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November 20, 2019

Attendance: Lauren Dykman, Stephanie Madsen, Scott Lindell, Seb Bigorre, Mindy Richlen, Dina Pandya

 #1 Recycling- Behind the Scenes – Lunch n Learn with Kari Parcell – Friday, Nov. 15th 12:15 Carriage House. Kari’s presentation was well attended 24+ people and we learned a few things:

  • clean recycled materials well (one contaminated bin can ruin it for a whole truck load!)
  • do not put shredded paper in the recycle bins – contact smadsen@whoi.edu if you need information
  • cost will increase. Right now we recycle for free, expect to be charged in the future

Action:

Contact (Nick Putnam, nputnam@usascientific.com) if you are interested in participating.

#2  Farmers Market – set up Market Box at WHOI next fall?  Jennie Rheuban leading the charge.  Jennie was not able to attend so we didn’t spend much time discussing.

Members mentioned a shuttle each Thursday to the Farmers Market during work would be great!

  • Shuttle might not be possible but perhaps we could carpool?

Action:

  • Identify leadership if this is to move forward. Someone will have to set up carpooling (JR)

#3  Sustainable Efforts WHOI wide

  • Update from Seb Bigorre- Nov 22 at 12:00pm Smith Conf Room- BOSS Event was super successful!
  • Working together to create a WHOI Sustainability Plan- created a working group for writing the Plan
  • Laura Dykman– Divesting from Carbon funds – is it possible?

Lauren read Mark Abbott’s response to a letter she drafted in October, which included sentiment such as, “value it, will look into it, but can’t promise anything.’

Action:

  • Find examples of other research institutions who have successfully divested (we need exemplars – LD)
  • Follow up with working groups (those created from BOSS meeting) (SM)

 #4 Solar Update –

  • Off-site solar arrays totaling 6 MW and over $320,000 in savings since Fall 2017
    • New offsite solar added 1 MW in Canton, Ma – carport at North End Motors
  • Rooftop solar – Clark and Clark So. rooftop in January 2020 (thanks to Donor and Facilities)

Action:

  • sign contract and move forward with roof engineering assessment (SM)

#5 WSS Events

  • Green Driving Lunch n Learn – Anna Vanderspek from Green Energy Consumers Org (Feb most likely)
  • Beekeeping Meetings – setting up for summer installation (Nov 5 10-11 Bigelow 217)
  • Water kiosk ribbon cutting – Waterfront Park (date TBD spring time)
  • Repair Café debrief – held in Oct and was awesome!!!

 Action:

  • schedule Drive Green Lunch n Learn (for Feb)- SM
  • Schedule next Repair Café (SM)
  • Create Beekeeping action items (DK)

 #6  Update on Single-use Plastics at WHOI 2020.

  • Letter went out to All WHOI employees on Dec 10, 2019. Such great support from Leadership at WHOI!

Action:

  • add letter link to STF website (DP)
  • schedule alternatives to plastic pop-ups (SM + team)

 #7  New Business

Regional Transportation discussion

  • Can we offer free bus seats on MIT bus? It’s silly to have so many empty seats twice per week
  • Members would like to see public transportation between bridges – Sagamore to Bourne
  • People would like to see a bike rack option on buses and shuttles
  • Town Transportation Management Committee is looking for volunteers