Lafayette College
After the citizens of Easton founded Lafayette College in 1826, classes began in an old rented farmhouse in 1832. Lafayette was among the first college to teach civil engineering and to also establish a chair for the study of the English language and literature. The college first opened with 43 students, but has since matured into a wonderful undergraduate institution with roughly 2,500 students.
Lafayette College offers students the ability to graduate with a B.S from the Geology and Environmental Geosciences department. Courses in this department focus on evaluating surficial processes, the Earth's interior, and environmental problems. Experience in the field and laboratories provide students with the necessary knowledge to pursue a variety of different careers, including becoming a professional geologist, environmental scientist, environmnetal lawyer, or environmental manager.
Campus Initiatives:
*Announcement* George Xiques has been appointed Lafayette's Manager of Sustainability and Environmental Planning! He has been with Lafayette's Plant Operations for years and has been a very active member/leader of the Green Committee. Congratulations!
*Announcement* President Dan Weiss signed the Presidents Climate Commitment, pledging that Lafayette will become carbon neutral!
Lafayette's 'Tech Clinic' is also doing a campus sustainability project; a project now in its second (and final) semester that students are taking as class credit. The focus now is doing an inventory of the current greenhouse gas emissions to get an idea of how the campus can reduce emissions in the future. At the end of the spring semester, the group issued a 'Mid-Project Report'. The file is too big to put on this site, but a copy is provided to campus sustainability interns as part of the basic resource tool kit provided by the Alliance. For more information, contact Professor Dan Bauer.
Projects
GHG emissions inventory
Many committees devoted to reducing our impact on the environment (water saving, transportation reduction, etc.)
LEAP (Lafayette Environmental Awareness and Protection) is now being organized by committees: recycling, composting, energy efficiency, and
solar. Students interested are welcome to come to meetings and help out in any way possible. Meeting times are posted on the web site.
Projects
Recycling: Making sure signage is accurate, ensuring there are is paper and plastic/glass recycling in every building, book drive through
Better World Books/Books for Africa
Composting: Designing compost bins to be put on campus, figuring out logistics of how to run composting in conjunction with dining
services
Energy Efficiency: Distributing CFLs to everyone on campus, hosting campus wide events to shows students how to be more energy
efficient
Solar: Getting solar thermal installed on the gym roof (getting the contract signed so installation can hopefully begin second semester)
SEES is a student oriented green-engineering group that focuses on solving current environmental problems with engineering approaches. Students and faculty from many departments work together and discuss issues relating to green engineering and sustainability. Working with students from LEAP to do composting.
The Green Committee is a group of students (from LEAP, SEES, and anyone who cares to attend), faculty, and administrators that meet monthly to
share information about what is being done around campus and what needs to be done to make Lafayette more environmentally conscious. The committee has an annual budget of $15,000 that can roll over from year to year. These meetings focus on energy consumption, recycling, and spreading the word.
Members Include:
Mitchell Wein- VP Business Affairs/Treasurer- Chair of the Green Committee
George Xiques- Manager of Sustainability and Environmental Planning
Many faculty members and students
Past Events:
- Campus Sustainability Day (October 24, 2007) had a large turnout. The webcast included Bill McKibben who spoke about the need for a huge movement toward sustainable living by shifting the idea of growth away from the economy, yet making sustainable living feasible for today's societal structure. Our evening presentation from different groups allowed professors, students, and community members to see what Lafayette is doing to be sustainable and also allowed for questions to be answered. An article will be written for "The Lafayette", our campus newspaper.
EVENTS:
**Focus the Nation**
January 30- Kirby Hall of civil rights, room 103
7pm State Rep Robert Freeman will speak to Lafayette students about current and future local/state policies
8pm Webcast "2% Solution" followed by a few words from President Dan Weiss about the Presidents Climate Commitment
January 31- Oeschle 224
12:15 Brownbag interdisciplinary discussion with 3 Lafayette professors, one from geology, economics, and gov/law
7pm A PennFuture representative will speak about global climate change and Lafayette's George Xiques will speak about Lafayette's environmental goals
April 21-25: Earth Week
- Greg Pahl, author of "The Citizen Powered Energy Handbook", will be speaking one evening
- Hopefully one or two other speakers for other nights of the week
- Fun activities will be planned for the campus and community
Current Projects: Things we already do to make this campus sustainable
DINING SERVICES
Students get a discount on coffee and tea if they bring their own mug
Sodexho uses 99% green cleaning products in dining facilities
Disposable cups are made from corn starch, so they decompose more easily
Some produce and meats are purchased locally
Fair trade Green Mountain coffee is an option- promoting this
Dining halls prepared food as they go, so there is little food waste on their part
New refrigeration technique that requires much less water usage
EMISSIONS/ENERGY
Tech Clinic's Emissions calculator will give a baseline
Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs were distributed to students free of charge (~1500 distributed to date)
Solar Thermal possibly being installed on the gym roof
Motion Sensors in bathrooms/locker rooms in some buildings
Low flow shower heads installed in most dorms
WASTE/RECYCLING
Double sides printers in the library (defaults to duplex) and 30% post consumer recycled paper
Composting food scraps from one dining hall worked very well- project hopes to be expanded
LEAP is documenting where all recycling and trash bins are in buildings on campus to ensure there are
all types of bins where they are needed
Ideas: These are still in the infancy stages- just to show other interns what is running through our minds
Possibilities of organic gardening, hopefully creating a student run garden on campus
- Looking at colleges in the area with gardens run at the student level to get ideas
Making sure everything that can be recycled is being recycled (during food prep, containers used in dining facilities)
- Is Waste Management our best option for recycling?
Promoting use of washable containers/beverage holders instead of disposable ones
- Follow in Dartmouth's foot steps for "Taste not Waste"?
Building on Sodexho's increasing desire to make environmentally conscious choices
Finding alternative to the Public Safety rounds done in large vehicles (biodiesel?)
Reducing the number of disposable water bottles on campus
Interns and Advisors:
Dan Bauer (Tech Clinic)
Page Information
|
Wiki Information |
Recent PBwiki Blog Posts |
Create your own educational wiki!