Princeton University Office of Sustainability

1. Welcome

2.  Group Updates

II. Sustainable Princeton Activities:

-To sign up for a Sustainable Princeton activity, visit: http://bit.ly/QUBn1J

III. GL Communication

IV. Fall Events

V. Field Trip to Sustainability Kiosk! 

Groups Represented:

SURGE, GP,  EcoReps,  NJPIRG (Energy Corps)

Group Updates  

SURGE: SURGE updated PEN on its efforts to organize and publicize the Earth Day Celebration on April 20 th . They also updated the group on some of the other initiatives they have been working on in addition to Earth Day. Recently, they did a tabling session in Frist to promote awareness for a local eco-store (Green Design) with two hundred to three hundred dollars worth of merchandise. They reported that a lot of business cards were taken and that many people were added to the mailing list. SURGE is also partnering with NJ Energy Corps for the Princeton Library’s Princyclopedia event with a recycling-themed origami station. Finally, they reported that the petitions they had signed a while back and sent to a swing republican in the senate (Kip Bateman) on the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (http://www.rggi.org/) were successful! SURGE is sending the representative a thank you note.

EcoReps: The EcoReps reported that they are following through with their study break program with RCA groups. They are having their first study break very soon. They let all of the PEN groups know that if they would like to do their own study breaks, they should let EcoReps know, since they already have the necessary supplies. The group is also presently working on advertising Recyclemania. EcoReps also reported that they are presently recruiting new members since they lost quite a few recently.

Greening Princeton: GP has changed its meeting structure this semester. They are having bi-monthly meetings instead of weekly meetings. Smaller project groups meet in the time between these larger group meetings. They presently have one person in charge of doing Earth Day planning. They will be having a station at the event with a green pledge. The other two working groups are Greening Dorms and Greening athletics. Greening Dorms is presently trying to print posters to put up in dorm rooms. Elektra and Andie (presidents) are trying to do a study group with community house (last year they baked a cake with a group of kids and watched an environmental movie). GP is also working on Greening Dining and hoping that next year they will be able to get Greening the Street up and running again.

Energy Corps (NJPIRG): Kathryn Goldstein is the new NJPIRG representative. She introduced herself to the PEN and reminded them that the energy service corps is a national organization across America improving energy efficiency through education and service. They do frequent weatherizations and home energy upgrades for NJ residents. On Saturday, the group is having an event with a LEED certified architect who will be training them in how to weatherize windows and doors at 9AM at her home. Katheryn told PEN to let her know if anyone is interested in attending.  

Earth Day Update/Collaboration Time

Caroline Jo (SURGE/Earth Day Coordinator) updated PEN on planning for the April 20 th Earth Day Celebration at Frist. The event is being funded mostly through the High Meadows fund. The theme of the event will be the human face of climate change. They will be doing a photo exposé of pictures taken by students of areas that have been impacted by climate change (pictures from Thailand after tsunami, New Orleans, etc). Caroline hopes that all of the departments that partake will emphasize the theme of the human face of climate change in their displays. The organizing committee has also reached out to these academic departments for funding support. They have reached out to a number of speakers and a number of performance groups from around campus will be performing (BAC, Sympoh, Shere Khan, the Wild Cats, etc.). The group has reached out to the CJL to involve them. Kristi gave Caroline the contact for the Office of Religious Life to see if they are interested in collaborating. Caroline is also trying to involve various NGOs. At the event, SURGE will be selling sustainable coffee mugs at the event and donating all profits to Cedesol (the Center for Development with Solar Energy).   Kristi suggested that the group get in touch with the social entrepreneurial groups that are selling goods at the U-Store. Caroline let PEN know that her committee has set aside a fund for all of the PEN groups to use for the event. Caroline reached out to the EcoReps, who she had not been able to contact previously, about tabling as well. EcoReps agreed. The committee this year is staying away from postering and limiting the publicity campaign to the Facebook page. Caroline reminded PEN that the event will feature bent spoon ice cream and to encourage all of their members to participate and attend! The next Earth Day planning meeting is to take place during the SURGE meeting next week.

PSC Update

Kristi gave an update on the PSC meeting. Highlights from the meeting include: a presentation by Amanda Rees ’12 on her campus-as-living-lab thesis on bioethanol production from cellulosic biomass, progress in the no-postering campaign (Virtual Lamppost app design competition, more info TBA), progress in dining hall food waste research (O of S recently visited Kean University’s food in-vessel digester/composter), and a STARS update (Princeton U.’s STARS results are now publically available at https://stars.aashe.org ). For full meeting minutes, see: http://www.princeton.edu/sustainability/psc/minutes/april-minutes/index.xml .

Updates from the Office of Sustainability

Kristi reminded the PEN groups about the Open House coming up in Fall 2012. All groups should start planning to table/have an activity at the Open House before the summer since the Open House is on October 12 th . Kristi agreed to email Caroline the outside groups coming for the Open House so that she can contact them about potentially collaborating on our Earth Day efforts.

Respectfully Submitted,

Miyuki

In Attendance:  

Naomi Zucker, Princeton Garden Project                                                                                                      Elektra Alivisatos, Greening Princeton                                                                                                          Jason Warrington, Eco-Reps                                                                                                                            Judy Schedneck, Office of Sustainability                                                                                                       Kristi Wiedemann, Office of Sustainability                                                                                                         Mikia, Weidenbach, SURGE                                                                                                                           Miyuki Miyagi, Office of Sustainability

Group Updates and Discussion/Collaboration

SURGE- SURGE is currently wrapping up most of their semester campaigns, tabling projects etc. Pull the Plug is the main focus. For more information, see the blurb Jenna sent out to PEN earlier this week, pasted below. SURGE has asked all PEN groups to help publicize the pledge. See link below and publicize the facebook group.

“ How would you feel if someone turned YOU on and left? 

Be a part of the Pull the Plug Campaign! SURGE wants to encourage you to unplug, turn off, and turn down before you leave for winter break! By doing this you can “Pull the Plug” on energy use and help decrease Princeton’s carbon footprint! Sign the pledge to Pull the Plug online at http://tiny.cc/pulltheplug2011! And remember to turn off your lights, unplug your appliances, close your windows, and turn down your thermostat before leaving for break.

 I hope you'll all take the pledge! Please feel free to pass this on to everyone you know!

Eco-Reps- Eco-Reps are currently dealing with a leadership transition. Feng Zhu is now co-president with Jan. In terms of projects, most recently, eco-reps recently donated 93lbs of nonperishable food to Mercer Street Friends Food Bank. They are also continuing to work on the plastic bag recycling project by going around and collecting all the plastic bags from the basements and monitoring rooms of the res colleges where the recycling bins are set up. For now they are just taking the bags to the recycling station at the U-Store. Eco-Reps are also still developing the “these paper towels come from trees” stickers to place on paper towel dispensers around campus. They are also working on their residential education program in collaboration with Forbes College. Finally, they are already working on their reunions recycling project. They are in contact with Teracycle, trying to get them to collaborate on the recycling of #5 plastic cups and wine corks.

Mikia from SURGE asked about the publicity of the plastic bag recycling campaign. Greening Princeton agreed to bring up increasing awareness of this recycling program as part of their own recycling awareness campaign project. 

Greening Princeton – Greening Princeton has elected new co-presidents: Elektra Alvisatos and Andy DeLeon. In the year ahead they will be working on getting GP to do more community service-relate projects and narrowing the group’s mission to avoid overlap with other groups. They will also be reorganizing their leadership roles. Greening Princeton may want to follow up with the Garden Project on how they reorganized their leadership positions, as suggested earlier this year. In terms of concrete initiatives still being worked on, GP is still helping Spellman to brainstorm what to do with their compost. They are also working on a sustainability guide for Spellman. For the year ahead, GP would like to collaborate more with the garden and potentially community house. GP will be doing their 5k again next semester and may be organizing a movie screening as well (perhaps in collaboration with the town environmental film festival). GP has also talked about doing an Earth Week pledge. Elektra agreed to bring up the Eco-Reps plastic bag recycling program at the GP greening dorms subgroup this week. 

Garden Project- The Garden Project is just wrapping up the year and prepping the garden for winter. On the day of the PEN meeting they were planting their cover crop. After having finished up their big final event, a harvest lunch at 2d, they are now planning for next semester and waiting for new officer applications. They will also be doing a movie screening at the next Fores veggie night. Elektra from GP expressed interest in collaborating with the Garden on this project . The Garden Project is also going to be trying to get people involved with the Northeast Organic Farm Association (NOFA) conference and will be tabling next semester.   

Miyuki then went through her minutes from the last PEN meeting (Nov.19th ) and reminded all group leaders of the connections/common projects they had intended to follow up with. The following were projects/collaborations still to be followed up with: 

-GP, the Garden Project, and EcoReps are still interested in collaborating with the Public library’s Environmental Film Festival. Kristi announced the weekends of the film festival (this year they are doing three weekends rather than showings during the week to increase student attendance): January 26th-29th, February 2nd-5th, and February 9th-12th. The town still wanted suggestions from student groups on speakers and films. They are also looking for student volunteers to help with the festival. Susan from the  festival will be sending out a schedule and a doodle poll for volunteers. Finally, the festival would like to have student speakers talk about recycling. EcoReps expressed interest. Kristi agreed to send EcoReps the relevant film.  

- Kristi let us know that the High Meadows Funding for USG’s LED giveaway has been approved. The giveaway will be in February at the new Sustainability Kiosk! Flavia is presenting the project to the USG/Projects Board this week. Elektra , who is also on USG, agreed to get in touch with Flavia about the project and to let the other groups interested (EcoReps, SURGE) know about the status of the project ASAP.

-There is no longer any overlap on the Res. Education Program between GP and EcoReps. EcoReps will be taking the project on. GP and EcoReps will still talk to OA about doing some sort of sustainability education program for OA leaders. Miyuki will email Rick Curtis and ask him to come to the next PEN meeting to discuss the possibilities for this type of education program .

PSC Update- Miyuki updated PEN on this past week’s PSC Meeting. Some Highlights:

Stu Orefice’s Dining Services Update: Dining Services continues making progress in sustainability leadership. Where as only 36% of food was considered “sustainable “ (local, organic, fair-trade) in 2007, by 2011 66% is considered sustainable, with a majority of that percentage being local.  

Stu talked about a number of Dining Services Campus as Lab projects, including developing a carbon footprint app for the dining halls, helping local farms package food for institutional use, improving communications/publicity, figuring out more sustainable ways to process food waste, and ways to decrease bottled water purchases. For a full list of the Office of Sustainability’s campus as lab projects, see: http://www.princeton.edu/sustainability/student/resources)

Kristi announced at the PSC meeting that the Steering Committee is almost completely formed. The only remaining nomination to be made is the USG student rep. If any PEN groups have members that are interested in being this student representative, contact Flavia, the USG’s Sustainability Chair ASAP.

Anna Zhao presented her/USG’s research on her Campus Publicity Survey. Students listed postering as the 3 rd most important way they get their information on campus events, after word of mouth and facebook. To get a more accurate read, PSC suggested doing exit polls at student events as well. The committee will continue discussing the potential for a postering policy in light of this new information. The committee suggested starting to get the university/student agencies to promote online postering (a virtual lamppost, perhaps?).

The next PSC meeting will take place the first week of February. As usual, are all welcome. 

Related comments: GP and EcoReps agreed to get in touch with Stu about weighing food waste later this year, as they have in the past.

Upcoming Event Planning

-The Environmental Film Festival was discussed earlier in the meeting.

-NOFA Conference—Kristi has been in touch with members of the Garden Project about tabling for the conference. NOFA also offered to table. Kristi has also reached out to Slow Food and the Bee Team about this. The Garden will keep Slow Food and the Bee Team updated as plans for tabling progress.

Earth Day—Never too early to start planning! Judy has reserved the South Lawn and the 100-Level of Frist on the two Fridays around Earth Day (Friday April 20 th and April 27 th ). Since April 27 th is the Friday of houseparties, We will use the April 20 th reservation.   Miyuki agreed to double check the date with other events going on campus.

Again, PEN discussed whether or not we would like to have an Earth Day Festival as we have for the past two years. The group seemed keen on having another festival and especially on bringing in Shana’s sister, the aerial dancer as a main event. Before we can start planning, however, PEN is looking for a leader from one of the groups to take the initative on Earth Day. Miyuki offered to supply all of the information she has from when she planned the festival two years ago and asked the groups to talk to/recruit members (preferably younger members without independent work to worry about) to take advantage of this opportunity to lead an event. The PEN leaders agreed to talk to younger members in their groups and Miyuki agreed to include a blurb with the minutes about the position of Earth Day Coordinator.

Earth Day Coordinator: (1 or 2 people) This person(s) will be in charge of coordinating all of the PEN group’s earth day efforts and of putting together an Earth Day festival as a campus-wide event. He/she will not work alone—she may (and should) create other positions on an Earth Day to delegate work to (i.e. Performance Coordinator, Publicity Manager, etc.) He/she will be in charge of delegating tasks and overseeing all other positions on the PEN Earth Day Committee. He/she will be in charge of convening and organizing this Earth Day Committee, writing and sending out funding applications and letters, proposing funding application to USG Projects’ Board, working with facilities to set up the event itself (stage, tables, sound system, etc.), helping to secure town health permits for any food-related tables, ordering attractive sustainable food for the event (like bent spoon), facilitating communication between PEN groups at the event, working with student design agencies and the publicity manager to create an event publicity campaign, and whatever else they choose to take on. Essentially, they are the managing director of the festival. Need good organizational skills, ability to send mass amounts of emails and respond quickly, passion for sustainability, desire to take on more of a leadership role within PEN/ on-campus sustainability/environmental campaigns! Great leadership experience for both personal and professional development! Also quite fun—you get to plan a party for the entire campus! Take advantage! 

Sustainability Kiosk_

Kristi announced that the Kiosk will go up in time for next semester, as planned. There will be a name competition for the kiosk going on during the month of February at the kiosk itself. April is PEN’s month to present. Start brainstorming! The Office of Sustainability will come up with a template that will make it easy for PEN groups to set up their exhibitions for the kiosk.

Stay tuned for news on the date of the next PEN meeting (next semester)!

Respectfully submitted, 

Miyuki Miyagi

Groups represented: Greening Princeton; EcoReps; The Garden Project; USG; Office of Sustainability; Farmers’ Market; Bread Houses Network

Group Updates and Discussion/Collaboration

USG- Flavia let the group know that the USG would like to build off of its previous CFL exchanges and do an LED light bulb exchange sometime late this semester or early next semester. Otherwise, she just wants to be of use to the PEN groups to help them communicate with the student body about news and events. Flavia encouraged ALL PEN GROUPS to let her know how she can help with outreach and publicity among the student body.

GP- GP announced their agenda for the coming semester. GP will be collaborating with the new sustainable fashion initiative. They are trying to organize a clothing swap event either once or twice this year. They are currently brainstorming about a recycling campaign for dorms and Frist. GP was to meet with Jon Bayer to discuss this campaign. GP was also contacted by the Office of Sustainability about updating the end-of-frosh-week sustainability flyer.   GP would like to touch base with EcoReps about this campaign. Flavia agreed to assist. Kristi recommended that GP attend the regular EcoRep meeting with John Bayer. Kristi told GP that she would send them the meeting time/date. GP will also be looking into greening reunions as a long-term project.

Garden Project- The Garden Project is currently brainstorming about how to get more volunteers to come help out and know about the Garden Project (for this season and next, as this one winds down).   In this vain, the Garden Project held a big Halloween event before fall break to bring people to the garden. They also were planning to hold a harvest dinner/lunch event with crops from the season.

EcoReps- The EcoReps are focusing on reducing waste and increasing recycling, with the greater focus on reducing waste. They are currently in the process of getting tree stickers for paper towel dispensers that make people aware that paper towels actually come from trees! EcoReps has set up a plastic bag collection system. They have placed cardboard bins for plastic bags in each laundry room on campus and are now deciding where to put these collection sites and companies willing to collect the plastic bags they recycle.

They are also working on a reunions recycling project and an end of year recycling project. Instead of only working on recycling at reunions, they are trying to work with reunions crew managers long before reunions to see if they can encourage them make more sustainable choices from the start. Unfortunately, setting up a food recycling process seems infeasible because reunions are catered by outside companies. They are trying to work out what options are available with reunions caterers. They are also going to try to increase the recycling of plastic cups at reunions. EcoReps and GP will be in touch about their reunions projects .

Farmers’ Market- The student-organized farmers’ market will be starting up again in the spring. The fall farmers market is still going on in town down Withersoon Street. In preparation for the spring, the Farmers’ Market is trying to sort out all of their accounts.

Bread Houses Network - Nadezhda Savova, an Anthropology graduate student stopped in to let us know the new student group she is starting called the Bread Houses Network. The group’s mission is to teach people about sustainable lifestyles through the love of making your own food. The group is currently registering as a student group and at present includes both graduate and undergraduate students. The group plans to hold bread-making events as well as community arts events. Their first event took place on October 18 th at Eno Terra. Nadezhda talked about her search for a wood fire oven to make bread. The Garden Project discussed how they had originally wanted to have one outside near the Garden. Shana suggested that the two groups look into this together. Nadezhda discussed the idea of potentially having a mobile wooden bread house to take to different neighborhoods. Bread Houses will be trying to organize some holiday event. PEN was excited to have the Bread Houses Network join our network! For those interested in the mission of this new group, please see the blurb below or check out their website.

“Making bread is fun, easy, creative and—best of all—brings people together and is a tradition found around the world. Families and others interested in diverse cultural traditions are invited to join us at Eno Terra, make bread together as a form of community-building, engage in art and have fun, while travelling around the world through photographs and video clips taken by visual anthropologist Nadezhda Savova (PhD Candidate, Anthropology, Princeton University). At EnoTerra, Nadezhda will talk about world bread traditions but mainly focus on the traditions of Italian breads, where, as a member of Slow Food International, she helped start a Bread House Cultural Center in Sardenga to preserve the local century-old bread-making traditions.

The model comes from the first Bread House Nadezhda started in Bulgaria at her grandmother’s house and it was extended to 12 countries on 5 continents only over the past two years: www.breadhousesnetwork.org . The Bread Houses Network was recognized by Slow Food International as an exemplary model of community-based sustainable education program in 2010 at the global Terra Madre event.

 All income from the event will be donated to The Bread Houses Network ( http://www.princetoneats.org/changing-the-world-one-slice-at-the-time ). $20 for adults, $10 for children.

 Miyuki then went through her minutes from the last PEN meeting (first meeting at the year at Masala Grill) and reminded all group leaders of the connections/common projects they had intended to follow up with.

Announcements from the Office of Sustainability

BYOBag Campaign –

 Collaborating with a town BYOBag Campaign the Office of Sustainability provided each freshman with a reusable bag and a spork at Freshman move-in (they were stuffed into the reusable water bottles they gave out) and handed some reusable bags out in town. The University hopes to have EcoReps’ help in asking University retailers to sign the town pledge to ask customers if they need a bag before giving one out and to promote the initiative in general. The Office of Sustainability hopes to get the entire campus to sign on to this sustainability pledge. Merchants in town have reported that Princeton students have not been bringing their reusable bag so they are interested in furthering the initiative. Jan from EcoReps mentioned that EcoReps have been talking about the same project and trying to get campus retailers to sign on. Jan asked whether there was a way to tell what happens with people’s behavior after retailers sign the pledge.

 Freshman Seminar on Sustainability - Shana announced that she is teaching a freshman seminar on sustainability next semester. She would appreciate it if all PEN groups would help spread the word to their members! This seminar is the first at Princeton that will allow students to use the campus as lab. It will offer a behind the scenes look into how Princeton is implementing sustainability and there will be many guest speakers from around campus visiting class. For more information, see FRS 142 here: http://www.princeton.edu/pub/frs/ay2011-12/spring-courses/

 February Round of High Meadows Funding - Shana announced that the February Request for Proposals for High Meadows funding has been released. If anyone has an initiative that they want to pursue in the spring or even fall of 2012 (including thesis research, events, courses, etc), they should apply for the February RFP. This funding application is for funding amounts between $2,000 and $10,000. Groups/individuals can apply for funding for projects under $2,000 at any in time.

 Campus as Lab Forum - On October 21^st, the Office of Sustainability held a forum for using campus as lab. The forum brought together students searching for independent work topics and staff from Princeton University operations with projects in need of academic research/data. The event took place in the Carl Fields Center from 10 to noon and was followed by lunch. The Office of Sustainability is creating a shopping list of research options as a webpage.

 Earth Day Planning – Shana brought up a potential idea for Earth Day this near. One of her sisters is an aerial acrobat and choreographs for Pink, Cher, and Michael Jackson (before his death). Shana asked her sister what she would charge to come for a day, design an aerial dance piece for the earth day event, and do a dance workshop (one day workshop where she could get people up on the apparatus). Shana thinks this could be a great opportunity to get a world-class performing artist to add some eye-catching visuals to the earth day event (and to encorporate the arts to an Earth Day celebration). Caroline from GP,   who is in two dance groups on campus expressed a great interest in this project. Caroline said she would talk to the dance groups or the performing arts council. PEN was excited about the idea.

 ASSHE Conference update- Princeton Staff and Faculty were represented well at this conference. Many were present (i.e. Stu Orfice, Tom Nyquist). Miyuki volunteered to look online for minutes or information from the student summit.

 PSC Update – Miyuki updated PEN on what happened at the last PSC meeting. For more information, see PSC minutes from October 12^th.

 Miyuki then took the groups up to Frist 100-level to see the PEN bulletin board and encouraged each group to take advantage of the beautiful board and prime location by writing at least one thing down on the board—whether an event or just a weekly meeting time.

Kristi agreed to rework the board soon so that there could be a space for the Bread Houses Network and the Princeton Sustainable Fashion Initiative (the newest PEN groups).

Groups Represented: Greening Princeton, SURGE, Garden Project, Greening the Street, EcoReps, Office of Sustainability

·AASHE Conference

The Office of Sustainability would like PEN to send  3-4 representatives to network at this student conference on on-campus sustainability initiatives across the country. The Office would like to have groups send young leaders so that students may take information and inspiration from the conference and put it to use in their years left at Princeton and potentially present their own initiatives at the conference in the years to come.

Since some of the groups were not yet aware of the conference, the PEN leaders agreed to send out information to their groups, discuss it with their younger leaders, and get back to the Office during the summer with the names of interested young leaders.

The Office would like to have this group of students finalized and committed by the beginning of the school year. The deadline to register for the conference is September 30^th, so PEN leaders, please do get in touch with young leaders over the summer to discuss the conference.

The conference will take place on Sunday, October 9^th in Pittsburg. Information on the conference can be found here: http://conf2011.aashe.org/program/aashe-student-summit

· Office Announcements

Shana started off with a demo of the Sustainability Kiosk model. The interactive kiosk will be installed on the 100-level in Frist next year (hopefully over winter break). The kiosk, designed by two New York architectural and graphic design firms along with the university architect, will feature a lucid design performance dashboard showing the energy used by the kiosk itself as well as other buildings on campus, a calendar of events, green tour information, space for green group publicity and announcements, sustainability video clips, recycling spaces for unusual items, demo space for both on- and off-campus sustainability groups and businesses, and more. In addition, the Office hopes to develop a smart phone app that will allow students to access sustainability videos and information at the kiosk remotely.

In addition to showing PEN the kiosk demo, the Office asked for feedback and suggestions. Brooks Barron suggested having a Facebook page for the kiosk and what sustainability-related stuff is going on on campus. Alex Landon suggested having the lucid linked to the Office of Sustainability on Twiter. She also suggested that the Office poll students outside of PEN so that we can figure out what will be the most effective use and means of communication for the kiosk towards those not currently involved with sustainability initiatives. PEN discussed having the Office poll other students during the summer.

New Administrative Assistant at the Office of Sustainability

The Office introduced and welcomed Judy Schedneck, the Office’s new administrative assistant. PEN leaders were asked to add Judy to their listservs as soon as possible. Judy can be reached at jschedne@princeton.edu .

The PEN listserv has now been set up! In order to email all of PEN, we can just email PEN@princeton.edu . The office hopes that the listserv will make online discussion threads and coordination easier. Please start making use of the listserv over the summer to coordinate with other groups (for the AASHE conference or beginning of the year open houses etc.)!

The Office will be working over the summer to improve each PEN group’s page on the Office website. The Office asked PEN leaders to fill out the “Student Initiative Template” that it will send out shortly. The template will be used to create updated descriptions of each PEN group’s function, history, and contributions to on-campus sustainability initiatives.

The Office will also email PEN leaders to collect information on the group’s work this past year for the 2011 Sustainability Report. It asks that all PEN leaders look out for and respond to these data-collecting Office emails as they receive them.

PEN leaders can subscribe to receive news letters from the Office of Sustainability here:  http://www.princeton.edu/sustainability/about/office/contact/ . The Office encourages PEN leaders to do so. The May Newsletter is attached to this email.

The Princeton town Farmers’ Market began on May 17^th. The Market happens in Hinds Plaza on Witherspoon Street every Thursday from 11am to 4pm. PEN leaders may want to inform their listservs about the market for students staying on campus over the summer.

The Office was still offering summer internships to students, including SECN internships. PEN leaders agreed to let their members know about the internship opportunities.

· Earth Day Re-Cap and Discussion

PEN quickly debriefed Earth Day 2011 and how it might be improved for next year. The group agreed that attendance may have been lower this year than last because the celebration was held in Campus Club rather than on the Frist South Lawn. Other PEN leaders agreed that location makes a difference for turnout. They thought that publicity for the event was well executed. The group discussed the Frist 100-level or the Frist Cafeteria as better rain locations for the event.

· End-of-Year PEN Debrief and Discussion

The group was asked to discuss what it thought the purpose of PEN should be going forward and for suggestions as to improving the attendance for and function of PEN meetings for next year.

The group discussed several purposes to PEN, particularly coordination between groups and reduction of event/initiative overlap. The group thought that the listserv would greatly help PEN with respect to both these purposes.

With gegards to the low attendance at PEN meetings this year, the group discussed alternative meeting times and locations. It was suggested that the group meet once a month rather than every other week (potentially with optional weekly meetings depending on what events/initiatives were being coordinated at the time). The group discussed both the advantages and disadvantages of a monthly meeting, without coming to a definitive conclusion. It was also suggested that PEN leaders make a better effort of making sure at least one representative from the group can attend all meetings, even if this is not always the same representative.

Finally, the group discussed making PEN meetings dinner meetings. The leaders agreed that Frist was the most convenient meeting location. The Office expressed support for this idea and said it would look into being able to fund outside food for dinner meetings (more feasible if meetings were montly) to increase the appeal and convenience of our meetings. PEN also discussed holding a dinner at a restaurant off-campus at the beginning of the year so that leaders can start getting to know each other and start collaborating early on. The group also discussed holding a similar dinner at the end of the year for debriefing/planning ahead. There was a lot of support for these ideas.

 · Looking Forward

The Office of Sustainability will be distributing reusable water bottles to incoming freshman as it has for the past couple of years. It asked PEN leaders to ask their listservs for help with water bottle distribution.

EcoReps will be helping with Outdoor Action recycling again. They are looking for people to help out with post-OA recycling (offering payment). EcoReps will provide more information about opportunities to help out with OA recycling to the PEN listserv soon.

The Office of Sustainability and PEI will be collaborating to bring in a sustainability speaker series for next year. PEN agreed to collaborate in developing this series next year.

The group discussed a beginning of the year open house. It discussed tagging on to the PEI Open House. Miyuki agreed to talk to PEI about collaborating on an open house. PEN will discuss and plan the open house more over the course of the summer.

Frist 1952  3-4pm

1.      Welcome

In Attendance: Office of Sustainability, Farmer’s Market, Garden Project, EcoReps, Energy Service Corps, Greening Princeton

2.      Announcements

Summer Internships - please note changes in application deadlines!

•  SECN Summer Intensive Program with Pace Center - application due March 30^th

• Executive Assistant Intern, Office of Sustainability
• Communications Intern, Office of Sustainability
• Performance Tracking Intern, Office of Sustainability
• Link for Office Internships can be found here.

Sustainability Bulletin Board in Frist

PEN has been offered a bulletin board in Frist to publicize all PEN group and Office of Sustainability events. The bulletin board is located on the Frist 100-level, across from the back booths (facing south). The Office of Sustainability would set up the board, but they asked PEN leaders present whether or not they would be willing to use the board on a regular basis to post flyers about their upcoming events. PEN leaders present agreed that the board would be a good way to publicize events and keep interested campus members in the sustainability loop. They agreed that it would be a good idea to have a central physical location for sustainability event information. Leaders present agreed to use, update, and maintain the board.

ASSHE Student Summit

The Office of Sustainability would like PEN to start getting a group together to go to the AASHE conference next fall, so that they can plan and apply for the necessary funds (the Office encourages the students to apply for High Meadows funding—requests for $2000 or less may be submitted at any time). At the meeting, it was agreed that emerging leaders (freshman and sophomores) will benefit the most from attending the conference and bring the most back for the benefit of the Princeton community. PEN groups agreed to let their younger leaders know about the opportunity and to get a handful of people together before the end of the year.

More Information on the Conference: AASHE (Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education) has a yearly conference. This year’s event is close to home, in Pittsburgh PA. On the Sunday before the conference kicks off, AASHE hosts a student summit for students to come and share their ideas and project for spreading sustainability on campus. The event should be a useful way to exchange ideas with environmentally-minded peers at other institutions. 

The following link will provide you with a description of last year’s student summit events. 

No one from the Earth Day dinner meeting was present, however those present did discuss the minutes that had been sent out to all of PEN. This year two new PEN leaders, Nadirah Mansour and Vivian Qu, and one veteran leader, Carol Dreibelbis will be in charge of coordinating the day. They have decided to do another Earth Day festival, similar to the Earth Day festival that happened last year. For more information on what they’re planning see minutes from the Earth Day Meeting.

PEN members present brought up several concerns about the event that they hoped would be addressed this year. Shana and Kristi wished to remind the girls to either have a rain location booked or hold the event inside. It was brought up that if 2d is in fact doing the food, they will have to talk to dining services and the town health department to obtain the necessary permits.

Earth Day Contacts for PEN members who would like to be involved:

• Nadirah (nmansour@)
• Vivian (equ@)
• Carol (cdreibel@) - Carol is only coordinating the event after she turns in her thesis this week.

Frist 1952  3-4pm

The Office would like to advertise the following internships for interested students. Complete descriptions and details are available on the Office website.

-  SECN Summer Intensive Program with Pace Center (Applications due March 23^rd)

(to be posted shortly)

- Executive Assistant Intern, Office of Sustainability

-  Communications Intern, Office of Sustainability

- Performance Tracking Intern, Office of Sustainability

AASHE (Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education) has a yearly conference. This year’s event is close to home, in Pittsburgh PA. On the Sunday before the conference kicks off, AASHE hosts a student summit for students to come and share their ideas and project for spreading sustainability on campus. We strongly encourage Princeton students to attend this event, as it would be a useful way to exchange ideas with your peers at other institutions. For travel funding, we encourage you to apply to High Meadows (requests for $2,000 or less may be submitted at any time).

The following link will provide you with a description of last year’s student summit events.

· Sustainable Princeton’s “Practice no Plastic” campaign

Please contact Kristi if you are interested in working with the township on this project. The event kicks off May 1^st. (Perhaps a good fit for the Ecoreps?)

For the Greening Princeton reunions panel, the Office would like to suggest “Greening Reunions” as a topic. The panel could feature representatives from the following categories: students, sustainability-knowledgeable alums, faculty, facilities staff, and a member of the Office. The panel would be a good way to get feedback from alums about reunions and their ideas for making the event more sustainable. It would also encourage greening of reunions by alumi themselves, which will help push any changes forward.

The U-Store is potentially interested in featuring green/alternative products. Possible ideas include: rechargeable batteries, LED lightbulbs, green / cold-water detergents, personal care products (Tom’s of Maine, Burt’s Bees).

Local food and periodically featuring local green businesses are other possibilities. Possible foods include cheese, fresh fruit and bread. Businesses include Green Design and TerraCycle.

Please email Kristi with any other ideas for sustainable products and initiatives that the U-Store could offer.

USG will send an email to the student body during Earth week, detailing places to recycle clothes, other odd items, and the general recycling guidelines. Miyuki to coordinate main PEN Earth Day meeting soon.

PEN Meeting Schedule for the rest of the semester: March 25th, April 1st , April 15th

Frist 114    3-4

Groups Present: Office of Sustainability, Greening Princeton, Garden Project, Eco-Reps

• OofS ‘office design’: We are looking for students to help with the design process of the new office. Students would attend meetings and help inform the design off the office interior, etc. Please email Kristi if you are interested.

• Please add Justine (Hausheer@) to your group’s listserv for calendar updates

• Upcoming green talks/events on and off campus: See the Office of Sustainability calendar online for events! If you have events would would like posted on the calendar, please email Justine (hausheer@).

• PEN meeting format: The O of S would like to alter the format of PEN meetings. We will be moving toward an agenda where each student group has a fixed spot to email in & discuss at the meeting (e.g. your current projects, upcoming events, etc.). We are also looking for a student representative to lead the PEN meetings. Email Kristi if you are interested.

• Sustainable Princeton and ‘Practice no plastic’ campaign: Sustainable Princeton is a nonprofit working for sustainability for the town of Princeton. They want to know if any students want to help partner with their campaign against plastic bags in Princeton. Email Kristi if you are interested.

• U-Store and sustainable products: We are working with the U-Store to offer more sustainable products, and perhaps a regional foods section. Another possibility is table for local eco-friendly businesses to display their wares a few times a month. Please email Kristi with any feedback on this idea.

Next meeting: Friday, March 4th in Frist 1952 from 3-4pm

Frist 1952 4-5pm

1. Welcome

Student Groups Represented: Office of Sustainability, USG, Greening Princeton, Garden Project

2. News & Announcements:
• Campus Sustainability News: Princeton announced this week that it will install a solar photovoltaic array to generate solar energy. The 5.3 megawatt facility will generate ~5% of the total energy use on campus. The solar panels will be installed on 27 acres of land between the D&R Canal and Route 1. For more information on the project, see the recent articles on the Princeton main page, and in the Daily Princetonian.

• PEN group leadership updates: If the leadership in your group has recently changed, please update the Office of Sustainability. We are working on updating both the website and the PEN email list to include new membership / leadership.

• New Facebook and Twitter sustainability accounts: The Office of Sustainability is now on Twitter and Facebook. Encourage your groups to follow us on Twitter (TigersGoGreen) and “Like” us on Facebook (Princeton Sustainability). We will update both website with announcement from the Office, as well as sustainability-related campus events, and group meetings.

• Sustainability Calendar updates: Please add Justine to your group’s listservs (hausheer@) so she can better update our website calendar / Facebook / Twitter pages with your group’s events.

Our website calendar is the only place on campus where you can see all sustainability-related events!

• OofS materials inventory: Important! The Office is conducting an extensive office clean-out, in light of the future move to Frist Campus Center, and potential hiring of an additional staff person. Quite a bit of stuff has accumulated in the office for various student groups, and it needs to be cleaned out. An inventory of items in the office can be found below, and we ask that a representative from each of the student groups come to the office to claim these items.

Greening Princeton: 2 Greening Princeton t-shirts, Greening Princeton business cards, Laminated Action Guide to Green Princeton

Water Watch: 2 binders with papers, 30 Stormwater Fact Sheets

UBikes:   Bike lock and reflectors

Justine will hold office hours on Tuesday February 8th and Wednesday February 9th, from 2:00pm - 4:30pm. Any unclaimed items will be recycled, given away, or otherwise disposed of! Thank you for your help.

• Regular meeting time poll to go out: Kristi will email you within the next few days with a poll to help determine our new meeting time for this semester. Please respond promptly.

• Princeton-Blairstown Center Internship:
Here is a great summer sustainability opportunity we would encourage you to check out and share with your groups:

The Princeton-Blairstown Center is hiring its first-ever sustainability intern this summer. Applications are being accepted now. You can check out the details at their website.

3. Presentations:
• PSEG Presentation: Sustainability Internship Opportunity (Angela Ortiz, PSEG Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability)

PSEG is offering summer internships oriented toward sustainability.

To find information about PSEG internships, visit their careers website and select “University Recruiting” under job function. Please email Justine Hausheer (hausheer@) for Angela Ortiz’s personal contact information.

- December 2010 STARS Adoption: The Office of Sustainability is pleased to announce that Princeton will be signing up to participate in STARS, a new sustainability tracking, assessment, and rating system. For more information on STARS, please visit the AASHE website.

- AASHE Conference 2011 October 9-12 in Pittsburgh: AASHE is the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. Their next annual conference will be held in Pittsburgh this fall. We would like to have a strong Princeton presence at this conference, given that it is being hosted close to home. Ideally, we would like to host a series of talks (perhaps by working groups) or a panel about sustainability on our campus.

The AASHE conference also has a popular student summit on the Sunday before the conference kicks off. The OofS encourages student groups to start thinking about attending that summit, as it is close by and on a Sunday. A description of last year’s summit can be found here.

- The highlight of the PSC meeting was a presentation by Tom Nyquist about the solar array. Information on the solar array can be found earlier in the minutes.

- Metrics & Reporting tool: The Office is now working with FIT support in developing an internal sustainability metrics reporting tool, which will play into STARS and our Annual Report.


4. Sustainability policies and initiatives:
• ‘Drink Local’ campaign: New bottle-filling stations in have been installed in Frist and Nassau Hall. The Office is currently working to identify locations for the next round of installations during the summer


5. Events/Outreach:
• Recyclemania is underway, look for updates from the EcoReps during the next few weeks!
• Upcoming sustainability-related events on and off campus: a few events are highlighted below, check the website calendar for more!

1) Town Sustainability Leadership Awards Reception : Wednesday, February 10, 2011, 7:00pm at the Princeton Public Library

3) All-Ivy Environmental & Sustainable Development Career Fair

1. Welcome
Student Groups represented: Eco-Reps, Greening Princeton, Farmer’s Market, Garden Project, Greening Dining, SURGE, USG, Office of Sustainability

2. Announcements:
• Sustainability Report and Open House recap: Thank you to all who helped out with the Open House, it was a great success and we are grateful for your help. Additionally, the 2010 Sustainability Report was published on November 15th, and you can access it via the Office website.

• New recycling option / Rechargeable batteries: Look for a rechargeable battery recycling bin very soon.

3. Presentations:
• PSC update (Malavika): The main focus of the previous PSC meeting was presentations by recipients of High Meadows grants. The first presentation detailed a senior thesis that builds off of a senior thesis conducted last year. The project involves how different types of social messaging influences behavior. The second project centers around insects as sustainable alternate protein sources. The final presentation covered a new not-for-credit course hosted by EWB. The course focuses on sustainability in the context of international development. For more details on the presentations, see the PSC minutes record.
 

4. Sustainability policies and initiatives:
• ‘Drink Local’ campaign, Water bottle reduction update and options: The Drink Local signage is currently being posted by retrofitted fountains around campus. The Office has continued to research water bottle options, and Kristi will email out two new Nalgene options to the PEN list. There is also a company in PA that makes very cheap water bottles, but there are reservations concerning the quality of those bottles.

• Recycling Guidelines update: New recycling guidelines will be posted around the dorms over winter break.

• Postering policy, USG survey update: Flavia is meeting with the University Survey Research Center this Tuesday at 10am. All are welcome to join. The USG is also considering adding an incentive to the survey, such as entry into a raffle.

Kristi discussed a Princeton professor, Matt Salganik, who has recently designed a very compelling new survey tool. This tool will soon be available on the web for anyone to use to design a survey. The survey works by presenting the user with two options, chosen randomly from a bank of several hundred (created by the survey creator). The user chooses one of the two options that they prefer, and then two new options pop up. This continues for as long as the user chooses. There is also a third option, which is an “add in” option for the user to add something else. That suggestion is automatically added into the bank, and presented to other users. The final survey result readout ranks all choices based on their probability of being chosen. The USG recently used this tool to assess topics of importance to undergraduates. Out of 300 options, improving campus sustainability ranked 8th.

• Vending machine discussion: The Office asked to gather feedback on vending machine options: One suggestion is getting rid of the bottled water vending machines. Another option would be to push for switching to some more healthful options in existing machines. A third option would be to pilot an all-healthy machine somewhere on campus, to gather data about how much money it generates.

There was general enthusiasm for all options. Some concerns were expressed about how healthier options would affect the price of food. It was also suggested that people who don’t use vending machines might not notice that more healthful options are being introduced, and it might be more effective to pilot an all-healthy vending machine with some advertising. Continue to think about this discussion and email the Office with new ideas or questions.


5. Events:
• Upcoming sustainability-related talks around campus:
- “How would We Act if We Took Climate Change Seriously”  Robert Socolow
Dec 6, 2010 / 12:00 p.m.– 1:30 p.m / Wallace Hall, Room 300

- “The Dangers of Drilling Deep”  Jim Glanz
Dec 10, 2010  / 12:00 p.m.– 1:30 p.m / Wallace Hall, Room 300


Next meeting: Winter/Spring 2011 - TBD 

In Attendance: Shana Weber, Kristi Wiedemann, Justine Hausheer (Office of Sustainability). Mikia Weidenbach (SURGE), Malavika Balchandran (Farmer’s Market), Miyuki Miyagi (Greening Princeton, Office of Sustainability), Chrissy Badaracco (Greening Princeton), Flavia Brancusi (USG)

1. Welcome

2. Announcements:
• Sustainability Report and 11/16 Open House: The 2010 Sustainability Report will publish on Monday November 15th, and our Open House will be Tuesday November 16th from 3-7pm. If you are free, please volunteer for the event.

• Frist Installation update: We have received a proposal from the design firm, and we are waiting on approval of that proposal. Pending approval, the firm will come up with a concept/design plan and try to sell that plan to us. We will reach out for student input at some point in the design process.

• Recent sustainability news coverage at Princeton: Look for the Pause video, and an article on the Frist Garden in the Prince. Also look for articles after the Open House on the Princeton website, the Prince, and in local news.

• Reminder: New internships posted. Check the website for up-to-date internship positions and application information. Please encourage your friends to apply!

3. Presentations:
•PSC update (Miyuki Miyagi): A the recent PSC meeting, a tentative vote was taken to adopt the STARS rating system for Princeton’s sustainability efforts. The PSC members present at the meeting approved STARS, and the Office of Sustainability will reach out to absent members to verify their approval.

At the meeting, the vehicle policy was also discussed. Recent cost analysis research indicates that electric carts on campus are no more expensive to maintain than the current fleet of gas carts. Future steps include a Vehicle Policy Memo to Mark Burnstein (Executive Vice President) that would outline that all new vehicles purchased for the University be electric or hybrid.

Bottled water on campus was also discussed. Stu Orefice, Director of Dining Services, stated that the current policy is to reduce but not eliminate. Dining Services has been very successful in reducing their use of bottled water. Also, Princeton bottled water is sold in biodegradable bottles and has a source only 70 miles away. Stu suggested that one step that could be achieved fairly easily would be to eliminate bottled water vending machines. More discussion on this to come.

Lastly, the PSC altered its charter to state that PEN & the USG will appoint their representatives for each term.

• Sustainability Plan: ‘Student Initiative’ progress & goals. When you have a chance, take a look at review the Student Initiative section of the Sustainability Plan and subsequent reports. Keep the goals in mind throughout the year.

4. Events:
• Sustainability Open House: Review plans and volunteers Send any questions between now and the event to Kristi.

5. Sustainability policies and initiatives:
• ‘Drink Local’ and ‘Recycling Guidelines’ update: The rest of the Drink Local signage will be posted over winter break, along with updated recycling guidelines.

• Postering policy: USG survey update Flavia is meeting with survey designers next week to begin designing a survey

• Waste management & composting Update: Tiger Inn has switched over to composting their food waste (with Waste Management). The composting discussion for the University as a whole is still open. The ultimate goal is to compost all of the University’s food waste, but given the scale of the project, this will be a few years in the works.

Next meeting: December 3, 2010

Attendees: Ralph Frankfurter and Marianne Jullian (UBikes), Miyuki Miyagi (Greening Princeton & Office of Sustainability), Anna Zhao (Greening Princeton & FoodTASK), Chrissy Badaracco (Greening Princeton), Flavia Brancusi (USG), Colleen McCullough (Garden Project & Green Dining Committee), Mikia Weidenbach (SURGE), Bing Chiu (EcoReps), Malavika Balachandran (Farmer’s Market & PF2FP), Brooks (Greening Princeton)

1. Welcome and introductions

2. Announcements:
• Sustainability Report and 11/16 Open House reminder: Report due to publish November 1st; Call for volunteers for the Open House & Trash sculpture

• Food recycling/Compost proposal: Plans in the works to apply for a NJDEP grant to put a pilot composter in at Forbes. More news to follow.

• Sustainability in the news: See Chenyu’s article in the Prince

• New internships posted: Live on the website now

3. PEN leadership:
• Review of groups and leaders: Miyuki is currently compiling names for each of the groups, so our office lists and website are up to date.

• PEN PSC representation update: Malavika Balachandran & Miyuki Miyagi will be our two PSC representatives, but all other are welcome to attend PSC meetings. The next meeting will be November 10, from 12:00 – 1:15 pm in the WU private dining room.

• PSC meeting report: Malavika Balachandran
- Recap of STARS evaluation program:
- 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 verification 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/yr. Non-AASHE members $1400.
- Potential change to subscriptions, etc.

4. Events:
• 10/10/10 recap: Good workday at the garden, and good attendance at t-shirt table and bike-repair.

• Sustainability Open House: Review of participants and call for volunteers
(e.g. Art contest set-up 10/26 or 10/28; Open House set-up and greeters 11/16): Call for volunteers to help with both the Art Contest setup and the Open House event. See doodle poll to come soon.

5. New sustainability policies and initiatives:
• ‘Drink Local’ feedback: No students have seen signs up yet, OofS will check with Housing to see if /when they will be posted.

• USG Sustainability Committee: Projects and goals report: Flavia Brancusi; Goals outlined in Flavia’s email, pasted below:

Sustainability awareness campaign 
- Plan events to get people involved in going green; distribute more Nalgene water bottles w/ map of refill stations; screen environmental movies at Garden Theater
- Create an online forum where any student can propose new initiatives.     
- Find new ways to publicize/share green facts

Energy competitions
- Plan to host energy competitions by building or by res college, possibly in collaboration with other student groups

RCA training and res college newsletters
- Schedule and develop a presentation for RCAs based on the "Guide to Living Green"
- Incorporate a "Green fact of the day" on dining hall table weekly newsletters

Sustainable food and tray issue at Whitman
- Plan to help make Whitman trayless
- Add signs in the dining halls signaling local/organic/sustainable food

CFL lightbulb exchange
- Plan CFL and/or LED lightbulb exchanges in dorms and other buildings on campus, also explore corporate sponsorship of these initiatives

Other projects:
- Planning an event that involves inviting Former VP Al Gore to come speak at Princeton about sustainability issues.
- USG Sustainability Committee will have a booth at the upcoming Sustainability Open House on Nov 16th from 3-7pm. 

• Postering policy: USG survey update: Flavia Brancusi
- Research on how to approach survey is underway

• Dinky: SURGE update
- No real news, trying to attend local meetings to make the sustainability voice heard.

• Pull the Plug 2010-11: SURGE update
- No news

If you have any suggestions or want to collaborate on any of these events, contact Flavia at brancusi@princeton.edu.

6. Princeton Pause interviews

• Various PEN groups and Office of Sustainability were interviewed for a video piece for Annual Giving campaign.

Next meeting: November 12, 2010, Frist 1952

• Student groups represented: Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE), Greening Princeton, Eco-Reps, Outdoor Action, Princeton Garden Project, U-Bikes, Undergraduate Student Government (USG)  

• Update on Frist sustainability display: Brainstorming and design process is underway. Students will be involved in input later on in the process.
• Princeton Pause interview – Oct 22. Next steps: Please come to the next meeting, as PAUSE will be here to interview PEN members for a future article.

• The Fall 2010 meeting schedule is set for 4:00-5:00 pm in Frist 1952.
• Revisiting PEN officer discussion: Based on a variety of suggestions, it was implied that PEN will not elect officers. Arguments supporting this decision included that the OofS fulfills most of PEN’s needs, while providing a sense of continuity as PEN’s members change yearly. Another concern was that officers will be inherently biased to their group. One potential alternative would be to have an OofS intern fulfill the role of facilitator.
• PEN PSC representative update: Malavika Balachandran ‘12 will serve as the representative for 2010-11 (note that we could have co-representation in the spring if there is interest).

• Open House: The Open House is November 16^th! Please remember to RSVP concerning your participation in the event.
• 10/10/10 event planning: There will be a work session in the garden in the afternoon, along with a campus run and t-shirt decorating. SURGE, GP, and Cyclab will coordinate on publicity, SlowFood will bring snacks.

• ‘Drink Local’ initiative: We will potentially be selling more Drink Local waterbottles in retail stores around campus. Signage will go up around campus (i.e. in dormitories) soon.
• Postering policy: In a four week period, Grounds & Maintenance collected 44 bags of posters from lamp posts, each weighing about 15 lbs, totaling 660 lbs - or about 6000 lbs all year [note: numbers updated per GBM following meeting]. Input and ideas for the policy included:

• Dinky sustainability: No decisions have been made, still time for action.

• Employment opportunities update: Check the website! 

• Student groups represented: Greening Princeton, Farmer’s Market, Eco Reps, SURGE

• USG and GSG have appointed nominees to serve on the PSC.
• PEN would like to have 2 representatives at the PSC meeting. (See officer discussion below)
• Next steps: The OofS will email interested parties a poll to help determine term length, etc.

• The potential creation of officer positions was discussed. Is there a need within PEN for officers? Possible roles might include a secretary for minutes, or the PSC representatives.
• Next steps: The OofS will outline potential officer roles to facilitate discussion.

• The Open House will be on November 16^th, from 3-7pm.
• We would like to focus especially on a fair-like atmosphere, and on how daily choices affect sustainability.
• Invitations to participate have already been sent out. Please contact Kristi if you would like to participate at the Open House.
• Also mentioned was the High Meadows Sustainability Fund. We are currently accepting proposals for Civic Engagement projects. Proposal are due October 4^th. Next steps: See the OofS website for more details and applications.

• The Office may be moving to Frist sometime next summer and potentially include a specific space for PEN.
• Also new in Frist will be a Sustainability kiosk. We are currently meeting with design firms to establish a concept and budget. We want this kiosk to be highly interactive. At some point during the design process, we will look to students for feedback.

• ENV 399: Env Decision Making was discussed. Lack of funding for a visiting professor, but lots of interest. Course currently has 20 enrolled and another 20 on the waiting list. Potentially work to have this course taught both semesters.
• Environmental infographics
• ENG 380 Literature and Environment (course has not been taught in 4-5 years, but is already established with a reading list, etc.)
• Environmental entrepreneurship (already offered?)

• OofS asked whether this is something we want to pursue.
• Next steps: Let Shana or Kristi know if you are interested in hosting a table discussion at your College.

• OofS is currently coordinating data as to how much paper is collected from signposts each week.
• Options for a policy around alternatives to postering were discussed; e.g. various digital alternatives, with links to Point. Also plastic sleeves on light posts or on separate display kiosks to slide signs in (protective from weather).
• We also discussed working with Student Design Agency on this policy.

• This issue has received lots of attention recently; we discussed it from a sustainability perspective, and options for electric technologies, which are fairly sustainable. Discussions around the project are taking place now.
• Next steps: Any students who are interested should get involved in the discussion.

• Visit the OofS website soon for our new list of employment opportunities.

• PEN blog for various student groups to submit projects, stories, and information to a group forum.
• Video gallery organizational structure for OofS online videos.

To be posted...

To be posted...

To be posted...

(1) Project updates

Greening Princeton 5k run on April 17

Outdoor Action summer intern - farm trips;

EcoReps - recycling program - looking to bring all of PEN into it... looking for comments; Shana suggests using RCA contacts to plug ER program; Collen - possible study break (mandatory); Bing - thinks vountary is better; FRIST projects: eco-friendly foods (cereal) and reduced plastic use; reduced plastic use - bag charge;


(2) Sustainability Ambassador program presentation (Victor Li, OoS Intern) 
Presentation slides to be posted to blackboard

Notes

- Princeton program differs from other schools in looking beyond educational aspects
- Anecdote - (Shana) Sean Ubikes - student does all shopping on u-bike (with basket)
- Anecdote - (Jeff) towels/sheets in hotels
Questions/suggestions:
Rick - the LBGT Ally project as a useful model - physically visible sticker; Allies go through training; DJ - all RCAs are trained as Allies (Should all RCAs be trained as Ambassadors)
Shana - we need to develop training program for students (TO-DO: develop training programs)
Example (small) Shana - piloting coffee grounds collection in a kitchen in facilities
Student involvement comments:
- Rick: provide curricular informaition (e.g. CPR course for certain offices...)  - is it personal or professional (us- both) - Shana thinks starting with personal might be best
- Shana/Jeff - personal actions recognized through network, through award, and possible through database of progress/achievements (increasing substantiality)
- Miyuki - need something to get information out in beginning of year (mandatory); paid or voluntary?
- Heirarchy - maybe in early days...
- Jeff - not such intense training - more facilitators than experts
Rick - OA/CA/FSI - about 1/13 students here early for something - a fair-sized population to consider

(3) Greenspace update

- USG endorsement; PACE leaving Frist;
SURGE - looking for what they can do - recommended to request meeting with Paul Le Marche (by Shana)

(4) USG representatives;
Shana offers idea for consideration - perhaps best to have a PEN rather than USG appoint undegrad representative to PSC

(5) Earth Day/Week

Ideas: 350 type org; SURGE looking for speaker; presentations by green business plans; local business representation; farmer's market on that Thursday; tabling; NOTE: Shana reminds that High Meadows is now under $2000 application anytime; Rick - Firday night BANFF film festival; \

(6) Shana announcements:
New Assistant Sustainability Manager starting Apr 1
High Meadows Fellowship in OoS - eligbile to graduates this year or last year;
 

(1) Green Space
Carol D. still waiting to speak with Dean Dunne;
Suggestion to reach out to USG/GSG to support - and ask USG about pledge (anything that lends support?)

(2) EcoRep Residential Education program
Eco-Rep presidents Karen and Bing to check back with for presidents Wes/Zakk to see where things stand

(3) Earth Day preparations
Ideas: Speaker, Fair,

(4) Green Laundry
The group was told of a project underway led by student Anna 'Leonard' (check) - psychology of different signs - for a senior thesis project

(5) Green Dining
Miyuki to email Henry and Stu (Henry hand off to Colleen M?)

(6) Endowment

OoS to reach out to Endowment investment group to seek speaker to explain sustainability-related efforts

(7) OoS to reach out to Communications  Office for student training

(8) Energy Corps working with EPICS - coordination

(9) Other ideas

PEN should have occassional dinner, etc. to increase sense of community within PEN

To be posted...

1. PSC Meeting recap

Began by discussing recollections of the meeting – covering agenda.   Discussed the possibility and value of how to do outreach (visibility) to reach various audiences:   interested students (the choir), students without identified interest in environmental issues/sustainability, staff, faculty.   It was determined that separate events are likely to be the most effective approach and staff may best be reached by scheduling speakers on topics of professional interest (e.g., purchasing experts for purchasing department).   To be discussed further.

Discussion of several issues raised at the PSC are included within the priority list developed below.   Agreed-upon next steps are shown for each issue/project.

2.   Priority Issues and approaches

Issue                                         Next Steps

Residential Education          Assembling curriculum – draft to be sent to PEN

                                                  Each group to create a module/group descriptions to be sent                                                   to Wesley/Zakk

 Endowment                          Danny to reach out for PEN working group to draft basic information  needed for larger exploratory group

                                                Looking to create exploratory out of PSC

                                                Option routes to proceed:

                                                (1) focus on environmental sustainability vs. broader

                                                (2) if former (limited context) pursue changes that don’t change returns then branch out

(3) campus-wide campaign

 Green “Center” on campus        OoS to check with Zakk and Carol D on leadership effort on this – will ask them to share what they learn/will do, etc.

Green late meal                          GP on lead à internal sub-committee to create proposal

Water/Bottles                            similar to above

Green Laundry                          GP/Energy Corps – coordinate

Outreach Events                        OoS lead / suggestions

Communication – Internal          OoS set-up Blackboard – for PEN

Communication – External         OoS to set up Facebook

Communication – Sustainability Pledge – after released – USG will look for ways to continue to use…

-wrote down 3 main goals from 10/9/09 meetings, brainstormed specific goals

-Visibility

-Green Space: how to campaign for a sustainability center in Frist: goal to get office space and a permanent meeting space for Green groups, likely we’ll need to share space with student agencies

-We think Sustainability is more important campuswide and should have a place in Frist, compared to student agencies (need to talk to student agencies, could they want to move out of Frist?, don’t want to force them out, should Shana have first discussion with them?)

-Every time we do something, it should be apparent. Bring in someone from communications to a PEN meting know how to advertise our events and how to communicate with the media (ie. The Prince), make a communication plan

-Education

-agreement that PEN acting as a consulting group might not work in practice, could alternatively provide a ‘Guide to Sustainable Events’ that we can distribute to student groups

-Cooperation

-have a year-long PEN, just because you give up leadership in your organization doesn’t mean you should leave PEN

-focus on water as fall semester’s main goal

-how to green late meal: ban bottled water, get rid of plastic bags, don’t have plastic lids available at food counters, use late meal as a possible case study for how to reduce bottled water across campus

*long-term goal to eliminate bottled water from the Frist gallery, need to find out when the contract with the vendor expires (Water Watch had a problem with this)

-connect with Facilities (EcoReps)

-talk to academic departments, study breaks

-laundry: recommend cold water cycles, have drying racks available to reduce use of dryers, subsidize cost of racks, have better signage up, possibly stickers on top of the machines? Shout colors catchers? (Greening Princeton )

-toilet flushes: do people flush up or down? How to get data on this?

-water quality: students hesitant to eliminate bottled water since they don’t trust the fountain water, need to work with/supporting Facilities to retrofit drinking fountains to have filtered/cold water faucet

-panels of speakers: always provide bottled water, not necessary, why not pitchers?

*Going to work on a proposal over Fall Break to deliver at the PSC meeting on Nov. 11, will focus on water and late meal

-will let Stu Orefice, Jeff, and Shana know ahead of time about this proposal so it’s not a surprise at the meeting

Group divided up bullet points among groups represented at PEN. The next PEN meeting will be Friday the 13^th, after the PSC meeting.

1. Domanski began the meeting by requesting that each group identify the leadership of their student environmental groups so that the leadership section of the Sustainability website can be updated: http://www.princeton.edu/sustainability/student-initiatives/ The current page doesn't show contact information for the group leaders but perhaps should.

2. Domanski then gave a short historical review (covering the last 4-5 years) of the key role of students and student environmental groups in promoting sustainability at Princeton as an encouragement for continued effort in defining what should happen, particularly in the identifying and promoting policy.

3. The students who attended the Sept 30 PSC meeting shared their impressions of the meeting. It was generally agreed that the meeting provided some good context for recent sustainability efforts but the larger purpose of the meeting was not clear. The working group policy discussions provided little additional clarity. Building on these perceptions, Domanski encouraged the PEN membership to take advantage of the void to take charge of introducing useful concepts to/at the PSC.

4. The group next engaged in discussion on what shape PEN should take. It was agreed that intercommunication among the group was vital and steps should be taken to enhance communication for those in attendance at meetings and those not present. It was suggested that a Blackboard site be set up for use by the PEN membership. [Domanski is taking steps to set this up] It was requested that meeting minutes be posted to a web location. [Now they are: http://www.princeton.edu/sustainability/student-initiatives/pen/pen-meeting-minutes/]
The group then identified four themes for potential collective group action:
(1). Residential Education Program - introduced by EcoReps
(2). Enhanced efforts to increase visibility of sustainability efforts on campus (and beyond) - ideas included space in the Prince(discussed previously), homepage videos, increased use of communications strategies and a physical space/presence in a central campus location. The last idea generated the most conversation and, though no final decision was made, much discussion centered on ways to obtain space in Frist that might include a new home for the Office of Sustainability. Several options were discussed for how to begin the process of gaining approval.
(3). Coordinated effort on sustainability initiatives - including the October 24th Climate Action Day (though there was some discussion of the distribution of task among the groups, it was determined that subsequent meetings were needed to coordinate for this event), a campaign to reduce personal water use on campus (including bottled water); assistance in reducing energy use (e.g., building audits and recommended actions)
(4). PEN as a some form of consulting group (to answer questions, assist in increasing sustainability of events). SURGE suggested a comment box in a central location could assist in this. Domanski suggested that an email address could be used to receive questions to the PEN consulting group (e.g., penconsulting@princeton.edu)
No decision was made on which of these to pursue nor how each could/would be pursued. Further input/discussion is needed.
!

1. The PSC
Domanski began with a discussion of the history, current state, and evolving nature of the PSC, indicating that the PSC is returning to a forum to focus on identifying, developing, and implementing sustainability-related policy at the University.  Domanski encouraged PEN to interact with the PSC and to encourage PSC members to engage with PEN.  Given the nature of PSC meetings, Domanski strongly encouraged PEN members to coordinate to identify/prioritize, as much as possible, the issues to be proposed for consideration by the PSC and possibly forwarded to the Administration.  Towards this end, Domanski stressed the importance of coordinating with the PSC student representatives:  undergraduate students Helen Chen and Derek Welski and graduate student Jenna Losh.
 
2. The shape of PEN
We next discussed the shape that PEN should assume.  While a discussion of a possible agenda/approach that will outline our efforts for the semester/year will take place at our next meeting, I introduced some ideas for consideration and rumination until our next meeting.  These included logistical considerations such as how often should we meet and when should we meet as well as more structural issues which included: how best to stay informed of other groups' activities (Google doc/spreadsheet?  Other form of shared e-document? A blog?); whether PEN should have its own budget for coordinated events; and should the group have a central mission beyond coordination and information sharing (and if so, what should that mission be?). 
Again, PLEASE NOTE that discussion of these issues will be the main agenda item for our next meeting. 
 
3.  Princeton Sustainability Progress Report update
Domanski gave a brief update on the forthcoming progress report (due for release in November) as well as description of the focus of this effort which was to not only update progress on efforts to meet the goals laid out in the University's Sustainability Plan, but to also take a critical, constructive look at all we are doing - and not doing.  I strongly encouraged our group to continue using this perspective as we proceed and to engage in discussion on the issues since we are already in the process of assembling the 2010 progress report.
 
4. Events
In addition to the upcoming PSC meeting (Wednesday Sept 30th), Domanski noted that the High Meadows Civic Engagement proposals are due on October 22nd. 
 
5. Jobs/Internships
A list of internships/jobs and volunteer positions will be posted on the Sustainability website soon.  Though Domanski gave a brief description on a number of positions that will likely be on the list, I'd like to emphasize that we are looking for a PEN member to serve as a volunteer-consultant to assist student groups submitting proposals for High Meadows grants with their proposals and presentations. 
If interested, please contact me.
 
6.  Introduction/Updates from groups
Each member present offered updates on their group's activities with emphasis on near-term activities and needs.  Rather than relisting items discussed at the meeting, Domanski encourages everyone/anyone to use this email chain to send notice of important events or requests for help/input.