College Action Team for Sustainability
The Brookdale administration established the College Action Team for Sustainability (CATS) to recommend and implement measures that can be undertaken to promote an environmentally sustainable campus. CATS members include faculty, staff, students, and administrators.
The team's responsibilities include: Increasing awareness of sustainability issues on campus. Proposing initiatives that will be carried out by the operational and academic units of Brookdale. Determining how Brookdale can employ mechanisms that yield a cost-savings to the College while promoting the principles of environmental stewardship.
CATS Members
Roseanne Alvarez, Christine Bell, Tom "Good" Brennan, Amy Clark, Tom Cioppa, Roger Conant, Ryan Correia*, Cheryl Cummings, Jim Episcopia, Rich Frank, Bill Golubinski, Dave Grant, Carol Ann Hafner, Kathy Hammond, Bob Macaluso, Tom Mason, Kathy McGrath, Jordan Mulvey*, Linda Mass, Steve Nacco, Carol Schedel,
Proposed Initiatives 2009-2010
- Tree Planting - Phase II
- Light-Switch Sticker Program
- Trout in the Classroom
- "Recycle-mania"
- "Chill Out"
- Brookdale Garden
- Community Awareness Shopping Bags
- Duplex (Two-Sided) Printing Program
- The CATS Nature Trail
Ways to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint
(From Penn State University's Office of Physical Plant)
1. Print on Two Sides
The average individual uses 12 pounds of printer/copier paper a year. This creates 26 pounds of CO2 per person per year. Using both sides of the paper could cut your carbon footprint almost in half.
2. Purchase a Re-Usable Water Bottle
It takes 1 gallon of oil to produce 10 gallons of bottled water. Getting a re-usable water bottle could reduce your carbon footprint by 20 pounds for every 10 gallons of bottled water you do not consume.
3. Don’t Idle Your Car
An idling car releases two times the amount of fumes that a car in motion does. Shutting off an idling car can reduce your carbon footprint by 524 pounds each year.
4. Switch to Compact Fluorescent Bulbs
They emit the same amount of light, last years longer and consume less electricity when compared to incandescent bulbs. Making this switch could reduce your carbon footprint by 212 pounds each year.
5. Un-plug Chargers
Chargers still use energy, even when they aren’t charging anything. Un-plugging your charger could reduce your carbon footprint by 4 pounds each year.
6. Buy Local
Buying locally stimulates our local economy by supporting the farmers in our area and could reduce your carbon footprint about 200 pounds per purchase.
7. Use Public Transportation
If one in every five commuters joined a carpool, it would be a 20% reduction or a savings of 5,286 tons of carbon emissions.
For more information or to join the CATS group, email khammond@brookdalecc.edu or jepiscopia@brookdalecc.edu
