How did we do?
Waste
While Marlboro College makes many efforts to decrease waste and dispose of it responsibly, we can certainly improve. The negative aspects of our performance include the seeming thoughtlessness with which we use paper cups, and the sad truth of how many reusable things we throw away, as can be seen by the "guerilla" trash examination. The positive aspects of our performance include our valiant efforts to compost, the practice of recycling our used cooking oil and other materials, and the responsible disposal or recycling of our hazardous waste. By obtaining the numbers that are missing from this document, such as the amount of trash and percentage of paper recycled, we could make illuminating observations that would hopefully encourage change for the better. While there is still far to go, there are many things we can do in order to make progress. For example, if we were to eliminate the paper cups from the dining hall, we would have $10,240 more per year to spend on more responsibly grown food or other waste-reducing initiatives. The number of waste reducing initiatives employed on campus reveals that we are conscious about waste, and are making attempts to transform our relationship with our resources.
Food
Marlboro College is rapidly shifting towards more and more sustainable practices regarding food. The current dominant percentage of food purchased from conventional growers from more than 100 miles away is not complimentary, but there are so many new food initiatives and so much support from the kitchen staff that it nearly evens out in the end. We are clearly making many great efforts to transform our relationship with our food, and that is so exciting. The shift to Windham Farm and Food Network is really promising, and if the intentions to build root cellars, get chickens, and increase the production of the college farm come to fruition, we will be much, much farther along the road to a sustainable relationship with food.
Materials and Purchasing
From the data that I collected and from talking to different community members, the college needs to improve in the purchasing department. Not having a purchasing policy makes it very difficult to be the person in deciding on where the college needs to make cuts at and to improve our environmental impact. This is not implying the need for a policy. If the community members stop and think about their individual impacts on the college’s spending habits and the environment, we could be saving. The saving money could be put towards more environmentally friendly products. Taking into consideration the prices of environmentally friendly products are more expensive currently in the market. The money being spent can be spent more efficiently. The college needs to understand the fact that its a big investment in trying to cut our emissions and to save the environment. Like I said before, it’s an INVESTMENT. The college has to spend more money in order to receive and save more in the end.
Transportation
Marlboro does relatively well in transportation. Members of the Marlboro community use environmental forms of transporatation such as walking, biking, carpooling, college vans, and the MOOver quite often, although it is still most common for off-campus community members to drive to campus individually. Faculty-sponsored trips and travel for the World Studies Program make up a significant portion of travel, mostly in flying. Admissions is relatively efficient, with each Assistant Dean only taking a couple of trips per year and some of the trips being done with college representatives. On the whole, Marlboro transportation is generally environmentally friendly.
Education and Institutional Commitment
In terms of education, Marlboro is very environmentally sustainable. The percentage of graduates with environmental studies degrees is tenth among colleges in the nation (or fourteenth when environmental studies degrees are included), and many students who do not receive environmental studies degree have Plans with a substantial focus in environmental sustainability. There isn't a large variety of environmental courses available to freshman and sophomores, but sustainability-related tutorials are common in many different areas. While Marlboro could significantly improve its environmental studies program by offering more courses and designing a general course of study, the current program is quite good.
This is less true of institutional commitment. In many ways, Marlboro is very good in this area; for example, community members are highly involved, two committees work specifically on environmental issues, a lot of the orientation trips are focused on sustainability. However, in terms of actual institutional policies, Marlboro College is generally lacking. There is no real strategic plan for sustainability and no environmentally responsible investment program. In general, members of the college work towards promoting environmental sustainability but there are few specific goals for doing so and few people that specifically do so. As a result, while many individual community members are committed to environmental sustainability, the institutional structure as a whole is not.
Land Use
Marlboro continually makes strides when individual community members who are personally invested in the condition of the land take initiative in projects involving land use-- both construction and care. In speaking with many people about current projects on campus, it seems that there are efforts at odds with each other; the effort to improve the aesthetic value of the land juxtaposed with the effort to minimize impact on the land. Ultimately, it seems to me that Marlboro is heading in the direction of more impact rather than less, but not always to the detriment of our beautiful college. Excitement surrounding edible landscaping has been growing, and we maintain our trail systems so that our forests are accessible for the enjoyment of everyone in the community. I would hope, though, that while this expansion of Marlboro's resources and aesthetic values are moving forward we can keep in mind the relative fragility of the place we live, and strive to pour our resources back into the land, just as it continually provides us with its resources.
Water
Water is a tough assessment. It’s often overlooked in this part of the country. Though, Marlboro as a town requires very good on-site waste treatment. Marlboro College took another step up and bought a system that goes above and beyond what is normally required. Our appliances leave a lot to be desired, but I couldn’t attain that information for the assessment. Marlboro has a storm water control system built into the landscape on no additional effort to the College itself. I think conservation is the only water based-aspect we need to concentrate on.
Energy
Marlboro is not doing so well on the energy side of things. There has been little change over the past ten years in terms of Marlboro’s use of oil, electricity and natural gas. Though, there are a lot of great initiatives and ideas in the works. I think that Marlboro can make great changes in its energy needs if the initiatives can maintain momentum. The school is composed of old buildings, and it does not surprise me that energy efficiency isn’t necessarily a strong aspect of the infrastructure.
