Sustainability is a goal that Butler Community College has been working on since April.
The very first meeting of the college’s Sustainability Committee took place Wednesday at 2 p.m. in the Gold Room and there members designated leaders of sub-teams to help fight waste and pollution.
Representatives from Butler, students and local experts gathered to share ideas and brainstorm on methods to help the environment.
Butler President Jackie Vietti was unable to make an appearance, but did send a letter of encouragement to members.
She emphasized that the college needs to really take an intentional step to manage resources.
Ed Arnold, Butler facilities director, will be spear-heading the effort and lead the meeting opening with the question, “What is sustainability?”
“Sustainability can mean almost anything to anyone,” he stated.
Arnold explained that he had accomplished some research over the summer as a starting point and wants to form teams to assist with individual projects that may develop.
“We want to leave to door open for ‘out-of-the-box’ thinking,” explained Arnold.
“We need to have an open mind coming into this.”
Climate protection was one of the first topics the committee discussed.
Arnold said that he had sent an RFP, request for proposal to four companies to perform a Greenhouse gas inventory and carbon foot print.
Only two of the four companies returned the request and Arnold said that the committee would have to take the RFP responses to the Butler’s Board of Trustees to have the funding approved and have the process performed.
A climate action plan was also discussed and the information provided by the GHG inventory will help the committee form a more solid and number driven plan.
Gaining ground toward environment neutrality is a focus for the group and Arnold said they need to work on developing strategies to get to a more neutral position.
Energy conservation, explained Arnold, would involve adjusting heating and air to promote conservation and the college has already taken steps toward that goal.
Organizing an awareness program will also be vital for the groups goals.
“You can walk around campus and see there are lights blazing through out the day,” said Arnold.
Arnold said that simply making the effort to turn unused lights off could make a huge impact on energy waste.
A website or wiki aimed at sustainability is also a goal for the group.
A forum for students, instructors and concerned citizens could prove very beneficial in developing ideas.
“I would like to put our ideas out there,” Arnold remarked.
“We need to continuously look for new ideas.”
The college may soon begin working with Wichita Vending as well, installing vending machine and snack misers, which reduce energy consumption by turning lights off.
“Right now they run all the time,” Arnold explained.
“We can’t see everything, so we will need help from students and involvement.”
Butler has recently taken on a massive amount of construction with the Welcome Center and renovations of other buildings and Arnold used the Welcome Center as an example of how ‘green construction design’ can also help.
Recycling debris from construction and getting building LEED (leadership environmental energy design) ratings in place would promote conservation.
Arnold emphasized ethics in all areas.
“You would be amazed to find out how much recyclables are still going to the dump,” he declared.
Arnold went to the trash can in the Gold Room and picked out a recyclable plastic drink bottle to drive the point home to the group.
He said that making recycle bins accessible and visible would be helpful and coordinating an E-waste program with the help of the city would benefit efforts.
Arnold had a prototype design for recycle bins at the college and informed the group that building the bins on site would cost the group only one-third of the prefabrication costs.
Recycle Mania is an event the committee wants to promote, it involves schools reporting recycling and trash data which are then ranked according to who collects the largest amount of recyclables per capita, the largest amount of total recyclables, the least amount of trash per capita, or have the highest recycling rate over a ten week period. With each week’s reports and rankings,
participating schools watch how their results fluctuate against other schools and use this to rally their campus communities to reduce and recycle more.
“We need student involvement for this,” said Arnold.
One board member held up a styrofoam cup he had purchased from the snack bar on the way to the meeting.
The member explained that there should be better options for materials and he had voices complaint to Great Western Dining employees with no results.
Arnold agreed that issues need to be addressed.
Bioswells are a somewhat recent addition to the college and Arnold used the landscaping technique as an example of how simple things can really save money and energy.
The bioswells are landscaping features that contain drought resistant indigenous plants that require very little maintenance and water.
Expanding on the idea would be cost effective, energy efficient and beneficial for the native landscape.
“We want to bring wildflowers back in and identify drought resistant plants,” said Arnold.
“We can also minimize irrigation.”
Tree Campus USA is another program the committee is looking to introduce to the college.
This program is of an Arbor Day Foundation origin and promotes conservation by recognizing college and university campuses that effectively manage their trees, developing connectivity with the community beyond campus borders to foster healthy, urban forestry and striving to engage their student population utilizing service learning opportunities centered on campus and community forestry efforts.
Arnold also wants to begin heavy promotion of Arbor Day events and begin using indigenous trees.
Transportation was a topic discussed by members and carpooling, bicycling and walking were all option that could be promoted for students, staff and faculty.
Campus fleet renovations have been in the works and hybrids or biodiesels are being looked at.
Bike racks on campus was another suggestion to promote eco-friendly transportation.
Water management suggestions for the college included being aware of drippage and drainage and correcting any deficiency promptly.
Green cleaning methods is another option for Butler with one committee member offering information about oxidation methods.
“It’s going to take a little funding outside of our operational funding,” stated Arnold.
“And our number one goal is to come up with an action plan that has measurable results.”
The Sustainability Committee plans to meet every third Wednesday of the month with the next meeting on October 21st. For more information on how to help contact Ed Arnold at earnold@butlercc.edu or 322-3143.
El Dorado, Kan. —
