ENVS 295: Environmental Management Systems

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ENVS 295 Environmental Management Systems

• A community based course made up of several
  different stakeholders
• The faculty (Gioia Thompson and Ralph Stuart)
• Assistant faculty (Christina Erickson and
  Michelle Smith- Mullarkey)
• Students from last years class working on their
  senior projects
• Students from this years class
• Designed to develop environmental management
  skills through hands on teamwork (rather than on
  the job experience).

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Where this Course Came From

• 1985 UVM Risk Management Department (2.5 people)
  gets two year funding for a chemical safety
  person for campus due to changing regulations. I
  moved over from a laboratory in Civil Engineering
  to take the job.
• The regulatory changes primarily affect the use
  of laboratory chemicals at UVM, so thats where I
  started.

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What Happens to a Person in a New Position?
Laboratory Emergency Response
Fume Hood Certification
MSDS collection
Laboratory Waste Management
Laboratory Safety Training
Institutional Biosafety Committee
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I Got Lucky, in a way my priorities were set
for me

• The regulations kept changing and about two years
  after I started the job, the laboratory hazardous
  waste program ended up with 10,000 fine from the
  state of Vermont.
• Fortunately, the day the inspectors showed up, we
  had a consultant on campus looking at the
  program. His report arrived before the
  inspectors did and predicted the results because
  of lack of resources for the program.

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The Net Result the UVM Environmental Safety
Facility

• By 1995, 7 people were managing UVMs hazardous
  waste pretty effectively at 667 Spear Street,
  although not without some problems along the way
• 40,000 fine in 1993 before the ESF was complete
• New enforcement initiative by EPA Region 1
  against higher education based on citations at
  Yale and UConn portended similar problems
  throughout New England

Around 1997, UVM was invited to join Boston group
of schools to deal with EPA Region 1 about the
lab waste issue
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Along Comes the UVM Environmental Council

• This grad student representing the Environmental
  Council comes down to Spear Street and asks us
  how our program could be improved and how would
  we know if it was. She had been going all over
  campus asking these questions and had gotten lots
  of cooperation from middle management with those
  questions.
• About this time, we had decided to participate in
  a regulatory reinvention project with EPA and
  we needed lay stakeholders to represent the
  community. The Environmental Council fit this
  need.
• The EPA asked us to develop a plan that looked
  like an Environmental Management System to change
  the regulation, so we were investigating the
  technical aspects of what this meant.

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Around 1999, a new full-time positionThe UVM
Environmental Coordinator
Recycled paper purchasing
Cafeteria styrofoam
Global warming
Recycling
Eco literacy
Greening Aiken
McNeil steam
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Around 2000, a new EC staff co-chair

• The Staff Co-chair does most of the
  administrative supervision of the Environmental
  Coordinator
• Many good things were happening, but I recognized
  the signs of idea overload
• We decided we needed a way to prioritize all
  those ideas and explain those priorities to many
  audiences (the Environmental Council, students,
  faculty, Board of Trustees, the President).
  Perhaps an EMS would help?
• However, EMSs were designed to work in an
  industrial environment, but were proving
  difficult to use in academia.

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Environmental Management atThe Environmental
University

• In our spare time, Gioia and I worked with
  various EMS tools, including a state course on
  ISO 14,000 and a C2E2 checklist for EMS
  development
• Around 2002, an Environmental Council
  brainstorming session came up with the four
  aspects of the Environmental University
• Environmental Campus
• Environmental Academics
• Environmental Culture
• Environmental Accountability
• This approach seemed to form a reasonable basis
  for an EMS concept in academia, but the technical
  problems remained.

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Enter Eco-Campus

• In the spring of 2005, I went to the UKs
  Environmental Association of Universities and
  Colleges conference and heard about a simpler,
  staged model of Environmental Management Systems
  designed for higher education there called
  Eco-Campus.
• This approach seemed like a doable thing at UVM,
  a good way of connecting compliance and
  non-compliance.
• Gioia and I were also interested in working
  directly on the academic side in order better
  align with the institutional mission, so we
  decided to use Eco Campus as a teaching as well
  as a management tool.

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ENVS 295 2006

• Last years class used the Eco Campus scheme as a
  template to perform a gap analysis - assess key
  environmental programs at UVM and identify
  opportunities for improvement.
• Specifically, we focused on
• Transportation and Parking
• Green House Gases emissions
• Construction and Demolition Wastes
• Overall EMS policy

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ENVS 295 2007

• This year we intend to be more analytical and
  perform management system audits for selected
  programs in order to build a catalog for the
  Environmental Council Operations Committee
• We will also practice these skills at McGill and
  Concordia Universities in Montreal
• We will identify specific programs for deeper
  analysis and provide suggestions for improvement
  to the program managers, the Environmental
  Council and the Vice President for Finance and
  Administration.

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What Ive Learned

• People tend to overestimate what can be done in
  one year and to underestimate what can be done in
  five or ten years.
• Joseph Licklider, MIT computer and internet
  visionary
• We interested in learning how to think on the ten
  year horizon within an organization

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In Summary, the Course Objectives are

• 1) Understand the basic concepts of Environmental
  Management Systems used in industry and by the
  EPA for 15 years
• 2) Develop skills in environmental management
  auditing and reporting through field trips on the
  UVM campus
• 3) Use these skills to conduct an audit of
  specific environmental programs at a Montreal
  university using the EcoCampus model
• 4) Evaluate one UVM environmental program as part
  of a team, presenting the results to the UVM
  administration

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Growing the Environmental University

• A Strategy Discussion with Provost Hughes
• Environmental Council
• November 30, 2006

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The UVM Environmental Council

• History The Environmental Council has been in
  existence since 1996 and its members have
  demonstrated a continuing commitment to
  environmental responsibility at UVM.
• Role Our role is both advisory and advocacy and
  we are ready to enthusiastically and
  substantively support the vision of an
  Environmental University.
• Approach The faculty, staff, students and
  community members on the Council have worked
  together, and with other University members, in a
  cooperative manner towards the common goal of
  improving our environmental status.

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Four Aspects of the Environmental University at
UVM

• Environmental Academics
• Interdisciplinary environmental research,
  diversity of environmental majors service
  learning community outreach
• Environmental Culture
• Environmentally responsible attitudes and
  behaviors of students, staff, and faculty
• Environmental Campus
• Green buildings, heating, cooling,
  transportation, purchasing, disposal of
  materials, storm water
• Environmental Accountability
• Environmental values in strategic planning,
  budgeting, planning, management, performance
  tracking community dialogue

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Fierce Competition for Environmental Leadership

• National Movement
• AASHE, peer-reviewed journals, offices of
  sustainability
• National Environmental Peer Universities
• Harvard financial models for greening projects
• Yale top graduate program building a
  sustainability program based on 1 million
  intra-campus grants
• Tufts greenhouse gas commitment, Eco-reps
• UC Boulder long-term, comprehensive
  environmental program
• Middlebury Board-level commitment director of
  Environmental Affairs sustainability
  coordinator
• UNH endowed office of sustainability
• Need focused strategy with integrated academic
  and operating priorities

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Creating a Focused Strategy

• Suggested elements
• Establish senior level leadership
• Create support for environmental goals and
  indicators
• Facilitate interdisciplinary academic research,
  curriculum and outreach
• Work with State of Vermont to develop
  environmental economy
• Design and implement a systems level approach
• Coordinate branding and marketing

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Council Activities

• Environmental Academics
• Eco-literacy program proposal
• Small Grants program
• Support for student interns, projects
• Environmental Culture
• Eco-Rep program support
• Annual Eco-Fair
• Environmental Campus
• Greenhouse Gas Emissions inventory, report
  underway
• Operations Committee working on indicators
• Environmental Accountability
• Environmental Management System class exploring
  third party review of operations
• LEED building standards documented

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Environmental Accountability Environmental
Performance Indicators

• Environmental Academics
• Outreach env service learning participants
• Research Laboratory hazardous waste generated
• Environmental Culture
• Recycling rates relative to trash rate
• Eco-Rep program coverage
• Environmental Campus
• Greenhouse Gas Emissions
• Biodiversity Index
• Environmental Accountability
• Environmental Management System
• Third party audits LEED, State regulatory
  inspections

UVM is a U.S. leader in developing an
indicator-based EMS
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Environmental Accountability Potential
Performance Targets

• Environmental Academics
• 10 increase in service learning participants by
  2007
• 10 reduction in laboratory hazardous
  waste/research by 2007
• Environmental Culture
• 40 of waste is recycled by 2007
• 50 of res halls covered by Eco-rep program by
  2007
• Environmental Campus
• Greenhouse Gases 5 reduction per capita by 2008
• Biodiversity index developed by 2008
• Environmental Accountability
• Environmental Management System third-party audit
  by 2008
• LEED certification of new buildings and major
  renovations
• Ongoing record of no environmental compliance
  fines

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Sample UVM Indicators 2000-2005
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Environmental Culture UVM Eco-Rep Program

• 2004 pilot project inspired by Tufts Harvard.
• 24 undergraduate students living in halls,
  variety of majors, 4 hrs/wk _at_ 8/hr.
• Collaboration with Res.Life, Physical Plant,
  RSENR graduate student, and Env. Council, housed
  in GreenHouse
• Address recycling, composting, energy and water
  conservation, purchasing, transportation
• Activities include waste sorts, bulletin boards,
  surveys, tabling, exhibits, tours, articles

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Environmental Culture UVM Eco-Rep Program Next
Steps

• More consistent representation throughout the
  residence halls.
• Eco-Captains to take on larger projects and
  leadership responsibilities.
• Development of Eco-Reps across campus to
  academic, administrative, and lab buildings.
• Develop a stable funding source based on
  demonstrated tangible and intangible benefits of
  the program.

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Environmental Academics An Eco-literacy Proposal

• Goals
• Inform and motivate responsible campus
  stewardship
• Develop campus-wide commitment to sustainability
• Build partnerships and community across sectors
• Engage a range of learning skills for ecological
  citizenship
• Features
• Voluntary participation
• Flexibility with a range of options
• Decentralized program administration
• Parallel tracks for students, staff, faculty
• Measurable indicators of social change

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Environmental Academics An Eco-literacy Proposal

• Rationale
• Environmental responsibility rests on personal
  motivation
• Motivation can come from a variety of sources
• Learners have a range of learning styles
• Different opportunities are available to
  different sectors
• Advantages
• Supports iterative pilot testing and refinement
• Participation can build organically as interest
  develops
• Costs can be spread over many academic units
• Flexes with changing learning opportunities

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Summary

• What UVM needs focused strategy
• Establish senior level leadership on environment
• Create support for environmental goals and
  indicators
• Facilitate interdisciplinary research, curriculum
  and outreach
• Work with State of Vermont to develop
  environmental economy
• Design and implement a systems level approach
• Coordinate branding and marketing
• What the Environmental Council brings
• Nationally recognized leadership
• Well established working relations with faculty,
  staff, students, community, 10 year history
• Clearinghouse for environmental data and
  information
• Catalyst for student engagement