Whitman College

Initiatives

One of Whitman's principle sustainability initiatives is the creation and maintenance of a $25k revolving loan fund for sustainability projects. This fund is designated for campus improvements that significantly benefit Whitman's sustainability efforts by conserving resources and improving efficiency. ² Whitman College has also adopted a set of Environmental Principles encouraging recycling, eco-friendly purchasing, and energy efficiency. In addition to enacting on-campus initiatives, Whitman is a member of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) and is a party to the Western Climate Initiative, which sets regional greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets. ³

Renewable energy projects

Whitman College

Source: Creative Commons Flickr. Author: Poecilia. Permission: http://search.creativecommons.org/#.

Whitman has 37 wind turbines on college-owned property that generate electricity equivalent to twice the amount of energy that Whitman consumes in a typical year. As of 2009, Whitman purchases over 20% of its electricity from the Pacific Power Blue Sky program, which provides local Washington businesses and residents with renewable wind energy.  In 2006, Whitman students voted to increase the school's purchase of wind energy from Pacific Power from $3,000 to $20,000 per year.  This investment increased the amount of wind energy Whitman buys from 180 to 2,202 kilowatt-hour blocks per month and made the school eligible to be an Environmental Protection Agency Green Power Partner. In October 2009, Whitman College hired The Alpha Group to install a 21kW solar power system on the Bratton Tennis Center’s rooftop.⁴

Whitman uses the solar power to generate power and hot water for campus facilities. Data for the solar panel's energy levels, CO2 levels, and energy yield are provided to the public through Whitman's website. ⁵ Whitman began phasing in high water/energy efficient front-loading washing machines starting in (date needed). In 2009, over 50% of residence halls had been switched to front-loading washing machines.⁶

Green building projects

Bratton Tennis Center Array - Looking East

Source: www.sunnyportal.com. Author: Whitman College. Permission: Whitman College.

Whitman College enacted a policy in (date needed) that all new building construction must be designed to meet LEED environmentally sustainable construction standards.⁷ Building designed to LEED standards include the Reid Campus Center, the Science Building Addition, the Baker Ferguson Fitness Center, the Fouts Center for Visual Arts, and the Sherwood Athletic Center.⁸

Campus Climate Challenge

Campus Climate Challenge is an ASWC-sponsored club focused on climate issues at Whitman and in Walla Walla. This year they have worked for the Save Valley Transit campaign in Walla Walla, distributed CFL's in low income areas, taught lessons on climate change in local elementary schools and more. CCC completes a yearly Green House Gas audit of Whitman's emissions and hopes to use this data to convince the college to go carbon neutral in the future! CCC meets weekly Fridays at noon in Reid Campus center.

Campus Greens

Campus Greens is a student environmental club with a focus on conservation, the outdoors, and campus sustainability. They plan service projects that let students get involved in improving their environment, such as planting trees, maintaining trails, picking up litter. In addition, Campus Greens conducts social events that give students a chance to cultivate their "inner environmentalist", through nature writing workshops, environmental film screenings, and vegan/vegetarian potlucks. Campus Greens conducts bi-weekly meetings at the Outhouse to plan events, discuss independent environmental projects.¹¹

Environmental Education for Kids (EEK)

Environmental Education for Kids (EEK) is currently inactive. If you wish to get involved with environmental education, contact Mary Burt at burtmb@whitman.edu.

Student Organic Garden

The Student Organic Garden has been an ASWC-recognized club for 13 years.  It resides on the corner of Pacific and Penrose.  The Organic Garden's mission is to educate students about organic gardening, provide produce for off-campus students, act as a space for friends, Whitman students, and community members to interact. The garden grows a wide variety of both annual and perennial vegetables, fruits, and herbs ranging from raspberries to bac choi to butternut squash.  In an effort to improve soil fertility the Student Organic garden uses  food scraps from student houses and the dining halls and composts it with other materials provided by the physical plant.  In the fall, they raise broiler chickens in order to boost soil fertility with their waste and educate people about sustainable and humane meat production. ¹²  

Sustainability Revolving Loan Fund (SRLF)

The Sustainability Revolving Loan Fund (SRLF) is $50,000 line of credit designated for campus improvements that significantly benefit Whitman's sustainability efforts by conserving resources and improving efficiency. The fund is a fantastic opportunity for students with big  or small ideas to implement real change it Whitman. All loans are expected to generate savings that result in a 100% pay-back within no more than five years. The SRLF will be replenished through the savings accrued from the implementation of the projects.
 Funding is available for projects proposed by Whitman students, faculty, staff and departments. The SRLF has an application process and workshops on how to apply are held bi-annualy on campus. ¹³

Outdoor Environmental Leadership Fund (OELF)

The OELF was established by Two alumni  in 2005. The original goal of the fund was to support the development of environmental leaders by providing support to the Environmental Studies department's outdoor field trips and projects. Therefore, funds are available for “environmental studies regionals”, weekends of off-campus study by environmental studies students and faculty.

Funds are also available to finance “special projects” related to environmental studies. For example, funds are available for students to attend environmental conferences.
Since the original gift, the founders have expanded the funding goals. Examples include subsidizing participation by students on need-based scholarships in the following: “Scrambles” (pre-orientation outdoor trips for incoming freshman), ES regional studies courses, Outdoor Program trips, and faculty-led excursions of an environmental nature. The term “environmental” is constrained loosely, so as to include natural history, natural resource management, and issues of social science such as environmental justice. ¹⁴

Youth Adventure Program (YAP)

Youth Adventure Program provides low-income and at-risk youth with local outdoor and environmental education opportunities while simultaneously giving Whitman students training and leadership experiences.  YAP's volunteer leaders receive baseline training on group dynamic and safety skills, and training paths are available, especially for non-traditional leaders, to learn how to teach more technical activities, such as rock climbing and kayaking.  Other optional leader trainings include "Working with At-Risk Youth," "Natural History of Walla Walla," and "Games and Team Building."  Through all of these trainings and the leadership initiatives, YAP has a great group of Whitman students engaged as enthusiastic leaders of all programs. 
YAP currently works with five different youth groups in Walla Walla and at the Juvenile Justice Center, and offers programs such as rock climbing, orienteering, plant identification and animal tracking, kayaking, hiking, snowshoeing, stargazing, ropes courses, and group team building. YAP runs both one-time events and weekly events--where YAP volunteers work with the same group of youth over the year.¹⁵

Network for Young Walla Walla

The Network for Young Walla Walla is a youth-run, grassroots organization founded in May 2009 in an effort to capitalize on the power of local youth and to establish a connection between the student bodies of Whitman, Walla Walla Community College, and Walla Walla University.The mission of the Network as an institution is four-fold: 1) Find a cause. 2) Connect with others. 3) Make plans. 4) Take action. In providing avenues through which activists share resources and solutions, we are enabling youth to identify and collectively address urgent social, political, and environmental challenges that face our generation. On the environmental front, the Network aims to be no-waste in all events. Members discussed "Water Usage in the Valley" at the March 2010 "Conversation and Collaboration." 15 people - students, professors, and local residents - attended, showing that environmental concerns are on the forefront of many members' minds. As the Network expands, more environmentally-focused projects will arise. ¹⁶

Action for Animals

Action for Animals is an ASWC-recognized club that aims to inform and advocate for animal welfare issues. They provide support for vegetarian and vegan lifestyles at Whitman, and hold regular events aiming to educate and show the appeal of these options.

Environmental Interest House ("The Outhouse")

The Environmental Interest House—known colloquially as The Outhouse—was established in 1981 as a part of the Interest House Community. It provides housing for a several environmentally minded students every year. It is situated on Boyer Ave in the IHC, right next to La Casa Hispaña. The students aim to involve themselves in solving environmental issues on campus, and  being leaders in moving to a more sustainable Whitman campus. 

The Outhouse is a very active group of students. One of their biggest activities is spearheading the campus recycling program. The Recycling Center is located behind the outhouse, and the residents of the Outhouse are key to its operation. Also, the Outhouse puts on events each year such as the well-known “Outhouse Unplugged” where students can perform live, acoustic music or read poetry by candlelight.

The building itself has a number of environmentally friendly measures taken to make it more sustainable. The building has a small solar array on the roof, and a passive solar water heating system. 

Electricity

Whitman College purchases the majority of its electricity from Pacific Power and Light, whose electricity in 2008 was produced from 75.1% coal and natural gas, 18.9% purchased power (including hydro, renewable, and coal), 5.2% hydro and 0.8% wind power.

Starting in 2005, the college purchased an increasing percentage of its power from Pacific Power’s Blue Sky Program. That year, students approved a $5 tuition increase to purchase 20% of the college’s energy needs from the program. In 2007, the Renewable Energy Alternative Gift Fun collected by Campus Climate Challenge and Brittany Smith ’08 donated an additional $14,000 towards renewable electricity purchase, bringing Whitman’s percentage of renewable energy purchase up to 36%. In 2008 and 2009, 30% of the college’s total electricity purchases came from the program.

Solar energy

Whitman currently has 2 solar energy projects, a small panel on top of the Environmental Interest House and a larger, 21 kW solar photovoltaic array on top of [Bratton Tennis Center].

The Bratton solar array was originally proposed to be on top of the flat roof of Jewett Hall in Spring 2008. The estimated annual output of the array was about 3% of the electricity used by the campus in 2008. The estimated cost of the project was around $180,000. A grant was written to Pacific Power—through the combined efforts of the Development Office, a renewable energy company, and Campus Climate Challenge—which resulted in the college receiving $51,000 for the project. The rest of the necessary funding was raised by the college and consisted primarily of donations from alumni.

Wind power

Whitman College has the third most installed wind power generation capacity of any institution of higher learning in the US, according to AASHE. Altogether, there are 65 Vestas 660kW turbines installed on Whitman-owned farmland with a combined capacity of 38 MW. Whitman is compensated with a percentage of the total income for the generated power of the turbines; the college receives over $100,00 per year in royalties. The turbines have been online since Dec. 1, 2001. The development of these turbines was accompanied by several studies on the environmental impact including a bird survey, a full environmental impact assessment, and an archaelogical evaluation of the land beforehand.

In addition to these, Whitman has leased the rights to develop wind power capacity on three other land parcels on 3- to 5-year leases. In January 2009, Western Community Energy approached Whitman with a proposal to co-invest in windmills on the college’s farm land or on campus.