Members present: Lynn Eldershaw, Sushil Oswal, Rich Zuras, Alice Sheppard, Jason Johnston, Dave Putnam, Chris Smith, and Allen Salo (chair). The meeting was held in the Library Conference Room at 12:30.
Agenda:
Review of Minutes
Committee Composition update
Past Activities Update
Alice – update on ideas submitted by the campus, update on web pages/blog
Lynn – update on column communication (role as “publicist” for committee?)
Jason – on campus recycling update
Allen – Mission Statement
Other – Dave Putnam – Green Roof Idea
Discussion began with review of the last meeting minutes. Chris corrected them in that he too had been present. No other corrections were noted.
Allen notified the committee that Andrea had recently notified the president that she resigned from committee given her phased retirement and that the original mission of the pesticide committee had effectively been completed. Allen notified the committee he would be in contact with Don in search of a replacement person. Also, he noted that we needed to soon solicit names from two students to join the committee. Brief discussion occurred about process and any criteria we might inform students of who we were looking for. Rich suggested at least a two year commitment by any student should occur. Allen notified the committee he would go about getting a notice out soon for student candidates and we could evaluate them.
Alice provided a working web page she had created that would serve well at least as an initial web page. There was discussion as to how to go about putting them up. Allen suggested that until unique web space is allocated for them, Alice could link them to her own web pages. Most members felt that we should act quickly to provide informational links. Additionally, they could serve as an efficient means or place for people to submit ideas directly. With the use Remark Web Survey, we could also query people’s responses as well.
Members made other suggestions and questions regarding the design of the web pages including whether we should have a common logo for the committee. One idea was to sponsor a logo contest which might rally student and other support and interest. Several members seemed in favor of the logo idea.
There was some question about the various links we could have on the web pages. One question was whether we should have links to commercial sites. Another idea proposed included whether there would be both local links as well as links to distant sources of information.
Alice also provided a link to a grassroots environmental organization that provided information on creating and/or maintaining natural turf http://www.grassrootsinfo.org/purchase.html . The cost for the instructional DVD seemed reasonable at $100. There was a consensus that we request the DVD for any interested persons to see. One or more work study students could also benefit from it. Allen would follow up with this proposed purchase.
Allen provided a brief update regarding the earlier planned training by Mark McCrossin. In the near term, Mark would not be able to go, but he did express interest in the shorter NOFA course typically offered in the summer. The committee and he could visit this decision later in the year if it still seemed necessary.
Lynn indicated she was still following up with creating some form of regular column for the paper. Allen wondered if she were interested in serving the committee as a form of publicist. She could let the committee know if this seemed feasible.
Jason provided a brief update on his task to learn more about the status of on-campus recycling efforts from Dave St. Peter. He had not been successful in speaking with him at this time.
Allen provided a rough outline of the mission statement we might use but felt others should contribute to drafting it. Much of this could be done via email exchange.
Other - Dave Putnam spoke about an idea he had to initiate a project to create the roof of South Hall into a “Green” roof. He noted that the project seemed like one that could be fairly easily created and be a good demonstration of some of our green ideas. He stressed it could be done at low cost yet also be both visible and practical. He noted that South Hall was a good candidate building since it had a flat roof that became very hot in the summer and made temperatures in the building uncomfortable. Basically he suggested we could create planters covering much of the roof to absorb much of the sunlight that typically simply passed into the building. He spoke of creating planters containing certain plants, even possibly strawberries, which would reduce and utilize the otherwise lost light energy. He suggested creating some type of railing system to make access to the roof safe and suggested some type of drip irrigation system to provided necessary moisture as needed. Members suggested working out plans more with estimated prices and descriptions of what was needed or what others had created. Discussion included whether some local companies might donate or provide at reduced prices some of the necessary items.
Allen determined that the committee can next meet on Feb. 28 at 12:30 in the South Hall 311 Conference Room. This meeting is scheduled during the week following the February Break week.
The meeting was adjourned at 1:30 pm.
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