Orange County NC Website
<br /> <br /> 2 <br /> <br />Bouma reported that another sustainability project the County is involved in is trying to <br />figure out a way to get solar panels on the roof of the Rogers Road Community Center. <br />He said it has been a learning process and one that had built good relationships. <br /> <br />Bouma then introduced Muriel Williman with the Orange County Solid Waste <br />Management Department. Bouma and Williman discussed their collaboration in support <br />of waste reduction at County events that serve food through their Waste Wise Events <br />initiative. This will be a voluntary program to educate and facilitate low or zero waste. <br />Williman said she is also available to work with residents for events outside the county. <br /> <br />CFE members provided feedback on draft Waste Wise materials: <br /> <br /> If these materials will be available to county residents, providing them in paper <br />form is an important outreach tool. Robo-calls are also in schools beyond email. <br /> The schools have someone police the waste stream <br /> Checklist <br />o Encourage volunteers to bring reusable containers (e.g., Tupperware) to <br />take home leftovers; have containers for participants to take food home. <br />o Remind people several times throughout the meeting about the <br />opportunity to reduce waste and compost <br /> Add Waste Wise talking points for during the event as a separate <br />tool or add to one of the other tools <br /> On the caterer list, put the “Serves in Bulk” in green as an essential item <br />o Add an intro statement at top of the caterer list to let people know how <br />those caterers were chosen <br />o Also move the statement about “If you’d like to be added…”, to the top. <br /> On the purchasing guide, add an “Item numbers updated as of____ [date]” <br /> <br />Wegman thanked Bouma and Williman for their information. <br /> <br />Davis asked to reorder the next two items on the agenda, and to discuss the CFE <br />outreach items and opportunities first. Wegman agreed to making that change. <br /> <br />VI. CFE Outreach Opportunities / News Articles – Davis reviewed a list of recent and <br />proposed CFE news articles intended to educate and inform the public about issues <br />highlighted in the Orange County State of the Environment. He noted that there is a <br />need for identifying new topics for 2016. <br /> <br /> Kaiser suggested the CFE produce an article about climate change and the evidence of <br />human-caused influences on climate change. Wegman noted it will need to be limited to <br />600 words. Davis noted the CFE could prepare a series of articles on this topic. Bouma <br />said the CFE could summarize information from other articles rather than writing its own. <br /> <br />Gronback said as a school teacher she often wonders about the effects of poverty on the <br />environment. She said she has noticed increased littering along certain roadsides and <br />perhaps the disparity of income among different parts of the community influences how <br />certain neighborhoods care about the protection of natural resources. Gronback said <br />she does not know yet what kind of article might be suitable but she wants the CFE to be <br />mindful of this going on in our community. <br /> <br />CFE members agreed it would be good to change the frequency of news articles to <br />quarterly, but will wait for a quorum to vote on this matter.