1. Establish a policy that all new campus construction will be built to at least the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED Silver standard or equivalent.

Yes: We have decided to migrate from our internal green design and construction guidelines which have been in place since 1999 to adopting LEED as our base set of guidelines with a separate set of criteria that are Middlebury specific. Those new standards are in draft form and will soon be adopted for all new and renovation construction on campus.

2. Adopt an energy-efficient appliance purchasing policy requiring purchase of ENERGY STAR certified products in all areas for which such ratings exist.

No: No information provided.

3. Establish a policy of offsetting all greenhouse gas emissions generated by air travel paid for by our institution.

No: No information provided.

4. Encourage use of and provide access to public transportation for all faculty, staff, students and visitors at our institution.

Yes: We recently worked with two regional transit services to establish a new bus route to the south of Middlebury to Rutland, VT and to provide free service to all College employees and students who are on that route. We also recently entered into an agreement with ZipCars to place two Toyota Prius's on campus to encourage students to leave their cars at home. Thus far use has exceeded expectations and we hope to make more available. We also have been in discussion with regional transit companies to add another bus to an existing route for employees along a line to the north that runs to Burlington to accomodate schedules of some employees that preclude their use of the existing bus due to its schedule. The transit companies are preparing a proposal to add this new bus and we hope to hear positive news soon.

5. Within one year of signing this document, begin purchasing or producing at least 15% of our institution's electricity consumption from renewable sources.

Yes: Middlebury currently purchases its electricity from Central Vermont Public Service and 37% of purchased electricity comes from hydro power. We also co-generate abou 20% of electricity used at our central system which currently burns #6 fuel oil. We have broken ground on a new biomass gasification boiler system that will also power our co-gen when it comes online in December, 2008

6. Establish a policy or a committee that supports climate and sustainability shareholder proposals at companies where our institution's endowment is invested.

Yes: We have an Advisory Committee that deliberates, and makes sustainability and social responsibility recommendations on proxy votes to the Investment Committee.The Advisory Committee on Socially Responsible Investing as chartered has 3 students, 1 administrator, 1 faculty and 1 alumni.

7. Participate in the Waste Minimization component of the national RecycleMania competition, and adopt 3 or more associated measures to reduce waste.

Yes: We have removed trays from dining halls to decrease the amount of food that students take back to the table which results in less food being thrown away (we have see a drop in the weights of the food waste that come to our composting facility). This also reduces the amount of hot water and electricity used to wash the trays.

We are planning a message campaign to reinforce the importance of waste minimizatation and recycling during RecycleMania.
and will implement it in early January.

Third, this year we provided 1 quart Nalgene bottles to all incoming freshman. The bottles were of various colors each representing each of the five Commons groups at Middlebury and each had the respective Commons logo printed on it along with our "Leave a Small Footprint" campaign logo. The bottles were accompanied by a piece of literature encouraging students to use these bottles for all their beverages instead of using disposable containers.