1. Establish a policy that all new campus construction will be built to at least the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED Silver standard or equivalent.

Yes: This is now College policy. Currently we have three LEED-rated buildings: Vermeer Science Center (Silver, 2003) McKee Hall, a student residence, Gold, 2005), and the Roe Center, housing the Departments of Education, Psychology, Communication Studies, and with dedicated space to community-based service learning, global sustainability education, was awarded LEED Platinum in 2010.

2. Adopt an energy-efficient appliance purchasing policy requiring purchase of ENERGY STAR certified products in all areas for which such ratings exist.

Yes: This is not official policy, however efforts are made to purchase Energy Star certified products whenever possible.

3. Establish a policy of offsetting all greenhouse gas emissions generated by air travel paid for by our institution.

Yes: This is one of the proposed measures to be incorporated into our GHG mitigation plan.

4. Encourage use of and provide access to public transportation for all faculty, staff, students and visitors at our institution.

No: We are a rural, residential campus and as such, this would not be a practical step for us to consider.

5. Within one year of signing this document, begin purchasing or producing at least 15% of our institution's electricity consumption from renewable sources.

No: We are currently unable to purchase renewable electricity. Central College simply cannot develop a viable long-term plan for GHG mitigation without carefully considering and working to connect with and integrate efforts of our key community partners. Central's best option today is to deepen our collaboration with the City of Pella Municipal Electric in efforts to reduce their carbon emissions by switching from coal to biomass, so that our electricity purchases from them come to progressively benefit from their GHG reductions.

6. Establish a policy or a committee that supports climate and sustainability shareholder proposals at companies where our institution's endowment is invested.

No: No information provided.

7. Participate in the Waste Minimization component of the national RecycleMania competition, and adopt 3 or more associated measures to reduce waste.

Yes: Central has been a participant for 4 years; significant progress made during academic 2008-09; trash audit revealed 25% of solid waste consists of recyclables; plans to phase out sales of bottled water and sports drinks on campus; College has switched to 100% recycled content paper for all printers and copiers; Food Service has made several changes in cups, cutlery, paper products, to compostable/biodegradable materials; dozens of new recycle containers have been placed around campus, including in many buildings where non previously existed. We are weighing all solid waste and recyclables, in order to track progress.