Bowdoin College
PA-1: Sustainability Coordination

The Sustainability Implementation Committee (SIC) is responsible for the overall Climate Action Plan development, coordination, analysis, and goal setting. It is responsible for identifying, funding, and tracking greenhouse gas reduction initiatives in addition to reporting annually on the College’s greenhouse gas emissions and updating the Carbon Neutrality Implementation Plan every two years. The committee is composed of faculty, staff, and students and is charged with producing a set of specific proposals that help align the work and lives of Bowdoin faculty, staff, and students with the goals of the Climate Action Plan and Environmental Mission Statement. This committee actively engages with the entire Bowdoin community and considers many aspects of campus life and their relation to Bowdoin's climate commitment, including the curriculum, student activities, residential life, athletics, dining, facilities, information technology, and transportation.

This group is made up of a combination of students, faculty, and staff. Committee members for the 2022–2023 academic year include

Brandon Lozano ’24, chair BSG Facilities and Sustainability Committee

Connie Chiang, director of Environmental Studies Program and professor of history and environmental studies

Emil Cuevas, director for facilities operations and maintenance

Christina Honeycutt, sustainability outreach and program manager

Bruce Kohorn, professor of biology and biochemistry

Erik Nelson, associate professor of economics

Matt Orlando, senior vice president for finance and administration & treasurer

Luke Oulette, campus decarbonization project manager

Keisha Payson, director of sustainability

John Simoneau, director of capital projects

Jeff Tuttle, associate vice president for facilities and capital projects

Mary Lou Zeeman, R. Wells Johnson Professor of Mathematics

Bowdoin's Office of Sustainability, which is housed under the Office of Facilities Management and reports to the AVP of facilities management and the VP of finance and administration, employs the director of sustainability and the sustainability outreach and program manager. It also houses the up to thirty part-time student employees who work in the eco rep program or as student sustainability assistants. Work includes campus outreach, specific project research, and sustainability project implementation. The office is in Rhodes Hall, the facilities management building, and has a meeting space for coordinating many of the sustainability-related events and programs on campus. The office provides strategic direction and leadership to promote a culture of sustainability at Bowdoin. The office develops and maintains programs and implements initiatives to reduce the impact that Bowdoin operations, construction, and other practices have on the environment. The office is accountable for researching, developing, managing, and continually assessing sustainability projects and initiatives. The office also does outreach to the campus community to engage them in the process through initiatives such as the Sustainable Living Commitment and the Office Supply Reuse Program.

Major sustainability achievements over the past three years include releasing a new climate action plan with a goal to achieve fossil fuel-free campus operations by 2042 and working with an engineering firm to perform a deep dive on each of our buildings to consider how they will fit into the goal of decarbonizing our campus.

We have seen two major solar projects come on line that the College is purchasing directly from, one that came on line in November of 2021 and the other in November of 2022. The College is buying electricity from both projects that supply a combined 75 percent or more of campus electricity.

Non-energy-related efforts include a new printing program on campus where all print jobs must be released with an employee ID and campus members can see what the financial and environmental impacts are of their annual printing.

While both of Bowdoin's Dining Halls are "eat-in" operations with all reusable plate ware and utensils, the two cash operations on campus (Magee's Grill and the Café, both located in the student union) have switched to all compostable to-go products. Through the Eco Rep Program, the sustainability office also organized events like the Sustainability Fair that included over a dozen community partners, ten student groups and six campus departments highlighting their connection to sustainability. Finally, Bowdoin's sustainability office coordinated with several other departments on campus to run the twentieth annual student move-out program that diverted thousands of pounds of waste from the landfill.