Jobs for New Members

Spring 2007 Semester
Blog Webmaster

Currently, the Sustainability Hub has a blog where students from different environmental groups can post news, opinions, and announcements. We need one person to update the blog with news, announcements, and other relevant information on a weekly basis. The website is http://sustainablecornell.blogspot.com. If you’re interested in this position, please contact Ding Kong at dk278@cornell.edu for username and password.

Campus Sustainability News

The editor for Campus Sustainability News would like to have someone revise and edit the newsletter before it is sent out. This will involve reading the short stories in the newsletter and suggesting beneficial changes, in addition to providing suggestions for improving the newsletter. If you’re interested, contact Carlos Rymer at cmr55@cornell.edu.

Create Your Own Project

The Sustainability Hub strongly encourages students with new ideas to bring them about at meetings and begin their own initiatives. Usually, other students are also happy to join a new effort. Basically, such initiatives would benefit from information sheets about the initiative, a list of what needs to get done and how those items will get done, and the costs and benefits associated with the initiative. Students can then announce their initiatives on the blog, website, and newsletter to gather further support from student organizations, faculty, and staff. Contact Dean Koyanagi at drk5@cornell.edu for more information.

Feel the Heat Week

A team of students is planning a weeklong series of activities and events around Earth Day to raise awareness about global warming on campus. The week, called Feel the Heat, will make learning about global warming fun and interesting while calling for significant measures to curb global warming. If you’re interested in getting involved, contact Stephanie Radi at sar44@cornell.edu.

Greenroofs Team

In the past, the Sustainability Hub had a committed team of students working to further green the campus by installing greenroofs on new and existing buildings. The team successfully convinced the College of Human Ecology to place a greenroof in the new Martha Van Renssalaer building. Now, the Sustainability Hub needs a new team of committed students to advance this great way of greening the Cornell campus. If you’re interested, the Sustainability Hub has information about the previous project, contacts for new projects, and strategies for students to go about doing this. Contact Dean Koyanagi at drk5@cornell.edu for more information.

Literature on Past Campus Projects

The Sustainability Hub is in need of documents that can provide students with an idea of the scope of campus sustainability projects, both past and ongoing. Usually, students who know about them have to tell new members or interested groups about such projects. We need 2-3 students who will commit to searching all past campus sustainability projects, both university-led and student-led, and writing half- to one-page information sheets about each. We also need these students to find out about ongoing projects and write brief excerpts about them in two-page information sheets. To get involved with this project, please contact Carlos Rymer at cmr55@cornell.edu.

Outreach to Groups

The Sustainability Hub’s job is to connect as many environmental groups on campus as possible. To that end, we sometimes need to attend meetings of other groups to know what they’re doing and provide an update about what’s going on at the Hub. We need at least two students committing to attending ~2 meetings per week for other student organizations; these can be the same groups all the time or different groups every week. If you’re interested, contact Ding Kong at dk278@cornell.edu.

Photographer

One of the few things members of the Sustainability Hub seldom remember is to bring a camera to meetings, activities, and events. We need one student who will commit to photographing activities and events for Campus Sustainability News, the blog, and the website. Please contact Carlos Rymer at cmr55@cornell.edu if you’re interested in the position.

Sustainable Foods Team

Similarly, the Sustainability Hub historically had a team that worked to make Cornell Dining more sustainable. In reality, the team still exists, but it is now a separate student organization, Farm to College Working Group. We need at least two students working to connect F2C’s work with the Sustainability Hub and New World Ag and Ecology Group. This will allow the Hub to help both groups coordinate their activities together and push their initiatives with broader student support. Contact Ding Kong at dk278@cornell.edu for more information.

Sustainability Boards

The Sustainability Hubs has several boards set up in Libraries and Community Centers. Due to the many activities and news that emerge every month, these need to be updated on a monthly basis. We need at least two students to commit to browsing for new information to place on the Sustainability Boards every month. This includes Upcoming Events, Recent News, Ways to Reduce Your Footprint, and more. If you’re interested, contact Carlos Rymer at cmr55@cornell.edu or Ding Kong at dk278@cornell.edu.

Webmaster

The Sustainability Hub has a website at http://sustainabilityhub.hopto.org, which hasn’t been updated since it was first created in early 2006. We need 1-2 students to commit to updating the website with all news and announcements, as well as ongoing projects, a list of members, and other relevant information. If you’re interested, please contact Ethan Rainwater at elrainwater@gmail.com.

Beyond Kyoto Initiative Calls for Carbon Neutrality

Kyoto Now!´s Beyond Kyoto Initiative is well underway. The student organization is calling on the entire Cornell community, particularly President Skorton, to embrace its goals of making the campus Carbon Neutral by the school year 2007-2008. Global warming is already disproportionately affecting too many poor people all around the world, not to mention the massive changes it is inflicting on ecosystems. As such, we cannot treat it as just another ënvironmental issue.¨

Kyoto Now! calls on all students, faculty, staff, departments, and student organizations to endorse our initiative to immediately make a moral commitment to offset our emissions of carbon dioxide and create a long-term plan for on-campus climate neutrality. If you´re interested in supporting this initiative, please contact a representative at cmr55.

Sustainable Cornell

Sustainable Cornell
This is an exciting week for Sustainbility at Cornell. We're kicking off with Campus Sustainability Day on Wednesday, followed by a week of events for Focus the Nation and then ending it all with a party for the Earth for the International day of Climate Action.

Schedule of Events:
Oct 25: Campus Sustainability Day
•Student Organizations Info 10:00-2:00PM, Ho Plaza.
•Eco-Players: The Lorax. 3:00PM, Ho Plaza.
•Dr. Scott Sherman- How David Conquers Goliath: The Power of People to Overcome the World’s Largest Corprations and Governments. 4:30-6:00PM, 165 McGraw Hall.
•“Surviving the Next Epidemic” a presentation on factory farming with free vegan desserts. 7:00-9:00 PM, McGraw Aud.
Oct 26:
•Sustainability Expo, Ho Plaza, 11:00AM-2:00PM
•Dr. Scott Sherman- Teaching to Transform the World: An Innovative Approach to Education. 5:15-6:30PM, 165 Statler Hall.
Oct 27:
•Captain Planet- Cartoons that Matter. 8:00PM, RPCC Auditorium.
Oct 28:
•Fall Environmental Education Event at Hector Forest. Day-long event. Contact elr28 for more information.
•Challenges of Energy in the 21st Century in Statler Aud.
•Energy Lectures & Panel Discussions 10:00AM- 4:30 PM, Statler Aud.Oct 30, Cont.The Climate Crisis and the 2006 Elections. Townhouses Community Center, 6:30PM.
Oct 31
•Global Warming: The Signs and the Science.Film screening, 7:00PM in AppelMultipurpose Room 302A.
Nov 1
•"Sustainability at the Local Level: Building Enterprise from the Ground Up” 5:00 pm, Warren 401.
•The Climate Crisis and the 2006 Elections. 8:00PM, Becker House TV Room.
Nov 2: International Day of Climate Action
•Student Demonstrations 10:00-2:00PM, all Quads.
•Cornell Professors Speak Out about Global Warming 10:00-1:00PM, Arts Quad. •Power of the Wind Contest 12:00PM, Arts Quad.
•Cornell Organization for Labor Action: Fair Trade and Recycling- Reducing CO2 Emissions

You'll want to be there for all of it! To see which of your friends are already planning on going, check out http://cornell.facebook.com/event.php?eid=2213076291 and we'll see you all week long!

EcoChallenge "Greening" Contest

Hello, all.
This past Monday, students from many different environmental groups met to discuss two things.
First was the idea of a coordinated action week kicking off with "Campus Sustainability Day" on Oct 25, a week of "Focus the Nation" events and cumulating with a Nov 2 "International Day of Action on Climate Change"
Secondly, we brainstormed for a "EcoChallenge" contest sponsored by GE and MTV. (http://www.ecocollegechallenge.com/ for more infomation on the details). The full list of ideas is at the bottom and please feel free to add more. We're looking to put together some mini/draft proposals for our next meeting and then narrow it down to a few competitive ones to send it.
The following people have asked to spearhead one group, so if you are interested in helping with that idea, please contact them.
* sustainable bathrooms (water reduction- waterless urinals, composting toilets, grey water)
-Phil, wje6
* energy efficency (overall integration of ideas)
-Doug, dmb68
* green roofs
- Carlos, cmr55
* bike fleet (free with ID swipe)
- Ian, lct2
* green landscaping
- Shay, ay63
Other ideas that are as yet unclaimed:
-motion sensored lights
- electricity being turned on linked to room key
- food waste reduction in hallway
- double sided printing/recycled paper
- revise green building standards
- energy auditing business (student-run) in collegetown
- convert a car to electric

The next meeting will be Wed the 11th in Carpenter Hall. Please feel free to come if you missed the first meeting or even if you can't commit to working on the project. We need ideas/input from as many people as possible.
For more information, email me (Katherine) at kpm35.

Fall Harvest Week

Farm-to-Cornell and Ithaca College Present:

Francis Moore Lappé
G10 Biotech Building
Wednesday September 20th; 6:00pm

Join us for an evening with the acclaimed author of Diet for a Small Planet; World Hunger: Twelve Myths; Hope¹s Edge; and Democracy¹s Edge. Francis Lappé has authored or co-authored 15 books, and her 1971 Diet for a Small Planet has sold over 3 million copies. Through her work with the Small Planet Institute, Lappé continues to educate about the human-made causes of world hunger and the power of every day choices to create the world we want. She is a highly-regarded speaker who has received 17 honorary doctorate degrees and was the 1987 recipient of the Right Livelihood Award, sometimes called the Alternative Nobel.

For more information about Francis Moore Lappé visit her website: http://cinema.cornell.edu/Aug06/inconvenienttruth.html

This event is sponsored by: Ithaca College Office of the Provost; Cornell Dining, Mann Library, Small Farms Program, Department of DevelopmentSociology, Slow Food Cornell, and funded in part by the GPSAFC. Open to the public.

For more information about this event contact dls79@cornell.edu, or bpl24@cornell.edu.

Please distribute this message far and wide!

EcoChallenge/Focus the Nation Team

The Focus the Nation initiative has been launched (read below). This is a major educational effort to focus colleges and universities on global warming and build national support to convince our government to take serious steps to fight global warming. Many high schools, colleges, and universities are now signing up their teams for conferences, and we have done so as well.

There is now a Focus the Nation Team at Cornell that will plan and coordinate a 2- to 3-hour conference on November 2nd or another date. We're asking as many interested people to join the team. We will need help in asking professors to speak at the conference, asking student groups to lead short breakout sessions, outreaching to student groups and the campus, requesting rooms, and planning the event.

This post is for the planning of this Focus the Nation event. If anybody is interested in joining, please comment here or e-mail Carlos Rymer at cmr55@cornell.edu to let the Team know. I hope we can support this national effort and build support for the fight to stop global warming.

Carlos Rymer

For Immediate Release September 14^th , 2006 Contact: Dr. Eban Goodstein 503-806-6370 Global Warming Educational Initiative Launched"Focus the Nation" Unveils Website, Tour of Colleges Portland, OR---A major new educational initiative on global warming is live today on the Internet. Focus the Nation will involve over 1000 universities, colleges and high schools in nationwide, simultaneous one-day symposia that will explore the challenge of "Stabilizing the Climate in the 21^st Century". "Post Katrina, and with 2006 on track to be the hottest year on record, Americans are getting seriously worried about global warming", said Ross Gelbspan, Pulitzer-prize winning journalist, and author of the book /Boiling Point/. "Focus the Nation will generate a critically-needed, non-partisan, national dialogue about the bold steps we have to take if we are going to stabilize the climate." Students, faculty and staff can sign their schools up to participate at www.focusthenation.org <http://www.focusthenation.org/>. "Although we are working mostly with high schools and up, we also welcome participation by middle school and elementary school teachers" said Project Director, Dr. Eban Goodstein, Professor of Economics at Lewis & Clark College. In fact, building from a base in educational institutions, Focus the Nation is also encouraging involvement by faith and civic organizations, businesses, and cities and towns. "The decisions we make over the next decade to either stabilize global warming pollution-- or not-- will profoundly impact our children's future. We owe our young people a truly national day of focused conversation about global warming solutions," said Goodstein. The symposia are scheduled for January 31^st , 2008. The date falls in between the New Hampshire and Super Tuesday political primaries, and Focus the Nation organizers expect that with several million students nationwide discussing global warming solutions, political candidates and elected officials from all parties will join the dialogue. To launch the effort, Goodstein is touring campuses across the country---including stops in the next few weeks at Columbia, Yale, U Mass Amherst, SUNY Albany, Boise State, and the University of Arizona. Regional launch events will be held on September 30^th at Middlebury College in Vermont; October 6^th at Arizona State University; November 18^th at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee; and on December 9^th at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon. A complete schedule can be found on the project web site at www.focusthenation.org <http://www.focusthenation.org/>, and are listed below. Focus the Nation intends to spark discussion about practical solutions to stabilizing the climate. An important part of the educational mission is being shouldered by the project's business partners, including Clif Bar and Stonyfield Farm. "There are important lessons to be learned from companies that have been successfully reducing their footprint on the planet, while also gaining strength in the marketplace." said Goodstein. The Focus the Nation advisory board includes *Dr.* *Bunyan Bryant*, School of Natural Resources, University of Michigan; *Senator Gary Hart* (D-CO); *Denis Hayes*, Earth Day founder and President of the Bullitt Foundation; *Hunter Lovins*, President of Natural Capitalism, Inc; *Dr. William Moomaw*, Professor of International Environmental Policy at Tufts University; *Dr. David Orr*, Professor of Environmental Studies at Oberlin College; *Billy Parish*, Director of Energy Action; the *Honorable Claudine Schneider*, former member of Congress (R-RI), and *Dr. James "Gus" Speth*, Dean of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.

Transportation

Greening Cornell's Fleet - use biodiesel, connect with Ithaca Biodiesel. Kenneth will look into this.

Bio-Energy Research Center - $ offered by National and State DOE, could Cornell get funding for a new research center? Kim will look into this.

Buses - Free Bus Passes were a great incentive. We currently subsidize parking spots, and we shouldn't! Are there studies on how many freshman didn't bring bus passes this year as a result of having a free bus passes? Stefanie will look into this.

Long term: Gravity Fed Tram on Campus? An 'escalator' for bike up Buffalo Street? Tamar will look into this. We also discussed the possibility of a tram for Ithaca, but have since discovered that many studies have been done in this area, and it was determined to be financially unfeasible. (Talk to Professor Francis Vanek, MAE)

Bus to Farmer's Market!!! - Tamar will work with T-Cat to provide 'special' shuttles to go shopping there.

*Energy in getting your goods shipped - make transportation more sustainable, and then the goods themselves become more sustainable. Also, BUY LOCAL!

People in attendance:
Kenneth Sauer - KJS55
Whitney Larson - WBL5
Stefanie Hufuagle-Eichiuer - SH339
Kimberely Schroder - KDS29
Tamar Sharabi - TMS43

Institutional Support

Institutional Support

Vision
A Liberty Hyde Bailey Center for Sustainability is housed in a green building on the Cornell University campus. The Center houses several endowed chairships for faculty from multiple disciplines and is a vibrant center for interdisciplinary work. An academic field of sustainability puts Cornell on the cutting edge of sustainability teaching and research. This attracts a dynamic group of faculty and students. A fund is established via development fundraising to provide research grants for sustainability-related, interdisciplinary projects.

Using the successful "writing in the majors" course format, a "sustainability in the majors" curriculum is developed which integrates sustainability into curriculum across campus. This is supported through funded Teaching Assistantships, similar to the "writing in the majors" program, making it an appealing program for departments to become involved with.

The faculty reward system is recalibrated, starting with the faculty positions within the LHB Center for Sustainability, to encourage faculty to take more risks and be more innovative with their work. Teaching and outreach are encouraged and supported.

Other brainstorming pieces

• Pursue a Kellogg endowed chair in sustainable agriculture
• Include emphasis on sustainability-oriented work when writing new faculty job descriptions
• Student involvement is needed to drive changes in campus physical sustainability and this requires institutional support (Catch 22 of which comes first?); attracting motivated students and faculty and they will feed the other campus changes being sought
• Use transportation, food, energy, etc. ideas and changes as educational opportunities
• Work to develop the campus as a curriculum in and of itself (more education about students' physical environment and the impact of their daily decisions)
• Tap into classes to help set goals/develop ideas for campus sustainability (ie, energy, economics of different options, etc.)
• Make sustainability the topic for the first-year student reading project as a way to integrate sustainability into curriculum
• Funding sources-- current NSF Biogeochemistry IGERT is up for renewal soon and focus on sustainability is being discussed
• Reinvigorate and integrate existing programs within the broader umbrella of sustainability and the LHB Center
• Support extension, Community Food and Ag Program, etc.
• Invest in local businesses to meet sustainability goals (ie, biodiesel from locally grown materials and community processing plant)
  

Staffing needs

• Dilmun Farm manager
• Cafe manager focused on local foods (Mann library?)
• Internships
• Harness the energy of current and recent undergraduates and provide leadership training for recent grads (Student Leadership in Sustainability Program?)

Food and Waste Management

Cornell Sustainability Hub
Sustainable Foods Group
Meeting Minutes: September 6, 2006

1. Fall Harvest Festival
1. All food will be from NY state, and a lot of it will be local (within 50 miles).
2. Need pamphlets, posters, table stuff by 9/15 (That’s Friday!)
3. There should be information there about the Farmers’ Market
4. A Speaker for dinner would be awesome. How can we get ~ $5000?
5. More info: Miriam @ mgg22
6. We definitely need to advertise on West, and Collegetown for the upperclassmen.
2. Farm To College Working Group
1. More info: Jen @ jmb326
2. Trying to book Francis Lapay
3. New World Agriculture and Ecology Group (NWAEG)
1. More info: Jen @ jmb326
2. http://sao.cornell.edu/SO/search.php?igroup=77&year=organizations
4. Farmers’ Market
1. Bring the Farmers’ Market to Cornell
2. Concern for students purchasing enough for the venture to be profitabl
3. Who do we need to contact to make this happen?
4. T-Cat Bus to Farmer’s Marke
5. Cornell-sponsored trips to shopping malls are common. How are these organized?
5. Student Organic Farming
1. Expanding
2. Increase Marketing
6. Composting
1. Does Cornell compost already? Who can we contact?
2. Not only Composting Left-overs, but also taking food to local food banks
3. Pre-consumer/Post-consumer composting
7. University Level Program for Farmer-Infrastructure (Chan – Stick & Stone)
1. Greenstar already has a similar program to this.
2. The idea is that Cornell can help fund local farming ventures in exchange for farm produce.
8. Nutrition: Work with Gannett to emphasize the importance of fresh foods
9. Have a scale by the trash-bins at Dining Halls
10. Carry-a-cup-campaign

People in Attendance

Stacey Ng, syn3

Sean Williamson, srw46

Miriam Golwer, mgg22

Hannah Shayler, has34

Joowon Ahn, ja257

Dana Shapiro, dls79

Katie Alexander, kba5

Jennifer Gardern, jmb326

Brad Lipovsky, bpl24

Kimberley D. C. Schroder, kds29

Tamar Sharabi, tms43

notes by bpl24

Buildings

1. Training PPC folks in Sustainable materials
-Cast FE vs. PVC plumbing
-Electrical Shop

2. Energy Audit of existing buildings.
-Which ones are the energy hogs?
-Prepare prioritized list of renovations/upgrades
-This could be part of curricular activities in architecture and engineering.

3. Cornell as a center of innovation, should demand innovative buildings. Leed buildings should shoot for Gold or Platinum and aim to go beyond.

4. Green/Sustainable Building Tour

5. Aim for density in student housing within walking distance.
-more mixed-uses within housing

Contacts: Martha Bohm (mb463)
Marnie Bettridge (mdb52)

Brainstorm Ideas

Hey everyone,
Here are the ideas that were compiled from past Sustainability Summits, plus the general brainstorm ideas from the last meeting, broken down by category. Building on this, please post the notes and details from your individual group meetings. Once we get them all posted, we can work on compiling an initial plan which we can propose to the Administration.

I also liked the idea of having a meeting devoted to each of the focus areas, getting the operations people and all interested parties involved. What do others think?

FOOD
Increased local purchasing
Sustainable café
Composting in dining halls, in frats/sororities
Reduced/Eco-friendly packaging
Hooking Dilmun Hill into Dining/café
Fair Trade products
Better link with Nutrition (campus store mural)
Group for clubs/COE/CU to purchase from Greenstar

TRANSPORTATION
Biodiesel
More efficient fleet cars
Free Bus Passes
No freshman cars on campus and/or further disincentives
Giving up permits = spaces redesigned as a drop off space, rideshare, public transpo
Better bike paths and racks
CareShare
Bicycle fleet
TCAT to farmers’ market
Hybrid buses

ENERGY
All energy from renewable local sources
Energy efficient lighting (whole campus)
Energy use kiosks showing consumption of floor/lab/building or campus-wide
Biofuel heating (grass pellets)
Mandating EnergyStar appliances
Bioenergy research center
Computer sleep policy

MATERIALS
Green detergent
Packaging: more suited to needs rather than generic unnecessary packaging
Recycled paper
Green office supplies
Ethical purchasing policy
Making recycling easier

BUILDINGS
Commitment to green buildings (LEED)
Green roofs
Light reflectors (Schoelkopf)
Motion sensors for lights

INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT
Curriculum requirements
Formal commitment by Cornell (i.e. Talloires Declaration)
Direct input channel for student ideas
Faculty working on sustainability courses/councils
Research support for sustainable technologies
Office for Sustainability
Paid staff for coordination (interns)
Green Accounts, incentives for depts.
Alumni support, better tie-in (Alumni Leadership Council)
Encouraging green living in dorms
Support for conferences/discussions on these topics

Group Focus: ENERGY

Ideas for Cornell posted by Ian Tse

Long term goals:
- All (significant percentage) of energy used on campus be from renewable sources: Solar Decathalon team has done extensive research on the use of photo-voltaic for powering buildings and believes it is the way to go. They have calculated that for their 2000 sq ft model house, a simple payback period of 10-12 years was possible. How this translates to larger buildings is not immediately obvious, but we should definately promote PV installations on campus as a long term energy solution. CUSD has also had great success implementing solar thermal heating units for buildings. Solar thermal is the process by which the heat from solar radiation is captured and transfered to heating water and air in buildings. Solar thermal could potentially save a lot of energy currently dedicated to heat generation. Wind energy was also a topic of discussion during the meetings. Although Cornell has suspended its efforts to build a wind farm to generate energy for campus consumption, efforts have been made by Kyoto NOW! to establish a renewable energy fund that would go towards either the purchase of green energy or to funding the establishment of a local wind project. Efforts are currently underway to secure a method of funding.

- Greening the dorms: The new West Campus dorm buildings are using approximately four times as much energy as the old Class Halls. This is a disturbing statistic especially when we consider the fact that these buildings are getting certified as "Green Buildings." While the design of the unfinished buildings cannot be changed now, we can promote increased energy conservation in these and all dorms on campus. If we can establish some type of conservation awareness program in which each dorm building competes against each other to see which building can conserve the most energy per resident. In addition, efforts to educate students about conservation through powering down unused computers, using compact fluorescents, recycling, and water conservation can be facilitated through this kind of competition.

- Computer Sleep Policy: Many of the computers in the many CIT labs across campus have a very energy inefficient sleep policy. Many computers are kept on for 24 hours and not allowed to fully go into sleep mode. This policy, as explained by a representative from ESW, is used so that computers will be quicker coming out of hibernation. So, if these computers are left on for such an extended period of time without being put to sleep, the computers are wasting energy and computing power for the sake of negligable time savings. If CIT will not change this sleep policy, we would like to see them plug these computers into what is called a world community grid. The idea is that when your computer is idle, a downloaded software will automatically download a piece of a larger problem and works on calculating it while your computer is not being used by you, its owner. Since the computers at CIT will not go to sleep and are idle 24/7, they might as well be using their computer power to try and help humanity. Please read about this awesome project on the world community grid website:
http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/

- More is to come....

Visioning Meeting

Hi eeeveryone,

If you thought you found the right blog, you did! Post your group's discussion here!

This should include:
-Goals for Cornell
-Possible implementation methods
-Your group's contact information, and meeting times


Thanks so much for posting and for being an important part of this process. The compiled report will be posted here as well. Don't forget to come back to the site and see what other groups had to say.

Stay positive,
-Ding Kong