Untitled Document

Note to the reader: If pressed for time please read the introduction (pg 2), request (pg 3-5) priority initiatives (pg. 23) and timeline (pg. 28-29). Each sub-section of the plan has bulleted sentences -- () bullets indicate successful past projects or noteworthy facts, (·) bullets are student recommendations

Yale University students graduate into a world of rapid environmental change and unprecedented complexity. Those leaving Yale, including future leaders and environmental experts, enjoy a world of apparently unlimited possibility. This world, however, faces tangible and irreversible environmental consequences, such as the loss of biodiversity, the depletion of natural resources, and global atmospheric change.

As students, we learn to squarely and resourcefully face tough problems. At Yale, we are given tools to navigate an immense quantity of information in order to find success in an array of established areas, such as the natural and environmental health sciences, economics and law. We also learn to be pioneers in new disciplines like industrial ecology. Many students feel that the decisions of the next fifty years will have a critical and lasting effect on how we come to know and treat the natural environment and each other through our displacement of material.

Yale University already has solid environmental programs. Educationally, the University offers the Graduate School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, the Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies, the undergraduate Studies in the Environment secondary major, the Population Seminar Series, and teaching and research in a variety of disciplines. Operationally, the University maintains a top-notch recycling program and an energy conservation initiative. The new Environmental Science Facility (ESF) will provide unparalleled opportunities for students to become environmental experts.

Yale University is a complex human system that interfaces with the environment in many ways. Yale is uniquely positioned to develop and incorporate forward-looking environmental systems thinking into its curriculum, operations and planning. Yale University must treat the environment more seriously in its curriculum and in practice.

Some of the University's successes in environmental education and performance go unnoticed. Environmental initiatives go unrecognized. Yale's potential is sometimes left unspoken. The Yale Green Plan originates from a student desire to ascertain and convey the state of Yale's environmental presence-its education and performance-and to offer carefully considered student recommendations that, if adopted, would make Yale a truly visible environmental leader.

Everett Meyer '98 Deborah Sabater '99 Emma Tsui '99

Yale Green Plan Coordinator YSEC Co-Chair YSEC Co-chair

Request for Top-Level Guidance

We, as students, ask the Yale Corporation for a clearer commitment to improving Yale's environmental education and performance.

Clarification, Expectation, and Inspiration

This Yale Student Environmental Coalition (YSEC) sponsored Yale Green Plan could not have been authored without the input of faculty, staff and administrators. When speaking with these members of the Yale community, a common thread appeared in our discussions: uncertainty. "How can Yale best articulate its concern for the environment while genuinely reducing its environmental impact? How do we educate students about the environment, both as future experts and in general? Where do we, as Yale administrators and employees, draw the line? What projects do we pursue?"

Students have worked successfully and cooperatively to bring about positive environmental changes at Yale. The Yale community can now buy twenty percent post-consumer recycled paper through regular purchasing channels, for example. Students are pressuring departments to purchase recycled paper. The Corporation could ask that the Yale community purchase recycled paper.

Paper is one simple example of the numerous ways in which Yale can improve its environmental performance and education. We have listed suggested modifications in order of student importance in the Priority Initiatives near the end of the document. However, before we begin these improvements, it is important to ensure that we have an accurate representation of Yale's current situation as regards the environment. YSEC would encourage Yale to assess its environmental impact by surveying the faculty, students and staff. This would allow Yale to ascertain its true performance in these areas.

The Yale Corporation shapes four formative years in the lives of undergraduate students. Through its commitment to the environment, the Yale Corporation can sway students toward a more inventive, objective and pragmatic outlook. This is important as we debate the nature of the future with one another-and with ourselves. The Yale Corporation decides what life skills we will carry into the future. It is at Yale that we hope to learn the life skills for the stewardship of the natural world and the creation of a sustainable, just society.

Establish an Advisory Committee on the Environment

Another theme that we discovered in our discussions with members of the Yale community was an almost universal acknowledgment of the potential benefit of an advisory committee on the environment. Such a committee, composed of faculty, staff, administrators, alumni advisors, and students, could provide a focal point for improving Yale's environmental performance. The composition of this committee would allow a variety of environmental concerns to be addressed.

The committee could assist Yale's directors in implementing environmental demonstration projects. It could also provide assistance to a departmental purchasing agent in determining the relative environmental impact of two comparable products. The committee could provide Yale with a long-range vision, goals and benchmarks, and the expertise to implement the environmental changes that Yale must, eventually, undergo. This committee would foster environmental leadership at Yale as a nexus of environmental expertise.

Participation in Environmental Initiatives

Many national and international declarations and guidelines for sustainability are signed by large corporations and higher educational institutions. The Yale Corporation could assist the Yale community in the goal of making Yale an environmental leader by signing or endorsing such a document. We provide summary information about these documents in the Supplementary Documents section. They include: CERES, ISO 14000, and The Talloires Declaration.

Environmental Mission Statement

If no single environmental declaration suited Yale, the Yale Corporation could create and adopt their own environmental mission statement.

Incentives for Improving Environmental Performance

As part of Yale's initiative towards greater environmental efficiency, an incentives system should be implemented that would encourage departments to make improvements. Such a system would proportionately reward these departments for their efforts. The savings produced by a department that increased energy efficiency or purchased less through more material reuse would be returned in full or in major part to the department. This would provide departments with the incentives to improve their performance in return for extra funding for projects.

Request for a Written Response

We ask the Corporation and/or the Administration to respond to this student authored Yale Green Plan with its own long-term environmental plan or outline for Yale University within the next academic year.

Education and Curriculum

Yale University provides a strong liberal arts education for the leaders of the future. Yale's environmental curriculum profoundly shapes the ability of future environmental problem-solvers. Improving undergraduate environmental education must therefore remain a priority. In an article appearing in the December, 1996 Yale Alumni Magazine, President Levin stated: "Strengthening our undergraduate program in environmental studies is ... an important priority."

The University is currently assessing its undergraduate environmental education. Does Yale incorporate the necessary ingredients into its curriculum in order for its students to face the towering environmental challenges of the modern world? Does the average Yale graduate have a basic understanding of environmental problems such as climate change? Do students who wish to become environmental experts encounter adequate educational options? What would an environmentally-minded prospective student think about Yale's program?

As part of the Green Plan, YSEC conducted a student survey (n = 50) on environmental education (see Supporting Documents). YSEC hopes to help identify and remedy the weaknesses in the current undergraduate environmental education.

The health of the environment is a common concern that excites students. Even the most ardent concern, however, is not sufficient to effect environmental change; education is a crucial part of the equation. Since the environment is a subject that crosses traditional academic disciplines, it is easy for students to feel lost. It is also easy for students who attempt to become environmental experts to gain broad but superficial knowledge. Yale must therefore work to ensure that students can think and act on a broad multi-disciplinary scale while retaining deep and substantive knowledge.

Yale students will be among the leaders of a generation that has the potential to forge a sustainable, just society. We are stewards of the natural world, and need our undergraduate education to help provide us with the skills and experience required to help fulfill this role. There is a demonstrated need and desire for Yale to improve its environmental education, especially with regard to the environmental sciences.

Studies in the Environment

Founded in 1983, the undergraduate Studies in the Environment Program (SE) is unique among its peer programs at other academic institutions, in that Yale students can only adopt the Studies in the Environment major as a second major. Students are thus able to maintain the disciplinary depth of a primary major while learning to work in a broader environmental context through SE, but adding a second major is difficult for undergraduates and may present a significant barrier to majoring in SE.

Participants in the major are strongly encouraged to tie the senior research for their primary major with the SE senior paper. Eight SE majors will graduate in 1998. An estimated twenty students will graduate from the program in 1999. There are currently forty-one students officially registered in the program. SE has 127 alumni.

The Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies (YIBS) has housed SE since 1991. SE is endowed through the Bingham Foundation and the Donnelley Foundation, and operates off of yearly returns.

The SE program offers a powerful, if underutilized, mechanism for a strong inter-disciplinary environmental undergraduate program. The SE major blends essential scientific training with crucial non-scientific education. Both the beauty and the potential weakness of the major lie in the fact that it depends on courses in other departments for student education. SE currently cross-lists twenty courses. Next year it will only have one course of its own, an upper-level junior seminar.

This year SE changed the senior colloquium to a junior seminar.

· Changes should be incorporated into the environmental sciences offerings so that they dovetail the SE program.

· More resources should be provided to SE, including faculty time, secretarial support, equipment and funding for student projects.

· We strongly urge The University to endow professors for SE.

· Funding to graduate schools for students who wish to take graduate level courses should be provided.

· Enable SE should be given financial support for both environmental programs in other majors and departments that offer joint courses with SE.

· Offer a Yale-based course that allows students to research and help solve environmental problems within the University operations or in the New Haven community.

Environmental Sciences & Expertise

Yale stands at the forefront of education in the environmental sciences at the graduate and professional school level, but this is not the case for undergraduates, who face a patchwork environmental science curriculum. This past semester, a number of students and faculty voiced their concern, with some asking for a new environmental sciences major. Three existing programs are currently considering environmental science tracks: Engineering and Applied Science, Geology and Geophysics, and the new Ecology and Evolution Department. Yale should extend its overall excellence in the environmental sciences to include undergraduates.

The Yale College Dean's Office is actively investigating options for improving the undergraduate environmental sciences.

·The University needs to financially support undergraduate environmental sciences.

· The three independent environmental science tracks could be fit with the Studies in the Environment Program in a "special track" combined major.

· Architecture students at the undergraduate and graduate level should be taught elements of design for the environment.

· The Yale College Dean's Office could investigate offering five-year B.A. (Geology) / M.E.S. (Forestry) track.

Environmental Literacy

Yale undergraduates have many options when looking to further their environmental awareness. YSEC identified over fifty courses with noteworthy environmental content. However, there are some student-identified areas of environmental studies that are not addressed in the present course offerings (see Table). When we asked students if they thought that Yale sufficiently integrates the environment into its curriculum, only 20% of respondents answered "yes." Environmental issues can and should be incorporated into courses that are not specifically "environmental."

The Yale College Dean's Office is assessing the adequacy of the basic environmental knowledge (literacy) conferred by the undergraduate educational experience.

Many faculty are acting independently to fill gaps or provide an environmental context to their course.

Yale faculty members already meet regularly in an environmental discussion group.

· Yale should expand environmental course offerings, possibly adding those identified in this plan.

· A campus program, such as the Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies (YIBS), could provide faculty with resources to tease out and teach the environmental dimension of their particular courses.

Research Opportunities

Interdisciplinary top-level undergraduate research opportunities that relate the natural world to human activity allow students to cement and supplement the knowledge that they have gained in the classroom. There is a need for greater undergraduate student research options in environmental studies and the environmental sciences at Yale.

Students can conduct research during the semester or over the summer. Semesterly research will occur through new field courses. Work study positions provide a beneficial vehicle for environmental research that pertains to community problems (such as lead poisoning). The Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies, the School of Forestry, the School of Medicine, the School of Public Health, and a number of departments conduct environmental research and should have room for interested students.

Summer research strengthens and diversifies students' perspectives of real-world environmental problems. There exists strong student sentiment in favor of Yale devoting additional attention to funding for undergraduate summer research.

Hitachi America and YIBS give out a total of $20,000 per summer for independent research projects. Over the past four years, an average of eight Organismal Biology students and six Studies in the Environment students have received funding every summer.

The Montgomery Award for rising seniors is another source of summer funding. It provides a $500 maximum grant to defray the cost of research connected with the senior paper.

The Director of YIBS, Professor Elizabeth Vrba, expresses great interest in opening up undergraduate research opportunities.

Undergraduate Career Services maintains a bank of summer environmental research opportunities.

Professor Graedel at the School of Forestry has obtained funding for one, possibly two, forty-hour-per-week, ten-dollar-an-hour student position(s) during the summer of 1998, quantifying Yale's flow of materials.

· A program like Professor Graedel's could be institutionalized.

· Yale could compile a compendium of on-campus environmental research opportunities for undergraduates.

· Yale could establish partnerships with institutes that offer unique summer environmental education, such as the Columbia-run Biosphere II program.

Study Abroad

Undergraduate students who wish to study the environment are essentially bound to the Yale campus, since Yale offers no foreign exchange or domestic exchange program in environmental studies or the environmental sciences. Many Yale students must take a semester off to pursue academic interests in the environment. Study-abroad options are crucial, due to the global nature of environmental problems and their solutions, which span countries and cultures. The most striking lessons about who we are in relation to the environment may become apparent when students step outside of the U.S. experiences gained at field sites in Africa, Europe or Asia cannot be replicated in a New Haven classroom.

The School of Forestry maintains extensive overseas research, in such countries as Costa Rica and Guatemala. Administrators at the School of Forestry expressed a willingness to include undergraduates in these study abroad programs.

· Yale should establish partnerships with other academic or research institutions to expand the undergraduate educational experience across geographic boundaries.

· Yale should ease the accreditation process for courses taken abroad.

Electronic Environmental News Bulletin

While campus publications, such as the Yale College Bulletin, Yale Daily News, and Yale Herald, provide the Yale community with an excellent calendar of events around campus, a weekly or biweekly environmental electronic email bulletin could help students focus their environmental interests. Combing the above publications every day or week in search of environmental information can prove unfeasible. An electronic message could help publicize notable events like the Population Seminar Series speakers. Harvard University operates the Harvard Environmental Newsletter via email, updating their community on a weekly basis.

· Yale should establish the YEEB (Yale Environmental Email Bulletin) for student, faculty and staff subscribers. This could be maintained by YIBS or by SE.

Buildings and Planning

How does Yale articulate its concern for the environment? The construction, ownership and operation of Yale's buildings, facilities and campus as a whole constitute a large part of Yale's environmental impact. This impact is measurable both in terms of environmental performance, such as energy efficiency or quantities of waste generated, and in less tangible influences on the quality of life of those who interact with Yale's campus. An environmentally-sound green campus initiative would enhance the quality of life in and around Yale while providing superior environmental performance.

While a "greening" of facilities suggests additional costs to Yale in implementation, we believe that Yale is in a position to realize continued cost savings from investments in greening its campus, buildings and facilities. In contrast to speculative builders who stand to gain little from considering maintenance, quality of life or environmental performance of property, Yale as an institutional builder and manager maintains a long-term relationship with its physical plant. Small and incremental changes to make the plant greener, just as much as big-ticket green projects, will add to cost-savings or improved quality of life for many years. The sooner these changes are begun, the more Yale and its students, faculty, and other community members will benefit over time.

Yale's building and planning staff are in the early stages of drafting a Campus Framework Plan. This Framework Plan pulls the vision for the campus together and includes an environmental consultant. It is important that each of the operating areas, from Science Hill to the residential colleges, think about and implement environmental design and use recycled materials.

Yale students learn by the simple act of physically being at Yale. This so-called "shadow curriculum" teaches profound lessons. Students may sit in a classroom that has no heating control or they may notice a lack of environmentally-designed buildings at Yale. If Yale used recycled materials publicly in its projects, then students would start thinking about materials flow and waste reduction in practical terms. Yale's architecture is itself inspirational, but no less inspirational is Yale's respect for historic buildings and its creative reuse of older structures for new purposes. Incorporating a sensitivity for the environment into the structure of Yale can only enhance the inspirational and educational nature of Yale's buildings and facilities, as well as saving the University money.

Environmental Campus, Buildings and Facilities

Yale's budget for facilities and maintenance for 1997-1998 was $252 million. Of this, $35 million went to new construction and $163 million went to renovation and maintenance. These figures should hold for the near future, especially as Yale benefits from a successful "And for Yale..." fundraising campaign that generated $500 million for building maintenance/construction.

By dollar volume, renovation and maintenance warrant the greatest area that could be served by green construction and water/energy efficiency.

New buildings are more visible, however, and should be built with the full life-cycle in mind-construction, usage and disassembly or conversion. The greatest cost of many buildings occurs during the usage phase. Environmental design has, in many cases, resulting in a return on investment because of reduced operating costs. Most buildings are not constructed with disassembly in mind. By planning ahead, Yale could position itself to realize returns as markets develop for recycled building material.

As students, we learn from the environment around us. Greater visibility for environmental performance issues in large and small projects alike will allow us to learn more about how we relate to the natural world and to one another.

Yale employs consultants familiar with environmental design/construction.

The Ashmund Street co-generation plant improves the overall energy efficiency of Yale's heating and electric power.

· We ask campus planners and The Corporation to introduce a green campus initiative into the Campus Planning Framework. One goal would be to have a building by 2003 that is a net energy exporter.

· Yale should recycled or recyclable building materials when feasible. Construction at Yale should use materials that are produced with less energy and waste when price and quality are comparable.

· Yale should conduct life-cycle assessments of building and renovation projects as a regular practice.

· Yale should incorporate an endowment meant to pay for the operating and future renovation of the specific building end product.

· Consider Yale as a service-industrial complex: one building's waste or by-product is another's food.

· The Corporation should establish an advisory committee on the environment, composed of faculty, staff and students, which could address specific questions from buildings and planning (and other programs) with their expertise and/or research.

· Yale should establish a system to benchmark the best practice in green design which could be shared with other universities in a consortia. New software, like the Green Building Advisor, could aid in this process.

Environmental Contracting Clause

An effective and immediate route toward improving Yale's environmental presence is asking contractors to be as environmentally-minded as possible. Yale could make the environmental performance of a company or the environmental impact of a product a deciding factor in choosing between material of comparable quality and price. Instating a purchasing clause in contracting would have a multiple effect, giving businesses an incentive to reduce environmental impact.

One question that students ask when they pass a renovation project and notice the piled rubble is-where does that stuff go? Building and construction waste streams are mostly handled by contractors. Yale currently does not contractually require companies to be as environmentally responsible as possible. Certainly Yale cannot know every detail of the hundreds of companies it conducts business with on a daily basis, however making the environment a criteria of selection is something that we, as students, believe is feasible and beneficial for Yale. The University has a unique opportunity to lead by example, helping to foster sustainable commerce and industrial ecology.

· Yale could request that its contractors inform them of the types and amounts of construction waste generated, ask them to recycle construction wastes, and/or institute an in-house materials recovery program (guide-books and software are available).

· Clarifying the environmental impact of a product or service could be a part of the task assigned to an environmental advisory committee.

Environmental Sciences Facility

By the new millennium, Yale University will have a $35 million, 100,000 square foot Environmental Sciences Facility (ESF). This represents a remarkable commitment to environmental science education. Edward Bass '67 ART '72 provided a $20 million donation to build the ESF. The University will commit $10 million to the project. David Shwartz and GSI Architects are designing the facility.

The ESF will be constructed where the Bingham Laboratories building now sits, at the corner of Whitney and Sachem, adjacent to the Peabody Museum (see Supplementary Documents). A large portion of the ESF space will be used to preserve the Peabody Museum collection and making it more accessible to students on an educational basis. Strict climate control is necessary to maintain the collection and, as a result, this may make the ESF energy-intensive. Therefore, Yale can realize large savings by emphasizing energy efficiency.

The ESF will contain fully-functional computer and "wet" laboratories. Faculty members from geology, anthropology, forestry, biology, and chemistry will have office and/or research space in the new building. Some YIBS Centers will also make the ESF their home.

The ESF will give undergraduate students an unprecedented educational experience.

The ESF will further improve the environmental science conducted at Yale.

The ESF fundraising effort has been successful, although it remains unfinished.

·The ESF should incorporate as much environmental design and environmental features (efficient machinery, recycled building material, use of natural lighting, energy efficient windows, design of an energy efficient exterior envelope, etc.) as is feasible.

· The ESF should be built with the life-cycle costs in mind.

Demonstration Projects

Imagine taking a tour of Yale as a visitor, one where the guide pauses to describe a point of pride-an environmentally designed structure, a nondescript but amazing co-generation power plant, or an archway made from recycled material. We would like to see Yale teach through its campus-teach us to forge a sustainable future.

Over the past few semesters, groups of Yale students have pushed for Yale to build a "green building," one that from the outset of construction incorporates the latest in environmental design. Such projects offer high fundraising potential and unquestionable visibility. A green building project would send a strong positive message to students and to the Yale community at large. The idea appears to be popular among students.

The ESF could have fit the bill for a flagship green building, but it was envisioned and moved to the status of a building project before other universities began to build green buildings and help create a general awareness of the merits of environmental design, life-cycle thinking and "green construction." The ESF will carry some environmentally-friendly features, and deserves praise for the massive improvement in environmental education that it will engender. While the ESF may not have been the right construction project to serve as a flagship environmental building, another project should fill this role.

Yale may find that it can reduce its environmental impact and increase its environmental presence more effectively through a series of projects than through a single entirely green building. If so, Yale should communicate this to students and the Yale community. A campus green initiative with specific demonstration projects could save money and educate the Yale community.

The Ashmund Street Co-generation power plant greatly increases Yale's energy efficiency.

Yale alumni have offered their environmental expertise to help with project design.

· A prominent "green building" would simultaneously demonstrate many environmental improvements in green construction, lower Yale's environmental impact relative to conventional new building construction and provide a point of reference for discussion and demonstration of environmental commitment at Yale. The planned Chemical Research Building is one possible opportunity for implementing this idea.

· The use and display of active or passive solar energy could save money and educate students.

· Similar displays could accompany new installations of systems that reduce water use or of recycled gray-water systems.

· "Green" renovation projects would attract attention and decrease Yale's environmental impact. If green, the future renovation of the Art and Architecture Building could have these effects.

· Systems that allow user control of building climate, would necessarily serve as direct lessons on the relationship of built environment and individual comfort.

Farmington Canal Greenway

The Farmington Canal was built in 1822 in cooperation with James Hillhouse and Eli Whitney. The canal runs from New Haven to Northampton, Massachusetts; two blocks of it pass through the Yale campus, from Prospect Street to Temple Street, near the Department of Undergraduate Health. It served as a canal for twenty years and then was turned into a railway in the middle of the nineteenth century. It ran as a railroad until 1982, when a flood damaged the tracks and the canal route was abandoned.

Soon after the canal was abandoned, a local group called the Farmington Canal Rail-to-Trail Association was formed with the intent of seeing the canal turned into a public pathway. Their efforts have been very successful-they have managed to acquire state and federal funds for the development of the canal, and sections of the canal conversion in Hamden and Cheshire have already been completed. Here in New Haven, an engineering firm has been hired to make plans for the four blocks of the canal owned by the city. The city allocated approximately $800,000 for this development.

Yale's two blocks of the canal are crucial in connecting the northern part of the trail to downtown New Haven. An above-grade, sidewalk alternative route would fail to provide city residents with their desired escape from urban environs, but could be implemented as a last resort provided that pedestrian overpasses were constructed. The trail would provide a safe, pleasant alternative to city streets for members of the Yale community. This would be a prominent visual attraction to admission candidates.

Greenways are becoming a major tool for effective urban planning; the Farmington Canal could be instrumental in New Haven's revitalization. We understand that campus planners are concerned that the canal will limit campus building options; specifically, that it will prevent basement tunnels between buildings from being constructed. The Farmington Canal is a wonderful recreational resource for Yale and the New Haven community, and should not be overlooked.

Planning has already begun to convert the areas of the canal around the Yale campus.

· Yale should encourage further development of greenways and trails in the New Haven area and on Yale property.

· Pedestrian overpasses between buildings could be used in place of subterranean tunnels in the canal area.

· Yale should agree to allow the development of the trail to continue through its two blocks, connecting the commerce on Whitney Avenue and Audobon Street to the rest of the city.

Bike Accessibility

Riding a bike to class sometimes feels like a perilous adventure. Students, faculty and staff who ride bikes dodge traffic and pedestrians. Many students would like to ride bikes but do not feel comfortable doing so. Faculty, staff, and off-campus students might choose to bike rather than drive if Yale were more bike-accessible. Yale is an urban campus, so adding bike lanes may not be facile. However, bike lanes or other campus features would make Yale more attractive and more environmental, especially if faculty, staff and students used bikes instead of automobiles. Research scientists might feel more confident bicycling from Science Hill to the Medical School and vice-versa.

The Yale Police now use bicycles more frequently, reducing the use of motor vehicles and increasing officer capability.

The proposed Farmington Canal Greenway could be used by faculty and staff to bike to work.

· Yale should investigate and seriously consider implementing options to make the campus more bike accessible.

Landscaping

Though it may be surprising to some, poor landscaping can have grave environmental outcomes. However, measures such as reduction of pesticides, reduction of energy used in maintenance, composting and careful choice of the types of flora used in design can significantly reduce environmental impact.

· Yale could use GIS software from the Center for Earth Observation in combination with student projects to help improve landscaping.

Materials Flow

A massive challenge facing environmental scientists lies in understanding how materials are displaced by man and how they flow through the natural world. This is a crucial key to developing a sustainable society that acts as a steward of the natural world.

Yale is a leading academic institution, but it is also a multi-million dollar service industry. There are many opportunities to reduce waste streams and recover materials. Computer recycling is a prime example of recovery that would benefit Yale financially. Yale can improve its environmental presence while minimizing its impact. This is a valuable lesson for students.

Yale itself can serve as a field site for students and faculty who wish to understand how materials flow through human systems, and how to reconfigure those systems to minimize waste and maximize efficiency.

Assessment of Material Flow

The first step to an effective materials flow strategy is to attempt to quantify flows and stocks of materials, such as computers and rubble from renovations. Materials flow assessments are still being developed as experts improve upon environmental systems thinking. The goal of a sustainable society is to recycle most materials while minimizing the amount of irrecoverable toxins, such as lead, released into the environment. As ecological commerce and industrial ecology develop, Yale can position itself to realize financial gains. The first step is through a material flow assessment.

One, possibly two, 40h/wk $10 per hour student position(s) to quantify Yale's flow of material are open for the summer of 1998.

· Graduate students at the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies should be encouraged to use Yale-based examples. The undergraduate SE major could also encourage students to focus upon an aspect of Yale's operations for a course or senior research project.

· An advisory committee on the environment could assist Yale in tracking materials flow and/or assisting Yale in minimizing waste.

Solid Waste Management

In compliance with Connecticut State Law and City of New Haven ordinance, Yale University began a recycling program in 1990 for office paper, newspaper, glass and metal food containers, cardboard, scrap metal, and leaves. The program has been expanded to accept other items such as colored paper, plastic bottles, SNET telephone directories, computers and lab plastics.

Due to these efforts, Yale presently recycles 16% of its solid waste. This is on par with university recycling programs elsewhere but far less than the recycling rates of greater than 50% achieved by some programs. Through recycling and source reduction efforts, such as Campus Mail Service's Mail Reduction Program, Yale has reduced its trash by twenty-three percent since 1988. This is especially commendable considering that Yale's population has grown by fifteen percent during that ten year period.

Yale has given birth to Medical Supply recycling via the REMEDY program.

Yale is closing the recycling loop through the purchase of recycled products.

· Yale should purchase more recycled and recyclable products.

· Yale should expand recycling program to include items not required by law.

· The Corporation should issue a policy statement encouraging recycling and source reduction.

· Yale should include in building contracts a requirement that construction and demolition debris be subsequently recycled.

· A campus-wide packaging minimization effort that includes asking for the most environmentally responsible packaging would reduce Yale's environmental impact while out-sourcing implementation.

Computer Recycling

The computer is finally helping to reduce paper use. The advent of on-line payroll, email and the first stages of Yale's Project X are helping to reverse the trend of computer-spawned paper proliferation. The quantity of computers themselves, however, is now a growing problem. The Yale Administration estimates that there are approximately 12,000 computers on campus in use by faculty, staff, students and departments. A student survey of the Super-Users Group that purchases computers corroborates this figure. We include one monitor, keyboard and CPU as a "computer." There exists even more computer hardware than this though, such as scanners, printers and speakers.

The current trend-and for some departments, the policy-is to consider computers obsolete after four years and to then replace them. This suggests that Yale needs to discard, donate, reallocate or recycle 3,000 computers each year. This figure could amount to 120 tons. Yale's current computer recycling program is operated by Yale Recycling, an undergraduate organization. The students collected more than six tons of computers during the 1997 academic year, perhaps 150 computers with monitors and peripherals. Through the program, Yale currently sells its defunct computer hardware to a local computer recycling business.

Computers are often reused within departments as they are given to post-doctorates, graduate students and faculty. Retrofitted computers abound at Yale as email kiosks. Around 100 computers, most fully operable, were donated to programs and individuals in the New Haven community through the Office of New Haven Affairs and the Yale Macintosh Users Group. Nevertheless, there are probably close to a thousand computers discarded or kept in limited storage areas on campus.

One authority on computer recycling estimated that as much as sixty-five percent of all unused computers become "closetfill" because staff are unwilling to discard them at the end of useful life. If Yale follows this national trend, then every year an additional 2,000 pieces of computer hardware (eighty tons) may be hidden on campus by well-intentioned persons hoping for a better end than the dumpster for what had been expensive purchases.

As a part of an Industrial Ecology course project at the School of Forestry, students are investigating the growing computer recycling market and Yale's practices of purchase, use and disposal for computers. While they have yet to make their final report, preliminary findings offer point to specific recommendations.

Yale reuses, recycles and donates computers. Yale students are employed to recycle computers.

The student survey indicates that sixty-percent of computer purchasers would be willing to make computer recyclability a purchasing consideration.

· Estimates indicate that through publicity and education, Yale can double the number of computers going to Yale Recycling in the next few years.

· Computer leasing presents a viable environmentally-friendly and cost-effective option for the Yale community. Computer companies that know they will receive expired computers would probably think more carefully about end-of-life disposal costs and making a profit from recyclable components.

· Cathode ray tube monitors contain leaded glass. Monitors may become regulated in the future. By thinking ahead, Yale could avoid unnecessary costs-even profit from its "dead" hardware.

· The current computer recycling program loses money ($2,000/year), however the program is important and should be nurtured in its early stages, especially as the costs go directly to paying students. Yale could capture potential profits in four years.

· Yale could consider hiring a staff member to facilitate electronics recycling.

Dining Services

The Yale University Dining Hall services (YUDH) has already initiated several changes to its operations to improve environmental performance. YUDH is receptive to student concerns and over the past four years has greatly improved its vegetarian and vegan options. In the 1996-1997 academic year, YUDH started purchasing post-consumer recycled napkins.

YUDH could purchase organic produce and organically-raised meats from the growing organic market. Organic foods presently cost more than foods grown with synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, and are not as readily available. However, the rapid growth of the market, greater than 300 percent in six years, should continue. Large-quantity buyers such as Yale will be able to enter the market soon.

Markets for local non-organic foods, such as apples, already exist. By making appropriate specifications to its distributors, Yale should be able to support local agriculture and reduce the environmental effects associated with long distance transportation without sacrificing quality or price. Yale can further its efforts to reduce the impact of food waste on the environment by exploring food composting. The Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection offers technical advice and experience for large-scale composting operations.

YUDH purchases unbleached napkins made from post-consumer recycled content.

YUDH eliminated disposables from normal undergraduate operations and gave out reusable mugs.

· The use of pulpers would reduce the waste-load of food material in the Long Island Sound.

· YUDH should compost food waste.

· YUDH should purchase organically grown food when feasible.

· Students would enjoy locally grown food as allowed by seasons (e.g. apples).

Laboratory Waste

Yale University operates laboratories for student education, faculty research, and as a part of its tertiary medical care service. These laboratories produce substantial material and chemical waste streams, including biohazardous waste. By tracking the procurement and disposal of the biological and chemical reagents used, a better understanding can be gained of the materials flow throughout the university. Laboratory waste minimization is contingent upon a knowledge of what reagents are acquired, and in what quantity. With more careful documentation of lab materials flow, Yale University will show that it has a commitment to the health of the community and the well-being of the environment.

Undergraduate chemistry laboratory courses are increasingly replacing macroscale (gram) experiments with microscale (milli or microgram) experiments that minimize the quantity of chemicals used.

· Laboratories use an enormous quantity of non-contaminated plastic, much of which is discarded when it could be recycled.

· It is recommended that installment of a tracking system run by the office of Environmental Health and Safety (EH&S) be allowed.

· A stock room of unused chemicals could be created as part of a reuse system that would lower costs and waste.

Purchasing

Taking the environment into consideration when making purchasing decisions is one of many ways Yale can reduce its environmental impact. While Yale must continue to buy a large variety and quantity of items in order to function, it does have the ability to choose its purchases carefully. After a period of student encouragement, the Purchasing department began to offer a recycled copy paper option to departments in the spring of 1998, in addition to a number of other office supplies containing recycled materials. The widespread use of these products and the addition of more products like these to the Purchasing options will help to complete the recycling loop and further confirm Yale's position as an environmental leader.

As Yale, and other institutions with notable economics research, begin to understand how to internalize market externalities, the University can assist the process by making its suppliers more conscious of ways to minimize environmental damage.

The Environment as a Purchasing Criteria

Currently, departments choose their office supplies on an individual basis. Some of them choose recycled and earth-friendly products, most of them do not. Making the environment a purchasing criteria-that is, strongly encouraging each Yale department to buy and use recycled products-would help reduce Yale's environmental impact, or ecological footprint, in an efficient and far-reaching manner.

Yale offers recycled and other earth-friendly products through Corporate Express

·Yale should require that environmental concerns be considered in purchasing decisions.

· Yale should track recycled-product purchases.

· Yale should establish procurement procedures to ensure the purchase of only Energy Star label computers and office equipment.

· The Corporation could include a suggestion that departments choose recycled and earth-friendly products with the Corporate Express order forms

· The Yale Corporation could encourage Purchasing to expand the number of recycled and earth-friendly products the service offers.

Paper and Office Supplies

Much of Yale's environmental impact is created by its use of paper and office supplies. In providing a substantial portion of the university with its paper and office supplies, Yale can choose products which create reduced environmental effects during their manufacture, use and disposal. Currently, through its supplier, Corporate Express, Yale offers a number of office products containing recycled materials. These products include binders, writing pads, message pads and one brand of recycled copy paper.

Yale purchases paper towels and bathroom tissue containing at least 40% post-consumer recycled material, in accordance with federal standards.

Yale offers recycled paper and recycled office supplies through its Corporate Express supplier.

· The Corporation could encourage departments to purchase recycled paper.

· Purchasing should allow Corporate Express to offer a more cost-competitive brand of recycled copy paper in place of its current offering.

· The Yale letterhead paper should be printed on recycled stock.

· Yale should ensure that all photocopiers have the capacity to make double-sided copies.

· Departments should purchase fax machines which use copy paper, in place of those which require glossy fax paper.

Organic Cotton Clothing

Conventional methods of cotton production dictate the use of some of the worst pesticides available. For instance, bromoxynil, recently licensed by the EPA for use on cotton, causes developmental abnormalities in laboratory mammals and may cause birth defects in humans. The EPA also considers the herbicide to be a potential carcinogen. In California, ten to seventeen million pounds of pesticides were applied to cotton each year for the past ten years, and as a result California cotton farms are the third largest source of reported pesticide illnesses.

In Southern cotton-producing states, cotton production is the largest source of contamination from insecticides. Worldwide, although it occupies only three percent of total farmland, cotton uses twenty-five percent of the world's chemical fertilizers and pesticides. These chemicals damage beneficial organisms and can harm humans. Despite this heavy chemical use, weeds and pests continue to develop resistance to major cotton pesticides, creating an endless cycle of increasing applications and growing resistance. Other options exist, including using natural predators to control pests.

According to scientists, biological control, which eliminates the need for poisonous chemicals, works better than the chemicals ever did. Organic growers also use rotation and trap crops to eliminate the need for fertilizers, which can leach off fields and run into streams, leading to eutrophication. By working so that insignia clothing is made from organic cotton, Yale would not only be lessening its environmental impact but would also be leading the way in environmentally-sound corporate decision-making.

Yale trademark garments made from organic cotton can now be introduced to the Yale campus

Yale will approve licensing of Yale name on products made from organic cotton if it is approached by a store willing to sell those products.

Yale markets its insignia clothing overseas, and is expanding its operations in the Pacific Rim.

· Yale insignia clothing could be produced from organic cotton.

Energy and Utilities

Yale University, as a large teaching and research institution, forms a vital component of New Haven. As a result, it must take action to ensure the welfare of the community that it affects through various decisions involving the use of energy for the university. Among these decisions are the use of lighting systems, heating systems, vehicle fleets and the resources used to fuel the operation of these systems. These types of decisions have a great impact on Yale students and New Haven residents through a number of channels, one of which is pollutant emissions that lower air quality.

Energy Sources

The renovations that began in 1996 of the two power plants, Sterling Power Plant and the Central Power Plant, are a large step forward in Yale's progress toward becoming a more environmentally-conscious institution. The renovations slated to be completed by the spring of 1998 would allow the power plants to share the burden of energy production for their defined areas, thereby utilizing any surplus energy and increasing efficiency. Further improvement of energy production for lighting, heating and cooling is also scheduled to begin testing during the spring of 1998 with the new Central Plant Cogeneration Facility.

Energy produced by Yale's two operational power plants and the energy commissioned from United Illuminating Company, Yale's energy provider, will be channeled into the Central Plant and from there will be distributed throughout the campus. The results of this modernization would be the increased efficiency of fuel conversion from 60% to 90%, and an 85% reduction in nitrous oxide emissions due to the switch to natural gas. The cost of energy commissioned from United Illuminating is between $.12-.14 per kilowatt-hour, while the cost of energy produced by the new cogenerating system is $0.045 cents per kilowatt-hour-a significant reduction. Yale could realize additional financial savings and reduced environmental impact by implementing fuel cell and solar energy technologies.

Creation of the Central Plant Cogeneration Facility improves Yale's energy efficiency and saves money. This could be opened for student and visitor tours.

The use of low-flow shower heads in dormitory bathrooms reduces water usage.

The Plant Engineering Department is developing a network, MAXNET, that accesses data on building utility meters and power plants.

· Yale should hasten the gradual switch from #2 and #4 fuel oil to natural gas to reduce pollutant emissions.

· We strongly urge Yale to use fuel-cell accumulators and solar panels as a renewable energy source and as a way to realize returns on an initial investment due to energy savings. United Technologies, in Connecticut, is developing fuel cells -- perhaps Yale could form a partnership with this or other companies.

· We strongly urge Yale to purchase more "green" energy as deregulation pushes prices down through competition.

· A renewable energy source quota should be instituted that would go into effect after a certain lag-time and increase at a predetermined rate. This will put Yale in a good position for the next 400 years as fossil fuel reserves are reduced. In the timeline section we establish percent targets. Students strongly feel that Yale should take measures today to prepare for tomorrow.

· Yale may want to pursue the implementation of its renewable energy targets within a consortium of educational institutions, offering comparative assessments and quick dissemination of effective practices.

Lighting

The use of more efficient systems and resources allow for two important improvements of the university. These are the reduction of operating costs and the reduction of pollutant emissions such as SO2 and CO2 that endanger the environment and human living standards.

The University, through the Plant Engineering Department, is currently in the process of retrofitting many of its campus buildings with more efficient lighting systems. As a result of the 102 already completed projects there has been a reduction of 10,811,014 kilowatt-hours of electrical energy used by the university. In direct correlation, the following quantities of pollutants have been prevented: 11,892,119 pounds of CO2; 39,249,953 grams of SO2; and 15,135,420 grams of Nox. Already, reductions are substantial and they will continue to grow as renovations around campus continue.

Commitment to the Environmental Protection Agency's Green Lights program has led to a retrofit 90% of Yale's buildings with more efficient lighting systems.

Future plans to renovate many of the campus buildings and include efficient lighting systems will lead to greater savings and the reduction of emissions.

· Yale should allow more flexibility with payback periods (longer than the current average of four years) when assessing proposed projects that include the installation of more efficient systems, such as lighting.

· Facilities can increase the use of motion sensors in common areas such as laundry rooms, residential college common rooms, stock rooms, and other areas.

· Yale should be encouraged to use natural daylight to reduce costs and improve productivity.

Heating, Ventilating and Air-Conditioning (HVAC)

Heating is an issue that directly affects students as well as faculty and staff working and living in university buildings. There is a popular consensus among these groups that Yale's heating system does not maximize their comfort, either through excess heating or the lack of sufficient heating. Yale's heating system is, for the most part, outmoded and inefficient. Recent renovations of the system in some buildings, such as McClellan Hall, have not shown significant improvement.

Heating constitutes a large part of the university's energy use and, as a result, is a large percentage of the energy bill. Wasteful heating leads to greater costs and greater pollutant emissions due to fossil fuel burning. As part of the renovations currently in effect and those being planned for the future, improvements in the heating system are being taken into account. Yet, YSEC does not feel that sufficient emphasis is given to this problem.

· Yale should incorporate the life-cycle cost of HVAC into building design. Carefully zone building spaces around usage requirements.

· Students should be re-employed to do building surveys and evaluations as they did in the 1980's.

· More temperature-sensitive heating systems that will reduce wasted energy.

· Yale should communicate planned improvements in heating and climate control more clearly to students.

Green Fleet-Alternative Vehicles

Ambient air quality is a concern in densely populated urban areas like New Haven. Natural gas vehicles (NGVs) offer an economically feasible option to gasoline vehicles. NGVs produce less harmful emissions. Battery, fuel cell, and solar-powered vehicles may prove more feasible in the near future. Yale could benefit by incorporating NGVs and/or other alternative energy vehicles into its operating fleet.

Yale's Physical Plant and Campus Police are assessing the benefits of converting a small number of vehicles to run on natural gas. Physical Plant and the Campus Police together operate roughly fifty vehicles. Current concerns include the low resale value of NGVs, decreased trunk space, and the potentially higher cost of fueling NGVs. The Connecticut state government provides grants to cover the cost of converting or purchasing gas vehicles. Additionally, an NGV customer base will develop over the next few years and could facilitate Yale's conversion to NGVs. The Willow Street Shell station is installing a Southern Connecticut natural gas pump which should be finished by July, providing Yale with a nearby source of natural gas for motor vehicles.

Yale actively considers using alternative vehicles that operate on a non-gasoline fuel base.

· Yale should make a public commitment to have a certain portion of all Yale-owned vehicles converted to an alternative fuel source.

· Assessing and improving the motor vehicle fuel efficiency of the current operating fleet may prove a valuable short-term goal.

What YSEC, Students and Community Can Do

YSEC understands that the process of improving environmental performance lies in the hands of the entire Yale community. This includes individual faculty, staff and students all of whom play an essential role in this process. As a student organization devoted to environmental action and education, YSEC feels that we also play an important role in this process. Therefore, we are committed to moving the Yale community to any action that would assist the Corporation in meeting these environmental goals. YSEC could help assemble a team of environmental experts or invite experts individually to help Yale in its implementation.

Realizing these environmental goals can be done through education, publicity, and improvements upon incentive systems like Green Cup. Even simple suggestions such as the use of public transportation and carpools among staff members can help to reduce traffic and prevent the need for new parking lots. Endeavors like these would result in greater environmental awareness on the part of students and faculty; an awareness which could lead towards savings on electric and water bills, as well as an increase in waste reduction and more widespread recycling.

Focus should also be placed on increasing student and faculty awareness of Yale's surroundings. In the future, students will be able to gain a sense of place through the study of Connecticut's natural history, as well as the study of watershed management and protection of the Long Island Sound. This would provide a sense of belonging to the New Haven community and a broader outlook on the environment.

Student Chosen Priority Initiatives

(1) We ask that Yale University strengthen undergraduate environmental education. The Studies in the Environment program should be given more resources, including endowed professorships, to train environmental experts. The undergraduate environmental science curriculum should be improved and imbued with a multidisciplinary emphasis. Expanding undergraduate environmental research and study abroad programs should be a University priority.

(2) We ask that the Yale Corporation establish an environmental advisory committee that will act as a focal point for environmental initiatives and a much needed resource for faculty, staff and administrators. We ask that both undergraduate and graduate students be members of this proposed committee, and recommend that faculty, staff, administrators and alumni participate as members of the committee. The committee should have the authority to provide Yale with a long-range vision, goals and benchmarks, and the expertise to implement the environmental changes that Yale must, eventually, undergo. We recommend that it report to the Corporation. This committee would foster environmental leadership at Yale as a nexus of environmental expertise.

(3) We ask that Yale University introduce a green campus initiative into its Campus Framework plan, and undertake environmental demonstration projects such as designing a green building and using recycled/recyclable materials in its renovations.

(4) We ask that Yale University continue its commitment to energy efficiency and pollutant reduction. Specifically, we ask that it adopt a renewable energy source target that will be enacted after a time-lag and will gradually increase at a predetermined rate (we recommend targets in the Timeline). The University should incorporate solar power and fuel cell technologies as they develop to offset dependence upon fossil fuels.

(5) We ask that the Yale Corporation establish contracting and purchasing clauses. These clauses should state clearly that the environmental performance of a company and the environmental impact of the product are taken into account in contracting and purchasing decisions.

(6) We ask that Yale University improve its outdoor recreational program and increase interaction with the community by making the Farmington Canal Greenway a campus feature.

(7) We ask the Yale Corporation to issue a policy statement encouraging the Yale community to purchase recycled office products, particularly twenty percent post-consumer recycled paper.

(8) We ask that Yale University continue to pursue the formation of a "green fleet" of vehicles.

(9) We ask that Yale University-affiliated businesses carry and promote a line of Yale Logo organic cotton clothing.

(10) We ask that the Yale Corporation hire an individual or assign to an employee the task of implementing a Yale Green Plan.

The Yale Green Plan is authored by the members of the Yale Student Environmental Coalition (YSEC), and represents a compilation of valuable information provided by the Yale community-undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, staff, administrators, and alumni. The Yale Green Plan offers Yale University a status report and explicit student recommendations to help the University meet the future.

YSEC is a non-profit student-run campus environmental umbrella organization founded in 1986. Current YSEC projects include community gardening, lead poisoning education and prevention, Inner-City Outings, hosting speakers, and co-sponsorship of Yale's annual Spring Fling.

YSEC has been instrumental in starting the inter-college Green Cup, fostering recycling at Yale, and retrofitting Yale Library's lighting system (resulting in $3.5 million in realized savings over this decade). In February of 1994, YSEC held the first ever international student environmental conference with 500 participants, and produced the Blueprint for a Green Campus, a ground-breaking document that offers specific measures for higher education institutions to improve their environmental presence. In 1996, YSEC published How to be Environmental at Yale and Why Bother.

The Yale Green Plan is a logical continuation of Yale's environmental heritage. It also represents a nationwide student effort to understand and green their institutes of higher education, specifically through the vehicle of an inclusive Green Plan (students at Oberlin College are completing their plan in parallel with YSEC).

As a part of its formulation, the Yale Green Plan underwent two advisory reviews. The Plan was submitted to the faculty, staff and alumni who sit on YSEC's Advisory Board, and to other faculty and staff members who expressed interest in the document. YSEC also invited Yale alumni and environmental professionals (notably experts who address questions of the environment in higher education) to comment on the Plan and endorse it if they so chose. This constituted the Yale Green Plan's External Review.

The Yale Green Plan is the next step in a history of remarkable environmental achievement on the part of the Yale community, a process that we hope will continue in a spirit of thoughtful cooperatio

Authorship

Yale Green Plan Coordinator: Everett Meyer

YSEC Co-Chairpersons: Emma Tsui and Deborah Sabater

External Review Coordinator: Matthew Runkle

Curriculum Survey: Susan Brown

Copy Editing: Rachel Rusch

YSEC Steering Committee: Ana Bentancur, Susan Brown, Jeffrey Grigg, Everett Meyer, Matthew Runkle, Rachel Rusch, Lillian Wang, Elizabeth Woyke

Authors: Susan Brown, Paul Calzada, Sevra Davis, William Durbin, Aidan McGlaze, Richard Harvell, Anne Lightbody, Everett Meyer, Matthew Runkle, Rachel Rusch, Deborah Sabater, Raphael Sperry, Emma Tsui, Lillian Wang

Special Thanks: CJ May, Yale Recycling Coordinator

Contributors: Whyndam Abrahams, Viktor Boed, Teresa Bryant, Stephanie Campbell, Marian Chertow, Jane Coppock, Martha Crawford, Robert Dincecco, Daniel Esty, Paul Francis, James Galston, Gordon Geballe, Mary Helen Goldsmith, Thomas Graedel, Andrew Graham, Pierre Hohenberg, Yusuke Kakizawa, Matthew Kronman, Roberto Meinrath, Miguel Meléndez, Fred Meyerson, Kari Nordstrom, Charles Remington, Leana Rosete, Karma Rapten, Steven Stoll, Donald Watson, Val Woods

Financial Supporters: Elizabeth Vrba, Director of the Yale Institute for Bioshperic Studies

Anthony Kronman, Dean of Yale Law School

Outstanding Endorsers: Yale College Council and the Dwight Hall Executive Committee

External Review

Throughout the revisions of the Yale Green Plan, YSEC contacted a variety of environmental experts and alumni seeking suggestions, advice and endorsements. We asked ten individuals to serve as external reviewers. We had universal endorsement from our external reviewers. Here is some of what they said:

"On the whole, this is the most thoughtful, well-organized, and generally useful set of student originated proposals to a University that I have ever seen -- on environment or anything else. It entirely avoids the all-too-common needless confrontationalism that so many such initiatives fall prey to. Its tone of 'let's work together to address these important, but clearly soluble, problems' is exactly right. My congratulations to you and all others who have had a hand in it."

-Ward B. Watt, Yale College '62, MS '64 GRD '67, Stanford Professor of Evolutionary Biology

"I would be happy to endorse the plan and think that you have all done an excellent job."

-Julian Keniry, Manager, Campus Ecology Program, National Wildlife Federation

"The Yale Green Plan represents a bold and conscientious effort to establish a long overdue benchmark in university education and campus practices. I commend the YSEC in putting forward such a constructive plan, and enthusiastically endorse its adoption. It promises value-added results for the university, faculty, and personnel, and students."

-Michael Totten, Yale College '72, Executive Director, Center for Renewable Energy and Sustainable Technology (CREST)

"YSEC's Green Plan for Yale does an excellent job of identifying the top campus environmental priorities today, from building performance buildings, to assembling a university environmental advisory committee that will institutionalize the process of making Yale greener. The shared hope for achieving sustainability in the 21st century begins with education, and Yale can be a leader."

-Ben Strauss, Yale College '94, author The Class of 2000 Report

"Early, but consistent, findings from Wall Street and elsewhere show that improvement in environmental performance can affect a corporation's financial picture. In the past, investors, corporate boards and senior executives assumed that companies making environmental improvements are incurring net costs. However, evidence now suggests that environmental initiatives such as the Yale Green Plan can lead not only to improved corporate public image but also to financial gain. YSEC's solid record of success makes it the ideal environmental organization for the Yale Corporation to partner with to achieve superior environmental - and

financial - performance. I endorse the Yale Green Plan enthusiastically."

-Christopher N. Fox, Yale College '94, Director, Institutional Investor Project, Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies (CERES)

Other external reviewers who have endorsed the plan:

Professor David Orr, Chair of the Program for Environmental Studies at Oberlin College

Professor Kurt Teichart, Professor of Environmental Studies at Brown University

Megan Reilly, Yale College '95

Thomas Perriello, Yale College '95

Donnan Steele, Yale College '97

Supporting Documents:

Talloires Declaration:

This short declaration (http://www.ulsf.org/about/tallo.html) has 258 signatory institutions of higher education around the world.

CERES Principles:

After the Exxon Valdez accident, the CERES Principles (the Valdez Principles) were created in 1989 by the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies. The principles are standards for corporations. The CERES Principles are intended to aid organizations set policy and make informed decisions that improves their environmental presence. The CERES Principles can be applied to Yale University.

ISO 14000:

ISO 14000 is comprised of a set of world-wide standards being developed by the International Standards Organization (ISO -- http://www.iso.ch/) to aid industries and organizations in gauging and improving their environmental performance. Companies that meet ISO 14000 standards qualify as exceptional environmental leaders.

Useful Sources:

The Campus Earth Summit Blueprint is available online at http://www.igc.apc.org/cgv/blueprnt/homepage.html

(and will soon be available at the YSEC homepage: http://www.yale.edu/ysec/)

Smith, A.A. (1993) "Campus Ecology." Living Planet Press, Los Angeles.

Strauss, B.H. (1996) "The Class of 2000 Report: Environmental Education, Practices and Activism on Campuses." Prepared for the Nathan Cummings Foundation. NY, NY.