Green Efforts at GCC - February 22, 2008 1:00 PM Meeting -  Minutes
 
Present: Alan Autrand, Ariel Clifton, Lee Ann Cone, David Gerkin, Mary Harris, Dolly Marden, Angela Mick, Robert Reavis, Joe Wells, Alexa Yantas & Lionel Yellowhair 

1.      Events:
-         Fri 2/29: STEM and Environmental Club - Revolution Green:  The True Story of Biodiesel in MA-142 at 2pm
 STEM club invited the Environmental Club to contribute to the cost of the film. Unfortunately, the club cannot be considered official until March and cannot receive club funds until that time. Students offered to put up posters and provide similar help. They will contact Kim Smith to coordinate.
 -         Mar 7:  STEM Club Dr. Gary Calderone starting at 2:30 pm talking about his work in Antarctica
 No comments.
 -         April 5th:  Pushpa's event
 It was unclear the exact nature of this event. Lee Ann will check her notes from the district meeting (January) and report back.
  The "1% Solution" event scheduled for March 22 and sponsored by the Zane Grey Chapter of Trout Unlimited was discussed again. Although clarification was requested on some details, everyone present was in general support of adding it to a future 'Green Tip' announcement. The main concern focused on 'Underfished' in the title. Does it imply some streams should be fished more? Or to compare to overfished streams. A clarification on the flyer might be useful.
 Robert will ask Phil Fernandez for clarification and ask Kim for further feedback.
  2.      Old Business:
 a.      [GoalQuest]/[MySpace]
 
            Alan has set up a '[MySpace]' account for club information (link sent by e-mail last week). He can add more to the site. Please send him details. 
Ariel developed space on GCC Unplugged, the [GoalQuest] site for first year students. She ia also working on getting Liron set up with an account so that he can promote the club, etc.  David is looking into the possibility of promoting the club through Your Life at GCC, another part of [GoalQuest] but for prospective students.

b.      Carpool Ideas for Web

Neither Christine nor Mary Jane were present for an update.  
Dolly suggested a 'Bus Buddy' program for those who might drive to a park & ride location then bus to GCC. Some new bus riders might feel more comfortable riding the bus with a companion. Dolly suggested a website, broken into quadrants and further subsections to find carpoolers, bus buddies, etc. in addition to the ideas discussed last week. She is already involved with the campus Trip Reduction program and is willing to handle a database for the program. More to come. 

c.       Recycling
 
Lee Ann provided a breakdown of costs for GCC to institutionalize recycling (based on conversations with Chuck Jeffery): 
$35,000 - Contaniner(s) & Compactor

$9,000 - half-time worker

$25,000 - annual recycling costs 
Total = $69,000 
To apply for a grant from AZ Dept. of Environmental Quality requires initial costs paid by campus with likely 50% reimbursement. The other 50% would have to be paid by campus, but may include 'in kind' contributions that include: existing salaries paid to employees that would work on recycling, work study students or volunteer work of students (service learning), signage, etc. 
It was noted the $25,000 annual costs are operational funds. Based on earlier reports that the program would pay for itself, we assumed that these annual costs may likely be lower than existing costs for garbage, and thus these funds might be fully available in the existing campus budget. 
Joe Wells and Lionel Yellowhair will develop a spreadsheet to track recyclables, their current costs as waste, possible reductions in cost or actual value as recyclables, existing paper recycling efforts, etc. This database is intended to document  the economics of recycling, find existing funds used for waste that could be re-directed to recycling or as in-kind contributions for a grant, etc.  
Mary will include a note in her next Green Tip asking each department to report on their paper recycling, e.g. boxes of paper recycled per week. This information can be added to the database above. 
After more discussion we decided to invite Marie Chandler to our next meeting. She has been working with Al Gonzales on the recycling program and can provide critical information on the program.

   d.      Presidents Climate Commitment
 
Robert sent out the Climate Commitment papers by e-mail and quickly went over the main points. The first 'commitment' is to "Initiate the development of a comprehensive plan to achieve climate neutrality as soon as possible." 
This point is the most difficult to address. However, if we propose a '2% Solution' we should be able to reach the goal by 2050 (2058?).  
Many of the other commitments have been met or are in the process of being met.  
We decided to begin writing specifics of what we have already accomplished and existing plans to accomplish many other parts to the commitment (Lee Ann & Robert). Goal: present to President Green in time for discussion and hopeful signing by Earth Day. 

e.      Short list of action items to present to President Green
 
Two items were suggested and generally supported:

a.       Adjust temperatures to lower energy use, with request to not wear ties during summer weather (or similar request for appropriate clothing)

b.      Request all campus members: faculty, staff, students, IKON, administration - to double-side all printing

This list will be presented to President Green as suggestions along with the Climate Commitment.

 f.        Earth Day - Arbor Events
 
Lee Ann will invite DPR to speak. There was interest in a Dumpster Dive.

  We adjourned at 2:30 PM. Next Meeting Friday, Feb. 27 1 PM. Focus on Recycling wth Marie Chandler.
 3.      New Business:

4.      Announcements