Minutes
October 6, 2010
Committee Members: Shana Weber - Chair, Malavika Balachandran ‘11, Pablo Debenedetti, Kathy Hackett, Robin Izzo, Jenna Losh, Denise Mauzerall, Thomas Nyquist, Stu Orefice, Rachel Park ‘12, Don Weston
Committee Members Absent: Michael McKay – Executive Sponsor, Patrick Caddeau, Thomas Kreutz, Paul Lewis
Other Attendees: Jonathan Baer, James Boehlert, Flavia Brancusi, Dan Casey, Richard Curtis, Jessica Hoppe Dagci, Roger Demareski, Stephen Elwood, Justine Hausheer, Jed Marsh, Al Pearson, Eileen Zerba, Kristi Wiedemann
I. Welcome – Shana Weber, PSC Chair
II. Announcements
- Introductions: Justine Hausheer, OofS Fellow, Rachel Park, USG Representative, Jenna Losh, Graduate Student Government representative.
- 2010 Sustainability Report: Due the first week of November, will include a live website.
- 2010 Open House November 16: Sustainability Open House will be held on November 16th. It will be a fair-like atmosphere, with community and university representatives.
- Sustainability Ambassador Program: Will be featured at the Open House.
- Hydration Stations installations/water bottles: Water bottles went out to the class of 2014, in concert with installation of water fountain retrofits.
- Update on Greening of Reunions / Green Campus Tour:
-25th Reunion class requested a Green tour; tour was very successful
-Eco-Reps are working on a future Guide to Green Reunions
-Also in the works is a formal Green Tours program, with media alternatives
- Other Announcements
-Rick Curtis: During leader training, short sustainability tours were given to Outdoor Action leaders. Eco-Reps also helped with post-frosh trip recycling.
III. Presentation
- Intro: current WG assessment of STARS
- STARS Powerpoint Presentation – Meghan Zahniser, AASHE
Key Points:
- Developed over 4 years
- Developed by higher education, for education
- STARS 1.0 launched in January 2010
- Self assessment process, totally voluntary
- Open to all higher education institutions in the United States and Canada
- Not based on institution type, size, or endowment
- For each credit, a responsible party within the institution signs off
- Final security is a letter from the head of the university / institution that confirms the accuracy of the submitted information
- Bronze / Silver/ Gold / Platinum ratings. Also STARS Reporters.
- Score good for 3 years
- All criteria for the program is publicly available before one registers
- All results and data submitted publicly. If an institution doesn’t want information made public, then they cannot receive credits for that section.
- Steps: Registration, Compiling, Submission
- 12 months to complete data-gathering, 6 month extensions possible- Fees for AASHE members is $900. Non-AASHE members $1400.
- Potential change to subscriptions, etc.
STARS Q&A with Meghan Zahniser:
- How does STARS compare to LEED? STARS is aligned with many of the building policies of LEED.
- How do you evaluate a school’s curriculum as a credit? This is one of the weakest credit areas, changes and improvements in the future.
- Is there a review process by AASHE? No, data will go live the minute it is submitted.
- How is the data sorted? Will there eventually be a searchable database? Yes. We hope to have a means by which you can search the data by geographic location, specific credit completed, rating, etc.
- Who owns the data? The institution, but we are working out how the schools will access that data once it is submitted. It comes back to the potential subscription options. Perhaps a PDF download of data, or other options.
IV. Possible Policies/Initiatives for Development this year (for discussion at the next meeting)
- Vehicle policy
- Biodiesel sourcing
- STARS adoption
- Bottled water reduction policy