College of Marin
Photovoltaic umbrellas under construction at Kentfield campus Campus Category
Community colleges and other two-year institutions
Contact Information
V-Anne Chernock
Director of Modernization, ACUPCC Liaison
Business Operations
Education and Research
The District’s instructional programs have long recognized the critical need to build a sustainable world and are contributing their own initiatives. Examples include the several highly visible programs.
- IVC Organic Garden. The District's Indian Valley Campus (IVC) has teamed with the Marin Conservation Corps to offer a year-round horticulture program consisting of 18 to 24 Corps members who will train in sustainable horticulture, landscape, and business management for 20 to 32 hours per week while helping to maintain the Center’s model gardens to be developed by the program participants. The gardens are located west of the Corporation Yard off the end of Ignacio Boulevard at IVC. The first course in this program is “Sustainable Principles & Practices for Organic Farming and Gardening.”
- Water Management and Technology Education Center (WaMTEC). WaMTEC’s mission is to research, develop, and demonstrate new water management practices and technologies that support a sustainable environment and a prosperous economy; and to engage and educate industry leaders and the broader community in state-of-the-art water and landscape management practices.
The WaMTEC demonstration garden is located east of the Miwok Cluster at IVC. Ground-breaking was held July 19, 2007, followed by a summer course for qualified water efficient landscapers, focusing on the latest tools and strategies that promote responsible water use.
- Solar Panel Certificate Program. To meet a growing demand for skilled workers in the solar industry, College of Marin has partnered with Skyline College and local industry professionals to launch a new Solar Technician Training Program, which started in Fall 2008. COM offered Solar Installation and Integration, a 3-unit introductory course, followed by other related courses in spring and summer 2009. The program will meet an increasing demand in the local industry. The American Solar Energy Society projects that the renewable energy and energy efficiency industry will involve 25 percent of all domestic labor by 2030. That translates to about 40 million jobs.
- Electric Powered Vehicle Conversion. Funded by a technical education grant, the District’s Auto Technology Department completed (May 2009) an alternative energy project to convert a combustion engine to a full electric drive, and has launched a new program to teach this conversion process to Transportation Technology students.
- Students’ Environmental Action Club. Under the headline, “Reducing COM’s Carbon Footprint,” a late 2008 Echo Times (student newspaper) article highlighted student efforts led by the Environmental Action Club (EAC), as follows:
“Meetings between the EAC, the Marin Conservation Corps, and COM’s maintenance department are planned to improve the poor recycling program we have on campus. … Some student suggested that teachers use less paper in class. …
“Members of the club are actively looking into the costs of using cornstarch biodegradable utensils for the cafeteria.... working on a proposal for a system to collect food waste for composting, specifically, vermin-composting … thereby reducing methane gas emissions [by cutting the amount of trash sent to the landfill].
“The EAC is submitting two proposals: [one to] raise money … to use for purchasing solar panels for COM buildings not slated for remodel, purchasing more energy efficient appliances, putting money toward non-profit tree planting programs, and purchasing carbon offset credits. … [The second proposal would adapt the Kyoto protocol to aim to] reduce carbon emissions [at COM] to 7% below what they were in 1990 by the year 2012.
“Ultimately the EAC is trying to have an effect on students because College plays a vital role in forming young adults’ opinions of how they will function and behave in society.
Campus Operations
Transportation (commuting) accounts for 65% of the College's emissions. To mitigate the effects of global warming from commuting, the College has instituted several initiatives:
- Preferred Parking for Car Pools, Van Pools and Alternative Fuel Vehicles. The primary objective of the Carpool / Vanpool / AFV Program is to encourage staff, faculty and students to reduce their use of single occupant vehicles when commuting to campus for work or study. Beginning with the Fall semester 2009, and going forward as each Measure C bond modernization project is completed, preferred parking spaces will be provided free of additional charge for permitted carpools, vanpools and owners of alternative fuel vehicles, in compliance with LEED requirements for new construction.
- Increased Use of Public Transit and Support for “Green” Public Transit Vehicles (Tangible Action 4). In Spring 2009, the District initiated discussions with the Marin County Transit District, the Transportation Authority of Marin, and County Supervisors about possibilities for improving public transit for employees and students of the College of Marin. These discussions are expected to lead to subsidized transit passes and improved routing and scheduling of local bus lines operated by Golden Gate Transit. Bicycle Storage and Changing Rooms. The Measure C bond modernization program includes bicycle racks and changing rooms in six modernization projects, qualifying for LEED credits. The District will also consider adding bike racks to buildings outside the bond program, and has researched a grant funding program for such racks from the Transportation Authority of Marin.
- Improved Incentives for Bicycling and Improvements to Bicycle Pathways. The District’s Kentfield campus hosts a significant segment of a several-mile-long bicycle path along Corte Madera Creek through Central Marin County. The District has held and will continue to hold discussions with the Marin County Bicycle Coalition and other pertinent entities regarding the ongoing maintenance and improvement of bike paths and incentives to increase bicycle usage throughout the County.
- Continued Monitoring of Reduction in Parking Availability (currently generated by construction activity). According to the Environmental Impact Report prepared for the Measure C bond modernization program in late 2007, parking on the Kentfield campus was utilized at less than 50%, while Indian Valley campus parking was utilized at only 21%. Even with the closures of several lots during construction and the permanent loss of some lots due to placement of new buildings in those locations, peak capacity is not expected to exceed 100% over the life of this Climate Action Plan. Careful monitoring of parking closures during construction should alleviate the perceived or real need to add parking at any time.
- Distance Learning. In early 2009, the District published a new ten-year Educational Master Plan, aimed at addressing the 2008 vision and mission of the college. One of the strategic recommendations presented in the master plan, and carried forward as a high priority in the first of three three-year Strategic Plans, addresses student access, is to support distance education offerings by providing (1) the hardware and software needed to offer online courses successfully; (2) faculty training in online instruction; and (3) evaluation of all aspects of distance education.
- While the addition of hardware and software may require additional energy consumption, the District anticipates that distance learning will significantly reduce vehicle traffic.
Administration and Finance
Environmental responsibility at the College of Marin, under the administration of the Marin Community College District (“District”), is rooted in a simple values statement from the District’s Board of Trustees: “We will apply environmentally sustainable and green principles in our college community to ensure the future of our planet.” The Board further defined its commitment to sustainability in July 2004 with a resolution “promoting environmental stewarding and sustainable facilities construction and operating practices.”
The District has continued to support this resolution through the implementation of its Measure C bond modernization program by committing at least 3% of the construction value of each building project to LEED building elements. The District also invested in a 210 kW photovoltaic system, constructed at the Kentfield campus to power half of the campus's PE Complex, now being modernized. Savings from this system will be diverted to improved maintenance on the modernized facility.
Recognizing the economic limitations of being a small community college in California, the Marin Community College District is currently focusing its sustainability efforts on affordable "low hanging fruit" with an eye to re-investing savings realized from the Measure C bond modernization program.
