Vermont Campus Sustainability Network

VCSN is a campus resource promoting energy efficiency, renewable energy, and sustainability at Vermont institutions of higher education. The Bulletin is a platform for stimulating an inclusive dialogue on sustainability efforts within the state. VCSN is hosted by the UVM Office of Sustainability, with support from Efficiency Vermont.

Interested in submitting an article highlighting the work being done on your campus?  Please send it to Tatiana.Abatemarco@uvm.edu.

Vermont Campus Sustainability Network Bi-Annual Meeting Feb 12

The next VCSN meeting will take place at the University of Vermont on Friday, Feb 12, 9am-3pm.

Some of the items on the draft agenda are:

• The proposal for VSCN AmeriCorps positions
• Social Marketing for environmental awareness on campus
• Continuing our discussion with Efficiency Vermont about ways to work together to increase energy efficiency at the state's institutions of higher education
• VCSN Weatherization Initiative

If you are interested in attending this meeting and if you have any other suggestions for the agenda, please email them to Tatiana.Abatemarco@uvm.edu

VCSN is in the process of putting together a proposal for two VCSN AmeriCorps positions through the Vermont Campus Compact. 

• A full time VCSN Coordinator.  This position would be similar to the one previously held by Zach Mangione and it would allow VCSN the time and resources to do more outreach to help schools who do not have the resources to hire their own campus sustainability coordinator.
• A part time VCSN weatherization intern.  This person would work with the coordinator to create weatherization projects at Vermont colleges to educate students about basic weatherization techniques, while also providing these services to low-income community residents. 

Currently, VCSN is being coordinated by a graduate fellow in the UVM Office of Sustainability who can give only a few hours week to the network.  The addition of these AmeriCorps positions would benefit all the Vermont colleges immensely.  The UVM Office of Sustainability has already committed to providing office space, including a computer and phone for these new positions.  We still need to figure out how to raise $5000 in matching funds.  We will have a draft version of the proposal in time for the group to discuss this exciting opportunity at the next VCSN meeting.   

Northeast Real Food Leadership Training

Burlington, VT February 12-14, University of Vermont

The Real Food Challenge works to unites students for just and sustaianble food in our dining halls across the country.  It is a network, campaign, and movement that defines real food as food that is ethically produced, with fair treatment of workers, equitable relationships with farmers (locally and abroad), and humanely treated animals.  It's food that is environmentally sustaianble, grown without chemical pesticides, large-scale mono-cropping, or huge carbon footprints.  Real Food is food that is healthy, tastes good, builds community, and has the potential to inspire broad-scale social change.

The real food leadership trainings are great opportunities to meet other students doing awesome work, to gain concrete organizing skills to propel yout real food campaign, and to connect with the Real Food Challenge network.

The trainings will be geared towards students who are working (or intend to work on shifting school purchasing practices to fair, ecologically-sounds, humane, and community-based foods.  You'll participate in interactive workshops covering skills and issues at the core of the Real Food Challenge, like campaign planning, engaging with dining services, and tackling injustices in the food sustem.  Students in both high school and college who are working on other projects are also encouraged to apply. 

To sign up for the Vermont training, go to:

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AASHE's 2010 Campus Sustainability Staffing Survey is now in progress.  If you are a paid sustainability employee on a college or university campus in the U.S. or Canada, please take a few minutes to complete the survey at:  http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/203701/sustainability-staffing-survey.

Nearly 200 paid staff have taken the survey so far, but there are probably a few hundred more who are eligible.  All sustainability staff, whether part- or full-time, and whether focused on sustainability broadly or just one aspect of it, are eligible.

The survey will remain open through February 12, 2010.

Your responses will contribute to the collective knowledge about this growing field.  Aggregate results will be made public, and will provide the most comprehensive and up-to-date picture yet of campus sustainability staff positions, backgrounds and salaries.

You can learn more about the survey here:  http://www.aashe.org/sustainability.staffing.survey.

Most Americans have never heard of the term “sustainable food.”  Tell someone its your career focus and be prepared to explain yourself.  Rest assured… this site understands what you mean with no elevator speech required!  As a recent graduate looking to branch into the world of sustainable food, I had a difficult time knowing where to look for the most up-to-date job opportunities available.  Typically, job listings are dispersed among environmental conservation and individual non-profit websites.  But what if job seekers new to this and aren’t familiar with all of the non-profits that specialize in sustainable food?  That is where this website comes in!  It will provide job seekers with the most up-to-date job opportunities available in the domestic sustainable food sector.  The site continues to evolve and receive positive response, including recent coverage in the Yale Sustainable Food Project Newsletter.

E-mail: sustainablefoodjobs@gmail.com
Website: http://sustainablefoodjobs.wordpress.com
Twitter: Sustainfoodjobs