Background

Bates' history is deeply rooted in a tangible connection to the environment. The Outing Club is the second oldest collegiate outing club in the nation. The College has maintained itself as a green space in the middle of an encompassing city for more than a century. In the last decade, Bates has taken greater strides to insure its place among environmentally sophisticated colleges. For example, Bates’ Dining Service has become a model of environmental stewardship, redesigning machinery to conserve both water and energy and diverting a majority of its wastes from the solid waste stream.

The Environmental Program, offering a four-track Environmental Studies major was instituted in 1997-98. A student group, the Environmental Coalition was created in the mid-1990s. They are very active both in campus stewardship and environmental politics.

Another key element in the early 1990s was the convening of the Environmental Issues Committee, a group of interested faculty, staff and students. This group drafted the campus environmental policy statement, implemented pilot recycling programs and ensured that new residence halls demonstrated energy efficiency.

The Environmental Issues Committee laid the foundation of what was to become the officially sanctioned Environmental Confederation. The inception of the Confederation coincided with the hiring, in 1997, of a part- time environmental coordinator. Working with a variety of established campus groups, the Coordinator and Environmental Confederation shape, guide and implement campus stewardship initiatives. The establishment of the Environmental Confederation solidified Bates' firm commitment to transfer its intellectual understanding of environmental issues to practical action in its daily operations.

During the academic year 1997-98, the Environmental Confederation developed an initial action guide to lead toward a more environmentally sustainable campus. The goal for the first year was to begin this report, focusing on four aspects of the campus environment: energy, solid waste, hazardous waste and procurement. In subsequent years, the group will continue to focus on topics to which the College has given priority.

Purpose

The 1998-99 Green Action Plan will serve as a resource base and definitive guide for this year’s campus environmental stewardship at Bates. This document contains an introduction to each area of concern, a review of existing practices and recommendations that will move us further along the path toward a truly "green" campus.

The directive for the Green Action Plan is consistent with the priorities of the College, as indicated in the Goals 2005 report.

In the recent Goals 2005 report, Priority No. 4 is to:

"Enhance the transformative character of learning and teaching by extending the traditional classroom. Because students learn in multiple ways and in multiple venues, we will consider our classroom to be located both on- and off- campus, even viewing the campus itself as a classroom. We will support these extensions...by such means as:"

One of the means to accomplish this is listed as:

"Developing an integrated set of action steps to meet the College’s commitment to environmental principles, using the campus as a classroom. By 2005, we will have fulfilled the objectives recommended by the Environmental Confederation Group."

In order to achieve our goals, the entire community, at all levels, will need to demonstrate a willingness to adopt and begin to implement the recommendations in this plan. This will mark a turning point for the College, from an inspired collection of individuals acting on behalf of the environment to a thoughtful coordination of a community demonstrating this commitment.

Method

The Environmental Confederation was created by President Donald W. Harward in the fall of 1997. It is composed of faculty, staff and students. The mission of the Environmental Confederation is to provide strong support to the College in its commitment toward becoming a "green campus," one that educates its community about the environment and reflects environmental responsibility in its policies and actions.

In the fall of 1997, the 15 members of the Environmental Confederation divided into four subcommittees, reflecting the initial areas of concern. Each subcommittee focused on one issue: energy, solid waste, hazardous waste or procurement. Following the same procedures and outline, each subcommittee performed the research necessary to address the current status of each issue at Bates. Additionally, the subcommittees made recommendations based on their observation and research. This report rests significantly on the work of these subcommittees.

Principles

In 1995, President Harward endorsed an Environmental Policy Statement that highlighted the College's firm commitment to environmental sustainability. It was developed by the Environmental Issues Committee. This policy provided the principles upon which we based our report. It reads:

Bates College will strive to:

• conserve natural resources and support their sustainable use;
• conduct affairs in a manner that safeguards the environmental health and safety of students, faculty, staff and the surrounding community;
• reduce the use of toxic substances and the generation of wastes and promote strategies to reuse and recycle those wastes that cannot be avoided;
• purchase renewable, reusable, recyclable and recycled materials and
• conduct our business practices in accordance with this policy.

In our education and research missions, Bates College will strive to:

• foster an understanding of and a responsibility for the physical environment;
• ensure that individuals are knowledgeable about the environment and health issues that affect their discipline and/or department;
• orient newcomers to our community with regard to the campus- wide environmental ethic;
• encourage environmental research; and
• conduct research and teaching in an environmentally responsible way.

In our student and employee relations, Bates College will strive to:

• delineate individual responsibility and guide action for ensuring safety and minimizing adverse environmental impacts in the implementation of this policy.

Bates will consider full compliance with the law to be the minimally acceptable standard and will exercise whatever control is reasonable and necessary to avoid harm to the public health and environment, whether or not such control is required by regulations.

Bates will initiate, promote, and conduct programs that fully implement this policy throughout the College.

It is with the magnifying glass of these standards that the subcommittees viewed each arena and formulated recommendations.