November 3, 2020 President's Sustainability Advisory Council Agenda & Meeting Notes

November 3, 2020 Minutes

President’s Sustainability Advisory Committee
Agenda & Meeting Notes
November 3, 2020 Zoom Meeting 2-3:30 p.m.

Important Links

2:00-2:15 Introductions & Announcements

Megan attended AASHE which had focus on engaging people from a diversity of backgrounds and perspectives. Idea from Nadiya to reach out to include more faculty. Action Item:
- Nadiya and Claudia will work on incorporating presentations by faculty and others into agenda for spring PSAC meetings

2:15-2:30 Presidents’ Climate Leadership Commitment

Greenhouse Gas Monitoring (due April 5, 2021) & Zero Carbon Assessment - due April 5, 2022 - SSU Facilities has Nov 13 mtg with vendor
Regional Resilience Plan - due April 5, 2021 - Judy Ford leads meetings Tuesdays at 9-10 am; she will give presentation at next PSAC meeting
Climate Action Plan Outline DRAFT - in revision by working groups

2:30-2:45 Cross Working Group Projects

Telecommuting Policy for staff and faculty: Content of the policy and big consequences for GHG production. Currently, Chancellor’s Office is addressing policy for staff; SSU faculty might benefit from an Academic Senate Resolution
Action Items:
- Mark will follow up with Kevin Fang about discussing idea with SSU Academic Senate
- Megan will bring up options for CSU Sustainability group to provide support for Chancellor’s office efforts to develop telecommuting policy for all campuses
Sustainability Pledge (see examples below) - PSAC supports the idea. Additional comments: like the idea of freshmen sophomore pledge at beginning of career; give people options so that they personally consider what they can do; track participation by department to spark competition; make sure options use inclusive language and allow participation by all groups; provide a link to resources for how you can get help implementing your pledge (a “how can I do this” button); ask people to sign every 3-5 years to renew their pledge
Action Item:
- The SAC Working Group will draft and get back to the PSAC with a proposal
Virtual Earth Week - April 19-23, 2021. The PSAC would like to support this AS event. Earth Week will be virtual this year. Main idea discussed was to create a series by faculty, students and staff of videos about how SSU is being sustainable. Casey Kelly at SeaWolf Living would be interested in posting. Other Ideas: Sustainability Pledge will be released during Earth Week.
Action Items:
- The SAC Working Group will draft some guidelines, video examples, hashtags, and symbols for the video series
- Each PSAC council member agreed to make a video
- Academic Working Group will compile sustainability materials for faculty to use in their classes during Earth Week

2:45-3:00 Working Group Reports:

Action Item:

Send Claudia your WG Goals for mid-December and for mid-May.
Zero Impact: Megan Varnadore (Chair), Jen Barnett, Nancy Keller, Calee Spinney, Cody Smith, Kat Johnson, IT Person
- Working on revising visions and scope of subworking groups and then applying results to Climate Action Plan Outline
Academic & Student Life: Mark Perri (Chair), Adele Santana, Justine Law, Nadiya Parekh, Merith Weisman, Mike Dominguez, *tbd* (student), Kevin Fang
- Mark reported that the group is working on a sustainability minor, had been working on the video idea which is now being done in conjunction with SAC working group; climate action plan
Regional Resilience: Judy Ford (Resilience Planning Lead), Barbara Frohlech, Kindra Kautz, *tbd* (student), *tbd* (Chair), North Bay Forward
- Kindra reported that Judy is leading North Bay Forward through a variety of resilience topics: have done social equity, health and wellness, and environment. Will be doing infrastructure and economy over next two weeks. Everyone is invited to attend. Also, Judy met with Megan and Missy to ensure that SSU resilience needs are included in the planning effort.
Strategy, Communication & Advancement: Claudia Luke (Chair), Madison Annala, Kirsten Tellez, Julia Gonzalez, Marian Mejia. Add’l members: Damien Wilson, Sandy Destiny, Andy Shepherd, Alicia Hodenfeld
- Claudia Social Media: launch a monthly series of sustainability awareness with videos of students contributing: 1) recycling and campus waste bins, 2) other topics from Academic WG:
  - Get involved with organizations and/or movements that advocate for more sustainable policies and/or systems.
  - Eat less meat, particularly red meat.
  - Drastically reduce consumption by purchasing used items, clothes, furniture, etc.
  - Donate unused items to others in need Save packaging/mailing: group your purchases on Amazon
  - Recycle
  - Compost
  - Bike instead of drive
  - Sustainable products are often more expensive than non-sustainable products. We would like to see if students have found affordable products that are sustainable that they can recommend to each other.
  - Faculty / Staff sustainability challenge
  - Encourage telecommuting and monitor / track GHG savings from telecommuting Website (Alicia and Marian)

3:00-3:30 Other Items?

Members Present:

Barbara Frohlech, Calee Spinney, Claudia Luke, Jenifer Barnett, Justine Law, Kimberly Kaido-Alvarez, Kindra Kautz, Kirsten Tellez, Madison Annala, Mark Perri, Megan Varnadore, Nadiya Parekh, Nancy Keller, Cody Smith, Michael Dominguez

Members Absent:

Merith Weisman, Katryna Johnson, Adele Santana

Additional Attendees:

Alicia Hodenfield, Tyson Hill, Kevin Fang, Dana Twedell

Types of Sustainability Pledges

Specific things you can do while on campus: https://sustainability.wustl.edu/get-involved/sustainability-pledge/ https://www.sustain.gatech.edu/sustainability-pledge https://green.uw.edu/content/uw-sustainability-pledge https://www.spelman.edu/about-us/sustainable-spelman/sustainability-pledge
Graduation or General Pledge: https://gradpledge.humboldt.edu/grad-pledge-home https://selectsurvey.uncw.edu/SelectSurveyNET//TakeSurvey.aspx?SurveyID=m2K1569MM# Also see Graduate Pledge Alliance; https://www.graduationpledge.org/
Combo of 1 and 2 + educational information https://www.umt.edu/sustainability/campus-culture/sustainability-pledge.php
Tallying and Displaying Pledge Results https://www.rochester.edu/sustainability/pledge/results.php