lxxxii
2.7.08
published on 09/30/05
Committee works to support local farmers, preserve environment
Sara Farr
Guest Writer
As a continuation of last year’s agenda, the Sustainability Committee aims to find alternative energy sources, decrease the use of herbicides on campus, bring compost back to ACDC, and work on other smaller scale projects.
Making Vassar more energy-efficient has become a greater concern this year because the price of heating oil has risen by about 40 percent, according to Committee intern Ben Van Vliet ’06.
Van Vliet said that this rise has led to a significant increase in the cost of heating the school, which cost approximately $1 million per year, before the price hike. The Committee is working to implement wind power as an energy source and is exploring ways to make the buildings themselves more energy efficient.
Intern Ruth Hoffecker ’06 said the College is now “feeling motivation to look at the energy issue.” Van Vliet added that this project is the “highest priority” for practical and environmental reasons.
The Committee is also working to manage waste. The administration is currently considering an offer from Greenway Environmental Resources to take over for the current waste company, said Van Vliet. For this year, the current company’s contract has been renewed. The Committee is also looking to bring compost to locations such as ACDC to reduce the amount of waste.
In addition to these two projects and trying to reduce the amount of herbicides used on campus, the Committee is working on several smaller projects.
The Committee plans to bring in more local foods to the dining areas. These foods currently include dairy products and apples. “Vassar is becoming recognized as a campus integrating local foods into dining service,” said Hoffecker. Other colleges and universities have begun to use Vassar’s model to incorporate local foods into their dining services as well. “Local foods epitomize sustainability environmentally, socially, and economically,” said Hoffecker.
Van Vliet is working on the Sustainability Committee’s website to make it more functional.
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Alumnae/i posters are strongly encouraged to include their class year with their name. The maximum length for comments is approximately 100 words; longer responses should be submitted as letters to the editor to misc@vassar.edu. More information about our letters policy can be found on our Policies page.
