Sustainable CCSU The Right Thing to Do

1. Sustainable CCSUThe Right Thing to Do Presentation to CCSU’s Faculty Senate Committee October 8, 2007

2. Sustainability Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. --Brundtland Commission

3. Sustainability – What to Keep in Mind • Many CCSU departments and individuals have been practicing/ teaching/ promoting sustainability for years, even decades • Requires sacrifices but: • Sustainability is not deprivation • We are all in this together

4. CCSU Sustainability In 2006, President Miller convened an Advisory Committee on Environmental Sustainability with an overall goal of developing an Institutional Plan for Sustainability

5. President’s Advisory Committee on Environmental Sustainability Membership Co-chairs: Abigail E. Adams (Anthropology) Dan Moran (Facilities) Members: Danielle Albert (Student) Corey Breen (Student) Tom Brodeur (Purchasing) Charles Button (Geography) Kim Chagnon (Budget) Gerald Cotter (CSU) Donald DeGruttola (Sodexho-Dining Services) Alex Estrom (SGA) Jane Higgins (Student Affairs) Robert LeBaron (University Engineer) Clayton Penniman (Biology) Staff: Barbara DeMaio (Facilities) Dom Forcella (Environmental Health and Safety), David Honyotski (Environmental Health and Safety) Rene Karas (Facilities) Frank Scarlett (Facilities)

6. Committee’s Progress to Date Hired a sustainability consultant to: • Perform Baseline Sustainability Audit • Draft Plans to Address Two Major Initiatives, Recycling and Energy Conservation • Benchmark CCSU Against Peer Institutions

7. Baseline Sustainability Audit Scope – Media Included • Energy Use & Air Emissions • Solid Waste & Recycling • Water • Purchasing • Hazardous/Chemical Waste • Building Design and Construction • Property Maintenance, Landscaping & Pesticides • Transportation • Food Service Operations • Academic Programs • Campus Awareness/ Outreach

8. Baseline Sustainability Audit Objectives • Learn about current successes • Engage stakeholders: faculty, staff, admin, students • Benchmark CCSU against peer institutions • Develop recommendations • Consider campus quality of life and cost/financial impacts associated with potential program recommendations

9. Results of Baseline Sustainability Audit – CCSU Sustainability Successes • New Energy Center: new, state-of-the-art, efficient Energy Center with cogeneration capabilities • Existing Recycling Program: current recycling rate of 31%; CCSU would have been 13th in Recyclemania (nation-wide campus recycling contest) if it had participated in 2006 • Water Conservation Measures: 56% of campus residences have low-flow features

10. Results of Baseline Sustainability Audit – CCSU Sustainability Successes (cont) • Green Purchasing Practices: contracts promote recycling; Purchasing buys green supplies where possible • Hazardous Waste Minimization: chemical clean-outs; CCSU has low generation rates compared with other schools • Green Building Design: many buildings have green features; CCSU has committed to constructing new buildings in accordance with LEED • Green Cleaning Chemicals: Housekeeping uses green supplies

11. Results of Sustainability Benchmarking • Ranked CCSU against 10 peer institutions, using the results of the baseline audit • CCSU came in #3, behind UMass Dartmouth and the University of Southern Maine, both of which have formal sustainability programs and (at least) part-time sustainability coordinators • CCSU is doing more sustainability initiatives than many other peer schools that have yet to develop formal programs

12. Results of Baseline Sustainability Audit – Potential Areas for Improvement Include • Assign Sustainability/Recycling Coordinator to Implement Recycling Management Plan • Launch Educational Campaign on Water Conservation, Energy Conservation, and Reduce/Reuse/Recycle • Re-Evaluate Financial Feasibility of Increasing Cogeneration (to decrease carbon footprint) • Develop, Adopt, and Implement a Green Building Policy • Develop, Adopt, and Implement an Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Policy • Develop Green Campus Food Services

13. Progress Since Sustainability Audit • Recycling • Finalized Solid Waste Reduction & Recycling Management Plan • Pilot Recycling Program has been Implemented • Energy Conservation • Draft Energy Conservation Plan completed • President’s Climate Commitment • Signed the commitment that over 100 other college Presidents in the U.S. have signed that are committed to: • Performing GHG inventory • Reducing GHG emissions to achieve climate neutrality • Sharing results with other schools

14. Next Steps Before Final Plan is Adopted: • The Committee will circulate draft Institutional Sustainability Plan • We will share CCSU’s efforts with the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) and elsewhere

15. Next Steps, cont. The CCSU Community can: • Review draft institutional sustainability plan • Organize “green” events and request pitchers of water rather than bottled water • Recycle – by end of this semester all offices will have mixed paper recycling; carry bottles and cans to hallway bins • Let us know of work/research/courses already in place that relate to sustainability • Consider serving on the permanent sustainability council

16. Sustainability The Right Thing to Do