The UHM Sustainability Council met from 3-4pm on Wednesday, September 18. Topics of discussion included:
(1) From Makena Coffman: The Institute for Sustainability and Resilience (ISR) is happy to announce that it is very close to launching a BA in Sustainability at UHM. There are currently over 90 courses across many different departments that are cross-isted with the SUST course prefix. More courses would be great! To cross-list, go to https://manoa.hawaii.edu/isr/curriculum/ for details.
ISR is also hosting a Tuesday lunch seminar on sustainable cities, in Building 37 (iLab).
To get on the ISR mailing list, which will provide info about the lunch seminar, or for other questions about ISR, please email Makena Coffman (makenaka@hawaii.edu)
(2) From Nicole Chatterson: The UH Office of Sustainability is excited to announce that 40 new water bottle refill stations will be installed in the near future, mostly on the first floor of most buildings. It turns out that MIRO did a survey a year ago with 8000 responses and there was a high desire expressed for water bottle stations.
Also, composting has been a long standing priority for students. The Office of Sustainability is now embarking on a scoping study to figure out what type of composting system would best suit the campus. There will be a presentation next week on the composting system. Contact Nicole for details.
The Office is looking for a building to pilot a paper waste reduction program. Need faculty to voice their support for doing the program in their building. There are a lot of questions, to which Nicole has answers.
Finally, student activism at UHM works! Following a successful 2017 waste audit at UHM, waste auditing has expanded to 8 of 10 UH campuses.
For questions about these topics or anything else involving the Office of Sustainability, Nicole Chatterson (nchatter@hawaii.edu) would be happy to talk with you.
(3) From Dominique Pena: The UH System Sustainability Coalition is a newly reconstituted network for the support and community-building of student sustainability-focused groups on campus. They want to help identify areas where action is insufficient and bring student resources to bear on the problems. They are also starting a podcast on KTUH. Looking for students and student groups who want to affiliate!
If you are interested, please contact Dominique Pena (domipecz@hawaii.edu).
(4) From Leana Setian: Sustainable Saunders is back! Leana is doing research on how to reduce the carbon footprint of Saunders. Compiling research on what has done before and what faculty and students feel should be done now. There was a survey a decade ago which resulted in de-lamping and turning down the A/C.
If you have thoughts on ways to help with Sustainable Saunders, please contact Leana Setian (leanaset@hawaii.edu).
(5) From Karla Meek: The Green House (http://thegreenhousehawaii.com/) is a non-profit working with elementary and middle schools, developing compost piles, vermiculture, gardening programs, and more. Looking for student interns to help support their projects.
If you have contacts with service-learning initiatives that might fit with The Green House, please contact Karla Meek (karla@thegreenhousehawaii.com).
(6) From Victoria Anderson: Dr. Sailish Rao is visiting this week to give talks on sustainability and climate change. He provided an interesting case study of a University department in Rotterdam that went “vegan by default”. Details here: https://www.erasmusmagazine.nl/en/2018/03/20/erasmus-school-of-economics-gaat-veganistisch-lunchen/
It is interesting to consider what would be required to make vegan meals more “default” at UHM. What about a “carbon tax” on meat-based dishes?
For more information, please contact Victoria Anderson (vanderso@hawaii.edu)
The next meeting of UHMSC will be Wednesday, October 16, at 3pm in HIG 210.