THE FIVE COLLEGES ADDRESS THEIR SUSTAINABLE
PRACTICES IN A PUBLIC FORUM

AMHERST, MA --On October 7th, 2002 at 7:00 pm, Sustainable Step New England will host a public forum, "Greening the Valley's Ivory Towers," at the Red Barn at Hampshire College, in Amherst, MA. Representatives from each of the five colleges will speak about sustainable initiatives on their campus. There will be displays and literature for participants. The forum is free and open to the public.

Whether composting food waste from the dining facilities, choosing alternative fuel vehicles, using less toxic cleaning supplies or making a commitment to green building, each institution approaches the task of becoming more environmentally and economically sustainable in different and complementary ways. All of these ways matter. "Right now sustainable development represents some of the most important challenges we're facing both globally and at home. This represents a serious opportunity for institutions in terms of educational leadership - the ability to attract good students and other resources - and it's also an innovative approach to addressing operational needs," said John Fabel, local sustainability expert Fabel, who played an instrumental role in launching the campus sustainability efforts at Hampshire College, will introduce the topic and moderate the discussion. "I see this forum as an opportunity to see how much effort is actually going on within the five-college community. It's an opportunity to learn from each other as well as further support specific concrete actions," he said.

At Hampshire College, principles of sustainability provide the framework for their campus master plan. Mt. Holyoke College's Center for Environmental Literacy uses the campus as a laboratory to involve students in the greening of the campus operations. Smith College is planning a new engineering building with the aim of making it an exemplar of green design. At the University of Massachusetts an Ad-Hoc Committee on Sustainability that includes faculty and administrators from Physical Plant, Facilities Planning, Procurement and Environmental Health and Safety is addressing these issues. And physical plant staff members at Amherst College are making material, equipment and design decisions that conserve energy and reduce toxicity to the environment.

This is just a hint of what is going on at the institutional level. The event is designed to bring issues of sustainability to the forefront of peoples minds and tongues, to inform the academic community and the public, to give the institutions an opportunity to share their efforts, and to foster relationships among proponents of sustainability.

The speakers who will address the challenges, victories, and lessons learned are:

• Amherst College's Aaron Hayden, Capital Projects Manager/Engineer, Design and Construction, Physical Plant
• Hampshire College's Lawrence Archey, Director of Campus Planning
• Mt Holyoke College's Thomas Millette, Professor of Environmental Science and Director of the Center for Environmental Literacy
• Smith College's Richard White, Professor Emeritus of Astronomy and Coordinator of the 2002 "Environmental Sustainability on Campus and in the Community
• UMass Amherst's Steve Goodwin, Professor of Microbiology, Associate Dean of the College of Food and Natural Sciences and Chair of the Ad-Hoc Committee on Sustainability.

The event is targeted to the five-college community - staff, faculty and students, and is free and open to the public. Town/city officials, neighboring community colleges and staff from area elementary and secondary schools are specifically invited.

The event organizer, Sustainable Step New England (SSNE), is a non-profit organization whose mission is to help organizations use sustainable practices to save money and increase the market value of their products or services while also protecting our natural and social capital. SSNE hosts events and offers management briefings and internal training in sustainable practices.

Co-sponsors for this event include the colleges, Five Colleges, Inc., Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, Pioneer Valley Business Alliance for Local Living Economies, E.F. Schumacher Society, Pioneer Valley Climate Protection Coalition and others.

This event is part of a month-long series of sustainability events in the Valley, being coordinated for the month of October by SSNE, the Pioneer Valley Business Alliance for Local Living Economies and Catherine Miller of the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission.

For more information about this event go to: www.ssne.org or contact Daniella Malin (413) 256-6288.