Sustainability at Reed

A Note from the 2009–10
Sustainability Committee

Welcome to the new sustainability website, constructed by Reed's Sustainability Committee in collaboration with computing & information services, under a mandate from faculty members and the board of trustees.

Browsing through the website, you will see that the committee has worked to gather into one place many different initiatives for sustainability practices, which have been suggested by students, and faculty and staff members. While a number of our practices have been long standing, the presentation of these efforts in one location is new. Our vision as a committee is to make this the umbrella site and an important tool for community members, in order to inspire effective ways for Reed to address local and global environmental parameters.

Some of the highlights associated with the launch of this site are:

  1. The announcement of a new grant-initiative funded jointly by the student body and President Colin Diver to help community members implement environmentally-friendly programs.
  2. The first approximation of Reed's carbon footprint using the nationally recognized standard Clean Air Cool Planet.
  3. The announcement of the winner of this year's (ongoing) dormitory energy challenge.
  4. The presentation of many groups and organizations related to this effort.
  5. The facilitation of a compendium of information about the college that will support the most effective forward-looking actions.

We recognize that there are many passionate community members with different opinions on the topic of sustainability. Please let us know if your group or department should be represented on this website. We also would like to hear from you to learn about your ideas or about ongoing projects or efforts related to sustainability.

I would like to personally acknowledge our web designer Tony Moreno, and work on the Carbon Calculator by environmental health & safety coordinator Kathleen Fisher, and environmental sustainability student assistant Chris Cahill ’12.

— Robert Kaplan, professor of biology and chair of the Sustainability Committee
Student members Stephen Ballentine, Ian MacDonald, and Adarsh Pyarelal; staff members Ed McFarlane, Kathleen Fisher,  and Towny Angell; faculty members Alan Shusterman and Noel Netusil