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: Through all facets of the conceptual, schematic, and construction design phases and impending construction phases of Richland's newest two buildings, LEED criteria have been followed and overseen by a LEED commissioning agent. Our new science building will be built to LEED Platinum-certified standards and the Richland College Garland Campus will be built to LEED Gold-certified standards. The adaptive reuse of the existing science building will adhere to as many LEED criteria possible in the renovation of an existing structure. Ever committed to Richland's vision to be the best place to learn, teach, and build sustainable local and world community, all future new construction will adhere to U.S. Green Building Council and LEED criteria standards.

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

Yes: Richland's Operational Memorandum on purchasing appliances establishes procedures which ensure acquisition of Energy Star purchases.

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.

No: Richland College now has three Dallas Area Rapid Transit Bus Stations (one on-campus and two on Walnut Street perimeter of our campus), each of which regularly shuttles passengers from three nearby DART light rail stations. Our business office sells DART passes to students and discounted passes for employees.

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

No: No information provided.

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

No: No information provided.

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

Yes: 1. Expand existing college recycling program to include easy campus-wide access.
2. Implement campus printing/copying initiatives which decrease quantity and increase efficiency in the use of office and classroom paper.
3. Create and promote a system for the college community to share in the reporting of wasteful practices, the creation of effective remedies, and, when feasible, the accrued rewards.
4. Develop, beginning spring 2008, interdisciplinary classroom curricula and service learning projects to bring faculty and facilities personnel together to create coursework and learning community/service learning projects focused on sustainability issues on campus and enabling students to gain good practices of social responsibility and civic justice. Students in three learning communities and various discipline-specific courses will collaborate in a service learning project to map the "carbon footprint" of the institution and make meaningful connections to the disciplines which they are studying. The faculty in those classes will propose single, pertinent problems pertaining to sustainability, and students will discover, detail, and demonstrate implications and proposed solutions resulting from data collected from the "carbon footprint" study. Using acquired knowledge and skills in the various disciplines, students will create presentations detailing and demonstrating their solutions which will be presented to the entire campus at the Richland GREENFestival Earth Day celebration.