Areas
In deciding on what areas we wanted to focus on during this project, was a very long and grueling process. Durning the class we looked at the Sierra Club Cool Schools 2010, a survey our College participated in last year, along with other colleges we ranked 32nd. This was great but we, as a class felt the phrasing of the questions were not right for Marlboro College to be judged upon. We started to look at other surveys we could possible use instead, but again still felt the questions were just not suiting Marlboro. Coming up with individual lists of important categories in different areas, and with the help from other college's data, we came up with our first list.
- green sources
- food
- built-up land
- energy
- renewables
- water
- waste
- transportation
- green building/buying
- materials and waste
- carbon emissions
- institutional commitment
- education
- ecological footprint
- compost
With many drafts limiting and adding categories, we thought this list was too long. We started to combine certain categories and made them into one area.
- Land Use and Infrastructure - forest, ecological sources, green sources, building projects
- Waste - compost, hazardous materials, recycling
- Water - efficiency of use, consumption,
- Materials and Purchasing - regular purchases, where we purchases from, workshops
- Food - the Dining Hall, food transportation, farm/local food
- Transportation - transportation from school including faculty, staff, and students
- Energy and Resources - electricity, natural gas, oil, renewable energy
- Education and Institution - communities involvement, sustainability in curriculum
Once we collected all the data needed, we were able to track our greenhouse gas emissions and the ecological footprint.