Smith College

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Smith CollegeA Good Start to a Working Model for
Sustainability

• Althea Tupper
• ENST 302 University Presentations

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Our Impact

• Anything you are interested in is not going to
  happen if you cant breathe the air and drink the
  water. Dont sit this one out. Do something.
• Carl Sagan

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Smith CollegeI am Smith
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Basic Facts

• Founded in 1871
• All womens school
• Located in North Hampton, Mass.
• Approximately 2,600 undergraduate students
• Broken down by 36 individual self-governing
  houses
• Mascot is the Pioneers, but only has Division III
  Sports
• A member of the consortium of Five Colleges in
  North Hampton, which includes Amherst,
  Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, and University of
  Massachusetts at Amherst

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Academic Statistics

• 285 professors in 37 academic programs and
  departments
• Student faculty ratio of 91
• Largest womens liberal arts school in the
  country

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Sowhat is Smith actually doing?
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The Green Team

• The Green Team is a coalition of faculty, staff,
  and students dedicated to fostering
  sustainability at Smith.
• Primarily, they educate and support the campus
  community and the college's sustainability
  committee in the efficient use of finite natural
  resources.
• Aid the connection between curriculum and
  environmentalism.

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In the Works

• Physical Plant Changes
• Million Monitor Drive
• Better Insulation for Smith buildings
• Campus-wide temperature setback
• Gym lighting project
• John M. Green Exit Signs
• Building and Residential Service Improvement
• Light Replacement Project

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In the Works

• Dining Services
• Buy all products locally
• Recycle
• Reuse
• Conserve
• All Vegan/Veggie house Northrop/Gillett
• Attend yearly forum at Yale on sustainability in
  dining services

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Student Initiatives

• Clean Energy for Smith!
• Gaia Smith Students for the Environment
• Smith Environmental Coalition

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Clean Energy for Smith!

• Goal of student club
• To make sure that a portion of Smiths energy
  needs from renewable sources, such as wind,
  solar, and/or biomass sources.

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Gaia Smith Students for the Environment

• Mission statement
• Raise awareness about
• environmental concerns and to
• promote ways to improve the
• current situation among members
• of the Smith College community,
• to increase the use of reusing and
• recycling of materials on campus,
• and to reduce the among of waste
• that this community produces.

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Conservation Effectiveness

• In the 2004 to 2005 academic year, Smith worked
  toward a campus wide recycling initiative.
• Two years ago, Smiths Information Technology
  Services began activating power-saving options on
  the colleges computers, which automatically
  shuts them down when not in use.

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Academic Courses

• Some classes that have stemmed from the
  environmental awareness are
• ERG 312 Thermochemical Processes in the
  Atmosphere
• ERG 315 Ecohydrology
• FYS 147 Science and Politics of Food, Water and
  Energy
• GEO 109 The Environment
• GEO 311 Environmental Geophysics
• GOV 254 Colloquium Politics of the Global
  Environment
• GOV 306 Politics and the Environment

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Green is Trendy!

• For their next building, green architecture is
  the plan for
• Smiths new engineering and sciences building.
  Designed by the
• architectural firm Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, the
  140,000-square
• foot building, scheduled for ground breaking in
  2007, will have
• advanced energy-efficient construction, using
  design and
• technology focused on minimizing the long-term
  environmental
• impact to reduce the consumption of energy and
  the costs of
• operation. The building will be equipped with
  solar cells for
• temperature control, low-wattage lighting,
  passive lighting
• design, water management fixtures and green
  vegetated
• roofs. While being operationally efficient, the
  building will also
• serve as a teaching tool for sustainable design.

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Committee and University Initiatives

• From the Faculty Code, the Committees Charge is
• The Committee on Sustainability shall be
  concerned with the best
• long-term use of finite natural resources and
  with the College's
• impact on the local, regional, and global
  environment. It shall identify,
• implement, and evaluate approaches for increasing
  Smith's commitment to
• sustainability in all areas of the campus,
  including (but not limited to)
• construction, transportation, materials and
  energy use, waste management,
• purchasing, investment, and the campus
  curriculum. It shall seek to
• maintain a holistic perspective in this work,
  holding paramount the goal of
• systemic change and institutional transformation
  to aid the College in
• achieving the greatest efficiencies in natural
  resource use and pollution
• prevention.
• Additionally, produced report not available on
  the web.

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Comparison and Grade

• Smith is doing a lot of things similar to Rice
• Increased recycling initiatives, working
  towards sustainable development plans, Center
  for Environment and Society, composting, and
  boasting active student environmental groups.
• But, Smith like Rice also needs to take major
  strides in the future to be considered a leader
  in sustainable development.
• Overall Grade B

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Looking into thefuture

• We wont have a society if we destroy the
  environment.
• Margaret Mead

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Sources

• http//www.science.smith.edu/departments/esp/
• http//www.smith.edu/physplant/greenteam/contacts.
  php
• http//www.smith.edu/newssmith/fall2005/sustain.ph
  p
• http//sophia.smith.edu/sga/morecomminfo.phpCS
• http//www.mtholyoke.edu/offices/comm/press/releas
  es/sustain.shtml