Internationally-known anti-nuclear activist and author Dr. Helen Caldicott will appear at Ithaca College on October 11th at 7:00pm in

the Hockett Family Recital Hall in the James J. Whalen Center for Music.

This event is free and open to the public.

The new Athletics and Events Center has been open for College activities since mid-August, but it will be formally opened during our Fall Splash weekend on October 14-15. During that grand opening, the building’s “green” features will be showcased, as will Ithaca College’s com-mitments to sustainable practices. The A&E Center project is registered to achieve LEED Sil-ver, a prodigious feat for a building of this type, especially with the inclusion of the competitive swimming and diving complex. The tall spire—the facility’s signature design element—is an important feature of the building’s heating, ventilating and air conditioning system, creating natural airflows to vent stale air and draw in fresh air. Among the other project features are highly-efficient lighting and extensive natural landscaping around the perimeter.

I T H A C A C O L L E G E

The quarterly newsletter of our

S ustainability Initiative

FALL 2011 Volume 6 ● Number 1

Check It Out Inside

Curriculum and Research Page 2

Takin’ It to the Streets!

Call for FLEFF 2012 Mini-courses

Meet some of the people in our [sustainability] neighborhood...

Campus Operations Page 3

More Sustainable Decisions

Walk This Way…

Mopping Up the Competition

Snap! (ICNL Fall Photo Contest)

News Briefs

Community Outreach Page 4

Take the Green Office Challenge

Sustainability Café Series

Aviva Chomsky on campus

Alumni Profile: Will Mathewson ‘10

Col lect ive Impact s Inspiring Change for our whole community

“Green” Athletics and Events Center Opens

The Climate Action Plan Steering Committee will be reporting to the Board of Trustees on its second year of implementation of our 40-year plan to achieve 100% climate neutrality by 2050. We lost bit of momentum this year in our greenhouse gas emissions, but we were ahead of the game last year, so we can get back on track. Among the activities that will be under-taken this year is the completion of building sub-metering and the “retro-commissioning” study of campus building mechanical systems. The REMP behavior change team seeks ways to engage our campus community in energy-conserving actions, like the Green Office Challenge (see page 4). The Education team looks for experiential learning opportunities related to Climate Action Plan implementation, like the CARTs class (see page 2). The Transportation team works to get more of our cam-pus commuters out of their single-occupant personal vehicles.

Climate Action Plan—Year 2 Implementation Report

Ithaca College earns GOLD [in] STARS... This summer, we compiled all the institutional data necessary to complete our first submission to the Association for the Advancement of Sustainabil-ity in Higher Education’s STARS (Sustainability, Tracking, Assessment and Rating System) program. This new evaluation tool - which college and uni-versity sustainability coordinators and other institutional representatives developed - measures and tracks progress in a comprehensive range of cur-ricular, co-curricular, governance, community outreach, and campus opera-tional areas deemed most indicative of institutional sustainability. Ithaca

College earned a GOLD rating in the STARS assessment, one of only 24 out of 128 participat-ing institutions to achieve that level. We scored exceptionally well in co-curricular education, faculty research, coordination and planning, and diversity and affordability. We also achieved innovation credits for our comprehensive dining energy project, the “Train to Sustain” program that the soccer teams have undertaken, and our collaborative efforts with the community that led to the start of both Ithaca Carshare and Zimride Tompkins. To view our complete STARS as-sessment, visit: https://stars.aashe.org/institutions/ithaca-college-ny/report/2011-08-02/

In September, Energy Manager Michelle Jones was invited to discuss post-occupancy issues in our four LEED projects for the Higher Education Sustainability Forum. Michelle’s presentation cov-ered benefits and challenges, operations and maintenance aspects, as well as new training skills for managing LEED buildings. She also outlined green opportunities beyond LEED standards that have enhanced Ithaca College’s commitment to sustainability. ~ Kyle Allen

Susan Allen-Gil, professor and chair of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Susan Swensen, professor and chair of Biology, and Marian Brown, special assistant to the provost for sustain-ability, were invited to present on “Commit to Change: Sustainability Education at Ithaca College” for the International Forum on Education for Sustainability Development in Beijing, China from October 14-16. The team’s presentation on Ithaca College’s approach to sustainability education was also accepted for the 9th International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic and Social Sustain-ability from January 10-12 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Marian Brown presented “SOVs are SO Over—Collaborations for Transportation” at the conference of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. Brown also pre-sented a poster for the Spring 2011 Climate Action Research Teams (CARTs) project. Sofia John-son ‘11, dining sustainability intern, presented on “Implementation of Student-Driven Sustainability Initiatives” in ICs dining program, and Lauren Goldberg ’13 presented on her campus bike shelter concept, her project in Environmental Science and Technology. Brown also co-presented - along with David Lieb from Cornell Transportation - on Ithaca’s transportation-related community collabo-rations for the Upstate Transportation Forum in downtown Ithaca in September.

In June, Nancy Menning, assistant professor in Philosophy and Religion, presented a paper on climate change narratives at the 9th biennial Association for the Study of Litera-ture and Environment conference. Her paper, “The Religious Imagination in Irreligious Context: Narrating Climate Change as a Rite of Passage,” suggests that religious imagina-tion can stimulate responses to secular and scientific challenges. In contrast to com-mon narratives of despair or denial, Menning argues that viewing climate change as a rite of passage can focus transitions to new ecologies and economies. Menning serves as Faculty Fellow for the Sustainably Conscious Learning Community this year. ~ Kyle Allen

Collective Impacts For more information about the

Sustainability Initiative at Ithaca College

contact:

Marian Brown Special Assistant to the Provost for Sustainability Office of the Provost

Mail: 953 Danby Rd Ithaca NY 14850

Office: Room 125 Administrative Annex

Phone: 607-274-3787 FAX: 607-274-3064

email: mbrown@ithaca.edu

2 C o l l e c t i v e I m p a c t s

Get “Spotted”! Reuse your beverage mug or bag, compost and/or recycle properly, and go “trayless” and you may be handed a “Spotted” card to reward you for your support with a free beverage refill.

Meet some of the people in our [sustainability] neighborhood

Takin’ it to the Streets...

Kyle Allen ’13 is a junior writing major from Massachusetts. This fall semester, he is undertaking a Sustainability Publications writing internship under Dr. Barbara Adams’ supervision. Although he usually writes poetry and fiction, Kyle is also interested in en-vironmental writing. Kyle looks forward to helping tell our campus sustainability “story” this semester – including newsletter items, as well as Green Thumbs Up citations and sus-tainability case studies for our website. ~Kyle Allen

Jessica Santos ’13, has joined us as sustainability program assistant this year. Jessica worked at Princeton University over the summer, helping their sustainability coordinator complete that institution’s STARS assessment (see related story page 1). Jessica will be work-ing to adapt our STARS assessment into an annual sustainability report as well as assist-ing Kyle Allen with researching and writing campus sustainability case studies.

Scott Nachlis, Student Body President, has advised us that the two senators named to the Student Government Association Sustainability subcommittee are: Jamie Hom ‘13(jhom1@ithaca.edu) and Sam Meehan ’14 (smeehan2@ithaca.edu) (shown in photo right). These two senators will advise SGA on sustainability-related matters affecting students.

Sustainability WIKI Past IC student sustainability research projects are posted at:

http://sites.google.com/a/ithaca.edu/sustainability-projects-at-ic/

Add YOUR research to this site so we don’t duplicate past work.

Dr. Sandra Steingraber, distinguished professor of Environmental Stud-ies and Sciences, was awarded a $100,000 award from the Heinz Foundation. Dr. Stein-graber has pledged to use her financial award to fight natural gas “hydrofracking” in this region.

Interested in making a difference on campus? Register for the

Climate Action Research Team IISP 35000 for Spring 2011.

Call for FLEFF 2012 Mini-Courses The Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival invites faculty to submit proposals to teach a one-credit hour block II mini-course in the spring semester. This year’s

Festival - from March 26—April 1—has the programming stream of “microtopias.” Mini-courses use FLEFF films to engage students in broad sustainability topics. Contact Warren Schlesinger, FLEFF mini-course coordinator, warren@ithaca.edu or x43951. ~ Kyle Allen

Professor Susan Allen-Gil's Spring 2011 Environmental Toxicology class traveled to the Gulf Coast to study impacts resulting from the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil drilling rig and subsequent oil spill. Access the informational magazine they cre-ated and have just published on the Environmental Studies and Sciences website at http://www.ithaca.edu/hs/depts/envstudies/

In September, Randy Olson, filmmaker and author of “Don’t Be Such a Scientist”, met informally with students from John Scott’s Nonfiction

Production class and Paula Turkon’s Sustainability Principles and Practices course.

Check out the

Commit-to-Change 2011 annual report:: http://www.ithaca.edu/ committochange/

Snap!

News Briefs

Watch for “Green Thumbs-Up” citations in the Kudos section of Intercom. Make sure we know about YOUR new innovations or activities that support campus

sustainability. You could earn a “Green Thumbs-Up”! Read archived versions of each citation on our webpage under Community Outreach.

Check out FUSE for articles on campus sustainability from student points of view: http://fuse.ithaca.edu/tags/sustainability/

ICView also tags sustainability stories: www.ithaca.edu/icview/tags/sustainability/

View campus building energy use : www.ithaca.edu/metering

IC maintains an institutional membership in the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. All members of our community can access to AASHEs helpful resources for curriculum, operations and student organizations. To register, go to www.aashe.org

Watch for Installments, sustainability in-formation flyers posted on the inside of bathroom stall doors, in academic and administrative buildings and res halls.

Stephanie Piech, sustainability coordina-tor for Ithaca College Dining Services, and Marian Brown, special assistant to the provost for sustainability, were each in-vited to be panelists for local Green Jobs workshops, hosted by Workforce NY.

Nick Righi ‘11’s video, “Invading the Ever-glades” , is in the running for the College Broadcasters, Inc.'s National Student Pro-duction prize. View Nick’s film at http://www.nickrighi.com

Will Mathewson ‘10, a campus organizer for Green Corps, will be on campus on October 13 and 14th to meet with inter-ested seniors. Apply for a pre-scheduled interview via eRecruiting at the Career Services website. (See Alumni Profile, pg. 4)

The new sidewalk connecting Hudson Street to the back entrance of the College is now open. This new walkway provides a safer means of mov-ing between campus and South Hill residential areas and downtown along Hudson Street. This walkway was planned as part of the Athletics and Events Center project, to assist with pedestrian access to and from sporting and entertainment events.

Did you notice the new pedestrian/cycling alert signs near the College entrance? These signs were installed just before the start of the semester by the NYS Department of Transportation at the request of the South Hill Pedestrian and Bicycling Safety committee, which Ithaca College con-vened. Members of the South Hill Civic Association, Challenge, Long-view, and transportation planners from the city and town of Ithaca, Tompkins County, and New York State participated in these discussions.

When asked about the snowy white paper nap-kins replacing the unbleached brown variety, IC Dining Services operations manager Paul Warrender assured us that we need not worry about chlorine bleaching of these products. These Cascades North River white napkins are

third-party-certified by Greenseal, EcoLogo, and is the only tissue certified as Processed Chlorine Free in North America. These nap-kins are made of 100% recycled material. And Cascades North River is the only paper company to 100% offset its manufactur-ing electricity with Green-e® certified wind energy. http://sustain.cascades.com/product.php ~Kyle Allen

Volume 5, Number 4

IC Organic Growers marked the end of their harvest season with a produce sale on September 30th in the Campus Center,

open to the entire campus community.

Rick Watson, manager of the College Bookstore, reports that textbook rentals have really soared this fall. Last year, when the book rental program debuted, the Bookstore did $20,800 in rentals. This Fall, rentals increased 85%, with over $38,000 earned from textbook rentals just this semester. Rick also told us about the new Bobble™ water bottle with a built-in water filter that purifies the water as it leaves the bottle. The replace-able filters—which the Bookstore also sells –come in a variety of colors.

Denise Duvé from Mac’s store told us about the new preserve™ line of kitchen and bath products made from recycled yogurt cups. These fun dinnerware items come in red, green and blue; preserve™ also makes cutting boards, colanders and measuring cups. preserve™ ’s toothbrush comes in a self-addressed postage paid envelope so the customer can send the toothbrush back when they are done with

it and preserve™ will recycle the plastic again. The handles of the razor and toothbrush are from 100% recycled plas-tic. preserve™ - a proud “Made in the USA” company - is based in Waltham, MA, but even better, their products are manufac-tured at the J.M. Murray Center, a shel-tered workshop in nearby Cortland.

At the Benefits and Work/Life Fair on Nov. 2nd from 10am—3pm in Emerson Suites, look for information on alternative trans-

portation options available to IC employ-ees, including support for TCAT, RideTioga and Chemung transit passes, as well as Ithaca Carshare benefits and Zim-ride Ithaca ridesharing.

Center for Print Production and Ware-house Operations director Wayne French shared with us Hewlett Packard’s envi-ronmental leadership information. HP was ranked #2 in Newsweek’s “Green Ranking” in 2010 for its environmental performance and policies. HP was among the first companies to be certified ISO14001, a voluntary international stan-dard for environmental management sys-tems. HP recycles water bottles to make ink cartridges and it takes back and recy-cles its electronics and cartridges.

Walk this way…

3

Ithaca College Natural Lands is holding its 2nd annual Fall photo contest from September 25th until October 31st All photos must be taken in the South Hill Natural Area, the wooded area behind Towers and Terraces, NOT on main campus. Photos should also feature fall colors or exemplify the fall season in some way. Submit via email to ICNatLand@gmail.com by 5:00pm on Monday, October 31st. The winner will be chosen on November 1st and will receive a $50 gift card to the Bookstore. For more info on this photo contest, visit: www.ithaca.edu/naturallands/photocontest. We look forward to viewing all the submissions! ~Kyle Allen

Change is inevitable. Growth is optional. Positive growth is intentional.

More Sustainable Decisions

Mopping Up the Competition

TCAT and our ID office encode bus pass permissions right onto your ID card. Student unlimited ride semester passes: $110; monthly passes: $30; 15-ride

passes: $15. TCAT passes are sold on-line at: www.tcatbus.com

Check out EcoDump for a unique take on campus and community sustainability ef-forts: http://theithacan.org/blogs/ecodump/

4 C o l l e c t i v e I m p a c t s

Historian and labor activist Aviva Chomsky visited IC in September, speaking on “Labor and Economic Development: Historical Perspectives from New England to Colombia.” Chomsky’s work for the United Farm Workers union sparked her interest in the Spanish

language, migrant workers and immigration, labor history, social movements and labor organizing, multinationals and their workers, global economic forces, and how people collec-tively organize for social change. In her book, Linked Labor Histories, Chomsky looks at globalization as a historical proc-ess with labor at its center. Chomsky’s appearance was co-sponsored by the IC History and Politics departments, the Latin American Studies and “Committed to Change” programs along with partners at Cornell and the community. ~Kyle Allen

We’re on the Web!

A pdf version of this newsletter can be downloaded from the Sustainability at Ithaca website at

www.ithaca.edu/sustainability

This newsletter has been produced on recycled paper.

To learn about campus and community events and activities of interest, and to facilitate discussion among members about sustainability topics, join our “sustainability friends” listserve. Simply send an email to: majordomo@lists.ithaca.edu with this text

in the body of the message: subscribe sustainability

Ithaca Carshare offers special IC rates. There is a $15 one-time application fee. Student “It’s My Car” plan: $5 in free driving credit. $4.95/hour; 20¢/mile IC faculty and staff members receive $50 in free driving credit. Visit: www.ithacacarshare.org

Take the Green Office Challenge!

News Brief

On October 20, Ithaca College will partner with Kean University and the New Jersey Higher Education Partnership for Sustainabil-ity to host a “Creating a Sustainable Campus Workshop”, an EPA Pollution Prevention Program. This workshop will focus on green-house gas reporting and offer an overview of green design guide-lines. Dining Services reps will present on our comprehensive din-ing energy project. Register at: http://ku1.eventbrite.com/

Sustainability Café Series The Fall 2011 Sustainability Café series takes place on Mondays at 4:00pm in the Center for Natural Sciences Room 112* in conjunction with the Environmental Seminar. “Teachable edibles” - local, seasonal and/or organic foods—are sponsored by IC Dining Services.

September 19— “Moving Waters: Treating Ithaca’s Drinking Water Supply” - Jared Makrancy ‘09, Bolton Pt Municipal Water System

September 26— “Defining Sustainability: A personal to professional jour-ney” - Kyla Basher ‘07, Weston Solutions Inc.

October 3— “Power Shift: Running for Office for Student Activists” Dominic Frongillo, Town of Caroline Deputy Town Supervisor

October 17— “Saving Alaska’s Wilderness: Creation of the Arctic Na-tional Wildlife Refuge” - Michael Carey ‘67, Anchorage Daily News *this Café—co-sponsored by the History Dep’t—will be in Textor 101

October 24— “Ingenious Solutions: How to Sustain the Sustainable Art-ist” - Linda Weintraub, artist/author

October 31— “Monitoring Water for Impacts from Residential Dev, Ag and Hydrofracking” - Steve Penningroth, Community Science Institute

November 7— “Using Law and Policy to Protect the Global Environ-ment” - Emma Cheuse, Earth Justice

November 14—”Sustainability and Justice in the Next American Me-tropolis”, Carl Anthony/Paloma Pavel, Breakthrough Communities

November 28— “Personal and Public Experience with Environmental Contaminants”, Sandra Steingraber, author/activist

Zimride Ithaca, our free social networking ride-matching web-site, can help you find a ride or passengers for local shopping trips, weekend/break trips home, or for daily commuting. Sign up at: www.zimride.com/ithaca/

All members of the IC community who work in a campus office or department – including full and part-time staff and faculty, as well as student employees – are invited to take the Green Office Challenge. The Challenge online survey cov-ers a range of sustainable workplace practices, including

awareness of college policies and programs, efforts to conserve en-ergy and water, and recycling and waste reduction efforts. Deci-sions related to green products, events and commuter transportation are included. The survey - which may take 20-30 minutes to com-plete - will give you a good idea of how your current choices help make Ithaca College more sustainable and offer suggestions on how to change less sustainable behaviors. All those who complete the survey will be awarded “Green Office Challenger” points. Our team will evaluate your survey responses to determine your total score. You may also apply for extra innovation points. Your final score will earn you one of the following levels: Participating (50%), Bronze (60%), Silver (70%) or Gold (80% or higher). Each participant will receive an award certificate. We hope you display your award certificate, keep doing the right things right and challenge yourself to adopt more sustainable habits. In addition, we hope you will challenge others in your workplace to challenge themselves. If more than 50% of an office participates, the office can register for “Green Office” recognition. The results will be listed in the Kudos section of Intercom. The Green Office Challenge will run between September 1st and October 31st, and will be re-peated in the spring so everyone can strive for a “greener” rating. ~ Kyle Allen

Alumni Profile: Will Mathewson ’10 is an or-ganizer for Green Corps Field School for Envi-ronmental Organizing. Green Corps trainees run environmental campaigns, learning to build a core group of activists and finishing by convincing decision-makers to create reforms and enact laws and policies that protect our

environment. Will was a Park Scholar and graduated with degrees in Journalism and History. While at IC, Will wrote for Buzzsaw magazine, examined tropical ecosystems in Belize, and - as the director of communications in SGA - helped to draft a proposal to implement a campus shuttle system.