs Louise has made plus the original drafts as a foundation doc that we can pass around and use for brainstorming - if you have polished language that you like, add it - if you have a series of random thoughts in bullet format, add them - we can pass this around for a while and then spend a meeting with a hard copy later.

3.      Member's time/News:

The Thrift Store got funding and will move to the new Java location.  There will be some funding to renovate the space, and the possibility to include a bike maintenance area.

Louise and Amanda will be taking some students to the Adirondack Youth Climate Summit at the Wild Center next M and Tu where we will be working on the SLUCAP

Conservation Council

Monday 10/26

Attendees: Louise Gava, Rick Scott, Catherine Boulatoff, Alle Wingerter, Amanda Lavigne, Wes Norton, Chloe Whalen, Ryan Gillard, Brad Baldwin

Proposed Agenda:

12-12:15          Debrief from the Weekend,  Oct. 23/24th

October 23^rd: Friday activities went well - a lot of people participated, good enthusiasm, all of the wood was cut.

The Saturday display never happened - Brad and Amanda moved ¾ of the wood, but that was it.  Some wood is now on the green by the SC and some is still in the rack behind the ERC.

The bike brigade went well, despite the rain.  The movie had about 50 or so attendees, too.  There was a table inside the student center during the bike brigade.  Some posters were there and the light bulb exchange took place.  There were some good questions asked.

What to do about the wood?

It was suggested that we can still put up the sawed wood vs fossil fuels display  - in the Student Center? - with the posters plus some more information outlining how the wood was cut and why.  The raffle could still happen, too.

In total, we wound up with about 1.5 face cords of wood.

Raffle ticket prices:  $1 per ticket - $5?  Who will buy the tickets?  Fac/Staff who heat with wood and it was requested that students are included in the raffle...the tickets will be sold on campus only by members of the Conservation council?

Brad noted that although he put some labor into the saws, that those who donated the saws and the wood should probably receive some form of "Thank you" - possible giving them a bookstore certificate?  So the raffle proceeds could go toward that end.

So what do we need to do to make this happen?

Step one: ask Timberly Hewitt and Amanda Mereau about setting up the display in the Student Center.

 Alle will ask about setting up the display inside the SC near the fireplace.

Do the posters tell enough of the story?  Will the barrel accompany the wood? Do we need to add some more information if this will be an "un-manned" display? 

Pictures - Wes will talk to Hilary and Brad will talk to Tara Freeman about pictures?

Alternative location suggestion:   JHS

What will we do with the wood in the mean time? - It can stay where it is for now, with some word passed on to kindly leave it where it is.  But, we need to have a plan in place, sooner rather than later, as Wed. is the deadline we have before FacOps moves it

What do you think about the saw bucks...do we want to save the bucks so we can do this again?  Yes, they could go to the ESL.  Amanda will move them out there. It would also be nice if we do not have to borrow saws in the future.  How much do they cost?  Estimated around $60 per saw.  There is a guy on Miner street who has some available.  Wes will pass on more information to Brad so he can stop over and talk about it. 

It was agreed that we will find a way to put up the display somewhere.

What did we learn from this weekend?

We need to communicate a little better.   Some projects might have fallen on the shoulders of a few individuals, and things just got lost in the last minute effort.

If we want to help support student-driven efforts and projects, but most of the planning happens during CC meetings with only the 9 of us there, then how do we communicate/pass things on to the students and how do we push things forward?

Better communication and better blatant definition of tasks.  If student groups are going to be engaged, then things need to be planned weeks in advance - a one week notice might be ok if the task is "show up" but more time is needed to get students on board for other more involved participation. 

Should the weight fall on EAO only?  This group is the largest in that the email list is very large, although on 25 or so people show up to the meetings and do most of the work. 

What about other "environmentally minded" groups like LTB?  And what about trying to engage the larger student population, so that things get can more broad than the involvement of students who are already participating in some way?  Is there a "report out" opportunity in Thelmo? Engaging the honorary groups?  Other student groups on campus? 

12:15-12:45     Next steps

Wes and Louise have been working on a proposal to submit to the Britta small grant competition based on expanding the green bikes program.

What can the CC do to help?

1. It would be nice to get a sense of how students feel about expanding this program, and whether an expansion would entice them to use it more before the proposal needs to be submitted on Friday 10/30.

Brad, Catherine, and Amanda will informally survey their students Tu and Wed to try and get this sense.  Do you participate?  How often?  Would you if there were more bikes available, or you could get a bike for a longer time?

Amanda will try and contact the student group that did a project on this last year - Jake Birchard was the point person on this project.

2. It would be helpful to know how much the University is spending on bike racks to include in the budget estimate before the grant proposal is submitted.

Rick will talk with Marcus Sherburne about this.

Tasks:

1.      Alle will ask Timberly Hewitt and Amanda Mereau about setting up the display in the Student Center.

2.      Wes and Brad will talk with Hilary and Tara F. about finding some pictures of the sawing to add to the display.

3.      Wes will send Brad some more info on the Miner St. store that might have cross cut saws to look at.

4.      Amanda will pick up the sawbucks from behind the WRC and move them to the ESL.

5.      Louise and Wes will write and submit the Britta grant application for $10,000 to expand the existing Green Bikes program on campus.

6.      Brad, Catherine and Amanda will informally survey their classes to get a sense of student support for this as a project.

7.      Rick will contact Marcus Sherburne about the price of Bikes racks.

8.      Amanda will track down information about Green Bikes put together by a student group in her Cradle 2 Cradle class.

Monday 10/12 12:00

Student Center 232

Attendees: Louise Gave, Rick Scott, Brad Baldwin, Eric Williams-Bergen, Wes Norton, Ryan Gillard, Chloe Whalen, Alle Wingerter, Amanda Lavigne

Eric Williams Bergen walked us through the Green Pages showing the links between specific pages, individual organizational pages, and the new "environmental" project summary page.  He demonstrated the ease with which new entries can be added to the list, and talked about how individuals could be given access to be able to add information.

Louise has already added information to the project list site for a few of the major projects that are already underway.

The need for a designated Conservation Council "communications officer" was brought up - someone who would be responsible for posting meeting minutes, adding information and events to the Conservation Council organizational web page on the Green Pages, and adding and updating information related to the projects list.

Amanda volunteered to get things started, and Brad volunteered to help. (*Note: it would be wonderful if someone else would take the lead on this role? Amanda)

The Word document containing all of the input/information the was sent to Amanda was pulled up, and the group spent the next chunk of time looking at the info we have for each project and identifying areas where additional input form group members would be helpful.  The document will be sent around again over the next few weeks so that we can continue to flesh things out and gather as much information as possible to help guide our decisions with regards to where and how to help these projects move forward.

Eric also pointed out that there is now an established site to house student related project information, the XXX repository (I missed this name?), where student research papers based on the projects or related topics could be housed and linked to the project list summary site on the Green Pages.

The October 24 International Climate Action Day wood sawing activity, originally proposed by Brad, was discussed by the group.   Coordination with the Fall Fun days was decided, placing the actual sawing/chopping behind the Women's Resource Center on the 23^rd, with the display/raffle (?)  taking place on the main campus on the 24^th.

Some coordination is needed for delivering the logs, finding equipment, creating the visual display, and advertising.

Brad volunteered to work on the logs and the equipment.  Ryan will discuss things with EAO, and Wes will find out information on the scheduling/location in terms of adding this activity to the Fall Fun Day schedule.

Someone needs to contact Lisa Cania about the Inauguration schedule, and coordinate with her so that we don't interrupt or accidentally set up in a bad position on the 24^th.

Adjourn 1:07

Conservation Council

Meeting Agenda

Monday 9/28 12-1 Memorial Hall Conference Room

Attending: Ben Dixon, Brad Baldwin, Catherine Boulatoff, Louise Gava, Rick Scott, Ryan Gillard, Alle Wingerter, Chloe Whalen, Amanda Lavigne

12:00   -           Discuss CC/WG split. 

                        How can we make this relationship work?

                        Revising the CC charge.  Ideas for action?  Set our agenda?

Note: Add Alex Showerman to the email list

Minutes from CC and WG will be inter-shared.

Amanda:  After taking with Mike Temkin/Faculty Council, the Climate Neutrality Working Group has been reconvened with the approval of FC.  Although CC is the "parent" organization to which the WG has been attached, it does not mean 100% overlap is required, meaning that members of CC do not also have to be members of the WG, but are welcome to join and work on the CAP if they so desire.  It has been suggested, due to the differences in charges, that CC will be the "action" arm, and the WG will be the "planning" arm of CAP related initiatives.

Amanda:  My thoughts are that we as CC should discuss our charge and the goals as seen by this year' current members, and that we should not just "wait" for direction from the WG/CAP, but should establish an agenda for the year and integrate support of the CAP into the working of CC - that CC should have a more broad focus than just Cap related projects/initiatives.

Louise:  In the past, CC has been more of an umbrella organization. What happens after Climate Neutrality Plan is submitted? Does this mean our (CC) charge would get changed in January?  WG charge suggests that group will disband after submission of plan.  Probably need to take any changes in charge to Faculty Council.

Amanda: The timing is right, because FC has asked all committees to reevaluate their charges - should we make things broader?

Brad: In the past CC has taken a broader approach, and not every project has been so obviously related to energy conservation.

Louise:  As Eric mentioned last time, the CC charge was rewritten a while ago, but never submitted because the status of the existence of CC was tenuous at the time.

Catherine: How successful has CC been in completing projects in the past?  How many things can get done in one semester? What are some of the low hanging fruit projects from the CAP that have been identified?

Rick: Well, it depends on the project, but thing tend to move rather slow if it has to go through all of the university channels and be vetted, but sometimes, things can get done quickly if they are small and specifically defined.

Louise:  I distributed info from the transportation survey done last year, and there are some definite opportunities defined by the results that we could tackle.

Brad:  What do the students think?  What would you like to see happen in CC this year?

Ryan: I think there are definitely some students interested in some very specific projects - many who approach me every day and ask about trying this or that.  I think the smaller, short-term projects have more relevance to students, and would like to see those happen.

Catherine:  Ryan, what are the projects you've been hearing about?

Ryan:  Composting, recycling, green bikes, environmental justice/work on the Akwasasne Reservation, student garden, dorm room drying racks

Louise: The thrift store is an ongoing project that has some funding associated with it but needs help.

Alle: Zip cars are gaining interest - basically a car rental through campus,

Amanda:  Is there a way we can collect ideas from certain student groups who are established, self-organized and who could benefit from help from CC and have enough traction to follow through on the project - perhaps on the Green Pages, so that past ideas would not be lost, and we could find a way to prioritize and carry projects over semester to semester?

Ryan:  Yes, I could talk to Eric about that.

The idea was put forth that CC could approach things from both sides - identify a bigger initiative, associated with the CAP that would involve more "behind the scenes" work and focus on writing/reviewing policy suggestions, CAP work plans, etc., as well as focusing on some smaller "do-able" projects identified by students/student groups and brought to CC for help in planning, organizing, logistics, administrative details, etc. The role of CC would also be to identify areas of need in terms of environmental response and bring those areas to the attention of the University, as well as to move those efforts and the efforts of environmentally based student groups through bureaucratic channels.

Amanda: So, should CC rewrite its charge to have a broader focus, while pushing for the WG to become a permanent group to more directly deal with the CAP?  Or should we not rock the boat, and continue as usual, with a narrow charge, but with a broad interpretation?

Louise:  We need to understand whether the CNWG is going to go away after January, or not, and whether CC will be left holding a huge amount of responsibility In terms of the CAP before we change our charge too much.

Amanda:  I will try and get some resolution -we can bring this to the WG, and possibly back to FC to get a better understanding of whether or not we can justify a new charge, or whether we will be further limited by pressure put on by the CAP.

Amanda:  We are almost out of time, but I had wanted everyone to think about Climate Day activities for October 24^th.  Info about it will be emailed.

1:00     -           Adjourn

Conservation Council

Meeting Minutes

Launch 9/11/2009

In Attendance:  Brad Baldwin (convener), Louise Gave, Rick Scott, Amanda Lavigne, Catherine Boulatoff, Wes Norton, Ryan Gillard, Courtney Tennant, Alex Showerman, Jon Rosales, Eric Williams Bergen

Brad convened the meeting, and introductions were made.

Amanda agreed to act as chair, upon Brad's suggestion.  The group agreed to the choice.

A discussion about the difference between Conservation Council and the Climate Neutrality Working group followed.  It was determined that Faculty council should be consulted as to whether these two bodies are separate, and whether the WG could be reconvened. 

Amanda agreed to contact Mike Temkin and find out what the FC has to say.

The existing CC charge was read by Brad, and a role for CC if the WG is reconvened was discussed - CC could be the action-based group that actually implements the plan.

It was asked if the group could read the draft CAP (Louise will distribute this via email this week) and to identify the low-hanging fruit actions that the CAP planning process had already called attention to.  It was suggested that the transportation survey might be a great place to start (Louise will also distribute this).

Some potential projects for Climate Day 10/24 were discussed.  This is also "Make a Difference" day, and the Presidential Inauguration.  Can CC provide some leadership to students groups or sponsor some activities as a way to get the work of the Council out there on campus again?  This discussion will be revisited during the next meeting.

Amanda will touch base with FC to determine who should attend what meeting, and will try to find a common meeting time for just the members of CC via Doodle.

Conservation Council Meeting Notes Thursday 2/4 - 3-4 pm Memorial Hall 102

Attendees: Louise Gava, Mary Kohnstamm, Lindsay Guerin, Matthias Nevins, Amanda Lavigne, Brad Baldwin, Catherine Boulatoff

Absent: Rick Scott, Molly Parren, Andrew Skaggs

Catherine volunteered to replace Amanda and take minutes during Council meetings.

The Brita Filter For Good green bikes grant was not accepted.  Amanda suggested the council look for and write other grant proposals in the future.  

We then proceeded by reviewing and editing the draft anti-idle policy. Amanda was to compile the edits to the draft and send it to everyone by e-mail for comments by Monday 12 p.m.

The next draft policy on the table is the ground policy, drafted last semester.  Louise communicated that Marcus Sherburne (Grounds Manager) would be coming to the next meeting to discuss possible directions to take that policy.

Louise summarized Marcus' his present priorities: a) salt/ sand reduction (this year, he tried the magic salt), b) new vehicles acquisition (with in mind the ones using alternative energy). His pressure: around Admissions and Romoda drive, aesthetics counting the most. He also tries to take into account as much as possible the different students' uses of the grounds.

Upcoming meeting: Meet with Marcus and focus on ground policy.

Tasks:

Amanda - edit the anti-idling draft and e-mail to everyone over week-end.

All - review the anti-idling draft by Monday 12 p.m.

All - send questions for Marcus to Amanda prior to meeting.

Louise - send AASHE list of topics that might be of interest.

Next meeting scheduled on Thursday 2/11 from 3-4 pm, Memorial Hall 102.