ETF Meeting October 18, 2007

Present: Chuck Wagers, Susan Clayton, Lyn Loveless, Beau Mastrine, Evan Heidtmann, Hannah LeGris, Julia Hendrickson, Ginny Kincaid, Margo Warner Curl, Dan Indovina, Robert Sands, Tony McNeil

Not present: Nick Kardulias, Peter Schantz, Mark Weaver

Julia and Hannah reported on the formation of a student group to be called the College Environmentalists. They will meet every two weeks, run a listserv, and seek a charter. They will be trying to amass a collection of informational resources
--The old files from Martha Alarie may still be available in Dan's office; he will check

They will also look for a physical space to keep these files in order to facilitate continuity from one year to the next
--The Women's Resource Center may be vacating their space in Lowry, so they will speak to Bob Rodda about obtaining this space.

Jeff Roche may be in touch with an environmental group of students from the class of 2010.

The ETF website, which was established last year, should be regularly updated. Margo will ask Jennifer McMullen if she is willing to do it.

Chuck gave an update on last year's progress. The end-of-year report will also be made available. Significant items include the recycling efforts, introduction of reusable coffee mugs, introduction of more local foods, Peace Justice and Earth week events, and the use of green cleaning projects. Beau is using lawn waste as mulch and has saved significant amounts of money as well as having more mulch than he used to be able to afford. He does not want to move in the direction of producing and selling excess mulch, because this would require a composting license.

OARDC is planning an event for Earth Week in Wooster; Lyn will go to their planning meeting and keep us updated.

A "StepItUp" event is planned for November 3rd in Wooster.

It was suggested that President Cornwell's inauguration events could be "green."

We will try to meet monthly as a big group and bi-weekly in subcommittees (list to be sent separately).

Some facts about recycling: our program is relatively solid; it is of long duration, and we recycle a good proportion of solid waste (40-43%) compared to some other campuses. We can be a model. There could be more education about recycling at Wooster, and Dan is willing to help with this.

We discussed the "to-go" meal plan; Chuck is investigating more environmentally friendly materials. The vegetable-starch based products are not currently able to tolerate temperatures about 130 degrees, but prototypes for more effective products are being developed.

Ginny is working as a sophomore research assistant with Paul Edmiston, and will talk with him about the possibility of developing a project involving the production of biodiesel fuel.

Suggested time for next group meeting: Thursday, November 22nd at 4 pm?