Talk:University of Colorado at Boulder Campus Environmental Council

Background:

• The Blueprint For A Green Campus has the following recommendation:

"The Need for a Campus Environmental Council
There is no high level, centralized support system for improving CU’s environmental performance. Nor is there an entity on campus that exists to review the environmental impact of campus policies, building projects or programs, or to create new environmental policies. While there are many individual entities that fill parts of this role--including the Solid Waste Advisory Board, the Boulder Campus Planning Commission, the Hazardous Materials Advisory Board, the Resource Conservation Committee, the Environmental Center, the Environmental Operations Manager within Facilities Management, and Environmental Health and Safety--this does not provide comprehensive review. Many changes get implemented with no consideration of environmental impacts or discussion of alternatives.

Many of the positive steps taken which go beyond regulatory compliance have been driven by UCSU efforts and visionary administrators. There has not been much coordinated, high-level support. This stands in contrast to schools such as the University of Texas in Houston, Brown University, or George Washington, where efforts to “green the campus” are coordinated and funded at the highest levels. Our experience here is that adoption of improved environmental programs on campus generally requires a major campaign effort by concerned students and faculty, rather than being initiated by the administration. The creation of a campus environmental council which could serve to advise the chancellor, with staff support, would be an important step toward implementing the master plan and this blueprint. "

• 24% of the universities surveyed by the National Wildlife Federation and the Princeton Research Associates in the 2001 State of the Campus Environment have campus environmental councils.

• The Talloires Declaration, signed in 1997 by Chancellor Park, commits the university to " convene university faculty and administrators with environmental practitioners to develop curricula, research initiatives, operational systems, and outreach activities to support an environmentally sustainable future"

Membership
The membership should be broad enough to represent interested campus stakeholders, major operational departments, and people with specific technical knowledge.

Operational departments: Housing, Facilities Management, Environmental Health and Safety, Parking and Transit Services should all be included. In addition, Athletics, UCSU Cost Centers, Property Services, and Procurement could be included.

Stakeholders: Students - UCSU representative, Environmental Board representative, one member of a student environmental group.

Faculty - BFA representative, plus professors from relevant departments - Environmental Studies, CIRES, Earth Systems Engineering, LEEDS Business School, Environmental Design

Non voting external experts: State, local, federal agency representatives: Office of Energy Conservation and management, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, US Environmental Protection Agency Region 8 Office, Boulder Office of Environmental Affairs

Structure:
Council is an advisory board which reports directly to the chancellor Council elects a chair for a one-year period