ETF Meeting February 12, 2008

Attending: Hannah Legris, Jennifer McMullen, Evan Heidtmann, Julia Hendrickson, Margo Warner Curl, Dan Indovina, Amber Phillips, Sophie Lehmann, Chuck Wagers, Susan Clayton

We started with an update of recent activities:

The ETF helped to organize events surrounding Focus the Nation, a national teach-in on climate change. Two ETF members, Chuck Wagers and Peter Schantz, participated in an evening panel discussion. The panel was well attended, with about 50 students, faculty, and community members.

The Wooster Voice had an article about President Cornwell's inauguration, which will try to implement green practices. Lyn Loveless will be involved with the preparations for this.

The environmental studies program has been approved. We talked about the need to publicize this to admissions as well as to the campus at large. John Finn may help with this. We also need to think about information for the website (though environmental studies will get its own website at some point, which can be linked).

The competition to see which dorm can reduce its energy use the most during the month of February (in comparison to last year) is under way. We discussed ways of promoting this. We will put a new notice in WHN every week. Amber has been posting information in the Pot. Julia will write some text that can be printed on stickers to place on light switches. Julia will also see if she can find a cow to buy that can be used for the "Green Cow" award.

We discussed the recycling program, and how to inform people about it more effectively. The webpage is being updated, and we will put a blurb in WHN when it is done. We will also try to get an article in the Voice at some point. The recycling committee will continue to investigate the possibility of a swap meet during April. We will also think more broadly about preparing a packet of information that can be conveyed to incoming students in the fall, perhaps working through Res Life.

The principal agenda for the meeting was to talk about how to move forward (identify a process) to develop a strategic plan for environmental initiatives on campus. In response to President Cornwell's suggestions about involving more of the campus, Hannah suggested that the ETF invite leaders of student groups on campus to a meeting. After some discussion, we settled on two meetings:

During the last week of March, we will invite leaders of student environmental groups on campus, as well as representatives from campus council and SGA, to join us at a regular ETF meeting to talk about a process for developing a strategic plan and how to maximize input. Hannah and Julia will work on text for the invitation as well as a list of invitees and send that to Susan and Chuck.

Then in April we will have an open forum in the evening – possibly during Earth week – at which the entire campus will be invited to contribute their ideas for environmental initiatives. The goal will be to develop a strategic plan that can be in place for the start of the 08-09 school year.

Chuck also reported on a new development in opportunities for buying local foods. He is on the advisory board for a new initiative, localcrop.com, which will allow a wide range of customers to buy locally grown foods via the web and have the produce delivered on Sysco trucks. This will provide a variety of advantages for both the farmers and the customers in terms of planning, efficiency, and quality.

Finally, we discussed the desirability of generating a sustainability statement that is appropriate for Wooster. Some progress has been made on this by Lyn, Peter, and Hannah. We hope that some models can be circulated for comment electronically so that this can be discussed and presented at the March meeting.