Immediate Steps

Implementation Date:  December 1, 2008

Action Focus	Action	Start-up Steps	Annual Measurement Criteria
Business Practices	• Reduce district travel-related carbon emissions. • Increase business relationships with companies providing sustainable goods and services and demonstrating sustainable principles, practices, and ethics.
	Begin carpooling incentive program.	Start Date: January 1, 2009. **see Appendix	Number of “shared ride” college trips.
	Encourage alternative forms of transportation to and from campus.	Begin reviewing programs and ideas.	Measurement to be developed.
	Conduct a substantial number of meetings using technology.	• Enable technology • Develop guidelines • Pilot with EICCD set council meetings	Percentage of college meetings involving people from more than one site conducted using technology.
	Purchase Energy Star Products.	Program currently in place.	Percentage of products purchased that are Energy Star.
	Discontinue district purchase and reimbursement of bottled water.	• Enact policy • Monitor purchases	Number of plastic bottles of water purchased or reimbursed by the district.
	Stipulate sustainability as factor in district RFP’s for outside services and materials.	Program currently in place.	Percentage of RFP’s that include sustainable practices as criteria.
	Purchase eco-friendly and sustainably produced goods and services.	• Provide info on sustainable goods and services • Develop on-line training on sustainable purchasing	Percentage of goods and services purchased that are sustainable.
Community Leadership	Position EICCD as a premier center of Sustainable Education in our community and throughout the midwest.
	Complete, promote and maintain EICCD Sustainability Website.	Website is up and running.	Number of hits on the EICCD Sustainability Website.
	Promote and schedule Speakers’ Bureau presentations.	Publicize availability of bureau.	Number of presentations done in classes and community by Speakers’ Bureau Participants
	Provide outreach and programming to K-12 on sustainability topics.	Contact and survey area K-12.	Number of projects and presentations done at or in cooperation with K-12 on sustainability.
	Partner with other local colleges and universities on sustainability projects; Develop leadership role in regional sustainability efforts.	Begin planning for regional forum of local higher education institutions to explore sustainability enhancement.	Number of projects and presentations done at or in cooperation with other colleges and universities.
Curriculum	Provide every EICCD student and staff member with basic understanding of sustainable principles and issues and foster an attitude of involvement and action to create a sustainable future.
	Assess coverage of sustainability in all EICCD current courses, curriculum, and staff development.	• Develop and administer survey • Gather insight into opportunities for increasing sustain- ability content. • Increase interdisciplinary collaboration on sustainability content in current and new courses.	Number of faculty and staff responding to the survey. Baseline of sustainability across EICCD cu
	Develop and implement plan to provide all EICCD students with basic understanding of sustainability through a credit course, service learning, prior experience, other coursework, campus activities or alternative means.	• Complete CDM for sustainability course • Implement course • Identify goals and requirements for students regarding sustainability • Construct alternative means for students to gain basic understanding of sustainability	Increased student knowledge of sustainability.
	Develop faculty and staff educational training on sustainability to be delivered in person and online.	Begin planning stages.	Number of educational offerings related to sustainability provided to EICCD faculty and staff.
Facilities	• Significantly and systematically reduce EICCD use of non-renewable energy. • Reduce use of non-sustainable, eco-unfriendly products at the sites and on the grounds of EICCD. • Build and restore district buildings to the LEED Silver Standard at a minimum.
	Conduct a utility audit of all existing EICCD Facilities.		Completed audit.
	Develop an engineer assessment of anticipated utility cost for new facilities.		Completed engineering assessment.
	Create a prioritized list of utility savings measures and a system for implementation of such measures.		Prioritized list of utility savings measures and report on implementation procedures.
	Sub-meter all EICCD facilities to allow accurate utility measurement.		Percentage of EICCD facilities sub-metered.
	Install energy monitoring and control systems.		Number of energy monitoring and control systems installed.
	Develop and apply district-wide standard for sustainable grounds management.		List of policies and procedures for sustainable grounds management.
Recycling and Waste Management	• Reduce the quantity of waste generated by all EICCD programs, facilities, and operations. • Increase the types and quantities of waste materials recycled by EICCD. • Educate all students, staff, and faculty to make waste reduction and recycling second nature at EICCD.
	Complete baseline review of current site recycling activity.	Completed.	Data on current recycling activity.
	Conduct bi-annual waste audit for each EICCD site.		Data from bi-annual waste audit district-wide.
	Install recycling bins for collection of paper and beverage containers in all district buildings.	In progress.	Number of recycling bins in district.
	Use EICCD truck driving program to transport recyclable materials to recycling markets.	In progress.	Number of trips made by EICCD trucks to recycling centers.
	Participate in Recyclemania annually at each campus.		Level of participation in Recyclemania throughout district.
	Enhance quantity and types of materials recycled throughout district.	Begin program to recycle newspaper, cardboard, magazines, glass, and textbooks.	Quantities of materials recycled.
	Reduce printing and paper usage district-wide annually.	Establish baseline instigate processes and guidelines.	Percent decrease in use of printing cartridges and paper use annually.
	Develop a waste reduction education program for students and staff.		Percentage of students participating in waste reduction education.
	Apply sustainable principles to college course packs.	• Assess current course pack waste • Develop procedures to reduce waste.	Number of pages of course packs thrown away or recycled annually.
Measurement and Celebration	• Develop rubrics and models to measure the district’s overall carbon footprint on a yearly basis and communicate progress and challenges to the college community.
	Compile list of measurable outcomes and indicator of progress for all sustainability team goals.		List of measurable outcomes and production of progress reports.
	Develop and maintain a district-wide carbon footprint dashboard.	• Calculate initial EICCD carbon footprint • Update carbon footprint annually.	EICCD carbon footprint dashboard.
	Assist with documentation for the STARS program.	• Participate in STARS pilot project • Obtain STARS rating for EICCD.
	Survey staff and students with regard to awareness and use of sustainable practices.	• Develop survey • Administer • Calculate results.	Number of respondents of district sustainable practices survey.
	Provide recognition and celebratory events for plan progress and achievement.	Annual retreat.	Number of staff recognized and honored for contributions to the EICCD Sustainability efforts.
Additional Immediate Action Step
	Pat will investigate tele-work options for district employees.

 

Appendix  1

Proposal for Carpooling to Reduce EICCD’s Contribution to Greenhouse Gases

Situation:  When employees travel for meetings or conferences, it is not uncommon for them to travel in separate vehicles to the meeting/conference location, whether that be within the District or to other locations around the state, such as Des Moines.  This creates unnecessary greenhouse gas generation, as well as unnecessary fuel consumption.

Objective:  As part of the EICCD Sustainability Initiative, the district intends to reduce its generation of greenhouse gases and to serve as a good steward of natural resources.

Proposal: Until a more comprehensive plan is developed, it is proposed that the following policy be implemented:

Whenever feasible, conduct meetings via conference call, telenet or video conferencing technology.  To schedule a meeting using these means, please contact the Help Desk at 3456.

When travel is required, EICCD encourages all employees and student groups to carpool whenever possible to meetings, conferences, athletic events, etc.  To encourage carpooling, the District will offer quarterly incentives to the employees who are most committed to carpooling.

In order to determine the quarterly and annual Carpool Champions, employees may complete the carpool form quarterly and submit to the District Business Office, reporting the dates, mileage and fellow riders for each carpooling trip.  The top three Carpool Champions of each quarter will be acknowledged in the Chancellor’s Memo and receive bookstore vouchers in the amount of $50, $30 and $20, respectively. 

This incentive program applies to all trips that would normally qualify for official reimbursement per Board Policy No. 416 and includes all trips taken in District fleet vehicles.

This program will be reviewed after one year to evaluate effectiveness and determine additional action necessary.

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