Lafayette College

After the citizens of Easton founded Lafayette College in 1826, classes began in an old rented farmhouse in 1832.  Lafayette was among the first college to teach civil engineering and to also establish a chair for the study of the English language and literature.  The college first opened with 43 students, but has since matured into a wonderful undergraduate institution with roughly 2,500 students. 

Lafayette College offers students the ability to graduate with a B.S from the Geology and Environmental Geosciences department.  Courses in this department focus on evaluating surficial processes, the Earth's interior, and environmental problems.  Experience in the field and laboratories provide students with the necessary knowledge to pursue a variety of different careers, including becoming a professional geologist, environmental scientist, environmnetal lawyer, or environmental manager. 

Campus Environmental Organizations:

LEAP (Lafayette Environmental Awareness and Protection) is the student environmental activist club.  It is organized by committees including: recycling, composting, carbon footprint, events planning, community outreach, and organic gardening.  Students interested are welcome to come to meetings and help out in any way possible.  Meeting times are posted on the website. 

Projects

• Recycling: Making sure signage is accurate and clearly visible, ensuring there are paper and plastic/glass recycling in every building, book drive through Better World Books/Books for Africa
• Composting: Working with dining services, staff, faculty, and administration to institutionalize our current small-scale food-waste composting system.  A grant proposal to the DEP has been submitted to purchase infrastructure to increase capacity that would compost all of the food-waste produced by the campus dining halls.
• Carbon Footprint: Distributing CFLs to everyone on campus, working with campus administration to get solar thermal installed on the gym roof, hosting campus wide events
• Events Planning: Planning and running environmental-themed events including "Earth Week" (the week/weeks surrounding Earth Day, April 22nd) where we host speakers, watch films, etc., as well as conferences, outdoor excursions, and working with other clubs and organizations to co-sponsor events like picnics, etc.
• Community Outreach: Planning local outreach events.  We have partnerships with KIC (Kids in the Community, an organization through the campus volunteering organization, (Landis), Bangor Area School District, and hold other environmental education themed events. 
• Organic Gardening: In Spring '09, we are starting a 1-acre garden in which the veggies produced will be used in the campus dining halls.  The other section of the garden is reserved for faculty, staff, and students to have their own small plot to take care of. 

SEES (Society of Environmental Engineers and Scientists) is a student environmentally-focused research group that focuses on solving current environmental problems.  Students and faculty from many departments work together and discuss issues relating to green science and engineering and sustainability. 

Projects

• Composting: Working with LEAP on the campus composting initiative (see above)
• Community Gardening: Working with LEAP on organic vegetable gardens (see above)
•  Nitrogen Cycling: Researching the cycling of nitrogen through the composting process.
•  Perchlorate Remediation:  Researching the treatment of perchlorate contaminants in the environment.  Partnership with Auburn University. 
• Green Roof Design: Planning the installation of a rooftop garden on the engineering building on campus.

The Sustainability Committee is a group of students (from LEAP and SEES), faculty, and administrators that meet monthly to

share information about what is being done around campus and what needs to be done to make Lafayette more environmentally conscious.  The committee has an annual budget of $15,000 that can roll over from year to year.  These meetings focus on energy consumption, recycling, and spreading the word.

          Members Include:

               Mitchell Wein- VP Business Affairs/Treasurer- Chair of the Green Committee

               George Xiques- Manager of Sustainability and Environmental Planning

               Many faculty members and students

Current Projects: Things we already do to make this campus sustainable

DINING SERVICES

Students get a discount on coffee and tea if they bring their own mug

Sodexho uses 99% green cleaning products in dining facilities

Disposable cups are made from corn starch, so they decompose more easily

Some produce and meats are purchased locally

Fair trade Green Mountain coffee is an option- promoting this

Dining halls prepared food as they go, so there is little food waste on their part

New refrigeration technique that requires much less water usage

EMISSIONS/ENERGY

Tech Clinic's Emissions calculator will give a baseline

Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs were distributed to students free of charge (~1500 distributed to date)

Solar Thermal possibly being installed on the gym roof

Small scale solar panels installed on Acopian Engineering building

Motion Sensors in bathrooms/locker rooms in some buildings

Low flow shower heads installed in most dorms

WASTE/RECYCLING

Double sides printers in the library (defaults to duplex) and 30% post consumer recycled paper

Composting food scraps from one dining hall worked very well- project hopes to be expanded

LEAP is documenting where all recycling and trash bins are in buildings on campus to ensure there are all types of bins where they are needed

Ideas: These are still in the infancy stages- just to show other interns what is running through our minds

Making sure everything that can be recycled is being recycled (during food prep, containers used in dining facilities)

Promoting use of washable containers/beverage holders instead of disposable ones

    - Follow in Dartmouth's foot steps for "Taste not Waste"?

Building on Sodexho's increasing desire to make environmentally conscious choices

Finding alternative to the Public Safety rounds done in large vehicles (biodiesel?)

Reducing the number of disposable water bottles on campus

NEWS FOR INTERNS: 

*Apply Now for Greenpeace's summer training program, Activist Camp: www.greenpeace.org/activistcamp*

 Interns and Advisors:

Dr. Andrew Kortyna (LEAP Advisor)

Dr. Arthur Kney (SEES Advisor)

Jennifer Bell (Class of 2011)

Jennifer Tillman (Class of 2010)