Mount Holyoke College

College Sustainability Report Card 2008

The Mount Holyoke College Plan for 2010 calls for the community to accelerate progress toward sustainability in such areas as green building, energy conservation, and waste reduction and recycling. Each focus area has an established working group, and a steering committee establishes campus-wide goals and objectives. Included in the plan is an environmental management system “to integrate environmental stewardship into daily life at Mount Holyoke.”

A greenhouse gas inventory has been conducted going back to 1990. In 2006, the president launched “The Big Turnoff,” an energy conservation campaign; among the initiatives was a green computing pledge. In early 2007, an energy recovery loop was installed in the science complex to reclaim heating and cooling energy from the building exhaust, which is projected to save enough energy to offset the load of the new residence hall under construction. Facilities management operates many conservation programs including the long-running Kill-a-Watt Competition.

Mount Holyoke purchases local produce, honey, and maple syrup, and locally produced granola, hummus, and ice cream. The college buys directly from 15 local producers and spends approximately 4 percent of its annual budget on local products. Additionally, Mount Holyoke purchases seafood from a local fishery. This fall the college will begin buying from the student garden. Mount Holyoke has established a compost program for both pre- and postconsumer waste.

Campus building projects are designed and constructed using adopted environmentally responsible principles and guidelines. The Science Center and Blanchard Campus Center are LEED-certified buildings. The new residence hall to open in 2008 is also designed to achieve LEED Silver certification. Many buildings have undergone lighting retrofits and heat recovery systems, and low-flow fixtures have been installed across campus.

Since 2003, the fleet has had two hybrid sedans. Facilities management uses a 20 percent biodiesel blend in all their off-road, diesel-fueled equipment. The college supports the Five College transportation system, which allows students easy access among the Five Colleges and surrounding communities.

The college has no known policy of disclosure of endowment holdings or its shareholder voting record. Therefore, there is no known ability to access this information.

The college aims to optimize investment return and has $10,000 of a separate fund, composed of donor money, invested in the Cooperative Fund of New England, a local community development loan fund.

The college has not made any public statements about active ownership or a proxy voting policy.