Sustainability Coordinator Needed at Century College

With the loss of release time for faculty member to do the climate commitment and sustainability coordinator work at Century College, there is concern that what momentum has occurred in this regard will be lost and that change will be even slower. Administrators are too busy to take on the duties and follow-up to the extent needed to make things happen.
Research shows that for every dollar invested in sustainability, there is a nearly 200% return. Just by incorporating the Class5 plan for energy efficiency program, the College will save far more than the salary of a full-time sustainability coordinator as well as moving toward our goal of becoming sustainable and climate neutral.
Far more can be done in regard to educating administrators, employees, and students in regard to the win-win aspects of making the campus sustainable, and having a full-time coordinator working with the Sustainability Committee can help this happen. There should be sessions on sustainable campuses each semester that include the College’s recent policies regarding green purchasing, the state of our environment, solid waste reduction on campus, etc.
Duties of the present sustainability coordinator work by Pam Thinesen, Biology faculty at Century College include:

Greenhouse gas inventory (between 30 and 40 hours per year)
Progress reports (about 2 hours per year)
Scheduling Sustainability Committee meetings, preparing agendas, preparing minutes
Planning and coordinating Greener Living Fair
Writing committee newsletter each semester
Researching ways to increase sustainability and reduce carbon footprint as well as best practices
Meeting with community/company reps regarding possible sustainability improvements for the College
Working with faculty to encourage incorporating sustainability across the curriculum
A large amount of time is spent writing formal recommendations and following up on these. Difficult to get replies and positive responses regarding various initiatives.
These plus many other miscellaneous duties could be done more thoroughly and regularly with a full-time coordinator. Note that Pam will no longer be sustainability coordinator as of December 12 due to budget cuts. Someone is needed to complete the greenhouse gas inventory for this past year as well as the required progress report, due January 15. These are usually completed during the winter campus break.
Note that several of the MnSCU institutions that have signed the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment have sustainability coordinators and some have sustainability departments that are either with the Facilities Services Departments or are stand-alone departments. The leading schools in sustainability in Minnesota and across the United States have several employees actively working to educate others on their campuses and carrying out different aspects of the climate commitment.
We highly recommend that Century College look at cost savings, in addition to the resulting improvements in sustainability that will result from having a full-time sustainability coordinator on campus.