October 2, 2003

12 noon to 1:30 p.m.

Butler/Wu, Private Dining Room

Committee Attendees: Michael McKay, Chair; Cathy Kunkel, Dana Graef, Janet Gruschow, Robin Izzo, Bill Jordan, Emmanual Kreike, Tom Nyquist , Leila Shahbender, Don Weston, David Wilcove

Committee Members Absent: Andy Dobson

Other Attendees: Mary Banfield, Marissa Baskett, Rick Curtis, Jeff Greenblatt, Nathan Gregory. Chad Klaus, S. Helen Labun, Meg Messina, Stu Orefice, Barclay Statterfield

PEOC Charter and Membership

Michael McKay reviewed the charter of the Environmental Oversight Committee:

The purpose of the Princeton Environmental Oversight Committee is to monitor the University’s relationship with the environment and to encourage improvements in that relationship by:

• Providing a mechanism for cross-fertilization of ideas and coordination of efforts within the institution to improve and preserve the environment, and for identifying best practices at other institutions that may be applied at Princeton.
• Creating a forum for faculty, students, and administrators to bring their very different perspectives to bear on our relationship with the environment.
• Encouraging the implementation of these ideas when appropriate.
• Establishing economic and environmental goals for improving Princeton’s relationship with the environment.
• Recommending and justifying to the administration those policies and practices that can only be implemented by mandate.

The Committee unanimously voted two new members to the Committee:
1. Stu Orefice, Director of Dining Services
2. Marissa Baskett, Graduate Student, EEB

Intern Position

Two applications were received for the PEOC intern position. Candidates will be interviewed by Janet Gruschow and Tom Nyquist. The intern will work on the priority projects list (attached) and identify items which will require further funding and/or policy decisions at a higher level, as well as environmental issues. Facilities will fund the position.

Recycling

Alex Salzman’06 has been discussing with university administration an effective, yet profitable, student-run recycling program. Alex will present his recycling concept at the next PEOC meeting.

Use of Paper/Plastic versus Permanent Ware

Stu Orefice discussed the products used in Dining Services. The Frist Campus Center uses paper products and non-recyclable plastic plates. Permanent ware is used in the residential colleges. Stu mentioned when Frist first opened, permanent ware was used. However, most of the permanent ware “disappeared” during the first month of operation.

Stu also reported environmental refillable mugs are given to the Freshmen. These mugs can be used at the Frist Campus Center and the residential colleges. At Café Vivian, china mugs are available, on request. Ways to educate the community as to why Dining Services uses paper/plastic products, “green” mugs that could be purchased at the U-Store, etc. were also discussed.

Chicago Climate Exchange

Tom Nyquist gave an update on his conversation with the Chicago Climate Exchange. This for-profit group is trying to get people involved in carbon trading on a voluntary basis. They have already signed up companies in the United States and Brazil. The Exchange is interested in sending a representative to Princeton University. Further discussions will follow. Additional information can be found on their web site:
http://www.chicagoclimatex.com/

Princeton Project 55

Helen Labun gave a presentation on the services provided by the Princeton Project 55. This group is Princeton’s largest job placement service for non-profit organizations and is a great resource for departments hiring students for positions in environmental research. Helen distributed the Fall 2003 brochure and Internship Fellowship Description Form. Placements are split between summer internships and year-long fellowships. Their web site address for additional information is:
http://www.project55.org/

Next Meeting

The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, November 4th, 12 noon, at Butler-Wu Private Dining Room.

Robin Izzo will report on the C2E2 - Campus Consortium for Environmental Excellence -at the next meeting. The mission of the Campus Consortium for Environmental Excellence (C2E2) is to support the continued improvement of environmental performance in higher education. Their web site is: http://www.c2e2.org/

Submitted by:
Mary Banfield
Princeton Environmental Oversight Committee (PEOC)

Priority Projects 2003-04

The following are priority items received from PEOC and Greening Princeton members thus far. They are not in any particular order of importance. I believe that eventually they should be ranked and grouped according to particular categories (energy, water, paper, etc.). Please send any items you would like added to the list to gruschow@princeton.edu by JUNE 30th.

Priorities include:

• Addressing temperature settings in campus buildings;
• Purchasing PCW or unbleached paper towels and other green cleaning products;
• Requiring LEED certification on all new buildings
• Experimenting with solar power and encouraging the University to invest in and buy power from a green energy company (eg. wind power and other alternatives);
• Installing low flow showerheads, low flow toilets and faucets in buildings;
• Encouraging better outdoor water use;
• Reducing greenhouse gas emissions by improving fuel economy of University fleet (limiting idling time for campus safety officers, promoting carpooling, reducing car commuting by faculty and staff, investing in alternative energy); encouraging the purchase of hybrid or fully electric vehicles (including the little buggies);
• Reducing paper use (education campaign focused on students, faculty and staff);
• Increasing recycling (another matter of changing behaviors as above);
• Introducing recyclable dinnerware (or some other alternative) in catering
• Installing energy-efficient light bulbs (student light bulb exchange program?) and motion detectors, among other lighting alternatives; continue the installation of motion sensors on building lighting where possible. If they're really cheap, maybe in all bathrooms, in addition to hallways (residential and academic buildings);
• Establishing University-sponsored Earth Day events;
• adopting standards for University investments in socially/environmentally responsible companies;
• encouraging the University to maintain a certain percentage of green space on campus, and, some parcels of a minimum size
• officially encouraging the University to purchase as high a %PCW for paper as possible. (Especially if 100% PCW can be negotiated to be cheaper than virgin paper, then the purchase of the 100% PCW should be mandated.)
• recycling toner cartridges in the clusters (would need to look at price, quality and process);
• establishing official University environmental policies (i.e., above).