As part of Kenyon's on-going commitment to sustainability, we are exploring practical ways in which we can lower the environmental impact of our building and our technology infrastructure. This will include activities such as:

• reducing paper consumption
• purchasing energy-efficient equipment
• using energy-efficient lighting
• on-going management of the HVAC systems in our building
• using power-management features for public computers

The CONSORT libraries have many items pertaining to green issues. Please click here for materials with the subject headings of sustainable and development; here for materials on sustainable living; here for environmental education items; here for environmental economics; here for environmental aspects; here for environmental conditions; and here for environmental impact analysis. You can also limit your results to items just at Kenyon, to items published after a certain date or by language. Materials on these topics live in lots of different places in the library, but if you want to browse shelves, one place is the GE area, on Olin 2 (main floor).

Stay tuned for workshops and tutorials for how we can all lower the impact of our increasing use of technology in our day-to-day work. In the meantime, here are some tips from Educause, and others on how you can save power:

• Get rid of CRT monitors and replace them with flat screens.
• Turn off your computer at night and use the energy-saving features of your computer (Control panel: Power Options on PCs and System Preferences:Energy Saver on Macs).
• Use CD-RWs instead of CD-Rs.
• Add this statement to the bottom of each e-mail message: "Think before you print."
• Think of a light as "burning," not just "on."
• Use Moodle and other electronic submission/communication options instead of relying on paper.

If you have an idea for how we can lower our environmental impact, send email to greenlbis@kenyon.edu.

There is also a subscription listserv for those interested in communicating about sustainability. The list name is "green.initiative@kenyon.edu." The list is set up so that anyone at Kenyon can join. To join: Send a message to green.initiative-request@kenyon.edu containing the word "SUBSCRIBE" or "JOIN" as the first and only line in the message body. To leave: Send a message to green.initiative-request@kenyon.edu containing the word "UNSUBSCRIBE" or "LEAVE" as the first and only line in the message body.