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Middlebury College 2007 Campus Sustainability Leadership Award Application

Category

Four-year and graduate institutions 1,000 - 7,500 student FTE

Contact

Jack Byrne
Campus Sustainability Coordinator
Hillcrest Ave. #109, Middlebury College
Middlebury, VT
802-443-5043
jmbyrne@middlebury.edu

Governance & Administration

Middlebury has a commitment to sustainability evidenced by an extraordinary degree of collaboration across institutional boundaries among students, faculty, staff, administrators and trustees. This culture of sustainability is rooted in its Vermont traditions of conservation, ingenuity and resourcefulness. Middlebury has the oldest undergraduate environmental studies program in the US characterized by a rigorous, interdisciplinary course of studies and community service. It has been one of the most popular majors since its inception in 1965. A close relationship between the Department of Environmental Studies and the Department of Environmental Affairs regularly brings students and faculty together with people in Facilities, Admissions, Athletics, Student Affairs and other departments to do research and projects that advance sustainability goals and objectives.

A vision for sustainability and an emphasis on cultivating leadership are supported by:

• policies of environmental stewardship and carbon reduction,
• strategic and master plans that empower the college community to work together on implementation;
• a full-time Dean of Environmental Affairs;
• a full-time Sustainability Coordinator;
• environmental liaisons in many departments, e.g: Athletics, Residential Life, Communications, Study Abroad, Advancement, and Facilities.
• senior leadership at the highest levels that embrace and practice sustainability in carrying out their responsibilities to the institution;
• an Environmental Council of students, faculty and staff has advised the President on sustainability issues and policy. This Council also administers a fund to support collaborative sustainability projects proposed by faculty, staff and students.

To illustrate how this all comes together, consider the process leading to a vote by the Trustees in May’07 to become carbon neutral by 2016 and to sign the American College and University President's Climate Commitment.

The process began in 2004 when Trustees set a goal to reduce emissions to 8% below 1990 levels by 2012. That goal was established after a task group of students, faculty and staff presented Trustees with a portfolio of carbon reduction actions, many of which were implemented, including a decision to go forward with construction of an $11-million cogeneration system powered by woodchips - a local, renewable, carbon-neutral fuel. This will cut the College's use of #6 fuel oil in half and put it very close to achieving its initial carbon reduction goal.

In October 2006, students proposed a new goal of carbon neutrality by 2016 pointing to scientific evidence that climate warming is proceeding at unprecedented rates and a need to move boldly toward solutions to this great challenge. The Trustees asked students to work with faculty and staff to develop strategies for carbon neutrality. The students presented a report to the Trustees in February’07 to which they responded positively by charging the College Treasurer to form a team of students, faculty and staff to analyze the risks of carbon neutrality and how to manage them. This team worked diligently to prepare an analysis which was presented at the Trustees May’07 meeting. The Trustees responded favorably and charged the college community to move forward with implementation of this new goal.

Operations

Biofuels

Middlebury recently contracted with a family-owned company for 20,000 tons of woodchips/year for its biomass plant. They will work with the College to assure that chips come from local suppliers who practice sustainable forestry. Currently there is a sufficient supply of low-grade wood available in local forestlands but what if more institutions switch to wood fuels. Can forests sustain increased harvesting?

Middlebury is growing willow shrubs on 10 acres of fallow farmland as a pilot project with SUNY’s College of Environmental Science and Forestry. The results of the pilot will be shared with farmers in the region with the hope that they could eventually produce willows for energy.

The College switched to 20% biofuel to heat smaller buildings amounting to 175,000 gallons/year. The switch to biofuel, which is purchased from a local supplier, has given local residents confidence in biofuel and many have begun purchasing it for their homes.

Green Building

Middlebury adopted its own sustainable building design and construction guidelines in 1999 focused on energy efficiency, demolition recycling, and use of certified wood, which have guided numerous construction projects since then. Middlebury recently completed its Hillcrest Environmental Center, an adaptive reuse of a historic structure, for which it has applied for LEED certification. The College is evaluating this experience to shape a new set of green building guidelines based on LEED with Middlebury specific adaptations.

Green Skiing

The National Ski Areas Association declared Middlebury’s Snow Bowl the nation’s first carbon neutral ski area after reviewing steps taken to offset all the Snow Bowl’s emissions of greenhouse gases for the ’06-’07 season AND from vehicle travel by customers to ski there. Offsets were purchased from Native Energy, a Vermont company.

Green Cleaning

In 2006-07, he College conducted an assessment of cleaning products and alternatives to reduce the health risks associated with exposure to cleaning chemicals. Custodial staff tested a number of prospects and rated them in terms of health effects, ease of use, cleaning results, and cost. Several green cleaners are now being used including microfiber cloths which work well on glass and mirrors using water instead of ammonia cleaners.

Recycling

Middlebury’s recycling program began in 1987 and now includes a wind powered recycling center, six staff people assisted by numerous student workers, several recycling trucks and a composting facility. The College recycles 60% of its waste and produces 300 tons of compost annually. Demolished buildings are recycled as well: 85% (by weight) of an annex torn off Hillcrest, mentioned above, was recycled as was 97% of an old science building that was replaced in 2004.

The College recently adopted a policy to switch from using 30% post consumer waste content to 100% post consumer waste, process chlorine free paper.

Food

Middlebury’s Dining Services staff purchase as much locally grown and produced food as possible - 25% of the college’s dining budget is used for such purchases. The College also has a student run organic garden that provides greens and other vegetables to dining halls during the growing season.

Curriculum & Research

Middlebury’s Environmental Studies program represents a significant commitment to teaching and learning related to sustainability and environmental stewardship. It includes a core of 12 faculty with 44 affiliated faculty members from 16 departments. It is one of the largest majors on campus with around 50 graduates each may. Of the 2350 students enrolled each year approximately 50% take at least on ES course before graduating. Over 650 alumni are employed in environmentally related jobs around the globe.

The curriculum integrates the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities/literature. Students studying Environmental Studies concentrate on one of eleven focus areas including: conservation biology, environmental chemistry, geography, US environmental policy, environmental economics, environmental chemistry, human ecology, international environmental studies, environmental history, environmental ethics, environmental literature and non-fiction writing.

Many students study off-campus or in another country during their third year. They participate in any of 50 off-campus, environmental study programs approved by the College. Student internships during the January term or summers provide students with valuable life experiences and professional opportunities not available in the classroom. As an example, this past January 11 students and a faculty member worked with a team of College staff to prepare an analysis of how the College could achieve carbon neutrality which they presented to the Trustees in February’07 and which formed an important step to the Trustees vote to become carbon neutral in May’07. Another student worked with the Campus Sustainability Coordinator to develop a standardized greenhouse gas inventory and reporting system that is now used by the College to track its carbon emissions annually.

In addition to internship experiences and honors theses that take student's education beyond the classroom, a senior seminar was developed to enable students to apply theory in practice by working on real environmental projects both on campus and in the surrounding region as a learning laboratory. The senior seminar is a capstone course that brings students together from the 11 environmental focus areas to address an environmental problem or issue. This integrated course draws on a wide range of individual knowledge and perspectives to develop a collaboratively achieved solution or outcome on campus or within the surrounding community. The senior seminar uses the campus and the surrounding region as an extended classroom, often establishing partnerships with nonprofit conservation organizations, municipalities or other departments on campus that collaborate to solve environmental problems.

Student independent study projects, seminars and honors research theses also provide opportunities for students to combine their lecture and textbook learning with applied experiences in the field. Student projects have reorganized recycling, established a hiking trail around campus, identified and mapped trees on campus with GIS, produced a bicycling guide for the community, created a plan for turning a parcel of College owned land into a municipal park which was subsequently implemented by the College and the Town, and analyzed the winds at the College’s ski area to determine the feasibility of wind generated electricity there.

Campus Culture

Sustainability is an integral part of the culture at Middlebury. The College has made a deliberate effort to make it a systemic practice throughout all departments. For example, the Study Abroad department recently worked with the Environmental Affairs department to develop a series of green travel initiatives designed to educate about the ecological footprint of traveling and to provide options for making that footprint lighter including carbon offset purchases, a green passport program and checklist for living and traveling lightly while abroad and at home, and a grants program to support research on sustainability while abroad.

The College has hosted numerous conferences and workshops for peers and the broader community to address issues of sustainability. Many have been focused on the climate change issue. For example, Middlebury hosted a conference entitled “What Works?” which was aimed at examining the insufficient results of the environmental movement in dealing with the climate change issue and identifying new models that have the potential of succeeding. Students, faculty, NGO staff and others from the US attended this conference. This led to a focus on the success of the civil rights movement as a model of social change. Students at Middlebury embraced this example and used it to shape a high level of activism both on campus and off. They formed the Sunday Night Group which has grown each year in size and effectiveness in calling attention to the climate change issue and how to address it. Every Sunday night 100 to 150 students meet on campus to report on progress, brainstorm new projects, and to assess the impacts of their efforts. These students have become integral to the College’s carbon neutrality efforts and many have become politically active in efforts such as StepItUp which successfully fostered 1,800 local events around the country this past April to demand Congressional actions for reducing carbon emissions. Many of the Sunday Night Group worked with the College to organize the kick-off meeting for Focus The Nation – a movement to organize over 1,000 campuses across the country to dedicate January 31, 2008 to climate change action. Fifteen Middlebury students and recent graduates are living and working together this summer in New Hampshire to educate voters on the importance of dealing with the climate issue in advance of the Presidential primary.

Middlebury fosters sustainable habits and practices through its orientations for new staff, students, and faculty. The Sustainability Coordinator provides a bi-weekly session at new employee orientations (and annually for new faculty) on what sustainability is, how it is practiced and how new employees can make it part of their jobs. The Sustainability Coordinator works closely with the Student Affairs and Commons staff to provide numerous examples and activities during orientation for new students. For example, an exhibit of a sustainable dorm room will be built for visitation at the orientation welcome center. It shows students how to minimize their use of energy and materials and how to use the College’s recycling system.

Community Service & Outreach

As described above in the curriculum and research section there are many service learning and community collaborations between Middlebury and local, regional, and state organizations and communities. Several other collaboration and outreach efforts are worth mentioning.

The Environmental Affairs and Environmental Studies Departments host a weekly luncheon seminar, the Woodin Colloquium Series, open to anyone interested on campus or off which is attended by 75 to 150 people any given week. The speakers come from near and far and each presents on a sustainability related topic followed by a lively discussion with and among the audience. This series has become a stalwart of community building and engagement in environmental issues over the years. The audience is often composed of nearly equal numbers of local citizens, students, faculty and staff.

The 401 senior seminar for environmental studies majors is dedicated to service learning every Fall and Spring term. The faculty identify a general theme and consult with relevant local, state and regional NGO’s and government organizations to get an initial sense of what their needs are. Students then form teams to define and undertake service projects to help address those needs carrying out four individual projects per semester. At the end of the semester the students present their findings and recommendations to community partners and others at the final Wooding Colloquium. Some examples of recent projects:

• Burn Wood Good: Fostering Pollution Accountability for Outdoor Wood Boilers
• Insight from Outside: An International Perspective on the Role of Collaboration in Addressing Environmental Issues in China
• Towards Self-Sustaining Farms: Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency on Small Farms in Vermont
• Community Supported Forestry Firewood Program: Gauging Local Interest for a Healthier Tomorrow
• Moving Towards Zero Waste in Addison County
• A Vermont Farmer's Guide to Finding, Writing, and Applying for Grants
• Mosquito Control in Vermont: Information for Citizens and Controllers
• Consumer Responses to Corporate Social Responsibility in Middlebury, Vermont
• A New Direction for China: Perspectives on Sustainable Development and Global Governance
• River Conservation Planning With the Vermont Conservancy
• Eating Local in Addison County: A Cookbook and Directory
• Local Food and the Cornwall Elementary School
• Got Local? The State of Local Food Production and Distribution in Addison County
• Interfaith Environmental Action in Vermont, Resources for Religious Communities and Resource Web Site
• Vermont Homeowner Renewable Energy Incentives

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