The Latest from the Center for Economic and Environmental Development

Ken Hanna, director of physical plant, facilities and construction, and Kathy Greely, the Meadville Community Energy Project's co-director, traveled to Harrisburg in December to share Allegheny's energy management experiences with other Pennsylvania colleges.

The Pennsylvania Consortium for Interdisciplinary Environmental Policy (PCIEP) organized the "Sustainability on Campus" workshop, drawing over one hundred participants. PCIEP is made up of environmental policymakers and university and college faculty and administrators devoted to improving environmental policy through interdisciplinary work and communication.

Green design, environmentally friendly purchasing, recycling, campus-wide sustainability programs, and performance contracting were among the topics covered during the two-day event. Hanna and Greely, along with David Robb of Vestar, Inc. - an energy management firm that has worked with Allegheny to manage energy expenses - conducted a panel discussion on "Planning for Energy Efficiency." They discussed Allegheny's energy team, on-site assessment, energy improvements, and benefits arising from sustainable campus programs.

According to Hanna, the workshop generated attention for all of Allegheny's sustainability efforts. "Several colleges and universities expressed interest in our green campus programs and have asked me for information about our in-vessel compost machine and our organic landscaping efforts," he says. "One college has already contacted us about bringing a group of students to our campus to view what we are doing."

Workshop coordinator Howard Greenberg of Penn State University added, "The workshop demonstrated to all in attendance that many opportunities exist to accomplish such projects while simultaneously improving an institution's financial bottom line."

Allegheny College environmental science professor Jennifer DeHart and Creek Connections project coordinator Nicole Mason have guided nearly two dozen western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio farmers toward the formation of a producers' cooperative. The farmers will pool their resources in order to gain access to regional markets, area restaurants, colleges, and supermarkets.

Jerry Ely of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Tanya Turner of the Keystone Development Center are acting as consultants to the group, helping it establish by-laws and develop feasibility studies. DeHart and Mason's work follows the success of the local foods dinner they organized at Allegheny in September. "Taste the Bounty of Crawford County" brought food from local farmers to more than 800 diners in Brooks Hall.

Several Allegheny students have also been involved in the creation of the cooperative. During the fall semester, DeHart's FS101 students compared industrial agriculture with local food systems and interviewed local producers. Environmental science senior Zahava Cheropovich and Amy Rachkowski, an environmental studies junior, conducted research about the willingness of select Erie restaurants to use locally produced foodstuffs and the status of local foods used by Allegheny's peer institutions.

Local food systems are again a focus this spring in environmental science, economics, and political science courses. CEED hopes to continue this research by providing summer interns. Representatives of Slippery Rock University and Gannon's Small Business Development Center have also expressed interest in collaborating with Allegheny on education and outreach.