The Campus Advisory Committee on Environmental Concerns (better known as the Ecocampus Committee) is a group of faculty, students, and staff who have been charged by the President of the College to do research and lend advice about College actions that affect the environment. This letter represents an announcement of the Committee's view of the role of environmental responsibility at Grinnell.

Any institution (in fact, any individual) influences the distribution and abundance of living things and the movement of energy and materials through ecosystems. As all life depends on the sustainability of ecosystem services (i.e., the continual regeneration of natural resources), the central objective of the Ecocampus Committee is to help Grinnell College promote long-term sustainability of earth's natural systems, for the benefit of humans and the other living things that share the planet with us. This objective aligns clearly with Grinnell College's core values of social commitment and community service, at both local and global scales. A bonus of this objective is that there often are positive correlations, rather than trade-offs, between acting in an environmentally responsible manner and other worthy goals, such as working for social justice and conserving financial resources. Focusing the College's attention on these issues is especially timely, as efforts to enhance environmental sustainability have never been as critical as they are now, and as Grinnell has begun a building and planning process that clearly will affect the way the College interacts with its local and global environment.

We advocate that Grinnell College and Grinnellians practice principles such as the following.

make decisions that consider environmental impacts as well as educational and economic ones educate the College community (students, faculty, staff, administrators) and our broader community about environmental sustainability lead by example, and form partnerships in environmental stewardship with our local and global community communicate our successes in environmental stewardship

conserve energy and consumable resources (e.g., paper, water) employ energy- and material-efficient buildings, appliances, tools, vehicles, etc.

acquire natural resources in ways that leave them available for future generations, in environmentally sound, socially just, ethically acceptable ways

conserve energy and consumable resources (e.g., paper, water) employ energy- and material-efficient buildings, appliances, tools, vehicles, etc.

adaptively re-use and recycle materials

share the campus landscape with a diversity of organisms appropriate to our location

The Committee invites comment, expert advice, and participation. Our meetings are open. Please send inquiries and comments to "ecocampu@grinnell.edu." Current membership includes faculty Vince Eckhart (Chair), Gail Bonath, Monty Roper, and Royce Wolf; staff Mike Burt, Steve Larson, and Brian Turner; and students Shelby Hayhoe, Andrew Maginniss, Sequoia Nagamatsu, Molly Offer-Westort, Josh Rosenbluh, and Eli Zigas.