Sustainable Dartmouth, formerly the Environmental Roundtable, is a student moderated forum where environmental groups on campus communicate and collaborate with each other on sustainability initiatives.
Sustainable Dartmouth meets every Tuesday morning at 8 am in Parkhurst Hall Room 303. Light snacks are provided.
Although the meetings are attended by representatives from sustainability minded groups, all are welcome to attend.
Ruth Hupart '08 states, "Sustainable Dartmouth comes as the newest and potentially strongest environmental coalition on campus since the 1960s, when student and alumni activists organized the Environmental Studies Division of the DOC. With the recent hiring of Dartmouth's first sustainability coordinator as a starting point, Sustainable Dartmouth is uniting the resources of any and all campus groups with an interest in sustainability."
The Roundtable's past challenge of consistency has been overcome by increased student ownership and initiative and the support of an intern.
Groups represented include:
At the end of each term and especially at the end of the academic year, there is a huge spike in the volume of trash being hauled away at Dartmouth. Each June, there is roughly a 23% increase in the weight of trash generated (Ritchie King of Sustainable Dartmouth). Sustainable Dartmouth has organized a system by which students can donate their unwanted clothing, small appliances, bikes, school supplies, etc. The items are sorted and stored for the summer and made available to students who arrive in September. The proceeds from the sale benefit an Upper Valley charity.
DIANA JIH '09 WRITES,"Tossed aside and lined with plastic, twist-tied and buried beneath heaps of cerebral refuse, waste cognizance lies in the depths of the average college student's consciousness, resting atop Oedipal latencies and the Superego.
"Distinguished by swollen dumpsters and heaps of discarded but often still salvageable items, spring Move-Out at Dartmouth serves as a prime example of how the college lifestyle lends itself to unnecessary wastefulness. In an informal survey conducted last term, most students suggested large quantities of leftover appliances, clothes and furniture as just a few of the categories of things that they could potentially donate.
"Based on the responses, and both the economic and environmental practicality of preventing valuable goods from going to waste, Sustainable Dartmouth, ECO, The Green Magazine and the administration are well on their way in bringing to life the Sustainable Move-Out for this spring. To lighten both the physical load of the already much belabored custodians and the fiscal load of the Office of Residential Life, Facilities Operation & Management and the administration, there will be drop-off points for donated goods come move-out time and the items will be donated or stored over the summer and resold in the fall. A portion of the profits will go to recoup costs while the majority of revenue will go to a campus charity.
"This project has been a long time coming under the auspices of Dartmouth Sustainability Director Jim Merkel and as a result of the huge successes of similar move-outs at other schools like Harvard, the University of Richmond and Bowdoin. Bowdoin raised about $30,000, while Richmond's sale in conjunction with the organization "Dump and Run" made over $19,000 and benefited 21 local charities. Harvard Recycling saw a 54 percent reduction in trash between 2002 and 2004, which was the second year of their move-out initiative. The Harvard Habitat for Humanity "Stuff Sale" has also generated more than $70,000 in revenue.
"One difference between move-outs organized at these schools and Dartmouth's endeavor will be that our move-out will be mostly student-run without outside organizations assuming many logistical responsibilities. As a result, the success of the move-out has been dumped at our feet, in a less pejorative sense of the word, in terms of student participation during the actual process along with the number of volunteers needed for spring setup, summer sorting, and fall resale."
