College of the Atlantic
EN-5: Outreach Campaign

In 2016-2017 the college's Campus Committee for Sustainability (a student-run committee that acts as part of the college's overall governance system) worked to significantly revise the college's Energy Framework. This new framework effectively shortens the time-frame the college has given itself to become fully fossil-fuel-free -- the college has pledged to complete this process by 2030. The revised framework is the result of many months of work by students, staff members, and campus-wide communications and conversations over email and at the All College Meeting. The Energy Framework can be read in full on our website: http://www.coa.edu/live/files/159-energy-framework

By committing to the Energy Framework, COA has committed to investing significant financial and educational resources into reducing our greenhouse gas emissions, engaging our students in hands-on renewable energy work, producing more of our own electricity, modifying our vehicle fleets, and investing in significant energy-efficiency infrastructure projects with our current buildings. COA tracks and records our greenhouse gas emissions as part of our Carbon Commitment to Second Nature. The first version of our Energy Framework was written and adopted in 2013. Data for the framework came from 2012, when our Scope I, II, and III emissions totaled 1,777 metric tons CO2 equivalent (MTCO2e). In 2017, Scope I, II, and III emissions totaled 961 MTCO2e. Greenhouse gas emissions data available here: http://reporting.secondnature.org/institution/detail!1892##1892

Beginning in 2014, COA students began organizing an increasingly successful campaign around waste minimization and discarded resources. During each of the last four fall seasons, students have conducted an innovative and highly publicized Waste Audit (later renamed "Discarded Resources Audit" in order to reflect the campus-wide shift towards using “waste” as a verb — not a noun — as this process has given impetus to rethinking how resources are used and discarded). The audit is a week-long educational event that gives all campus members the opportunity to see the collective impacts of our consumption during the course of the week. Discarded Resources efforts go well beyond the audit, involving educational surveys and individual interviews with students, faculty, and staff to help understand habits and to inform efforts to improve on-campus practices concerning recycling, composting, and the reuse of resources.

In 2015-16, the Discarded Resources Team implemented all new recycling systems and stations across campus. They implemented an extensive overhaul to the dorm move-out system by integrating recycling, composting, and facilitation of the re-utilization of discarded items. They also helped transform the "free box" — a much-loved space for reusing, re-purposing and otherwise sharing/donating previously used items — from a literal cardboard box (and overflowing piles of clothes) into a retail-like space with clearly labeled shelves and hanging racks for clothing, accessories, and kitchen and household items. The Zero Waste Club successfully drafted and brought a campus-wide Discarded Resource and Material Management Policy (“Zero Waste Policy”) to the All College Meeting, which was passed by the college community (students, faculty, and staff) on March 1, 2017.

During the winters of 2015 and 2016, student members of the Campus Committee for Sustainability implemented an energy use competition in the dorms. Over the course of one week in February, residents aim to reduce their electricity use the most, as compared to a measured baseline of the previous week’s electricity use. Each day, student coordinators send progress reports out to the community, along with energy information and energy-use reduction tips. Surveys before and after the competition invariably indicate an increase in student energy literacy, while overall reductions in dorm energy use during the week have thus far been significant. The annual electricity reduction competition has continued in 2017 and 2018, but its oversight and implementation has been transferred to Community Energy Center work-study students. In 2015 the winning residence reduced their electricity consumption by 18%, in 2016 the winning residence reduced their electricity consumption by 20%, and in 2017 the winning residence reduced their electricity consumption by 24%.