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NEWS AND RECENT ACHIEVEMENTS
Letter from President Adams |
To the Colby Community:
The many Earth Week activities held last week are wonderful examples of how the College community, both individually and institutionally, continues to find ways to reduce its impact on the local and global environments.
Earlier this week, Colby recognized by the Environmental Protection Agency as the 2007-2008 NESCAC Green Power Conference Champion for purchasing more green power (115 percent) than any other institution in the conference.
And now, I am pleased to announce the College's plan to finish the 2007-08 academic year with our first-ever Green Graduation, thanks to Alaina Clark '08, who developed the idea as part of a senior project. As part of Senior Week and Commencement activities, the College will be celebrating
(a) our ongoing efforts to lead by example and foster environmental stewardship;
(b) an increase in sustainability efforts in many activities directly related to Senior Week and Commencement;
(c) increased opportunities for education and awareness on environmental issues.
Events scheduled and supported by the Office of Special Programs, Physical Plant, and Dining Services will incorporate current and new green practices including minimizing the use of plastics, reducing electricity use, increasing composting, serving sustainable foods, using 100 percent recycled products, and reducing paper use, among other initiatives. Organizers also hope that receptions and events organized by departments will hew to these principles; assistance will be available from the departments listed at the beginning of this paragraph.
A key feature of Green Graduation is the Green Team, a group of Colby students end employees who will be staffing information tables and assisting visitors with composting and other greening efforts at events. Watch for future announcements from Green Team members for information about how you can volunteer.
Achieving environmental sustainability is among the College's core challenges, and Green Graduation is a great step in the right direction. I appreciate the extraordinary efforts that have been made to date on this endeavor and I encourage campus wide participation. Additional information and details will be available as we move closer to Colby Green Graduation 2008.
Sincerely,
William D. Adams
President |
Green Power |
| Colby Wins NESCAC Green Power Championship
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The 18 individual conference champions for the 2007-2008 challenge are listed below, with the Ivy League taking top conference honors:
Conference Champion State Conference Affiliation Champion's Conference's
Purchase Total Purchase
* Univ. of Pennsylvania Pa. Ivy League 192,727,000 221,583,000
* New York University N.Y. University Athletic Assoc. 132,000,000 147,000,000
* Pennsylvania State Univ. Pa. Big Ten Conference 83,600,000 133,600,000
* Oregon State University Ore. Pacific-10 Conference 66,680,400 84,024,400
* Colby College Maine New England Small Coll. Athl. 17,428,000 61,890,000
* Univ. of Calif., Santa Cruz Calif. Assoc. of Division III Indep. 57,000,000 59,400,000
* Western Washington Univ. Wash. Great Northwest Athletic Conf. 40,000,000 42,841,400
* University of Utah Utah Mountain West Conf. 36,666,000 40,103,466
* Southern Oregon Univ. Ore. Cascade Collegiate Conf. 17,622,000 33,828,000
* University. of Central Okla. Okla. Lone Star Conference 26,000,000 26,000,000
* Syracuse University N.Y. Big East Conference 22,000,000 22,000,000
* Southern N.H. Univ. N.H. Northeast-10 Conference 12,000,000 16,000,000
* St. Mary's College of Md. Md. Capital Athletic Conference 15,000,000 15,000,000
* University at Buffalo N.Y. Mid-American Conference 13,300,000 13,300,000
* Oberlin College Ohio North Coast Athletic Conf. 10,856,240 12,806,240
* Duquesne University Pa. Atlantic 10 Conference 12,500,000 12,500,000
* Lewis & Clark College Ore. Northwest Conference 4,432,000 10,518,400
* Rowan University N.J. New Jersey Athletic Conf. 10,433,673 10,433,673. Visit the EPA site for more information.
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LEED certification |
Diamond is LEED certified
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Colby's Diamond Building received LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. Many factors make the building "green". A few of the items include the use of local material, the amount of recycled content (including wallboard and carpeting), construction waste being diverted from landfills, and occupancy sensors in clasrooms to avoid electricity waste. |
Recycling initiative |
Green Paper, Bluer Skies
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Two years ago Communications started shifting all materials printed through its office to 100-percent post-consumer recycled papers manufactured using alternative fuels. In 2007 our publications used 215,877 pounds of this paper. What's the impact, you ask? That saved 40 barrels of crude -- the equivalent of taking eight cars off the road for a year. Other ways to measure the savings: 746,425 lbs. of wood (2,586 trees) spared; 944,483 gallons of water (54,912 eight-minute showers) saved; 1.8 billion BTUs (enough to power an average American household for 20 years) saved; 415,133 lbs. of greenhouse gas emissions averted; 121,284 lbs. of solid waste (4,182 32-gallon garbage bags) removed from the waste stream. Questions about green paper? Ask Brian Speer (communications), bdspeer@colby.edu. |
National Wildlife Federation Award |
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The National Wildlife Federation has awarded Colby a special recognition for campus ecology in 2006. Among the reasons for this distinction was the award of silver LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council for the Schair-Swenson-Watson Alumni Center. Other factors listed were the commitment of Colby's dining services to buy locally produced foods and the College's waste reduction through the RESCUE program.
To read more about the green features of the building, check out this link. |
Campus Ecology Yearbook |
| Colby has made the Campus Ecology Yearbook of the National Wildlife Federation. The college is lauded for the Green Dining initiatives, particularly our efforts to buy locally for the dining hall fare. You can take a look at Colby's presence in the yearbook by clicking here. See more information on the Green Dining Initiatives below. |
Green Dining Initiatives |
| Environmental Studies students, faculty, and staff have partnered with Colby’s Dining Services to enhance and expand sustainability efforts in Colby dining halls. The focus on Dining Services is part of a campus wide effort to integrate sustainability practices into the Colby culture. By making thoughtful green purchasing choices on produce, fish, and other goods that are served, Colby can obtain fresher and often healthier foods and have a positive impact on the regional economy especially local farmers and the fisheries industry by helping to create and expand a market for their products. For more information, visit the Green Dining Page |
The Colby Sustainable Seafood List |
“The Fish List” is a nationally recognized guideline for making eco-friendly sustainable seafood purchasing choices promoted by Blue Ocean Institute, Environmental Defense, and Monterey Bay Aquarium. In response to concerns about over fishing and destructive fishing practices, Colby has established a purchasing policy for the dining hall board plan that adheres to and goes beyond “The Fish List” recommendations. Colby desires to provide students with only healthy and sustainable seafood. Check out the chart below! Colby has become a national leader on this issue and adopting this policy demonstrates our commitment to protecting the environment through sustainable seafood choices. The asterisks indicate “The Fish List” recommendations. |
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Colby Sustainable Fish List
| Enjoy |
Avoid |
Arctic Char (farmed) |
Atlantic Cod* |
Bay Scallops* |
Atlantic Haddock |
Catfish (farmed)* |
Atlantic Halibut* |
Clams (farmed)* |
Atlantic Sole and Flounder |
Crayfish |
Black Sea Bass |
Dungeness Crab* |
Bluefin Tuna* |
Mahimahi (Pole and Troll Caught) |
Caviar (wild)* |
Mussels (farmed)* |
Chilean Sea Bass/Toothfish* |
Oysters (farmed)* |
Grouper* |
Pacific Halibut* |
Monkfish/Goosefish* |
Sablefish/Black Cod (Alaska)*
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Orange Roughy* |
Salmon (wild from Alaska)* |
Red Fish |
Sardines* |
Rock Cod/Pacific Rockfish* |
Sea Clams |
Salmon (farmed or wild Atlantic) |
Snow Crab (Canada)* |
Sea Scallops |
Stone Crab* |
Shark* |
Striped bass/Atlantic rockfish* |
Shrimp (imported, farmed, and wild)* |
Sturgeon (farmed)* |
Snapper* |
Tilapia (US farmed)* |
Sturgeon (wild)* |
Yellowfin Tuna (Dolphin safe) |
Swordfish |
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| Dining Service Survey: A survey about the sustainability practices of Colby's Dining Service was conducted in the dining halls in December. It highlighted some of the "greening" initiatives that the dining services have implemented. The survey questions and answers are shown below. The results of the survey are shown below the survey. |
How much do you know about the sustainability practices of Colby’s dining service?
1. “The Fish List” is a national recognized guideline for making eco-friendly sustainable seafood purchasing choices. Which school(s) in Maine adhere to this list in their dining halls
A) Bates B) Colby C) College of the Atlantic D) Bowdoin
2. “Trayless Thursdays” observed in Dana last year was an effort to get us to take only the amount of food we could eat and reduce food waste. It did. What was the average weight of waste per day saved in Dana during this experiment?
A) 50 lbs B) 180 lbs C) 260 lbs D) 500 lbs
3. Match the colleges with the % of their food budgets that goes to local growers/vendors: - answers were:
A) Colby – 20% B) Bates – 8% C) Bowdoin 5% D) Oberlin 5%
4. How much waste did Colby compost last year?
A) 100 lbs B) 900 lbs C) 23 tons D) 67 tons
5. By removing the paper cups from the dining halls will save 154,000 cups/year from going into the waste stream. To continue reducing waste we need to keep the reusable mugs and glasses in the dining halls. How many glasses are missing from the dining halls so far this year?
A) 50 B) 150 C) 700 D) 1100 |
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Survey Results |
Of the 423 respondents to our survey...
1) 61%!! Thought that College of the Atlantic was leading the way for the fish list. Only 19% were correct in selecting Colby as the national leader on this issue!
2) Colby students were on track for this "most correctly answered question". 42% knew that 260 lbs of waste was saved per day in Dana during this experiment.
3) Thinking that the midwest had an advantage, 53% of respondents thought that Oberlin spent the most on local foods. Only 17% were correct that it's Colby that spends 20% of its food budget on local products.
4) 33% of respondents knew that 67 tons of waste was composted last year (that is up from 55 tons the previous year).
5) Only 12% of students could fathom that 1,100 glasses have gone missing this year. The good news is that an end of semester collection has brought many of these items back to the dining halls.
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Environmental Attitudes Student Survey – Spring 2004 |
Campus 'greening' is a fast growing aspect of college student concerns across the country. At Colby, greening the campus and educating students about environmental issues is quickly becoming a priority. A survey of student environmental attitudes was designed to understand and inform Colby students about their everyday actions and guide new research projects as well as new campus-wide, environmental initiatives. The online survey was available for students to take for about two months and completed by 533 students. The results and analysis of this survey will help to guide future environmental actions at Colby. Below are some highlights:
- 86% of students feel that it is important to achieve environmental literacy on campus.
- 76% of students feel they are moderately or very aware of general environmental issues on campus;
- 77% of students feel that it is easy for students to engage in environmental practices at Colby, however 66% do not believe that environmental practices are well observed at Colby;
- 64% of students feel that their environmental awareness has increased since enrolling at Colby.
- 91% of students frequently or always see food being wasted in the dining halls;
- 68% of the students believe it is important that Colby's dining services purchase meat and dairy products free of growth hormones;
- 70% of students believe that it is important for Colby's dining services to purchase food locally;
- 82% of students believe that it is important for Colby's dining services to serve fish and shellfish that are caught in sustainable ways;
- 38% of students believe that wasting electricity is the worst environmental practice observed at Colby;
- 75% of students say they recycle, but only 46% feel that Colby's recycling program is effective; and
- 74% of students believe it is important for Colby to convert its existing gasoline or diesel powered vehicle fleet to more energy efficient electric, hybrid, or biodiesel using vehicles.
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