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Dickinson College 2006 Campus Sustainability Achievement Award Application

Category

Four-year and graduate institutions 1,001 – 10,000 student FTE

Contact

Rebecca Walker
Sustainability Specialist
Dickinson College
Carlisle, PA
(717) 254 – 8199
walkerr@dickinson.edu

Governance & Administration

The administration of Dickinson College is strongly committed to sustainability, as evidenced by a number of formal commitments made by the College, both independently and in conjunction with Presidentally-appointed committee The Commission on the Environment (COTE). (COTE) first began in 1991, and was comprised of faculty, staff, and students dedicated to studying and improving the campus’ ecological footprint. However, the Commission became inactive for a period of time until its resurrection in 2004. The reinvigorated COTE successfully negotiated with the administration to recognize sustainability as an issue of great import, accomplishing:

• Inclusion of language pertaining to sustainability in the College’s strategic plan, which lists Environmental Sustainability as one of Dickinson’s defining characteristics. This language outlines a campus-wide commitment to sustainability education, green purchasing, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification in all new buildings, and cultivating ties between the Carlisle residents and students through sustainability-focused service learning.
• Participation in the nation-wide RecycleMania competition. Dickinson placed 24th of 45 schools.
• Coordination of the Green Devil Sustainability Contests, institution-wide competitions which awarded prizes to the residence halls and academic/administrative buildings that reduced electricity and water consumption by the greatest percentage. These challenges resulted in a 20 percent decrease of energy usage by the campus.

COTE is directed by the College’s new Sustainability Specialist, a full-time, one-year appointment located in the Facilities Management department. The Sustainability Specialist is responsible for keeping issues of environmental sustainability at the forefront of the College’s collective mind, as well as researching different ways for the College to continue to decrease its impact on the environment. The Sustainability Specialist also manages the four Sustainability Interns, current Dickinson students who are dedicated to increasing environmental awareness, improving the College’s recycling program, and overseeing the Recycling Task Force – a group of students and staff that agree to monitor participation in the campus recycling program in their respective residence halls or academic/administrative buildings.

Dickinson is also a member of the Pennsylvania Consortium for Interdisciplinary Environmental Policy (PCIEP), along with 55 other Pennsylvania colleges and universities. As a member school, Dickinson agrees to participate in interdisciplinary educational programs for the college as well as the local community, work with faculty to identify pressing research needs, and enhance the expertise of local government officials through work with the College.

Operations

Campus operations at Dickinson College have found several creative ways to increase campus sustainability in the arenas of transportation, energy, dining services, and purchasing.

In an effort to provide alternatives to conventional transportation, Dickinson has:

• Purchased 12 new bicycles as part of the Dickinson Rides program, designed to encourage students to walk or borrow a bicycle instead of driving short distances.
• Purchased two hybrid vehicles that have been added to the college fleet of cars available for use by the college community.
• Begun operation of a biodiesel manufacturing laboratory in the Facilities Management building, where the fuel is created. This fuel will be used in College vehicles instead of conventional diesel fuel.

Dickinson is also committed to sustainable energy choices. To this end, the College has recently:

• Increased its purchase of sustainable wind energy from Community Energy, Inc. from 10 percent to 12.5 percent.
• Applied for a $250,000 Energy Harvest Grant from the PA Department of Environmental Protection to install a 60.28 kW solar panel system on the rooftop of the Facilities Management building.
• Installed a $5.6 million Central Energy Plant with more efficient water cooling technology.

The Dining Services department at Dickinson College has not only worked with the Facilities Management department and student organic garden to become more sustainable, but also created some of its own environmentally friendly initiatives.

• The Underground, located in the basement of the College’s Holland Union Building, has been converted to an organic cafe. This establishment offers fair trade organic coffee, local dairy products from Trickling Springs Creamery, baked goods created by the student garden, and vegetarian and vegan fare.
• Fair trade, organic, shade-grown coffee is served at all Dining Services facilities. Customers who use one of the reusable “Green Mugs” provided by Facilities Management instead of a disposable container receive a discount.
• Students who purchase to-go food from the Union Station or the Quarry (alternatives to cafeteria dining) have their food packed into biodegradable containers made of sugarcane or corn byproducts. These containers will also be made available at outdoor functions, such as school-wide picnics.
• Students are provided with reusable cloth bags for use at Grab and Go, a lunchtime alternative to visiting the Dining Hall.
• Dining Services worked with the organic garden to begin a composting program in the cafeteria. Students can voluntarily donate meal scraps to the compost bins near tray lines, and salad line workers compost all fruit and vegetable waste. Compost is then taken to the garden.

In addition to the aforementioned efforts, Dickinson also purchases paper with 30 percent post-consumer recycled content, and is looking into increasing that percentage. Janitors use Spartan Green Solutions cleaning products in all College buildings, and all new College employees are familiarized with the institution’s sustainability policies at New Employee Orientation sessions. Finally, the College conducts an annual recycling audit in an effort to improve program efficiency.

Curriculum & Research

Dickinson is known for having one of the oldest and strongest Environmental Studies programs in the nation. Students may choose to pursue a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Science, or a Bachelor of Arts degree in Environmental Studies. Students may also complete a minor in the field. Exciting developments in the department include:

• Receiving a grant from the Henry Luce Foundation for $460,000 to develop the Luce Integrated Watershed Field Semester, an interdisciplinary program dedicated to the comparison of social and environmental issues in the Chesapeake Bay and Mississippi River watersheds. The program includes two weekend field trips within the Chesapeake Bay, and a three-week excursion to southern Louisiana. The planning stage and first year of the program have been completed, and the program will operate for three more years, one of which will be dedicated to program evaluation.
• The renovation of a building to serve as the interim departmental facilities while a new science complex is constructed. This building will provide more space for the Environmental Studies department laboratories, research offices and laboratories for students, and more advanced facilities for the Alliance for Aquatic Resource Monitoring (ALLARM). ALLARM is a student-staffed project of the Environmental Studies department under the direction of three professional staff that is dedicated to providing technical assistance and mentoring to grassroots watershed organizations.
• Redesigning the requirements of the Environmental Science major to make the curriculum more stringent.
• The construction of a new, LEED certified, Center for Sustainable Living, a residence hall that will accommodate 14 students who have volunteered to live in a sustainable manner. This building will include a grey water recycling system, corn pellet burning stove, solar panels, composting system, and energy efficient appliances. This building will also have a large “living classroom,” which will be utilized for campus and community sustainability presentations.

In addition to the developments underway in the Environmental Studies department, the Sustainability Specialist has made significant progress with incorporating sustainability into college and community education through the following initiatives:

• Creating sustainability-based programming distributed to all Residential Advisors.
• Contacting all first year seminar professors and working with them to create seminar-specific sustainability activites.
• Informing alumni of Dickinson’s progress towards sustainability on the first-annual Sustainability Tour during Alumni Weekend.

Finally, the language adopted in the Strategic Plan states that Dickinson College is committed to working toward incorporating place-based education, interdisciplinary study, and independent research with a focus on sustainability. Dickinson will continue to educate environmentally conscious citizen leaders, regardless of which course of study they choose to pursue.

Community Service and Outreach

As an educational institution, Dickinson realizes the importance of teaching others. To this end, the College has participated in a number of both internal and external outreach programs, engaging not only Dickinsonians, but the Carlisle community, as well.

The College’s most successful college-community partnership has been the U-Turn project. Dickinson works with the United Way of Carlisle to collect clothing, food, furniture, and books for a community-wide yard sale, saving these materials from entering the local landfill. Last year, we raised a total of $13, 028 for the United Way, and diverted several U-Hauls’ worth of “waste” from the trash.

The College’s organic student garden, the Open Sky Farm, is quite involved with community outreach as well. Under the direction of Jennifer Halpin, the Farm donates produce to Project S.H.A.R.E., the local food bank. The garden also sponsors workdays for the college and community, increasing student and resident awareness of the importance and process of growing food locally and organically.

Another public event designed to increase institutional awareness of sustainability was part of the RecycleMania competition that Dickinson participates in annual. This event, called “Trash on the Plaza,” was held in the area outside of the student union building. Volunteers, including President Durden, sorted through 24 hours’ worth of trash that had accumulated inside the facility, removing and measuring the recyclable material from the refuse.

Each year, Dickinson celebrates sustainability for a week. Events during Sustainability Week include panel discussions, speakers, and film screenings. This heightened publicity serves to remind students of the institution’s commitment to the environment and protecting natural resources.

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