Sustainability at Lake Superior College

Meeting Minutes 04/24/09

Members present:  Carol Johnson, Cathy Carlson, Cliff Koski, Deanne Roquet, Gary Adams, Glenn Merrick, Julius Salinas, Theresa Hornstein, Wade Gordon, Frank Niffenegger, Ben Smith, Erin Gregor, Britt Johnson.

Committee Reports

Earth Day:  LSC Earth Day was successful.  Ken Gilbertson’s session was well attended.  John Stetson’s session was very well attended.  Glenn’s interpretive trail had one attendee.  Students from the Fire school and senators participated in the campus clean-up.  The light-colored earth bags were distributed.  The dark-colored earth bags were saved and will be distributed at another LSC event (duty day?)

PR/Signage:  Carol suggested renaming the PR/Signage sub-committee to the Communications sub-committee.

Trail/BioRetention Pond:  Glenn reported there will be trail maintenance on Friday May 8, 2009.  350 trees will be planted.  The bridge is in need of repair.  Miller Creek is one of five creeks being monitored in Duluth for turbidity, salinity, etc.  There are problems with some of the disc golf holes.  5 holes have been moved, two more are in need of being moved.  At this time, talks with the city are on hold.  There is a need for more people to assess and discuss the disc golf course.

Worm building:  Theresa reported the worms must find a new home by May 15.  Theresa will be looking into this and reporting back at the next meeting.

Old Business

Workforce Lecture Series:  27 people attended the Green Lecture Series on Tuesday, April 21, 2009.  Wade reported Workforce Development is working on 5-6 other classes, including a make-n-take rain barrel class.  Deanne suggested setting up a class when Deb Rowe is here in August for Duty Day.

Campus Ambassadors info:  At a previous EC meeting, Erica LeMay requested a summary of LSC’s green projects to include in the campus ambassador tours.  Deanne provided this information to Erica.

Schools Cutting Carbon:  A report has not yet been received from Tim Blodgett on the SCC site visit that took place on March 25.  Also, grant funds have not yet been received for the purchase of the Kill-A-Watt meters ($18/unit).  Wade has a few units that can be used by Frank and Ben in order for them to get started on the project.  The project involves comparing electricity usage of two computer labs.  One of the labs shuts down from 11pm to 7am, the other lab does not.  Frank and Ben will also be assessing electricity usage in the Student Technology Center.  There was also discussion of turning lights off of vending machines and doing a comparison of energy usage. 

Wastewise Earth Day:  Deanne attended the Wastewise Earth Day meeting on April 23.  She gathered useful information and plans to share with the rest of the EC.  Deanne suggested organizing EC “Brown Bags” for these types of purposes. 

Styrofoam:  Theresa reported the Marshall School will also be collecting styrofoam chunks.  Julius will be contacting staff at WLSSD to see if there is interest in purchasing the shredder.  Cathy suggested the entrepreneur program at LSC use the styrofoam shredder as a test project.

Budget:  The EC budget currently has $989 remaining.  Carol and Deanne will meet and discuss the budget and then email a summary to all EC members.  Wade requested $12,000 for next year’s budget.  This amount allows for the hiring of a student worker and a kiosk in the S building.

Retreat:  Meetings next year will be every-other-week and will alternate between Thursdays at 2pm and Fridays at 9am.  Meetings will be 90 minutes.  Deanne suggested setting up brown bag sessions to discuss special topics.

UMACS  Conference:  Wade, Cliff, and Dick plan to attend the UMACS Conference May 31 – June 3.

Environmental Council Website:  Deanne will be meeting with LSC student, Carly.  She will be demonstrating the new Environmental Council website she is working on as part of a class.

Deb Rowe/Duty Day:  Deb Rowe will be speaking at the August LSC Duty Day, answering the question “What can I do in my position here at LSC?”  Deb Rowe would also like to meet with Kathy, Wade, and the rest of the Environmental Council in the evening.  If the EC does not receive funding to host Deb Rowe, Human Resources will cover the costs.  There are also plans to host Kate Worley of Wastewise, Rick Carter and Connie Jamieson.

New Business

New Member:  The Environmental Council welcomed new member, Erin Gregor, LSC student.

Presidential Cabinet PowerPoint:  Wade will be assembling and presenting a PowerPoint presentation on LSC’s environmental/sustainability efforts to the President’s cabinet.

Memberships:  Wade announced LSC is now officially a member of AASHE.  Carol suggested assembling a list of associations and memberships LSC has.   Cathy suggested having EC members appointed to check updates for these associations and then submit summaries to be added to the blog.

Trayless Cafeteria:  The council discussed the possibility of a trayless cafeteria.  Cathy reported the majority of schools that have implemented a trayless system have returned to a tray system within a few months.  Cathy reported next year she will eliminate all paper/styro cups and use only real cups. 

Motions

No motions were made at this meeting.

Next Meeting

The next Environmental Council meeting will take place at 10:00am on Friday, May 8, 2009 in Gary’s office.