CSI Sustainability Council

Welcome to Sustainability Council Website

We are CSI faculty, staff, administrators, and students who have come together to promote sustainable practices on campus and community wide.

MISSION Statement:

The College of Southern Idaho's Sustainability Council is working to make sustainable practices a priority and cultural norm in our community.

Sustainability Defined:

Sustainability means “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (Brundtland, 1987 Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development). Thus, sustainability is based on social, economic, and ecological actions that affect our quality of life now and in the future.

 Green Foot Print

 

Upcoming Events

Sustainability Council meets the second Tuesday of the month during the school year at 1 PM in Shields 201.  Please join us.

Dispose of passenger tires for free on Saturday, May 5 in order to eliminate mosquito breeding locations.  More Information

Graduation Pledge

“I pledge to explore and take into account the social and environmental consequences of any job I consider and will try to improve these aspects of any organizations for which I work.”

We invite students to consider taking the above graduation pledge.   For general information, see http://www.graduationpledge.org/.

Featured Recent Happenings

CSI Green Week 2012

Thank you to everyone who made CSI Green Week 2012 a success!  For a small sampling of the great activities all week, watch two different KMVT videos, dated April 15 and April 17. 

Bicycle Commuting Safety Seminar

Watch a KMVT video of the Cyclist Safety event during Green Week.

Bike Week 2012

Watch a KMVT video or read the transcript here.

Congratulations CSI for extending the life of the landfill!

Over the last few years CSI has substantially reduced the amount of pounds it is sending to the landfill.  This is reflected in the just released 2011 recycling numbers.  CSI sent 57,001 pounds to the recycling center in 2011 (dual stream program began in May) up from 28,091 pounds in 2010. That’s a 101% increase!  The increased recycling has resulted in fewer trash dumpsters and less pickup service required at CSI.  A big thank you goes out to the CSI community, Joe Lemoine, and the custodial staff for making CSI’s recycling program a HUGE success.

 2009 = 7,390 pounds

2010 = 28,091 pounds

2011 = 57,001 pounds

Follow this link to see what you can recycle.

Van Pool Commuting

During Fall 2011 students and faculty from Hailey and Shoshone have been saving money and reducing their carbon footprints by commuting to the main campus as part of Mountain Rides Van Pool Program.  Erica Lauritsen, Chemistry major, is the van’s volunteer driver. Erica completed a training session

with Mountain Rides and is a former semi-truck driver. Eleven CSI students and one faculty member are riding in the van this semester. CSI’s Blaine County Director, Dr. Jenny Emery Davidson worked with Mountain Rides to make this alternative transportation available to students who especially appreciate the opportunity to complete classes on the main campus that are graduation requirements for their majors.

CSI Herb Garden

CSI's Herb Garden The CSI Herb Garden was planted in the circular bed and four corner beds behind the Fine Arts Building on Graduation Day, May 13, in a community effort by students, faculty, and staff from across campus. The garden is a joint project of the Sustainability Council and Horticulture Program supported by the Student Senate and Faculty Staff Committee. Plants were started from seed by Horticulture students and nurtured for months in the Horticulture Greenhouse.

CSI’s Herb Garden is a place for hands-on learning and for thinking about food - a basic human need, central to our health and happiness. Designed to grow attractive and edible kitchen herbs, this is a garden where we can gather together or have quiet moments alone, enjoying nature. (We hope to provide benches for sitting to reflect, chat, or study in the future.) The garden is meant to be both a tangible and symbolic step in encouraging sustainability: using our soil, water, and sun to grow plants that are beautiful to see and that feed us. We hope to promote people’s health through awareness of growing and eating nutritious local foods, a concept deeply connected to our local history and agricultural heritage in Magic Valley. We will need to see which plants survive and thrive before we can make announcements about sustainable harvest.

Peace Pole Dedication

It is estimated that there are more than 200,000 Peace Poles that have been dedicated in nearly every country on Earth. Thanks to the CSI Sustainability Council, there is now one more – on our very own campus. The pole was created by the Maintenance Department and erected in a circular garden plot that is south of the CSI Tower. It was dedicated by a small, but stalwart, group of students and employees, lead by student senator Sayid Abdullaev, at noon on the very blustery Thursday of Green Week along with a campus community herb garden.
Peace Poles are now recognized as the most prominent international symbol and
monument to peace. Peace Poles bear the message, “May Peace Prevail on Earth” in the languages of the world in the six official languages of the UN: English, French,
Spanish, Arabic, Chinese and Russian.
Planting a Peace Pole is a way of bringing people together to inspire, awaken and uplift the human consciousness the world over.

Dr. Diana Van Der Ploeg, President of Butte College in Oroville, CA visited CSI on January 12, 2011.  Butte College is a national leader in sustainability.  Dr. Van Der Ploeg's visit included a question and answer session, as well as the keynote address for all CSI faculty, staff, and administration.  The audio file (.mp3) of her keynote address can be accessed here.

Recycling Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs in Twin Falls

 Many households have switched out their traditional incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent light (CFL)bulbs as an energy and money saving endeavor.  CFLs are more energy efficient than incandescent bulbs.  CFLs may contain approximately 4 milligrams of mercury (125 CFLs = 1 old mercury thermometer) whereas newer generation CFLs may contain as little as 1 milligram.  Regardless of the mercury content, it is best to avoid sending CFLs to the landfill.  However, many CFLs do end up in the landfill because people do not know where to recycle them.  There are at least two places in our community that accept CFLs for recycling, Lowes and Home Depot (if you know of others please let Randy Smith know).  So, when your CFLs “burn” out, take them to be recycled. If you are curious about other aspects of CFL use such as What should I do if a CFL breaks?  What is mercury and what are its sources?  How does using CFLs result in less mercury being emitted into the environment?  Click on the following link:   http://www.gelighting.com/na/home_lighting/ask_us/faq_compact.htm#safe_home

Pen Recycling Program Initiated

STOP!!!!! The final resting place for your dead pen is not the trash can.  The Sustainability Council, Business Office, Bookstore, and Office Max announce a new pen recycling program at CSI.  The way to recycle your dead pens (including dry erase markers and sharpies) is to place them in the marked boxes at convenient locations (Bookstore, Library, and others) or send them in envelopes to Sarah Harris (Shields Bldg.) via intercampus mail.  The pens will then be sent to Office Max.  The CSI Foundation will receive 2 cents for every pen we send them.  Just another way you can contribute your 2 cents worth at CSI. 

Community Happenings

2011: The Year of Idaho Food is a grass-roots, year-long, statewide look at the surprising variety of foods grown in Idaho — and not simply focusing on the foods themselves, but also on the social, economic and environmental significance of those foods. For more information see http://www.nwfoodnews.com/about-the-year-of-idaho-food/

Single-stream recycling comes to Twin Falls. Residents will be able to put different recyclables in the same bin, diverting trash from landfills and returning materials to use. Both Boise and Pocatello more than doubled their recycling by implementing single-stream recycling!

Prairie Falcon Audubon, an Idaho Chapter of National Audubon serving Magic and Wood River Valleys has launched a new website: http://prairiefalconaudubon.org/,

Sustainability Tip

If you drive to campus, try parking somewhere between your first class of the day and your last class of the day.  You'll save time, gas, and frustration in trying to move your car between classes, and you'll get a bit of fresh air and exercise while walking. 

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