online website help:
 

Sustainability

CAMPUS INITIATIVES

A close connection with the land has been a consistent theme since the school’s founding, and farm-to-table efforts and outdoor education are central to NMH programs. In recent years, faculty, staff, and administrators recognized that while we had been making many schoolwide sustainability decisions for decades, this was not translating into a transparent, unified approach to sustainability across campus.

A faculty member participated in the 2005 NAIS Institute for Leadership in Sustainability and was inspired by the successes and challenges experienced by other schools. Two faculty members subsequently worked with the NMH administration to identify the need for a unified approach to sustainability. Head of School Thomas K. Sturtevant created the Task Force for Sustainability with the full support of the plant facilities staff, which had been looking for a partnership to develop ideas for a sustainable infrastructure.

MISSION AND PLANNING
CURRICULUM
CAMPUS OPERATIONS
STUDENT LIFE

MISSION AND PLANNING
Campus Committees/Task Forces for Sustainability
The NMH Task Force for Sustainability meets for one hour every week during the school year to identify routes for sustainable living on campus, and they make recommendations to the head of school. Members include:

• Task force coordinator
• Assistant head of school
• Director of dining services
• Director of facilities
• Chief financial officer or designate
• Director of farm program
• Environmental science teacher
• Four students (selected by application)
• Two staff (including one representative from the office of advancement)
• Two faculty (including one dorm director)

Purpose

• To promote institutional and personal environmental responsibility within the school community.
• To advise the head and trustees about practices consistent with sustainable living including but not limited to: conservation of resources, waste reduction and recycling, pollution prevention, increased reliance on renewable resources; and to recommend priorities for projects that may help the school reduce its environmental impact.
• To support key administrators in their efforts to implement more sustainable practices in their areas of responsibility, with special attention to environmental, financial, and social well-being.
• To identify opportunities for research on campus and local environmental issues within the curriculum; to identify appropriate school and local officials with        whom such research should be shared so that it can be used to improve programs and policies; to integrate the NMH farm more fully into the academic and student life programs.
• To identify and promote learning opportunities for faculty, staff, and students to teach issues of sustainability both within the classroom and beyond in an interdisciplinary manner.

Accountability
The task force will complete and revisit a campus sustainability audit every five years and will lead a professional development day for faculty in spring 2007.

Campus Mission Statement
In progress

Environmental Policies (Recycling, Energy, etc.)
In 2004, environmental responsibility was identified as one of the school’s five key strategic goals, and it remains a focus for program development.

Sustainability Directors/Coordinators/Officers
One faculty member serves as a part-time coordinator of the NMH Task Force for Sustainability as well as the annual Green Cup Challenge.

CURRICULUM
Courses and academic programs

• English
• Freshman Humanities through an environmental lens
• Turtle Island (Historical, Literary, and  Ethical Perspectives on the North American Landscape, with a three-week study/travel component)
• History
• History of the Connecticut River Valley
• Humans on the Edge (Humans’ Response to Environmental Catastrophe, with a study, travel and service component)
• Sophomore Humanities South Africa Sojourn (three week study, travel, and service component)
• Environmental History and Ethics
• Use and Abuse of Power
• International Studies in New Zealand  (three week study, travel, and service component)
• Science
• Environmental Studies and AP Environmental Science
• Ecology of Costa Rica (with a three-week study/travel component)
• Biology with lab experience on the NMH farm
• Geology
• Genetics and Ethics
• Outdoor Education courses

Service Learning

• Most of our student body is involved in some form of weekly outreach program through NMH Outreach.
• Students, faculty, and staff participate in a day of service cleaning the Connecticut River Valley every fall.
• Every member of the school community pitches in to accomplish important projects on campus and in local communities on our annual day of service.
• As part of the school’s work program, every student is required to work four hours each week, thereby contributing to the functioning of the NMH campus.

CAMPUS OPERATIONS
Buildings/Design

• The new Rhodes Arts Center is currently under construction, and we expect the building will earn a LEED rating.
• An NMH statement of sustainable building practices is being developed.
• An ambitious infrastructure upgrade included installation of super-insulated steam lines; updating the heating plant; and replacement of water lines with less permeable pipes, reducing our wastewater treatment plant’s load during storm events.

Energy and Global Warming

• Annual participation in the Green Cup Challenge, a competition in energy savings among peer schools
• Electrical peak-load management
• Wastewater treatment plant
• Use of energy-efficient golf carts by plant staff when possible and combined trips for trades (plumbing, carpentry, etc);
• Energy monitors installed on all dorms; the data is incorporated into the science curriculum
• CF lightbulb roll out to new students and faculty
• All campus lighting uses compact fluorescent bulbs, with downcast lighting to preserve dark skies
• Mini-fridges in dorm rooms will be not be allowed beginning in September 2007 (significantly reduction of electrical demand)

Environmental Management Systems

• Lighting and air systems management system
• Zoning of dorms for heating

Food

• 10 percent of the dining services budget is dedicated to buying local
• NMH farm supplies some organic vegetables, milk, and apple cider for use in dining halls, and lavender and rosemary products, maple syrup, and cider for sale to alumni and community
• All vegetable kitchen waste is composted on the farm
• Food audits conducted throughout the year
• Fair trade coffee in the dining hall and in faculty lounges around campus
• Dining services has installed a kitchen herb garden
• Two to three sustainable CISA dinners are organized by dining hall staff each year

Hazardous Substances (and Green Chemistry)

• Use of citrus-based cleaners and mint oil for pest management
• Use of environmentally-sound brewery byproducts in place of salt for winter deicing of pathways and roads

Recycling/Solid Waste

• Composting
• Recycling
• Big item recycling (furniture, computers, etc are donated or recycled)

Transportation

• Campus master plan includes pedestrianization of campus
• Bike racks positioned in key locations on campus
• Campus fleet selected with fuel efficiency as a priority

Regional and International Initiatives

• NMH celebrates Earth Day every year with campus-wide events.
• Outside speakers who have come to NMH in the last year include Frances Moore Lappe, Terry Tempest Williams, and Bill McKibben.

STUDENT LIFE
Student Groups

• Students are active in the development of campus programs through their involvement in the NMH Task Force for Sustainability.
• Green Cup Challenge events on the NMH campus are developed and led by the student Green Cup Team.
• Every dorm will have an ecoleader, who will be responsible for educating the community and encouraging sustainable decisions. This program, which is under development, will include a curricular component.

Internships
A generous NMH alumnus has donated an environmental grant to finance selected student- or faculty-organized environmental opportunities.

NMH contact
Becca Leslie, environmental science teacher and coordinator of the NMH Task Force for Sustainability and Green Cup Challenge, bleslie@nmhschool.org