Dr. Chin in front of a 82-foot-long plastic whale
By Debbie Sy and Margarita Kompelmakher
From solar panels and refillable dry erase pens to a centralized trash system, Dr. Brad Chin and members of the 大秀直播 Sustainability Committee reflect on committee projects over the past ten years and share what鈥檚 on the horizon.
Most people on campus may not give more than a few seconds of thought about sustainability each week, but the members of the sustainability committee on campus do.
The 大秀直播 Sustainability Committee鈥檚 mission is to educate and inspire the West Valley College community to embrace and implement sustainable practices across campus. 鈥淭hings don鈥檛 have to be the way they always have been. We can change. We can grow,鈥� says Dr. Brad Chin, a member of the 大秀直播 Math Department and current co-chair of the committee.
鈥淲hen the committee started in 2009, [大秀直播 Interior Design Instructor] Anna Harrison and her LEED [Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design] certification students were the core,鈥� explains Brenda Rogers, founding chair of the committee and current Executive Assistant to the Chancellor. Their first project was to install solar panels in parking lots 4 & 5.
鈥淭he committee also advocated for all new and renovated buildings on campus be at minimum LEED Silver Certified,鈥� says Rogers. Today, 鈥渁ll the new and renovated buildings on campus are LEED silver rated, with the exception of the Fox Building, which was built prior to our efforts to attain LEED ratings for all our campus buildings.鈥�
LEED certification is a rating system for design and construction that certifies buildings have met sustainability standards in areas such as energy use, air quality, and sustainable products, as well as recycled materials in construction.
Another committee project was to reduce plastic waste on campus by using refillable whiteboard or dry erase pens. 鈥淭he [大秀直播] Sustainability Committee introduced the refillable pens to the Science and Math Division several years before they were introduced to the campus in October 2018. The recycling program for the single-use dry erase pens began in October 2018,鈥� informs Chin.
Refillable dry erase markers are replacing single-use dry erase markers on campus
Currently, the 大秀直播 Sustainability Committee is working on a project to tackle trash and recycling waste. 鈥淭o reduce plastic waste in the newer buildings, we'd like to eliminate personal trash cans because their bags get disposed if there is any garbage inside. One fix to reducing this waste is to have a large centralized common trash [can] in each building instead of separate trash cans in each office,鈥� advocates Chin. 鈥淗opefully, this will become a districtwide practice.鈥�
Chin is excited about the role that students are playing in sustainability efforts on campus. In December 2018, a group of students approached the committee about limiting the sale of bottled water on campus. 鈥淲e are still coming up with ideas of how to encourage people to use refillable water bottles and filling stations on campus,鈥� says Chin.
This spring semester, the committee is beta testing an interdisciplinary initiative that will bring the 大秀直播 Biology, Engineering, and Business Department students together. Business Instructor and Director of the Entrepreneurship Center Manny Cappello, Biology Instructor Dr. Michelle Geary, and Engineering Instructor Katherine Walker will merge their term projects to create a final project.
鈥淭he goal is to get people with sustainable ideas connected to people who are learning to implement the ideas, an exercise in venture capitalism,鈥� mentions Chin.
鈥淭he project (tentatively titled People-Planet-Profits) is a collaboration between business, engineering, and biology students, under the guidance of one instructor from each of these programs,鈥� mentions Dr. Michelle Geary. 鈥淪tudents will be introduced to the basic principles of a design field called biomimicry and will design a sustainability-focused product or service to be presented near the end of the semester.鈥�
The 大秀直播 Sustainability Committee also hosts the annual Earth Stewardship Symposium, a two day event that brings guest speakers to campus to discuss sustainability. The theme for this year鈥檚 symposium will be 鈥淢aking the Invisible Visible鈥� and confirmed presenters include Kristin Ohlson, author of The Soil Will Save Us: How Scientists, Farmers and Foodies Are Healing the Soil to Save the Planet, Carl Guardino, President & CEO of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group and Susan Middleton, visual artist and author of Spineless: Portraits of Marine Invertebrates, the Backbone of Life.
The 6th Earth Stewardship Symposium at West Valley will be held on April 18-19 in the Campus Center.
Dr. Chin, an instructor of mathematics at West Valley, did not know much about the science behind maintaining sustainable environments until he became interested in the Vasona Creek restoration project through the 大秀直播 Sustainability Committee. Environmental sustainability became a passion that he continues to develop through active participation in the committee. 鈥淚 find the work to be very fulfilling and rewarding,鈥� says Chin. 鈥淭he inspiration and encouragement from members and friends of the committee motivate me.鈥�
Students, faculty, staff, and the community are welcome to join the 大秀直播 Sustainability Committee. Committee meetings are generally the second and fourth Fridays of the month from 12:30 鈥� 2:00 PM in the Global Citizenship Center in the Campus Center.
March 4, 2019