Cape Cod Community College 2008 Campus Sustainability Leadership Award Application

Category

Community Colleges & Other Two Year Institutions

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"Cutting The Cord" - An orange power cord was the symbolic "ribbon" as the College opened the new GOLD LEED Certified Lorusso Applied Technology Building
Photographer: Ms. Deb Troyanos - Mrs. T's Photo

Contact

Michael R. Gross
Director of College Communications
Office of College Communications
Cape Cod Community College
West Barnstable, MA
(508) 375-4003
mgross@capecod.edu

Governance & Administration

Climate protection, energy efficiency, and renewable energy:Today through its President Kathleen Schatzberg, CCCC is arguably the most outspoken advocate among the nation's community colleges and one of the loudest voices in all of higher education calling for the reduction of green-house-gas emissions and achieving carbon neutrality.

ACUPCC National Leadership:CCCC was the first to sign in Massachusetts. Massachusetts was the first state in the nation to have all of its institutions of public higher education as signatories, led by CCCC'S aggressive advocacy through its President.

Mission Statement:As a highly visible and constant reminder of its commitment, the College's new mission statement now says in part, "Our liberal arts, sciences, and career programs provide educational pathways that serve the varied social, economic, and demographic characteristics of our community with a distinctive focus on sustainability..."

Title Change Clearly States Commitment:  In this year's reappointment of the College's facilities director, his official title was elevated and his sustainability leadership officially recognized: "Assistant Vice President for Facilities Management and Sustainability."

Additional Institutional Commitment: The institutional Professional Day in Spring ‘07 was dedicated to sustainability themes, and included a dramatic presentation by Second Nature's Tony Cortese. The College routinely holds informational "fairs," including a recent presentation of "An Inconvenient Truth" that included public information booths and demonstrations along with panel discussions on how acting locally can make a real difference.

2007 Leading by Example Award:The Mass. Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, selected CCCC as its Leading by Example Innovation Award winner, honoring the College for its efforts that transformed once "highly manicured" lawn into natural meadow by its "low mow/no mow" initiative.

Trustee Commitment: The College's Board of Trustees provide on-going financial and policy support for sustainability campus wide. Board members live this commitment as well. Most recently a member very publicly advocated for community waste water treatment to combat nitrogen loading and choking algae blooms in regional ponds and lakes.

Campus Management: The CCCC Sustainability Team includes representatives from Administration, Facilities Management, Environmental Technology, and the Natural Science Department. It focuses on: toxics reduction and safety; technology building construction oversight; composting and recycling; waste water management; and the College's utility grade wind turbine project that is nearing completion. CCCC's environmental management system (EMS) document is now an EPA model for other public higher education institutions.

Renewable Energy Advisory Committee: The College's NSF-funded Renewable Energy Education and Training Project is guided by an advisory board of 35 members from industry, government, higher education, and K-12, and includes representatives from Woods Hole Research Center, Barnstable County Economic Development Council, Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, N-Star, Interstate Renewable Energy Council and Partnership for Environmental Technology Education.

Special Legislative Appropriation: For the past 14 years, CCCC has received an annual special MA Legislative appropriation in excess of $100,000 to sustain the environmental technology certificate consortium with Massachusetts Maritime Academy and University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, funds critical to the sustainability mission and to the Cape environment itself.

 

Operations

 

Past profiles have summarized on-going efforts to support sustainability on campus. In addition, over the past two years the College has moved in a number of new directions, gaining more regional and national recognition.

Low Mow/No Mow:The College as has adopted a low-mow/no mow policy of minimum impact landscape design and maintenance that has preserved and improved the region's ecosystem: keeping thousands of pounds of fertilizer out of the Cape's aquifer; saving thousands of gallons of irrigation water; and prevented significant fossil fuel use and air pollution by eliminating 80% of all lawn mowing. This management plan returned "highly-manicured" lawn to natural meadow environments that today encourage native plants, wildlife and beneficial insects.

Cafeteria Waste Composting: What began simply as an attempt to do basic waste stream sorting of recyclables from the College's cafeteria has evolved into a very sophisticated effort that now separates all food and compostable products (including the corn-starch based cutlery) into material that is trucked to a local farm where it is turned into reusable compost.

Demonstration site - "Big Belly:"  As part of its community education program and its own effort to reduce carbon emissions, a unique solar-powered trash compacting trash bin known commercially as the "Big Belly" has been a demonstration unit on campus for over a year. The unit, now in use in many urban centers around the country, accepts and then compacts waste, dramatically reducing the time between emptying, cutting vehicle trips and the resulting carbon pollution as well as allowing staff time reassignment. More here: http://www.bigbellysolar.com/

Solar Hot Water Demo:In addition to the College's total photovoltaic generation of over 30kw, enough to power at least 10 "typical" family homes, it recently installed a large solar hot water demonstration unit that will become both a "lab" for its environmental technology students and a source of hot water for its culinary classroom's kitchen.

On-Going: At this time the College is participating in a comprehensive study to identify ways to reduce even further the College's use of paper and the resulting disposal of paper waste. Directed by Haley & Aldrich, a Boston based environmental, engineering and management consulting firm, highly trained consultants are now analyzing paper usage on campus, assessing the current needs of each department, and preparing a management strategy to reduce paper consumption. This is another example of the institution's on-going commitment to reduce its use of resources and its environmental impact.

 

Curriculum & Research

 

Sustainability Education and Training: The College's leadership in Environmental/Sustainability Education continues to grow, now including an Associate in Arts Degree in Environmental Studies, and an Associate in Science Degree in Environmental Technology. In addition, in just the past two years, the program has added Academic Certificates in Photo-Voltaic Energy Supply, Small Wind Technology, and Solar Thermal systems to its five ET certificate programs.

Public Higher Education Consortium: Through the Environmental Technology Certificate Consortium with the University of Massachusetts - Dartmouth (UMD) and Massachusetts Maritime Academy (MMA), well over 100 students have earned certificates in coastal zone management, environmental site assessment, geographical information systems, wastewater management, or water supply. The CCCC-led consortium has placed over 300 students from the three institutions in over 70 internship sites in business, industry, and government agencies. Through these outcomes and activities, CCCC's sustainability impact extends well beyond its ET Consortium with UMD and MMA.

Sponsored Programs: The College has gained major teaching resources through highly successful grant seeking. It has received a number of National Science Foundation grants including two Advanced Technology Education awards for more than $600,000,resulting in the development of a renewable energy education and training program in collaboration with technical high schools and other education and non-profit organizations. These teaching and learning resources provide hands-on experiences for high school and college students, as well as building industry trades-people and the general public, in the installation, maintenance and marketing of renewable energy technology to the building industry and the general public.

Sustainability Education for Campus Community: CCCC also offers a wide range of opportunities for staff education related to sustainability and environmental matters including:

  1. Presentations offered by guest speakers
  2. E-mail communication on related topics
  3. Newspaper articles in the College paper related to environmental topics
  4. Opportunities to attend workshop and training opportunities away from the College

 

Campus Culture

 

Throughout the Instition:  The homepage of the College's web site invites the public to explore "Our Green Campus," and throughout the year, the College ensures that thousands of people who physically come to campus have the opportunity to visit the College's GOLD LEED Certified Lorusso Applied Technology Building, notice the "low mow/no mow" areas, and gain a better appreciation for what we do.  It's now routine for Asst. VP for Facilities Management and Sustainability John Lebica to circulate all campus emails about wildlife on campus, most recently about how to avoid injuring or disturbing box turtles crossing roadways, and about the fate of small birds that may've been victims of a red-tailed hawk that is often seen here. Staff and students collaborate on recylcing and waste reduction committees and projects. Campus staff often speak to local organizations about the institution's efforts.  The President's main PowerPoint community presentation proudly shows off the institution's electric service vehicles, its solar panels, its LEED building, and talks about future plans for a wind turbine, and what is hoped will be a new fuel cell to replace a demonstration unit that ran on campus from 1999 to 2004. To state that there is a "culture" of sustainability on campus might be too limiting, as the institution works hard to truly become a "sustainable community."

Sustainability Education for Campus Community: CCCC also offers a wide range of opportunities for staff education related to sustainability and environmental matters including:

  1. Presentations offered by guest speakers
  2. E-mail communication on related topics
  3. Newspaper articles in the College paper related to environmental topics
  4. Opportunities to attend workshop and training opportunities away from the College

 

Community Service and Outreach

 

Sustainability Education: Each year CCCC hosts numerous public informational presentations by environmental organizations such as Northeast PETE (Partnership for Environmental Technology Education). CCCC's first NSF-funded Advanced Technological Education (ATE) project brought new environmental technology (ET) instructional methods and content to high school science teachers from the Cape & Islands. Numerous K-12 sustainability education workshops are offered. The Workforce Education Resource Center (WERC) at CCCC provides ET-related job and renewable energy technology training workshops for individual practitioners, Southeastern Massachusetts companies, non-profits, and municipalities.

Farmers' Market: CCCC's Zammer Hospitality Institute (ZHI) embraces the sustainability philosophy and infuses it throughout its curriculum and outreach. A good example is the Mid-Cape Farmers' Market now in its fourth year, begun with strong College leadership. The Market emerged out of an effort by ZHI to link local growers with local restaurants as an economic development initiative as well as a way to help the public eat healthful, locally-grown organic produce. The College and the Institute are seen as key partners in this effort that benefits the region's economy on multiple levels.

EPA Merit Award: Once listed as one of the ten worst polluters in the state because of its wastewater volume, CCCC's achievements have earned high praise from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection that now sees it as a partner/collaborator rather than a polluter. As a result of these and other sustainability achievements, the College received an Environmental Merit Award from the New England Region of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for "outstanding leadership in academic program development and community service; helping the College reach its goals of: environmental protection and improvements, increased energy efficiency, conservation and the demonstration of new alternative energy technologies." The Merit Award is believed to be the first time the EPA so honored a community college.

CIREC (Cape and Islands Renewable Energy Collaborative): CCCC is an active member of the steering committee of CIREC. Membership is open to any individual or organization interested in transforming the energy basis of Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket from fossil fuels to efficient, clean, and renewable energy sources. The Steering Committee is committed to sharing expertise, pooling resources, and advancing renewable energy through collaborative endeavors. Members work together to plan and implement programs, projects, and activities designed to increase public awareness of energy-related issues, challenges, and opportunities and to accelerate the local transition to a sustainable energy future. http://www.cirenew.org/