Ithaca College
PAE-19: Community Sustainability Partnerships

The Environmental Sciences and Studies program at Ithaca has maintained a longterm academic partnership with educators at EcoVillage at Ithaca who teach sustainability-focused courses at Ithaca College, and use EcoVillage as a "living laboratory." http://www.ithaca.edu/hs/science_in_the_community/index.php Ithaca College helped to found and support Sustainable Tompkins, the premiere non-profit dedicated to sustainable regional development. www.sustainabletompkins.org Other organizations with which Ithaca College maintains ties are: Cayuga Sustainability Council – Sustainable Tompkins has led this quarterly convening of all the sustainability-related organizations in the region. The CSC offers representatives to learn about one another’s goals and objectives to minimize duplication of efforts and to identify unmet needs, and to identify ways to collaborate and synergize related efforts. (no website) Ithaca Carshare – Ithaca College, Cornell University, EcoVillage at Ithaca, the Ithaca-Tompkins County Transportation Council, and the City of Ithaca collaborated to prepare a grant application to NYSERDA/Department of Transportation for funding for a locally-based carshare program. Ithaca Carshare began providing service in summer 2008; one of the 10 vehicles in the Ithaca Carshare fleet is located on the IC campus. Professor Granger Macy from the School of Business and I represent Ithaca College on the Ithaca Carshare Board of Directors. Ithaca College provided funding support for Ithaca Carshare and members of the IC community have access to carshare membership discounts. www.ithacacarshare.org Tompkins Renewable Energy Educational Alliance (TREEA) – This ad hoc group, which formed following Cornell University’s unexpected abandonment of the Mount Pleasant Wind Farm project, has the goal of providing objective information about the impacts and benefits of renewable energy technologies. TREEA members include faculty and staff from Cornell University, Ithaca College, Johnson Controls, Sustainable Tompkins, Tompkins County Environmental Management Council, Energy Teachers.org, along with several renewable energy equipment and service providers, and other interested local residents. Beth Ellen Clark Joseph in Physics and Nancy Jacobson in Biology have been involved with this group, as have I. Several IC students have also been involved over the past few years. TREEA meetings are held on campus on a monthly basis during the academic year. TREEA has sponsored educational sessions on renewable energy issues, including a panel discussion of wind power. In Fall 2007, TREEA, Ithaca College, Sustainable Tompkins, and Johnson Controls sponsored a Community Forum on Renewable Energy, a day-long educational program on different renewable energy technologies. (See Bioneers conference below for Fall 2009 educational program plan). www.treea.org City of Ithaca Local Action Plan Advisory Committee – Mayor Carolyn Peterson, a member of the U.S. Council of Mayors, adopted a Local Action Plan to curb greenhouse gas emissions from city operations. Recognizing our shared interests in climate change action, Mayor Peterson sought membership to a community advisory committee from Ithaca College and Cornell – I was tapped to represent the institution. We share information with the City on climate change strategies and seek academic opportunities for students. (no website) Finger Lakes Buy Green – Tompkins County Solid Waste Management Division (TCSWMD) and Sustainable Tompkins convened a number of local purchasing experts from Cornell, Ithaca College, BOCES, Tompkins County, and the City of Ithaca to create a website resource for home consumers and small businesses that offers information on environmentally preferred products and local suppliers. Bob Mudge, director of purchasing and I represented Ithaca College to this group. (I was asked because of my ties to sustainability at Ithaca and to Sustainable Tompkins and because I was Ithaca’s purchasing director for 16 years before I left the institution and was succeeded by Bob Mudge, whom I had hired). Lisa Belokur, Facilities Services director, also consulted on environmentally preferred custodial products and sources of those commodities. Note: TCSWMD has worked closely with Mark Darling, our supervisor of Recycling and Resource Management, to further develop our recycling and composting programs. TCSWM has also offered a number of internships to IC students and has hired a number of IC graduates as employees – there are currently five recent IC grads working for Solid Waste, designing, supporting and delivering resource management programs. www.fingerlakesbuygreen.org Finger Lakes Environmentally Preferred Procurement Consortium – Ithaca College is represented in this multi-sector partnership that includes Tompkins County Solid Waste Management Division, Cornell University, IC, TC3, Tompkins County, the City of Ithaca, Cayuga Medical Center, BOCES, and the Chamber of Commerce. The mission of this group is to encourage and increase the utilization of environmentally preferred products and services by larger institutional and municipal organizations. The group, which uses much of the information developed for the Finger Lakes Buy Green website, is working to devise means to overcome bureaucratic and legislative barriers to extending purchasing contracts to multiple public and private partners and leverage the combined purchasing volume of these partners to secure more favorable pricing on environmentally preferred products and services for all the members of the consortium. Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County Environmental Program Advisory Board – CCE created a new environmental program that oversees green building programs, local alternative transportation, and the master composting program. Ithaca College was invited in order to keep connections between CCE programs and internship and educational opportunities. Tompkins County Climate Protection Initiative – convened by former provost Peter Bardaglio, now with Second Nature, and funded by the Park Foundation, TCCPI is a multi-sector partnership of institutions, governments and organizations that have committed to reducing their climate impacts. Members include Ithaca College, Cornell University, TC3, City of Ithaca, Tompkins County, Town of Ithaca, Cornell Cooperative Extension, Museum of the Earth, Alternatives Federal Credit Union, Cayuga Medical Center, Ithaca-Tompkins Regional Airport, Sciencenter, Tompkins Community Action, AES Cayuga, and others. http://www.tccpi.org/ Ithaca Festival “Gorges Green” Expo - Sustainable Tompkins and Ithaca College have provided consultation to the Ithaca Festival organizers on the design and development of this showcase of “green” and sustainable products, services and general educational information. www.ithacafestival.org Finger Lakes Bioneers – 3-day conference organized by Sustainable Tompkins and numerous other organizations and volunteers in conjunction with the national Bioneers conference in CA. Broadcasts of nationally known plenary speakers at the CA conference were ‘beamed’ by satellite downlink to two dozen “beaming Bioneers” sites around the country; this was the first upstate New York “beaming” site. Bioneers events have been held on the IC campus and at some venues downtown, with space use being covered by co-sponsorship with Sustainability at Ithaca program. http://www.wemakeourfuture.org/ Finger Lakes Reuse Center Inc. – This is a project of Tompkins County Solid Waste Management. Mark Darling, Ithaca College Sustainability Programs Coordinator, serves on the FLRC Board of Directors. The ReUse Center has a storefront operation in Triphammer Mall, where it accepts for resale usable surplus building materials and household goods. We have an arrangement with the ReUse Center to accept some surplus materials for consignment sale. The ReUse Center also has a deconstruction service, where it will take down old structures to reclaim the building materials. Ithaca College had an old cottage near Facilities deconstructed several years ago, and FLRC removed materials from Job Hall. http://fingerlakesreuse.org/ Ithaca-Tompkins Regional Airport Sustainable Master Plan Advisory Committee – The local airport is undertaking a sustainable master planning effort and requested input from Ithaca College and other local partners. Cornell University and Ithaca College classes will be working with the airport management team and the consultant firm during the Spring 2010 semester to research “best practices” for sustainable operations. South Hill Pedestrian/Bike Working Group – Ithaca College convened representatives from the New York State Department of Transportation, Tompkins County, Town of Ithaca, City of Ithaca, Ithaca-Tompkins Transportation Council (MPO), and other parties to discuss improving pedestrian and bike safety between the City of Ithaca and the College, an effort which bridges multiple municipal boundaries and transportation planning efforts. The group will continue to work together to re-prioritize transportation funding for design and installation of missing sidewalks and road improvements to support safer bicycling. Zimride Tompkins Community-wide Ride Share program – Ithaca College, Cornell University, Tompkins-Cortland Community College, Tompkins County Department of Social Services, Cornell Cooperative Extension's “Way2Go” transportation information program, Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit, and the Ithaca-Tompkins County Transportation Council (MPO) collaborated to prepare an application for grant funding from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and the New York State Department of Transportation for a community-wide ride share program. This application was approved and the program launched in Winter 2011. This program meets the needs of commuters, students seeking rides home during breaks, as well as support for the academic and local communities to find rides for shopping, medical appointments, etc.