To the Smith College Community from Carol T. Christ

 

I want to let you know about a very worthwhile project coming up during the week beginning April 20, 2003.  The Environmental Science and Policy Program and the College Council on Community Policy along with student groups Gaia and MassPIRG are sponsoring an all-college commitment to use methods of communicating other than mass paper mailings during that week. This is a particularly appropriate initiative since Earth Day 2003 is April 22.  I hope that you will read the description in this e-mail of the variety of ways that all of us can avoid excessive paper use and then put these options to use instead of distributing flyers during the period from April 20 to April 26.  The information below is from the project’s sponsors and will also be posted at www.science.smith.edu/departments/esp/paperless.html 

 

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To the Smith community:

 

As a community responsible for consuming large quantities of natural resources, it is important that we make thoughtful decisions regarding the use of paper.   The mailroom is one area where thousands of sheets of paper are thrown away each day, many unread.   Not only is this wasteful and harmful to the environment, it is also costly and an inefficient way of communicating.  Even as online resources for communication and distribution are being developed, it is important that we, as a community, begin making the shift towards using alternative methods of distribution instead of using paper. 

 

Therefore, as a part of the celebrations for Earth day, the Environmental Science and Policy Program together with the student groups Gaia and MassPIRG, with the support of President Christ and members of the College Council on Community Policy propose that departments, organizations, and individuals make a commitment to use methods  other than mass paper mailings  during the week of Sunday 4/20 to Saturday 4/26.  

 

Specifically, we ask groups, departments and individuals to

 

1. NOT put paper flyers in every student mailbox. 

2. NOT put paper flyers indiscriminately in faculty mailboxes. 

3. NOT put paper flyers in all the boxes of a particular class or department. 

 

Instead, we advocate the use of the following alternative means of communication:

 

1.  Email

Flyers that normally would be printed out and put in mailboxes can be distributed through e-mail.  During the period between April 20-26, those wishing to remind people of events should send a brief listing of their events to Changxin Fang, Environmental Science and Policy intern (cfang@email.smith.edu).  She will compile a summary that will be sent campuswide in one email each day.  Events submitted after noon will be sent in the following day’s e-mail.  Academic departments may also use listserves of their faculty, majors or interested students.  Professors may use listserves of their students.  HPs, RCs, HRs, and HCAs have listserves of their houses.. 

 

2. Voicemail

Announcements applicable to the entire house community can be made through voicemail. Students should leave a message with their HP, RC, or HCA who can forward the message to all residents of their house.

 

3.  Posters

Posters are an attractive, visible way of publicizing events.  Every academic building has bulletin boards and most departments have their own bulletin boards for events and information.  All resident houses have bulletin boards for different functions.  HPs, HRs, and RCs are in charge of putting up posters on house bulletin boards.  Posters can also be distributed to house reps such as house senators, SOS reps or CDO reps to post on their own bulletin boards.  

 

4.  Table tents

While table tents use paper, they have a much smaller impact on the environment than mass paper mailings.  They are an effective way of reaching people in group settings. 

 

5.  Dailyjolt

The Dailyjolt is a popular website where students can post events, make announcements, and hold discussions.  Students should visit www.smith.dailyjolt.com. 

 

6.  Class announcements

Making announcements in class is a good way of publicizing events or information to a more specific audience.  A limited number of flyers can be made available to members of the class interested in more information. 

 

7.  Blackboard

Faculty can use blackboard as way of making announcements.  Some of Blackboard's capacities include an announcement section, a calendar for posting events, email list serve, and discussion board. 

 

8.  Internet

If individuals, groups, or departments have information on a website, he or she can send a link to the website by means suggested above instead of printing out the information and distributing it on paper. 

 

 

While we understand that this initiative will inconvenience certain groups or individuals, our goal is to involve the entire campus community in thinking about cost-effective and environmentally friendly ways of meeting their communication needs as well as to help the college develop more effective ways of communication.  Earth week will be a way of testing out how well current methods of distribution work and what needs to be done to improve our methods. 

 

If you have questions, contact one of the following people by e-mail:

Changxin Fang ‘05, Environmental Science and Policy intern (cfang@email.smith.edu)

Joanne McMullin, Environmental Science and Policy Program coordinator (jmcmulli@email.smith.edu)

Donna Riley, assistant professor of engineering (driley@email.smith.edu)

Ann Shanahan, chief public affairs officer (ashanahan@email.smith.edu)