1. New Frontiers for the ESA
Sue Silver, PhD
Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment
Ecological Society of America
New Frontiers for the ESA

2. Greening ESA Introduction to ESA Publishing activities
Annual Meeting and other conferences
ESA offices
What I will talk about can be put under 4 headings

3. Introduction to the ESA
Not-for-profit
Founded in 1915
~35 staff, in Washington DC and Ithaca, NY
10,000 members in over 90 countries
The world’s largest professional organization of ecologists

4. Members
Ecologists, environmental and other scientists, resource managers, teachers, policy makers
66% academic
13% federal scientists
6% consultants
5% non-profit
10% other
ESA organizational structure
Administration, membership and finances
Science Program Office
Public Affairs Office
Education Office
Publications
Careers and certification

5. ESA mission
To promote the responsible application of ecological principles to the solution of environmental problems through ESA journals, reports, meetings, research, and expert testimony to Congress.
So, given our mission, acting responsibly ourselves = something of a no-brainer
Why is being environmentally responsible important to the Society?
Is it important to the members? Yes!
Do they notice? Yes! Get plenty of letters from members asking why we send the journal in a polybag, etc
Much grumbling when we served shrimp at an annual meeting lunch (shrimp = one of the most environmentally destructive things you can eat)

6. ESA publications
Four printed journals – All in the top 15 in the ISI Journal Citation Report
Here are 3 of them
+ electronic members news – ESA Bulletin
+ Ecological Archives – electronic data repository (material accompanying the articles in E, EA, EM)
These switched to high recycled content paper in early in the year 2000
Ecology
First published in 1920
12 issues/year (print and online)
Impact factor: (Ranked 7/114 in Ecology)
Ecological Monographs
First published in 1931
6 issues/year (print and online)
Impact factor: (Ranked 4/114 in Ecology)
Ecological Applications
First published in 1991
8 issues/year (print and online)
Impact factor: (Ranked 14/114 in Ecology)

7. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment
The latest ESA journal - Launched in February 2003
The vision for this journal, was not only
International Interdisciplinary Timely etc etc
But also
Accessible to those reading outside their area of expertise
So you get scientists reading across the specialties
Cross-fertilization of ideas between different specialties/sub-specialties

8. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment
Reviews and research communications
International news section
Columnists
Editorials, letters
Multi-author debates
Student section
Lots of color!
Central peer-reviewed scientific core
+ Lots of fun stuff to get people to leaf through the journal and browse
Full color throughout
When first launched no obvious choice in terms of an affordable, eco-friendly paper
Went with one of APs stock papers (possibly 10% recycled content if you ordered it specially)
So, no statement in journal about the paper in early issues –
The main problem was that Frontiers needed just under 56,000 lb/year and the paper mills and paper merchants would only sell by the truckload (42,000 lb)
This would have meant buying paper for almost the whole year + large outlay for us + storage charges from AP
The other ESA journals were already using a high recycled content paper (New Leaf - EcoMatte) but only printed in B&W – put any color on different paper
EcoMatte was very speckly and yellowish and not good for colorwork
So, set out to find a more ecologically acceptable alternative
Long road – took a long time – lots of problems along the way

9. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment
2003 – Formed the DCGPBG
‘Better paper cheaper’
2005 – Switch to Eagle 1
2006 – Switch to ST Generations
2008 – Switch to Opus
PB at CI invited all the environment-oriented non-profits in the DC area to a meeting
Conservation International
World Wildlife Fund
National Wildlife Federation
Defenders of Wildlife
The Nature Conservancy
And The Ecological Society of America
Others joined later
Sept Formed the DC Green paper buyers group – Slogan: Better Paper Cheaper!
To buy eco-friendly paper in bulk and so leverage better prices
All had different needs so set out to educate ourselves instead
recycled content/post-consumer waste
elemental chlorine free/processed chlorine free/totally chlorine free
was it better to wrap journals in paper or plastic
Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) certification
Aug 2005 – Switched to 100% recycled paper 10% pcw [Eagle 1 from American Eagle Mill – only recycled]
Test runs (changes to colors – took 6 months to get it right)
June 2006 Stopped making Eagle 1
Frantic search
More test runs
Aug 2006 Switched to ST Generations (50% recycled; 30% pcw) [Cascades Mill]
Feb 2008 Noticed change in the ST Gen paper [paper mill hadn’t informed AP of changes – were not going to change back]
April 2008 Will switch to Opus Matte [Sappi Mill – only 30% recycled but ALL FSC certified] – is that better or worse????
March 2007 – ESA becomes a signatory on the Magazine PAPER project, an initiative run by Co-op America, pledging to use the most environmentally paper that we can, within the constraints of our budget, in both journal printing and office uses.

10. ESA annual meetings Changes venue every year 3000 to 4500 attendees
Choose ‘green’ cities/convention centers
Look for ‘green’ hotels
Some cities doing a lot - more likely to use.
(eg Like Portland, OR -green convention center:
Hotel compost their food leftover,
use energy saving light bulbs,
Don’t recycle soaps every day,
Use sustainably harvested food
Other cities do little or nothing (like Kansas City) - we would not use them.
Here are some of the green items we now ask for when we ask for a proposal from a city to host our annual meeting.

11. ESA annual meetings Re-use tote bags + patches No bottled water
No styrofoam packaging
Recycling bins
Paper bathroom supplies (min 35% recycled/pcw)
Environmentally friendly cleaning products
Providing drinking water in large containers rather than individual bottles—NO bottled water
No Styrofoam to be used for any food/beverage functions or outlets
Provide collections bins for the recycling of glass, aluminum, steel cans, plastic bottles, table coverings, pallets, paper (newspaper, cardboard, and other office paper) and grease
Providing all paper bathroom supplies with a minimum of 35% post-consumer recycled content paper
Using environmentally responsible cleaning products for carpets, floors, kitchens, and bathrooms

12. ESA annual meetings
China service or biodegradable disposable plates, etc
No polystyrene #6 plastic
Serve condiments in bulk
Cloth or high recycled content paper napkins
Donate left-over food to food bank/compost table scraps
Using china service or biodegradable disposable service at no additional cost to ESA
No polystyrene #6 plastic
Serve condiments in bulk, not individual little packets
Use cloth napkins or post-consumer recycled paper napkins
Donate left over food to food bank
Compost all table scrapes
Use sustainably harvested food

13. ESA annual meetings Replace abstract book with CD
Donate $5/head as carbon offset
Ask the members: what else should we be doing?
Used to have a huge abstract book ( 700+ pages)
About 3 years ago, members could choose: paper or CD
This year, CD bound in to each program + online (ESA website)
Next year, will ask if they want CD (can just go online) – to further cut down on numbers
Half to a local renewable energy program, half to a national one
After annual meeting, members asked to fill in questionnaire
New question: What else should we be doing?

14. ESA offices Green Tags Double-sided photocopying and B&W printing
Photocopying/office printing papers with high-recycled content
Recycle bins in each office
Electronic faxes
Replacing office printers with duplex machines as/when they are at end of useful life
Currently just B&W double-sided printing

15. ESA offices Environmentally friendly movers Office décor
Plastic, reusable bins
Nothing to the landfill
Office décor
Low VOC paint
Recycled carpet
Bamboo flooring
AP has calculated our carbon offset 74,000 kilowatt hours of electricity = represents
96,200 pounds of CO2
Environmental offset equivalent of planting 13.3 acres of trees in a year
Or not driving one car 9.25 years or 116,550 miles
Goes towards renewable energy generation (wind, solar power, hydropower)
Chose movers who used re-usable crates, everything left over was recycled (nothing into landfill)
New wood floor in reception is bamboo
Paint and carpet also eco-friendly

16. Why we all need to be ‘green’
Sustainability:
Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
World Commission on Environment
and Development
Sustainability: Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The World Commission on Environment and Development
- too human-centric
No matter - Not what we are doing at the moment!
We are using the earth’s resources unsustainably.
We are polluting the very things our lives depend on: the air, the water, and the soil, (news story about high levels of pharmas and personal care products in earthworms!) – and the food we eat
Cannot go on doing whatever we want, in the hope that someone else (next generation?) will make the necessary sacrifices to make it all OK in the end – an end which you and I likely won’t be around to witness
The actions YOU take can make a huge difference

17. Why we all need to be ‘green’
“Will we be the generation that leaves our children a planet in decline, or a world that is clean, and safe, and thriving?”
Senator Barack Obama
Lansing, Michigan, August 2008

18. Why we all need to be ‘green’
Printing Aveda magazine for one year on 100% recycled paper saved:
4,116 trees
372,820 pounds of solid waste
410,205 gallons of water
535,050 Kilowatts of electricity
1,029 Cubic yards of landfill space
The Aveda magazine
Also 57 years of electric power required by one average American home
548,770 miles travelled in the average American car

19. Why we all need to be ‘green’
Do it for the sake of the planet
Do it for your children
Do it for your grandchildren
Do it for your own sake
Please do it!
Doesn’t matter what your motivation is
Do it for all the animals and plants we are driving to extinction (which in the end we will pay the price for)
Do it for the sake of future generations
You are already risking your own health – can’t eat certain fish (mercury), respiratory diseases and asthma rising due to air pollution and we now hear that the water we drink is contaminated with pharmaceuticals
The main thing is to look at your own contribution to all this and do your part to do things better

20. suesilver@esa.org Thank you